Mistral点评

• TikTok creators file suit to block US divest or ban law, call Chinese app ‘part of American life’
• South China Sea: Beijing should respond to ‘blatant provocation’ after US-Philippines joint military drills: report
• Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai voices confidence in Chinese consumer spending as e-commerce, cloud business units get back on growth track
• Biden says new China tariffs are needed to protect US industries from companies subsidised by Beijing
• Pakistan wants to speed up China-linked project amid fears over fatal attacks
• Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post scoops 60 awards at 45th Best of News Design Creative Competition
• [Uk] Chinese ambassador summoned to UK Foreign Office
• UK government summons Chinese ambassador over spying case linked to Hong Kong trade office manager, 2 others
• Backlash against China-made Kobe Bryant booze, firm accused of disrespecting late NBA legend, infringing copyright
• US proposes new round of tariffs on China, cites ‘unfair’ tech transfer policies that ‘burden’ US commerce
• Hong Kong has special role to play in stabilising China-US relationship, forum told
• Philippine civilian group to continue Scarborough Shoal resupply mission despite talk of Chinese blockade
• China signals it will help US tackle illegal migration after halting cooperation in 2022
• Mainland China’s talks with South Korea hinge on Seoul honouring Taiwan inauguration promise
• Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset obtains China quality certification ahead of official domestic release
• Cleaner air in China causes ‘sudden warming’ in North America, study finds
• Biden hiking tariffs on Chinese EVs, solar cells, steel, aluminum — adding to tensions with Beijing
• Russian president Putin to make a state visit to China this week
• Biden announces 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles
• China’s rail gun sends smart bomb into stratosphere at hypersonic speed, then something goes wrong
• China-South Korea relations: as Beijing opposes foreign interference in ties, Seoul rejects ‘zero-sum’ diplomacy
• Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin as ‘no limits’ partners mark 75 years of ties
• Philippine visa scheme sparks fears of Chinese students acting as ‘agents of state’
• Biden to hit Chinese EVs with tariffs topping 100 percent as election looms
• How Chinese surveillance technology helps North Korea keep its citizens on a tight leash
• Flood of China’s used cooking oil spurs call to hike US levies to protect growers of crops used for sustainable fuels
• Global Impact: will ‘golden times’ return for China? Analysts, observers and military personnel have their say
• Student from China freed from kidnap gang in Thailand who demand US$1.1 million ransom using porn, organ harvesting threats
• Xi’s visit to Hungary and Serbia brings new Chinese investment and deeper ties to Europe’s doorstep
• Berlin invited Chinese diplomat to meet over spying case linked to Hong Kong trade body ex-employee
• Chinese self-driving car supplier Hesai sues US for accusing it of military ties
• Taiwanese naval drones won’t be able to sink our ships, mainland Chinese media says
• ‘Not a good sign’: drone footage of Japan warship on Chinese social media sparks concern in Tokyo
• China’s first sodium-ion battery energy storage station could cut reliance on lithium
• UK move to prosecute 3 for allegedly spying for Hong Kong will sour ties between Britain and China, experts say
• Chinese gaming giants Tencent, NetEase to release new titles back to back in sign of intensified rivalry
• ‘Exotic’ woman of Pakistani descent adopted by Chinese couple as baby captivates mainland public, vows to repay parents
• China breakthrough could make ‘fault-tolerant’ quantum computing a reality
• In China, Many Older Workers Find It Difficult to Retire
• China’s real-estate market enters a new phase as cities end bitter war against property speculators

TikTok creators file suit to block US divest or ban law, call Chinese app ‘part of American life’

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3262710/tiktok-creators-file-suit-block-us-divest-or-ban-law-call-chinese-app-part-american-life?utm_source=rss_feed

A group of TikTok creators said on Tuesday that they have filed suit in US federal court seeking to block a law signed by US President Joe Biden that would force the divestiture of the short video app used by 170 million Americans or ban it.

“Although they come from different places, professions, walks of life, and political persuasions, they are united in their view that TikTok provides them a unique and irreplaceable means to express themselves and form community,” said the lawsuit.

Davis Wright Tremaine, a law firm representing the creators, provided a copy of the lawsuit it said had been filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The suit, which seeks injunctive relief, says the law threatens free speech and “promises to shutter a discrete medium of communication that has become part of American life”.

Last week, TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance filed a similar lawsuit, arguing that the law violates the US Constitution on a number of grounds including running afoul of First Amendment free speech protections.

TikTok creators filed a similar suit in 2020 to block a prior attempt to block the app, and also sued last year in Montana asking a court to block a state ban.

The law, signed by Biden on April 24, gives ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban.

The White House has said it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national security grounds but not a ban on TikTok.

The law prohibits app stores like Apple, and Alphabet’s Google, from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless ByteDance divests TikTok by January 19.

South China Sea: Beijing should respond to ‘blatant provocation’ after US-Philippines joint military drills: report

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3262685/south-china-sea-beijing-should-respond-blatant-provocation-after-us-philippines-joint-military?utm_source=rss_feed

China should respond strongly to “blatant provocation” after an annual US-Philippine annual military exercise in the South China Sea put unprecedented focus on Taiwan, a Beijing think tank has said.

The assessment by the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative – which has published annual reports about US military activities in the disputed waters since 2019 – was made in an analysis released on Monday.

The report said that this year’s Balikatan military exercise, which ended last week, had “envisaged an escalation of disputes in the South China Sea and contingencies in the Taiwan Strait”.

The area of focus had “shifted from the western waters of the Philippines in previous years to cover both the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait [this year], which evidently exposed the attempt by the United States and the Philippines to instigate coordination between the two seas”, the report said.

“This also means that the US-Philippines military alliance now has wider coverage, has become more offensive, and will have an increasingly negative impact on the regional situation.”

China should respond to the “frequent provocations in the South China Sea” and Manila’s increasingly “dangerous” policy direction with a strong tone and countermeasures, the report added.

The annual combat drill between Manila and Washington this year – the largest in scope since it started in 1991 – took place outside the Philippines’ 12 nautical mile territorial waters for the first time. More than 16,000 military personnel were involved, with French forces joining the exercises for the first time.

The United States Marine Corps said the Balikatan, or “shoulder-to-shoulder” exercise, was aimed at expanding military readiness across the full range of combined and joint operations, with a focus on territorial defence.

While the Philippines maintained that the exercise did not target any single country, the drill took place amid heightened tensions with Beijing over the South China Sea.

Confrontations between the coastguards of two countries stemming from overlapping territorial claims have become more frequent. The US, the Philippines’ main ally, has pledged support for Manila’s claim to an exclusive economic zone, generally extending 200 nautical miles (230 miles) beyond a nation’s territorial sea.

The allies have also stressed support for the status quo of Taiwan and are worried about spillover effects that could result from conflicts on the self-ruled island.

In its analysis of military movements, the report on Monday said this year’s exercise had expanded northward to the Batanes archipelago – the northernmost group of islands in the Philippines – while last year’s drill centred around the Philippines’ northern island of Luzon, Palawan and the province of Antique.

The report cited a list of simulations in “sensitive areas”, for example on May 5, when troops from the US, the Philippines and Australia conducted live-fire mock battles on the island of Batan – situated about 200km (120 miles) from Taiwan.

The US and Philippine forces also conducted a counter-landing live-fire exercise on May 6, during which they sank five mock targets moving towards Taiwan with howitzers near Laoag City – about 400km from Taiwan’s southern tip.

Beijing sees Taiwan as its territory and has not renounced the use of force to take it back. Like most countries, the United States, Taipei’s biggest arms supplier, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force.

Another live-fire exercise on Palawan island – 200km from the Second Thomas Shoal – also sent “obvious” deterrence signals, it said.

But the exercise stayed away from the “sensitive” Spratly Islands, “which fell short of the expectations of the Philippine side and the hype of the media both inside and outside the region”, the report said.

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Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai voices confidence in Chinese consumer spending as e-commerce, cloud business units get back on growth track

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3262696/alibaba-chairman-joe-tsai-voices-confidence-chinese-consumer-spending-e-commerce-cloud-business?utm_source=rss_feed

Confidence among Chinese consumers was showing “early signs of growth”, according to Alibaba Group Holding co-founder and chairman Joe Tsai, as the e-commerce giant expects its core businesses to be back on the growth path in the current financial year.

“We’ve all seen some of the growth in the services sector during the May 1 holidays. And within our platform, [sales of] some discretionary items like apparel and electronics are also actually growing,” Tsai said on a conference call with analysts on Tuesday after Alibaba released its earnings for the March quarter and the financial year ended in March.

“The growth is pretty good. Consumers are starting to reflect that willingness to spend,” Tsai said.

“So we’re seeing some positive signals, but it is probably still too early to tell because the macro environment is broadly affected by the property sector downturn,” he added.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Eddie Wu Yongming, who took over as chief executive of the domestic e-commerce unit last December, expects Taobao and Tmall Group’s general merchandise value (GMV) will “gradually return to healthy growth” in the financial year.

Taobao and Tmall Group achieved double-digit year-on-year growth in GMV in the March quarter, according to Alibaba.

“In the second half of the financial year, we will gradually introduce a new monetisation mechanism aligned with new platform algorithms and product features that will further enhance revenue … We are very confident that we will win more consumer trust and maintain our market share leadership,” said Wu.

On the rising competition in China’s e-commerce sector, Wu said the company has made “very clear strategic choices on Taobao as to how to address competition when going forward”.

In cloud computing, one of Alibaba’s key growth engines, Wu said the company was confident that cloud revenue, excluding internal customers, would return to double-digit growth in the second half of current financial year, based on the unit’s “leading product portfolio, substantial infrastructure investments, and proactive industry partner strategy”.

The group has improved the cloud unit’s competitiveness through price reductions across a range of service offerings, in addition to doubling down on the integration of its cloud service offerings with generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

“We’ve seen a rapid increase in customer demand for AI,” Wu said. “It also has stimulated growth in demand for traditional cloud computing needs, including general computing, storage and big data.”

The group also touted the synergy between its Tongyi Qianwen large language models and its cloud computing product portfolio.

“There is a natural fit between our Tongyi LLM and our cloud business,” Wu said, referring to the technology behind ChatGPT and other generative AI services.

Jiang Fan, head of Alibaba’s international digital commerce group, said the rapid growth in its business was the result of “aggressive investments in the new markets”, although that led to the unit’s loss in the last quarter.

The company also announced on Tuesday its plan for a primary listing in Hong Kong, which is currently expected to be completed by the end of August.

A “dual primary listing,” which simultaneously gives Hong Kong primacy over the company’s listing venue, is expected to help better unlock values. The move reduces a company’s reliance on one single stock market and serves as a hedge against geopolitical or economic issues in one particular market.

A primary listing in Hong Kong would allow China-domiciled investors to buy Alibaba shares directly, and could qualify the company for inclusion in Hong Kong’s Stock Connect scheme with the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges.

The latest announcement followed Alibaba’s previous attempt in 2022, when it sought to complete the process to upgrade its Hong Kong stock exchange presence from a secondary listing to a primary listing.

Three months after the announcement, Alibaba said the conversion could not be completed as planned, due to “changing market and other external conditions”.

Biden says new China tariffs are needed to protect US industries from companies subsidised by Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3262708/biden-says-new-china-tariffs-are-needed-protect-us-industries-companies-subsidised-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

US President Joe Biden accused Beijing on Tuesday of sticking with unfair trade practices that had prompted his predecessor Donald Trump to launch a trade war against China – and asserted that the former president failed to follow through on promises to fix the problem.

Speaking from the White House after announcing new tariffs he has ordered on Chinese electric vehicles, semiconductors, aluminium, steel and other imported products, Biden vowed that “the future of electric vehicles will be made in America by union workers”.

“For years the Chinese government has poured state money to Chinese companies across a whole range of industries … pushing Chinese companies to produce far more than the rest of the world can absorb, then dumping the excess products onto the market at unfairly low prices, driving other manufacturers around the world out of business,” he said.

Under the plan, following a public comment period to be announced by US Trade Representative Katherine Tai’s office next week, tariffs would rise to 100 per cent from 27.5 per cent on Chinese EVs and to 50 per cent on semiconductors and solar cells produced in the country. Tariffs on lithium-ion vehicle batteries and battery parts would rise to 25 per cent.

Biden’s move is the latest chapter in a trade war started by Trump in 2018 to address restrictions on access to China’s market, including policies that force foreign companies operating in the country to transfer technology to domestic firms.

Both men, who are running against each other this year in a rematch of the 2020 presidential election, have made talking tough on China a feature of their campaigns.

In his speech from the White House, Biden took aim at Trump’s efforts to counter China nearly as much as he blamed Beijing for the loss of American manufacturing jobs.

“My predecessor promised to increase American exports and boost manufacturing, but he did neither,” Biden said.

“He signed a trade deal with China. They’re supposed to buy US$200 billion more in American goods. Instead, China’s imports from America barely budged.”

Biden was referring to a phase-one deal that Trump brokered with China in 2019, and signed in January 2020, ending threatened tariffs on around US$155 billion worth of Chinese imports that were set to take effect at the end of that year, and halving tariffs to 7.5 per cent on another US$120 billion in goods. But the deal kept in place the 25 per cent import taxes on US$250 billion worth of Chinese products.

In exchange, China pledged to buy, over two years, at least US$200 billion more in American goods and services than it did in 2017, including about US$40 billion in agricultural goods.

US exports to China rose from US$106 billion in 2019 to US$125 billion in 2020. The exports have ranged between US$148 billion and US$154 billion since.

The US imported US$504 billion worth of Chinese goods in 2021 and US$433 billion in 2020, compared with US$449 billion in 2019, according to US Census data.

These imports rose again to US$536 billion in 2022, before dropping to US$427 billion last year.

“And now,” Biden continued, “Trump and ‘MAGA Republicans’ want across-the-board tariffs on all imports from all countries if reelected.

“Well, that would drive up costs for families on an average of US$1,500 per year each year.”

Underscoring his political message, Biden was introduced by Jesse Gary, the chief executive of Century Aluminium, which has facilities in the US states of Kentucky and South Carolina, and Roxanne Brown, international vice-president at large for the United Steelworkers union.

The Biden administration’s top economic officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, had been signalling the tariff action for weeks, insisting that the coming measures would be as targeted as possible and tailored to avoid a broader decoupling of the two economies.

Tai cited the need “to encourage further elimination of the PRC’s technology transfer-related acts, policies and practices” in her announcement about the new tariffs earlier on Tuesday.

Nonetheless, China’s government reacted quickly to Tuesday’s tariff announcement, which had been already been leaked to several media outlets last week.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said the proposed tariff hikes violate Biden’s commitments to avoid decoupling from China and “not to seek to suppress and contain China’s development”.

Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China would take “full necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests”.

Pakistan wants to speed up China-linked project amid fears over fatal attacks

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3262688/pakistan-wants-speed-china-linked-project-amid-fears-over-fatal-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed

Pakistan aims to accelerate one of the showcase projects under the Belt and Road Initiative during the four-day visit by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to China even as it grapples with major security and economic challenges.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - estimated to be worth US$62 billion by the Brookings Institution – is the most high-profile symbol of bilateral cooperation between the two nations. However, a surge in attacks against Chinese nationals building plants and elsewhere in Pakistan in recent years has cast a shadow on the CPEC.

Launched in 2015, the 15-year project aims to connect the Pakistani port of Gwadar with the Chinese city of Kashgar through a network of highways, railways, and energy projects and stimulate growth in Pakistan’s economy across sectors from manufacturing to tech.

During his visit from Monday, Dar will co-chair the fifth Pakistan-China Foreign Minister Strategic Dialogues with China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi and discuss economic and other partnerships.

Over the past few years, a series of deadly attacks have targeted Chinese nationals linked to the CPEC and Pakistani security installations.

“Chinese concerns on the safety of their nationals in Pakistan are very much legitimate,” former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri told This Week in Asia.

“We have to do much more than what we have done for their security.”

Among the notable incidents were the attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi, Pakistan’s financial hub, in 2018 and an assault in 2020 on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, in which Chinese entities hold a 40 per cent stake.

In 2022, the Karachi University’s Confucius Centre, a Chinese language and cultural centre, was the target of a suicide bombing that killed three Chinese teachers and a Pakistani national.

The attacks were attributed to separatist factions including the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and other ethnic Baloch and Sindhi insurgent groups that vehemently oppose the CPEC, perceiving it as a threat to their identity and fearing that its success would turn them into a minority.

The most recent deadly attack occurred on March 26, when five Chinese engineers were killed in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The series of attacks in recent years has caused a strain in relations between China and Pakistan and prompted calls for Islamabad to tighten security at industrial sites where Chinese workers are based.

Jiang Zaidong, the Chinese ambassador to Islamabad wrote in a local publication about the “heart-wrenching” terrorist attack that caused the deaths of the Chinese nationals. “We should do everything possible to protect their safety and value their contribution [to CPEC].”

The attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was believed to be carried out by an Islamist group affiliated with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Pakistan claimed was based in neighbouring Afghanistan.

“That attack shows destabilising external factors against the CPEC, whereas Baloch insurgents from the left wing are said to have backing from external elements,” said Muneeb Salam, a research associate at the China Pakistan Study Centre of the Institute of Strategic Studies, referring to Islamabad’s accusations of the involvement of groups linked to India and Afghanistan in the attack.

Since the launch of the CPEC, thermal and hydropower plants with a combined capacity of around 16,700 megawatts have been built by Chinese companies across Pakistan and helped the country address its energy shortages.

However, Pakistan’s large budget deficit and poor balance of payments could slow progress in the CPEC and threaten to edge the country towards defaulting on its payment obligations under the project.

Pakistan owes a staggering 2000 billion rupees (US$7.2 billion) to its Chinese partners for CPEC-related debts - a heavy burden on a nation with only US$14.5 billion in foreign exchange reserves.

“Rolling over and negotiating concessions on that front won’t be a smooth sail for Pakistan,” said Asif Ali Qureshi, chief executive of Optimus Capital Management.

Dar’s visit is expected to focus on several goals under the next phase of the CPEC, including establishing special economic zones in Pakistan’s four provinces and modernising its agricultural sector.

Pakistan will need to focus on CPEC developments with commercial viability and improve its capability to attract foreign investors, Qureshi said.

The visit comes amid closer relations between Pakistan and the United States even as Islamabad deepens its economic partnership with China.

Kasuri said that one of the key planks of Pakistan’s foreign policy is its “steadfast commitment to China”. As such, Pakistan should not be forced to choose a side in the US-China rivalry.

He added: “Being a sovereign state, we must get along with both global powers while prioritising our national interests.”

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Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post scoops 60 awards at 45th Best of News Design Creative Competition

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3262689/hong-kongs-south-china-morning-post-scoops-60-awards-45th-best-news-design-creative-competition?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post has won 60 awards at the 45th edition of the Best of News Design Creative Competition organised by the Society for News Design, surpassing last year’s 37.

The results were announced last week after the competition was held earlier this month in the US city of Minneapolis, with close to 4,400 entries of 2023 news stories to the event, designed to “honour excellence in visual storytelling, design and journalism”.

The judging panel, made up of 44 visual journalists representing more than 35 organisations from around the world, awarded the Post one gold, four silvers, and five bronze prizes, alongside 50 awards of excellence for both print and digital stories.

Post Editor-in-Chief Tammy Tam praised the winners for “doing us proud by bringing home such a large haul of accolades”.

“Just like our world-class journalists, our amazingly talented designers and artists can compete with the best in the business on the international stage and come out on top,” she said.

“These prestigious international awards are not only well deserved but they also remind us that quality content matters and is appreciated globally despite the increasingly difficult operating environment for the news business.”

For print stories awards, Victor Sanjinez of the Post’s infographic team bagged gold and silver prizes for his work in September 2023 on Bailu, or White Dew, one of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar, in the categories of “information graphics” and “illustration”.

He secured another silver in the “information graphics” category for his infographics on China and Russia’s “no limits” friendship in light of the war in Ukraine after Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to the Russian capital Moscow.

The team was also given 25 awards of excellence for print stories.

For digital stories, Kaliz Lee of the Post’s infographic team won two silver awards for her explainer on the history and revival of Hanfu – traditional Chinese costumes – in recent years in the categories of “design: features” and “infoGfx: features”, with another five bronze medals on top of 24 awards of excellence handed out to the Post.

Carl Jones and Emilio Rivera from the Post’s print team also picked up an award for excellence for their layout design.

[Uk] Chinese ambassador summoned to UK Foreign Office

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-69009461

UK government summons Chinese ambassador over spying case linked to Hong Kong trade office manager, 2 others

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3262671/uk-government-summons-chinese-ambassador-over-spying-case-linked-hong-kong-trade-office-manager-2?utm_source=rss_feed

The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has summoned Beijing’s top diplomat in the country to a meeting after three men linked to Hong Kong’s trade promotion office in London were charged with spying.

The British international affairs ministry said that Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang was on Tuesday asked to come to a meeting on the instructions of David Cameron, the country’s foreign secretary.

“The FCDO was unequivocal in setting out that the recent pattern of behaviour directed by China against the UK, including cyberattacks, reports of espionage links and the issuing of bounties is not acceptable,” a spokesman said.

Three men, including Bill Yuen Chung-biu, 63, an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, were charged on Monday.

It is alleged they assisted a foreign intelligence service and were involved in foreign interference by carrying out surveillance of Hong Kong activists now living in the UK.

Peter Wai Chi-leung, 38, a dual British and Chinese national and a UK Border Force officer, and Matthew Trickett, 37, an ex-Royal Marine Commando who now owns a private security firm, were charged with two offences under the National Security Act.

The FCDO statement said the trio were charged as part of an investigation led by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s counter terrorism command, and that the foreign intelligence service said to be involved was Hong Kong’s.

The Chinese embassy in London said it had lodged a protest with Britain over the incident.

Beijing’s foreign affairs ministry on Tuesday added it had “serious concerns” about the prosecution and appealed to the British government to safeguard the legitimate interests of Chinese citizens in the UK.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the Hong Kong government had demanded details of the case from the city’s British consulate.

Lee insisted that the role of the city’s trade offices was to engage people overseas and improve their knowledge of Hong Kong.

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Backlash against China-made Kobe Bryant booze, firm accused of disrespecting late NBA legend, infringing copyright

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3261756/backlash-against-china-made-kobe-bryant-booze-firm-accused-disrespecting-late-nba-legend-infringing?utm_source=rss_feed

A wine company in China has been accused of “disrespect” and copyright infringement for producing an alcoholic drink named after the late US basketball legend Kobe Bryant.

The company, Guizhou Kobe Wine, published several videos on Douyin in April promoting two new sauce liquor products dedicated to the sporting hero, according to the mainland media outlet Peninsula Morning Paper.

The account has now been removed.

The promotional videos showed three products featuring multiple elements relating to the basketball legend.

They included bottles designed in the shape of a torso wearing an iconic basketball jersey in the purple and gold colours of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Bryant’s numbers “8” and “24” were printed on the jersey, along with “1996-2016”, the years he played in the NBA league.

The company also included the phrase “Mamba mentality” in its slogans. Bryant nicknamed himself “The Black Mamba” in the mid-2000s, inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s hit film Kill Bill.

The videos also included a slightly adapted version of a collaborative logo Bryant worked on with the sports company Nike that has been considered one of the star’s iconic marks since 2003.

A member of staff at the company told Hongxing News that they plan to start selling the three products in May, two priced at 398 yuan (US$55) and one about 800 yuan.

During his legendary 20-year NBA career, Bryant achieved 18 All-Star designations, five NBA championships and four MVP awards.

He died aged 41, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna “Gigi”, in a helicopter crash near California in January 2020.

He is fondly remembered by his army of fans in China, and his official Weibo account still has about 10 million followers.

Many expressed disbelief over the company’s “barefaced” infringement of their beloved star’s rights.

“Did they acquire consent from Kobe’s family? If not, it is disrespectful to Kobe and his legacy,” one online observer wrote on Douyin.

“Such a disgraceful way to pay tribute to Kobe,” said another.

The company’s president, Yu Yongyang, told Shanghai Securities News that his firm consulted lawyers, and went through commercial and intellectual property registrations in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations.

However, according to corporate data provider Tianyancha, the company was registered last August, and the five graphic logos related to Kobe that they applied for, have not been approved.

Yu Jiamian, an associate professor from Xihua University’s School of Law and Sociology, said the company could be violating Bryant’s rights if they use his name and graphics commercially without his family’s consent.

Another lawyer, Ma Baigang, from Beijing Hongmeng Law Firm, said although the company is using Kobe’s Chinese translation, Kebi, in its products, it is still a violation.

A member of staff at the Guizhou Market Regulation Administration said the company is under investigation for causing “possible harm to Kobe’s reputation”.

US proposes new round of tariffs on China, cites ‘unfair’ tech transfer policies that ‘burden’ US commerce

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3262662/us-proposes-new-round-tariffs-china-cites-unfair-tech-transfer-policies-burden-us-commerce?utm_source=rss_feed

The US government proposed on Tuesday increasing tariffs on imports of Chinese semiconductors, electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries to press Beijing over “unfair” technology transfer-related practices.

Tariffs would rise to 100 per cent from 27.5 per cent on EVs and to 50 per cent on semiconductors and solar cells, according to 14 proposed increases released by the US president’s executive office. Tariffs on lithium-ion vehicle batteries and battery parts would rise to 25 per cent.

“President [Joe] Biden is directing me to take further action to encourage the elimination of the People’s Republic of China’s unfair technology-transfer-related policies and practices that continue to burden US commerce and harm American workers and businesses,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in the statement.

Tai specifically called out “cyber intrusions and cyber theft” as transfer-related problems.

Before Tuesday’s announcement, some of Biden’s economic officials had indicated concerns about manufacturing overcapacity in China and a possible overflow flooding American markets.

 

Previous tariffs have helped encourage China to take steps on issues identified by the US on acts, policies, and practices that Washington says violate international trade agreements, Tuesday’s statement said.

Biden has followed the lead of former US president Donald Trump, who is also a presidential candidate this year, in restricting imports from China. Trump has said he would raise all tariffs on China by 60 per cent if he won the November election and took office in January.

Chinese authorities have rejected claims that they are exporting excess industrial capacity, calling suspicions in the West a reason to pursue trade protectionism.

China is likely to follow up any US tariffs with its own, analysts said on Tuesday, though it might push Washington for negotiations and is sure to focus exports on third countries.

Tuesday’s proposal suggests establishing a process to exclude machinery used in domestic manufacturing, including 19 types of solar manufacturing equipment, from the tariff hikes.

Next week, the Office of the US Trade Representative will issue a notice allowing public comment on the proposed tariff hikes.

More to follow...

Hong Kong has special role to play in stabilising China-US relationship, forum told

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3262664/hong-kong-has-special-role-play-stabilising-china-us-relationship-forum-told?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong has a special role to play in stabilising the China-US relationship, but it must also step up its game in rebuilding bridges with the rest of the world, according to analysts.

They made the call at the inaugural Global Prosperity Summit on Tuesday, spearheaded by Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convenor of the government’s key decision-making Executive Council. The gathering is aimed at facilitating greater exchanges between Hong Kong and the rest of the world and clearing up misunderstandings about the country.

“Hong Kong can play a big role [in the China-US relationship]. We are an international cosmopolitan [city]. We are well-connected. We understand the culture and political systems of both mainland [China] and the West,” Ip said.

“We are well-positioned to really maximise our role as a superconnector and an intermediary between the mainland and the world.”

Ip’s comments echoed panellist Professor Huang Ping, director of the Centre for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He described Hong Kong as not only unique within the country but also the world.

He attributed the quality to the fact Hong Kong practised a capitalist system on Chinese soil, allowing it to be part of the Western economy.

“We don’t have such a place anywhere else. So Hong Kong will bridge, not only the US and China, [but also] China with the rest of the world,” he said.

Hong Kong could help address problems commonly faced by China and the United States and even ease confrontations between the two superpowers in areas such as climate change, artificial intelligence and global health, the scholar added.

Panellist Kurt Tong, who served as the top US diplomat in Hong Kong from 2016 to 2019, said US-China relations were currently stable even though engagement between the city and Washington at both official and private levels had suffered over the past five years.

“It’s a better environment for Hong Kong to make use of the agency that it has, bring its autonomy at full play, organise its messaging and decide what it wants to do as a superconnector,” Tong, now a partner at Washington-based business advisory firm The Asia Group, told the panel.

The Hong Kong government should create more opportunities for regular residents to visit the US for the purpose of establishing connections with Americans, he said.

“Reach out and rebuild the bridges. Make [the connection between Hongkongers and Americans] reinforced and even stronger. I think that will be good for the city and for the US-China relationship,” he added.

All three speakers agreed that greater engagement was needed not just at the people-to-people level but also among non-governmental organisations to help Sino-US ties improve.

Tong added a change from merely information-sharing to “outcomes-oriented negotiations” in bilateral talks would further help ties.

The themes of the three-day summit include globalisation, cooperation in science and technology, global competition and climate change, among others.

Philippine civilian group to continue Scarborough Shoal resupply mission despite talk of Chinese blockade

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3262661/philippine-civilian-group-continue-scarborough-shoal-resupply-mission-despite-talk-chinese-blockade?utm_source=rss_feed

A civilian group from the Philippines will continue its resupply mission to Filipino fishermen in the Scarborough Shoal, even in light of US reports of China sending a huge blockade to thwart the effort, in a latest move that could signal yet another flashpoint in the disputed South China Sea.

The group’s mission on Wednesday will be its second attempt at resupplying the fishermen. Last December, the group tried to deliver supplies and Christmas gifts to Filipino troops stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre at Second Thomas Shoal but it returned to shore after four Chinese vessels started shadowing its main ship.

The potential Chinese blockade would be the “largest blockade I have ever tracked at Scarborough”, said former US air force official and former defence attaché Ray Powell on social media platform X, adding that it would involve four Chinese coastguard ships and dozens of large Chinese maritime military vessels.

“China seems determined to aggressively enforce its claim over the shoal,” he said.

Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela said Powell was making a “prediction” about Chinese vessels’ movement.

“[Powell] is forecasting that the Chinese vessel to Bajo de Masinloc has the intention to block the sail,” he told reporters on Monday, explaining the voyage was not sanctioned by the government.

“Our objective is to ensure the safety of those who would be joining. We have to make sure that they would not be harassed or injured, in case they are harassed by the Chinese coastguard,” he said.

The Chinese coastguard and its maritime military are likely to “swarm the mouth of” the Scarborough Shoal and prevent the civilian convoy from entering the Philippines’ fishing grounds, said Chester Cabalza, a security analyst and founding president of the Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation.

“If China stops them, this will not deter the Filipino fighting spirit. It sends a strong message to Beijing that Filipinos are united in defending their maritime entitlements and sovereignty rights.”

There has been a spate of incidents between Chinese military vessels and Philippine fishing boats and navy ships in the disputed South China Sea.

“China will only try to intimidate our fishermen and provoke aggression to show that they have the upper hand in the contested Scarborough Shoal,” Cabalza said.

China gained control of the shoal in 2012 after a stand-off with the Philippines, and the area has seen bouts of high-tension encounters over sovereignty and fishing rights for years.

Claimants such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam, as well as a majority of Asean countries, hold that all maritime claims must be based on the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos). They hold that China’s expansive claims are beyond the lawful limits of Unclos.

China – which is party to Unclos – rejects this interpretation of the law and also does not recognise a 2016 arbitral ruling in a case brought by Manila that was in favour of the Southeast Asian nation’s claims.

On April 30, the Chinese coastguard fired water cannons at a Philippine coastguard ship and a boat belonging to Manila’s fishing agency near the Scarborough Shoal. It was the latest of similar incidents that have taken place in the disputed waterways in recent months.

Rafaela David, head of the civilian resupply group Atin Ito (meaning ‘It’s Ours’), says the group remains unfazed by China’s intimidation, and that it will proceed with its mission as it is a “legitimate exercise of Filipino citizens’ right to movement within our own territory”.

The resupply convoy would comprise up to five large fishing vessels accompanied by more than 200 small fishing boats from Zambales province.

Philippine Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday appealed to China not to interfere with the civilian convoy’s mission.

Jonathan Malaya, spokesman of the Philippines’ task force for the West Philippine Sea, cautioned China against blocking a civilian mission heading to the West Philippine Sea, using Manila’s term for the section of the South China Sea that defines its maritime territory and includes its exclusive economic zone.

“Our appeal to China is to respect the freedom of navigation of the vessels involved in this mission because they are civilians. They are not in any way connected to the government.”

China signals it will help US tackle illegal migration after halting cooperation in 2022

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3262620/china-signals-it-will-help-us-tackle-illegal-migration-after-halting-cooperation-2022?utm_source=rss_feed

China said on Monday it was “open” to working with the United States to clamp down on cross-border smuggling and the repatriation of illegal Chinese immigrants, in a possible nod to reviving cooperation.

The Chinese embassy in the US said China “firmly opposed” illegal immigration and its law enforcement departments had cracked down “hard” on such crimes while maintaining a “high pressure” against smuggling organisations.

“Chinese law enforcement agencies have regular cooperation with relevant countries to jointly tackle cross-border smuggling activities, repatriate illegal immigrants and maintain the order of international flow of people,” the embassy said in a statement.

“It should be noted that the issue of illegal immigration is an international one that requires international cooperation.”

The statement was a response to a question posted on the embassy website about an earlier Chinese comment that US media and politicians had been “hyping up” the issue of illegal Chinese immigrants in country and Beijing’s actions to tackle the problem.

China firmly opposed US media and politicians “using the issue as a pretext to smear and scapegoat China”, the embassy said.

“China is open to collaboration with the United States on the repatriation of illegal immigrants. But the United States needs to demonstrate sincerity, pay reciprocal attention to China’s concerns and create a proper atmosphere for cooperation.”

In August 2022, China halted various forms of cooperation with the US, including cooperation on deporting illegal Chinese immigrants, following a controversial visit by then-House speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which had soured relations dramatically.

Since a meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in San Francisco in November, the two countries have sought to improve ties and restore high-level engagement.

Military-to-military communication, alongside dialogue in fields such as climate change and trade, have since resumed.

On Tuesday, officials from both countries were set to hold their first discussions on artificial intelligence, including the issues of global governance and risks of the technology.

Associated Press reported last week that China had “quietly resumed” cooperation on the deportation of Chinese nationals who were in the US illegally amid a spike in illegal immigrants entering the country from Mexico.

According to the report, US border officials arrested more than 37,000 Chinese nationals on its southern border in 2023 – 10 times the number recorded a year earlier.

The report quoted China’s foreign ministry as saying that Beijing was “willing to maintain dialogue and cooperation in the area of immigrant enforcement in the US” and would accept the deportation of those whose Chinese nationality has been verified.

The US cannot send back Chinese immigrants who have no legal status to stay in the country without the cooperation of the Chinese government.

US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told NBC News this month that he had raised the issue with his Chinese counterpart in February and that the two countries were holding high-level discussions to ramp up on the deportation of illegal Chinese immigrants.

The report, citing American officials, said China had been “uncooperative” when it came to repatriating Chinese citizens back to the mainland.

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Mainland China’s talks with South Korea hinge on Seoul honouring Taiwan inauguration promise

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3262654/mainland-chinas-talks-south-korea-hinge-seoul-honouring-taiwan-inauguration-promise?utm_source=rss_feed

Premier Li Qiang would attend trilateral talks with South Korea and Japan at the end of the month, according to a source with connections to top Chinese officials.

But separate bilateral discussions between China and South Korea during the summit hinge on whether Seoul would honour its commitment not to send a delegation to Monday’s inauguration of Taiwan’s incoming president, Lai Ching-te, said Woo Su-keun, chairman of the Seoul-based Korea-China Global Association.

“If, on May 20, China rests assured after seeing that Korea does not send envoys to Taiwan to attend the inauguration ceremony of the new president as they had indicated, China would give a nod to a separate bilateral summit,” said Woo.

China’s foreign ministry have not yet released any details of the meeting, but South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi agreed on Monday in Beijing that the two countries would work together to ensure the success of the summit, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul.

Woo said the terms were discussed during private talks with high-ranking Chinese officials from the General Office of the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council last month.

“In other words, the current state of Sino-Korean relations hinges entirely on Korea’s initiative,” Woo added.

An exact date for the summit has yet to be disclosed, but media reports have said the talks could take place on May 26 and 27.

President Yoon Suk-yeol has already agreed that South Korea would not dispatch a delegation to next week’s inauguration, with only representatives from the Korean Mission in Taipei set to participate, Woo said.

Lawmakers from the National Assembly may choose to attend, which is beyond the control of the president, Woo added.

The current relationship between China and South Korea is at its lowest point since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1992, largely due to Yoon’s efforts to expand security and economic ties with the United States, as well as initiatives aimed at diversifying the Korean economy away from China.

And although this summit is unlikely to yield major tangible results, and consensus would be hard to reach given the varying situations of the three countries, the contact is critical for Chinese leaders to test the waters, Woo said.

“China is keen to gauge whether Seoul is willing to reorient its pro-US foreign policy stance, and if the general attitude and atmosphere was amicable, this summit could herald more favourable policies as well as people-to-people and cultural exchanges, closer economic ties and eventually an improved bilateral relationship,” added Woo, who is a long-time adviser to Chinese policymakers.

He is also the president of the Korea-China Friendship Federation, which includes Korean companies and institutions with engagements in China.

The trilateral summit has been suspended since December 2019 when then-Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, then-Korean President Moon Jae-in and then-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in the Chinese city of Chengdu.

Seoul’s remarks about the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea have also angered Beijing, which accused South Korea of meddling in its domestic affairs.

Yoon is eager to bring about some positive changes to South Korea’s relationship with China after opposition parties romped to victory in elections for the National Assembly last month and discontent on other issues is on the rise.

Woo urged Korea to have a more balanced stance, rather than being too dependent on Washington, while maintaining better relations with China, considering that it is still South Korea’s largest trading partner.

Economically, souring relations between China and South Korea would also diminish opportunities for South Korean companies to enter the Chinese market, he added.

Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset obtains China quality certification ahead of official domestic release

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3262656/apples-vision-pro-mixed-reality-headset-obtains-china-quality-certification-ahead-official-domestic?utm_source=rss_feed

Apple’s Vision Pro mixed-reality headset appears to have been granted a key product certificate in mainland China, where the US technology giant is expected to release the device within this year after its US launch in February.

A search on the website of product standards body China Quality Certification Centre (CQCC) showed that an Apple “wearable computer” had obtained from the Beijing-based agency on Monday a China Compulsory Certificate – a quality and safety accreditation required for all products sold in the country.

The unnamed Apple device, believed to be the Vision Pro, was shown in the search as made by Luxcase Precision Technology – a unit of Chinese electronics contract manufacturer Luxshare Precision Industry – in Kunshan, a city in eastern Jiangsu province.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The CQCC certification lends credence to Apple chief executive Tim Cook’s assurance that the Vision Pro, with prices starting at US$3,499, will be released this year on the mainland, according to his interview in March with state-run broadcaster China Central Television.

The Vision Pro’s launch in new markets could be imminent. A report on Sunday by Bloomberg, citing people with knowledge of the matter, said Apple plans to release the headset to international markets after the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference next month.

The Vision Pro, which Apple markets as a “spatial computer”, represents the company’s first new product category since the Apple Watch in 2015. The headset enables users to integrate digital media with the real world, while interacting with the system via motion gestures, eye tracking and speech recognition.

Ahead of the headset’s US release, merchants on the popular Chinese online flea market Xianyu in January offered to ship some Vision Pro stock to the mainland at double the official price. Xianyu is owned by Alibaba Group Holding, which also owns the South China Morning Post.

Some domestic merchants in February started to offer the Vision Pro for rent to Chinese tech enthusiasts, weeks after the device was released for sale in the US. Rental costs varied from 98 yuan (US$13.60) an hour to 1,500 yuan per day.

High interest, however, may not immediately translate to strong sales when the Vision Pro is finally released in China, according to a research note published by Counterpoint last month. The Vision Pro and other new mixed-reality devices to be released this year on the mainland are expected to “only have a limited impact on boosting the sales volume in this sector”, Counterpoint said.

“With the target consumer group already purchasing through other channels, the market response is expected to be calm,” said Counterpoint senior analyst Ivan Lam, who pointed out that many domestic consumers interested in the Vision Pro may have already got their hands on the device ahead of its official China release.

The Vision Pro’s high price tag also limits its consumer base to high-end users, according to Lam. Still, Apple’s brand influence and innovation will “attract loyal fans and tech enthusiasts”, he added.

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Cleaner air in China causes ‘sudden warming’ in North America, study finds

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3262641/cleaner-air-china-causes-sudden-warming-north-america-study-finds?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s rapid reductions in aerosol emissions have exacerbated warming events in the Northeast Pacific Ocean and west coast of North America due to atmospheric circulation anomalies, a study has found.

While rapid aerosol emissions abatement from the burning of fossil fuels has improved air quality in China over the past decade, it has also led to a decrease in the cooling effect that aerosols provide the Earth’s surface by reflecting solar radiation.

A Chinese-led study used climate modelling to examine how aerosol reduction and resulting local temperature changes in China have influenced warming elsewhere in the world.

“The period of 2010 to 2020 has witnessed the warmest Northeast Pacific (NEP) sea surface temperatures ever recorded, with several prolonged extreme ocean warming events,” said the team, which includes researchers from the US and Germany, in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The sea surface temperature along the coast from Alaska to California has been “suddenly warming in the past 10 years”, said Zheng Xiaotong, corresponding author and a professor at the Ocean University of China.

These warming events in the Northeast Pacific – dubbed “warm blobs” by researchers – have been accompanied by extreme weather, such as the California drought from 2013 to 2016, which cost billions of dollars in agricultural losses, the paper said.

While year-to-year climate variation could play a role in the marine heating events that led to extreme weather on the west coast of North America, the researchers said that it did not fully explain the occurrence of these warm blobs.

Global warming was a “continuous phenomenon” that would not cause such specific warming, Zheng said, adding that there had been a long period of no change, and “then suddenly there was an increase in warming in the past 10 years”.

“So we hypothesised that this phenomenon may be related to some other human factors,” Zheng said.

Using climate models, the researchers found that “rapid aerosol abatement in China triggers atmospheric circulation anomalies beyond its source region, driving a substantial mean surface warming” in the Northeast Pacific.

Alongside greenhouse-induced warming and climate variability, the aerosol-induced warming “made the warm blob events more frequent and intense during 2010 to 2020”, affecting biodiversity and causing toxic algal blooms and drought, the paper said.

Aerosols are small particles or liquid droplets suspended in the air that can be emitted as pollution by burning fossil fuels and can counter the warming impact of greenhouse gases.

Beijing’s clean air policies have led to a decrease in pollutant emissions from the burning of fossil fuels in power plants and factories over the past decade, including aerosols such as black carbon – or soot – and sulphate, which have been linked to lung disease and other conditions.

Aerosols can reflect solar radiation back into space, blocking some of the energy from reaching the Earth’s surface and creating a cooling effect. Aerosols can also increase clouds’ ability to reflect solar radiation.

Some aerosols also absorb sunlight, causing temporary cooling on the surface but eventually leading to warming.

Zheng said the local warming effect of the reduction in aerosols in China had been studied previously but its effects on other regions had been overlooked.

The team compared models that reflected China’s aerosol reductions along with models that simulated a plateau, rather than a decrease, in aerosol emissions. They found that a downward trend in aerosol emissions coincided with an increase in mean warming in the Northeast Pacific.

In a simulation where aerosols were the only changed variable and greenhouse gases were fixed at pre-industrial levels, the team found that there was a “continuous cooling” of sea surface temperature in the Northeast Pacific until around 2007, after which a rapid warming began that followed the emissions reductions.

The team said this occurred due to local warming on the coast of Asia intensifying the Aleutian Low – an atmospheric low-pressure patch off the coast of Alaska – and shifting it southwards.

The atmospheric circulation anomaly weakens surface winds and therefore suppresses evaporative cooling in the Northeast Pacific, leading to an increase in sea surface temperature.

China’s increase in aerosol emissions was due to industrialisation, and Zheng said it was possible that these earlier emissions “greatly slowed down the warming” of the Northeast Pacific in the past.

The reduction in aerosol emissions and subsequent increase in sea surface temperature may be reflecting “originally suppressed warming”, he said.

Despite the potential downstream effects that aerosol reductions in one location can have on another, Zheng said improving air quality was still important because of the negative health impacts of human-caused aerosol emissions.

He said that relying on aerosol emissions to slow ocean warming would be unsustainable because of its high environmental and social costs, adding that as air pollution decreased, any previously suppressed ocean warming was “bound to rebound”.

According to the paper, the research highlights the need to consider worsened risks arising from a reduction in human-made aerosol emissions in assessing the impacts of climate change.

Zheng said he hoped their research could contribute “to accurate climate projection and effective adaptation to climate change”.

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Biden hiking tariffs on Chinese EVs, solar cells, steel, aluminum — adding to tensions with Beijing

https://apnews.com/article/biden-china-tariffs-electric-vehicles-evs-solar-2024ba735c47e04a50898a88425c5e2cFILE - A worker assembles an SUV at a car plant of Li Auto, a major Chinese EV maker, in Changzhou in eastern China's Jiangsu province on March 27, 2024. The Biden administration is announcing plans to slap new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment. (Chinatopix Via AP, File)

2024-05-14T09:03:14Z

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced plans to slap new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment — an election-year move that’s likely to increase friction between the world’s two largest economies.

The tariffs come in the middle of a heated campaign between President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, in which both candidates are vying to show who’s tougher on China.

The tariffs are unlikely to have much of an inflationary impact because of how they’re structured. Administration officials said they think the tariffs won’t escalate tensions with China, yet they expect that China will explore ways to respond to the new taxes on their products. It’s uncertain what the long-term impact on prices could be if the tariffs contribute to a wider trade dispute.

The tariffs are to be phased in over the next three years, with those that take effect in 2024 covering EVs, solar cells, syringes, needles, steel and aluminum and more. There are currently very few EVs from China in the U.S., but officials worry that low-priced models made possible by Chinese government subsidies could soon start flooding the U.S. market.

Chinese firms can sell EVs for as little as $12,000. Their solar cell plants and steel and aluminum mills have enough capacity to meet much of the world’s demand, with Chinese officials arguing that their production keeps prices low and would aid a transition to the green economy.

Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council, said the tariffs will raise the cost of select Chinese goods and help thwart Beijing’s efforts to dominate the market for emerging technologies in ways that pose risks to U.S. national security and economic stability.

“China is simply too big to play by its own rules,” Brainard told reporters on a Monday call previewing the announcement.

Administration officials have stressed that the decision on tariffs was made independently of November’s presidential election. But Brainard noted in her remarks that the tariffs would help workers in Pennsylvania and Michigan, two of the battleground states that will decide who wins the election.

Under the findings of a four-year review on trade with China, the tax rate on imported Chinese EVs is to rise to 102.5% this year, up from total levels of 27.5%. The review was undertaken under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the government to retaliate against trade practices deemed unfair or in violation of global standards.

Under the 301 guidelines, the tariff rate is to double to 50% on solar cell imports this year. Tariffs on certain Chinese steel and aluminum products will climb to 25% this year. Computer chip tariffs will double to 50% by 2025.

For lithium-ion EV batteries, tariffs will rise from 7.5% to 25% in 2024. But for non-EV batteries of the same type, the tariff increase will be implemented in 2026. There are also higher tariffs on ship-to-shore cranes, critical minerals and medical products.

The new tariffs, at least initially, are largely symbolic since they will apply to only about $18 billion in imports. A new analysis by Oxford Economics estimates that the tariffs — which would be implemented over time — will have a barely noticeable impact on inflation by pushing up inflation by just 0.01%.

Still, Chinese officials voiced their frustration with the move.

Chinese embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu rejected U.S. claims that Beijing has encouraged excess factory capacity in order to dominate global trade in these goods. He also said that more expensive EVs and solar panels will make it more difficult to transition away from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

“Despite its professed willingness to strengthen cooperation with China on climate change, the U.S. has been hyping up the so-called ‘overcapacity’ in China’s new energy sector and vowing to impose additional tariff hikes on Chinese electrical vehicles and solar products,” Liu said. “This is self-defeating.”

The Chinese economy has been slowed by the collapse of the country’s real estate market and past pandemic lockdowns, prompting Chinese President Xi Jinping to try to jumpstart growth by ramping up production of EVs and other products, making more than the Chinese market can absorb.

This strategy further exacerbates tensions with a U.S. government that claims it’s determined to strengthen its own manufacturing to compete with China, yet avoid a larger conflict.

“China’s factory-led recovery and weak consumption growth, which are translating into excess capacity and an aggressive search for foreign markets, in tandem with the looming U.S. election season add up to a perfect recipe for escalating U.S. trade fractions with China,’’ said Eswar Prasad, professor of trade policy at Cornell University.

China’s production of EVs and other green products are “coming to be seen by the U.S. as a zero-sum game in which China plays the spoiler that could hamper a U.S. manufacturing revival,’’ Prasad said.

The Europeans are worried, too. The EU launched an investigation last fall into Chinese subsidies and could impose an import tax on Chinese EVs.

After Xi’s visit to France last week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that government-subsidized Chinese EVs and steel “are flooding the European market. … The world cannot absorb China’s surplus production. Therefore, I have encouraged the Chinese government to address these structural overcapacities.’’

The Biden administration views China with subsidies of its own manufacturing as trying to globally control the EV and clean energy sectors, whereas it says its own industrial support is geared toward ensuring domestic supplies to help meet U.S. demand.

“We do not seek to have global domination of manufacturing in these sectors, but we believe because these are strategic industries and for the sake of resilience of our supply chains, that we want to make sure that we have healthy and active firms,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters Monday.

The tensions go far beyond a trade dispute to deeper questions about who leads the world economy as a seemingly indispensable nation. China’s policies could make the world more dependent on its factories, possibly giving it greater leverage in geopolitics. At the same time, the United States says it’s seeking for countries to operate by the same standards so that competition can be fair.

For it’s part, China maintains that the tariffs are in violation of the global trade rules that the United States originally helped establish through the World Trade Organization.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Friday that the new tariffs compounded the problems caused by tariffs that the Trump administration had previously put on Chinese goods, which Biden has kept.

“Instead of ending those wrong practices, the U.S. continues to politicize trade issues, abuse the so-called review process of Section 301 tariffs and plan tariff hikes,” he said. “This will just double the U.S.’s fault.”

Those questions are at the heart of November’s presidential election, with a bitterly divided electorate seemingly united by the idea of getting tough with China. Biden and Trump have overlapping but different strategies.

Biden sees targeted tariffs as needed to defend key industries and workers, while Trump has threatened broad 10% tariffs against all imports from rivals and allies alike.

Biden has staked his presidential legacy on the U.S. pulling ahead of China with its own government investments in factories to make EVs, computer chips and other advanced technologies.

“So far, we’ve created $866 billion in private-sector investment nationwide — almost a trillion dollars — historic amounts in such a short time,” Biden said last week in Wisconsin. “ And that’s literally creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

Trump tells his supporters that America is falling further behind China by not betting on oil to keep powering the economy, despite its climate change risks. The former president may believe that tariffs can change Chinese behavior, but he believes that the U.S. will be reliant on China for EV components and solar cells.

“Joe Biden’s economic plan is to make China rich and America poor,” he said at a rally earlier this month in Wisconsin.

JOSH BOAK Boak covers the White House and economic policy. twitter mailto FATIMA HUSSEIN Hussein reports on the U.S. Treasury Department for The Associated Press. She covers tax policy, sanctions and any issue that relates to money. twitter mailto

Russian president Putin to make a state visit to China this week

https://apnews.com/article/russia-china-putin-9db43561dd4c1b580d44af73d05e0e08FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo prior to their talks on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China, on Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. President Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, May 14, 2024.(Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

2024-05-14T07:32:52Z

BEIJING (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will make a two-day state visit to China this week, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, in the latest show of unity between the two authoritarian allies against the U.S.-led Western liberal global order.

Putin will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping during his visit starting on Thurday, the ministry said, saying the two leaders would discuss “cooperation in various fields of bilateral relations ... as well as international and regional issues of common concern.” No details were mentioned.

The Kremlin in a statement confirmed the trip and said Putin was going on Xi’s invitation. It said that this will be Putin’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in as president and began his fifth term in office.

China has backed Russia politically in the conflict in Ukraine and has continued to export machine tools, electronics and other items seen as contributing to the Russian war effort, without actually exporting weaponry.

China is also a major export market for energy supplies that keep the Kremlin’s coffers full.

China has sought to project itself as a neutral party in the conflict, but has declared a “no limits” relationship with Russia in opposition to the West. The sides have also held a series of joint military drills and China has consistently opposed economic sanctions against Russia in response to its now two-year-old campaign of conquest against Ukraine.

The two continent-sized authoritarian states are increasingly in dispute with democracies and NATO while seeking to gain influence in Africa, the Middle East and South America.

Putin’s visit comes just days ahead of Monday’s inauguration of William Lai Ching-te as the next president of Taiwan, the self-governing island democracy that China claims as its own territory and threatens to annex by force if necessary.

Xi returned last week from a five-day visit to Europe, including stops in Hungary and Serbia, countries viewed as close to Russia. The trip, Xi’s first to the continent in five years, was seen as an attempt to increase China’s influence and drive a wedge between the EU and NATO on one side, and a yet-to-be-defined bloc of authoritarian nations on the other underpinned by Chinese economic influence that has been wavering amid a housing crisis and dramatically slower domestic economic growth.

Biden announces 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/may/14/joe-biden-tariff-chinese-made-electric-vehicles

The US president, Joe Biden, has announced a 100% tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles as part of a package of measures designed to protect US manufacturers from cheap imports.

In a move that is likely to inflame trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies, the White House said it was imposing more stringent curbs on Chinese goods worth $18bn.

Sources said the move followed a four-year review and was a preventive measure designed to stop cheap subsidised Chinese goods flooding the US market and stifling the growth of the American green technology sector.

As well as a tariff increase from 25% to 100% on EVs, levies will rise from 7.5% to 25% on lithium batteries, from zero to 25% on critical minerals, from 25% to 50% on solar cells, and from 25% to 50% on semiconductors.

Tariffs on steel, aluminium and personal protective equipment – which range from zero to 7.5% – will rise to 25%.

Despite the risks of retaliation from Beijing, Biden said the increased levies were a proportionate response to China’s overcapacity in the EV sector. Sources said China was producing 30m EVs a year but could sell only 22-23m domestically.

Biden’s car tariffs are largely symbolic because Chinese EVs were virtually locked out of the US by tariffs imposed by Donald Trump during his presidency. However, lobby groups have suggested there is a future threat as Beijing seeks to use exports to compensate for the weakness of its domestic economy.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing has said the introduction of Chinese cars to the US market would be an “extinction-level event” for its carmakers.

Since arriving in office, the president has announced a series of measures – such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the Chips Act – to boost US industry in hi-tech sectors and in battleground states, where the 2024 election with Trump is likely to be decided.

Biden has taken a hard line on trade since arriving at the White House in 2021 and believes his plan offers a more targeted – and less risky – approach to the threat posed by China than that of his rival.

In March, Trump said that, if elected as president later this year, he would put a 100% tariff on “every single car that comes across the line” from Chinese-owned manufacturing plants in China. “They are not going to sell those cars,” he said. Trump has promised to raise taxes on all Chinese imports by 60%, an approach critics say would raise prices for US consumers already grappling with high inflation.

In April, Biden said he was “not looking for a fight with China” but that the US needed to stand up to China’s “unfair economic practices and industrial overcapacity”. “I’m looking for competition, but fair competition,” he said.

The new tariffs will kick in after 90 days from Tuesday – a period that will be closely watched for signs of tit-for-tat retaliation by China. White House sources said the aim was not to escalate trade tensions but to help parts of the US economy where there had been a cycle of disinvestment.

China’s rail gun sends smart bomb into stratosphere at hypersonic speed, then something goes wrong

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3262607/chinas-rail-gun-sends-smart-bomb-stratosphere-hypersonic-speed-then-something-goes-wrong?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese navy has tested an electromagnetic rail gun, firing a smart bomb 15km (9 miles) high into the stratosphere at a speed exceeding Mach 5, according to scientists involved in the project.

This is the maximum flying altitude of an American B-2 stealth bomber, where the atmospheric pressure is only about one-tenth of that at sea level. With a pair of gliding wings, the precision-guided projectile descended along a relatively gentle curve and hit the ground after about three minutes in flight.

But the test was later declared unsuccessful.

“The projectile did not follow the expected trajectory and the maximum range and altitude did not meet the design values,” said the Naval Engineering University team led by Lu Junyong in a peer-reviewed paper published by the academic journal Transactions of China Electrotechnical Society.

After scrutinising data transmitted back to the ground by the smart bomb, Lu’s team discovered that the projectile was rotating too fast during its ascent, resulting in an undesired tilt.

With the help of artificial intelligence technology, Lu and his colleagues were able to identify the root cause of the failure and find effective solutions to overcome this technical hurdle impeding the practical application of railguns.

According to the mechanical sensor data provided in the paper, the projectile accelerated at roughly 35 times the force of gravity for around 5 seconds after launch, confirming the researchers’ claim that it exceeded hypervelocity, or Mach 5.

No details were given on the time and location of the test, although it must have occurred before August 2023 when the paper was submitted to the journal.

The designed speed and range of the hypersonic gliding guided bomb were also not disclosed, although naval scientists have published several papers in recent years outlining ambitions to eventually achieve 200km (124 miles) at Mach 7.

Some military scientists believe rail gun technology has the potential to revolutionise warfare, in a shake-up similar to the replacement of fossil fuel cars by electric vehicles. But the challenges are considerable.

Despite decades of effort and substantial investment, the US Navy announced its withdrawal from the field in 2021. In China, however, scientists and engineers have received consistent support, yielding a series of notable breakthroughs.

Chinese policymakers anticipate that the rail gun project’s progress will also spur the development of cutting-edge civilian technologies, such as hyper-speed railways and cost-effective space launches.

The technology harnesses potent electromagnetic forces to propel heavyweight projectiles along a rail, at speeds and ranges that are difficult to match with explosive-driven projectiles, promising significant reductions in the weapon’s operating costs.

When the US disbanded its rail gun project, Lu’s team was busy with large-scale launch verification tests that revealed a hidden challenge known as “rotational speed latching” which can potentially send the projectile severely off course.

The effect is irregular and difficult to predict, the researchers said. “Even with the same type of projectile and under the same test conditions, rotational speed latching may still occur intermittently.”

The ghostlike problem did not appear during exhaustive wind tunnel tests and computer simulations, but the operation of the electromagnetic gun appears to be more complex than existing physical theories suggest, they said.

While rotation stabilises a shell’s trajectory, its frequency should decrease rapidly as flight speed increases. If it does not, the warhead can tilt upwards which introduces additional drag, affecting flight speed and potentially direction.

Conventional artillery relies on spiral grooves within the barrel to control this rotation. However, rail gun technology requires a different approach. The projectile spends considerably longer in the electromagnetic barrel and must not touch the gun walls.

Friction between the electric armature propelling the projectile and the rails generates high temperatures and pressures. The bomb can also produce lightning-like arcs as it exits the muzzle.

The researchers said these disturbances may cause the projectile to swing or rock, potentially resonating with its rotation frequency and preventing it from decreasing, resulting in latching.

Further analysis revealed that the phenomenon’s random occurrence is related to external protrusions, such as the gliding wings and tail rudders on the surface of the guided bomb.

Under the immense force of launch, these protrusions can undergo slight deformations, the research team found. In the hypersonic realm, such minor flaws can unexpectedly upset aerodynamic stability.

In their search for possible solutions, the scientists needed to replicate the failure on a computer. But the launch process of an electromagnetic gun involves complex multi-body physics problems in extreme environments, which are difficult to fully describe or solve using existing physical laws and mathematical tools.

Fortunately, Chinese scientists have amassed a wealth of raw data from their experiments and, with the help of AI algorithms, Lu’s team recreated the test in a computer simulation. They also used the tool to predict otherwise uncertain outcomes.

After analysing the probability of speed latching occurring under different conditions, the team proposed a series of solutions, including further increasing the initial rotation speed and adjusting the angle of the projectile’s tail rudder to suppress resonance.

Lu is a core member of the National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Energy Technology, founded by PLA Navy Rear Admiral Ma Weiming in Wuhan, Hubei province to develop disruptive ship and weapon propulsion technologies.

Ma’s team is striving to create a nuclear-powered “super battleship”, capable of unleashing a vast array of long-range guided projectiles to dismantle an entire conventional aircraft carrier formation.

Previous setbacks include a laboratory explosion during a test in 2012. According to official media reports, Lu was first into the burning room – risking his life to put out the resulting fire and save critical equipment and data.

The Chinese military has already applied some new technologies developed by the project, including the electromagnetic catapult system for the conventionally powered Fujian aircraft carrier, similar to that used by the nuclear-powered USS Gerald R. Ford.

The Fujian’s phased array radars and other power-hungry electronic assets significantly outnumber the Ford’s, putting unprecedented pressure on the US military, particularly in situational awareness and electromagnetic suppression.

These advancements can be partially attributed to the rail gun project’s breakthroughs in energy storage, power management, wear-resistant coatings, high-precision sensors, and chips resilient to overloads and electromagnetic pulses, according to some military experts.

China-South Korea relations: as Beijing opposes foreign interference in ties, Seoul rejects ‘zero-sum’ diplomacy

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3262613/china-south-korea-relations-seoul-rejects-zero-sum-diplomacy-beijing-opposes-foreign-interference?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing and Seoul should aim for the stable development of bilateral ties amid “challenges and difficulties”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his South Korean counterpart on Monday while pushing for external interference in the relationship to be cast off.

South Korea’s Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul arrived in Beijing early on Monday for a two-day visit as Seoul aims to navigate its increasingly strained relations with Beijing which have suffered because South Korea, under the administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol, has forged strong ties with the United States.

It was the first visit to the Chinese capital by a South Korean foreign minister in more than six years. Monday’s bilateral talks were the first between the countries’ top diplomats since August 2022 when Wang and South Korea’s then foreign minister Park Jin met in the eastern Chinese port city of Qingdao.

During the talks, Cho said his country did not approach foreign relations as “zero-sum” relationships, indicating that strengthening ties with one nation did not necessarily mean drifting away from other relationships.

“South Korea is not in favour of a zero-sum game and hopes to develop relations with all countries in a balanced manner, and is willing to work with China to … avoid geopolitical constraints as much as possible to open up a new horizon of bilateral cooperation,” Cho was quoted as saying in a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

The comments appeared to be an attempt to ease Beijing’s concerns over closer Seoul-Washington ties.

Wang said recent difficulties and challenges had affected their countries’ bilateral ties, a situation that was not in line with mutual interests and not desired by China.

“We hoped that our countries could join forces to push for a stable and healthy development of the China-South Korea relationship … and mutually stick to the direction of mutual goodwill and uphold the goal of mutually beneficial cooperation while excluding interference,” Wang said, according to the Chinese statement.

According to a statement from the South Korean foreign ministry, Cho stressed that the two countries should build on their cooperative momentum while carefully managing challenges that might stand in the way.

The deterioration of bilateral ties and Beijing’s frustration over the alignment between Seoul and Washington were made visible last year when its ambassador to South Korea, Xing Haiming, openly warned that Seoul would “definitely regret” it if it “bets on China’s defeat” in its rivalry with the US.

Those remarks triggered strong reactions from Seoul, which later summoned Xing and said his statements could amount to an “intervention in internal affairs”.

Ties between Beijing and Seoul also simmered last year following remarks Yoon made about Taiwan.

In April 2023, he condemned any attempt to use force to change the status quo regarding the self-ruled island, and said the Taiwan issue was not “simply an issue between China and Taiwan” but one that involves the entire world, contradicting Beijing’s stance that it was an internal matter.

Taipei took part in a US-backed democracy summit in Seoul in March. At the time, Beijing accused Seoul of providing Taiwan independence forces with a platform to enhance their visibility.

“It is hoped that South Korea will abide by the one-China principle, properly and prudently handle Taiwan-related issues and consolidate the political foundation of bilateral relations,” Wang said during the talks on Monday.

Additionally, Wang cautioned against trade protectionism and said the two countries should oppose it. The ministers said bilateral economic connections had been a driving force in each other’s development and agreed to strengthen economic cooperation, such as the stable management of supply chains.

South Korea is actively working to diversify the supply chains for its semiconductor industry and other key sectors and aims to decrease its dependence on China for essential materials.

According to South Korea’s foreign ministry, Cho and Wang agreed to work together to ensure the success of the coming trilateral summit involving Yoon, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The leaders’ gathering, which will reportedly occur in Seoul on May 26-27, will be the first such meeting since leaders of the three neighbours last met in Chengdu, in southwestern China, in December 2019. The leaders’ summit was not mentioned in the Chinese statement.

Cho urged China, in its capacity as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to constructively contribute to peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.

China is South Korea’s biggest trading partner and is seen as a key player in efforts to rein in nuclear-armed North Korea. Beijing has advocated a “dual-suspension” approach to denuclearisation, which entails North Korea halting its missile and nuclear programmes while South Korea and the US would have to suspend their joint military exercises.

Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin as ‘no limits’ partners mark 75 years of ties

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3262545/chinese-president-xi-jinping-meet-russias-putin-no-limits-partners-mark-75-years-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to host Vladimir Putin when the Russian leader arrives in Beijing on Thursday, Putin’s first overseas trip since starting his fifth term in office earlier this month.

It is also Putin’s second visit to China since October and the latest display of the strong ties between the neighbours.

“Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin will pay a state visit to China on May 16-17 at the invitation of President Xi Jinping,” China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday afternoon.

While China has not openly supported Putin’s invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, its “no limits” strategic partnership with Russia has come under intense scrutiny from the United States and its allies, who have imposed sanctions on Moscow and called repeatedly for Beijing to use its leverage to bring the war to an end.

How to further strengthen Russia’s strategic partnership with China, particularly economic cooperation in the face of isolation by the West, would be high on Putin’s agenda as the two countries mark 75 years of diplomatic ties.

Putin’s visit to Beijing in October was for a summit of the Belt and Road Initiative, the massive China-led infrastructure project that aims to connect Asia with Africa and Europe by land and sea and is widely seen as Xi’s pet project.

His latest visit comes close on the heels of Xi’s three-nation European tour. Meeting in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, Xi pledged that China would not sell arms to Russia and would control the flow of dual-use goods to its military, both raised as points of concern by the West.

According to a report on bilateral investment by a Chinese think tank, about 80 per cent of payment settlements between China and Russia were suspended as of March because of sanctions from the West.

This has “severely impacted normal trade and commercial relations” and brings home the urgent need to “build new payment-and-settlement channels as soon as possible, and resolve the threat of secondary sanctions on financial institutions”, the report from the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Beijing’s Renmin University said.

Less than three weeks before his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Putin was in Beijing as one of the highest-profile guests at the Winter Olympic Games.

During talks with Xi ahead of the opening ceremony, the two sides declared a “no-limits” partnership.

Close interaction between the top leaders has “ensured the smooth and stable development of China-Russia ties”, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

Officials in both Beijing and Moscow have often described the bilateral partnership as greater than a traditional alliance.

Philippine visa scheme sparks fears of Chinese students acting as ‘agents of state’

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3262624/philippine-visa-scheme-sparks-fears-chinese-students-acting-agents-state?utm_source=rss_feed

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has been urged to remove a long-standing scheme that has allowed thousands of Chinese and other foreign nationals to convert their tourist visas into student visas annually amid heightened security fears over the ongoing South China Sea dispute between Manila and Beijing.

Analysts say the number of student visas granted to Chinese nationals is a source of concern as some of them could be acting as “agents of the state” against the interests of the Philippines.

A report by the Bureau of Immigration released on Monday showed that 16,200 Chinese nationals out of 24,189 foreigners who entered the Philippines as tourists received student visas under the scheme last year.

Robert Ace Barbers, the representative of Surigao del Norte’s 2nd District, was alarmed by the report’s findings, given the simmering tensions in the South China Sea.

“Of course, we want tourists to come … we want them to invest here and we also want them to study here. But now that there seems to be a problem that we’re involved in as far as the West Philippine Sea is concerned. I think the number of Chinese students is quite alarming,” Barbers said in a television interview on Tuesday.

Barbers was referring to Manila’s term for the section of the South China Sea that defined its maritime territory and included its exclusive economic zone.

Tensions have spiked in the disputed waters in recent months with several clashes reported, including ship collisions and the use of water cannons by the Chinese coastguard against Philippine vessels.

In the latest incident, the Philippines accused China over the weekend that it was planning to build an “artificial island” in Sabina Shoal – designated as Escoda Shoal by Manila – after the Philippine coastguard found dead corals about 75 nautical miles (120 kilometres) off the coast of the country’s Palawan island. Beijing has dismissed the accusation and asked Manila to stop making irresponsible remarks.

Signed by former President Joseph Estrada in 2000, Executive Order No. 285 allows the Bureau of Immigration to grant the conversion of tourist visas into student visas subject to certain conditions. Manila’s policy then was to “promote the Philippines as a centre for education in the Asia-Pacific Region by encouraging foreign students to study in the country”.

But Barbers argued that such powers should be reserved only for the Department of Foreign Affairs, which could assess the eligibility of applicants under the scheme.

“This arbitrary power to convert visas is the worst legalised scheme that can be used by unscrupulous personnel for monetary gain,” Barbers said in a separate statement on Monday.

“The 16,200 student visas that the Bureau of Immigration granted to Chinese nationals is simply unacceptable. Never mind if other countries grant more, we should never use that as our yardstick given our tense relationship with China.”

Norman Tansingco, Commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration, said in a statement on Monday that the bureau had previously provided data on students who were granted visas under the scheme to Philippine security agencies for investigations against suspicious activities of foreign nationals.

“We have requested the high-level meetings to reiterate our previous requests for immediate joint inspections given the new developments in national security concerns,” Tansingco said.

According to Tansingco, Chinese nationals remain the biggest source of foreign students in many countries. For instance, the US granted student visas to 289,526 Chinese nationals in 2022. Malaysia and Thailand welcomed about 130,000 and 20,000 Chinese students, respectively, in the same year.

Tansingco also addressed media reports of 4,600 Chinese nationals enrolled in private universities in the northern Cagayan province. Of the 1,516 Chinese nationals holding student visas, only 485 were enrolled since last month, he said.

Speaking with This Week in Asia, Ramon Beleno III, head of the political science and history department at Ateneo De Davao University in Davao City, said the report on Chinese students was worrying. He urged government agencies to look into the matter immediately, particularly those in the intelligence community.

If the Chinese students were studying remotely, there was no reason for them to be in the Philippines, Beleno added.

“And what happened to those who secured student visas and did not enrol in schools? I don’t know what kind of training these Chinese students have to become agents of the state. But if they have such programmes or training back home as early as their age, that is something that we should be concerned about,” he said.

“If we only have the idea that the Chinese government is training them to infiltrate a certain government. In the long run, these Chinese students are here in the country but what if they will no longer return to China?”

Edmund Tayao, a political analyst and professor at the San Beda Graduate School of Law in Manila, said intelligence officials should deal with the matter proactively.

“We have always been a favourite destination for education by different nationalities. China is different and should have been treated differently given its direct involvement in our security issues. It’s already there and we’re doing damage control,” said Tayao.

“Our security agencies should work double time to determine the extent of its potential security implications. If many – if not most – of these students are here to infiltrate, we have a serious problem.”

Tayao cited the telecoms infrastructure in the Philippines as a major concern, as many service providers used Chinese equipment and software.

“If these students are here for the purpose of infiltration, they have a ready mechanism in place,” Tayao said.

Philippine authorities began implementing stricter visa controls for Chinese nationals this week after they discovered cases of fraudulent immigration applications that allowed foreigners to enter illegally or overstay.

Dana Sandoval, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration, defended the measure and denied that it was specifically targeted at Chinese nationals studying in the Philippines.

“The maritime dispute with Beijing was a key consideration. There have been changes in our relations with other countries, particularly with China. That prompted us to look into the numbers or activities of these [other] foreigner nationals,” she told reporters on Monday.

Biden to hit Chinese EVs with tariffs topping 100 percent as election looms

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/05/14/biden-china-tariff-ev-solar/2024-05-13T15:06:32.666Z

President Biden will announce Tuesday that he is quadrupling tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100 percent and imposing new levies on computer chips, solar cells and lithium-ion batteries in a bid to prevent a flood of low-cost Chinese products from swamping his hopes of reviving domestic manufacturing.

Capping a three-year review, the president will slap tariffs on a modest $18 billion in Chinese products “to protect American workers and businesses,” especially in the auto industry, the White House said.

Administration officials said the actions were a needed response to years of “unfair trade practices” by China, including forced technology transfer, intellectual property violations and cyberhacking of American businesses, that have given it a dominant role in global manufacturing.

“China is using the same playbook it has before to power its own growth at the expense of others by continuing to invest despite excess Chinese capacity and [by] flooding global markets with exports that are underpriced due to unfair practices,” said Lael Brainard, director of the White House National Economic Council. “China’s simply too big to play by its own rules.”

Almost a quarter-century after China formally entered the global trading system, U.S. patience with its economic system is exhausted. Generous state support, in the form of easy credit, free or low-cost land, and workers with few rights, has enabled China to rise in one industry after another.

Now the Biden administration wants to draw the line — and be seen drawing the line — at an industry that was identified with the United States for most of the 20th century.

Though the Chinese EV threat for now is embryonic, administration officials and independent analysts say the competitive challenge will only grow.

Last year, Chinese car companies exported just $400 million worth of electric vehicles to the United States; sales by European manufacturers were almost 20 times higher, according to Oxford Economics.

“This is all about stopping the flood before it begins,” said Michael Dunne, an auto industry consultant who spent several years in China and is now based in San Diego.

Along with erecting new defenses around the domestic EV market, Biden Tuesday also doubled the existing tariff on basic or “legacy” semiconductors to 50 percent; more than tripled the tariff on some steel and aluminum products to 25 percent; and imposed a new 25 percent tariff on the giant ship-to-shore cranes used to unload container ships at U.S. ports.

Some of the new levies, such as the semiconductor fee, will take effect next year while others, like those on surgical gloves will not hit until 2026.

While the administration insisted that politics played no role in the decision, White House officials also repeatedly distinguished between Biden’s actions Tuesday and the policies followed by his predecessor and likely opponent in November.

Former president Donald Trump, beginning in 2018, imposed tariffs on roughly two-thirds of Chinese imports. He is campaigning now on a pledge to levy a new 60 percent tariff on all Chinese products, a move that many economists say would disrupt global supply chains and increase inflation.

Biden officials, in contrast, describe the latest tariffs as “carefully targeted” to protect only the strategic sectors that the president seeks to cultivate: advanced computer chips, low-carbon energy and key industrial materials such as steel and aluminum. Nearly $1.5 trillion of public and private funds have been channeled into these industries in the past few years.

The White House also blasted the trade deal with China that Trump signed in 2020, saying it failed to increase American exports or manufacturing jobs. U.S. factory employment has grown by 773,000 jobs since Biden took office.

Six years after Trump first took aim at the fundamental elements of China’s economic system, a second president confronts the same problems and is again erecting trade barriers to address them.

“It’s the correct response to a big problem that China is creating in its overproduction in key manufacturing sectors,” said Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Asia Society Policy Institute, and a former U.S. trade negotiator. “China’s trying to export its overcapacity to the rest of the world.”

The administration said the latest U.S. tariffs are designed “to encourage China to eliminate its unfair trade practices.” But some analysts said there is little chance of that happening.

“If you don’t push back on Chinese subsidies, you lose your industry,” said Jeff Moon, a former U.S. trade negotiator. “This is not solvable. This is the nature of their system.”

Indeed, heavy state subsidies allowed China in recent years to dominate global markets in shipbuilding, steel and solar panels. Now, their increasingly capable automakers threaten to vanquish the U.S. auto industry, which is struggling to manage a transition from gas-powered to electric vehicles.

With a debt-ridden property market weighing on domestic demand, Chinese companies hope to survive by exporting their excess production to customers in the United States, Europe and developing markets.

China’s auto industry can produce 40 million gas and electric vehicles each year. Domestic sales and exports total roughly 30 million. That leaves excess capacity of about 10 million vehicles, roughly equal to the number produced in the United States last year, according to Dunne.

Dunne praised the administration action but said it was insufficient to guarantee that American car companies could survive.

“Tariffs solve one half of the equation. The other half is how to ignite a mind-set of innovation, intensity and ambition among domestic automakers,” he said.

More than a decade after Wen Jiabao, then Chinese prime minister, warned that China’s growth was “unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable,” its leaders continue to prioritize manufacturing over greater consumer buying power.

China spends more on industrial policies to shape its economy than it does on defense, said a 2022 report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In dollar terms, China spends more than twice as much as the United States, according to the report, which was funded by the State Department.

Continued investment in manufacturing capacity has left many Chinese industries able to produce far more than is needed at home. Biden administration officials complain that China now controls “70, 80, and even 90 percent of global production for the critical inputs” the U.S. economy needs.

Earlier this year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Chinese companies would “demolish” their global rivals unless the United States and Europe erected new trade barriers.

Any potential Chinese retaliation is likely to be limited, according to Greta Peisch, who stepped down earlier this year as general counsel in the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

“This is pretty measured. We see China generally matching U.S. actions in scope and scale. So I’d expect their response to also be measured,” said Peisch, a partner at Wiley Rein.

The tariffs reflect the challenges facing the Biden administration as it tries to balance global climate goals with geopolitical concerns about China’s dominance of EV supply chains.

Biden wants half of new cars to be zero-emission by 2030. But EV sales growth has slowed in recent months, leaving the country far off-track.

The new tariffs will have little impact on domestic EV sales at the moment, analysts said. The only Chinese electric vehicle for sale in the United States now is made by Polestar, which is owned by China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding.

But Volvo, which is owned by the same company, has been planning to introduce new electric models as soon as this summer. And U.S. tariffs could discourage Chinese automakers such as BYD and Nio from selling to American consumers, leaving fewer EV choices at dealerships nationwide in the future, said Corey Cantor, a senior associate for electric vehicles at BloombergNEF.

“There’s kind of a paradox,” Cantor said. “There’s this element of getting more consumers into EVs. And then there’s this element of keeping out these attractive Chinese EVs or the U.S. auto market will be decimated.”

News of the tariffs first surfaced last week while John D. Podesta, senior adviser to the president for international climate policy, was meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Washington.

Podesta told reporters Friday that trade tensions between the United States and China — the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters — would not undermine climate talks between the two superpowers.

“Even as our overall relationship between our two countries has increasingly been characterized by fierce competition, we have an obligation to our citizens and the people of the world to communicate, cooperate and collaborate where we can to tackle the climate crisis,” Podesta said.

How Chinese surveillance technology helps North Korea keep its citizens on a tight leash

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3262581/how-chinese-surveillance-technology-helps-north-korea-keep-its-citizens-tight-leash?utm_source=rss_feed

Heavy reliance on Chinese surveillance technology has allowed North Korea to keep its population under tight control and make illegal border crossings difficult, as the isolated country expands digital transformation aimed at controlling “various facets of public and private life”.

Experts say North Korea is also setting up a fourth-generation mobile telecoms network to boost its remote online monitoring capabilities while maintaining “highly effective” human-level analogue watch.

Martyn Williams, senior fellow at Pyongyang-focused Stimson Centre and long-time North Korea researcher, said the hermit kingdom had a “high level of aptitude” when it came to software engineering and programming, but its ability to manufacture devices was limited due to the lack of a large hardware industry.

The North is putting a lot of resources and efforts into developing technology and algorithms for surveillance but it “overly relies on imported Chinese technology” for devices including mobile handsets and security cameras, Williams told journalists at a press meet in Seoul on Monday.

In 2022, China-North Korea trade stood at US$1.03 billion, up 125 per cent from the previous year, according to Seoul’s Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.

Photographs on Chinese social media taken along China’s border with North Korea showed closed-circuit television cameras mounted on North Korean guard posts. The devices were installed during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown, when Pyongyang was building a second layer of security fences to prevent the spread of the virus.

The equipment was useful for stopping illegal border crossings and keep an eye on guards who look the other way and let people cross the frontier in return for bribes, according to Williams.

“This explains why the Northern border is so tightly closed,” he said, adding security services were being monitored.

North Korea banned tourists, jetted out diplomats and severely curtailed border traffic and trade under its zero-Covid policy before it allowed citizens staying abroad to return home in line with the easing of pandemic curbs worldwide last summer.

Human Rights Watch said in a report titled “North Korea: Sealing China border worsens crisis” and released in March that the closure worsened an already grave humanitarian and human rights situation in the country of 26 million people.

In addition to surveillance cameras, the North has been developing digital facial recognition systems which would tell the state “who is at a particular place at a particular time”, Williams said.

It is also working on internet protocol television that could let the government know whether someone is home based on the activity of TV sets, providing data on programmes that were watched or ignored.

Authorities will be “able to find out who didn’t watch Kim Jong-un’s speech last night and decided to switch the channel when he came on” in a dangerous display of disloyalty to the leader in the Stalinist state, he said.

In a report published last month titled “Digital surveillance in North Korea: Moving toward a digital Panopticom state”, Williams and Natalia Slavney at the US-based Stimson Centre said Pyongyang was building surveillance capabilities that “reach across various facets of public and private life”.

North Korea imported most phones from China – its economic lifeline – before launching the Arirang, Pyongyang’s first home-grown smartphone in 2013.

The country has an estimated 7 million mobile phone users. Kim’s administration also bought cheap second-hand Huawei telecommunications devices to upgrade the existing 3G networks to a 4G category, Daily NK said last year.

Digital transformation in North Korea could provide more opportunities to its citizens but it also “increases the risks associated with growing digital footprints and the ability of the North Korean state to expand surveillance of people’s lives”, Williams and Slavney said in the report.

North Koreans are already among the most tightly controlled and monitored people in the world, though the state is not all-seeing yet.

Small spaces exist that allow North Koreans to engage in illicit business activities, consume foreign media and privately criticise the government, and if caught, people can often offer bribes to escape serious punishment.

Citizens in North Korea, which ranks 172 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index, “cannot lead a life in the country if he or she does not bribe his or her way”, the United Nations said in a 2019 report that Pyongyang dismissed as “politically motivated”.

“The continued adoption of digital technology threatens to erase many of these spaces. A combination of the heavy state control exerted by North Korea and pervasive digital surveillance, such as that carried out in China, could extinguish all but the tiniest freedoms for the North Korean people,” according to the report published on 38 North, a website of the Stimson Centre.

Key findings of the study state that research on biometric technology has been going on for decades, evolving from fingerprint recognition in the late 1990s to include more advanced mechanism such as facial and licence plate recognition.

The latest version of North Korea’s national identification (ID) card comes in a smart card format. The document’s renewal requires citizens to provide fingerprints, have their photo taken, and, according to one report, take a blood test.

As a result, almost every North Korean citizen surveyed in the report said the state had collected their fingerprint data.

How the biometric information is stored and accessed is unclear, but the ID card procedure means the government possesses the data to build a biometric database of all citizens, according to the research.

However, the country’s “abysmal” electricity supply situation would be a major stumbling block in the spread of digital surveillance technology, it noted.

North Korea still relied heavily on its “highly effective” human intelligence networks that have been built up over decades of snooping on citizens, including the infamous Inminban neighbourhood surveillance system, Williams said.

The strategy, rolled out in the 1960s, centred on women who join community activities such as cleaning work, with members spanning multiple households and monitoring each other.

Flood of China’s used cooking oil spurs call to hike US levies to protect growers of crops used for sustainable fuels

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3262593/flood-chinas-used-cooking-oil-spurs-call-hike-us-levies-protect-growers-crops-used-sustainable-fuels?utm_source=rss_feed

Higher levies on Chinese used cooking oil could be on the table as President Joe Biden prepares a new wave of tariffs against China, as a US soybean trade group argues the imports are undercutting American crops used for biofuels.

The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA), which represents the biggest US soybean processors, including Cargill, Bunge Global and Archer-Daniels-Midland, wants the levies to be higher than the current 15.5 per cent rate, according to a notice sent to its members over the weekend that was seen by Bloomberg.

NOPA CEO Kailee Tkacz Buller said the memo was sent in response to rumours of possible additional tariffs being applied on used cooking oil. Association members support a boost on par with other clean energy sources, such as electric vehicles and solar, to level the playing field, Buller said in an email.

Soybean crushers worry a flood of used cooking oil imports from China is weakening demand for US crop-based ingredients that can be used to make renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. There’s also widespread, unconfirmed speculation the used oil from Asia may not be authentic and instead is mixed with fresh vegetable oils, such as palm, potentially distorting commodity values and undermining US biofuel laws.

China’s exports to the US of processed animal and vegetable fats and oils – a category that includes used cooking oil – reached US$201 million in the first three months of this year, versus US$770 million in the whole of 2023, Chinese customs figures compiled by Bloomberg show. That compares to about US$47 million worth of shipments in 2022 from April onwards, when the data begins.

Soy oil values are down so far this year, though futures in Chicago’s commodities marekt have seen an uptick in the last couple of trading days as commodities traders await tariff news. Biden on Tuesday is expected to unveil an increase in some levies first imposed under former President Donald Trump. It’s not known if the announcement will include used cooking oil.

White House officials declined to comment.

Tariffs on used cooking oil would add to other incoming US trade measures against Chinese goods. Biden will quadruple tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and sharply increase levies for other key industries, Bloomberg News reported this week. Semiconductors have been another key battleground.

The 2024 presidential race looms large over the moves: Biden is trying to crack down on China and differentiate himself from Trump. It comes as the world’s two largest economies are at odds over a slew of issues, including espionage, Beijing’s clampdown on Hong Kong and the status of Taiwan.

In the cooking oil rift, US growers of soy and other crops used to make renewable diesel stand to lose the most from the trade imbroglio, according to agriculture traders. That sets the stage for possible tension between farm groups and biofuel producers who are making money importing used cooking oil from China.

US imports of used cooking oil more than tripled in 2023 from a year earlier, with more than half coming from China, according to the US International Trade Commission. The surge is eroding profits for processors who crush whole soybeans to extract the oil, forcing some plants to slow down.

The increased imports also jeopardise plans to ramp up US crushing capacity amid a flurry of government incentives aimed at making lower-carbon fuels to help fight climate change.

NOPA plans to discuss the tariff issue with members this week as well as look at other possible options, according to the memo.

Global Impact: will ‘golden times’ return for China? Analysts, observers and military personnel have their say

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3262563/global-impact-will-golden-times-return-china-analysts-observers-and-military-personnel-have-their?utm_source=rss_feed

Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world. Sign up

The series kicked off with political scientist Li Cheng, founding director of the University of Hong Kong’s Centre on Contemporary China and the World, saying that tensions between China and the US would be “with us for a long time”.

Li said it would likely take between 10 and 15 years for China and the US to return to the normal relations seen a decade ago, despite the meeting between presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in San Francisco late last year.

“The San Francisco meeting is not supposed to reverse the US policy towards China. This is only to provide a floor preventing a further downward spiral, but we’re not changing back to the previous period,” he said.

Li also said he did not think that mainland China would use force over Taiwan, with “an incident” in the South China Sea more likely to happen.

Then, global affairs expert Joseph Nye, a former US assistant secretary of defence, said a full-scale trade war between China and the US would be a “very bad idea”.

Nye had said earlier that relations between China and the US should be based on “managed competition”.

“I think having contact at high levels is important, and I think the meeting between presidents Xi and Biden last November was a very useful step. But it would also be useful to find some issues which demonstrate to public opinion that the two countries benefit from cooperating, and probably the best candidate for that is climate change,” he said.

Nye said there is the possibility of a trade war should Donald Trump return to the White House, with the US presidential election set to take place in November.

“Trump himself is very unpredictable, and you never know quite what his policies will be. But he has threatened to put high tariffs on Chinese goods. So, one possibility would be a trade war,” Nye added.

Nye also said the danger of conflict in the South China Sea or Taiwan Strait would be “a little more dangerous” should Trump return to the White House.

While “China has done very well economically”, he said, it faces challenges from a declining population and a workforce that has peaked, which means it is “unlikely” in his estimation the Chinese economy would surpass the US in terms of total gross domestic product 2030.

Meanwhile, seasoned China hand Joerg Wuttke, the president emeritus of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China who is departing after four decades in the country, said China could do more to enhance its role as a world champion in development and solve overcapacity issues.

The US, as well as the European Union, have accused China of exporting its overcapacity, particularly in green technology like electric vehicles, with Beijing labelling the claims as “groundless”.

“It takes two to tango. China started pushing. The US played American football, fighting for every yard and pushing back,” he said.

“China is overemphasising safety and security, which unleashes forces on the other side doing exactly the same.”

Wuttke said the issue of overcapacity had become a “systemic problem in China” as it produces too much of everything.

“At the core of the overcapacity problem is that nobody leaves the market. Everybody hangs in there, fighting for market share, dropping prices and trying to be more efficient,” he added.

And amid declining foreign investment, Wuttke said that “China can do better” to assuage small- and medium-sized enterprises from Europe reluctant about investing due to concerns over security law and data-transfer requirements.

“China has the most demanding and fast-changing customers in the world,” he added.

“If a company wants to be globally competitive, it has to be in what I like to call the ‘fitness centre China’”.

PR expert James Heimowitz, a seasoned expert in intercultural affairs with China, found hope for future US-China relations away from politics.

Heimowitz said the key to improving China’s image in the West and other parts of the world was based on improving trust, as shown by the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

“As you build and foster trust, you begin to take more risks. And as you take more risks, hopefully, you get rewarded,” said Heimowitz, who spearheaded international media for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

“If we look back to the 2008 Olympic Games – which I think about as a ‘golden time’ for China communicating, in a much better way, with the West, my advice was, the more trust you demonstrate, and the more freedom you give to international media, the better the results will be.”

Heimowitz said that China has “truly emerged” over the last 20 years, becoming richer, more modern, more powerful and more influential, which has created structural tension between the world’s two most important powers.

“China is going to be out there looking after its own best interests. That is what a nation-state is supposed to do for its citizens. But I would argue it is in the best interests of China to also maintain a healthier relationship with the other major power on the planet,” he added.

Heimowitz said that China was taking important steps by rolling out a series of measures to attract overseas tourists and investors, which could help build on the meeting between Xi and Biden last year to go some way to rebuilding trust.

“Like any relationship, it goes through ups and downs. Since the pandemic it feels something like a bad marriage,” he said.

“But I still think both sides are very committed to this relationship. As tough as things have been, I feel a strong desire for both sides to somehow work out a way to figure out a future for this relationship.”

Veteran observer David Lampton, a former president of US non-profit organisation the National Committee on US-China Relations, said that reform and opening up efforts in China were not dead, but that what Beijing and Washington want from each other is unlikely to happen “any time soon”.

Lampton said that China had grown and that the reform-oriented changes are relatively smaller, while the West is much more impatient because what China does greatly affects the outside world.

“Reform and opening up are not dead, because reform and opening are the nature of this world of security, economic, ecological, and social interconnectivity, and because each generation must find its own way to address the challenges. I think it is appropriate for China to move reforms forward step by step, but my sense is that the current tightness of the political system is likely to continue for the indefinite future,” he said.

Lampton has labelled the current relationship between China and the US as being the era of the “second cold war”.

“I do believe that the US and China, and their allies and partners, have entered a period reasonably characterised as a cold war – that is not to say [I can forecast] how ‘cold’ it becomes, how long it will last, or what its outcomes may be. There is lots of uncertainty,” he added.

On the military front, retired senior colonel Zhou Bo, who spent four decades with the People’s Liberation Army, shared his insights on global and regional challenges including the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, and conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

Zhou said he did not believe that the US would “be so stupid” as to confront China on behalf of any Southeast Asian claimants amid the ongoing disputes in the South China Sea.

As for Taiwan, Zhou said mainland China’s approach remains focused on peaceful reunification, despite suggestions from some US officials that the mainland aims to build up its military capacity to be ready to take Taiwan by 2027.

“We mentioned at the Communist Party’s 20th national congress [in 2022] that we would have ultimate patience and make utmost efforts for a peaceful reunification. Right now, I think this very much remains the same,” he said.

Douglas Paal, who was the unofficial US representative to Taipei as director of the American Institute in Taiwan from 2002-06, said the risk of a flare-up in the South China Sea was “much higher” than across the Taiwan Strait.

“I think the risks of a confrontation over the South China Sea, especially over the Second Thomas Shoal, Renai Jiao [in Chinese], near the Philippines, are much higher. It risks turning into something more dangerous than our cross-strait relations between Taiwan and the mainland,” he said.

He added that the status quo established between the mainland and Taiwan had allowed both to prosper “each in their own way with their own system”.

“We should be very careful not to put that at risk by surprising each other with new behaviours and new statements of our policy that will disrupt that status quo. I don’t expect [Taiwan’s president-elect] William Lai to issue any kind of statement like that and I’m certainly hoping China and the US will not do so either,” Paal said.

60-Second Catch-up

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Deep dives

When I first went to China, I felt like an astronaut landing from outer space onto a foreign planet.

Read more.

It strikes me that while the name “reform and opening up” has continued, the actual content of reform and opening up is [now] rather different. The scope of the reforms themselves is much narrower and the internal decision-making system more tightly controlled, less collective, and more top down.

Read more.

China has never used force against the Philippines. Yes the Chinese coastguard used water cannons to dispel the Philippine coastguard, but I think that is deterrence, not a use of force. Historically, it is the Philippine coastguard that has used force to kill innocent Chinese fishermen from the mainland and Taiwan in 2000, 2006 and 2013. Few people seem to remember that, but you can google it to find out.

Read more.

Well, before 1989, we had a common anti-Soviet focus, and that allowed a lot of cooperation to take place in areas that today would be impossible. We had military-to-military cooperation, and the [Jimmy] Carter administration had set out to create relationships among every major agency of the US government’s counterparts in China.

Read more.

Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world.

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Student from China freed from kidnap gang in Thailand who demand US$1.1 million ransom using porn, organ harvesting threats

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3261583/china-student-freed-kidnap-gang-thailand-who-demand-us11-million-ransom-using-porn-organ-harvesting?utm_source=rss_feed

A student from China has been rescued by police in Thailand after a kidnap gang lured her to the country, demanded an eight-million-yuan (US$1.1 million) ransom and threatened to expose pornographic photos of her and even sell her organs if the money was not paid.

The woman, who is studying in Australia, had been missing for about a week before she was found by Thai police, the Southern Metropolis News reported.

Only identified as Amber, the woman began her studies at the Australian National University in February.

Her case came under the spotlight in China at the end of April when her friend wrote a post on Weibo, looking for information on her whereabouts.

The friend said Amber had not contacted her parents or friends since April 15 and had failed to attend mid-term tests. She was also not in her dormitory, the post said.

Amber’s parents made a report to the police in China.

The missing woman’s mother said she received a call from her daughter’s mobile on April 17 from a man asking her to remit eight million yuan as “compensation”.

If his request was not met, he would force Amber to perform in pornographic videos and threatened to send her to Cambodia to have her organs harvested for cash.

Noticing that transfers totalling 7.5 million Thai baht (US$204,000) had been made from Amber’s bank account to that of strangers in recent weeks, her parents contacted a crime victim aid group in Thailand for help.

According to Thai police, Amber entered the country on April 13. She stayed for one night at a hotel near a Bangkok airport before going missing for a couple of days.

On April 20, she was found, unscathed, in another hotel by police.

The student told officers that in February, three men, posing as a telecoms company employee, a government official and a police officer, called her, telling her that messages sent from her mobile phone had led to someone’s suicide.

They told her that if she did not pay eight million yuan in compensation, she would face “horrible results”.

Amber was forced to sign an eight-million-yuan debt confirmation letter. The racketeers told her not to reveal any of their conversation to others or she would end up in court.

Amber sent money to their designated bank accounts. Her last transfer of 500,000 yuan (US$69,000) was blocked because of the large amount involved.

The three men instructed her to fly to Thailand as they said they had contacts in the kingdom who would be able to clear Amber’s “criminal record”.

It is unclear if the racketeers have been caught.

Amber’s friend told the media that she returned to China on April 21.

“It’s lucky that she was saved in time. She has not been hurt, but she still remains frightened,” the friend was quoted as saying, adding: “She will go back to Australia when her emotions are stable.”

Chinese students studying abroad often fall victim to such fraudsters.

Last year, police from China rescued a young man studying in a European country from a crime group.

The student said he was duped while making investments online and ended up being trafficked across Southeast Asia as criminals demanded a two-million-yuan (US$280,000) ransom from his parents.

Xi’s visit to Hungary and Serbia brings new Chinese investment and deeper ties to Europe’s doorstep

https://apnews.com/article/xi-visit-brings-chinese-investment-serbia-hungary-8b112f599ab51a18e290d5183b971970FILE - Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, listens during his joint press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban following their talks at the PM's office, the former Carmelite Monastery, in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, May 9 2024. Most countries in the European Union are making efforts to “de-risk” their economies from perceived threats posed by China. But Hungary and Serbia have gone in the other direction. They are courting major Chinese investments in the belief that the world’s second-largest economy is essential for Europe’s future. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP, File)

2024-05-14T04:06:47Z

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — When Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Hungary last week, he arrived to one of the few places in the European Union where his country is considered an indispensable ally rather than a rival. By the time he left on Friday, he’d secured deals that provide fertile ground for China’s plans of economic expansion in Europe.

After meeting with nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Thursday, the leaders addressed a small group of select media in Hungary’s capital, Budapest, announcing the formation of an “all-weather partnership” that would usher in a new era of economic cooperation.

As most EU countries make efforts to “de-risk” their economies from perceived threats posed by China, Hungary has gone in the other direction, courting major Chinese investments in the belief that the world’s second-largest economy is essential for Europe’s future.

While Xi and Orbán didn’t unveil concrete agreements following their meeting, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó later said in a video that a deal had been reached on a joint Hungarian-Chinese railway bypass around Budapest, as well as a high-speed train link between the capital and its international airport.

The two countries also agreed to expand their cooperation to the “whole spectrum” of the nuclear industry, Orbán said, and deals were reached on China helping Hungary build out its network of electric vehicle charging stations and on construction of an oil pipeline between Hungary and Serbia.

Zsuzsanna Vegh, a program assistant at the German Marshall Fund and visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said those deals were “a clear signal that China sees Hungary as a key and reliable ally” in the EU as it seeks to reverse Europe’s toughening de-risking policy.

Xi’s visit, Vegh wrote in a statement, shows that Hungary’s government “remains indifferent to its allies’ concerns and will continue to strengthen its bilateral ties with China in order to position itself favorably in what it perceives as a developing multipolar world.”

Pursuing a similar strategy is Serbia, Hungary’s neighbor to the south, which has also provided wide opportunities for Chinese companies to exploit its natural resources and carry out large infrastructure projects.

Like Orbán, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has built a form of autocratic governance that eschews the pluralism valued in more traditional Western democracies — making both countries attractive to China as opaque direct deals help to eliminate red tape.

During Xi’s visit to Serbia last week, he and Vučić signed an agreement to build a “shared future,” making the Balkan country the first in Europe to agree on such a document with Beijing.

Vuk Vuksanović, a senior researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, said that Xi’s interest in Serbia reflects his strategy of appealing to countries that are less committed to a U.S.-led economic and political community.

Xi’s “shared future” agreement with Belgrade, Vuksanović said, promotes “China’s vision of the international order, the one where China is much more powerful, the one where the Western powers, primarily the U.S., no longer have the ability to dictate the agenda to others.”

China has poured billions of dollars into Serbia in investment and loans, particularly in mining and infrastructure. The two countries signed an agreement on a strategic partnership in 2016 and a free trade agreement last year.

While Serbia formally wants to join the 27-nation EU, it has been steadily drifting away from that path, and some of its agreements with China aren’t in line with rules for membership.

Vučić is friendly with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine but refused to join international sanctions against Moscow.

The red-carpet treatment by Serbia and Hungary has worried some of their Western partners, which see China’s incursion into the region as both an economic and security risk. According to Gabriel Escobar, U.S. envoy for the Western Balkans, Xi chose to visit the neighboring countries because they “are open to challenging the unity of the Euro-Atlantic community.”

“We caution all of our partners and all of our interlocutors to be very aware of China’s agenda in Europe,” Escobar said last week.

In February, Hungary followed Serbia’s lead by concluding a security agreement with Beijing whereby Chinese law enforcement officers would be permitted to assist their Hungarian counterparts in police actions within Hungary.

The government has said the officers will ensure public safety among Chinese tourists and members of Hungary’s large Chinese diaspora. But critics say the officers could be used as an extension of Xi’s single-party state to exert control over the Chinese community.

As Orbán has deepened relations with Beijing, he has also been engaged in a protracted conflict with the EU that has seen billions in structural funds frozen to Budapest over concerns that he has captured democratic institutions and abused the bloc’s funds.

That money shows no sign of arriving any time soon, and Hungary’s pursuit of additional Chinese developments shows its government “does not envision the possibility of financing such strategic infrastructure projects from EU funds,” Vegh wrote.

While the inflow of Chinese capital is a boon to Hungary’s sputtering economy, having production sites on EU territory also helps Beijing to circumvent costly tariffs and Europe’s increasingly protectionist policies.

In December, Hungary announced that one of the world’s largest EV manufacturers, China’s BYD, will open its first European EV production factory in the south of the country, and has invited large direct investments in the production of EV batteries.

Such investments, Orbán said Thursday, are what will keep Hungary competitive in the future, from wherever they come.

“The concept driving the Hungarians is that we want to win the 21st century, and not lose it,” he said.

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Jovana Gec contributed to this report from Belgrade, Serbia.

JUSTIN SPIKE Spike is an Associated Press reporter based in Budapest, Hungary. twitter mailto

Berlin invited Chinese diplomat to meet over spying case linked to Hong Kong trade body ex-employee

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3262589/berlin-invited-chinese-diplomat-meet-over-spying-case-linked-hong-kong-trade-body-ex-employee?utm_source=rss_feed

Berlin invited a senior Chinese embassy official to an urgent meeting after three suspects, which allegedly includes an ex-employee of a Hong Kong trade promotion body, on suspicion of spying for Beijing, German authorities have told the Post.

The three German nationals were arrested last month over allegations they were working to gather sensitive technologies and industrial data on behalf of Chinese intelligence services.

“After the espionage allegations became known, we invited the charge d’affaires of the Chinese embassy to an urgent meeting at the foreign office,” a German Federal Foreign Office spokesman told the Post on Monday.

He stopped short of revealing if the meeting had already taken place or offering further details about the ongoing investigation led by the country’s federal public prosecutor general.

The Post has reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Berlin for comment.

In a press release published after the arrests were made on April 22, German prosecutors identified one of the suspects as Thomas R, without revealing his full name.

The other two were listed as married couple Herwig F and Ina F.

German media outlets refrained from reporting the trio’s full names but said they were part of an organisation called “Smart City Verein”, or “Smart City Association” in English.

The association’s website lists Thomas Reichenbach, Herwig Fischer and Ina Fischer as contacts.

Reichenbach’s social media webpage showed he had worked as a marketing manager at the Hong Kong Trade Development Council since July 2022. It was not immediately clear when he stopped working for the publicly funded organisation.

A council spokesman earlier confirmed a former employee was under investigation for his “alleged personal activity”, and the trade promotion body was not the subject of that investigation.

All three suspects are accused of gathering sensitive industrial data that might potentially expand “China’s maritime combat power”.

The trio also allegedly bought a special laser in Germany on behalf of Chinese intelligence services, which paid for the device, and exported it to China without authorisation.

Over in the UK, British police on Monday charged three men, including a public officer working at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, over allegations they had carried out surveillance against dissidents from the city.

Beijing has slammed the case as “pure fabrication”.

Chinese self-driving car supplier Hesai sues US for accusing it of military ties

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3262575/chinese-self-driving-car-supplier-hesai-sues-us-accusing-it-military-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

Hesai Technology, a developer of sensor technologies used in self-driving cars, is suing the US Department of Defence for including it on a list of companies accused of aiding China’s military.

The Shanghai-based company’s placement on the so-called 1260H List has caused it “to suffer reputational injury, a significant drop in stock price, and lost business opportunities”, according to a complaint filed on Monday in Washington federal court.

Nasdaq-traded Hesai urged the court to order the department to remove it from the list or declare the provision unconstitutional.

The lawsuit follows other legal challenges while Donald Trump was president to the US government’s attempt to warn about companies that appear to help advance China’s military capabilities.

In 2021, the Biden administration agreed to remove Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi from the list after a US court sided with the company and placed a temporary halt on the ban.

Other companies have tried to push back on the designation without going to court. IDG Capital, a venture firm with offices in Beijing and Hong Kong, said in February that it was working to clear up “confusion” over its inclusion.

The US has listed major companies, including Huawei Technologies and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation. While the list does not carry sanctions or other direct penalties, it is expected to restrict access to some defence contracts.

Hesai provides lidar technology in self-driving cars, which is used to help avoid crashes. In April, US lawmakers urged the Pentagon to ban cars containing Chinese-produced technologies such as lidar from US military bases.

Hesai insisted that it only designed and made products for commercial and civilian uses. “No Chinese governmental or military entity has sought to exert influence or control over the Hesai Group’s management, strategy, or research-and development operations,” lawyers for company wrote in a filing.

The company also said its presence on the list disrupted its plans to build a manufacturing facility in the US with advanced discussions now on hold.

Hesai asked the court to require the Department of Defence to provide reasons for including the company on the list. The department “afforded Hesai no warning, no explanation, and no opportunity to defend itself prior to the listing”, according to the lawsuit.

The Department of Defence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Taiwanese naval drones won’t be able to sink our ships, mainland Chinese media says

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3262544/taiwanese-naval-drones-wont-be-able-sink-our-ships-says-mainland-chinese-media?utm_source=rss_feed

Mainland Chinese state media has dismissed Taiwan’s plan to develop its own sea drones as “meaningless” .

The island has high hopes that the new weapons could help it defend itself against attacks from the mainland after Ukraine sunk or damaged several Russian ships using the new technology, and its Project Rapid & Surprising aims to develop uncrewed vessels that can be used to carry out kamikaze attacks on warships.

But a programme by the mainland state broadcaster CCTV on May 5 dismissed the project as “empty talk on paper” with little practical use on the battlefield.

“Even if Taiwan builds a lot of unmanned ships, it probably wouldn’t have a chance to use them,” Shao Yongling, a Chinese military analyst, told the Defence Review programme.

She said the Taiwanese authorities might have watched Ukraine’s use of nautical drones to sink ships from Russia’s Black Sea fleet and want to copy its “swarming wolf pack” tactics, but argued that the People’s Liberation Army would be able to disable all drone bases in Taiwan before launching any naval operations.

“Most of Taiwan’s military installations, such as weapons depots including its airports and harbors, would be targeted in the first wave of strikes,” she said.

“Is there any chance that these unmanned boats could be released to attack the vessels of the PLA Navy?”

Another military observer Wei Dongxu told CCTV that even if the drones survived, they only had a range of 70km (43 miles) and rely on signal relay stations, which are vulnerable to the PLA’s electronic jamming and interference.

Wei added that naval drone boats are fragile and vulnerable to even small and medium-calibre guns, and therefore the PLA’s maritime combat system is “fully capable” of defending against them.

“If they were to carry out a surprise attack with these drone boats, they would end up in a trap themselves,” Wei said.

Project Rapid & Surprising was set up last year by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science & Technology, Taiwan’s government-owned institution for weapon development.

The project completed a pre-study phase in late April and Taiwan’s media said the fact the study took only three months showed the government and the military were well aware of the urgent need to develop naval drones.

The two-year programme has a budget of about NTD$812 million (US$25 million), and is expected to complete combat evaluations by the end of 2025 and produce at least 200 boats in 2026.

The institute plans to design two models – sized around 10 and 20 metres (32-64 feet) – using existing remote-controlled target boats used in air force surface target training as a prototype.

The naval drones will be remotely controlled and will be fitted with stealth hulls, drone signal relays and AI-guided terminal controls.

Taiwanese media has reported that they will be used to carry out kamikaze attacks on incoming PLA ships in the event of an attempted attack from the mainland.

‘Not a good sign’: drone footage of Japan warship on Chinese social media sparks concern in Tokyo

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3262538/not-good-sign-drone-footage-japan-warship-chinese-social-media-sparks-concern-tokyo?utm_source=rss_feed

Drone footage that circulated on Chinese social media showing a Japanese warship docked at a military base has revealed worrying gaps in Japan’s defences, analysts say – though combating the threat may not be easy.

“It’s not a good sign if a drone can so easily get inside a base because these devices could be used to gather intelligence or signals intelligence,” said Garren Mulloy, an international-relations professor at Daito Bunka University who specialises in security and military issues.

The 20-second video, which was posted to Chinese video-sharing website Bilibili on March 26, shows the helicopter destroyer Izumo of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force moored at Yokosuka naval base in Kanagawa prefecture.

More than six weeks after it appeared online, Japanese Defence Minister Minoru Kihara finally confirmed that the footage was real, dismissing earlier theories that it had been faked using artificial intelligence.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo on Friday, Kihara said the intrusion posed a serious security threat.

“We are taking the findings extremely seriously,” he said. “If drones harm defence facilities, it could cause serious disruptions to the defence of our country.”

The minister refused to comment on how the drone had managed to penetrate the airspace around the base, which serves as the headquarters of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force and is also a key base for the United States’ Seventh Fleet. Yokosuka is the base for a dozen forward-deployed US Navy vessels, most notably the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier.

Kihara said it was critical that new defences be developed and deployed to deal with the threat posed by drones, adding that measures would be implemented to step up defences around military facilities.

It is hardly a unique problem, however, with military installations in the US, Britain, Germany and Australia all previously reporting incidents involving drones or model aircraft entering their airspace.

“It appears that, at the moment, there is no steady mechanism, either technological or physical, to prevent drones from flying over the Yokosuka base,” security specialist Mulloy said.

He said Japan would have been “embarrassed” by the incident and the US military would undoubtedly inquire about the measures being taken to prevent a recurrence – although it is understood that halting all such airborne intrusions is currently almost impossible.

Though most aerial intrusions are caused by amateur aviation enthusiasts, Mulloy said the security breach at Yokosuka indicated what might happen if such a drone was being used for nefarious purposes by an enemy.

“There is also a safety issue if a helicopter was operating in the area and while the operator this time did not do anything particularly dangerous, an enemy could use ordinance to damage the ship.”

Stopping drones from accessing military bases is a challenge, according to Malloy. Signal jamming can be used against them, but this has the unwanted side effect of interfering with legitimate communications. Physical barriers, such as netting, are not always effective and can be cumbersome.

Ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games, Japanese police deployed signal jammers and guns that fired nets designed to bring down drones, although they were reportedly not needed. There are also defences in place close to the prime minister’s official residence after a drone flown by an anti-nuclear campaigner deposited a container with a small amount of a radioactive substance on the flat roof of the building in central Tokyo in 2015.

There have also been incidents involving unauthorised drones at Haneda and Narita airports, which serve Tokyo, while there are unconfirmed reports that Japan’s nuclear power plants have defences against drone attacks.

Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Tokyo, said the problem with drones was that the technology was now widely accessible and anyone could pilot one.

“The government needs to be much clearer on the rules for operating drones and the physical parameters on where they can be flown need to be enlarged,” he said. “It looks like this incident was not all that dangerous, but it might be the next time. There needs to be better surveillance and patrols, and more signs telling drone users what is permitted.”

“But my concern is why it has taken the Japanese government so long to say anything about this,” he told This Week in Asia. “This happened more than a month ago, so what have they been doing since? There needs to be a response to make sure this does not happen again.”

Japan’s Kyodo News was able to trace the person who operated the drone and put the footage on Chinese social media. In an email exchange, the man, who was not identified by name and is presently in China, said he was aware that his actions had been illegal and promised not to do the same again.

“I do not intend to provoke an international conflict,” he told the outlet. “I just did it for fun.”

Mulloy argued that Chinese authorities might interpret the man’s actions differently if he had attempted to breach the perimeter of a Chinese naval base and fly a drone along the length of an aircraft carrier.

“Something tells me that he would not even try to do that,” he said.

China’s first sodium-ion battery energy storage station could cut reliance on lithium

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3262522/chinas-first-sodium-ion-battery-energy-storage-station-could-cut-reliance-lithium?utm_source=rss_feed

The launch of China’s first large-scale sodium-ion battery energy storage station could have wide-ranging implications for the clean-energy industry, as the new technology is seen as a promising alternative to resource-dependent lithium batteries.

The sodium-ion battery energy storage station in Nanning, in the Guangxi autonomous region in southern China, has an initial storage capacity of 10 megawatt hours (MWh) and is expected to reach 100MWh when the project is fully developed, China Southern Power Grid said on Saturday.

Once complete the project could release 73,000MWh of renewable energy, which can meet the demands of 35,000 households and reduce 50,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year, according to the state-owned utility.

“The energy conversion efficiency of this sodium-ion battery energy storage system is over 92 per cent, higher than the current common lithium-ion battery energy storage systems,” Gao Like, a manager at the Guangxi branch of China Southern Power Grid, said in an interview with the state-owned China Central Television.

Lithium-ion battery energy storage systems have an efficiency rate of 85 to 95 per cent.

As the world transitions towards cleaner energy sources such as wind and solar for power generation, energy storage systems can be used to enhance the flexibility and reliability of power grids, and help in the scaling-up of renewable energy.

China’s installed capacity of new-type energy storage systems, such as electrochemical energy storage and compressed air, had reached 77,680MWh, or 35.3 gigawatts as of end-March, an increase of more than 210 per cent from a year ago, according to the National Energy Administration, which is responsible for formulating the country’s energy strategy.

Lithium-ion battery energy storage accounted for more than 95 per cent of the capacity, with other emerging technologies accounting for the rest.

Although China currently dominates the global lithium-ion battery supply chain, it is highly reliant on imports of battery materials, such as lithium and cobalt.

By contrast, sodium-ion batteries are seen as a promising alternative to the resource-dependent lithium-ion batteries due to the abundance of the natural resource and low costs, as well as better performance at low temperatures and faster charging rate.

In recent years, global battery giants, including Tesla battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology and Japan’s Panasonic, have been exploring the use of sodium-ion batteries for different applications, from powering electric vehicles to electrical grid storage.

Once sodium-ion battery energy storage enters the stage of large-scale development, its cost can be reduced by 20 to 30 per cent, said Chen Man, a senior engineer at China Southern Power Grid.

This can be achieved through further improvements in the sodium-ion battery structure, manufacturing process, material utilisation and cycle life, thus lowering the energy storage cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity, he said.

UK move to prosecute 3 for allegedly spying for Hong Kong will sour ties between Britain and China, experts say

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3262562/uk-move-prosecute-3-allegedly-spying-hong-kong-will-sour-ties-between-britain-and-china-experts-say?utm_source=rss_feed

Britain’s move to charge a Hong Kong public officer and two other men with spying will sour the United Kingdom’s ties with China and might put the future of the city’s foreign trade offices in jeopardy, analysts have said.

Bill Yuen Chung-biu, an office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO) in London, Peter Wai Chi-leung and Matthew Trickett were granted bail by Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Monday after being charged with two offences under the National Security Act, passed last year to target threats from foreign states.

The trio were prosecuted for assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference over allegations they carried out surveillance against local activists now living in Britain.

The involvement of Yuen in the case sparked fears it might prompt hawkish elements in other countries to push their governments to review the role of HKETOs they host.

Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the semi-official Beijing think tank, the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies, said the incident could trigger a new diplomatic row and worsen Sino-British relations.

“It is indeed reasonable for the Hong Kong authorities to look into the anti-China activists,” he said.

“Britain might want to demonstrate their responsibilities in protecting these anti-China activists now settled in the country, but is this so-called information really that significant which could threaten its national security?”

The Chinese embassy in London said on Monday that Beijing had lodged a stern representation with Britain over the case, urging it to immediately stop all kinds of “anti-China political manipulation” and ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the country’s citizens in the United Kingdom.

International relations expert Wilson Chan Wai-shun of the Chinese University of Hong Kong said it should be the first time for a HKETO officer to be charged under the National Security Act.

Pointing to the recent case in which an ex-employee of the city’s Trade Development Council was arrested by German authorities on suspicion of spying for Beijing, Chan said the latest arrest would inevitably prompt other countries to review the roles of HKETOs, which had been given special treatment to operate independently overseas.

“Some hawkish forces or parties critical of China will seize the opportunity to demand authorities to review the relevant acts governing the operation of HKETOs in their countries,” he said.

A number of United States politicians had earlier renewed their calls for sanctions against Hong Kong following its enactment of the city’s domestic national security law, the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, in March.

They accused HKETOs of being propaganda arms for Beijing and pledged to push ahead the “Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office Certification Act”, which will empower Washington to close down the three offices on US soil and strip them of “certain privileges, exemptions and immunities”.

Chong Ja-ian, an associate professor in political science at the National University of Singapore, said the arrests would strain Sino-British ties due to their close timing with another national security arrest in the UK concerning Russia, as well as similar arrests in Germany.

Chong warned that existing pressure within the UK to close HKETOs could increase in light of the arrests.

However, the political scientist said whether the arrests would escalate into a diplomatic crisis would depend on Beijing’s response and whether it was with “proportionate” retaliatory arrests or expulsions of British diplomats.

Chinese gaming giants Tencent, NetEase to release new titles back to back in sign of intensified rivalry

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3262543/chinese-gaming-giants-tencent-netease-release-new-titles-back-back-sign-intensified-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and NetEase announced back-to-back new title releases, in a sign of intensified competition among the country’s top two video gaming publishers, as other Big Tech firms throw in the towel.

NetEase, the country’s second-largest online gaming firm, plans to release about a dozen new games next week, including titles in collaboration with big-name franchises Marvel Entertainment and The Lord of the Rings, the company announced on Monday.

The company will announce new updates to a series of existing titles such as the popular casual party game Eggy Party, it said.

NetEase’s releases will face off against new titles that Tencent is adding to its game portal WeGame on Sunday. The Steam-like video game distribution platform is set to introduce dozens of new titles, according to an announcement by the platform on Monday. It did not offer any details about the games.

Amazon’s Twitch launches TikTok rival amid push to ban the Chinese app

Tencent, which operates the world’s largest video gaming business by revenue, has not yet announced a date this year for its largest annual game release event, the Spark conference.

The competition between Tencent and NetEase has grown more heated recently as rivals like TikTok owner ByteDance have retreated from the industry that has proven challenging for new entrants. Beijing has also been seeking to show support for the industry by granting more licences in recent months after an industry crackdown in 2021.

Recent approvals have included some highly anticipated titles.

, developed by Japanese-Korean game studio Nexon and operated in China by Tencent, received a licence from the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) in February. Tencent said the game will launch next Tuesday.

, one of the most-awaited titles by Chinese gamers, also received approval from NPPA in February. The action role-playing game, developed by Hangzhou-based studio Game Science, will launch on personal computers in August, according to the developer’s website.

NetEase received the green light to launch several games in its pipeline, as well, including the shooting game , previously known as Code 56. The company is slated to launch the game for both mobile platforms and personal computers at its annual release event next week.

The company also received NPPA approval to release a PC version of its hugely popular mobile game Diablo Immortal, which NetEase launched in China in 2022 as part of the 25-year-old Diablo franchise. NetEase worked with the franchise owner Blizzard Entertainment to develop the game.

The publishing regulator has continued to step up the pace of approvals as Chinese authorities try to restore confidence in the industry.

In January, the NPPA retracted a draft proposal published in December that aimed to put a cap on user spending in games and ban “excessive” rewards. The response from investors to the draft wiped at least US$80 billion in value from Chinese video gaming stocks listed in Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York.

A key Chinese government official later stepped down as a result of that proposal, the South China Morning Post previously reported.

‘Exotic’ woman of Pakistani descent adopted by Chinese couple as baby captivates mainland public, vows to repay parents

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3261732/exotic-woman-pakistani-descent-adopted-chinese-couple-baby-captivates-mainland-public-vows-repay?utm_source=rss_feed

A beautiful young woman of Pakistani descent, who was adopted by a couple in China when she was a baby, is attracting attention for the contrast between her “exotic” looks and Chinese accent.

The woman, 20, has amassed 750,000 followers on Douyin, and videos of her have gone viral.

She was found abandoned in a cardboard box on the street in Pakistan by her adoptive parents when they were working in the country.

The couple brought her back to their hometown in a rural area of central China’s Henan province, and called her Fan Zihe, an auspicious name meaning “vigorous and long-lived”. She remains their only child.

Fan first attracted attention on social media in 2021, when she posted a video of herself eating traditional Henan noodles while squatting in front of her village house.

The contrast between her appearance and her native Henan dialect piqued the curiosity of many.

Some joked that she “looks like a supermodel until she opens her mouth”, and dubbed her “Henan’s Cleopatra”.

Her content since has focused on the contrast, even though she considers her activities in the videos – farming, eating noodles and asking for lucky money from the elderly of the family – just normal daily life.

Fan said her parents have always treated her as though she is their biological daughter, and defended her whenever people said she looked different – even referring to her by the nickname “little black girl”.

“Our daughter’s dark skin is beautiful and healthy,” they said.

Fan, who identifies as Chinese said she was grateful that her parents gave her a home without hesitation and that they brushed off the judgments of other people.

She said she wants to buy them a flat in the city to repay them.

“People say loving a person is like growing a flower. I think the best gardeners are my parents,” Fan said.

She told a Henan media outlet, Pingdingshan News, that she earns 4,000 yuan (US$550) a month from her Douyin account, more than Chinese farmers’ average salary, which was 1,678 yuan a month in 2022.

“Love transcends borders and race. They are her only parents and she is their only daughter,” said one online observer on Douyin.

“Who said you look different? Your kindness looks exactly the same,” another person said.

China breakthrough could make ‘fault-tolerant’ quantum computing a reality

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3262459/china-breakthrough-could-make-fault-tolerant-quantum-computing-reality?utm_source=rss_feed

Leading quantum physicist Pan Jianwei and his team at the University of Science and Technology of China have developed an artificial quantum system that has groundbreaking implications for physics and could pave the way for fault-tolerant quantum computing.

The researchers used photons to simulate an interaction between charged particles known as the fractional anomalous quantum Hall effect, previously observed only in electrons, according to a paper published this month by the journal Science.

Several international experiments have attempted to replicate the Hall effect at the quantum level by putting specific materials through stringent conditions, including strong magnetic fields and extremely low temperatures.

The Chinese researchers developed a new quantum bit – the Plasmonium qubit – to create a clear and flexible artificial system that replicates the phenomenon at normal temperatures without magnetic fields, according to the paper.

The researchers isolated single photons – elementary particles that carry no electrical charge and are also known as quantum light – by boxing them in with a Plasmonium array, making them easier to manipulate and observe.

Chang Jin, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said the team’s achievement in quantum simulation is expected to have a significant impact on the development of quantum technology.

Pan, who is also a CAS academician, said the experiment “demonstrates for the first time that quantum computing can … tackle significant issues in physics. It also significantly advances the development of fault-tolerant quantum computing”.

The study’s co-author Lu Chaoyang said the team’s work “deserves to be included in textbooks”. The researchers combined 16 Plasmonium in a 4x4 array, capable of “precisely accommodating a single photon which facilitates observation”.

In an interview with CCTV, Lu said the simulated quantum system allows for the construction of equivalent artificial gauge fields without the need for external magnetic fields.

“By precisely controlling the relative energy and connection strength between the boxes, photons within each box are compelled to start ‘dancing’ with each other, forming a unique pattern as one photon circles around another in two steps,” he said.

“One of our major goals is to explore the mysteries of quantum mechanics using entirely new methods. Based on this quantum system, scientists can create some exotic quantum states that do not exist in nature.”

Quantum simulation technology will be “an important component of the second quantum revolution”, according to state news agency Xinhua.

It is expected to be applied to simulate quantum systems that are … challenging for classical computers, “ultimately achieving quantum computational supremacy”, Xinhua said.

Pan and his team are already global leaders in their field, building and launching the world’s first quantum satellite Mozi in 2016.

In October last year, they unveiled Jiuzhang 3, a prototype quantum computer which was the first to manipulate 255 photons and can perform specific computations billions of times faster than the world’s fastest supercomputers.

While Jiuzhang 3 is not yet applicable to the high computational demands of fields such as cryptography, weather forecasting or material design, a poster visible during the CCTV interview, revealed that its successor is in development.

According to the poster on the lab wall, Jiuzhang 4 – capable of controlling more than 2,000 photons – is expected to be unveiled this year.

In China, Many Older Workers Find It Difficult to Retire

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/in-china-many-older-workers-find-it-difficult-to-retire/7604984.html

China’s economic expansion has been driven partly by millions of people who left their rural homes to work in cities and factories. But many of these workers are aging, and they are finding it difficult to retire in their home communities because government assistance can be low.

This issue is linked to the way China’s social security system works. People living in Chinese cities earn higher retirement payments than those living in rural areas. People who choose to go to the city to work are known as rural migrants.

Reporters from Reuters recently explored retirement, or pension, payments in China. The news agency spoke with rural migrant workers, researchers, economists and a government advisor.

Reuters reported that about 100 million rural migrants will near retirement age over the next 10 years. If these people decide to retire and return to their homes, they could earn as little as $17 per month. The World Bank defines “extreme poverty” as living on less than $2.15 per day.

One example is 67-year-old Hu Dexi. He and his wife sold homemade rolls for 30 years on the streets in the city of Xian. Hu told Reuters he is ready to retire. But he said he and his wife are still working to earn the amount of money they say they need.

The couple now lives outside of Beijing where they both work as cleaners in a shopping center, earning $552 each a month.

“No one can look after us,” Hu told Reuters. He explained that he does not think entering retirement is possible at the moment. "I don't want to be a burden on my two children and our country isn't giving us a penny."

Many rural migrants in China face similar situations. They do not have the skills for high-paying jobs and often cannot depend on children for support.

China has aimed to increase economic growth and productivity with continued industrial expansion. But critics argue that such a system often does not serve retirees well.

In addition, China’s social security system is not prepared for the large number of people nearing retirement age. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) has estimated the nation’s pension system could completely run out of money by 2035.

CASS also estimated the level of healthcare assistance to city workers was in some cases about four times greater than for those in rural areas.

A recent news article appearing in the Chinese Cadres Tribune, a Communist Party publication, reported that more than 16 percent of rural people older than 60 were "unhealthy." This compared to 10 percent in cities. Cai Fang, an economist for CASS and a former central bank adviser, wrote the story.

China has introduced private retirement programs. It has also provided financial assistance to provinces that have pension budget deficits.

Other countries have tried to build up pensions by increasing the retirement age. But China’s is among the lowest in the world: age 60 for men and between 50 and 55 for women. Chinese officials have said the government plans to raise the retirement age but has not said when that will happen.

Official Chinese government records show about 94 million working people were older than 60 in 2022. This group represents about 13 percent of working people. It has increased from about nine percent of working people in 2020.

That share is currently lower than some other Asian countries, including Japan and South Korea. But it is set to rise sharply as 300 million more Chinese reach their 60s over the next 10 years. About one third of those people are rural migrants, Reuters reports.

I’m Bryan Lynn

 

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

_________________________________________

Words in This Story

 

pension –n. a plan that provides regular payments to workers for businesses or governments who have retired

couple –n. two of something

burden – n. something difficult or unpleasant a person has to deal with or worry about

province –n. an administrative division of a country

 

China’s real-estate market enters a new phase as cities end bitter war against property speculators

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3262469/chinas-real-estate-market-enters-new-phase-cities-end-bitter-war-against-property-speculators?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese cities are rushing to dismantle a long-standing housing policy regime designed to keep speculators at bay, with Hangzhou and Xian being the latest major cities to remove all home purchase restrictions and open their arms to all property buyers, whether their intent is for “self-use” or “speculation”.

It is a remarkable U-turn that has caught on in major Chinese cities. While a number of places, including Beijing and Shanghai, still maintain restrictive measures to keep unwanted buyers out of the local housing market, the days are numbered for such measures given the slump in China’s property market. In fact, even in Beijing and Shanghai, small steps of relaxation have already started.

China’s war against perceived property speculators started nearly two decades ago, when housing prices in the country began to take off. As public complaints about unaffordable housing grew, authorities blamed exorbitant housing prices on “speculators” who were flipping property for quick profits.

That was the time when the term “Wenzhou housing-speculation legion” was coined. People from Wenzhou, a port city in eastern Zhejiang province, who speak the same dialect and are believed to be rich, had formed “legions” to speculate in property markets across China, according to many news reports at the time.

While the actual size and power of this mysterious property investor group were never proved, it has offered an ideal scapegoat for runaway housing prices. The supposed existence of greedy speculators, in turn, provided a rationale for authorities to establish a property “control and adjustment” policy system.

The stated goal of that system was to curb excessive housing prices, even though the country had skipped over some common policy options, such as boosting cheap land supply or increasing the cost of property ownership, both of which could have helped ease price pressures.

Instead, the policy was centred on distinguishing speculators from homebuyers with real needs.

China’s wealthiest cities eventually developed sophisticated systems to pre-screen buyers based on their residential status, social welfare payment situation, mortgage and property ownership record.

Only those who proved absolutely in need of a new home were deemed eligible to buy. The eligibility has been nicknamed a “house coupon”, harkening to China’s state-planned economy days, when people had to use a “meat coupon” to buy pork or a “clothes coupon” to buy shirts.

The home purchase restrictions largely failed to arrest property inflation, with prices across Chinese cities increasing multiple folds in the past two decades.

Meanwhile local authorities were limiting land supply and restricting home buying, which kept land prices high. That was not entirely different from hunger marketing: using supply scarcity and high prices to amplify a buying mania.

China’s land system, its “control and adjustment” policy, an easy money supply, and limited investment choices for regular people have made property the most attractive wealth management option for Chinese households. In extreme cases, urban couples filed a divorce just to get an additional “house coupon”.

But purchasing curbs became unnecessary once the problem shifted from having “too many buyers” to “too few buyers”. That is why Chinese cities are now rushing to lift restrictions, having shifted their priority to attracting as many buyers as possible.

Even though the guiding principle of China’s housing policy remains that “houses are for living, not for speculation”, policies on the ground project quite a different message.

For twenty years, China has done little to conduct meaningful structural reforms in its land and property system to create a sustainable development model. For example, experiments with charging homeowners property taxes went no further than Shanghai and Chongqing, because it was hard to make ownership transparent.

Instead, the state has stepped up control in dictating supply, demand and even prices, with the consequence being an ossified real estate market.

In this regard, the dismantling of purchase restrictions is just the beginning of a new chapter in China’s real estate market.