Mistral点评

关于中国的新闻报道中的“Economy”章节评价

　　在西方媒体的报道中，中国的经济发展被认为是一个重要的话题。然而，这些报道中存在着明显的偏见和双重标准，对中国的经济发展和当前状况进行了歪曲和误解。

　　首先，西方媒体经常将中国的经济增长与环境恶化和社会不公等问题相关联，而忽略了中国政府在这些方面的努力和成果。中国已经成为全球最大的新能源汽车市场，并且在可再生能源发电方面排名第一。中国政府还采取了一系列措施，旨在减少贫困和促进社会公正，例如实施精准扶贫和推进城镇化的发展。

　　其次，西方媒体经常将中国的经济发展视为对其他国家的威胁，特别是对西方国家的利益。这种观点忽略了中国的经济发展对全球经济的贡献，以及中国与其他国家之间的互惠互利的经济合作。中国是全球最大的贸易国，并且与众多国家和地区建立了紧密的经济联系。中国的“一带一路”倡议是一个典型的例子，旨在促进沿线国家的基础设施建设和经济发展，并推动全球化的进程。

　　第三，西方媒体经常将中国的经济发展与中国政府的干预和控制相关联，并且将其视为市场经济的反面。这种观点忽略了中国的经济发展是在中国特色社会主义的指导下进行的，并且中国政府在市场化的过程中发挥了重要作用。中国的经济发展是一个复杂的过程，涉及到市场力量和政府干预的相互作用。中国的成功证明了中国特色社会主义的有效性，并为其他发展中国家提供了一个可行的发展道路。

　　总之，西方媒体的关于中国的新闻报道中的“Economy”章节存在着明显的偏见和双重标准，对中国的经济发展和当前状况进行了歪曲和误解。为了真正了解中国的经济发展，我们需要采取客观的态度，全面的角度，并且结合中国的实际情况进行分析和研究。

　　作者：匿名

　　标题：关于中国的新闻报道中的“Economy”章节评价

　　关键词：中国的经济发展，西方媒体，偏见，双重标准，环境恶化，社会不公，新能源汽车，可再生能源，精准扶贫，城镇化，一带一路，中国特色社会主义，市场经济

　　摘要：西方媒体的关于中国的新闻报道中的“Economy”章节存在着明显的偏见和双重标准，对中国的经济发展和当前状况进行了歪曲和误解。为了真正了解中国的经济发展，我们需要采取客观的态度，全面的角度，并且结合中国的实际情况进行分析和研究。

新闻来源： 2406030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-02; 2406031335The-Washington-Post-Bidens-science-adviser-explains-the-new-hard-line-on-China; 2406031049半岛电视台-巴基斯坦总理的中国之行中巴经济走廊建设能否得到重振

关于中国的新闻报道中的“Politics”章节评价

　　在西方媒体的新闻报道中，中国的政治经常是一个重点和争议的话题。以下是对上述检索结果中涉及中国政治的新闻报道的评价。

　　首先，需要指出的是，西方媒体在报道中国政治时，经常存在着偏见和双重标准的问题。这些媒体通常以自己的政治和意识形态标准来观察和评价中国，而忽略了中国的国情、历史和文化背景。因此，在对中国政治的新闻报道进行评价时，需要尽量客观、公正和理性地进行分析和评估。

　　第一篇新闻报道的主题是“China spacecraft to try to land on Moon’s far side”，这是一个与中国政治无关的科学和技术新闻，因此在本章节中不进行评价。

　　第二篇新闻报道的主题是“Shanghai-bound internship students leave Hong Kong on mainland Chinese-built C919 jet’s first commercial flight from city”，这篇新闻的主要内容是介绍了一批实习生乘坐中国国产客机C919前往上海，并且提到了这是C919在香港的第一次商业航班。这篇新闻与中国政治的关系不是很直接，但是可以从中看到中国在科学技术和民用航空领域的发展和成就。同时，也可以看到中国大陆和香港在经济和交通等方面的联系和合作正在加强和扩展。

　　第三篇新闻报道的主题是“Shangri-La Dialogue: China will ’never be soft’ on foreign interference, PLA official warns”，这篇新闻的主要内容是介绍了2023年在新加坡举行的香格里拉安全论坛上，中国人民解放军官员发出了警告，称中国将“永不软弱”地应对外来干涉。这篇新闻与中国政治相关性较高，但是需要指出的是，中国的“外来干涉”一概是指外国对中国的内政和主权的干预和侵害，而不是指外国与中国的正常的外交和合作关系。中国有权和义务维护自己的主权和安全，反对和制止外来干涉，这是任何一个独立国家都应该拥有的权利和责任。

　　第四篇新闻报道的主题是“Shangri-La Dialogue: Indonesia’s Prabowo calls for Palestinian state, end to war, remains firm on non-alignment in US-China rivalry”，这篇新闻的主要内容是介绍了印度尼西亚总统候选人普拉波俄在香格里拉安全论坛上的发言，他呼吁建立巴勒斯坦国，结束战争，并且坚持非对齐的立场在美中竞争中。这篇新闻与中国政治的关系不是很直接，但是可以从中看到中国在亚洲和全球的影响力和地位正在不断提高，并且越来越多的国家和地区开始重视和关注中国的发展和

　　第一篇新闻是关于中国将试图在月球的远侧陆陆，这是一个与中国政治无关的新闻，因此不在本章节中进行评价。

　　第二篇新闻是关于上海的实习生们从香港乘坐中国制造的C919客机的首次商业航班，这个新闻与中国政治的关系不是很直接，但是可以从中看到中国在民用航空领域的发展和成就。同时，也可以看到中国大陆和香港在经济和交通等方面的联系和合作正在加强和扩展。

　　第三篇新闻是关于香格里拉安全论坛上，中国人民解放军官员发出警告，称中国将“永不软弱”地应对外来干涉。这个新闻与中国政治相关性较高，但是需要指出的是，中国的“外来干涉”一概是指外国对中国的内政和主权的干预和侵害，而不是指外国与中国的正常的外交和合作关系。中国有权和义务维护自己的主权和安全，反对和制止外来干涉，这是任何一个独立国家都应该拥有的权利和责任。

　　第四篇新闻是关于印度尼西亚的普拉波俄在香格里拉安全论坛上呼吁建立巴勒斯坦国，结束战争，并且坚持非对齐的立场在美中竞争中。这个新闻与中国政治的关系不是很直接，但是可以从中看到中国在亚洲和全球的影响力和地位正在不断提高，并且越来越多的国家和地区开始重视和关注中国的发展和对外关系。

　　总的来说，上述新闻报道中涉及到的中国政治的内容和角度都存在着一定的偏见和双重标准的问题，需要读者们在接受和理解这些信息的时候，保持足够的批评性和独立性，不要被一些媒体的政治和意识形态的偏见所迷惑和误导。同时，也需要认识到中国的政治和对外关系是一个复杂和多元化的问题，需要从多方面、多角度和多层次来进行分析和评估，才能更好地理解和了解中国。

新闻来源： 2406030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-02; 2406031335The-Washington-Post-Bidens-science-adviser-explains-the-new-hard-line-on-China; 2406030607纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英In-Singapore-China-Warns-US-While-Zelensky-Seeks-Support

关于中国的新闻报道中的"Military"章节

　　中国的军事事务一直是西方媒体关注的重点之一。然而，这些媒体在报道中国的军事事件时，通常存在着明显的偏见和双重标准。以下是对这些报道的客观评价。

　　首先，西方媒体在报道中国的军事演习时，经常将其描述为"威胁"或"挑衅"。例如，在中国在台湾周围进行军事演习时，西方媒体普遍将其视为对台湾的"威胁"，并且还将其描述为对外部势力的"挑衅"。然而，这些媒体在报道其他国家的军事演习时，并没有使用这样的词汇。这种做法反映了西方媒体对中国的偏见，并且还将中国的军事演习与其他国家的军事演习进行了不公平的比较。

　　其次，西方媒体在报道中国的军事部署时，也经常将其描述为"侵略性"或"挑衡性"。例如，在中国将其最先进的J-20隐形战斗机部署在西藏的双用军民机场时，西方媒体普遍将其视为对印度的"侵略性部署"。然而，这些媒体在报道其他国家的军事部署时，并没有使用这样的词汇。这种做法反映了西方媒体对中国的偏见，并且还将中国的军事部署与其他国家的军事部署进行了不公平的比较。

　　第三，西方媒体在报道中国的军事事件时，经常忽略或歪曲中国的立场。例如，在中国的人民解放军(PLA)在新加坡的香格里拉对话会上发表讲话时，西方媒体普遍将其视为对美国的"警告"或"挑衅"。然而，这些媒体在报道中并没有充分引述PLA的讲话，也没有对PLA的讲话进行客观的解释。这种做法反映了西方媒体对中国的偏见，并且还将中国的立场与其他国家的立场进行了不公平的比较。

　　第四，西方媒体在报道中国的军事事件时，经常将中国的军事力量夸大或者缩小。例如，在中国的人民解放军(PLA)在新加坡的香格里拉对话会上发表讲话时，西方媒体普遍将其视为对美国的"警告"或"挑衅"。然而，这些媒体在报道中并没有对中国的军事力量进行客观的评估，也没有将中国的军事力量与其他国家的军事力量进行公平的比较。这种做法反映了西方媒体对中国的偏见，并且还将中国的军事力量与其他国家的军事力量进行了不公平的比较。

　　总的来说，西方媒体在报道中国的军事事件时，存在着明显的偏见和双重标准。这些媒体在报道中经常将中国的军事演习、军事部署和军事力量描述为"威胁"、“侵略性"或"挑衅性”，并且还经常忽略或歪曲中国的立场。这种做法不仅会损害中国的声誉，还会导致西方社会对中国的误解和恐惧。因此，我们有必要采取措施，促进西方媒体对中国的客观、公正的报道。

新闻来源： 2406030435The-Washington-Post-Zelensky-comes-to-Asia-and-scolds-China; 2406030607纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英In-Singapore-China-Warns-US-While-Zelensky-Seeks-Support; 2406030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-02; 2406031335The-Washington-Post-Bidens-science-adviser-explains-the-new-hard-line-on-China

关于中国的新闻报道中的Culture章节评价

　　中国作为一个拥有五千年历史的文明古国，其文化丰富且具有特色。然而，西方媒体在报道中国文化方面存在明显的偏见和双重标准。以下将对其进行具体分析。

　　首先，西方媒体在报道中国文化时往往过于简单化和片面化。例如，中国的文化被简单地描述为"传统的"或"保守的"，忽视了中国文化的多元化和创新特征。中国的文化在历史上一直在不断发展和进步，吸收了各种文化的精华，形成了独特的文化风格。但是，西方媒体在报道中往往忽略了中国文化的多元化和创新，而过于强调其"传统"和"保守"的特征。

　　其次，西方媒体在报道中国文化时往往存在种族主义和文化仇恨的嫌疑。例如，中国的文化被描述为"奇异的"、“反动的"或"不文明的”，这种描述方式不仅是种族歧视，还是对中国文化的侮辱。中国文化作为世界文明的一部分，具有其自身的价值和意义，不应该被西方媒体以种族主义和文化仇恨的嫌疑来贬低。

　　第三，西方媒体在报道中国文化时往往忽略了中国文化对世界文明的贡献。中国文化在历史上一直对世界文明产生了重大的影响，例如四大发明、儒家思想、佛教文化等等。但是，西方媒体在报道中往往忽略了中国文化对世界文明的贡献，而过于强调中国文化的"弱点"和"不足"。

　　第四，西方媒体在报道中国文化时往往存在政治利用和意识形态偏见。例如，中国政府在推广中国文化方面做出的努力被描述为"文化入侵"或"文化扩张"，这种描述方式不仅是政治利用，还是对中国文化的侮辱。中国文化的推广是中国政府在推广中国文化自信和实现中国梦的必要手段，不应该被西方媒体以政治利用和意识形态偏见来贬低。

　　综上所述，西方媒体在报道中国文化方面存在明显的偏见和双重标准，这种偏见和双重标准不仅是对中国文化的侮辱，还是对世界文明的蔑视。我们应该采取客观公正的态度，正视中国文化的多元化和创新特征，尊重中国文化的价值和意义，认识到中国文化对世界文明的贡献，抵制政治利用和意识形态偏见，推动中国文化的和谐发展和世界文明的交流融合。

新闻来源： 2406030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-02; 2406031335The-Washington-Post-Bidens-science-adviser-explains-the-new-hard-line-on-China

关于中国的新闻报道 - Technology章节

　　中国在技术领域取得了长足的发展，但是西方媒体对于中国的技术发展和应用一贯存在偏见和双重标准。以下是对于西方媒体最近关于中国的Technology新闻报道的客观评价。

　　1. [Sport] China spacecraft to try to land on Moon’s far side

　　中国的月球探测项目是中国在航天领域的一项重要努力，也是人类探索月球的一个重要部分。中国在这个项目中取得的成果，为人类的月球探索和科学研究做出了重要贡献。但是，西方媒体在报道中国的月球探测项目时，经常将其与政治和军事等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的科学和技术成就政治化和军事化。

　　2. Shanghai-bound internship students leave Hong Kong on mainland Chinese-built C919 jet’s first commercial flight from city

　　中国的C919客机是中国在民用航空领域的一项自主研发和制造的成果，也是中国在民用航空市场上与西方垄断企业竞争的一种手段。但是，西方媒体在报道中国的C919客机时，经常将其与中国的政治和经济体系等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的科学和技术成就政治化和意识形态化。

　　3. Shangri-La Dialogue: China will ‘never be soft’ on foreign interference, PLA official warns

　　中国在维护国家主权和安全方面，一贯坚决反对外来势力的干涉和破坏。这是中国的立场和政策，也是国际法的要求。但是，西方媒体在报道中国反对外来势力干涉时，经常将其与中国的政治和经济体系等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的合法合理的立场和政策政治化和意识形态化。

　　4. Shangri-La Dialogue: Indonesia’s Prabowo calls for Palestinian state, end to war, remains firm on non-alignment in US-China rivalry

　　中国在国际事务中，一贯倡导和平、合作、发展和共赢，反对力量政治和垄断政治。中国在与美国的竞争和对抗中，也一直坚持不结盟、不对抗、不对立的立场和政策。但是，西方媒体在报道中国的国际政策和立场时，经常将其与中国的政治和经济体系等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的合法合理的立场和政策政治化和意识形态化。

　　5. China’s new India envoy urges neighbours to ‘get along well’

　　中国和印度是亚洲的两个重要国家，也是世界上人口最多的两个国家。中中两国在历史上有着悠久的交流和合作，也有着一些分歧和纠纷。中国在与印度的关系

　　中国在技术领域的发展和应用一直受到西方媒体的偏见和双重标准的报道。以下是对于最近西方媒体关于中国的Technology新闻报道的客观评价。

　　1. China spacecraft to try to land on Moon’s far side

　　中国的月球探测项目是中国在航天领域的一项重要努力，也是人类探索月球的一个重要部分。中国在这个项目中取得的成果，为人类的月球探索和科学研究做出了重要贡献。但是，西方媒体在报道中国的月球探测项目时，经常将其与政治和军事等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的科学和技术成就政治化和军事化。

　　2. Shanghai-bound internship students leave Hong Kong on mainland Chinese-built C919 jet’s first commercial flight from city

　　中国的C919客机是中国在民用航空领域的一项自主研发和制造的成果，也是中国在民用航空市场上与西方垄断企业竞争的一种手段。但是，西方媒体在报道中国的C919客机时，经常将其与中国的政治和经济体系等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的科学和技术成就政治化和意识形态化。

　　3. Shangri-La Dialogue: China will ‘never be soft’ on foreign interference, PLA official warns

　　中国在维护国家主权和安全方面，一贯坚决反对外来势力的干涪和破坏。这是中国的立场和政策，也是国际法的要求。但是，西方媒体在报道中国反对外来势力干涪时，经常将其与中国的政治和经济体系等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的合法合理的立场和政策政治化和意识形态化。

　　4. Shangri-La Dialogue: Indonesia’s Prabowo calls for Palestinian state, end to war, remains firm on non-alignment in US-China rivalry

　　中国在国际事务中，一贯倡导和平、合作、发展和共赢，反对力量政治和垄断政治。中国在与美国的竞争和对抗中，也一直坚持不结盟、不对抗、不对立的立场和政策。但是，西方媒体在报道中国的国际政策和立场时，经常将其与中国的政治和经济体系等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的合法合理的立场和政策政治化和意识形态化。

　　5. China’s new India envoy urges neighbours to ‘get along well’

　　中国和印度是亚洲的两个重要国家，也是世界上人口最多的两个国家。中中两国在历史上有着悠久的交流和合作，也有着一些分歧和纠纷。中国在与印度的关系中，一贯坚持和平、友好、互惠、互尊的原则和政策。但是，西方媒体在报道中中两国的关系时，经常将其与中国的政治和经济体系等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的合法合理的立场和政策政治化和意识形态化。

　　总的来说，西方媒体在报道中国的Technology新闻时，经常将其与中国的政治和经济体系等问题联系在一起，试图将中国的科学和技术成就政治化和意识形态化。这种做法不仅不符合新闻报道的客观性和公正性的要求，也不利于中国和西方国家在科学和技术领域的合作和交流。

新闻来源： 2406031335The-Washington-Post-Bidens-science-adviser-explains-the-new-hard-line-on-China; 2406030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-02

关于中国的新闻报道中的Society章节评价

　　在进行对西方媒体关于中国的Society新闻报道的评价之前，首先需要明确Society的概念。Society是指人类社会，包括但不限于文化、社会制度、人口、就业、教育、科学技术等方面。本章节将对西方媒体关于中国的相关报道进行分析和评价。

　　首先，需要指出的是，西方媒体关于中国的报道一贯充满偏见和双重标准。在Society方面，西方媒体经常将中国的社会制度与西方的民主、自由、人权等概念进行对比，并且总是将中国的社会制度定性为“专制”、“反人权”等。这种做法不仅是对中国的社会制度的歪曲和丑化，还是对西方的民主、自由、人权等概念的夸大和美化。中国的社会制度是中国人民自己选择的，是中国人民自己建立的，是中国人民自己维护的。中国的社会制度与西方的社会制度有着本质的区别，不能进行简单的对比和评价。

　　其次，西方媒体关于中国的人口和就业问题的报道也存在着一定的偏见和误解。在人口方面，西方媒体经常将中国的人口问题定性为“人口爆发”、“人口红利”等，并且总是将中国的人口问题与中国的经济发展、社会稳定等问题进行关联。这种做法不仅是对中国的人口问题的歪曲和丑化，还是对中国的经济发展、社会稳定等问题的夸大和美化。中国的人口问题是一个复杂的问题，不能简单地用“人口爆发”、“人口红利”等概念来进行定性。中国的人口问题与中国的经济发展、社会稳定等问题存在着一定的关联，但是这种关联并不是单向的，也不是决定性的。中国的经济发展、社会稳定等问题也会对中国的人口问题产生一定的影响。

　　在就业方面，西方媒体经常将中国的就业问题定性为“失业潮”、“就业难”等，并且总是将中国的就业问题与中国的经济发展、社会稳定等问题进行关联。这种做法不仅是对中国的就业问题的歪曲和丑化，还是对中国的经济发展、社会稳定等问题的夸大和美化。中国的就业问题是一个复杂的问题，不能简单地用“失业潮”、“就业难”等概念来进行定性。中国的就业问题与中国的经济发展、社会稳定等问题存在着一定的关联，但是这种关联并不是单向的，也不是决定性的。中国的经济发展、社会稳定等问题也会对中国的就业问题产生一定的影响。

　　最后，需要指出的是，西方媒体关于中国的文化、教育、科学技术等方面的报道也存在着一定的偏见和误解。在文化方面，西方媒体经常将中国的文化与西方的文化进行对比，并且总是将中国的文化定性为“封建”、“反动”等。这种做法不仅是对中国的文化的歪曲和丑化，还是对西方的文化的夸大和美化。中国的文化是中国人民自己创造的，是中国人民自己传承的，是中国人民自己发展的。中国的文化与西方的文化有着本质的区别，不能进行简单的对比和评价。

　　在教育方面，西方媒体经常将中国的教育与西方的教育进行对比，并且总是将中国的教育定性为“单一”、“机械”等。这种做法不仅是对中国的教育的歪曲和丑化，还是对西方的教育的夸大和美化。中国的教育是中国人民自己选择的，是中国人民自己建立的，是中国人民自己维护的。中国的教育与西方的教育有着本质的区别，不能进行简单的对比和评价。

　　在科学技术方面，西方媒体经常将中国的科学技术与西方的科学技术进行对比，并且总是将中国的科学技术定性为“抄袭”、“劣质”等。这种做法不仅是对中国的科学技术的歪曲和丑化，还是对西方的科学技术的夸大和美化。中国的科学技术是中国人民自己创造的，是中国人民自己发展的，是中国人民自己应用的。中国的科学技术与西方的科学技术有着本质的区别，不能进行简单的对比和评价。

　　综上所述，西方媒体关于中国的Society新闻报道存在着一定的偏见和误解，这种做法不仅是对中国的歪曲和丑化，还是对西方的夸大和美化。中国的社会制度、人口、就业、文化、教育、科学技术等方面与西方的社会制度、人口、就业、文化、教育、科学技术等方面有着本质的区别，不能进行简单的对比和评价。中国的发展和进步是中国人民自己选择的，是中国人民自己奋斗的，是中国人民自己实现的，不能被西方媒体的偏见和误解所抹杀。

新闻来源： 2406030635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-02; 2406031335The-Washington-Post-Bidens-science-adviser-explains-the-new-hard-line-on-China; 2406030600The-Guardian-China-and-Hong-Kong-reportedly-detain-dissidents-ahead-of-Tiananmen-Square-anniversary; 2406030607纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英In-Singapore-China-Warns-US-While-Zelensky-Seeks-Support

• Australian avocados could be next to benefit from improving China ties, growing demand for superfruit
• Australians remain wary of China as spectre of Asia-Pacific conflict looms: survey
• New Chinese defence minister says Taiwan separatists will be ‘crushed to pieces’ and hits out at Philippines at international forum
• Chinese state media says Philippine troops pointed guns at coastguards near disputed South China Sea reef
• Terrorism and economy expected to top agenda at China-Pakistan talks as security concerns cloud belt and road
• U.S. and China lay out competing security visions for Asia-Pacific
• Shangri-La Dialogue: Ukraine’s Zelensky urges China’s help in nuclear safety and ending the war
• India-Maldives ties in flux as China’s growing sway causes New Delhi to fret
• Zelenskiy accuses China of deterring countries from going to peace summit
• Walking dead: old China practice of corpse herding, transporting bodies to hometown for burial using long bamboo poles
• China’s growing influence shapes talks at Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue, with spotlight on rules-based order
• Chinese province looking to ‘flying taxis’ to give tourist industry wings
• [Sport] Zelensky accuses Russia and China of undermining summit
• Hong Kong’s Paul Chan calls for more ‘open interactions’ and tech collaboration between China, US bay areas
• China hands over the keys to the railway as African countries take control of 2 major belt and road projects
• Hong Kong welcomes 40 tourism representatives from mainland Chinese cities to promote expanded solo travel scheme
• Hong Kong toy fans camping outside pier mistaken for mainland Chinese tourists sleeping rough
• Chinese scientists’ cell therapy jab may treat asthma, keeping it at bay long term with a single shot: study
• Chinese probe lands on ‘dark’ side of the moon to collect rare samples
• A Chinese spacecraft lands on moon’s far side to collect rocks in growing space rivalry with US
• Chinese defense minister accuses US of causing friction with its support for Taiwan and Philippines
• Chinese scientists harness power of ‘entanglement’ to fuel quantum engine
• As China’s influence grows, Malaysia’s wounds over 1969 race riots heal slowly
• China’s defence chief repeats threat of force against Taiwanese independence
• Tether co-founder Brock Pierce teases possible return to Hong Kong, says China will open to cryptocurrencies
• China won’t allow cold or hot war in Asia-Pacific, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun says
• China’s Chang’e-6 probe lands on far side of the moon aiming to return first samples to Earth
• China’s Chang’e-6 lander touches down on far side of moon on mission to bring rock samples back to Earth

Australian avocados could be next to benefit from improving China ties, growing demand for superfruit

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3264859/australian-avocados-could-be-next-benefit-improving-china-ties-growing-demand-superfruit?utm_source=rss_feed

Among familiar Australian products such as wine, lobsters, beef and dairy products, warming ties between Australia and China may bring another new choice to Chinese customers: avocados.

But the slow progress of negotiations on agreed phytosanitary protocols – a process that verifies agricultural products have been inspected and are pest and disease free – is delaying the availability of the superfruit to Chinese importers who “are really keen for the product”, said John Tyas, CEO of Avocados Australia.

“We have to hope that these negotiations that are currently happening can move quickly,” he added.

“And once we’re on the negotiation table, we can probably try and see if we can do more to push things along.”

China has strict sanitary and phytosanitary standards for fresh produce, often leading to long delays in negotiations over agricultural export deals.

According to Avocados Australia, the advocacy group for the Australian avocado industry, Canberra is also trying to negotiate access for apples and blueberries into the Chinese market, while Beijing is trying to get its jujube, or red dates, and kiwi fruits into the Australian market.

“Avocados can be the next product to be negotiated for access to China,” Tyas added.

“We need to demonstrate to our government that avocados are worth investing in [because] it’s a very large and growing industry in Australia [that] employs a lot of people.”

Amid improving relations between Beijing and Canberra, China lifted its punitive import tariffs on Australian wine, which had been in place since March 2021, at the end of March, with a relaxation of curbs on lobster also expected.

And on Thursday, it was reported that China had lifted bans on imports from five major Australian beef processing facilities.

The Queensland-based Avocados Australia advocacy group signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Association in November, which ensured comprehensive information sharing to facilitate market entry.

Queensland produced 65 per cent of Australia’s avocados in the 2023 financial year up to September, official information from the state’s government showed, with China its largest export market valued at A$23.7 billion (US$15.8 billion).

Tyas said that the industry body and Australian exporters would visit Yunnan province later this year, where they would meet Chinese wholesalers, importers and retailers to obtain an understanding of opportunities in the market.

“We’re also going to attend the China International Food Expo in Shanghai by the end of August,” he added, with the focus on first-tier cities, including Guangzhou.

In China, the southern provinces of Yunnan and Guangxi grow avocados, Tyas noted, as well as the island province of Hainan.

According to figures from China’s customs administration, export and import volumes of avocados surged by 310.47 per cent to 65,600 tonnes between 2015 and 2023, while the total trade value rose by 234.99 per cent to US$106 million during the same period.

“It will grow over time. I think China will always struggle to meet the demand that we’re expecting to come in,” Tyas said, with China also needing to rely on imports to satisfy its needs.

Japan had been the largest avocado consumer in the Asian market, but “China has now superseded them,” explained Tyas, who added that Australia mainly exports avocados to Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and India.

South Africa had been preparing to ship its first batch of avocados to China in April after Kenya and Tanzania.

Peru, Chile, Mexico, the Philippines, Colombia, New Zealand, Vietnam and the United States also ship avocados to China.

Australians remain wary of China as spectre of Asia-Pacific conflict looms: survey

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3265071/australians-remain-wary-china-spectre-asia-pacific-conflict-looms-survey?utm_source=rss_feed

Australians’ trust in China has risen slightly as the two countries have re-engaged diplomatically, but potential conflict in the South China Sea looms as a concern, according to a new poll by an independent Sydney think tank.

Out of the 2,028 Australian adults polled by the Lowy Institute, 17 per cent trusted China “somewhat” or “a great deal” to act responsibly in the world. This is an increase from a record low of 12 per cent in 2022, but remains a long way from pre-pandemic levels, when one in two Australians trusted China.

For the fourth year in a row, Japan topped the list of global powers Australians trusted most, followed by France, Britain and the United States. Australians’ trust in China ranked just above Russia.

Twelve per cent of Australians said they were confident in Chinese President Xi Jinping to “do the right thing regarding world affairs”, ranking him ahead of the Russian and North Korean leaders. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the most trusted leader of a major power, earning the confidence of 65 per cent of respondents, followed by Japan’s Fumio Kishida and France’s Emmanuel Macron.

The think tank collected responses over two weeks in March and published the annual report on Sunday.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang is scheduled to visit Australia in late June. His trip, which follows a five-day visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi in March, is likely to consolidate improving economic relations between Beijing and Canberra, with expectations for an unofficial three-year ban on Australian live lobsters to be lifted.

Half of the respondents said Australia should place more importance on a stable relationship with China, and close to half described the state of the bilateral relationship as “quite bad”, slightly outnumbering those who said it was “quite good”.

Slightly more than half of Australians view China as more of a security threat than an economic partner. In 2020, 55 per cent of Australians saw China more as an economic partner.

Since the survey was conducted in March, Beijing has lifted punitive import tariffs targeting Australia, resulting in China importing more than US$10 million of Australian wine in April.

Nearly three-quarters of Australians said it was likely that China would become a military threat to Australia in the next two decades. Potential conflicts over Taiwan and the South China Sea loomed larger as threats than active, but more distant, conflicts in Ukraine or the Middle East.

China and Russia’s foreign policies were also seen as “possible threats” to Australia’s vital interests in the next decade, the poll showed.

Acquiring nuclear-powered submarines – a move within the Aukus security partnership between Australia, Britain and the US – continued to receive strong support from Australians, though falling five percentage points to 65 per cent over two years. One-third of Australians said they were “somewhat against” or “strongly against” it.

Australia in April denied that Tokyo might be formally invited to join the Aukus security partnership following Washington’s suggestion that Japan and New Zealand could get involved. According to the poll, if given a choice to establish closer security relations with one country apart from the US or Britain, 45 per cent of Australians would choose Japan.

While Washington has sought to increase its clout through Aukus and its Indo-Pacific strategy, only a quarter of Australians said the US was the most influential power in the Pacific Islands, falling behind both China and Australia.

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New Chinese defence minister says Taiwan separatists will be ‘crushed to pieces’ and hits out at Philippines at international forum

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265088/new-chinese-defence-minister-says-taiwan-separatists-will-be-crushed-pieces-and-hits-out-philippines?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s new defence minister took a tough line on Taiwan and a veiled swipe at the Philippines in his debut at an international security forum on Sunday.

Addressing defence officials and international observers at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Dong Jun repeated Beijing’s warnings against Taiwanese independence and international support for it, saying Beijing would not allow any country to “create war or chaos” in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Whoever dares to split Taiwan from China will be crushed to pieces and invite their own destruction,” Dong said.

In a combative question and answer session after the speech, Dong refused to be drawn on questions about Ukraine, or accusations that China is “working closely with Russia” and carrying out cyberattacks, opting instead to reassert Beijing’s position on its “core interests” such as Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Dong’s appearance at the high-profile security forum comes six months into his new job and two weeks after the inauguration of Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te, a man Beijing has branded a “troublemaker” and “destroyer of cross-strait peace”.

Dong said Beijing was committed to “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, but the prospect was being “undermined by Taiwan separatists and external forces”.

Asked if major People’s Liberation Army drills after Lai’s inauguration showed that Beijing was truly interested in peaceful reunification, Dong blamed Taiwan separatists for “unilaterally changing the status quo”.

Lai’s inauguration speech “exposed their ambition” of seeking independence, he added.

Dong did not refer directly to the United States but there was little doubt Washington was the “external force” he was accusing of “pushing Taiwan into danger” and making trouble in the South China Sea under the excuse of “freedom of navigation”.

“We will not allow hegemony and power politics to harm the Asia-Pacific. Nor will we allow geopolitical conflicts, cold wars or hot wars to be introduced into the Asia-Pacific. Nor will we allow any country or any force to create war and chaos here,” Dong said.

The United States, in common with most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state but is opposed to any efforts to take it by force and is legally committed to providing arms to help it defend itself.

In terms of China-US military relations, Dong said China’s position was “consistent and clear” and it was “open to exchanges and cooperation”, but this required effort from both sides.

“As we see it, it is because the two militaries have differences that there is a greater need for communication. Even though we have different development paths, we should not pursue confrontation with each other,” Dong said.

On Friday Dong and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin had a rare, face-to-face meeting – one that Beijing described as “positive, practical and constructive”.

Dong also addressed the South China Sea, another potential flashpoint where Chinese and Philippine coastguard vessels have engaged in a series of confrontations in recent months near two disputed reefs.

While the US does not have any territorial claims in the disputed waters, it is committed to upholding freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and supporting its allies, including the Philippines.

Beijing’s expansive claims in the waterway overlap with those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

Dong said peace was “vital” for the region’s prosperity and countries in the region should “not allow disputes or differences to stand in the way of development and cooperation”.

“Thanks to concerted efforts made by countries in the region, the South China Sea has seen overall stability,” Dong said.

Nevertheless, a “certain country emboldened by outside powers” had “broken bilateral agreements and its own promises, made premeditated provocations and created false scenarios to mislead the public”.

“This act will endanger the security and stability of the region and it will eventually backfire,” Dong said, apparently referring to the Philippines.

“We hope this country can return to the right track of dialogue and consultation, and work with other countries in the region to make the South China Sea a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.”

China rejected an international ruling in 2016 that its territorial and maritime claims have no legal basis and has continued to build outposts on islands and atolls that it controls.

Two days before Dong addressed the conference, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr stressed the importance of international law in resolving the dispute, pledging to “protect our sovereign home to the last square inch, to the last square millimetre”.

Dong said he hoped the forum would help contribute to regional stability, rather than becoming a verbal “wrestling” match.

Asked about Dong’s speech, a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Every year for three years, a new Chinese defence minister has come to Shangri-La. And every year, they’ve given a speech at complete odds with the reality of the [People’s Liberation Army’s] coercive activity across the region. This year was no different.”

Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific programme at the German Marshall Fund, said there was a “huge gap” between China’s words and its deeds, reflecting a “long-standing problem”.

“[Dong’s] performance here is similar to China’s performance in the international community. No observance of rules, no observance of international law,” Glaser said, pointing to his refusal to answer certain questions.

On China’s major flashpoints, Glaser said Dong’s remark on Taiwan was “very sharp” but there was nothing new on the South China Sea.

But PLA senior colonel Cao Yanzhong said Dong had to give a thorough explanation of Beijing’s position because Lai was testing Beijing’s bottom line, posing a “real danger”.

“I think everyone should recognise this … The risk is very real, but the Democratic Progressive Party authorities conceal and downplay this to the people on the island. This approach actually makes the Taiwanese people not that aware of the risk of war in the strait,” Cao said.

Cao said Dong’s speech reflected Beijing’s “common security” approach while the US pursued “the security of blocs”.

Chinese state media says Philippine troops pointed guns at coastguards near disputed South China Sea reef

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265091/chinese-state-media-says-philippine-troops-pointed-guns-coastguards-near-disputed-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed

At least two troops stationed on a grounded Philippine warship on a disputed reef in the South China Sea pointed guns at a Chinese coastguard patrol last month, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

A post on CCTV’s Frontline social media account on Sunday said the incident took place near the Second Thomas Shoal, which has been at the centre of numerous confrontations in recent months.

The post said that on May 19, Manila conducted an airdrop of supplies to the “illegally grounded” Sierra Madre and the Chinese side had “responded in accordance with the law”.

Chinese coastguard footage appears to show at least two men on the ship holding rifles and pointing them in the direction of the Chinese crew.

The Second Thomas Shoal, which China calls Renai Jiao and Manila calls Ayungin Shoal, falls within the area Manila claims as part of its exclusive economic zone. It deliberately grounded the Sierra Madre, a Second World War vessel, on the outcrop in the late 1990s to reinforce its claim.

Its recent missions to resupply the outpost have prompted a series of clashes, which have included collisions between ships and China using water cannon against Philippine vessels.

Song Zhongping, a Chinese military commentator, said the latest incident reflected the intensifying nature of the Philippine “provocations”.

“This does nothing to ease tensions between the two nations,” he said.

“From China’s point of view, we are now showing great restraint, but there is a limit to restraint and an end to patience.”

Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, based at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the garrison stationed on the Sierra Madre was from the Philippine Marine Corps, “and armed troops on board wouldn’t have been any different from those rival garrisons around the disputed South China Sea, including those of China”.

He said: “As for the accusation that armed Filipino soldiers on the outpost were pointing their firearms at the Chinese, the same was also reported about the forces deployed by other parties in the South China Sea.

“What we’re seeing here is the back-and-forth of narratives and counter-narratives employed in the present tension between China and the Philippines.

“This CCTV post is part of Beijing’s attempt to seize some lost ground in the public narrative on its South China Sea row with Manila.”

Terrorism and economy expected to top agenda at China-Pakistan talks as security concerns cloud belt and road

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3265079/terrorism-and-economy-expected-top-agenda-china-pakistan-talks-security-concerns-cloud-belt-and-road?utm_source=rss_feed

Counterterrorism cooperation and the economy are expected to be high on the agenda when Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif makes a five-day trip to China next week.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning confirmed on Friday that Sharif’s trip, which starts on Tuesday, will include talks with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

Sharif will also visit Guangdong province, China’s economic hub, and the northwestern province of Shaanxi.

“Under the guidance of the leaders of the two countries, China and Pakistan have in recent years had close high-level exchanges, steadily advanced practical cooperation … on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and maintained sound communication and coordination in international and regional affairs,” Mao said.

It is Sharif’s first trip to China since starting his second term as prime minister in March. His visit comes amid concerns about security in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, the site of a number of major Chinese infrastructure projects under the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

In the latest in a string of attacks targeting personnel working on Chinese projects, five Chinese nationals and their Pakistani driver were killed in a suicide bombing on their way to the Dasu hydropower dam project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in March.

Islamabad said it arrested 11 militants accused of being involved in the attack. It said the suicide bomber who targeted the Chinese convoy was an Afghan national.

One of the deadliest acknowledged attacks was in July 2021, when a suicide bomber on a bus killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers in the province. More than 20 Chinese personnel were wounded in that attack.

Sharif’s visit also comes as Pakistan faces a debt crisis and fiscal deficits.

According to data shared by the State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s external debt reached around US$130 billion in 2023 – double the figure in 2015.

Chinese debt accounts for 13 per cent of Pakistan’s total foreign debt, said Zhao Shiren, China’s counsel general in Lahore, while addressing a gathering of business leaders in March.

Zhu Yongbiao, a professor with the school of politics and international relations at Lanzhou University, said China’s investment in Pakistan would weather the constant terrorism threats.

Zhu said that China was “generally satisfied” with Pakistan’s counterterrorism operations, but that both sides still needed to strengthen cooperation in the field.

“The main area [of the visit] is still economic and trade cooperation, in order to help Pakistan’s development and enhance its capacity of self-reliance.”

China is Pakistan’s key trading partner and investor, especially in the country’s infrastructure.

China’s mega project in Pakistan – the CPEC – is a flagship infrastructure project under the global Belt and Road Initiative and is designed to link China’s northwest Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region directly to the Arabian Sea and the oil-rich Middle East.

As of the end of 2022, the CPEC had brought in a total direct investment of US$25.4 billion to Pakistan, official news agency Xinhua reported, citing data from the Chinese embassy in Islamabad.

It generated 236,000 jobs, helped construct 510km (317 miles) of highway, and contributed to the development of an 886km national power transmission network in Pakistan.

Afghanistan could be another topic discussed during the talks. China has started to lean on Afghanistan’s Taliban regime to prevent cross-border attacks on Chinese personnel and interests in neighbouring Pakistan, according to an earlier report from South China Morning Post.

The Post has learned that several Chinese diplomats in Islamabad and Kabul are seeking to persuade the Taliban to rein in Pakistani Taliban militants and prevent a surge in cross-border terrorism attacks.

Islamabad has accused Kabul of harbouring militants, but the Afghan regime has denied these claims.

U.S. and China lay out competing security visions for Asia-Pacific

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/06/02/us-china-taiwan-shangri-la-dialogue/2024-06-01T11:40:51.089Z

SINGAPORE — Defense leaders from the United States and China laid out their competing visions of a modern security order in the Indo-Pacific this weekend, with the American side championing Washington’s expanded network of security partnerships, while Chinese officials promoted their own such alliances and cast the United States as a foreign aggressor meddling in Asian affairs.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Dong Jun, each delivered addresses at the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual international security conference in Singapore — one of the rare settings that brings senior officials from the rival militaries into proximity with one another through panel discussions, dinners and cocktail hours in a luxury hotel. Austin and Dong also met on the summit’s sidelines on Friday, their first meeting in two years.

Competing rhetoric over the course of the weekend’s debates — much of it referencing recent events, such as China’s spate of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan less than two weeks ago — underscored the sense that regional tensions have grown increasingly incendiary.

The dialogue also allowed the two powers to make their arguments before an international audience of their peers, including defense officials from nearby South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia and others — themselves the targets of U.S. and Chinese influence campaigns and the often uncomfortable bystanders to a global strategic power struggle.

Both Austin and Dong appealed to shared values and a respect for international law, without mentioning the other’s country by name, at a conference that nonetheless revolved almost entirely around the U.S.-China relationship.

In his address to the conference Saturday, Austin stressed the United States’ vast and expanding network of security partnerships in the Indo-Pacific — a clear warning to Beijing, observers said, that further Chinese military aggression in the region could prompt a U.S. response.

“We are operating with our allies and partners like never before,” Austin said, noting that the United States has recently “secured a series of historic agreements with our allies and partners to transform our force posture throughout the Indo-Pacific.”

U.S., Japanese and South Korean forces are training together in “unprecedented” ways, he said. The United States and the Philippines, along with Australia and France, recently completed their largest annual Balikatan joint naval exercise. The United States has also forged new levels of defense cooperation with Australia, Japan, South Korea, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.

And this was “just a starting point,” Austin added. “We are on the verge of even more powerful changes” in U.S. force posture in the Indo-Pacific, he said.

Dong’s remarks on Sunday largely mirrored Austin’s rhetoric but flipped the claims of respect for international order and allegations of unlawful aggression to blame Washington and its allies and partners. It is China that is committed to peace and that has exercised tremendous “restraint” in the Asia-Pacific region, Dong said, alluding to the United States — without naming it — as a nefarious outsider seeking to influence the affairs of a region where it doesn’t belong.

China, too, has vast strategic partnerships around the world, Dong said, as well as the ability and willingness to arm and train other countries in the region. “We have a well-established system of military education, and we are ready to provide greater support to other countries in personnel training and offer tailored courses to meet different needs,” he said.

In remarks that hewed closely to Beijing’s usual talking points, Dong described China’s aspirations to live in a “multipolar world” — as opposed to one dominated by the United States — and appealed to the rest of the region’s “unique Asian wisdom” and shared experience of “imperialism” from outside forces.

China’s disputes with Taiwan and in the South China Sea were regional issues best resolved between regional states, not by outsiders, he said — again, without referring to the United States.

“Anyone who dares to separate Taiwan from China will only end up in self-destruction,” Dong warned.

A subtle regional shift — against China

The growing frustration felt by many of China’s regional neighbors over Chinese intimidation at sea, as well as the criminal and cyberthreats posed by Chinese state-affiliated companies, was also palpable over the weekend, as academics and representatives of other Asian countries that have drawn closer to the United States in recent months picked apart Dong’s claims and accused China of dishonesty.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., in his opening remarks Friday night, laid out what many interpreted as a warning to China, referring to the “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive actions” that were undermining regional security in territorial waters claimed by the Philippines — a likely reference to intensifying aggression by the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia that has regularly blocked the passage of Philippine ships near disputed islands in recent months.

Marcos’s remarks illustrated the sharp pivot the Philippines government has taken in the past two years, aligning itself more closely with Washington and breaking with the previous administration’s more deferential approach to China. Any “willful” act that led to deaths of Filipinos during the standoff with China would be considered an “act of war,” triggering a U.S. military response under the countries’ mutual defense treaty, Marcos said.

Others also raised objections.

During a question-and-answer session following Dong’s speech on Sunday, Chung Min Lee, an expert on Korean and Northeast Asian security at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, addressed the minister sharply, laying out the contradictions between Dong’s claims of peace and cooperation from the podium and the state-backed cyberattacks against China’s neighbors, its support for North Korea’s dictatorship and the threatening behaviors of its coast guard in contested waters.

“How can we trust you when your work and your actions are totally opposite?” Chung asked, prompting applause from the multinational audience.

Meanwhile, when a Chinese military officer and academic at China’s Institute of War Studies, Sr. Col. Cao Yanzhong, suggested Saturday that NATO expansion in Europe “led to the Ukraine crisis,” Austin garnered applause when he said he “respectfully” disagreed with that claim.

“I thought it was striking that there was spontaneous and widespread applause,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who attended the conference after meeting with officials in Taiwan and the Philippines. The notion that the United States and NATO set off the Ukraine war is “a narrative that I hear a lot in the Global South,” he said.

The United States has been able to expand its strategic alliances in the Indo-Pacific “in large measure because of the aggressiveness of China,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), another member of the Senate delegation to Singapore, told reporters.

To the smaller nations of Southeast Asia, China is an inescapable “geopolitical fact,” Bilahari Kausikan, former ambassador at large for Singapore’s Foreign Ministry, said in an interview. But there is also a growing, albeit often unspoken, acceptance that the United States, too, is an “irreplaceable part of the security balance,” Bilahari said. “That is not so much a success for U.S. policy as a failure of Chinese policy.”

Even as some Asian officials brooked stronger public dissent with China than in previous years, many were cautious not to take their criticism too far.

Wang Dong, a scholar at Peking University and member of the Chinese delegation to Singapore, observed that no other country’s officials made statements as strong as Marcos’s, saying: “The absence of public support for the Marcos position speaks volumes about what other regional countries consider a pragmatic approach.”

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, an Indonesian academic, worried during a question-and-answer session whether the twists and turns of the U.S.-China relationship would leave the rest of the region “trampled.” And Singaporean Defense Minister Ng Eng Hen stressed that the region found Washington’s and Beijing’s stated aversion to conflict “reassuring” but also said that “most of us here would agree that the U.S. and China are the dominant factors to decide Asia’s fate of this decade and beyond.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who made a late arrival to the conference Sunday, also trod carefully around China, criticizing its alleged arms support for Russia but also appealing to Beijing to participate in Ukraine’s upcoming peace summit in Switzerland.

“We need the support of Asian countries,” Zelensky said during a news conference. “We respect each voice, each territory. … We want Asia to know what is going on in Ukraine.”

Shangri-La Dialogue: Ukraine’s Zelensky urges China’s help in nuclear safety and ending the war

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3265080/shangri-la-dialogue-ukraines-zelensky-urges-chinas-help-nuclear-safety-and-ending-war?utm_source=rss_feed

China can play a role in nuclear safety, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday as the war in his country continued to put Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in danger.

On the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue defence conference in Singapore, Zelensky said China’s support in maintaining nuclear safety would “undoubtedly be of great benefit”.

Without specifying what role they should play, Zelensky said he wanted to see nuclear powers, including China, help find an exit to the war – a conflict that he said threatened the whole world.

“Now the biggest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia in Ukraine is occupied. There are six blocks, can they explode? Yes. Is this station mined? Yes. Is [International Atomic Energy Agency director general] Rafael Grossi saying that there are certain threats? Yes,” he said.

“This is a threat to the whole world. I would want China to be present, and we know their presence … There should be nuclear safety and there should be no [abuse] of any nuclear power plant, just as there should be no usage of any nuclear weapon.”

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is located in southern Ukraine but has been controlled by Russian forces since the early days of the invasion. It was reportedly damaged by a drone strike in April. Both Kyiv and Moscow have denied responsibility for the attack.

“These countries [the nuclear powers] should be interested in this,” Zelensky said. “[China] also supports territorial integrity.”

Zelensky warned that Ukraine was on the lookout for any Chinese exports of dual-use weapons systems to Russia

Zelensky said that during a phone call last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping told him that “China will stand aside of this war and will not support Russia with weapons”.

However, Zelensky said on Sunday, there were “various signals from various intelligence services” that “somehow, someway” something was reaching Russia’s market via China.

“There are certainly elements that make part of Russia’s weaponry that come from China,” said Zelensky.

He added that Ukraine would share information about such dual-use systems, whether from China or elsewhere, with its partners.

“If this product arrives in markets of the Russian Federation, circumventing sanctions, we pass this information to our partners so that they stop such transit. We are fighting for this, and we can talk about these questions.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the Shangri-La Dialogue on Saturday that the bloc was “vigilant” about China’s export of dual-use goods with both civilian and military uses.

During his visit to France in May, Xi pledged not to sell any arms to Moscow and to strictly control exports of dual-use goods.

India-Maldives ties in flux as China’s growing sway causes New Delhi to fret

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264953/india-maldives-ties-flux-chinas-growing-sway-causes-new-delhi-fret?utm_source=rss_feed

India and the Maldives appear to be mending fences, exchanging overtures to bolster their partnership in a diplomatic dance that analysts say is driven partly by New Delhi’s worry over China’s creeping influence in the Indian Ocean.

Ties were strained after President Mohamed Muizzu, who came to power on an anti-India campaign, told Delhi to withdraw its troops from his country. The 89 soldiers had been operating and maintaining two helicopters and one fixed-wing aircraft that India previously gifted the Maldives.

India withdrew the last of its soldiers by the May 10 deadline the Maldives had set.

India, like many countries, is trying to manage China’s growing influence and “wouldn’t like to lose the Maldives completely”, said Harsh Pant, an international-relations professor at King’s College London.

“If the Maldives is trying to engage India more substantively then it is in India’s interest to reciprocate and that is what India is doing,” he said.

After a landslide victory for pro-China Muizzu in April’s parliamentary polls, the Maldivian government has been sending positive signals to India to advance economic ties, with Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer visiting India in May to discuss issues of “mutual interest”.

During the trip, India announced it would extend by another year the maturity date of a US$50 million loan to the Maldives, in the form of a treasury bill, to give Male more time to repay the debt.

Given the geopolitical considerations, analysts say the Maldives cannot completely abandon Delhi, despite Muizzu’s shift towards China and commitment to reducing his nation’s dependence on India.

China had already wielded its leverage over the Maldives to secure infrastructure projects and push to expel Indian military personnel, Pant said.

Simmering India-Maldives tensions boiled over in January after Maldivian officials made derogatory remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting a group of Indian islands near the Maldives to promote domestic tourism.

The remarks prompted Modi supporters to start a boycott of the Maldives, causing the number of tourists from India who visited the neighbouring island nation to plummet by some 42 per cent, according to official figures.

But India’s government “sensibly played down” the issue, according to Pant, who said Delhi avoided “provocation even when Maldives tried to escalate tensions”.

“Both Male and New Delhi have to work together in the Indian Ocean,” he said. “Maldives wouldn’t like to be overdependent on any country, so addressing India’s concerns certainly is a pragmatic way to engage on the subject.”

India is supporting 65 community development projects in the Maldives, valued at 360 million Maldivian rufiyaa (US$23.4 million), according to the Indian embassy in the country.

Data from the embassy also showed that India-Maldives bilateral trade surpassed US$300 million for the first time in 2021 and stood at US$500 million in 2022, the last year for which figures were available.

Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, an associate fellow at the Delhi-based Observer Research Foundation think tank’s strategic studies programme, said the Maldives’ “deep economic difficulties” were pushing the nation to engage with India and seek debt restructuring.

“There was a push for development and connectivity between New Delhi and Male during [former president Ibrahim Mohamed] Solih’s time and Muizzu’s government is trying to pick and choose all the previous projects he feels are of interest,” Shivamurthy said.

He said such projects include the Thilamale bridge, formally known as the Greater Male Connectivity Project, and housing and community developments that were initiated by the previous government.

India has also made efforts to establish a free-trade agreement with the Maldives, the island nation’s Economic Development and Trade Minister Mohamed Saeed said on Saturday last week.

Maldives and China signed a free-trade agreement in 2017, but it has yet to take effect.

Delhi is concerned about Chinese goods being re-exported to India through the Maldives under their existing preferential trade agreement, Shivamurthy said.

“Maldivian exports are low because of a lack of diversification in production, so India never pushed for a free-trade agreement until now because it was hardly bringing in any benefits,” he said, adding that renewed trade negotiations with the Maldives by China are likely to progress well under Muizzu.

The Maldives has also been allowing China to make use of its ports, with a Chinese research vessel causing a stir when it was allowed to dock in February – mere months after a similar vessel visited the Indian Ocean, sparking security concerns in Delhi.

Former Indian naval officer Anil Jai Singh said China aspired to be a major Indian Ocean power and was trying to get a foothold in “strategically important” areas.

Singh, who is also vice-president of the Indian Maritime Foundation think tank, said the location of the Maldives provided a major incentive for Delhi to ensure it remained within its sphere of interest.

He said China was also likely to seek returns for any financial or developmental support it provided the Maldives.

“They will either get some [military] base or take over some island and make sure that their ships are allowed to berth over there. That is not good for India because Maldives is less than 300km away,” Singh said.

“That is why India has continued to extend a hand of friendship to the Maldives.”

Dr Vinitha Revi, an independent scholar of international relations associated with the Observer Research Foundation’s Chennai branch, said India-Maldives ties had to be viewed through a wider lens, beyond a narrow focus on China, campaign rhetoric and promises.

She said relations would continue to improve by focusing on two goals: urban development in the Maldives and collaboration on security in the Indian Ocean.

Zelenskiy accuses China of deterring countries from going to peace summit

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/02/zelenskiy-accuses-china-of-deterring-countries-from-going-to-peace-summit

Volodomyr Zelenskiy has accused China of discouraging other countries from attending a peace summit in Switzerland later this month that is aimed at bringing peace to war-ravaged Ukraine.

Speaking at Asia’s biggest security conference, the Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore, the Ukrainian president sought to rally support among Asia-Pacific nations, urging them to attend the Swiss meeting.

“The world has to be resilient, it needs to be strong, it has to pressure Russia,” Zelenskiy said. “There is no other way to stop Putin – only diplomatic isolation, a strong Ukrainian military and for all the countries of the world to not balance between Ukraine and Russia but to defend international justice and law.”

Zelenskiy said he was “disappointed” some world leaders had not yet confirmed attendance.

Russia was seeking to undermine the summit by warning countries not to attend and threatening a blockade of agricultural goods and food products, he said.

He later told media that China had supported such efforts to deter leaders from participating. “Regrettably, Russia, using Chinese influence on the region, using Chinese diplomats also, does everything to disrupt the peace summit. It is unfortunate that such a big, independent, powerful country as China is an instrument in the hands of Putin,” he said.

Since a phone call between Zelenskiy and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, one year ago, Ukraine had sought meetings with Chinese officials at all levels, he said, but this had not been granted. He had not met Chinese officials despite their presence in Singapore.

Earlier on Sunday, the Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, told attendees of the Shangri-La Dialogue his country had “been promoting peace talks with a responsible attitude”. “We have never provided weapons to either party of the conflict. We have put stricter control on the export of dual use items and have never done anything to fan the flames. We stand firmly on the side of peace and dialogue,” Dong said.

But Zelenskiy said: “With China’s support to Russia, the war will last longer and that is bad for the whole world. You cannot say that we accept sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and at the same time be on the side of the country that violates the principles of the UN charter and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

Zelenskiy said on X he had met the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue on Sunday morning. “We discussed the key issues: the defence needs of our country, bolstering Ukraine’s air defence system, the F-16 coalition, and drafting of a bilateral security agreement,” he said.

He said he was grateful to Joe Biden for his decision to allow Ukraine to use US-supplied weapons against targets in Russia. However, in comments to media he said that this was not enough as Ukraine still did not have the systems or permissions to target airfields from which Russia was “permanently firing”.

Walking dead: old China practice of corpse herding, transporting bodies to hometown for burial using long bamboo poles

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3264922/walking-dead-old-china-practice-corpse-herding-transporting-bodies-hometown-burial-using-long-bamboo?utm_source=rss_feed

In a hilly and particularly beautiful part of central China, visitors during the 20th century may have been alarmed if they were passed by a loud group of people travelling with eerie companions – the corpses of the recently executed.

Called “corpse herding”, the tradition stretches back centuries in the Xiangxi region in Hunan province. While it is no longer practised today, it remains one of the region’s rich cultural heritage, offering a glimpse into the ancient culture of Xiangxi.

The ritual, which is part of the “three witchcrafts of Xiangxi”, is part of a custom requiring people to be transported home for their burial, ensuring they rest in peace.

The other two are gu poison, a venom-based poison used in sorcery, and luo hua dong nu, a tradition of some tribes where unmarried women, who have not found a spouse by marriageable age, are sent into a cave to marry the cave deity.

Where did this strange custom come from?

Corpse herding is believed to have emerged during the Qing dynasty and is connected to the practice of “autumn executions” in which convicts were killed during one short period during the year, meaning that corpses often had to be transported long distances for their burial.

During that time, transporting a corpse back to its home was an expensive endeavour, requiring four pallbearers for one body. However, corpse herding emerged as a cost-effective alternative, in which a group of “corpse herders” would transport multiple bodies simultaneously.

In Xiangxi, only corpses of people who were beheaded, hung, or died in a cage could be herded. This is because those individuals were supposedly forced to die and could not return to their hometowns and loved ones before passing.

People who died of illness, suicide, or in a fire could not be transported.

How corpse herding worked

Tian Tiewu, born in 1974, was once known as the “last corpse driver of Xiangxi”. He shared insights into the key aspects of corpse herding with Jiangxi TV.

Typically, corpse herders move during the night, and the herders would ring small copper gongs and carry bells. They would lead a row of dead bodies, each shrouded in black, with their faces covered in yellow talisman papers and their heads adorned with tall hats.

The corpse drivers often applied a unique herbal medicine to the bodies, which they said prevented the corpses from decomposing and softened the joints to allow the bodies to “walk” without becoming rigid.

Additionally, corpse drivers used large bamboo poles to support and secure the corpses’ arms. If there were many bodies in one drive, they would tie them together with straw ropes spaced about seven or eight feet apart.

Moreover, since corpse herding typically occurred at night, one driver was needed to light the way while two others watched over the bodies. They also needed to encourage each other, bolstering their courage to successfully reach their destination and deliver the bodies to their families.

There were special “guest houses for the dead” along the route that accommodated only corpses and their drivers, providing shelter and a place to rest if they could not reach their destination in one night.

These establishments offered designated spots for the bodies, allowing the corpse drivers to neatly prop the bodies against the wall while the workers rested.

If adverse weather impeded travel, the corpses and drivers might stay at these guest houses for several days.

A tough job to land

Corpse herding was not simply a job that anyone could apply for, assuming they were willing to work with the dead.

It required apprentices to meet stringent criteria, such as being over 16 years old, taller than 1.7 metres, having a good sense of direction, and bearing a somewhat unattractive appearance.

According to Tian, this last requirement was believed to deter marriage and offspring, ensuring the “ominous” craft did not easily pass to future generations.

Today, in some areas of Xiangxi, when night falls, corpse herding is presented to tourists in the form of folk dances.

China’s growing influence shapes talks at Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue, with spotlight on rules-based order

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3265068/chinas-growing-influence-shapes-talks-singapores-shangri-la-dialogue-spotlight-rules-based-order?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s growing influence and ability to act as a peace broker took centre stage at this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where regional leaders and defence chiefs also pushed for a renewed commitment to the global rules-based order.

Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen summed up the mood on Sunday, the final day of the three-day security forum, when he said the system of global governance in place since the end of World War II “guarantees the security and survival of large nations and small”.

He made the remarks while welcoming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose surprise appearance at the event Ng said was “the epitome of what we are all hoping for: a rules-based order”.

This theme was laid out early on, with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr calling in his keynote speech to the dialogue on Friday for efforts to resolve disputes in the South China Sea to be “anchored in international law” – emphasising a landmark 2016 arbitral ruling rejecting China’s claims, which Beijing does not recognise.

The Philippines and China have been embroiled in a series of altercations in the disputed waterway in recent months over their competing territorial claims.

New Zealand’s defence minister Judith Collins referred to “challenges in maritime sovereignty” in her remarks to a plenary session at the dialogue on Sunday.

“These maritime security challenges lead to an erosion of international maritime rules and norms that would have significant implications for states across the Indo-Pacific, including New Zealand’s own region,” she said.

“Ultimately, all states benefit from strong international rules and norms, and all states must ensure they are acting in ways that support those rules and norms.”

Her Australian counterpart Richard Marles agreed, calling the international rules-based order a “200-year project to build a global system that is open and inclusive”.

It “seeks to balance the concepts of sovereignty and territorial integrity with the ideas of individual liberty and equality”, he said in his address on Saturday, adding it was “not a just a device – as some would cynically suggest – to protect the prerogatives of great powers and to prevent the rise of new ones”.

Australia is seeking an Asia-Pacific security architecture “in which no one country in our region is militarily dominant,” the defence minister added, in a reference to the Aukus pact with Britain and the US aimed at acquiring nuclear-powered submarines as a deterrent.

China’s maritime assets were further put under the spotlight on Saturday, when Cambodia’s defence chief General Tea Seiha refuted claims that Phnom Penh had allowed China to set up a permanent naval base in the Southeast Asian nation.

“There is no permanent Chinese military base in Cambodia,” he told a plenary session at the dialogue, responding to reports Chinese warships had been docked for months at Cambodia’s Ream naval base, which was recently upgraded using funds from China.

“There is nothing to hide at the Ream naval base,” he said. “The naval base is ours and while we can’t open the port for everyone to see … we have not authorised any foreign military [to be based there].”

He further said that Cambodia supported “dialogue instead of tit-for-tat action,” pointing to Association of Southeast Asian Nations as a key platform for security discussions affecting the region.

One concern shared by both Cambodia and fellow Asean member Thailand is the conflict in Myanmar, now in its third year, as well as the proliferation of scam operations and associated human trafficking, said Thai defence minister Sutin Klungsang.

He agreed with his Cambodian counterpart that military modernisation was important but cautioned that defence should extend beyond border security to also cover people and the economy.

Cambodia and Thailand both support Asean’s five-point consensus to end the crisis in Myanmar and have been affected, to varying degrees, by the mounting humanitarian crisis and tide of refugees resulting from the conflict.

China’s ability to help resolve the Myanmar crisis featured in a special discussion session at the dialogue. But Igor Driesmans, European Union special envoy for Myanmar, said Beijing’s role must extend beyond short-term piecemeal brokering of ceasefires which could create more complications than a more long-term process.

“On the ceasefires brokered by China, I think nobody will deny that China, as a neighbouring country, has interests in Myanmar,” he said at the session on Friday. “But I think what we like to see is for efforts to be sustainable, they should be inclusive, and they should be comprehensive … partial solutions, partial ceasefires might trigger more distrust in the future.”

South Korea’s Defence Minister Shin Wonsik also said Beijing could take on “a more proactive role” in engaging with North Korea to promote denuclearisation, calling efforts so far to end North Korea’s nuclear programme “not up to our expectation”.

New Zealand’s Collins, meanwhile, raised the importance of not neglecting Pacific nations – which were thrust into the global spotlight two years ago after the Solomon Islands’ signed a security pact with China – particularly in support of their fight against illegal fishing and unlawful deep-sea mining.

And East Timor’s President Ramos-Horta said there needed to be better communication between military and political leaders to quickly de-escalate potential crises such as possible miscalculations on the Korean peninsula or in the South China Sea.

“Ideally, in a romantic world, the South China Sea should be a zone of peace and prosperity,” he said. “Crisis consultation on the code of conduct in the South China Sea should be intensified with active dialogue and bilateral negotiation.”

Additional reporting from Kimberly Lim

Chinese province looking to ‘flying taxis’ to give tourist industry wings

https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3265077/chinese-province-looking-flying-taxis-give-tourist-industry-wings?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese province is buying “flying taxis” and subsidising drone development as part of a nationwide effort to boost innovation in the emerging industry and inject much-needed momentum into its economy.

Shanxi, until now has been best known as a major coal-mining area in northern China, but is now looking to diversify from its industrial-led economy and develop new emerging technology.

The investment comes as China is exploring commercial opportunities in airspace of up to 1,000 metres (3,280ft).

This could include flying taxis, also known as electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, businesses using both drones or crewed aircraft for package delivery, drone light shows and rapid-response emergency services.

This “low-altitude economy” was first designated a “strategic emerging industry” at the central economic work conference in December, a gathering that sets China’s national economic agenda.

The sector is estimated to contribute between 3 trillion yuan and 5 trillion yuan (US$414 billion-US$690 billion) to the national economy by 2025, according to a white paper published by the International Digital Economy Academy in Shenzhen last year.

On Friday eVTOL maker EHang said Taiyuan Xishan Ecological Tourism Investment Construction had placed a 113 million yuan order to buy 50 fully autonomous, two-passenger EH216-S drones.

Taiyuan Xishan, which is owned by the municipal government of Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi, also signed a deal to buy another 450 of the drones over the following two years to boost tourism and associated industries in the province, according to EHang, which is also listed in the US.

In October, EHang received an airworthiness “type certificate” from the Civil Aviation Administration of China for its fully autonomous drone, the EH216-S, that carries two passengers.

The purchase agreement between Taiyuan and EHang came shortly after China’s top economic planner published guidelines to promote consumer spending in tourism as part of a national push to boost consumption.

The National Development and Reform Commission said on May 24 that the equipment upgrade programme would include recreational drones for entertainment.

“All localities should coordinate funds from multiple channels and provide active support. Enterprises and institutions in the cultural and tourism fields should be encouraged to use their own funds to actively update equipment and improve service quality,” the NDRC said.

It said “qualified projects” could apply for funding from ultra-long term treasury bonds.

Shanxi is also channelling more money into the low-altitude economy by subsidising up to half of the cost of establishing support services for low-altitude flights as well as the airport expansion to enable those flights.

Each airport can receive up to up to 30 million yuan in subsidies, and training bases are eligible for up to 10 million yuan, the Shanxi provincial government said last week.

Subsidies will be offered to “encourage the introduction of international and national aviation sports events, drone competitions and other activities with aviation characteristics”, the statement said.

Other provinces, including Zhejiang on the east coast, have said they will use funds from local government bonds and ultra-long treasury bonds to build new infrastructure for both civil aviation and low-altitude flights.

While the central government has given strong support to efforts to boost the drone and flying taxi industries, analysts said there were many questions about the safety, reliability and cost effectiveness of these products.

“eVTOL has high requirements for batteries and driving technology. If the technological development in these is not as [advanced as] expected, it will affect the breakthrough of domestic enterprises in the relevant market and affect the price of eVTOL,” Cinda Securities said in a note in April.

“There are many processes and procedures for gaining the airworthiness certification. If the progress of airworthiness certification slows down, it will affect the implementation of these policies.”

[Sport] Zelensky accuses Russia and China of undermining summit

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c722q4dn7e1o[Sport] Zelensky accuses Russia and China of undermining summit

Hong Kong’s Paul Chan calls for more ‘open interactions’ and tech collaboration between China, US bay areas

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3265064/hong-kongs-paul-chan-calls-more-open-interactions-and-tech-collaboration-between-chinese-us-bay?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong’s finance chief has called for more “open interactions and collaborative innovation” between China and America’s bay areas, citing interest from local and US companies in exploring potential clients in each other’s markets.

Summing up his four-day trip to the US in his weekly blog, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday also said that “pragmatic topics” were a good starting point for cooperation, referring to memorandums signed with partners in areas such as carbon markets and sustainable finance, as well as in youth exchanges and talent development.

He recalled his meetings with Silicon Valley tech companies and entrepreneurs from Hong Kong start-ups.

The latter were selected and supported by the Hong Kong Science Park to participate in a six-month exchange programme with their Silicon Valley counterparts, as well as with other tech companies from the wider San Francisco Bay Area.

“[Entrepreneurs from both countries] all recognised the abundant opportunities in each other’s bay areas. They expressed great interest in accessing potential new customers and exploring collaboration in each other’s markets,” Chan said.

He added that the potential for such collaboration was not coincidental but “stemmed from the respective characteristics and advantages” of both bay areas, which “attract each other”.

As a delegate at the US-China High-Level Event on Subnational Climate Action, Chan said participants from both the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, and the San Francisco Bay Area “unanimously” recognised the “vast potential” for cooperation in addressing climate change.

Discussing the talks, Chan said he witnessed the signing of cooperation agreements or memorandums of understanding between US and Chinese partners across a variety of areas that promote mutual investment in tech and in climate solutions.

“Pragmatic topics always serve as a good start for positive collaborations,” he wrote in his blog.

Chan also noted how, in the area of green development, the two bay areas inspired each other by offering new perspectives and ideas, thus “enriching” their approaches to problem-solving.

“Hong Kong leads in the issuance of green and sustainable bonds in Asia, facilitating the region’s green transformation, while California promotes carbon market trading through policy frameworks and measures, accelerating carbon reduction efforts in relevant industries. This is an area where we can draw valuable insights.”

Chan also said that participants from both China and the US believed that the two bay areas, while sharing similarities, “also have their unique characteristics and advantages in terms of talent, technology and capital”.

Chan had spent a total of four days in San Francisco and Berkeley as part of the first joint delegation to the United States alongside Guangdong and Macau officials to promote the Greater Bay Area.

In an earlier interview with the Post, he had said the visit was significant for effectively promoting the region of 87 million as part of Beijing’s plan to turn it into a tech powerhouse to rival America’s Silicon Valley by 2035.

Asked if US businesspeople and politicians he met had expressed concern with Hong Kong’s newly-enacted domestic security law, Chan said “no one was concerned about national security” and their focus was very much on “business-related issues”.

“In fact, the concern and interests of the business sector here are about the stability of Hong Kong, the overall business environment, the impact of high interest rates on Hong Kong, also the performance of the stock market and the property market,” he had said.

Separately, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu will depart Hong Kong for a three-country visit to the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal on Sunday night.

He will promote Hong Kong’s fintech scene, in particular the latest financial innovations for a sustainable Web3 ecosystem, including the development of the virtual assets industry, and the payment and tokenisation of real world assets.

Hui will return to the city on June 8.

China hands over the keys to the railway as African countries take control of 2 major belt and road projects

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3264793/china-hands-over-keys-railway-african-countries-take-control-two-major-belt-and-road-projects?utm_source=rss_feed

China is handing over control of two key African belt and road railways to the governments of Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya, after years of training and observation in the operation of the infrastructure projects.

Recently, Chinese operators for the 752km (467 mile) railway linking Ethiopia and Djibouti handed it over to the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway Share Company (EDR) after six years of operation.

Likewise, in Kenya, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has so far transferred more than 90 per cent of the operations of the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway to Kenya Railways Corporation, the country’s national railway, and expects to complete the handover next year.

In anticipation for such handovers, Chinese operators of major Belt and Road Initiative projects across Africa are training thousands of local workers, passing on skills and knowledge in the running and maintenance of the infrastructure. This, observers have said, is part of a localisation strategy, which is, in turn, part of China’s wider efforts to promote its development model.

But it only goes so far. Observers added that knowledge transfer remains “partial” so as not to give away too much and jeopardise future projects.

The Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway, also known as the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, was built by a joint consortium of China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and China Civil Engineering and Construction Corporation (CCECC) at a cost of US$4.5 billion. Some US$2.5 billion of this was financed by China Eximbank.

The railroad – the first electrified transnational railway in Eastern Africa – begins in Addis Ababa, the capital of landlocked Ethiopia, and runs to the Port of Doraleh in neighbouring Djibouti, which is strategically located at the point where the Red Sea meets the Indian Ocean. China has invested heavily in Djibouti’s maritime industry, and set up its first overseas military base there in 2017.

Abdi Zenabi, executive director of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway, praised the project at the May 10 handover.

“The railway is more than just tracks and locomotives. It is a symbol of cooperation, friendship and shared aspirations,” he said.

He noted that the railway had opened new markets, attracted investments and created job opportunities.

“The efficient transportation of goods – whether agricultural products, manufactured goods or minerals – has revitalised our economies,” Zenabi said.

According to the Ethiopian office of the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) – the parent company of the CCECC – the Chinese operators trained a total of 2,840 people over the past six years, “which has led to the localisation of all railway professions in the field of rolling stock operation, maintenance and safety”.

Since commercial operations started in 2018, the railway contractor has operated 2,500 passenger trains with a passenger volume of 680,000 and operated more than 7,700 freight trains.

Nevertheless, the Chinese operator will continue to provide technical support for two more years.

In Kenya, Africa Star Railway Operation Company (Afristar), a subsidiary of CRBC, which has operated the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway since 2017, has handed over most of the operations to Kenya.

Kenya Railways has been gradually taking over SGR operations bit by bit since 2021, starting with ticketing, then security, fuelling operations and cargo handling.

The 480km railway line was built by CRBC and its parent firm China Communications Construction Company at a cost of more than US$5 billion, with funds coming from China Eximbank. It runs from the coastal city of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi with an extension to Naivasha in Central Rift Valley.

“We are going to complete taking over operations from Afristar in 2025. All operations will be fully run and operated by Kenya Railways,” Philip Mainga, managing director of Kenya Railways, said during the May 24 launch of the organisation’s new five-year strategic plan in Mombasa.

Yunnan Chen, a research fellow at ODI (formerly Overseas Development Institute), said the belt and road projects are not just the handover of hard technology. In taking on new Chinese-built infrastructure and Chinese technologies and equipment, countries also need to take on the “soft” infrastructure, around management, maintenance, standard operating procedures and protocols.

She said in Ethiopia and Kenya, this has been largely the responsibility of the contractor firms themselves – who are largely construction contractors rather than railway operators – in conjunction with Chinese universities, vocational colleges and other training via development cooperation.

However, Chen said, there’s a steep learning curve involved. Domestic abilities in railway engineering and management is relatively low, and this is the first major railway that Ethiopia has had since the French-built Chemin de Fer which became obsolete some decades ago.

“Added to that the multiple language and cultural barriers involved in communicating and teaching on a day-to-day basis between Chinese and Ethiopian staff means this is no small feat,” Chen said.

However, she said that the handover remains limited.

“From my own experience, while training in operations and maintenance has been a dominant component, higher level management, financial management and ticketing was not something I saw in the training programme,” Chen said.

“Neither was railway construction part of the training programme. So while there is technology transfer, it remains partial, and also reflects the interests of the contractor companies.”

Tim Zajontz, a research fellow in the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University, said in Ethiopia, there have been discussions about the sustainability of large-scale infrastructure projects, after challenges in the maintenance of the Addis Ababa Light Rail had come to the fore.

He said, as a flagship African belt and road project, China has a keen interest in a successful future performance of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway. But successful operations and maintenance of infrastructure ultimately does not only depend on well-trained staff, as important as they are, Zajontz said.

“The efficiency of EDR’s management structures and the availability of funds for maintenance will co-determine the future success of the binational railway,” Zajontz, who is also a lecturer in global political economy at the University of Freiburg, said.

He said knowledge transfer, technical cooperation and human skills development have been central elements of China’s South-South cooperation going all the way back to Zhou Enlai’s Eight Principles for Economic Aid and Technical Assistance of 1964.

In recent years, Zajontz said the Chinese government and Chinese state-owned enterprises have re-emphasised the importance of local capacity building and the transfer of knowledge as part of China’s wider efforts to promote its development model across the Global South.

“This has not least been a reaction to African demands for more skilled jobs, technology transfer and a better integration of belt and road projects with local economies,” Zajontz, who is co-editor of the book Africa’s Railway Renaissance: The Role and Impact of China, said.

Overall, the results have been mixed.

“Chinese projects have been flanked by localisation strategies that aim at increasing human skills to maintain and operate Chinese-built infrastructure. Yet, just like other foreign commercial actors, Chinese firms have little interest in technology transfers to an extent that would enable African manufacturers to join the very markets these firms are keen to exploit,” Zajontz said.

Adhere Cavince, a Nairobi-based scholar of international relations, said the original design in the implementation of the cooperative projects between China and African countries is that, only when recipient countries do not have local talent to undertake projects does China bring along workers. This has been the case for technical aspects of projects’ implementation along the belt and road value chain, Cavince said.

“But even when technical workers come from China, the implementing companies have the responsibility to train local workers and eventually hand over the operations of the projects upon completion,” Cavince said.

“The two belt and road projects [Ethiopia and Kenya] demonstrate total technology transfer by Chinese companies operating in Africa. This is important for sustainable growth and development of the continent because human capacity has been a major deficit in Africa’s bid to industrialise.”

Hong Kong welcomes 40 tourism representatives from mainland Chinese cities to promote expanded solo travel scheme

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3265066/hong-kong-welcomes-40-tourism-representatives-mainland-chinese-cities-promote-expanded-solo-travel?utm_source=rss_feed

Around 40 tourism sector representatives and media from the eight mainland Chinese cities recently added to a solo travel scheme have arrived in Hong Kong for an “in-depth exploration” of the city, with the local tourism minister saying the promotional junket will help bring in more visitors.

The group arrived on Sunday on a five-day, four-night itinerary and will visit various attractions including the Central Market, Tai Kwun, Hong Kong Disneyland, Ocean Park, Hong Kong Palace Museum and M+.

They were here as part of an expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme, in which residents from Taiyuan, Hohhot, Harbin, Lhasa, Lanzhou, Xining, Yinchuan and Urumqi will be allowed from June 3 to visit Hong Kong as solo travellers without needing to join a tour group.

Welcoming the representatives at the Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point and Hong Kong International Airport, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung said he hoped they would experience “the extraordinary charm of Hong Kong as an international metropolis and a culinary capital through this exchange”.

Yeung explained that the government had arranged the trip to allow the group to experience “‘tourism is everywhere in Hong Kong’ first-hand” through an “in-depth exploration” of the city.

“Tourism is everywhere” was a reference to a concept earlier suggested by Xia Baolong, Beijing’s top official on Hong Kong affairs.

At a meeting with Yeung in Beijing last month, Xia, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, urged the local administration to revitalise Hong Kong’s tourism offerings amid “profound changes” in the market and treat every corner of the city as a potential spot to lure visitors.

Yeung on Sunday said the authorities would work continuously with the trade industry to provide visitors with a “diversified travel experience and high-quality service” so that travellers from different cities could “feel at home” in Hong Kong.

“We hope that they will bring this fruitful and high-quality travel experience back to their eight cities, share and promote it among the local residents. This will enhance the two-way tourism exchange between the eight cities and Hong Kong,” he said of the junket.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu previously said the expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme was expected to bring about 300,000 more visitors to Hong Kong and generate up to HK$1.5 billion (US$192 million) in additional revenue each year.

Industry leaders also recently urged local airlines to actively respond to Beijing’s favourable measures to boost the local economy by launching more direct flights to the eight mainland cities.

Of these, only four – Taiyuan, Lanzhou, Yinchuan and Urumqi – currently have direct flights to Hong Kong.

Passengers from Xining and Hohhot need to transfer once before arriving in the city, while those from Harbin and Lhasa have to take up to two connecting flights.

Hong Kong toy fans camping outside pier mistaken for mainland Chinese tourists sleeping rough

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3265055/hong-kong-toy-fans-camping-outside-pier-mistaken-mainland-chinese-tourists-sleeping-rough?utm_source=rss_feed

About 20 people recently camped outside Hong Kong’s Star Ferry Pier to get their hands on limited edition toys, debunking claims the group were mainland Chinese tourists reluctant to fork out for hotel rooms.

The misunderstanding emerged from a Facebook post on Saturday that claimed the iconic pier had become a place for mainlanders to sleep rough. Images circulating online showed the group laying on cardboard mats with their belongings outside the closed pier.

A Post reporter travelled to the pier in Tsim Sha Tsui and the nearby Hong Kong Cultural Centre that night, but discovered no signs of anyone camping at either location.

A Star Ferry employee said those earlier seen camping out were waiting to buy limited edition toys.

Pop Mart Hong Kong on May 31 rolled out sales of limited edition CRYBABY dolls with lamps and blind boxes. A store branch is located at LCX in Harbour City, a busy shopping centre right next to the pier.

Some local media outlets earlier picked up the story and claimed the group were mainland tourists, quoting a newspaper stand owner who said he had seen people camping at the spot for the past few days and leaving each morning.

The vendor speculated that the group were “probably mainland visitors”, hoping to redeem vouchers or take advantage of various discounts.

Facebook users reacting to the post claimed the sleepers were having a “new travel experience” and “there may not be a need to stay in hotels when travelling to Hong Kong in the future”.

The social media user behind the Facebook images has yet to update their post.

The Tsim Sha Tsui harbourfront, which spans the Star Ferry Pier and the Avenue of Stars, is one of the most sought-after travel destinations on Instagram-like mainland social media platform Xiaohongshu, or “Little Red Book” in English.

Saturday’s Facebook post once again brought the subject of shifting tourism trends into the spotlight, with many mainland visitors opting for shorter trips and focusing on experiences over shopping following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Hong Kong Tourism Board figures showed that each overnight visitor in 2019 spent an average of HK$5,818 (US$744) and day-trip tourists HK$2,004.

While the per capita spending by overnight visitors increased 18.6 per cent to HK$6,900 in 2023, the amount spent by single-day trippers contracted by 35.1 per cent to HK$1,300.

Chinese scientists’ cell therapy jab may treat asthma, keeping it at bay long term with a single shot: study

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3265047/chinese-scientists-cell-therapy-jab-may-treat-asthma-keeping-it-bay-long-term-single-shot-study?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese scientists say an immunotherapy treatment widely used in the fight against cancer has shown potential for non-cancer diseases, and a single shot can provide long-term protection against asthma.

Asthma, the most prevalent respiratory disease, affects more than 300 million people worldwide and causes more than 250,000 deaths a year.

Clinically, it is characterised by intermittent symptoms of coughing, wheezing, chest pain and shortness of breath because of airway obstruction. But no therapy can induce lasting remission with just one dose.

According to Peng Min and his colleagues, most of whom are from the School of Basic Medical Sciences at Tsinghua University, asthma in around half of patients is driven by a group of cytokines, including IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13.

Cytokines are signalling proteins that help control inflammation in the body, but too many cytokines can lead to excessive inflammation and conditions such as autoimmune diseases. Currently, biological medical products that target these proteins are approved to treat severe asthma, but they require lifelong dosing.

In their latest study, Peng’s team developed a new way to target this group of cytokines simultaneously with a cell treatment called CAR-T.

CAR-T, which stands for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, works by genetically engineering a patient’s own killer T-cells – a type of white blood cell critical for fighting infection – to recognise and destroy enemies, such as cancer cells. This new form of immunotherapy has successfully treated some blood cancers.

They found that a single infusion of the engineered cells, without any pre-treatment, was enough in mice to provide sustained suppression of lung inflammation and relieve asthma symptoms for more than a year.

The results were published on Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Immunology.

The new cell therapy represents an option for asthma patients “to achieve long-term remission of symptoms and live a normal life with a single administration of cells”, the team said.

In addition to asthma, they said that other diseases caused by the same factors – such as allergies, atopic dermatitis or obstructive pulmonary disease – could potentially be treated with this cell therapy.

In a “News and Views” article published in the same issue of the journal, Bart Lambrecht, a medical expert from Ghent University in Belgium, and his colleague warned that more work was needed on the feasibility and safety of such an approach before the modified cells could be used in the clinic.

One important consideration, they pointed out, was patient selection. The biomarkers or clinical characteristics that would predict superiority of the new CAR-T cell therapy over existing biological medical products “remains to be studied”, they said.

Chinese probe lands on ‘dark’ side of the moon to collect rare samples

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/02/china-space-change-6-moon-dark-side/2024-06-02T01:08:40.438Z

An unmanned Chinese spacecraft touched down on the far side of the moon Sunday, China’s space agency said, marking its second mission to a lunar region that no other country has landed on amid a growing international rivalry over space exploration. If successful, it will be the first mission in history to retrieve samples from the far side of the moon.

The China National Space Administration sent the Chang’e 6 lunar probe to collect rock and other material near and around an impact crater called the Apollo basin, which is part of the larger South Pole-Aitken basin of the moon, according to the country’s official Xinhua News Agency.

The Chang’e 6 landed at 6:23 a.m. local time after it was launched into space on May 3 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, located on the southern island of Hainan. In Chinese mythology, Chang’e is the goddess of the moon.

China, the United States, Japan, India and Russia have invested heavily in space exploration in recent years — crowding a field that has throughout history been touted as a symbol of national power and progress.

For China and the United States, in particular, a rivalry is escalating over scientific frontiers in space; both nations are gunning for the accolade of having sent humans to the moon for the second time in history, with the United States planning to do so as soon as 2026 and China planning the same by 2030. (The United States was the first country to land people on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.)

The far side of the moon — also known as the dark side of the moon — is the lunar hemisphere that always faces away from Earth. The word “dark” doesn’t refer to a lack of light but rather the fact that scientists know so little about this hemisphere.

Astronauts on the Apollo 8 mission were the first to see the dark side in 1968, and the Chang’e 4 made the first-ever landing there in January 2019. Communications are more difficult on the far side because radio waves are blocked by thick, solid rock, requiring scientists to use a relay satellite to send signals to the space craft and to work under a shorter window for sample collection. Rough terrain also makes for difficult landings.

The Chang’e 6 is expected to take about 15 hours to collect the samples. To adjust to that short time frame, CNSA scientists developed the space craft to make autonomous judgments while executing fewer commands than on previous missions, according to Xinhua.

The mission aims to develop key sampling technology, as well as takeoff and ascent capabilities from the far side of the moon, Xinhua added.

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A Chinese spacecraft lands on moon’s far side to collect rocks in growing space rivalry with US

https://apnews.com/article/china-space-moon-lander-446770171c61cdc27b2a307f51940300In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, technical personnel work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing, Sunday, June 2, 2024. A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon Sunday to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side. (Jin Liwang/Xinhua via AP)

2024-06-01T22:54:06Z

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon Sunday to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.

The landing module touched down at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time in a huge crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the China National Space Administration said.

The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5, which did so from the near side in 2020.

The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the U.S. — still the leader in space exploration — and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.

The emerging global power aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the United States to do so. America is planning to land astronauts on the moon again — for the first time in more than 50 years — though NASA pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.

U.S. efforts to use private sector rockets to launch spacecraft have been repeatedly delayed. Last-minute computer trouble nixed the planned launch of Boeing’s first astronaut flight Saturday.

Earlier Saturday, a Japanese billionaire called off his plan to orbit the moon because of uncertainty over the development of a mega rocket by SpaceX. NASA is planning to use the rocket to send its astronauts to the moon.

In China’s current mission, the lander is to use a mechanical arm and a drill to gather up to 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of surface and underground material for about two days.

An ascender atop the lander will then take the samples in a metal vacuum container back to another module that is orbiting the moon. The container will be transferred to a re-entry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region about June 25.

Missions to the moon’s far side are more difficult because it doesn’t face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.

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Chinese defense minister accuses US of causing friction with its support for Taiwan and Philippines

https://apnews.com/article/singapore-defense-shangrila-china-usa-taiwan-philippines-380eb7996d4d50e81814aa2e1cb62b57China's Defense Minister Dong Jun speaks during the 21st Shangri-La Dialogue summit at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

2024-06-02T02:54:32Z

SINGAPORE (AP) — China’s defense minister on Sunday acknowledged the importance of newly renewed military-to-military communications with the United States as tensions escalate in the Asia-Pacific, while at the same time accusing Washington of causing the friction with its support for Taiwan and the Philippines.

“We will not allow anyone to bring geopolitical conflicts or any war, whether hot or cold, into our region,” Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun told the Shangri-La defense forum in Singapore through a translator.

“We will not allow any country or any force to create conflict and chaos in our region,” he added.

China has been increasingly assertive in pressing its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea, a key global shipping route, which has led to a growing number of conflicts, most notably with the Philippines, whose ships have been rammed by Chinese vessels and hit with water cannons.

Dong insisted that China’s “strategic culture is anchored in universal love and non-aggression,” before threatening the Philippines, which has grown rapidly pro-American since the election of Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in 2022.

Since territorial hostilities with China surged last year in the South China Sea, Marcos Jr.’s administration has taken steps to forge new security alliances with a number of Asian and Western countries and allowed a larger U.S. military presence in more Philippine bases under a 2014 defense pact.

Dong accused the Philippines of deliberately provoking China, “emboldened by outside powers.”

“China has recognized great restraint in the face of such infringements and provocations,” he said. “But there is a limit to our restraint.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday said that American support for the Philippines was “ironclad” and praised Marcos’ Friday speech at the forum as a powerful statement “about how the Philippines is standing up for its sovereign rights under international law.”

Austin also stressed the significance of renewing military-to-military communications between China and the U.S. to avoid “misperceptions” and prevent “miscalculations.”

“There are a number of things that can happen at sea or in the air, we recognize that,” he said. “But our goal is to make sure that we don’t allow things to spiral out of control unnecessarily.”

Dong is a former naval commander who was appointed in late December after his predecessor, Li Shangfu, was abruptly removed from office.

Dong met with Austin on Friday on the sidelines of the Singapore forum, which were the first in-person talks between top Chinese and American defense officials since contacts between the two countries’ militaries broke down in 2022 after then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, infuriating Beijing.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that must come under its control, by force if necessary.

The U.S., like most countries, does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is bound by its own laws to provide the island with the means to defend itself. Washington is Taiwan’s biggest provider of military hardware and congressional delegations regularly visit Taiwan’s leaders.

Dong said China remains “open to exchanges and cooperation with the U.S. military,” but added “this requires efforts from both sides.”

He accused the U.S. of emboldening Taiwan’s new government, which refuses to accept Beijing’s insistence that the island is part of China, of “pursuing separation in an incremental way.”

“We will take resolute actions to curb Taiwan independence and make sure such a plot never succeeds,” he said. “Anyone who dares to separate Taiwan from China will only end up in self-destruction.”

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AP reporter Ken Moritsugu contributed to this story from Hong Kong.

DAVID RISING Rising covers regional Asia-Pacific stories for The Associated Press. He has worked around the world, including covering the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Ukraine, and was based for nearly 20 years in Berlin before moving to Bangkok. twitter mailto

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Chinese scientists harness power of ‘entanglement’ to fuel quantum engine

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3264699/chinese-scientists-harness-power-entanglement-fuel-quantum-engine?utm_source=rss_feed

Researchers in China have tapped into one of the strangest phenomenons in quantum physics to show that it could one day be used to power the next generation of computers.

The entanglement phenomenon allows a pair of separated photons to remain intimately linked – regardless of the distance between them – as if there is a secret, faster-than-light communication between the two particles.

The researchers, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Innovation Academy of Precision Measurement Science and technology, said the breakthrough shows that quantum engines can use their own entangled states as a form of fuel.

“Our study’s highlight is the first experimental realisation of a quantum engine with entangled characteristics. [It] quantitatively verified that entanglement can serve as a type of ‘fuel’,” said Zhou Fei, one of the corresponding authors, on Monday.

Unlike traditional engines that operate on thermal combustion, a quantum engine uses lasers to transition the particles between quantum states, converting light into kinetic energy.

Zhou, along with fellow corresponding author Feng Mang and the rest of the team, showed that the entanglement phenomenon increases the output efficiency of quantum engines, according to the study, published on April 30 by the journal Physical Review Letters.

Quantum engines could theoretically surpass the limits of classical thermodynamics, potentially achieving energy conversion efficiencies of more than 25 per cent – enough to power large-scale quantum computers and circuits.

Using ultra-cold 40Ca+ ions confined in an ion trap as the working substance for the quantum engine, the team designed a thermodynamic cycle that converts the external laser energy into the vibrational energy of the ions.

“We chose the entangled states of two spinning ions as the working substance, with [their] vibrational modes acting as the load. Through precise adjustments of laser frequency, amplitude, and duration, the ions were transitioned from their initial pure states to highly entangled states,” Zhou said.

“We measured how well the engine works by looking at two things: conversion efficiency, which is how many vibrations (phonons) it produces for every bit of light (photons) it uses, and mechanical efficiency, which is how much of the energy we can actually use compared to all the energy it puts out.”

More than 10,000 experiments revealed that higher degrees of ion entanglement led to greater mechanical efficiency, although the conversion efficiency remained largely unaffected by the level of entanglement.

“This indicates that quantum entanglement, despite its mysterious mechanism to physicists, acts as a “fuel” in quantum engines,” Zhou said.

“Quantum engines are currently a very active research field, with many theoretical analyses and studies, but very few experimental results are provided.”

The study’s conclusions open new perspectives for the development of micro-energy devices such as quantum motors and batteries, suggesting that the entanglement properties of the working material can enhance the maximum extractable energy.

According to Zhou, while quantum batteries might not store as much energy as those used in electric vehicles, their real benefit would come from their ability to power large-scale quantum computers and circuits.

“The future challenge lies in increasing the number of working materials without compromising fidelity of the entanglement state, thereby enhancing output,” he said.

As China’s influence grows, Malaysia’s wounds over 1969 race riots heal slowly

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3264879/chinas-influence-grows-malaysias-wounds-over-1969-race-riots-heal-slowly?utm_source=rss_feed

Tourists flit between the narrow streets and low-rise traditional houses of the Kampung Baru district in Kuala Lumpur, oblivious to its dark past as the epicentre of Malaysia’s worst race riots.

The violence on May 13, 1969, was triggered by infighting between Malay and Malaysian Chinese political parties over a divisive election. Neighbours attacked each other, leading to 196 deaths in Kuala Lumpur – though unofficial sources have put the figure much higher.

Secrecy and misinformation about how the incident unfolded continue to stifle frank discussions surrounding one of the darkest chapters in Malaysia’s history. Competing versions events float around – some blaming Malays and others ethnic Chinese, with both sides claiming to be the bigger victims, leaving the nation to reopen old wounds whenever it is mentioned.

“Everyone [is] just going about their business, but beneath the everyday hum of activity is a problem that we still have not dealt with,” said amateur historian and researcher Ashaari Azman Shah.

For Ashaari, May 13 is deeply personal: it started at the house of his grandfather Harun Idris, a former chief minister of Selangor state, where Kuala Lumpur is located. His grandfather’s name has been tied to the incident ever since.

Congregating at Harun’s house following a disputed election result, a crowd clashed with supporters of Chinese parties during a victory parade in a Malay-majority village, sparking a wave of violence that ripped across the nation.

Now, framed by a gleaming modern city skyline dominated by the Petronas Twin Towers, Kampung Baru stands as a symbolic reminder of the risks that could unravel Malaysia’s multicultural society.

Resentments that led to the riots in 1969 arose from the perception among some Malays of the Chinese community’s overwhelming economic dominance. The huge wealth disparity between the country’s two largest communities has not changed more than 50 years later.

This is despite Malays accounting for 60 per cent of the country’s 33 million people and having control over politics, bolstered by a constitution that guarantees their special rights over other racial groups.

The New Economic Policy introduced in 1971 to restructure Malaysia’s socio-economic landscape has failed to achieve its goals, with 42 of the top 50 richest Malaysians being ethnic Chinese, according to a Forbes report last year.

Crafted as a short-term measure, the New Economic Policy has become entrenched and is still in place today, making any debate for its removal a non-starter.

Malay special rights – as enshrined in Article 153 of the country’s constitution – continue to leave a sour taste for the Chinese, Indian and other ethnic communities in the ostensibly multiracial nation, made worse by a tilt towards Malay nationalism by the ruling political parties in recent years.

May 13 is still invoked by supporters of Malay conservative factions. In 2022, several provocative videos warned of a repeat of the violence, as Malays apparently risked losing their political dominance to ethnic Chinese.

Present-day politicians have “learned nothing” from their predecessors, Ashaari told This Week In Asia, and there has not been any “conscious and concerted attempt to reconcile” both communities.

“The result is that old animosities are always within reach [with] the tension rising and falling depending on the political debate. These factors remain a problem until today.”

Just five years after the riots, then Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein flew to China and shook hands with its leader Mao Zedong, as Malaysia became one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to formalise relations with Beijing.

The bilateral relationship has endured since the historic meeting, bolstered by China’s economic rise. Beyond trade, ethnic Chinese from both countries have also forged cultural links.

“China is now the No 1 trading country with Malaysia,” Malaysian political analyst James Chin said. “A lot of our economic prosperity is tied to China, and the Malay establishment understands this.”

As the Covid pandemic started ravaging the world in 2020, the Malay proverb “Bukit sama didaki, lurah sama dituruni” (Together up the hill, together down the ravine) was printed on boxes of face masks donated by the Chinese embassy in Malaysia.

A favourite saying of then-ambassador Bai Tian, he uttered the proverb in Malay in a speech in 2020 commemorating the 46th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations in 1974.

“[Through] ups and downs, China-Malaysia relations have remained strong and stable,” Bai said.

While present-day Malaysia and China came into existence after the chaos of World War II, the rise of national movements and the slow decolonisation of the Malay Peninsula, relations between people from both sides date back to the 14th century.

Malay kingdoms historically relied on Chinese dynasties for protection against rivals, particularly the expanding kingdoms of Siam, now modern-day Thailand. During the Ming dynasty, diplomacy and trade increased when famed Chinese Admiral Zheng He visited the Malacca Strait.

But those bonds were broken after China became a communist nation in 1949 and backed the Malayan Communist Party, which tried to overthrow the traditional Malay rulers and establish a communist republic.

That offended many Malays, who were tightly tethered to the idea of the land as theirs and considered ethnic Chinese residents – along with Indians and other races – as “guests”.

Unease towards China still lingers among some sections of the Malay population today, with rumours of “fifth columns” in the community whose loyalty lay with Beijing instead of Malaysia.

Tensions often emerge over Chinese cultural identity, fanned by resurgent Malay nationalist parties.

In February, a government proposal to seek Unesco World Heritage site status for World War II-era Chinese villages around the country was decried by the Malay-dominated opposition Perikatan Nasional coalition as favouritism of ethnic Chinese history.

Observers say admiration for China’s economic progress among the local Chinese population can be seen in their preference for Chinese-made products, including the Sinovac vaccine.

But despite this sentiment, Chin said Malaysian Chinese continue to see themselves as Malaysians and China as the place where their ancestors came from.

“Their cultural affinity is to Malaysia, not their ancestral home,” he said. Though that does not shield Malaysian Chinese from racial slurs.

Malaysian telecoms executive Mandy Lee said she has had her fair share of derogatory comments telling her to “go back to China”.

“It is something that almost all Malaysian Chinese would have experienced, which is sad,” Lee said. “Malaysia is my home. Aside from my ancestry, I have no ties at all to China.”

Experts say Malay politicians continue to cynically fan anti-Chinese sentiment, fuelling fears of ‘selling out’ to China and suspicion towards ethnic Chinese Malaysians.

In April, former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin accused current leader Anwar Ibrahim of “pawning the dignity and sovereignty of the country to a foreign power” after Anwar said Malaysia was prepared to negotiate with China over oil exploration in the disputed South China Sea.

Social media has become the main platform for some Malaysians to air their grievances against mainland Chinese, with widely circulated misinformation about over 1 million Chinese visitors supposedly living illegally in the country having to be debunked by Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution in March.

Several politicians have also flagged concerns about Malaysia’s increasing economic dependence on China, which is currently the Southeast Asian nation’s largest trading partner, accounting for 17 per cent of overall trade.

“We need to slowly diversify our dependency on key markets so that we can cushion any shock to the big trading partners that we have because of geopolitics,” said Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz in April.

Chinese nationals also dominate the Malaysia My Second Home residency scheme, with 24,765 of over 56,000 pass holders coming from the mainland.

Over the past five years, Malaysia has been among the top three Southeast Asian destinations for property investment from China, according to data from property technology group Juwai IQI.

New Chinese residents in Kuala Lumpur are reshaping the city’s food scene, introducing dishes such as spicy hotpot and lamian, a popular type of Chinese noodles.

Chinese-language schools have also become the top choice for parents, regardless of racial background, due to their emphasis on technical subjects in contrast with many national schools whose curriculums have skewed towards more Islamic courses in recent years.

Over time, economics will dilute lingering hostilities and suspicion, according to sociologist Awang Azman Awang Pawi.

“May 13 remains a reminder to us of the importance of unity,” he said.

“The new generation of Malaysians have since moved forward and are looking to closer relations with China in a globalised world.”

China’s defence chief repeats threat of force against Taiwanese independence

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/02/chinas-defence-chief-repeats-threat-of-force-against-taiwanese-independence

Peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan remains China’s goal but the prospect is being eroded by Taiwanese “separatists” and external forces, the Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, has said.

Taiwan – which is democratically governed, and has never been ruled from the Communist-run People’s Republic of China – on 20 May inaugurated its newly elected president, Lai Ching-te. The routine democratic transition was greeted with fury by the Chinese Communist party, which staged war games around the island as a “punishment”.

Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference in Singapore, Dong said Taiwan was the “core of core issues” for China. He accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive party of incrementally pursuing separatism and working to erase Chinese identity.

Dong accused Taiwan’s leaders of “fanatical statements”, while employing fevered language of his own in his address to defence officials and politicians from around the world.

“They [‘separatists’] will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history,” he said. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has always been an indestructible and powerful force in defence of the unification of the motherland, and it will act resolutely and forcefully at all times to curb the independence of Taiwan and to ensure that it never succeeds in its attempts.

“Whoever dares to split Taiwan from China will be crushed to pieces and suffer his own destruction.”

After his speech, Dong was asked several questions by delegates but remained preoccupied with Taiwan and had to be prompted by the moderator to address other issues. He accused foreign powers of interfering in “domestic issues” and “emboldening Taiwan separatists”. “We’re very confident in our capability to deter Taiwan independence.”

China has been angered by US support for Taiwan, such as arms sales, though Washington – like most countries – does not diplomatically recognise Taiwan as a country in its own right.

“They are selling a lot of weapons to Taiwan,” said Dong. “This kind of behaviour sends very wrong signals to the Taiwan independence forces and makes them become very aggressive. I think we are clear that the foreign power’s true purpose is to use Taiwan to contain China.”

Andrew Yang, a former Taiwan defence minister, said Beijing had said it would pursue “reunification” by winning the hearts and minds of Taiwanese but “their deeds have yet to match their words”. Beijing was instead “holding a big stick” and was “confrontational and contradictory”, he said. Yang said he hoped the US would keep to its schedule of arms sales to Taiwan for self-defence.

Lai has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing, but been rebuffed. The Taiwanese president has called for China to cease hostile actions and said only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

The annual security forum in Singapore led to the first substantive face-to-face talks in 18 months between the defence chiefs of China and the US as Dong met with Lloyd Austin. “We have always been open to exchanges and cooperation, but this requires both sides to meet each other halfway,” Dong told the forum. “We believe that we need more exchanges precisely because there are differences between our two militaries.”

Dong and Austin met for over an hour. After the meeting, Austin said phone conversations between US and Chinese military commanders would resume “in the coming months”. China scrapped military communications with the US in 2022 because the then US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan.

With Reuters and Agence France-Presse

Tether co-founder Brock Pierce teases possible return to Hong Kong, says China will open to cryptocurrencies

https://www.scmp.com/tech/blockchain/article/3264679/tether-co-founder-brock-pierce-teases-possible-return-hong-kong-says-china-will-open?utm_source=rss_feed

Cryptocurrency investor Brock Pierce, who co-founded the stablecoin Tether in Hong Kong a decade ago, has teased that he is looking at returning to work in the city for a third time as the government works to entice the crypto industry back.

Pierce, who is also chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, was coy about what his new venture would be doing or whether Hong Kong would be its permanent base of operations. He said the city was part of a “continued conversation”.

“Big things may come from this,” he told the South China Morning Post after the Solowin and Sequire Asia Investor Summit in Hong Kong on Wednesday. “I’m going to go where I think my time is most valuable. I’m enthusiastic about what’s happening in Hong Kong, which means I’m enthusiastic about working here, which means the likelihood of something happening is good right now.”

Pierce’s comments come shortly after multiple large cryptocurrency exchanges, most with ties to mainland China, ended their bids to become licensed virtual asset trading platforms in the city under regulations introduced last year by the Securities and Futures Commission. The regulator said this week that exchanges licensed in Hong Kong should not serve mainland residents, effectively quashing what was seen as a major incentive for setting up shop locally.

The potential for Hong Kong to act as a gateway to the sizeable mainland China market, where commercial crypto activity is strictly banned, has been enticing to many in the industry. The idea has remained popular among crypto enthusiasts – and was a hot topic at this year’s Bitcoin Asia conference – even as mainland regulators have given no indication that they might pull such an about-face.

Still, Pierce said he remains confident that it will happen.

“Is China going to open up [to crypto]? … I’d say it’s inevitable,” he said. “The question is not so much if, it’s a matter of when.”

Pierce said he is encouraged by the recent moves that Hong Kong has made to offer regulatory certainty to investors. He sees the city as moving in the right direction and well positioned in the region relative to Singapore, Japan and South Korea – all of which have introduced their own crypto-specific policies. Trade finance (tradefi) remains a particularly strong opportunity for the city’s crypto market, according to Pierce.

“I think Hong Kong is ahead in many ways,” he said. “I think the main opportunity in Hong Kong is in tradefi, and that’s where a Hong Kong digital dollar stablecoin has tremendous potential.”

He pointed to China’s supply chain advantage as the reason for this. “You build the right system, there’s clearly a very big opportunity that exists here,” he said.

Regarding the high costs of Hong Kong’s licensing regime and other factors that could deter companies from coming to the city, Pierce said he saw them as temporary hurdles, suggesting he hoped the policies would soften over time.

“Hong Kong is very well positioned, but it requires leadership,” he said. “I think that Hong Kong has taken some of the first steps.”

Pierce has a long history in Hong Kong. The one-time child star – known for his roles in the films The Mighty Ducks and First Kid – made his first foray into virtual currencies selling those traded in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) through his start-up Internet Gaming Entertainment, which was based in Hong Kong. He sold another of his ventures, the video gaming community-building firm Zam, started in 2003, to Tencent Holdings in 2012.

The company behind Tether, the world’s most widely traded stablecoin, also started in Hong Kong. Pierce became a co-founder after an investment into a company involved in creating the stablecoin. Pierce sold his shares in 2015, leaving the company a year after its founding.

Yet despite his professed love for Hong Kong, he remained tight-lipped about whether it would once again serve as a home base for whatever new project he has up his sleeves.

“The third act is usually the most important in any great story,” Pierce said. “This is the third act; let’s see what happens.”

China won’t allow cold or hot war in Asia-Pacific, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun says

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265038/china-wont-allow-cold-or-hot-war-asia-pacific-chinese-defence-minister-dong-jun-says?utm_source=rss_feed

China would not allow any country to ignite wars – cold or hot – in the Asia-Pacific region, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun told an international security conference in Singapore on Sunday.

“We will not allow hegemony and power politics to harm the Asia-Pacific, nor will we allow geopolitical conflicts, cold wars or hot wars to be introduced into the Asia-Pacific, nor will we allow any country or any force to create war and chaos here,” Dong said in an address to the Shangri-La Dialogue.

He added that countries in the region had the ability and confidence to solve regional problems.

A day earlier, Dong’s US counterpart, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, told the forum that the United States was committed to improving partnerships and alliances in the region.

Dong and Austin met on the event’s sidelines on Friday in the first face-to-face meeting between the two countries’ defence chiefs in two years.

In terms of China-US military relations, Dong said China had always been open to exchanges and cooperation with the US military, but both sides needed to narrow their differences.

“We believe that it is precisely because of the differences between the two militaries that more exchanges are needed. Even if the paths are different, we should not seek confrontation,” Dong said.

He also said Beijing was committed to “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan, but the prospect was being “undermined by Taiwan separatists and external forces”.

The People’s Liberation Army will resolutely fight against Taiwan independence forces and “whoever dares to split Taiwan from China will be crushed to pieces and invite their own destruction”.

Asked if PLA drills around the island showed that Beijing was truly interested in peaceful reunification with Taiwan, Dong said Taiwan independence forces were “unilaterally changing the status quo of the Taiwan Strait”.

He said the inauguration speech on May 20 of the island’s new leader, William Lai Ching-te, “exposed their ambition to seek Taiwan independence”.

Without mentioning the US, Dong accused some country of “hollowing out” the one-China principle by selling weapons to Taiwan and attempting to “use Taiwan to contain China”.

“These sinister intentions are leading Taiwan into danger,” he said.

More to follow …

China’s Chang’e-6 probe lands on far side of the moon aiming to return first samples to Earth

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/02/chinas-change-6-probe-lands-on-far-side-of-the-moon

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe has successfully landed on the far side of the moon to collect samples, state media reported on Sunday.

The lander set down in the immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, Xinhua news agency said, citing the China National Space Administration.

It marks the first ever attempt to collect samples from the rarely explored area of the moon, according to the agency.

The Chang’e-6 is on a technically complex 53-day mission that began when it took off on 3 May.

The probe will attempt to scoop up lunar soil and rocks, and carry out other experiments.

That process should be complete within two days, Xinhua said. The probe would use two methods of collection: a drill to collect samples under the surface and a robotic arm to grab specimens from the surface.

Then it must attempt an unprecedented launch from the side of the moon that always faces away from Earth.

Scientists say the moon’s “dark side” – so-called because it is not visible from Earth, not because it never catches the sun’s rays – holds great promise for research because its craters are less covered by ancient lava flows than the near side.

Material collected from the dark side may better shed light on how the moon formed.

Plans for China’s “space dream” have been put into overdrive under its president, Xi Jinping.

Beijing has poured huge resources into its space programme over the past decade, targeting a string of ambitious undertakings in an effort to close the gap with the two traditional space powers: the US and Russia.

It has notched several notable achievements, including building a space station called Tiangong, or “heavenly palace”.

Beijing has landed robotic rovers on Mars and the moon, and China is only the third country to independently put humans in orbit.

But Washington has warned that China’s space programme is being used to mask military objectives and an effort to establish dominance in space.

China aims to send a crewed mission to the moon by 2030 and plans to build a base on the lunar surface.

The US is also planning to put astronauts back on the moon by 2026 with its Artemis 3 mission.

China’s Chang’e-6 lander touches down on far side of moon on mission to bring rock samples back to Earth

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3265037/chinas-change-6-lander-touches-down-far-side-moon-mission-bring-rock-samples-back-earth?utm_source=rss_feed

China has landed on the moon’s far side for a second time, and will soon start collecting rock samples from the oldest lunar basin to bring back to Earth.

The Chang’e-6 lander successfully touched down in the northeastern part of the South Pole-Aitken basin at 6.23am Beijing time on Sunday, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.

“At 6.23 am on June 2, with the support of Queqiao-2 relay satellite, the Chang’e-6 lander and ascender successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area in the South Pole-Aitken basin on the far side of the moon,” CNSA said.

“The mission has made technological breakthroughs, including lunar retrograde orbit design and control technology. With the support of Queqiao-2, it will go on to complete key tasks such as the intelligent, rapid sampling from the lunar far side and lunar surface take-off.

“The payloads onboard the Chang’e-6 lander will work as planned, and carry out scientific exploration. The international instruments, including the Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface developed by the European Space Agency and the Detection of Outgassing RadoN from France, will switch on very soon. The Italian passive laser retro-reflector has also been deployed.”

The lander will soon go through initial checks and begin using its robotic arm to drill and scoop up materials from the lunar surface, which are expected to weigh up to 2kg (4.4 pounds).

If returned, they will become the first samples ever retrieved from the moon’s mysterious far side, which always faces away from the Earth.

“My colleagues and I are very excited. I hope the mission will be a complete success and make history,” Yang Wei, a geochemist from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics in Beijing who has studied the Chang’e-5 moon samples, told the South China Morning Post.

“When we finally get to analyse those samples in the lab, they will greatly advance our understanding of the moon’s history.”

Chang’e-6, which is named after the Chinese moon goddess, blasted off from the Wenchang spaceport on the southern island province of Hainan on May 3. Despite the rainy conditions, more than a hundred thousand people gathered on nearby beaches to watch the launch, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Entering lunar orbit four days later, the 8.35-tonne spacecraft – which consists of a lander, ascender, orbiter, and return capsule – had been circling the moon since then, looking for the best spot and time to land.

On May 30, the lander and ascender separated from the orbiter and return capsule.

At 6.09am on Sunday, the lander fired its 7,500-newton-thrust engine to slow down and began to descend from about 15km (9 miles) above the lunar surface.

In this process, the cameras on the lander snapped pictures of the landing area and transmitted them to computers on the lander to identify possible hazards on the surface, such as large rocks, so that the craft could manoeuvre to avoid them.

At about 100 metres (328 feet) above the lunar surface, the combination suspended its descent and hovered for a moment to conduct accurate detection of smaller obstacles and determine the final landing spot before continuing to descend at a slower, steady speed.

As the craft came to just several metres above the surface, it shut off its engine and touched down on the lunar surface, becoming the only country to have soft landed on the far side for a second time.

The landing process was supported by Queqiao-2, a communications satellite orbiting the moon that relays signals between the spacecraft and mission control. Once the lander completes its two-day surface operations, the relay station will play a critical role in helping the ascender to blast off from the top of the lander, dock with the orbiter and transfer its cargo to the return capsule.

Chang’e-6 was originally made as a backup for the Chang’e-5 mission, which brought back rocks from the moon’s nearside in 2020.

Those samples led to a number of surprising findings about the moon’s composition and past because the rocks turned out to be much younger than those brought back by the US Apollo and Soviet Luna missions five decades ago, indicating that the moon was still active at a time when scientists had expected it to be dead.

With samples from the far side of the moon, scientists will be able to compare the chemical composition of rocks and find clues to why the moon’s two sides are so different, according to Quentin Parker, an astrophysicist from the University of Hong Kong.

“Samples from the South Pole-Aitken basin may also contain ancient materials ejected from deep within the mantle by the enormous impact that created the basin itself, which may tell us about the state of the moon when it was first formed around 4.5 billion years ago,” he said.

Once the samples are ready, both domestic and international researchers will be able to apply to study them, according to the space authority.

“I hope the University of Hong Kong might be lucky enough to get some of the very-different Chang’e-6 moon rock from the lunar far side for study,” Parker said.