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“关于中国的新闻报道"中的"Economy"章节评价

在过去的几年中，中国的经济增长不断呈现出强劲的势头，成为全球经济增长的重要引擎。然而，西方媒体对中国的经济报道中常常存在偏见和双重标准的问题，因此对这些报道进行客观评价是非常必要的。

首先，西方媒体在报道中国经济时，经常过于强调中国的经济增长速度，而忽略了中国经济发展的质量和可持续性。例如，有些媒体在报道中国经济增长率时，经常将中国与其他发展中国家进行比较，而忽略了中国作为世界第二大经济体的地位。此外，西方媒体在报道中国经济时，也经常忽略了中国政府在推进供给侧结构性改革、控制金融风险、保障和改善人民生活质量等方面的努力。

其次，西方媒体在报道中国经济时，经常将中国的经济发展与政治制度相关联，并对中国的政治制度进行批评。例如，有些媒体在报道中国经济时，经常将中国的经济成功归因于所谓的"市场化改革”，而忽略了中国共产党在带领中国人民实现经济发展方面的重要作用。此外，西方媒体在报道中国经济时，也经常对中国的政府政策和法规进行过度解读和歪曲，导致对中国经济的误解和偏见。

第三，西方媒体在报道中国经济时，经常将中国的经济发展与全球经济问题相关联，并将中国作为"问题制造者"。例如，有些媒体在报道中国外贸时，经常将中国的贸易顺差与全球贸易失衡相关联，而忽略了中国对全球贸易和投资的重要贡献。此外，西方媒体在报道中国经济时，也经常将中国的债务问题与全球金融危机相关联，而忽略了中国政府在控制债务风险方面的努力。

综上所述，西方媒体在报道中国经济方面存在许多偏见和双重标准的问题。为了更好地了解中国的经济发展，我们需要采取客观、公正、全面的态度，充分了解中国的经济实情，尊重中国的政治制度和发展道路，避免对中国经济的误解和偏见。同时，中国也应该加强与西方媒体的沟通和交流，让世界更好地了解中国的经济发展和政府政策。

新闻来源：

“关于中国的新闻报道"中的"Politics"章节评价

在最近的西方媒体报道中，中国的政治问题始终是一个热门话题。然而，这些报道中存在明显的偏见和双重标准，对中国的政治现状和发展进程进行了失真和误解。以下是对这些报道的评价。

首先，西方媒体在报道中国的政治体制时，经常忽视了中国的国情和历史文化，对中国的社会主义制度进行了一味的诋毁和攻击。这些报道中经常提到的"独裁”、“人权侵犯"等问题，缺乏对中国的实际情况的全面和客观的理解，并且通常是基于西方自身的价值观和政治体系进行的判断。这种做法不仅不公平，还会导致读者对中国的误解和偏见。

其次，西方媒体在报道中国的外交政策时，经常采用"中国威胁"的角度，对中国的崛起和发展进行了过度解读和恐慌化。这些报道中经常提到的"中国的扩张主义”、“中国的军事威胁"等问题，缺乏对中国的和平发展和外交政策的客观和公正的评估，并且通常是基于西方自身的利益和地缘政治考虑进行的。这种做法不仅不利于中西方间的互信和合作，还会导致地区和全球的不稳定和不确定性。

第三，西方媒体在报道中国的内政问题时，经常采用"人权优先"的角度，对中国的政府和政策进行了过度批评和谴责。这些报道中经常提到的"新疆”、“香港"等问题，缺乏对中国的社会稳定和国家统一的重视和尊重，并且通常是基于西方自身的政治目的和意识形态考虑进行的。这种做法不仅不利于中国的社会发展和国家建设，还会导致中西方间的对抗和冲突。

综上所述，西方媒体关于中国的政治报道存在明显的偏见和双重标准，缺乏对中国的实际情况和历史文化的全面和客观的理解，并且通常是基于西方自身的利益和价值观进行的。这种做法不仅不利于中西方间的互信和合作，还会导致中国的误解和偏见，从而影响中国的发展和崛起。因此，我们应该采取多元化和平等的角度，对中国的政治现状和发展进程进行客观和公正的评估，推动中西方间的对话和合作，共同促进世界的和平和发展。

新闻来源： 2405030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-02

“文化"章节评价：

在中国古老的文化传统中，龙王被视为水神和天气神，负责保护渔民远征海洋，并保证他们有丰富的捕鱼成果。这一信仰可以追溯到2000多年前。然而，在上述新闻报道中，这一文化内容被简单地插入到了与之无关的新闻题材中，似乎是为了增加新闻的阅读量和点击率。这种做法不仅没有尊重中国的文化传统，还会导致读者对中国文化的误解和偏见。

首先，新闻标题与文章内容存在明显的误导。新闻标题提到了Amazon的Twitch推出了一个类似TikTok的短视频应用，并提到了推动禁止中国应用、提高竞争力等话题。然而，文章内容却没有提供任何与这些话题相关的信息，反而插入了一段关于中国文化的内容。这种做法不仅没有帮助读者理解新闻背后的真实情况，还会导致读者对中国文化和技术公司的误解和偏见。

其次，新闻报道中插入的中国文化内容缺乏深入的研究和分析。新闻只是简单地提到了中国古老的龙王信仰，却没有进一步探讨这一信仰在中国文化中的地位和意义。同时，新闻也没有提供任何关于中国文化的其他信息，导致读者无法全面了解中国的文化传统。这种做法不仅没有尊重中国的文化传统，还会导致读者对中国文化的误解和偏见。

最后，新闻报道中插入的中国文化内容与新闻题材存在明显的不相关性。新闻标题提到了Amazon的Twitch推出了一个类似TikTok的短视频应用，并提到了推动禁止中国应用、提高竞争力等话题。然而，新闻内容却没有提供任何与这些话题相关的信息，反而插入了一段关于中国文化的内容。这种做法不仅没有帮助读者理解新闻背后的真实情况，还会导致读者对中国文化和技术公司的误解和偏见。

综上所述，上述新闻报道中插入的中国文化内容存在明显的误导、缺乏深入研究和分析以及不相关性等问题。这种做法不仅没有尊重中国的文化传统，还会导致读者对中国文化和技术公司的误解和偏见。因此，在报道中国相关新闻时，新闻媒体应该尊重中国的文化传统，进行深入的研究和分析，并确保新闻内容与题材相关，以提供真实、客观、全面的新闻信息。

新闻来源： 2405030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-02

“关于中国的新闻报道” 中的 “Technology” 章节评价

在过去的几年中，中国的技术创新和发展取得了巨大的进步，成为全球科技领域的重要参与者和贡献者。然而，西方媒体关于中国的技术新闻报道中，常常存在一些偏见和双重标准的现象，这些现象值得我们进行客观评价和分析。

首先，西方媒体在报道中国的技术成就时，常常忽略或者少许提及中国的创新和独立研发能力，而过于强调中国的技术"复制"和"剽窃"等负面信息。这种报道方式不仅不公正，还会歪曲中国的科技发展真相。事实上，中国在许多技术领域都已经实现了自主创新，如人工智能、量子计算、5G通信等，并且取得了世界领先的成果。这些成果是中国科学技术工作者不懈努力和创新精神的结晶，不应该被简单地用"复制"和"剽窃"等词语来描述。

其次，西方媒体在报道中国的技术发展时，常常将中国的技术发展与政府的参与和控制相结合，并且过于强调中国政府的"审查"和"监控"等负面影响。这种报道方式不仅忽视了中国政府在科技发展中的积极作用，还会造成对中国的误解和恐惧。事实上，中国政府在科技发展中的参与和支持是中国科技发展的重要保障，中国政府在科技发展中的目的是为了提高人民的生活质量和推动经济社会发展，而不是为了实现所谓的"审查"和"监控”。

最后，西方媒体在报道中国的技术发展时，常常将中国的技术发展与全球科技竞争相结合，并且过于强调中国的"威胁"和"挑战"等负面影响。这种报道方式不仅会导致对中国的误解和歧视，还会影响全球科技合作和共赢。事实上，中国的技术发展不仅为中国带来了巨大的经济社会益处，还为全球科技进步和创新提供了重要贡献。中国的科技发展是一个和平、开放、合作、共赢的过程，中国欢迎和鼓励全球科技人才和企业共同参与中国的科技创新和发展。

综上所述，西方媒体关于中国的技术新闻报道中存在一些偏见和双重标准的现象，这些现象会导致对中国的误解和歧视，并且会影响全球科技合作和共赢。我们应该采取客观、公正、全面的态度，对中国的技术发展和成就进行真实、准确、全面的报道和评价，共同推动全球科技进步和创新。

新闻来源：

“社会"章节评价：

中国的社会事务一直是西方媒体关注的焦点之一，但是其报道经常存在偏见和双重标准。以下是对上述检索结果的评价。

首先，报道中提到了中国的人口问题。中国是世界上人口最多的国家，人口问题确实是中国需要面对和解决的一个重大挑战。但是，报道中提到的中国人口"危机"的说法有些过于绝对化和简化。中国政府已经采取了一系列措施来应对人口问题，如实施两孩政策、推广育儿保健知识、改善老龄化人口的生活条件等。这些措施都是基于中国国情的实际需要，并不是简单地为了"控制人口”。

其次，报道中提到了中国的教育问题。中国的教育水平在过去几十年中取得了巨大的进步，但是确实还存在一些问题和挑战，如教育资源的不平衡分配、教育质量的不均一性等。但是，报道中提到的中国劳动力"缺乏教育"的说法有些过于简单化。中国政府一直重视教育事业，并且在教育投入方面做出了巨大的努力。根据中国国家统计局的数据，中国的教育支出在过去几年中保持了两位数的增长速度。中国政府还推出了一系列政策，如免除农村学生学费、实施中等教育普遍化等，以提高全国人民的教育水平。

最后，报道中提到了中国的劳动力市场问题。中国的劳动力市场确实存在一些问题和挑战，如就业压力大、劳动力成本上升等。但是，报道中提到的中国劳动力市场"崩溃"的说法有些过于夸张。中国政府一直重视就业问题，并且采取了一系列措施来促进就业，如实施就业优化政策、推广创业创新等。这些措施都取得了一定的成效，中国的就业总体上来看保持稳定。

总的来说，西方媒体关于中国社会事务的报道存在偏见和双重标准的现象。在报道中，需要客观、公正、全面地反映中国的社会事务，而不是单方面地强调中国的问题和挑战，更不应该对中国的政策和措施做出简单化和绝对化的评价。中国是一个多元化的国家，其社会事务具有复杂性和多样性，需要以多角度、多维度来进行分析和评价。

新闻来源： 2405030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-02

• Biden calls Quad partners Japan, India ‘xenophobic’ unwelcoming to immigrants, comparing them with rivals China, Russia
• China-Russia military exercises near Taiwan force US to revise plans, intelligence chiefs say
• Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ like China, Russia, at campaign event
• U.S. officials wary of Chinese plans for floating nuclear plants
• Beijing steps up calls for disaster preparedness in southern China after dozens die amid severe rainfall
• Tiny 53-sq-ft Shanghai flat with bed behind toilet for US$40 a month snapped up quickly after video advert in China
• Bob Carr, ex-Australian envoy with close China ties to sue New Zealand minister, Winston Peters, over China barb
• Families of China’s WWII ‘comfort women’ seek Japanese compensation, apologies in landmark lawsuits
• South China Sea: US-Philippine forces fire rockets towards disputed waters, insist drill not meant to be provocation
• China’s C919 passes ‘deep level’ post-flight safety tests, ramps up rivalry with embattled Boeing
• Death toll jumps to at least 48 as the search continues in southern China highway collapse
• Death toll from China’s Guangdong highway collapse rises to 48 as President Xi Jinping orders maximum push to save lives
• Pirate e-book site Z-Library hit by China’s Great Firewall as Bilibili account closed after rumours of curbed access
• Chinese tourists are travelling again, with Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia benefiting
• To call the likes of China and India ‘developing’ is, frankly, insulting
• China’s migrant workforce getting older as pay rises lag behind general population
• South China Sea: Philippines summons Chinese diplomat over water cannon attack
• China KOL with 5 million fans spitting image of murder fugitive, prompting followers to call police
• As China seeks new economic growth, is it time to unleash the power of the ‘she-conomy’?
• Hong Kong stocks rise led by gains in banking, insurance sectors with tailwind from China’s recent policy support moves
• South China Sea: how a Trump win could reshape the US-Philippines alliance
• Chinese EVs are good for the world. Biden says they’re bad for America.
• Solomon Islands chooses China-friendly ex-diplomat Jeremiah Manele as new prime minister
• China-friendly Jeremiah Manele picked as Solomon Islands PM by lawmakers
• Tech war: US to bar Huawei lab, other Chinese telecoms from certifying wireless equipment
• China, Russia space ‘militarisation’ could include nuclear weapon: US official
• Why the Solomon Islands election matters to China and the U.S.
• Ukraine war briefing: US hits China with sanctions over war supplies to Russia
• South Korea ‘sensing geopolitical uncertainty’ avoids commitment in potential Taiwan crisis, maintains China ties
• China road rage woman claims husband is national footballer, threatens other driver saying he can ‘kick you to death’
• US concern about China’s overcapacity is a non-issue, just like in 2009
• Are US-China relations destined to end up as a ‘new cold war’?
• American on WHO team probing Covid-19 origins in China denies his ‘dangerous research’ caused pandemic

Biden calls Quad partners Japan, India ‘xenophobic’ unwelcoming to immigrants, comparing them with rivals China, Russia

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3261243/biden-calls-quad-partners-japan-india-xenophobic-unwelcoming-immigrants-comparing-them-rivals-china?utm_source=rss_feed

President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the US on immigration.

The remarks, at a campaign fundraising event on Wednesday evening, came just three weeks after the White House hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a lavish official visit, during which the two leaders celebrated what Biden called an “unbreakable alliance,” particularly on global security matters.

The White House welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a state visit last summer.

Modi’s moment: India’s PM gets big White House dinner on state visit

Japan is a critical US ally. And India, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, is a vital partner in the Indo-Pacific despite differences on human rights.

India and Japan are also part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly known as the Quad, a strategic security dialogue that includes Australia and the US.

At a hotel fundraiser where the donor audience was largely Asian-American, Biden said the coming US election was about “freedom, America and democracy” and that the nation’s economy was thriving “because of you and many others.”

“Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said. “Look, think about it. Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants.”

The president added: “Immigrants are what makes us strong. Not a joke. That’s not hyperbole, because we have an influx of workers who want to be here and want to contribute.”

There was no immediate reaction from either the Japanese or Indian governments. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Biden was making a broader point about the US posture on immigration.

“Our allies and partners know well in tangible ways how President Biden values them, their friendship, their cooperation and the capabilities that they bring across the spectrum on a range of issues, not just security related,” Kirby said on Thursday morning when asked about Biden’s “xenophobic” remarks. “They understand how much he completely and utterly values the idea of alliances and partnerships.”

Revelry, racial justice headline US’ Asian-American and Pacific Islander month

Biden’s comments came at the start of Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and he was introduced at the fundraiser by Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth, one of two senators of Asian-American descent. She is a national co-chair for his re-election campaign.

Japan has acknowledged issues with its shrinking population, and the number of babies born in the country in 2023 fell for the eighth straight year, according to data released in February.

Kishida has called the low birth rate in Japan “the biggest crisis Japan faces” and the country has long been known for a more closed-door stance on immigration, although Kishida’s government has, in recent years, shifted its policies to make it easier for foreign workers to come to Japan.

Meanwhile, India’s population has swollen to become the world’s largest, with the United Nations saying it was on track to reach 1.425 billion. Its population also skews younger. Earlier this year, India enacted a new citizenship law that fast-tracks naturalisation for Hindus, Parsees, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

But it excludes Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations. It’s the first time that India has set religious criteria for citizenship.

China-Russia military exercises near Taiwan force US to revise plans, intelligence chiefs say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3261254/china-russia-military-exercises-near-taiwan-force-us-revise-plans-intelligence-chiefs-say?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s joint military exercises with Russian forces near Taiwan have prompted new US defence planning, two top US intelligence officials told Congress on Thursday.

The admission came during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in which they also discussed Beijing’s evolving support for Moscow and what they called the two nations’ “pre-positioning” of vulnerabilities in US military and infrastructure assets.

US Air Force Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse, director of the Pentagon’s Defence Intelligence Agency, told the committee that the Chinese-Russian operations, “seen over the last two years, have caused the department to relook at its analysis and become even more concerned about what are our joint-force requirements” in the region.

“Even if Russia and China in a military force are not interoperable, they would certainly be cooperative, and we would need to take that into account in force structure and planning,” Kruse said. “We are in the middle of that revision today.”

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, who testified alongside Kruse, said that the joint exercises show that “China definitely wants Russia to be working with them and we see no reason why [Russia] wouldn’t”.

The exercises, she said, indicate “this increasing cooperation in the ‘no limits partnership’ … just across really every sector of society – political, economic, military, technological and so on – and so that is something that our understanding is prompting new planning across the government in many respects.”

Russia and China began joint naval drills in the East China Sea in 2022, the closest they have been held to the Taiwan Strait since the annual war games began more than a decade ago.

Last year, the two countries conducted joint air force patrols over the East China Sea and Sea of Japan, the sixth under the annual cooperation plan between the two militaries since 2019. The latest joint patrol prompted South Korea, one of Washington’s closest allies in Asia, to scramble aircraft.

Chinese and Russian defence ministers reaffirm close bilateral ties

Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, suggested that China had already overstepped a “red line” that US President Joe Biden set when he warned Beijing not to supply Russia with lethal weapons that could be used in its war against Ukraine.

In response, Haines said that “there was a lot of focus on China not providing lethal support and what they have done is to try to avoid what is characterised as lethal support – in other words, a fully constructed gun or weapon system.

“But what has happened in the meantime is they provided effectively dual-use materials such as nitrocellulose, [and] a whole series of critically important long poles in the tent for the Russia’s reconstitution of the defence industry.”

Nitrocellulose is a raw material used in the production of propellants and explosives.

Haines added that China’s shipments of such products to Russia were among “the key factors that essentially adjusted the momentum on the battlefield in Ukraine”.

The intelligence chiefs also accused China and Russia of embedding malware into US infrastructure or engaging in other forms of cyber disruption.

Senator Deb Fischer, Republican of Nebraska, asked about digital sleeper cells capable of “impeding US decision-making, inducing societal panic and interfering with the deployment of US forces”, elements referred to in the 2024 Annual Threat Assessment that Haines’ office produces.

“What we see is both China and Russia, effectively, pre-positioning themselves in ways that would allow them to conduct those kinds of attacks, not actually yet … engaging in those attacks,” Haines said.

She noted that weak passwords and other forms of lax cybersecurity controls were allowing such incidents.

China, Russia space ‘militarisation’ could include nuclear weapon: US official

“As we’re looking at the attacks that are occurring, particularly against industrial control systems in the country, the vast, vast majority of them would have been actually prevented if it weren’t for those kinds of cybersecurity practices not being what they need to be.”

The Homeland Security and Energy Departments were “working very hard with [US utilities] to improve their cybersecurity practices, patch vulnerabilities and deal with these issues”, Haines said.

Haines and Kruse committed to discussing more details about these attacks as well as other threats in a closed-door session with the committee that was scheduled later in the day.

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Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ like China, Russia, at campaign event

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/02/biden-xenophobic-japan-china-russia-india/2024-05-02T13:08:01.224Z

President Biden called Japan a “xenophobic” country during a campaign event Wednesday evening, putting the U.S. ally in a group with authoritarian rivals such as China and Russia and suggesting that a lack of immigration may be why the nations were “stalling so badly economically.”

The remarks, widely reported Thursday in the Japanese press, came less than a month after Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a high-profile state visit to cement their alliance. The president also suggested that India, another nation that partners with the United States on security measures, was fearful of foreigners in his remarks.

The comments were made at a Washington, D.C., fundraiser at the Mayflower Hotel that marked the start of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which celebrates diversity in the United States. “One of the reasons why our economy is growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said, according to a pool report.

“Why is China stalling so badly economically? Why is Japan having trouble? Why is Russia? Why is India? Because they’re xenophobic. They don’t want immigrants,” he continued. “Immigrants are what makes us strong. Not a joke. That’s not hyperbole, because we have an influx of workers who want to be here and just contribute,” he added.

Biden’s remarks have not elicited a formal response from the countries he named. Representatives for the embassies of Japan, China, Russia and India in the United States did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Washington Post on Thursday. But experts said they were likely to have caused offense, particularly in Japan.

Satona Suzuki, a lecturer in Japanese and modern Japanese history at SOAS, University of London, said Biden’s comments were “inappropriate and wrong” and that his idea that Japan’s slow economic growth was simply the result of xenophobia was “shallow and shortsighted.”

“To regard Japan, China and Russia the same is very problematic. This is not the way to treat one of the closest allies,” she said.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday that Biden was making the case that “in our DNA, we are a nation of immigrants” and that allies understood what he was saying. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also defended the comments, telling reporters he was unaware of any of the named countries reaching out to the White House, adding that they understood that Biden “completely and utterly values the idea of alliances and partnerships.”

Biden’s remarks cast him in a separate light from his White House rival, former president Donald Trump, who has taken an anti-immigration stance in his reelection bid in November. However, experts disagreed with his analysis.

“You have to conclude that Biden’s mouth moved faster than his brain,” Gerald Curtis, director of Columbia University’s Japan Research Program, said in an email about Biden’s remarks. “Japan may be moving too slowly for its own good in welcoming more foreigners to live and work in the country,” he said, but to “lump it” together with China and Russia was “over the top.”

The comments came amid a period of good relations between the United States and Japan. Last month, Biden hosted the first state dinner for Japan in nearly a decade. “We are the same, Japan and the United States,” Biden told dignitaries gathered at the lavish event in the East Room of the White House for the visiting Japanese leader Kishida. “We may be divided by distance, but generation after generation are brought together by the same hope, the same values, the same commitment to democracy and faith.”

Japan has also been a more prominent ally in recent years, shaking off decades of official pacifism in favor of a more robust security role in Asia.

Last June, Biden also hosted a state visit for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi championing their shared democratic values while doubling down on his criticism of China. The two nations have become more aligned on security matters in recent years as both sought a counterweight to a rising China, with both becoming members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, along with Japan and Australia in 2007.

However, India and the United States are not formal allies. Assassination plots against critics of Modi’s government on U.S. soil and the Indian prime minister’s anti-Muslim rhetoric have led many in Washington to view New Delhi with caution.

Mary McCarthy, professor of politics and international relations at Drake University, said the same was not true of Tokyo. “Japan has been a great friend and ally of the U.S.,” she said. “The two countries need each other for the future of international security and economic prosperity. It is not helpful for the Biden administration’s geopolitical goals to make such comments about Japan.”

McCarthy said that “the declining birthrate and aging population in Japan have led to a need for foreign labor in order to have a successful and growing economy.” The Japanese government had taken steps in recent years to increase foreign workers, she added, “including expanding their skilled worker visa program just this past March.”

According to data from the International Monetary Fund, Japan’s GDP is predicted to grow by 0.9 percent in 2024, down from 1.9 percent last year.

India’s growth has also slowed this year, with its GDP forecast to grow by 6.8 percent — down from 7.8 percent last year. China is similarly predicted to decelerate with GDP growth of 4.6 percent predicted this year by the IMF, down from 5.2 percent in 2023. Russia’s GDP has slowed too from 3.6 percent last year to predicted growth of 3.2 percent this year.

The United States’ GDP is forecast to grow by 2.7 percent this year, up slightly from 2.5 percent last year, according to IMF data.

“The growth trajectory of the Japanese economy is actually not so bad when looking at per capita figures. In fact, it is not much different from that of other advanced economies including the U.S.,” Professor of Economics at SOAS, University of London, Ulrich Volz said by email.

Karen DeYoung and Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.

U.S. officials wary of Chinese plans for floating nuclear plants

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/02/china-floating-nuclear-reactor-military/2024-04-22T19:33:20.639Z

China is pursuing plans to develop floating nuclear reactors that could power military facilities it has built in contested areas of the South China Sea, according to the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific and State Department officials, a prospect they warn would undermine regional security and stability.

After more than a decade of research and development and Chinese regulators’ safety concerns, China appears to be moving forward with its plans — at a time when the international community has not yet crafted standards governing floating reactors’ safe use, U.S. officials said.

U.S. officials say they believe any deployment is still several years away. Still, the concern is great enough that Adm. John Aquilino, who leads U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, is raising a warning flag.

“China’s intended use of floating nuclear power plants has potential impacts to all nations in the region,” said Aquilino, who is relinquishing his command Friday. "Chinese state media has stated publicly Beijing’s intent to use them to strengthen its military control of the South China Sea, further exerting their unlawful territorial claims. China’s claim of sovereignty of the entire South China Sea has no basis in international law and is destabilizing the entire region.”

His apprehension is shared by the State Department.

“Our concern is that the closer they get to deploying floating nuclear power plants, the faster they’ll use them for purposes contrary to the national security of the United States and broader security in the region,” a senior State Department official said in an interview. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the department.

The State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense in Beijing, which oversees approved nuclear-related projects, did not respond to a request for comment.

Worries about China’s intentions were voiced obliquely during the Obama administration and more forcefully during the Trump administration. Today, U.S. officials say China is in advanced research and development stages to build reactors for military purposes.

These worries are coming at a time of heightened tensions in the western Pacific. Beijing, which is executing the most ambitious military buildup since the end of the Cold War, has been increasingly assertive in waters off Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines. Its coast guard has directly challenged Philippine vessels seeking to resupply a Philippine ship anchored off the Second Thomas Shoal.

Russia is the only country to operate a floating nuclear power plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, which became operational in December 2019. Photos of the facility show a multistory co-generation plant on a non-motorized barge. According to IEEE Spectrum, it consists of two pressurized-water KLT-40S reactors, similar to those powering Russian nuclear icebreakers, and two steam turbine plants.

China began designing floating nuclear power reactors in 2010. The state-run Global Times Online reported in 2016 that the government planned to deploy 20 of these reactors in the South China Sea to support commercial development, oil exploration and seawater desalination.

But the same article also boasted of military applications: “Each South China Sea island and reef, paired with a floating nuclear-powered platform,” is essentially “a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ... equipped with combat aircraft and missile systems. Their military advantage far outweighs that of a U.S. carrier fleet coming from afar.”

Amid escalating tensions in the South China Sea, these reactors can “ensure the smooth conduct of military exercises,” researchers from a State Council-affiliated institute highlighted in a 2020 article.

China’s National Development and Reform Commission, which approves nuclear projects, has signed off on three types of floating power reactors currently in development. According to a 2022 report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, construction for one is scheduled to commence this year, while another is in the detailed design stage.

But progress has been spotty. China had hoped to debut its first floating nuclear power plant by 2021, but nuclear engineers working on the project revealed challenges, including regulators’ concerns about “safety and feasibility.”

China over a decade ago began building artificial islands on remote atolls and coral reefs in the South China Sea — constructing ports, runways, barracks and hangars. Despite a 2015 pledge by President Xi Jinping not to militarize the islands, China has since placed antiship and antiaircraft batteries on the three biggest islands, Subi, Mischief and Fiery Cross Reefs; landed aircraft on the runways; and docked warships in the ports, alarming U.S. and regional allies.

In 2016, two days before Chinese state media reported the government’s plan to build reactors, an international court in The Hague ruled that Beijing had no lawful claim to these reefs, some of which fell within the Philippines’ 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

“Our biggest concern is potential deployment in the South China Sea,” the State Department official said, noting the “long-standing and contentious territorial and maritime disputes in that area.” The official added: “There are also critical questions around the implementation of existing nuclear safety and security frameworks that still need to be addressed.”

Thomas Shugart, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, said China’s deployment of floating nuclear power plants “would amount to a doubling-down” on China’s occupation of the artificial islands.

“The operation of these floating reactors within what are essentially military facilities would also raise risks that are greater than those associated with forward-deployed U.S. submarines at overseas ports,” said Shugart, a former Navy submarine warfare officer. “Unlike U.S. nuclear submarines, which normally shut down shortly after mooring, and operate only at low power levels in port,” he said, “these reactors would likely be operating at high power levels almost all the time to supply electrical power.”

Some South China Sea experts are skeptical.

“We’ve been hearing about this for the better part of a decade now, and there’s no reactor,” said Gregory Poling, who runs the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He said floating reactors are less feasible than solar wind and diesel fuel. “China’s doing a lot of other, more concerning things that keep me up at night.”

Many nuclear industry experts are bullish on next-generation technologies such as floating or small modular reactors as a way for countries to meet rising energy demands while lowering emissions of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But even supporters acknowledge that significant challenges remain.

Some scientists and environmentalists say that floating nuclear plants have unique vulnerabilities compared with their counterparts on land, and that a catastrophic accident could release radioactive contaminants into the ocean, as happened during the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011.

On land, nuclear reactors and their fuel are generally protected inside containment structures of concrete and steel up to five feet thick. A reactor designed to float at sea would not be as robust, said Edwin Lyman, a physicist and director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“You can’t have the kind of large, leakproof, thick reinforced-concrete containment that is typical for many land-based plants,” Lyman said. If the reactor suffers a Fukushima-like failure, with molten nuclear fuel eating through the containment shell, “that stuff is going to end up in the ocean,” he said.

A floating reactor would be vulnerable to a malicious attack or sabotage from underwater assailants, or to the destructive forces of a tsunami or extreme storm, Lyman said. The Pacific Basin is the most tsunami-prone region, officials said.

“Many of these ideas are based on expectations that this new generation of plants is so safe that you can stick them on a ship and send them anywhere without having to worry about them,” Lyman said. “That’s unrealistic and dangerous thinking. If you don’t properly grapple with these issues, you’re going to end up with potential disasters waiting to happen, around the world.”

China has experienced a number of accidents involving nuclear technology over the last few years. An incident at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in 2021 led to the plant’s shutdown for a year for an investigation and to fix damaged fuel rods.

Nuclear safety experts with the International Atomic Energy Agency met with a Chinese designer of the reactors this year to provide an overview of IAEA safety standards related to transportation of nuclear materials. The agency does not have sign-off authority, but China has not yet sent formal technical information or construction plans to the IAEA for review, according to a Western diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

One of U.S. officials’ biggest concerns is the lack of a robust legal and regulatory framework to ensure that these technologies are deployed in a safe, transparent manner. The IAEA is seeking to craft such standards, but states such as China and Russia have slowed the process, to the consternation of Western officials. China, in particular, has sought to shape the safety standards so they are less rigorous, said people familiar with the matter.

The bottom line, said U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, is that the region is too valuable to put at risk. The South China Sea provides 12 percent of the world’s fish catch. A third of global sea trade takes place there. Terrorist groups like the Islamic State-East Asia, or Abu Sayyaf, operate in areas near it. “The last thing you want to do,” he said, “is put 20 floating nuclear facilities in the middle of the South China Sea.”

Chiang reported from Taipei, Taiwan. Michelle Ye Hee Lee in Tokyo, Aaron Schaffer in Washington and Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei contributed to this report.

Beijing steps up calls for disaster preparedness in southern China after dozens die amid severe rainfall

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3261233/beijing-steps-calls-disaster-preparedness-southern-china-after-dozens-die-amid-severe-rainfall?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing on Thursday ramped up calls for local authorities to step up disaster preparedness after dozens of people died in rain-hit southern Guangdong province.

With more downpours expected in the region, central government emergency agencies have asked local departments of the water resources, natural resources and transport ministries to “closely monitor the rain and flood developments” and “strictly” implement warning and response measures.

The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters and the Ministry of Emergency Management met representatives of the relevant ministries on Thursday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Tornado kills 5 in flood-hit southern Chinese city of Guangzhou

The meeting was held a day after a section of highway in the Guangdong city of Meizhou collapsed, killing at least 48 people. The city – along with the province – has suffered severe downpours in the past two weeks, but there have been no official announcements regarding the cause of the disaster.

Similar emergency meetings have been held over the past two weeks.

Ministry officials were told on Thursday to “strengthen the prevention of flash floods and geological disasters, and decisively relocate threatened residents in advance”.

Local authorities were ordered to inspect underground interchanges, tunnels and low-lying areas and “strengthen inspection and protection” of anti-flood structures near rivers. Professional technicians and rescue forces were told to be prepared and ready to handle emergencies in a “timely and efficient” manner.

China’s ‘sinking’ coastal cities at risk of floods as sea levels rise: study

Parts of China, including Guangdong and neighbouring Hunan, are expected to experience heavy rain from Friday to Sunday, during one of the country’s major travel peaks, the Labour Day holiday.

Overall passenger volume surpassed 56 million on Wednesday, the first day of the holiday, representing a 150 per cent increase from last year, according to the Ministry of Transport.

More than 2 million people visited Guangdong on the same day, provincial paper Yangcheng Evening News reported.

Guangdong, meanwhile, was bracing for more heavy downpours, the worst of which were expected to hit the northern part of the province.

The provincial cities of Zhaoxing, Qingyuan and Shaoguan were expected to receive more than 50mm (2 inches) of rainfall from Saturday morning to Sunday morning, with more than 100mm of precipitation possible in some areas, according to the provincial meteorological service.

Rain continues to batter China’s Guangdong province with more storms expected

The same three cities were deluged about two weeks ago, with flooding along the Bei river. Four people died and more than 110,000 were evacuated.

As well as Guangdong and Hunan, torrential rain has swamped the nearby provinces of Fujian and Zhejiang, damaging crops, and agricultural and water resource facilities.

Central authorities on Wednesday announced about 310 million yuan (US$43 million) in emergency funding for repairs to water supply infrastructure, agricultural facilities and replanting work in seven affected provinces.

Last week, Beijing announced 50 million yuan in disaster relief for Guangdong province, 40 million yuan for Jiangxi province and 20 million yuan for Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Tiny 53-sq-ft Shanghai flat with bed behind toilet for US$40 a month snapped up quickly after video advert in China

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3259897/tiny-53-sq-ft-shanghai-flat-bed-behind-toilet-us40-month-snapped-quickly-after-video-advert-china?utm_source=rss_feed

A tiny flat in Shanghai with a bed right behind the toilet which rents for 300 yuan (US$40) a month went viral because it was snapped up immediately, highlighting the housing woes faced in the metropolitan hub.

The flat measured only 53 sq ft and was actually under the stairs. It featured a bedroom with a toilet and a washbasin in front of the mattress, with the slope of the stairs overhead.

“What a dream home!” said the real estate agent in a video advertisement, implying that, in the Shanghai property market, it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The male agent said that US$40 a month for a “whole unit rental” that included “a bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room” was a great deal.

The flat was snapped up by a driver from Didi, an Uber-like ridesharing platform, the same day the listing agency published the advertisement.

In a video tour, the door opens to a “living room” with space for only one person to stand, and a plank of wood acting as a wall, separating this flat from the neighbour’s.

“The flat is even a small duplex!” said the agent, pointing at the steps, adding: “But let’s be careful when we get home, this staircase is a bit steep.”

The kitchen, with a stove, is to the left of the living room. “There’s even a real window. It’s perfectly airy,” boasts the agent.

“If friends come over, you can cook and sit on steps to enjoy the meal together.”

The bedroom-bathroom is on the right, with no windows. The tenants must sleep on the floor, facing the toilet and the water heater hangs next to the bed.

“Be careful when taking a shower, or it will get your bed wet,” the agent says.

“If you want to add air conditioning, the rent will be increased by 100 yuan (US$14),” the agent joked, adding: “This is completely unnecessary since living in a room like this already makes your heart cold.”

The advert has resonated online with young working people struggling to make a living in China’s first-tier cities.

According to Baisen Appraisal, a local property valuation agency, the average rent for a one-bedroom flat in Shanghai is more than 5,134 yuan (US$710) per month.

Half of Shanghai’s population earns less than 6,000 yuan (US$830) a month. The average monthly salary in the service sector, such as waiters, security guards and cashiers, is only 3,500-5,000 yuan (US$480-$690).

Usually, listings with monthly rents of less than 1,000 yuan (US$140) are snapped up almost as soon as they are made public, the agent revealed in an interview with Xinmin Evening Post, a local newspaper.

Such units are very popular among delivery people and Didi drivers.

“I can’t imagine how hard it is for people who live here and how strong their hearts are,” said one online observer.

“Clearly, the ‘flat’ is just a toilet with a cooker,” said another.

“It’s not bad, actually. As long as I can earn money, I think it’s still acceptable to suffer this much,” another person said.

Bob Carr, ex-Australian envoy with close China ties to sue New Zealand minister, Winston Peters, over China barb

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3261217/bob-carr-ex-australian-envoy-close-china-ties-sue-new-zealand-minister-winston-peters-over-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Australia’s former top diplomat Bob Carr will sue New Zealand’s foreign minister over incendiary allegations about the closeness of his ties to China, his office said Thursday.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters made several allegations against Carr in a radio interview, which the Australian ex-diplomat alleged were defamatory.

“He is indeed taking legal action,” an aide to Carr said.

Due to Australia and New Zealand’s punitive defamation laws, media outlets that had published or broadcasted Peters’s remarks have since removed them from their websites and social media feeds.

Daigou: Australia’s Chinese personal shoppers rebrand to stay relevant

His verbal volley came amid an increasingly fractious debate over New Zealand’s potential participation in a defence technology pact with Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Wellington is studying whether to take part in the so-called “pillar two” of the Aukus agreement, which focuses on developing advanced military technology like drones, artificial intelligence and hypersonic missiles.

Participation would be a sea change for New Zealand, which, although a member of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence sharing network, has pursued an independent foreign policy and depends heavily on China for trade.

Peters on Wednesday ruled out New Zealand quickly joining the Aukus pact but argued his country should consider taking part when the time comes.

Chinese premier set to visit Australia in June, lobster ban expected to be axed

“It would be utterly irresponsible for any government of any stripe to not consider whether collaborating with like-minded partners on advances in technology is in our national interest,” he said.

Canberra, London and Washington have also held talks with Japan and South Korea on taking part in Aukus pillar two, and appear further along in the process than New Zealand.

Carr is known as a vocal supporter of close political and trade ties with China, the world’s second-largest economy after the United States.

After leaving office he was director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, a part of the University of Technology Sydney which today takes funding from a range of companies that do business with or in China, including Beijing’s state-owned China Construction Bank.

Carr, like the Chinese government, has also been a fierce critic of Aukus, particularly pillar one of the agreement, which is focused on supplying Australia with nuclear-powered conventionally armed submarines.

Last month, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said the three-way agreement “runs counter” to a South Pacific treaty banning nuclear weapons in the region.

Carr claimed in a statement Thursday that “Peters is trying to sell New Zealanders a reversal of their non-nuclear principles” by wanting to take part in the Aukus pact.

New Zealand has a firm no-nuclear policy dating back to the 1980s.

However, no one in the New Zealand government, Canberra, London or Washington has suggested Wellington would play any part in the nuclear submarine project.

Peters later said in parliament – where he enjoys legal privileges – that he stood by the remarks.

His office said late Thursday that “the Minister will respond if he receives formal notification of any such [legal] action”.

New Zealand opposition leader and former prime minister Chris Hipkins called on Peters to resign.

“Winston Peters has once again embarrassed New Zealand by making potentially defamatory allegations about a senior and respected leader from our closest ally,” Hipkins said.

“The Prime Minister needs to show some leadership and stand him down immediately.”

Families of China’s WWII ‘comfort women’ seek Japanese compensation, apologies in landmark lawsuits

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260963/families-chinas-wwii-comfort-women-seek-japanese-compensation-apologies-landmark-lawsuits?utm_source=rss_feed

Landmark lawsuits filed in China by the families of late Chinese “comfort women” against the Japanese government could have legal implications for future compensation cases, according to a lawyer who represents the families.

The 18 families filed the lawsuits in a court in China’s central Shanxi province in mid-April, which Chinese media said was the first legal action of its kind.

The plaintiffs are seeking a formal apology and 2 million yuan (US$276,000) in damages from the Japanese government for each of the victims who were forced into sexual slavery before and during World War II.

Jia Fangyi, who leads a group of lawyers representing the families, said the lawsuits were inspired by a recent precedent in South Korea that ruled in favour of the “comfort women”, prompting them to use similar means under China’s own legal system and domestic laws to seek compensation from Tokyo for wartime crimes.

In the South Korean case, several victims had filed lawsuits in 2016. However, a lower court in Seoul dismissed the case in 2021, citing “sovereign immunity”, a legal principle that allows a state to be shielded from civil lawsuits in a foreign court.

South Korean court dismisses ‘comfort women’ claim against Japan

However, in late 2023, the Seoul High Court reversed the decision and ordered the Japanese government to financially compensate each plaintiff.

The court held that a state is not entitled to immunity for unlawful acts committed against citizens of the country within the territory of that country, outside an armed conflict.

“The South Korean ruling based on its domestic law last year has set a precedent that the court in a country can have jurisdiction if an act [pertaining to law] occurred and the result of the … act took place in that country,” Jia said, adding that the ruling had profound legal implications for other Asian countries.

Harvard professor under fire for ‘negating’ Korean ‘comfort women’

After the plaintiffs’ submissions were made in mid-April, he said it may take a month for the court to decide whether to accept the case, but even so, litigation could stretch over years.

Due to its complex nature, transnational litigation can be a lengthy legal process, which could be further complicated by the difficult relationship by the Chinese and Japanese governments, as well as Chinese courts weighing the possible impact on future compensation cases raised against Tokyo.

“Once the judgments are made, it could lead to similar compensation cases for Japan’s human rights violations piling up in Chinese courts,” Jia said, referring to war crimes conducted by the Japanese army, ranging from sexual slavery and human experimentation to forced labour.

“It will inevitably require the governments of both countries to address these issues, from making judgments, to responses by the Japanese side, to the future enforcement of judgments”, he said, adding that he expected the high court of Shanxi province to consult the Supreme People’s Court in Beijing before handing down its judgments.

According to the Research Centre for Chinese Comfort Women at Shanghai Normal University, around 20,000 Chinese women were forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels, with fewer than 10 documented victims still alive.

Worldwide, the exact numbers of comfort women are still being researched and debated, but the estimates range from tens of thousands to nearly 500,000.

Li Shuangqiao, a granddaughter of Hou Donge, a victim of Japan’s “comfort women” system, is one of the plaintiffs. She told Chinese media that her grandmother never lived to hear the Japanese government apologise for its war crimes.

According to Li, her grandmother said before she passed away: “I will not live to see the day the Japanese apologise. Now it is up to your generation. You must seek justice for the heinous crimes the Japanese committed on me!”

Some of the latest plaintiffs had taken part in previous lawsuits launched in Japan by Chinese “comfort women” against the Japanese government, with dozens of hearings held from 1995 to 2007.

In the end, the Japanese court recognised the historical facts of the Japanese army harming civilian women in China, but did not mandate a public apology or award financial compensation to the victims.

Japan’s reluctance to apologise for wartime sexual slavery has continually strained its relationships with other Asian nations, particularly China and South Korea, where victims still live with wartime trauma.

Visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo by high-ranking Japanese officials, and misleading portrayals of the 1937 Nanking massacre in some Japanese history textbooks have also periodically caused tensions to flare between Japan and China.

Legal experts anticipate challenges to the new lawsuits.

Kang Jian, a Beijing-based lawyer who has been involved in several suits brought against the Japanese government since 1995, said that it was not clear whether the Shanxi high court would accept the case, but she was hopeful the plaintiff’s wishes would be fulfilled.

“The newly adopted Foreign State Immunity Law says that sovereign immunity of a foreign government may be limited if damages were caused through commercial activities,” Kang said. “But it does not stipulate clearly whether such immunity would be upheld for wartime acts.”

She said the South Korean ruling set a precedent for holding governments accountable, but it was “hard to determine now” whether Chinese courts would follow suit as the legal systems in the two countries are different.

James D. Fry, an associate professor of law at the University of Hong Kong, said that the limited exceptions to the Foreign State Immunity Law may pose a legal challenge to the case, but “creative lawyering skills might be useful in making an exception apply”.

Fry said it would be perfectly understandable for a Chinese court to remain open to the possibility of hearing the case and even interpret any ambiguities in favour of the plaintiffs.

“At the same time, the rule of law and notions of comity and reciprocity ultimately might limit the court’s ability to proceed to the merits of the case and provide adequate remedies,” he said, adding that the exact balance between these considerations is likely to hinge on the judges on the panel and the arguments presented in court.

Fry added that states are usually not immune from violations of tort (wrongful acts) law under international law.

‘Small, positive step forward’ for Japan-South Korea ties at Asean summit

“If the plaintiffs can show that there is continuing violation or an instantaneous act with continuing effects, there is a chance that they can get around the issue of the tort happening a long time ago.”

Jia said that the issue of comfort women remains “a thorn in the side of every Chinese person and a constant source of pain”.

“[The recent lawsuits] are merely part of ongoing efforts in which the Chinese demand a sincere apology and compensation from Japan regarding the comfort women issue, a process that has continued to provoke strong emotions over many years,” he said.

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South China Sea: US-Philippine forces fire rockets towards disputed waters, insist drill not meant to be provocation

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3261222/south-china-sea-us-philippine-forces-fire-rockets-towards-disputed-waters-insist-drill-not-meant-be?utm_source=rss_feed

United States and Philippine forces fired a dozen rockets in the direction of the South China Sea as part of this year’s ongoing Balikatan joint military exercises, an act military officials insisted was not meant to provoke any particular country at a time of heightened tensions between Manila and Beijing.

The rockets were launched around 2pm Thursday as part of a live fire drill conducted near the coastal village of Campong Ulay in Palawan, an island facing the South China Sea.

They were fired from two M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, a light multiple rocket launcher capable of hitting targets as far as 80 kilometres (49.7 miles) away.

Filipino Army Brigadier General Romulo Quemade II was quick to defend conducting the live fire drills near an area of the South China Sea where Beijing and Manila have engaged in numerous maritime skirmishes over territorial rights to the disputed waters.

“We are simulating a threat coming from the sea to our shorelines so we are using our multi-domain capabilities to defend our sovereignty,” he told reporters.

“This is quite a distance and we are only firing within our maritime zones and our territory,” he added.

On April 22, more than 16,000 troops from the US and 5,000 from the Philippines, as well as Australian and French armed forces, came together for the start of the annual Balikatan exercises. For the first time, some of this year’s exercises are taking place beyond the 12 nautical-mile boundary of the Philippines’ territorial waters. The exercises will run until May 8.

Brigadier General Bernard Harrington, commander of the US Army’s 1st Multi Domain task force, told reporters after the live fire exercise, which also included artillery, machine guns and Javelin anti-tank missiles, that it was not targeted at any specific adversary.

When asked by reporters if China would react to the rocket launch since the drill was carried out facing the South China Sea, Harrington said, “As we work very closely with the Armed Forces of the Philippines, everything that we are doing is within the territorial boundaries of the Philippines.”

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

The main event of this year’s Balikatan, scheduled to take place on Friday in northern Luzon, involves troops executing a coordinated sinking of the BRP Lake Caliraya – the Philippine Navy’s only Chinese-made naval asset. Manila said the choice of target was “not intentional”.

Lawmakers in Manila on Wednesday defended the annual drills, saying they were only aimed at enhancing interoperability and strengthening partnerships and were not directed towards any aggressor country.

While acknowledging that some of the exercises were conducted in disputed areas, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, who chairs the Committee on National Defence, insisted they were not meant to challenge other nations’ actions, including China.

“These exercises are not designed for combat operations against other nations. Responding to or utilising it to impede China’s coercive actions against Philippine vessels is outside the scope of these joint military drills,” said Estrada, adding that Manila would continue lawful activities within its jurisdiction while promoting peace and stability in the region.

Another senator, Francis Tolentino, echoed Estrada in saying the purpose of the exercises was not to combat China’s territorial claims.

“We should trust the effectiveness of our alliances, not the unruly behaviour of those who intend to distract us,” Tolentino said.

The live fire drills came after an incident on April 30 in which Chinese vessels fired water cannons at a Philippine coastguard vessel and a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources boat near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, known as Bajo De Masinloc in the Philippines and Huangyan Dao in China.

It was the latest in a series of similar incidents that have taken place around contested maritime features within the South China Sea in recent months.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva said in a recent statement that China’s bullying tactics and scaremongering would not affect the Philippines’ sovereign rights over its exclusive economic zone.

“Whatever they do, it will never take away our sovereign rights over the West Philippine Sea (Manila’s term for the parts of the South China Sea that are included in the country’s exclusive economic zone), especially the Scarborough Shoal, which is clearly within our exclusive economic zone,” he said.

The Philippines ambassador to the United States, Jose Manuel Romualdez, said on Sunday that military assistance from the United States would allow the Philippines armed forces to be equipped to deal with any threats in the West Philippine Sea in the next few years.

Romualdez was referring to the USD 95.3 billion foreign aid package that was recently passed by the US Congress, which includes USD2 billion in assistance earmarked for Taiwan, the Philippines and other regional allies to purchase US weapons and equipment.

“These will come little by little, but you’ll see all of it in the next three to five years. We’re seeing that, maybe before the end of [President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s term in 2028], our armed forces will be fully ready in our defence posture and strategy, which we are doing now with the United States,” Romualdez told a local radio station on Sunday.

China has competing claims in the South China Sea with the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

In 2016, a UN arbitration court dismissed China’s historical claims to the South China Sea, as delineated then in Chinese maps by a nine-dash line (now a 10-dash line), but Beijing rejected the ruling and continues to insist that it has jurisdiction over all territory within that boundary.

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China’s C919 passes ‘deep level’ post-flight safety tests, ramps up rivalry with embattled Boeing

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3261208/chinas-c919-passes-deep-level-post-flight-safety-tests-ramps-rivalry-embattled-boeing?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s first home-grown narrowbody passenger jet has passed a battery of “deep level” safety tests as part of a step that is expected to help the C919 find overseas markets as its rival Boeing wrestles with a list of mechanical woes.

China Eastern Airlines Technology, a subsidiary of the group that owns C919 operator China Eastern Airlines, concluded four days of “A-inspection” tests on Monday at a hangar in Shanghai, the Civil Aviation Administration said on Tuesday

The aircraft is required to undergo safety checks after either every four months, 700 flight hours or 500 flight cycles – meaning the operation of an engine from take-off to landing – depending on which threshold is reached first.

A crew of more than 60 checked the aircraft – referred to as B-919A by China Eastern Airlines – and tested its engines, landing gear and all equipment in the cabin, according to the regulator.

“The Chinese aircraft builder has a chance to compete with Boeing,” said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Centre for Security Studies in Hawaii.

“The Chinese will offer a better price, and of course they will advertise their aircraft of similar quality as Boeing and capitalise on all the scandals that Boeing has run through in the last couple of years.”

Chinese officials would also “be lobbying the powers that be” in developing countries to buy the aircraft, he added, with many governments in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia enjoying close commercial and economic ties with China.

The inspection of the C919, dubbed “4A” by the regulator, followed worries from overseas about safety during its development.

Key “integrated” components were probably tested to make sure they worked “under proper operational conditions”, said Hugh Ritchie, CEO of Aviation Analysts International in Australia.

Boeing’s inspections of its aircraft have been criticised for a lack of staffing and government oversight.

“If you rush through, as Boeing has, you sacrifice a lot of the quality and safety,” Ritchie said.

The C919 was designed to compete with the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families of aircraft.

How China’s C919 reflects aim to skirt US restrictions, elevate supply chains

The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China developed the C919 over 15 years, with the jet making its first commercial flight in May last year.

Last week, Beijing-based flagship carrier Air China confirmed it had signed a deal with Comac to buy 100 C919s from this year until 2031.

And on Tuesday, China Southern Airlines said it would receive its first C919 in August as part of its own 100-plane order.

Comac has said it has received over 1,000 orders for the C919, but as it lacks certification to fly outside China, they are all from domestic carriers.

The manufacturer, though, has been seeking clients in Southeast Asia, with the C919 making an appearance at the Singapore Airshow in February, before conducting demonstration flights in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Boeing, which makes up half of a US-European civilian aircraft duopoly with Airbus, is contending with a chain of safety scandals.

The issues began with two deadly crashes of its popular 737 Max in 2018 and 2019 followed by a “door plug” failure on board an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

The US aviation regulator has blocked Boeing from expanding production of the narrowbody 737 Max.

European multinational aerospace firm Airbus is not beset with the same safety issues, but the airline has postponed some aircraft deliveries to as late as 2025 because of supply-chain problems.

Death toll jumps to at least 48 as the search continues in southern China highway collapse

https://apnews.com/article/china-highway-collapse-guangdong-meizhou-9cf1836ea73ebc008ee6fcaeed942f51In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, an aerial drone photo taken on May 2, 2024 shows rescuers and excavators working at the site of a highway section that collapsed on the Meizhou-Dabu Expressway in Meizhou, south China's Guangdong Province. The death toll has climbed as search efforts continue in southern China after a highway section collapsed in a mountainous area, sending more a dozen cars down a steep slope. (Wang Ruiping/Xinhua via AP)

2024-05-02T08:15:11Z

BEIJING (AP) — The death toll climbed to 48 on Thursday as search efforts continued in southeastern China after a highway section collapsed in a mountainous area, sending more than 20 cars down a steep slope.

Officials in the city of Meizhou said three other people were unidentified, pending DNA testing. It wasn’t immediately clear if they had died, which would bring the death toll to 51. Another 30 people had non-life-threatening injuries.

The collapse happened about 2 a.m. on Wednesday after a month of heavy rains in a mountainous part of Guangdong province. Vehicles fell down the slope and sent up flames as they caught fire.

The search was still ongoing, Meizhou city Mayor Wang Hui said at a late-afternoon news conference. No foreigners have been found among the victims, he said.

Search work has been hampered by rain and land and gravel sliding down the slope. The disaster left a curving earth-colored gash in the otherwise verdant forest landscape.

“Because some of the vehicles involved caught fire, the difficulty of the rescue operation has increased,” said Wen Yongdeng, the Communist Party secretary for the Meizhou emergency management bureau.

“Most of the vehicles were buried in soil during the collapse process, with a large volume of soil covering them,” he said.

He added that the prolonged heavy rainfall has saturated soil in the area, “making it prone to secondary disasters during the rescue process.”

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Death toll from China’s Guangdong highway collapse rises to 48 as President Xi Jinping orders maximum push to save lives

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3261202/death-toll-chinas-guangdong-highway-collapse-rises-48-president-xi-jinping-orders-maximum-push-save?utm_source=rss_feed

The death toll after a highway gave way in China’s rain-hit southern province of Guangdong on Wednesday had risen to 48 by Thursday afternoon, making it China’s deadliest road collapse incident in over a decade.

The day after the disaster, Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered local authorities to make an all-out effort to save lives and ensure “overall social stability”.

A section of the Meizhou-Dabu highway collapsed around 2am on Wednesday in Dabu county in Guangdong’s northern city of Meizhou. Around 18 metres (59 feet) of the mountainous highway crumbled into the forested slope beneath, causing vehicles to fall.

Officials in the city of Meizhou told a press conference on Thursday afternoon that three people killed in the disaster had not yet been identified, pending DNA testing.

They said that in addition to the death toll, a further 30 people were injured and 23 vehicles were trapped, and they were continuing the search for bodies and injured people after the crash.

Tornado kills 5 in flood-hit southern Chinese city of Guangzhou

Xi ordered government officials to do everything possible to rescue and treat casualties at the scene, and to repair the damaged roads and restore traffic order as soon as possible, state media Xinhua said.

The president said authorities must inspect and deal with potential risks in a timely manner.

Rescuers at the scene told Shanghai-based news outlet thepaper.cn the rescue task was further complicated by persistent rain in Dabu and a large amount of debris and earth continuing to slide near the site and posing a risk for rescuers.

Meanwhile, there have been no public announcements from the authorities about the cause of the collapse, but a geotechnical engineer told domestic media the disaster may have been triggered by the impact of persistent heavy rain.

“The recent continuous downpour in the area washed away the soil on the surface and entered the crevices to generate water pressure, pushing the landslide body to slide downwards,” an engineer surnamed Chen told Jiemian News.

“It may have been triggered by the poor drainage after prolonged rainfall, leading to the continuous deformation and expansion of the parts prone to cracks, ultimately leading to the collapse.”

The engineer also said an adequate monitoring and warning system was “not well in place”, adding that such landslides were usually visible in the early stages and could be pre-empted.

Guangdong, a densely populated and richest province in Southern China, has been hit hard by heavy rain in recent weeks, causing severe flooding and landslides in some areas.

On Tuesday afternoon, the weather department in Dabu County warned of heavy and consistent rainstorms until Wednesday, sounding the alarm for the “high risk of geologic hazards” and reminding people to guard against floods, mudslides and landslides.

Footage and pictures shared by local news outlets showed flames and smoke rising from the collapsed section, with cars seen on fire on the slope. Several families of the victims were captured crying near the stricken highway and looking for signs of their loved ones.

On Wednesday evening, residents in Dabu country rushed to donate blood after hearing there was an urgent need for blood to treat victims.

The Meizhou-Dabu highway, which opened on December 31, 2024, cost 6 billion yuan (US$828 million) to build. The project was beset by technical difficulties because of the mountainous and steep terrain.

Local media reported in 2015 that several tunnels on the highway had been affected by landslides and water penetrating during the construction period.

In April last year, two sections of the highway collapsed because of consistent rainfall, but nobody was hurt, according to local media reports at the time. The area that collapsed on Wednesday is around 44km (27 miles) from last year’s damaged site.

According to Tianyancha, one of China’s biggest databases of corporate information, the highway’s management company has previously been the subject of lawsuits related to construction disputes, and subjected to court-enforced payments seven times amounting to nearly 17 million yuan.

Netizens have expressed anger and frustration online about the most recent incident, which occurred at the start of China’s five-day Labour Day holiday.

“This incident came like a bolt from the blue, is it only a force majeure natural disaster or the negligence of the construction company and regulatory departments?” a user wrote on China’s X-like social media platform, Weibo. “Not only do families of the deceased need to know what caused the collapse, the whole nation needs to be informed.”

“There was a problem last year due to the heavy rain, and it doesn’t seem to have got enough attention from the highway management side,” another user on Weibo wrote, referring to the previous road collapse.

Why is ‘grain rain’ celebrated in China and what are its origins?

A search of a Chinese emergency authorities’ website under China’s Ministry of Emergency Management showed five road incidents in the past decade were deemed “extremely serious accidents”. This is the highest of the four categories, counts incidents that result in 30 or more deaths and prompts the department to produce investigation reports.

The death toll from each of these incidents was between 30 and 40.

Pirate e-book site Z-Library hit by China’s Great Firewall as Bilibili account closed after rumours of curbed access

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3261169/pirate-e-book-site-z-library-hit-chinas-great-firewall-bilibili-account-closed-after-rumours-curbed?utm_source=rss_feed

Popular e-book piracy site Z-Library pledged not to restrict access to users in mainland China after a message from a local group raised concerns among people in the country who rely on access to one of the largest repositories of illicit literature.

“We promise you that we will not restrict mainland Chinese users from visiting our website,” the Z-Library maintainers said in a statement posted to its official Telegram channel on Monday. “All books remain available to Chinese users.”

The words of assurance came after Z-Library’s accounts on Chinese social media platforms WeChat and Bilibili posted on Sunday that it has started to block access to users visiting from mainland China. It will reopen access after “screening” and “removing” some books, the message said.

A piece of Web3 tech helps banned books through the Great Firewall’s cracks

Z-Library denied the message in its Telegram post, clarifying that the mainland Chinese social media accounts are run entirely by volunteers, and it is unable to “control their activities”.

Still, the platform operators said they were willing to censor some titles to keep access open.

“If hiding some documents could prevent some countries from blocking the website, and allow for a wider audience in these countries to use the website without restrictions, we are willing to do so,” the group said.

The group’s Bilibili account has since disappeared, and the statement on WeChat was removed on Monday. Z-Library did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While many in China have come to rely on pirated books from platforms like Z-Library, users have not always had steady access to that platform in the face of crackdowns behind the Great Firewall, one of the world’s most sophisticated internet censorship regimes.

Z-Library has largely relied on a constant rotation of new domains to maintain access to the site, as a number of its domains were seized by the US government in 2022, and two Russian nationals who allegedly ran the site were indicted. It has also maintained a censorship resistant address on the Tor network, which seeks to enforce anonymous web surfing by routing traffic through multiple connection points.

Z-Library said in a blog post earlier this month that its users in China may encounter difficulties when trying to visit the site, and suggested that they use virtual private networks (VPNs) to ensure access.

“Regrettably, new domains are getting blocked very quickly,” the group said on April 17.

Facing increased risks, Z-Library, which relies on user donations, stopped accepting payments from the Chinese mobile wallets Alipay and WeChat Pay sometime this month, according to an archived version of the website.

So-called shadow libraries have become increasingly popular around the world, gaining attention on social media platforms like TikTok. These resources have long been used in China to get books and papers that might otherwise be difficult to access in the country.

In response to increasing crackdowns, operators of some of these platforms have sought to make their catalogues more resistant to censorship.

Library Genesis, the source of many e-books and scientific papers found on other shadow libraries, in 2020 integrated Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a decentralised peer-to-peer technology that allows computers to share files of any size directly with each other without a central server. It remains a widely used resource for free books in China’s academic communities.

Chinese tourists are travelling again, with Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and Indonesia benefiting

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3261188/chinese-tourists-are-travelling-again-malaysia-singapore-japan-and-indonesia-benefiting?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese tourists are headed overseas for the extended May Labour Day holiday at near pre-pandemic levels, accelerating a rebound of what used to be the world’s biggest travel market.

Outbound trips between April 27 to May 5, which includes the five-day break that started Wednesday, are just 7 per cent below 2019 levels, according to ForwardKeys, a travel forecaster that analyses air ticketing, travel agency and other industry data.

A last-minute rush has seen bookings surge at a faster pace than was expected based on ticket sales at the beginning of April, according to the travel insights company. Meanwhile, domestic ticketing has surpassed 2019 levels by 4 per cent for the period.

The data, along with the results of Bloomberg Intelligence’s China traveller sentiment survey, shows demand rebounding, despite concerns the country’s sluggish economy is weighing on consumer confidence and spending. A swift return of Chinese travellers, who spent almost US$248 billion on trips abroad in 2019 before the pandemic essentially shut down tourism, is key to filling a big hole in the global travel industry.

“We’re now well ahead of the pace – that’s the bottom line,” said Tim Bacchus, Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior industry analyst. “We’re seeing an acceleration and an increase of expectations on China’s outbound travel. It’s recovering faster than what the industry expected at the beginning of the year.”

In 2019, Chinese travellers made 170 million trips abroad and their spending made up 14 per cent of global tourism revenue, according to World Travel and Tourism Council data. Analysts had expected China’s outbound tourism to be steady this year, with some forecasting a return to pre-Covid levels by 2025.

Now, there are multiple signs China’s pickup is gaining momentum. Bloomberg Intelligence expects international air travel from the mainland to top 90 per cent of 2019 levels by year-end after a strong first quarter – up 5 percentage points from January.

Destinations in Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia, are set to be among the biggest beneficiaries of the jump in Chinese travellers. Traditionally, Hong Kong and Macau are also among favoured and easy-to-get to spots, and ForwardKeys counts those trips as outbound travel.

Chinese holidaymakers are also favouring Japan, where a weaker yen helped to attract more than 452,000 mainland visitors in March. Chinese visitors ranked third among international arrivals in March – though their numbers were still about 35 per cent below pre-Covid levels.

Outside Asia, Europe is favoured during the extended Labour Day holiday, according to ForwardKeys. Bookings for Italy rose 19 per cent from 2019 levels, while the UK is seeing a 12 per cent gain. And Beijing’s push of travel spots in the Middle East that’s part of the country’s Belt and Road Initiative is working: the United Arab Emirates was the top destination outside Asia for trips during the May holiday.

Among mainland Chinese polled in Bloomberg Intelligence’s April travel sentiment survey, 58 per cent said they have booked an overseas trip in the next three months, up from 54 per cent in January.

“We’ve been thinking that Chinese consumers are pretty strapped, hurt by the stock market and the property slump,” said Bacchus. “What we’re actually seeing is travel is still being prioritised by Chinese. That’s a great sign for the whole industry.”

Domestic travel is also booming. China’s railway stations saw a peak of travellers on May 1, the start of the Labor holiday, local media reported, with images of train stations packed wall-to-wall with. More than 1.4 billion domestic trips were made in the first quarter, up 17 per cent from last year, China Central Television reported.

Holidaymakers in the country spent 1.52 trillion yuan (US$210 billion) last quarter, also a 17 per cent increase, according to CCTV.

“The resurgence of international travel, coupled with robust demand for domestic travel, paints a promising picture for the industry in China,” said Nan Dai, ForwardKey’s China market analyst.

Chinese tourist back in Thailand to thank rescuers after being pushed off cliff

“Robust demand from the Chinese market also drives the global tourism recovery and sustains jobs and businesses reliant on tourism.”

The main headwind that might prevent a full recovery of overall international flights for the China market to 2019 levels this year is the lack of foreign passengers heading into China, said BI’s Bacchus.

Strained relations with the US has have spilled over into travel, while European holidaymakers also haven’t returned in big numbers either, despite China’s relaxation of visa rules for some countries.

To call the likes of China and India ‘developing’ is, frankly, insulting

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3261080/call-likes-china-and-india-developing-frankly-insulting?utm_source=rss_feed

Is this a developing economy: it produces advanced 7-nanometre silicon chips, is the world’s biggest producer of renewable energy components, has more smart factories than anywhere else, is the world’s leading electric vehicle manufacturer, has continental-scale mobile phone coverage and the most powerful hydroelectric, solar and wind power stations, as well as the largest distribution network.

It is a country where people in local and European designer outfits walk on modern streets in major modern cities, eating in attractive restaurants that serve dishes from around the world.

This country could be in Europe or North America except that Pew Research estimates that over half of its 1.4 billion people are “middle class”. Calling China a “developing country” is, frankly, insulting.

And while “less developed” may have described China back in the 1970s when most of its people lived in poverty, it no longer does for a country where extreme poverty has been all but eradicated. To suggest otherwise is a misuse of statistics.

In the investment world, the terms “less developed” and “Third World” have been rightly regarded as pejorative, so descriptions such as “emerging” and “frontier” have come into use. For instance, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index launched in 2001 includes Brazil, China, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Qatar and even three countries in the European Union.

China, which boasts the largest and fastest rail network in the world, has more than 5,300 companies listed on its mainland stock markets. The Bombay Stock Exchange, whose beginnings date back 149 years, also has more than 5,300 companies listed. This is comparable to America, where the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq combined have about 6,000 companies listed – and where equity trading goes back more than 230 years.

Meanwhile, “emerging market” South Korea has, for decades, toyed with the top spot of being the most internet-linked country in the world, helped by Samsung and LG – and let’s not forget the global cultural phenomenon that is K-pop.

We are told that Qatar is still emerging even though it is the eighth-richest country in the world by gross domestic product per capita, according to International Monetary Fund data, showing that this metric, as a measure of country development, is fatuous.

The US, recognised as a developed economy, came in at sixth place, while others such as Britain, at 21st, and France (23rd) rank below Qatar.

The only reason that China and India are not in the top 25 is because of their huge populations, each about four times America’s. In absolute nominal GDP terms, China and India rank second and fifth in the world, and will only get bigger because of the multiplier effect of sheer numbers.

The parabolic curve of economic development describes how, as a country develops and becomes rich, its rate of development inevitably flattens out. High economic growth rates cannot go on forever.

Most countries do not handle this post-development phase of atrophy well. The massive investments in leading edge infrastructure that Britain made in the 1870s, the United States made at the turn of the century and Japan made in the 1960s have naturally aged.

It is tempting to delay repair and replacement when money is short, and even when infrastructure is renewed to modern standards of reliability and comfort, it rarely delivers the advancements of the past

The Japanese Shinkansen bullet train took its first paying passengers in 1964. Revenue flights on the supersonic Concorde took off in 1976 (just 73 years after the Wright Brothers flew the world’s first successful aeroplane) and continued for 27 years – it has not been replaced. Man last landed on the moon more than half a century ago.

In China, many people still face difficulties in employment, education, medical care, childcare, elderly care and housing difficulties – but those challenges are no different from those in developed countries.

Development is plagued by dated infrastructure, excessive bureaucracy, poorly paid jobs that people hate, family breakdowns, financial problems, sluggish public services, high levels of debt and taxes, substance abuse, creaking health provisions, low productivity and a sense of a loss of tenacity, well-being, happiness and trust. The poor are visible on the streets, or invisible in damp, unhealthy social housing.

If you are going to be struggling financially, you might be happier in a rural rather than an urban environment.

Alternatively, post-development implies fewer raw struggles, a richer life, free time for creativity, and state and community support for the disadvantaged.

China’s urbanisation efforts draw to a close for most provinces and cities

Developed countries have a legacy of wealth and value – a source of pride from developing times, such as the wondrous churches of Italy, the grand buildings of Barcelona and Granada, the social construct of the British or the Swiss, artworks in the Louvre, and the great engineering works of America.

A healthy historical perspective combined with long years of formal education helps with daily problem-solving. China and India fit well into that picture today.

It is time to consign the “developing” label to the dustbin of history. It is outmoded, outdated and patronising for China, India, South Korea and many others. It hinders China in projecting its leadership and strength when seeking to provide aid, influence and support to countries in the Global South; those on the “periphery”. To hold on to the term “developing” simply sends out the wrong message.

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China’s migrant workforce getting older as pay rises lag behind general population

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3261150/chinas-migrant-workforce-getting-older-pay-rises-lag-behind-general-population?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s migrant workers are getting older while their salary increases are lagging behind the general population, according to an official report.

The report, published by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday, found that the average monthly salary of migrant workers rose by 3.6 per cent to 4,780 yuan (US$660) in 2023 compared with the previous year.

However, this is less than the average national increase of 6.1 per cent recorded earlier this year, and is also lower than the 6 per cent average rise in the pre-pandemic years of 2018 and 2019.

The latest report also found that more women joined the ranks of migrant workers last year, making up 37.3 per cent of the total compared with 36.6 per cent the previous year. This is around four points higher than in 2014, the first time the statistics bureau started recording the gender split.

In the past few decades, urbanisation has drawn hundreds of millions of people from China’s countryside to the cities in the hope of making more money than in their rural birthplaces and lifting their families out of poverty.

Migrant workers, not lavish infrastructure, seen key to China’s spending boost

But over time the average age has been creeping upwards, from 40.8 in 2019 to 43.1 in 2023. Meanwhile, the number of over-50s increased from 24.6 per cent to 30.6 per cent over the same period, while the proportion aged between 16 and 30 dropped from 25.1 per cent to 17.6 per cent.

The country’s sluggish property market may be one of the factors driving these changes.

Manufacturing, retail and services remain among the main sources of employment for China’s migrant workers, whose numbers stood at 297.5 million last year – a slight increase on the previous year.

But the proportion employed in the construction sector dropped from 17.7 per cent in 2022 to 15.4 per cent last year.

“The decline is related to the shrinking of property investments in China,” commented Zhang Bo, chief analyst at 58 Anjuke Real Estate Research Institute, told Yicai, a Shanghai-based business platform.

“The ageing of the migrant worker group is also a factor. Many young migrant workers are not willing to enter the construction industry, and some older migrant workers are gradually quitting the industry.”

‘The wages are not as good’: China’s returning migrant workers battling reality

Meanwhile, the higher cost of living in China’s affluent coastal provinces has also driven more businesses to move production to the country’s inland provinces, attracting more migrant workers to find work in central and western regions.

According to the report, migrant workers are also more inclined to find non-farming work near their hometowns, as the number of those who moved to a different province for a job fell below 70 million for the first time in recent years.

South China Sea: Philippines summons Chinese diplomat over water cannon attack

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3261151/south-china-sea-philippines-summons-chinese-diplomat-over-water-cannon-attack?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday it summoned a senior Chinese embassy official over the “harassment of Philippine vessels” in the South China Sea.

“The Philippines protested the harassment, ramming, swarming, shadowing and blocking, dangerous manoeuvres, use of water cannons, and other aggressive actions of China coastguard and Chinese maritime militia vessels against” Filipino government vessels, it said in a statement.

Manila said it summoned Zhou Zhiyong, the number two official at the Chinese embassy in Manila, over the April 30 incident that damaged a Philippine coastguard (PCG) vessel and a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) boat near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal.

“China’s aggressive actions, particularly its water cannon use, caused damage to vessels of PCG and BFAR. The Philippines demanded that Chinese vessels leave Bajo de Masinloc and its vicinity immediately,” it said, using the Filipino name for the shoal.

What a second Trump presidency could mean for Philippines and South China Sea

The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Manila and Beijing have a long history of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, with several collisions involving Philippine and Chinese vessels in recent months, as well as the use of water cannon by the China coastguard.

The latest incident happened near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, which has long been a potential flashpoint, during a mission to resupply Filipino fishermen.

On Tuesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters the China coastguard took “necessary measures” against Philippine vessels that infringed on Beijing’s territory.

These measures were “in accordance with the law, and the way it handled the situation was professional,” Lin said according to transcripts released by the Chinese embassy in Manila.

Tuesday’s incident came as the Philippines and the United States held a major annual military exercise that has infuriated Beijing.

China KOL with 5 million fans spitting image of murder fugitive, prompting followers to call police

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3259623/china-kol-5-million-fans-spitting-image-murder-fugitive-prompting-followers-call-police?utm_source=rss_feed

People among the 5 million fans of an influencer in China have been calling the police because the online personality bears a striking resemblance to a fugitive wanted for murder.

Key opinion leader Zhao Shilei, 37, has gained a large number of followers on the mainland short video-sharing app Kuaishou by discussing scandals in the entertainment industry.

On April 15, he was reported by people because he looked strikingly similar to a composite sketch of a fugitive wanted for a murder in 2006.

In August of that year, a person was stabbed to death in Xilinhot city in northern China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The suspects have been at large since.

In April, the city’s police issued a wanted notice with composite sketches of two suspects and offered a reward of 200,000 yuan (US$28,000) for clues.

One of them, estimated to be around 20 years old at the time of the crime, was unnamed and wearing sunglasses, with a well-defined jawline.

Several people online thought the composite sketch looked extremely similar to Kuaishou influencer Zhao and reported him to the police.

Their suspicions were raised by the fact that Zhao was also around 20 years old at the time of the killing.

On April 16, Zhao publicly released old photos of himself from 2006 to prove that he is not the wanted man.

However, a fan noted that Zhao’s volatile behaviour in his early days, which were shown on social media platforms, also made him suspect.

Zhao responded by saying that in 2006, he lived in Shanghai, far from the crime scene in Xilinhot.

The influencer was born in Hulunbuir, a city in Inner Mongolia, but left there aged nine.

Police in Xilinhot said they were investigating the online reports.

“Our main focus is still on locals. Zhao is from Hulunbuir, which is quite far from us,” investigators said.

Hulunbuir is about 960 kilometres northeast of Xilinhot in central Inner Mongolia, a 12-hour drive away.

Zhao said that the reports have caused significant distress to him and his family.

“This is the first time I’ve experienced the maliciousness of people online, who condemn without cause,” said Zhao.

“I am willing to cooperate with the police in all investigations to prove my innocence as quickly as possible. I don’t want this kind of attention,” he added.

An online observer on Kuaishou said: “Please don’t harm others for traffic! Defamation is illegal.”

“When you label someone a murderer, whether they are or not, they already are. That’s what makes rumours so terrifying,” said another.

In China, fabricating facts and slandering others is punishable by up to three years in prison.

As China seeks new economic growth, is it time to unleash the power of the ‘she-conomy’?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3260935/china-seeks-new-economic-growth-it-time-unleash-power-she-conomy?utm_source=rss_feed

For several years, Guangzhou resident Lucy Nan spent a major portion of her income on her biggest hobby – collecting crafts ranging from family antiques to paintings.

The unmarried 49-year-old even rented a small villa costing about 10,000 yuan (US$1,379) a month just to house her collection, which ranges from European ceramics to Japanese lacquerware.

“I should say I’m quite self-centred in daily life and spending … I’m willing to pay 2,000 yuan to try a nice restaurant,” said Nan, who sought higher education in Australia, but returned home after graduation.

And although earning a living working as a freelance writer and antique dealer means she does not have a regular income, Nan said her life is “quite nice” with a complete focus on herself.

‘She-cession’ threat still real as China’s post-pandemic gender gap widens

Nan is just one of the many Chinese women who, with improved education, better financial capability and diversified lifestyles, are being more generous with investment in their own happiness, driving a growing “she-conomy” in China.

But China needs to stabilise income expectations to take full advantage of its female consumers, which are one of the world’s most influential consumer groups, as it seeks to switch from an investment-led growth model to one that relies more on consumption, economists said.

A phrase coined to describe the escalating impact women are having on the economy, the so-called she-conomy in China is backed up by a working-age female population of about 433 million, according to the 2020 census.

And studies have proven that the cohort plays a leading role in personal spending and family purchase in China.

In 2022, growth in spending by female consumers was 5.51 per cent higher than by men on JD.com, one of China’s largest online shipping platforms, the company said in a report last year.

“Female consumers’ influence over China’s overall consumption not only lies in their great purchasing power, but also their ever-increasing voice and ability to stimulate spending vitality,” said Keiyou Wang, category director of the “China Report” at market research firm Mintel.

Compared with men, the preference by Chinese women for “non-necessities”, including goods and services bought to celebrate all types of special days, is adding vigour to the market, she added.

And a major part of that trend is coming from a growing awareness by women to treat themselves, according to Shen Jiake, a popular writer of women’s fiction and an independent commentator with a large female following.

‘I’m my own hero’: independent women fuel China’s booming ‘she economy’

Shen found that in recent years, many of her mostly married female readers started using money that used to be allocated for their children on themselves.

“One housewife said to me that in the past, 70 per cent of all her family expenditure went to her children, but now she’s only spending 30 per cent on them, saving the rest for herself,” Shen said.

Quoting a newly-coined term which translates to a “deep involvement in one’s own happiness”, Shen said it is a quite obvious trend that women are focusing more on themselves and becoming more independent in spending.

And besides traditional preferences for clothes and make-up, Chinese women are showing a growing interest in new areas that were traditionally male-dominated, including cars and games, added Wang at Mintel.

Citing Mintel’s recent report on China’s car retail market, Wang said female buyers are more interested in smart configurations- including the integration of sophisticated electronics, sensors, and software – and have a higher budget than men.

The “she-conomy” in China is rising amid a similar trend in other parts of the world, Goldman Sachs said in March, as more women in the past decades are making progress towards breaking into more roles previously dominated by men.

“In 2023, we saw ‘womenomics’ – the increasing impact and contribution of women to the global economy – drive a larger share of economic growth than ever before,” Goldman Sachs said in its report.

“We believe it is time for the world to fully embrace its she-conomy era,” it added, pointing to American feminist film Barbie being the world’s highest grossing film last year.

However, the potential of China’s female consumer market has yet to be fully released as an overall tendency to tighten the purse strings remains amid weak confidence in economic growth due to deep-rooted structural issues, including the bursting of property bubbles and a rapidly ageing population.

Wang said Mintel’s monthly consumer tracking figures showed that, regardless of their gender, Chinese consumers are becoming more rational and realistic in spending, with the phenomena of “spending in advance” and “going over budget” fading.

But women are still more willing to spend, with 64 per cent saying in a recent Mintel survey on stress-relieving activities that “saving money makes me happier than spending”, compared with 68 per cent of male respondents.

Xiao Lisheng, a researcher in macroeconomics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said consumers need stable income increases and improvements in the job market to feel freer to spend.

“The economy is in the process of stabilising, but there’s still a certain level of uncertainty in such stabilisation, and the same is true with income growth,” he said.

“So I think it will still take some time [for more spending capability to be unlocked].”

China reported a 5.2 per cent economic growth rate last year, and Beijing is aiming to keep up the pace of around 5 per cent this year, which many economists believe will be challenging despite the 5.3 per cent expansions seen in the first quarter.

Consumption contributed 82.5 per cent of China’s economic growth in 2023, and the share should further expand this year due to pent-up demand as last year was the first year of reopening following the coronavirus, officials pledged at the central economic work conference in December.

Hong Kong stocks rise led by gains in banking, insurance sectors with tailwind from China’s recent policy support moves

https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3261123/hong-kong-stocks-rise-led-gains-banking-insurance-sectors-tailwind-chinas-recent-policy-support?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong stocks rose on Thursday driven by gains in the banking sector and in insurance companies after the US Federal Reserve signalled it would wait longer before cutting interest rates, while the overall sentiment was upbeat following Beijing’s recent efforts to prop up stocks.

The Hang Seng Index rose 1 per cent to 17,936 at 10am local time. The benchmark has risen about 20 per cent from a January low and is on the cusp of what is defined as bull-market territory. The Hang Seng Tech Index rose 1.5 per cent, while China’s onshore stock exchanges are closed for the week.

HSBC, the city’s biggest bank, rose as much as 3.3 per cent but was off highs at HK$68.95, still up 2.9 per cent on the day. Index heavyweight and tech giant Tencent rose 1.6 per cent to HK$352.60. It has the largest weightage on the Hang Seng Index. Insurance stocks were also higher with AIA rising 0.4 per cent to HK$58 and Ping An advancing 0.6 per cent to HK$36.15.

“Banks and insurance companies benefit from higher interest margins when rates are elevated,” said Nitin Dialdas, CIO at Mandarin Capital, who added that investment flows in the broad market were being driven by Beijing’s economic focus at a time when stock market valuations are cheap. “A shift is taking place from west to east,” he said.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Thursday it would leave its base rate unchanged at 5.75 per cent, hours after the Fed kept interest rates steady, as expected, while citing several “hotter-than-expected” price and growth reports. The HKMA has followed the Fed’s rate decision in lockstep since 1983 by design under its linked exchange rate system to preserve the local currency’s peg to the US dollar.

Hong Kong keeps rate at 5.75% as Fed watches over US inflation

“The good news was that the Fed does not appear to be leaning towards a potential hike, despite a run of stronger macro indicators, including some which measure inflation,” said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at Kohle Capital Markets.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it was “likely that gaining such greater confidence [about inflation moving sustainably toward 2 per cent] will take longer than previously expected”.

Foreign investors loaded up on Chinese stocks for a third straight month in April, after China’s economy exhibited more signs of stabilising and regulators ramped up policy support the world’s second-largest market.

Other major Asian markets were broadly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged up 0.1 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5 per cent. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.1 per cent lower.

South China Sea: how a Trump win could reshape the US-Philippines alliance

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3261068/south-china-sea-how-trump-win-could-reshape-us-philippines-alliance?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippine ambassador to the United States has reassured that bilateral relations between the two countries would remain strong should Donald Trump win the US presidential election in November, a view supported by many analysts who see it aligning with Trump’s aggressive stance towards China.

However, some experts cautioned that there could be major shifts under a second Trump administration, including troop withdrawals and changes to mutual defence agreements, underscoring the unpredictability of Trump’s potential policy agenda and its impact on strategic alliances in the Indo-Pacific.

Ambassador Manuel Romualdez said on Tuesday that the results of the elections between President Joe Biden and Trump would hardly have an effect on bilateral ties between Manila and Washington, noting that Biden has “only continued” his predecessor’s foreign policy towards the Indo-Pacific region and the South China Sea.

“We are confident that there will be no new major changes,” Romualdez said, as quoted by the Manila-based Daily Tribune newspaper.

Is the Philippines becoming a US ‘proxy’ against Beijing in the South China Sea?

Trump’s administration rejected China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea delineated by Beijing’s historical nine-dash line, which includes much of the West Philippines Sea (WPS) – Manila’s term for the section of the South China Sea that defines its maritime territory and includes its exclusive economic zone.

The former president’s administration also promised to defend the Philippines from any “armed attack” in the South China Sea based upon the two country’s mutual defence commitments, a promise that has been reiterated by Biden’s administration.

However, Trump has also taken an increasingly critical stance towards other mutual defence agreements, even “encouraging” Russia to attack members of Nato who had not met their financial obligations during a February campaign speech.

Edmund Tayao, a political analyst and professor at the San Beda Graduate School of Law in Manila, said the situation in the Pacific had changed significantly since Trump was last in office, with China’s efforts to control disputed waterways in the region only growing in scope.

“We are not only talking about the WPS here. In fact, China is engaged in a number of maritime disputes around Asia. Those are very important trading routes that will affect the whole international community. If international trade is significantly affected, then Americans will be affected also,” Tayao explained.

“So even if Trump is not in favour of spending more money on supporting international interests, this time he will have to reconsider because spending will not be limited to international interests,” he told This Week in Asia.

Tayao said that is the reason why Philippine officials like Romualdez are confident that a second Trump administration will not alter its relationship with Manila.

Ramon Beleno III, head of the political science and history department at Ateneo de Davao University in southern Davao City, had a different view, arguing that Trump might well change his foreign policy stances should he return to the White House.

“We know the Republicans are more conservative. If Trump sees China as a threat to his people’s interests, national security and economy, he might think twice about his actions and his government’s military support for the Philippines, which could trigger conflict in the South China Sea. That is the major turning point,” Beleno told This Week in Asia.

“First, he will think how much will it cost the US if the conflict erupts? He is a Republican. The Republicans would prefer to protect themselves rather than cooperate with other countries,” he added, noting it would be a test of whether Philippines and US bilateral ties are really as ironclad as President Biden says they are.

During his presidency from 2017 to 2021, Trump took a more confrontational stance against mainland China on everything from trade, technology to the South China Sea and Taiwan.

At the same time, his administration also created tensions with Asian allies by threatening to reduce US troops presence in Japan and South Korea, as well as his efforts to build direct ties with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.

While Trump has reached out to Chinese President Xi Jinping before, Beleno described his actions as being centred on protecting US interests and not its allies.

“He is very protective of US interests. So, in choosing between protecting the Philippines and US interest, I don’t think he will [prioritise] the interests of Manila,” Beleno said.

A Philippine governor opposed US drills. Now he’s been sacked for funds misuse

Asked what might happen should a second Trump administration backtrack on America’s support for the Philippines, Beleno said it could mean US troops pulling out of the country.

In February 2023, the Philippines gave the United States access to four new military sites under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the two countries, a move largely aimed at deterring any potential plan from Beijing to attack Taiwan.

Signed in 2014, EDCA supplements the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a 1999 bilateral pact providing a legal basis for large-scale joint military exercises between the US and Philippines.

“If it will cost them a lot of money, be disadvantageous on their part, and they will end up getting nothing, I would not be surprised if he would pull out their troops,” Beleno said.

“When that happens, it will be difficult for us because we are dependent on them. Unless we get other country’s support. Hopefully, if the time comes when US support gets lukewarm, it will not create a vacuum in terms of military support,” he added.

Last week, the US Congress passed a US$95.3 billion aid package to its allies, including nearly US$4 billion in security assistance to Taiwan, the Philippines, and other Indo-Pacific allies.

With this major new budget allocation for its allies, military historian and defence analyst Jose Antonio Custodio told This Week in Asia he doubted a second Trump administration would decrease its support for Manila.

“We have to remember that even during President Trump’s first term in office, there was continued support for the security and defence requirements of the Philippines,” Custodio said.

Regarding the possibility of Trump pulling troops out of the nine EDCA military encampments across the country, Custodio said that would only happen if Manila’s leadership demanded it.

“When [former president Rodrigo Duterte] threatened to abrogate the VFA, Trump was not affected by it and commented that it would save the US a lot of money,” Custodio said.

“So, it is not going to come from the side of the US but from the Philippine side. Still, it is not expected that President Marcos Jnr will go the way of Duterte, so a second Trump administration will not cause disruption between the two allies,” Custodio said.

Philippines president 2028: the prize in Liza Marcos vs Sara Duterte feud?

Custodio noted that, even after Duterte threatened to abandon the VFA, bilateral cooperation between the two countries armed forces continued unabated.

“So now with President Marcos Jnr, who has brought the Philippines and the US closer to each other compared to [when Duterte was in office], it is doubtful that a Trump administration will suddenly turn its back on Manila,” he said.

“Trump would most likely request that the Philippines would step up its mutual defence responsibilities and that would mean guaranteeing US access and increasing Philippine defence expenditures,” Custodio said.

If Trump were to take any different foreign policy approaches during a second term in office, it would be adopting a stronger stance against China, argued political analyst Sherwin Ona, an associate professor of political science at De La Salle University in Manila.

“If the Philippines shows weak resolve, then this might result in a lesser appetite from our allies, be it Trump or others,” said Ona, who is also an auxiliary officer in the Philippine coastguard.

If Trump wins, Ona said the US’ presence in the country would likely remain as pulling troops out would severely damage their credibility worldwide.

Ray Powell, a retired US Air Force officer who is now a maritime security analyst, urged Marcos Jnr to conduct early outreach to cement his relationship with Trump in case he wins a second term.

“I think what we observed during the first Trump administration indicates we should not expect a radical change from the Biden administration in its policy toward the Philippines and the West Philippine Sea. In fact, the first official to clarify US policy toward the Mutual Defence Treaty as extending into the West Philippine Sea was President Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,” Powell said.

“Rhetorically, you may see a de-emphasis on the value of alliances – especially America’s Nato alliance, since Donald Trump previously made clear that he believed the European allies needed to carry a greater share of the financial commitment. However, he did not use similar language toward Manila, even when then-President Duterte was agitating against the US and the VFA,” he added.

Chinese EVs are good for the world. Biden says they’re bad for America.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/02/china-electric-vehicle-biden-protect-united-states-auto-industry-ev/2024-04-30T16:26:44.454Z

You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest free, including news from around the globe and interesting ideas and opinions to know, sent to your inbox every weekday.

It was long thought that wealthy countries would lead the electric vehicle revolution. Oil-rich Norway was often, ironically, held up as a beacon of what the transition to EVs could look like. In the United States, Teslas and pricey electric BMWs have become a status symbol.

But in parts of the Global South, EV uptake is surging and, in some countries, keeping pace with that of the United States. The silver bullet: cheap, high-quality Chinese EVs.

“Up until a couple of years ago, there was this common narrative that electric vehicles were the kind of technology that was going to first do well in the Global North and then trickle down to the Global South,” said Ilaria Mazzocco, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And the automakers believed this. Experts believed this. I certainly believed this as well.”

Chinese automakers, she said, “have completely upended this belief.”

The affordable vehicles — many of them made by Chinese auto giant BYD — can be seen on roads from Brazil to Colombia to Vietnam. In Thailand, 1 in 10 cars registered there last year was electric, on par with the share of EVs in the U.S. car market, according to a report last month by the International Energy Agency. “Chinese companies account for over half the sales to date, and they could become even more prominent” in Thailand, the report said, as BYD is set to begin operating production facilities in the country this year.

China’s EV prowess is on display this week at the Beijing Auto Show, where Chinese automakers like BYD, Nio and Xiaomi, more known for its smartphones, brought home the point that while the rest of the world may be planning for an electrified future, China is already there.

“If you come here, you should have no doubt about EVs anymore,” William Li, Nio’s founder and chief executive, told Reuters. “It is actually not the future but is what’s happening right now.”

The transition from combustion-engine vehicles to electric ones is a boon for middle-income countries, where air quality is often a concern. In turn, it’s a tool for battling climate change globally.

But the cheap climate-friendly cars have presented a paradox for President Biden. The Biden administration has made combating climate change a key policy priority. As my colleague Maxine Joselow reported in March, the Biden administration’s Environmental Protection Agency is nudging the U.S. auto industry toward electrification: “The Environmental Protection Agency rule — President Biden’s most far-reaching climate regulation yet — will require automakers to ramp up sales of electric vehicles while slashing carbon emissions from gasoline-powered models, which account for about one-fifth of America’s contribution to global warming.”

And a new change in U.S. tax policy allows a hefty credit on certain electric vehicles to be taken off the car’s price upfront rather than during tax season. But the cars must undergo final assembly in North America — ruling out Chinese vehicles, which are subject to an additional 25 percent tariff on top of the 2.5 percent tariff on imported cars, a Trump-era imposition that the Biden administration maintained.

“These cheap electric vehicles would absolutely increase the uptake in electrification in the United States and elsewhere. That’s really where the dilemma lies,” Mazzocco said.

The average cost of an EV in China is about $30,000 — half the average cost in the United States, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News, which notes that BYD’s Seagull hatchback sells for less than $10,000.

“There are few things that would decarbonize the U.S. faster than $20,000 EVs,” David Autor, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the Atlantic’s Rogé Karma. “But there is probably nothing that would kill the U.S. auto industry faster, either.”

The picture is already a bit bleak for EVs in America’s auto industry. Automakers including Ford and GM are scaling back on EVs, hoping that plug-in hybrids — a solution for Americans worried about electric-only range between charging stations — will help bridge the gap between a gas-powered present and an electrified future. Tesla, which sells only electric vehicles, has cut prices as it faces falling sales. Rivian, a California-based maker of electric SUVs, said in a letter to shareholders that it lost $43,000 on each vehicle it delivered last year.

Such is the predicament Biden finds himself in: electrify America’s roads faster with cheap Chinese EVs or safeguard the nation’s auto industry. For now, he has chosen the latter. Biden said in a February statement that “unfair” Chinese policies — Beijing is thought to stand up China’s auto industry with subsidies and injections of capital — “could flood our market with its vehicles, posing risks to our national security. I’m not going to let that happen on our watch.”

The risks extend beyond the potential impacts on the U.S. auto industry, and in turn the U.S. economy, according to Biden. “Connected vehicles from China could collect sensitive data about our citizens and our infrastructure and send this data back to the People’s Republic of China. These vehicles could be remotely accessed or disabled,” he said in the statement.

In keeping Chinese EVs out of the United States, Biden finds himself on rare common ground with his opponent in this year’s presidential election, Donald Trump. The former president has warned of a “bloodbath” should Chinese EVs enter the U.S. market and has proposed a 100 percent tariff on the vehicles. As such, it appears that regardless of who wins in November, you probably won’t see swarms of Chinese EVs on American roads anytime soon. (One exception is Volvo, which has found a workaround to the steep tariffs on its Chinese-made EX30 model — one of the most affordable EVs on sale in the United States, starting at less than $35,000 — because it has manufacturing operations in the United States, Reuters has reported. Volvo, originally a Swedish brand, is now owned by Chinese company Geely.)

Even if the United States succeeds in keeping the Chinese vehicles out in a bid to protect its own industry, innovation among American automakers could suffer. In a market where affordable, forward-looking products are excluded, the U.S. auto industry risks becoming complacent. That could hurt consumers and cause U.S. automakers to fall behind competitors in markets abroad.

The United States could end up having “missed the chance to push their companies to be more innovative in that process,” Mazzocco said, pointing to a “really bad track record” in the United States of protecting industries while trying to keep them competitive.

“We’re in a race against time on climate,” said Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environment Forum at the Wilson Center. “If you want to go whole-in on the climate, we should open the doors for cheap electric vehicles. But that doesn’t help us in the long run economically.”

The key will be supporting innovation on next-generation electrification technologies — products and solutions beyond just electric vehicles — “the kinds of things you and I can’t even imagine,” Turner said. “We are an incredibly innovative and talented country, and there’s finally some money out there to make it happen.”

Solomon Islands chooses China-friendly ex-diplomat Jeremiah Manele as new prime minister

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/may/02/solomon-islands-new-pm-prime-minister-jeremiah-manele

Solomon Islands lawmakers have elected Jeremiah Manele as their new prime minister, a former foreign minister who has pledged to continue the Pacific island nation’s policy of embracing China.

Manele said outside parliament on Thursday “the people have spoken”, and called for calm.

The incumbent Manasseh Sogavare withdrew from the contest earlier this week after failing to secure a majority in last month’s election and backed Manele.

Manele was foreign minister in 2019 when Sogavare’s government turned its back on Taiwan and established diplomatic relations with Beijing.

Police had boosted security in the capital Honiara as the newly elected lawmakers arrived at parliament on Thursday to conduct the secret ballot.

The country’s governor, Gen Sir David Vunagi, announced outside parliament house that Manele had won 31 votes, to opposition leader Matthew Wales’ 18 votes.

A national election in April failed to deliver a majority to any political party, and two camps lobbied to win support from independents ahead of the vote for prime minister.

The poll is being closely watched by China, the US and neighbouring Australia because of the potential impact on regional security, after former prime minister Manasseh Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese congratulated Manele saying in a post on X, “I look forward to working closely with him. Australia and Solomon Islands are close friends and our futures are connected.”

Lowy Institute research fellow Mihai Sora, a former Australian diplomat in Solomon Islands, said Manele had “a strong track record of working well with all international partners”, compared to Sogavare who was “a polarising figure”.

The new prime minister’s Our party has pledged to build more infrastructure and won 15 seats, gaining four seats under a renewed coalition with two micro parties.

It needed support from independents to reach 26 seats for a majority in the 50-seat parliament.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse

China-friendly Jeremiah Manele picked as Solomon Islands PM by lawmakers

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3261111/china-friendly-jeremiah-manele-picked-solomon-islands-pm-lawmakers?utm_source=rss_feed

Solomon Islands lawmakers selected a new prime minister in a secret ballot on Thursday, choosing foreign minister Jeremiah Manele, who has pledged to continue the Pacific island nation’s foreign policy that saw it grow close to China.

Governor General David Vunagi announced outside parliament house that Manele had won 31 votes, to opposition leader Matthew Wale’s 18 votes.

Police have boosted security in the capital Honiara as newly elected lawmakers arrived at parliament on Thursday to vote.

A national election last month failed to deliver a majority to any political party, and two camps lobbied to win support from independents ahead of the vote for prime minister.

The election is being closely watched by China, the US and neighbouring Australia because of the potential impact on regional security, after incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022.

‘Geopolitics is at play’: Solomons’ pro-China PM not standing for new term

Sogavare, who built close ties with Beijing during five years in power, did not seek re-election to the top political office and his party backed Manele.

Manele said outside parliament on Thursday “the people have spoken”, and called for calm, noting a history of violence in Solomon Islands after elections.

“Today we show the world we are better than that – we must respect the democratic process for electing our prime minister,” he said.

Manele’s OUR party, which has pledged to build more infrastructure, won 15 seats, and gained four seats under a renewed coalition with two micro parties. It needed support from independents to reach 26 seats for a majority in the 50-seat parliament. A total of 49 votes were cast with one lawmaker absent.

Lowy Institute research fellow Mihai Sora, a former Australian diplomat in the Solomon Islands, said Manele has “a strong track record of working well with all international partners”, compared to Sogavare who was “a polarising figure”.

Australian National University’s Pacific expert Graeme Smith said Manele was capable and “a big change in style” for the Solomon Islands.

Manele was foreign minister in 2019 when Solomon Islands turned its back on Taiwan and established diplomatic relations with Beijing.

On Monday, Manele said he would keep the “same foreign policy basis – friends to all and enemies to none”.

He vowed a “government of national unity” that would focus on improving the economy and “progress on our road to recovery” after the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said bills on a value-added tax, establishing a special economic zone and rules around national resources would be at the top of the new government’s agenda.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

Tech war: US to bar Huawei lab, other Chinese telecoms from certifying wireless equipment

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3261113/tech-war-us-bar-huawei-lab-other-chinese-telecoms-certifying-wireless-equipment?utm_source=rss_feed

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is moving to prevent Huawei Technologies, ZTE and other foreign companies deemed to pose US national security concerns from certifying wireless equipment, officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

The FCC plans to vote this month on a bipartisan proposal to ensure that telecommunications certification bodies and test labs that certify wireless devices for the US market are not influenced by companies posing security concerns.

Last week, the FCC denied the ability of the test lab of Huawei to participate in the equipment authorisation programme.

This new proposal would permanently prohibit Huawei and other entities on an FCC list of companies posing national security risks “from playing any role in the equipment authorisation programme while also providing the FCC and its national security partners the necessary tools to safeguard this important process”, the agency said.

FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement the agency “must ensure that our equipment authorisation programme and those entrusted with administering it can rise to the challenge posed by persistent and ever-changing security and supply chain threats”.

Huawei’s recognition as an accredited lab was set to expire on Tuesday but the FCC denied the Huawei lab’s request for an extension of its recognition. Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FCC in November 2022 banned approvals of new telecommunications equipment from Huawei and ZTE as well as telecoms and video surveillance equipment from Hytera Communications, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Zhejiang Dahua Technology.

In 2022, the FCC added Russia’s AO Kaspersky Lab, China Telecom (Americas), China Mobile International USA, Pacific Networks and China Unicom to the covered list, which includes companies that pose threats to US national security under a 2019 law aimed at protecting US communications networks.

Huawei and Hikvision were placed on a US export control list in 2019, restricting most US suppliers from shipping goods and technology to them unless they were granted licences.

In 2020, the FCC designated Huawei and ZTE as national security threats to communications networks – a declaration that barred US companies from tapping an US$8.3 billion government fund to purchase equipment from the companies.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said the proposal will “ensure that the test labs and certification bodies that review electronic devices for compliance with FCC requirements are themselves trustworthy actors that the FCC can rely on”.

China, Russia space ‘militarisation’ could include nuclear weapon: US official

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3261115/china-russia-space-militarisation-could-include-nuclear-weapon-us-official?utm_source=rss_feed

For the first time in an unclassified setting, a senior Pentagon official has confirmed that the US believes Russia is preparing to deploy a nuclear weapon in space.

In testimony on Wednesday to the Republican-led House Armed Services Committee, assistant defence secretary for space policy John Plumb also asserted that China and Russia have “militarised” space.

According to Plumb, Russia is “developing a concerning anti-satellite capability related to a new satellite carrying a nuclear device that Russia is [also] developing”. He said the US is concerned about being “unable to convince them otherwise to ultimately fly a nuclear weapon in space”.

Plumb emphasised that such an “indiscriminate” weapon would jeopardise all satellites, along with the world’s essential communications, scientific research, meteorological data, agriculture, commerce, and national security services that “we all depend upon”.

He also said it could render low Earth orbit “unusable”. Responding to a lawmaker’s question of whether that could last a year, Plumb said “I believe it could”. Asked if the threat was looming, Plumb said it was “imminent in the way that we should have to worry about it right now”.

Russia ponders putting nuclear power plant on the moon with China

His remarks follow last week’s Russian veto of a US-based resolution at the United Nations on the issue, which prompted Washington to question whether Moscow was concealing something. China abstained from the vote.

“Today’s veto begs the question: Why? Why if you are following the rules would you not support a resolution that reaffirms them? What could you possibly be hiding?” US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the council after the vote.

The resolution aimed to urge all states to reaffirm their commitment to comply with the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 and called on them to actively contribute to the goal of peaceful use and the prevention of an extraterrestrial arms race.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia accused Washington of trying to discredit Moscow and announced that Russia would soon initiate discussions with council members on its own proposed resolution aimed at promoting the peaceful use of space.

In a statement issued by the White House on April 24, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that if Russian President Vladimir Putin truly had no intentions of deploying nuclear weapons in space, Moscow “would not have vetoed this resolution”.

Plumb called the 1960s – when the Soviet Union and the US each conducted a high-altitude nuclear test – a “different time” when testing was done to “learn things”. The tests damaged all satellites and rendered those orbits unusable “for a time”, he added.

Plumb clarified that the outer space treaty does not prohibit weapons in space, but refers to weapons of mass destruction, and asserted that Russia and China have “militarised” space.

“We can say that Russia is deploying and developing prototype kinetic weapons in space,” he said.

“We can see that China has developed robotic satellites that are really probably dual use – they can be used for non-military purposes but they can clearly also be used for military purposes like grappling a satellite.”

Why the Solomon Islands election matters to China and the U.S.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/05/01/solomon-islands-election-china/2024-04-17T05:50:52.091Z

The Solomon Islands, the Pacific country most friendly to Beijing, looks set to deepen its strong ties with China following foreign minister Jeremiah Manele’s elevation to prime minister Thursday.

The election has been closely watched by Washington and its allies as Beijing extends its reach into a region traditionally dominated by the United States and Australia, forging security agreements that could further its military aims across the Pacific.

The strategically valuable Solomons archipelago — comprising hundreds of islands straddling important international shipping lanes — is at the center of great power rivalry in the Pacific as China uses loans and aid to gain influence in the often-overlooked the region.

National elections held on April 17 delivered no clear winner, triggering weeks of backroom negotiations to form a government. Lawmakers, who are not bound to political parties and can move between rival camps, cast their votes for prime minister in a secret ballot on Thursday. Manele won the ballot by 31 votes to 18, Radio New Zealand reported.

The country’s China-friendly former leader, Manasseh Sogavare, had already announced he would not seek reelection after holding onto his electorate by only the narrowest of margins.

Security was tight in the lead-up to Thursday’s decision. Local and international police stepped up controls, deploying helicopters, drones and sea patrols to survey the capital, Honiara, for any signs of unrest. Australia and other neighboring countries had sent police and defense personnel to the Solomon Islands to help maintain the peace ahead of the elections.

Who is Jeremiah Manele, the Solomon Islands’ new prime minister?

Manele is likely to continue pursuing close relations with China, although in a less “rabble-rousing” manner than his predecessor, said Cleo Paskal, a Pacific expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington. At a recent campaign rally, Sogavare praised Chinese governance and suggested Western-style democracy leads to moral decay.

Manele served as foreign minister under Sogavare’s administration, which switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China in 2019, and in 2022 struck a secret security agreement with Beijing.

“He was the contact guy for engagement with China,” said Paskal. “He wouldn’t have been selected as the prime ministerial candidate for [the incumbent] party if they expected him to drift far from the path.”

The United States and its allies worry the security pact — which gives Chinese ships, including military forces, full access to the Solomons, according to a leaked copy — could lead to the establishment of a Chinese military base, although China and the Solomon Islands have denied any such plans.

Chinese navy ships regularly brush up against U.S. allies in the region. The Chinese Navy’s floating hospital ship, Peace Ark, docked in Honiara last year, ahead of a planned visit by the U.S. Navy hospital ship, Mercy.

Manele heads up a group called the Government for National Unity and Transformation made up of lawmakers from three parties, including his Our Party.

His main rival, Matthew Wale, who leads the main opposition Democratic Party, was trying to get the numbers to form a government but failed.

Wale has argued the 2022 security deal with Beijing would affect regional security and could jeopardize relationships with traditional allies. The country’s political elite had long perceived by the people of the Solomon Islands as “compliant to Asian business interests in the granting of logging, fishing and mining concessions, Wale wrote in an article in the Guardian newspaper at the time of the deal.

Wale also opposed spending money on last year’s Pacific Games — including flashy stadiums funded by Beijing — when the country’s hospitals were in dire need of repair.

Wale had the support of Peter Kenilorea Jr, an outspoken lawmaker and the son of the country’s first prime minister, who has advocated switching ties back to Taiwan.

Why are the election results important to the U.S. and its allies?

The United States is increasing its aid and diplomatic engagement with Pacific nations, including the Solomon Islands, as Washington fears that Beijing is outcompeting it in even the tiniest of countries.

Washington has scrambled to catch up, reopening an embassy in Honiara in January last year — 30 years after it closed it. It also opened an embassy Tonga last May. There are plans for two more in Vanuatu and Kiribati.

The 2022 security pact between the Solomon Islands and China sparked fears it could lead to the establishment of a Chinese military base in the site of some of the fiercest fighting of the Pacific campaign in World War II. Thousands of American soldiers died in the Guadalcanal campaign. The island chain lies only about 1,200 miles east of the Australia, a key U.S. ally.

China’s biggest technology company, Huawei, is building dozens of telecommunications towers in the archipelago, raising concerns it could enable Chinese surveillance. Last year, Sogavare signed a pact on police cooperation during a visit to Beijing.

Washington fears that the Solomons deal is becoming a blueprint for Chinese ambitions across the region, although other Pacific nations, notably Fiji, seem wary of the conditions attached.

How close are China-Solomon Islands relations?

Even before the Solomon Islands switched diplomatic ties to Beijing in 2019, Chinese businesses in the archipelago were a source of tension. Many of the stores lining Honiara’s potholed main street are owned by recent Chinese migrants. Chinese businesses have been targeted in riots as far back as 2006.

In 2021, protesters set fire to Parliament, demanding the prime minister’s resignation. The days-long riots spread across the capital, Honiara, targeting the Chinatown area and Sogavare’s home.

Sogavare’s Our Party won about 15 of the 50 seats in parliament in last month’s election — a result some experts interpreted as a backlash against China.

“If you end up with basically Sogavare-lite, a kinder, gentler-looking but pro-[China] party, the people of the Solomons, who didn’t vote for that, will not be delighted,” said Paskal. “There’s concern about potential unrest.”

In an interview with Australian Broadcasting Corp. ahead of Thursday’s leadership vote, Manele suggested the incumbent Our Party’s poor election result was a reflection of its lawmakers not meeting the needs of their own local constituencies, rather than a rejection of the party or its China policies.

What has outgoing Prime Minister Sogavare said about Beijing?

Outgoing prime minister Manasseh Sogavare was openly pro-Beijing, and known for his combative relationship with the West. During a week-long visit to China last year, Sogavare said his country had “a lot to learn” from China.

In a televised address announcing his decision to stand aside, Sogavare said “geopolitics is at play” and his government had been “under pressure from the United States and western allies” after the 2019 decision to switch recognition to China. Experts expect Sogavare will continue to wield influence within the new government. “He’s a proxy. And proxies are disposable. But he still has some utility” to China, said Paskal.

In his Monday address, Sogavare repeated a phrase he often used to describe his foreign policy approach, now adopted by his successor: “friends to all and enemy to none.”

Ukraine war briefing: US hits China with sanctions over war supplies to Russia

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/may/02/ukraine-war-briefing-us-hits-china-with-sanctions-over-war-supplies-to-russia

• China has been hit with sanctions by the US for supplying “critical inputs to Russia’s military-industrial base” for use in the war against Ukraine. US officials on Wednesday announced a sweeping package targeting nearly 300 entities in Russia, China and other countries. “Today’s actions will further disrupt and degrade Russia’s war efforts by going after its military industrial base and the evasion networks that help supply it,” said the US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen.

• The almost 300 targets include dozens of actors accused of enabling Russia to acquire technology and equipment from abroad. Other than China, targeted non-Russian entities were located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, Slovakia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). These companies “enable Russia to acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad”, a treasury statement said. As part of the measures, the state department blacklisted additional individuals and companies involved in Moscow’s energy, mining and metals sectors; and individuals connected to the death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in a Siberian prison in February.

• The US has accused Russia of violating the international chemical weapons ban by deploying the choking agent chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops and using riot control chemicals “as a method of warfare” in Ukraine. Russia’s use of the gas “comes from the same playbook as its operations to poison” Navalny in 2020, and Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in 2018, with the novichok nerve agent, the state department said, adding that it was delivering its findings to Congress.

• “The use of such chemicals is not an isolated incident and is probably driven by Russian forces’ desire to dislodge Ukrainian forces from fortified positions and achieve tactical gains on the battlefield,” the state department said. In addition to chloropicrin, Russian forces have also illegally used grenades loaded with CS and CN gases, the Ukrainian military alleged.

• The US government said it was sanctioning Russian state entities and companies linked to Moscow’s chemical and biological weapons programmes, including a specialised military unit that “facilitated the use” of chloropicrin against Ukrainian troops. The state department is expected to convey its findings to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), whose rules Russia and other members are required to obey.

• Five civilians were killed on Wednesday as Russia struck Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, local officials said. In the north-eastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia, a guided bomb attack killed a 38-year-old woman and her father inside a car, the region’s governor said. Farther east in the Kharkiv region close to the city of Kupiansk, Russian shelling killed a 67-year-old woman in the village of Lelyukivka. In the eastern Donetsk region, a 57-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man were killed and six injured in the small town of Girnyk, about 15km from the frontline, said Vadym Filashkin, the head of the region’s military administration.

• Vadym Filashkin, a regional governor, has said 682 residents are holding on in “very difficult conditions” with no running water or power in the besieged city of Chasiv Yar, prewar population 12,500. Months of relentless Russian artillery pounding have devastated the strategic city which has emerged as the invaders’ next major target, sitting on elevated ground that could serve as a gateway to the cities of Kostiantynivka, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Ukrainian forces defending Chasiv Yar have said they are still awaiting fresh ammunition.

• Ukraine’s Nova Poshta postal and courier company said late on Wednesday that a missile had struck its sorting depot in Odesa, but there were no casualties among its employees. The Odesa regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said at least 13 people were injured in the missile strike, which triggered a large fire.

• A Russian national pleaded guilty on Wednesday to lying to the FBI about his participation in an organisation that wants to restore the “Russian empire” including Ukraine. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Tomas Ianchauskas, a US green card holder who mainly lives in Russia, served as the regional leader of the Tsargrad Society, formerly known as the Double Headed Eagle Society. US prosecutors say the group is controlled by sanctioned Russian businessman Konstantin Malofeyev. Ianchauskas, 39, pleaded guilty to one count of making false statements to FBI agents. He faces up to six months in prison when sentenced on 11 July.

South Korea ‘sensing geopolitical uncertainty’ avoids commitment in potential Taiwan crisis, maintains China ties

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3261076/south-korea-sensing-geopolitical-uncertainty-avoids-commitment-potential-taiwan-crisis-maintains?utm_source=rss_feed

Seoul’s reluctance to commit itself in the event of a Taiwan crisis, despite being an American ally, stems from its need to remain prudent amid uncertainty over ongoing global conflicts, the coming US presidential election and a potentially emboldened North Korea.

Warning that a war in the Taiwan Strait would escalate into full-blown conflict, analysts also said South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, fresh off a pummelling at the polls, should show that he can maintain his ties with Beijing ahead of a trilateral summit.

South Korea’s Minister of National Defence Shin Won-sik downplayed his country’s resolve to intervene in such a scenario, during a TV interview on April 21, adding that if a crisis occurred, Seoul’s paramount concern was “observing the possibility of North Korean provocations”.

Will South Korea’s Yoon ignore calls to say ‘xie xie’ and forget Taiwan?

Shin added that South Korea will work with the United States to create a strong defence strategy, and said Seoul is focused on maintaining national security as part of “upholding global security”.

Seong-Hyon Lee, visiting scholar at the Harvard University Asia Centre, said South Korea’s reservations in getting involved in a Taiwan crisis stemmed from “uncertainty” as wars rage in Ukraine and the Middle East, and November’s US elections loom.

“South Korea is sensing geopolitical uncertainty,” he said, noting that Seoul was “toning down the rhetoric” on Taiwan so as not to inject uncertainty that could “easily turn into volatility”.

Such prudence, Lee noted, was also observed by the US during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing in late April, as well as Japan.

Before Blinken’s three-day visit to China, US officials pointed to a period of relative calm in the Taiwan Strait over the past few months, after years of aggressive Chinese military manoeuvres and threats.

During Blinken’s visit, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi outlined Chinese concerns about US policies on the South China Sea and Taiwan, adding that mainland China’s “core interests are facing challenges”.

Just hours after Blinken departed on Saturday, Taiwan reported a sudden surge of military activity, with a dozen Chinese warplanes flying sorties close to the island.

Lee said that given the defeat of President Yoon’s People Power Party during last month’s National Assembly elections, the South Korean leader needed “to show that he can manage relations with China”, especially ahead of a trilateral leadership summit between China, Japan and South Korea later this month.

Jae-Jeok Park, an associate professor at the Graduate School of International Studies at South Korea’s Yonsei University, said North Korea could take advantage of a Taiwan crisis, by taking over disputed islands near the Northern Limit Line, the maritime border between the two Koreas.

“Preparing against a possible attack from North Korea is helping the US in Taiwan indirectly,” Park said, noting that Washington could then utilise its forces without worrying about North Korean provocation.

“Sending troops to Taiwan is not the only way we can support the US in Taiwan. Preventing North Korea from attacking South Korea is an indirect and important way to support the US in Taiwan,” Park said.

If South Korean troops were sent to Taiwan, Park predicted that Seoul would have little wiggle room.

“South Korea would not have space to consider China’s strategic position … [Seoul] would have no choice but to side with the US,” Park said.

Alexander M. Hynd, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said that under the US-South Korea alliance, Seoul was keen to maximise its diplomatic independence from America while holding onto Washington’s security guarantee.

“It is not in South Korea’s interests to commit itself prematurely to joining a US military action,” said Hynd, who specialises in Asia-Pacific’s international relations and politics.

Beijing criticises South Korea for inviting Taiwan to democracy summit

“If the US were later seen to put pressure on South Korea to change its stance on this issue, then South Korea could not only use this as bargaining leverage with Washington, but also minimise the diplomatic fallout in Beijing,” Hynd said.

Chinese state tabloid the Global Times in August called on South Korea to “remain rational and clear-headed” not only for its own sake but also for the interests of the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia.

Calling on Seoul to oppose all forms of the “new Cold War” ahead of the Camp David Summit between the US, Japan and South Korea held in August, the editorial accused Washington and Tokyo of having “hidden motives” and “manipulating events in the shadows”.

Unlike the ongoing war in Ukraine, Lee said a war in the Taiwan Strait was unlikely to be a limited but would likely be a full-blown conflict, due to the growing ties between North Korea and Russia, and the expected summit between the North Korean and Chinese leaders later this year.

“North Korea is likely to be more emboldened” by attacking South Korea to divert US attention, Lee added.

Pyongyang had shipped about 7,000 containers filled with munitions and other military equipment to Russia since last year to help support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, defence minister Shin said in March.

Japan, Philippines, South Korea most open to ‘huge disruption’ of any Taiwan war

In return, Russia had provided North Korea with food, raw materials and parts used to make weapons, as well as assisting in Pyongyang’s illegal satellite launches.

Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s meeting with China’s No 3 official Zhao Leji in Pyongyang was seen as a sign that Kim might be preparing to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping this year.

“South Korea will be facing not just nuclear-armed North Korea, but also Russia and China that are backing North Korea,” Lee said, noting that in a Taiwan war, South Korea would be at the forefront of the “northern theatre” facing North Korea and Russia, while the US and Japan would be facing the “southern theatre” near the Taiwan Strait.

“It will be a difficult war for every party involved, and the best hope is to prevent it from happening,” Lee warned.

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China road rage woman claims husband is national footballer, threatens other driver saying he can ‘kick you to death’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3259863/china-road-rage-woman-claims-husband-national-footballer-threatens-other-driver-saying-he-can-kick?utm_source=rss_feed

A wealthy woman in China has been detained after she slapped and kicked the vehicle of another driver following a minor accident – even threatening to kill the other woman.

The accused, surnamed Lin, 38, from Zhejiang province in eastern China, was driving a Porsche on April 12 when she accidentally scratched a car owned by another woman, surnamed Huang, according to guacha.cn, an online news outlet in the mainland.

Rather than apologising or trying to find a solution, Lin began to kick and slap Huang’s car while threatening the woman that her husband – who she claimed was a member of China’s national football team – “could kick you to death”.

Lin’s husband was also involved in the attack in which both of them hit Huang’s car, forcing her to lock her vehicle out of fear for her personal safety. She then began to record the couple with her mobile phone.

It is unclear if Lin’s unidentified husband was also detained.

Lin was heard on the video uploaded to Douyin, China’s TikTok, yelling:

“I am an online celebrity with over 1 million fans, and my husband is a member of the national football team. He can kick you to death!

“What a shabby car you are driving! We can afford to buy you four or five similar cars if we run into them,” Lin continued.

“Even if we killed you, we would only need to pay 200,000 yuan (US$27,600) as compensation. It’s a pretty small amount of money for us. You are only worth that little money.”

Huang’s daughter was heard crying in the video during the outburst while her mother tried to comfort her.

Huang reported the case to the police and later said on Douyin that Lin had been placed under administrative detention and ordered to take full responsibility for the accident.

“Police are still investigating the case. Her husband dared not appear at the police station but hid in the car,” said Huang.

Mainland media frequently cover disputes caused by minor car accidents.

In December, two drivers involved in a fender bender on a major street in Guangdong province in southern China simply stopped their vehicles in the middle of the road while they quarrelled, leading to a 3 km-long traffic jam.

US concern about China’s overcapacity is a non-issue, just like in 2009

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3260911/us-concern-about-chinas-overcapacity-non-issue-just-2009?utm_source=rss_feed

The issue of overcapacity in China has once again found its way into international discourse. During her recent visit to China, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen emphasised the concerns shared by the United States and other nations over China’s industrial overcapacity spilling into the global economy.

Echoing Yellen, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also raised unfair Chinese trade practices during a subsequent meeting with local government officials in Shanghai.

Overcapacity, denoting a situation where production surpasses demand, has become a recurring theme in discussions on China’s economic landscape, resonating across various sectors and industries.

Lu Feng, emeritus professor of economics at Peking University, recently shed light on the dimensions of the current wave of overcapacity. He pointed to sectors including petrochemicals, semiconductors, autos, new energy vehicles and batteries.

For instance, Chinese exports of lithium-ion batteries surged more than 30 per cent year on year in 2023. In the same year, China also exported 1.2 million electric vehicles, 80 per cent more than a year ago.

The rapid growth of China’s EV exports, in particular, has driven discussions on Chinese overcapacity. Fuelled by geopolitically charged mistrust, these concerns have been amplified into a chorus of anxiety.

However, the current narrative of Chinese overcapacity sounds rather similar to that during the global financial crisis of 2008, as China’s 4 trillion yuan (US$580 billion) stimulus package led to expanded industrial input and concerns over Chinese exporting overcapacity.

China became the world’s largest exporter in 2009, triggering apprehension about an economic model more centred on acquiring market share than brand-building. Back then, the contraction of global trade exacerbated fears about overcapacity, so much so that The New York Times ran a piece fretting over China’s excess capacity.

Yet, history reveals that this state of affairs was short-lived, and that the hand-wringing about overcapacity was unnecessary. Global demand quickly recovered in 2010, as exports grew 14.5 per cent, a rebound from the 12 per cent fall in the previous year. And concerns about China’s capacity began to dissipate.

It became evident that the outcry about overcapacity was largely inspired by the global economic slowdown and diminished market demand rather than inherent flaws in China’s industrial model.

Fast-forward to 2024, and the global economic landscape is marked by geopolitical turbulence, and international trade dynamics are unfolding differently.

Despite this, international demand has shown noticeable resilience, and forecasts indicate a gradual recovery in global trade. The world electric vehicle market, in particular, is witnessing exponential growth, with sales soaring 35 per cent year on year in 2023 and projections indicating further expansion.

Similarly, the solar panel market presents immense growth potential, with BloombergNEF expecting new photovoltaic installations around the world to reach 880 gigawatts in 2030, about twice the figure for 2023.

The global market’s green appetite is huge and dwarfs the capacity of suppliers. To achieve the climate goals outlined in the Paris agreement, substantial investments in clean energy are imperative – according to the International Energy Agency, US$4.5 trillion would be needed per year, yet renewable energy spending in 2023 is expected to be only US$1.8 trillion.

The gap between required investment and actual expenditure underscores the need for highly cost-effective products, advanced technologies and efficient resource allocation. It is impossible for China to tackle the climate challenge alone.

Instead of addressing so-called overcapacity, we need global collaboration across industries and sectors to increase the momentum of the global sustainable economy.

As the world transitions to environmental technologies, maximising the capacity of green suppliers is critical in combating climate change. Rather than resorting to finger-pointing and protectionism, fostering cooperation among all stakeholders – manufacturers, researchers, suppliers, investors and consumers – is paramount.

Why it is in the US’ own interest to work with China on EV production

China, with its diverse industrial capabilities, plays a pivotal role in the global manufacturing landscape, accounting for about one-third of the world’s manufacturing output.

Viewed within the framework of economic globalisation, China’s capacity is indispensable to meeting international demand. Moreover, an integrated global market not only requires diverse participation but also offers mutual benefits, fostering a win-win scenario for stakeholders.

In conclusion, the narrative surrounding overcapacity in China must be contextualised within the broader framework of sustainable industrial growth and global collaboration.

As the world embraces the green transition, leveraging collective capacities and resources is imperative in addressing the challenges posed by climate change. Instead of fragmentation, concerted efforts towards cooperation and innovation will pave the way for a more resilient and sustainable future for all.

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Are US-China relations destined to end up as a ‘new cold war’?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3261044/are-us-china-relations-destined-end-new-cold-war?utm_source=rss_feed

Ties between the United States and China are on a “long trajectory of decline” despite recent efforts to stabilise the relationship, according to diplomatic observers who point to the deep mistrust that remains between the two sides.

With some describing the situation as a “new cold war”, there are growing calls within Washington for the US to formulate a clearer policy on how it wishes to engage with China.

Zhiqun Zhu, a professor of international relations at Bucknell University in the US, said both sides viewed stability as a priority as shown by recent high-level exchanges, including last month’s phone call between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, as well as recent visits by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

He said that with Biden trying to win November’s election and dealing with crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, “the last thing he wants now is a conflict with another great power”.

Likewise with Xi, a “smooth working relationship with the US is imperative” as he grapples with economic challenges at home and rising tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

“In this context, it is not hard to understand why both leaders want to maintain stability and keep communication channels open in the relationship,” Zhu said.

“Managing this complex relationship is never going to be easy, but it seems that both sides are cautious and are trying to avoid conflict. This is a better approach than a confrontational one.”

Recent talks also spoke to both sides’ anxiety that relations could continue to spiral downwards, said Dylan Loh, assistant professor of foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

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

He said Xi and Biden had agreed to “put guardrails in place” when they met in November and increased communication was a “key manifestation” of that.

During his visit last week, Blinken met various senior officials, including Xi, as both sides pledged to continue high-level engagement, but little progress appeared to have been made on the most challenging issues.

“No one is seriously expecting any serious breakthroughs in their relationship but at least they are communicating regularly and at the highest levels,” Loh said.

There are already some signs of improvement. Zha Daojiong, a professor at Peking University’s School of International Studies, said the exchanges have resulted in the establishment of new working groups on economic and financial policy and the resumption of other groups covering areas ranging from climate change, drugs and military affairs.

Zha said things had gone “back to normal” in the fight against illicit drugs and the trafficking of chemicals used to make fentanyl, adding that the increase in direct flights between the two countries was another “step in the right direction”.

But while things might be on a more stable footing, Dominic Chiu, a senior analyst at the Eurasia Group, argued: “Relations are still on a long trajectory of decline”.

He said continued engagements would not solve the fundamental issues plaguing relations, such as Taiwan and the deepening competition over technology.

Chiu said such issues are “structural because they hit at the heart of US-China rivalry and red lines in such a way that neither side is willing to make satisfactory concessions to come to a long-term resolution”.

He added: “There is no avenue for resolving those issues now, other than continued dialogue.”

Both issues were raised by Xi during his call with Biden, during which he stressed that Taiwan was “the first red line that must not be crossed”.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China that must eventually be reunited with the mainland – by force if necessary. Meanwhile the US, in common with most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as independent but is opposed to a forcible change in the status quo and is legally bound to arm the island to help it defend itself.

The Chinese leader also accused the US of trying to “suppress” China’s technological development, warning that Beijing would not “sit back and watch” if Washington was bent on containing its growth.

Chiu said Xi’s message to Biden was that Beijing’s patience was “essentially running thin”, especially regarding the tech issue, and said that actions such as export curbs made the situation “unsustainable”.

But there appears to be a bipartisan consensus in Washington which means that the current tech curbs are likely to continue regardless of who is in power.

Zhu from Bucknell University, pointed to another structural issue, arguing that the US, as the current leading global power, would not allow a peer competitor to unseat it, especially one that did not share its values.

US Senate passes bill to force ByteDance to sell TikTok or face ban of the app

Meanwhile China is becoming increasingly frustrated with perceived American interference in areas such as Taiwan and the South China Sea.

“The rise of China itself will make the US uncomfortable regardless of China’s intentions,” he said.

Zhu also warned that neither side trusts the others and this problem will be “hard to resolve unless and until the two powers sit down and earnestly agree that they plan to co-exist peacefully without harming each other’s core interests”.

Loh from Nanyang Technological University, had a similar assessment, saying: “There are plenty of things they disagree on and until strategic trust is increased, or put another way, they distrust each other less, it is very difficult to see solid, substantive improvement.”

Robert Daly, director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, agreed that the two countries are engaged in a “new kind of cold war” that will have to be “carefully managed”.

He suggested that Washington was following a cold war approach of trying to avoid conflict as it competes with China.

“There is no sign that the Biden administration is playing down the rivalry or that it has changed its assessment of threats posed by China’s Communist Party,” he said.

Fei-Ling Wang, international affairs professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, also saw signs of a new type of cold war – punctuated by “zigzags and ups and downs” – but he said engagement was still useful in managing the relationship between the two countries.

Even though there was little expectation that current rounds of high-level talks will lead to a breakthrough, “it is always better to talk ”.

But he said the profound differences between the two could only be addressed by a “great transformation in Chinese politics and worldview” or “American capitulation to Chinese power and demands” – both of which will be difficult to bring about.

Biden accuses China of ‘cheating’ amid call for added steel, aluminium tariffs

The Biden administration’s approach towards China has, however, faced criticism in some quarters in Washington.

Recently two prominent Republican policymakers – Donald Trump’s former Asia adviser Matthew Pottinger and Wisconsin congressman Mike Gallagher – argued in a Foreign Affairs essay that managing competition with China was “not a goal but a ‘counterproductive’ method.”

They called for a tougher approach and accused Biden’s administration of prioritising a “short-term thaw with China’s leaders at the expense of a long-term victory over their malevolent strategy”

Many analysts agree that Washington needs to set out a clear end goal.

Chiu, from the Eurasia Group, said the Biden administration’s ultimate goals are not “clearly defined” and that managing competition was “at best an intermediate goal to achieve a higher goal”.

According to Chiu, American lawmakers have a wide range of preferred outcomes that range from regime change to “coming to a grand bargain” with China.

“The lack of a unified US goal on China reflects the lack of a unified political leadership that would have the authority to define what the goal is and implement it without suffering backlash or obstruction from the other side,” he said. “Lawmakers need to be clearer on end goals in order to formulate good policy.”

Zhu added that American policymakers appeared to agree that Washington should be tough on Beijing – but that alone would not solve the problem.

“Hawks in the US government should understand that the unipolar world dominated by the US is coming to an end, and that the US needs to co-exist with China and work with China constructively to address existential threats to the world such as climate change and the two ongoing wars [in Gaza and Ukraine],” he said.

American on WHO team probing Covid-19 origins in China denies his ‘dangerous research’ caused pandemic

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3261106/american-who-team-probing-covid-19-origins-china-denies-his-dangerous-research-caused-pandemic?utm_source=rss_feed

A notable scientist who was the lone American citizen on a World Health Organization coronavirus fact-finding mission in China three years ago refuted allegations that his “dangerous research” collaborating with a lab in Wuhan caused the pandemic.

Grilled by US lawmakers at a House select subcommittee hearing in Washington on Wednesday, Peter Daszak, president of New York-based EcoHealth Alliance, said its work in China “provided direct public health benefits to the American people”.

“Viruses that we identified in bats in China were used by US labs during the Covid pandemic to test drugs, vaccines and therapies that saved countless lives,” said Daszak, a disease ecologist.

Before Wednesday’s hearing, the House panel released a report claiming EcoHealth Alliance funded “dangerous research” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology using US government grants without sufficient oversight.

Amid high tensions between Washington and Beijing, the Wuhan institute has felt the glare of scrutiny in recent years, with some US politicians and intelligence agencies claiming the pandemic resulted from the coronavirus escaping from its laboratory.

Chinese officials have repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegation.

Having received funding worth millions of US dollars from the American government-backed National Institutes of Health since 2014, EcoHealth Alliance worked with the Wuhan institute for years before the outbreak.

The collaboration included research on understanding the risk of a novel bat virus spilling into humans in China. That research has come under the spotlight.

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

Daszak in his testimony stated there was “incredibly substantial evidence that this virus emerged through so-called natural zoonotic origins” – namely, the spread of germs between animals and people.

To date, there remains no direct verifiable or scientific evidence that Covid originated in a lab, the ecologist added.

“If we are serious about preventing pandemics, we will have no choice but to work collaboratively with governments in those places where they will most likely begin,” he said.

“Supporting global health research, rather than trying to shut it down, will guarantee the best outcomes for the American people.”

This was the case, Daszak continued, “because it allows us rapid access to information at the earliest stages of a pandemic so we can act quickly and prevent what begins over there from affecting us here at home”.

But some US lawmakers, especially Republicans, urged on Wednesday that Daszak and his research group be barred from receiving any federal funds and face criminal investigation.

Brad Wenstrup, an Ohio Republican and the select subcommittee’s chairman, asserted that Daszak’s research “puts the world at the risk of a pandemic” and is “a threat to national security”.

“It’s nice if you can do work in the country where the greatest risk is and we can do the surveillance there,” the congressman said.

“But the problem is you’re in a country that is not trustable and not accountable and not cooperative with the [World Health Organization.] In this case, we have a problem. That’s not where you should be.”

China’s ‘zero-Covid’ rules are history. So why is Beijing hanging on to the past?

Meanwhile, Democrats on the panel questioned “weaknesses” in EcoHealth’s funding usage, while saying the US should not “throw out the baby with the bathwater” in terms of future scientific research collaboration with non-US entities.

At present, no evidence has yet substantiated allegations that EcoHealth Alliance used US taxpayer dollars to fund the work that created the Covid-19 pandemic, said Raul Ruiz, a California Democrat and the subcommittee’s ranking member.

Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, said the US “must focus our attention on the future and how we can best protect all Americans from and against future pandemics”.

“Sowing distrust in the scientific and medical communities is not a way to accomplish this goal,” Dingell added.