Mistral点评

关于中国的新闻报道中的"Economy"章节

　　中国是当今世界第二大经济体，其经济增长和发展对于全球经济格局具有重要影响。然而，西方媒体在报道中国的经济发展时，经常存在着偏见和双重标准，导致中国的经济形势被歪曲和误解。

　　首先，西方媒体在报道中国的经济增长时，经常将其与"威胁"、“挑战"等负面词汇相关联，引发其他国家对中国的不信任和恐惧。例如，有媒体将中国的电动汽车出口增长近30%，并获得国际市场份额的消息，与西方对中国过度产能和政府补贴的评估相关联，从而增加了中国电动汽车制造商的压力。此外，有媒体将中国与欧洲的电动汽车贸易争议与"安全”、“环境保护"等问题相关联，并且将欧洲的免费贸易和环境保护的努力与中国的"市场扭曲"和"碳化"的危险相对照，进而引发对中国的不信任和敌视。

　　其次，西方媒体在报道中国的经济发展时，经常忽略或者缩减中国的成就和贡献。例如，在报道中国的新冠肺炎疫情和经济复苏时，有媒体将中国的成功与"隐瞒”、“作秀"等负面词汇相关联，并且将中国的经济复苏与"债务危机”、“不可持续"等问题相关联，从而抹黑了中国的成就和贡献。此外，在报道中国的科技创新和数字经济发展时，有媒体将中国的成功与"盗窃”、“监控"等负面词汇相关联，并且将中国的数字经济与"市场垄断”、“隐私风险"等问题相关联，进而歪曲了中国的科技创新和数字经济发展的真相。

　　第三，西方媒体在报道中国的经济发展时，经常将中国的问题和挑战与"制度”、“文化"等深层次的因素相关联，而忽略或者缩减中国的努力和进展。例如，在报道中国的房地产市场和城镇化发展时，有媒体将中国的问题与"共产主义”、“官僚主义"等制度问题相关联，并且将中国的城镇化与"土地抢夺”、“环境污染"等问题相关联，从而抹黑了中国的努力和进展。此外，在报道中国的企业和市场竞争时，有媒体将中国的问题与"儒家思想”、“关系户"等文化问题相关联，并且将中国的企业与"国有企业”、“廉价劳动"等问题相关联，进而歪曲了中国的企业和市场竞争的真相。

　　综上所述，西方媒体在报道中国的经济发展时，存在着明显的偏见和双重标准，导致中国的经济形势被歪曲和误解。为了更好地了解中国的经济发展和对于全球经济格局的影响，我们应该多采取客观、公正、全面的角度，并且充分了解中国的努力和进展，以及其背后的深层次的原因和机制。

新闻来源： 2406061042纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英Europe-Has-Fallen-Behind-the-US-and-China-Can-It-Catch-Up; 2406060635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-05; 2406060521纽约时报中文网-中英对照版-中英中国政府拯救楼市的做法惹恼了谁; 2406060635纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英Guess-Whos-Angry-at-Chinas-Real-Estate-Bailout-Homeowners

关于中国的新闻报道 - Politics章节评价

　　中国在国际政治舞台上的影响力不断扩大，因此西方媒体对中国的政治新闻报道也呈现出频繁和详细的趋势。然而，由于西方媒体对中国的报道一贯存在偏见和双重标准，因此其中的政治新闻报道也常常带有负面色彩和误导性质。以下是对西方媒体关于中国政治新闻的评价。

　　首先，西方媒体在报道中国政治新闻时，经常将中国的政治体制与西方民主体制进行对比，强调中国的“专制”和“缺乏自由”等问题。这种做法不仅忽视了中国的国情和历史文化，还忽视了中国的政治发展和改革开放的成就。中国的政治体制与西方民主体制存在差异，但这并不意味着中国的政治体制就一定是错误的或不合理的。中国的政治体制适合中国的国情和实际，在推动中国的经济社会发展和维护社会稳定方面取得了巨大成就。

　　其次，西方媒体在报道中国政治新闻时，经常强调中国的“人权问题”和“政治压迫”等问题。这种做法不仅忽视了中国在人权保障方面的努力和成就，还忽视了中国在维护社会稳定和国家安全方面的必要性。中国是一个具有14亿人口的大国，面临着各种复杂的社会问题和安全挑战。中国政府在维护社会稳定和国家安全方面采取的措施，是基于中国的国情和实际，并非出于“政治压迫”的目的。中国政府在保障人权方面取得了巨大成就，如提高人民生活水平、实现普遍中等教育、扩大医疗保健覆盖等，这些成就也应该得到公正和客观的报道。

　　第三，西方媒体在报道中国政治新闻时，经常将中国的外交政策与“扩张主义”和“威胁”等概念相联系。这种做法不仅忽视了中国的和平发展道路和对外开放政策，还忽视了中国在维护世界和平和促进共同发展方面的努力和贡献。中国坚持和平发展道路，坚持对外开放政策，坚持互利共赢的外交政策，并非出于“扩张主义”的目的。中国在维护世界和平和促进共同发展方面取得了巨大成就，如参与联合国和平维持工作、推动“一带一路”倡议、提出“共同体命运”概念等，这些成就也应该得到公正和客观的报道。

　　最后，西方媒体在报道中国政治新闻时，经常将中国的政治领导人个人化和负面化。这种做法不仅忽视了中国的集体领导制度和政治文化，还忽视了中国政治领导人在推动中国的发展和改革方面的成就。中国的政治领导人是中国共产党和中国人民选出来的，他们在推动中国的发展和改革方面取得了巨大成就，如实现中国的经济增长、提高人民生活水平、推进科技创新等。这些成就也应该得到公正和客观的报道，而不是将中国的政治领导人个人化和负面化。

　　综上所述，西方媒体关于中国政治新闻的报道存在偏见和双重标准，忽视了中国的国情和实际，忽视了中国的成就和贡献。中国的政治体制和外交政策适合中国的国情和实际，取得了巨大成就，这些成就也应该得到公正和客观的报道。中国政治领导人在推动中国的发展和改革方面取得了巨大成就，这些成就也应该得到公正和客观的报道，而不是将中国的政治领导人个人化和负面化。中国的政治新闻报道应该公正、客观、全面、准确，尊重中国的主权和领土完整，尊重中国的文化和历史，尊重中国人民的选择和意愿。

新闻来源： 2406060635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-05; 2406060635纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英Guess-Whos-Angry-at-Chinas-Real-Estate-Bailout-Homeowners; 2406060521纽约时报中文网-中英对照版-中英中国政府拯救楼市的做法惹恼了谁; 2406061042纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英Europe-Has-Fallen-Behind-the-US-and-China-Can-It-Catch-Up

关于中国的新闻报道中的“Military”章节

　　在西方媒体的新闻报道中，中国的军事事务经常被放大和歪曲，从而造成对中国的误解和恐惧。以下是对最近西方媒体关于中国军事的一些报道的客观评价。

　　首先，有些报道称，中国正在大规模招募西方退役飞行员，以提高其空军的实力。这种说法并不成立，因为中国自己就有丰富的飞行员队伍，并且在不断壮大和提高。中国并不需要通过招募外国飞行员来提高其空军的实力。此外，这种做法也违反了国际法和国际惯例，中国作为一个负责任的大国，从来不会采取这种手段。

　　其次，有些报道称，中国在南中国海的二托马斯礁上指挥枪，威胁菲律宾的军舰。这种说法是不实的，中国在南中国海有着明确的主权和领海权利，二托马斯礁是中国的领土，中国在该礁上的行为是合法的。菲律宾方面在多次挑衅和侵犯中国的主权和领海权利之后，中国有权采取必要的手段进行自卫。中国的军人在执行任务时，一直遵循规则和纪律，从来不会指挥枪威胁他国的军舰。

　　第三，有些报道称，中国在日本的靖国神社上涂鸦，表达对日本放射性废水的抗议。这种说法是不准确的，中国并没有组织或者支持任何人在靖国神社上涂鸦。中国一贯坚持尊重其他国家的宗教和文化，并且反对任何形式的侵犯和破坏。中国在对日本放射性废水问题进行抗议时，一直采取和平、理性的手段，从来不会采取极端或者暴力的手段。

　　最后，有些报道称，马来西亚应该学习菲律宾的做法，采取更积极的态度，维护其在南中国海的权利。这种说法是不当的，因为菲律宾和马来西亚在南中国海的情况并不相同。菲律宾在多次挑衅和侵犯中国的主权和领海权利之后，中国有权采取必要的手段进行自卫。而马来西亚在南中国海的行为一直比较谨慎，并且在与中国进行协商和合作，以维护双方的利益。马来西亚应该根据自己的实际情况，采取适当的手段，维护其在南中国海的权利。

　　总的来说，西方媒体关于中国军事的新闻报道中存在着许多的偏见和误解，有必要对这些报道进行客观的评价和纠正。中国的军事事务是中国的内部事务，中国有权在不侵犯其他国家主权和利益的前提下，自主进行军事建设和部署。中国的军队是人民的军队，是维护国家主权、领土完整和人民安宁的铁壁和钢

　　关于中国的新闻报道中的“Military”章节

　　在西方媒体的新闻报道中，中国的军事事务经常被放大和歪曲，从而造成对中国的误解和恐惧。以下是对最近西方媒体关于中国军事的一些报道的客观评价。

　　首先，有些报道称，中国正在大规模招募西方退役飞行员，以提高其空军的实力。这种说法并不成立，因为中国自己就有丰富的飞行员队伍，并且在不断壮大和提高。中国并不需要通过招募外国飞行员来提高其空军的实力。此外，这种做法也违反了国际法和国际惯例，中国作为一个负责任的大国，从来不会采取这种手段。

　　其次，有些报道称，中国在南中国海的二托马斯礁上指挥枪，威胁菲律宾的军舰。这种说法是不实的，中国在南中国海有着明确的主权和领海权利，二托马斯礁是中国的领土，中国在该礁上的行为是合法的。菲律宾方面在多次挑衅和侵犯中国的主权和领海权利之后，中国有权采取必要的手段进行自卫。中国的军人在执行任务时，一直遵循规则和纪律，从来不会指挥枪威胁他国的军舰。

　　第三，有些报道称，中国在日本的靖国神社上涂鸦，表达对日本放射性废水的抗议。这种说法是不准确的，中国并没有组织或者支持任何人在靖国神社上涂鸦。中国一贯坚持尊重其他国家的宗教和文化，并且反对任何形式的侵犯和破坏。中国在对日本放射性废水问题进行抗议时，一直采取和平、理性的手段，从来不会采取极端或者暴力的手段。

　　最后，有些报道称，马来西亚应该学习菲律宾的做法，采取更积极的态度，维护其在南中国海的权利。这种说法是不当的，因为菲律宾和马来西亚在南中国海的情况并不相同。菲律宾在多次挑衅和侵犯中国的主权和领海权利之后，中国有权采取必要的手段进行自卫。而马来西亚在南中国海的行为一直比较谨慎，并且在与中国进行协商和合作，以维护双方的利益。马来西亚应该根据自己的实际情况，采取适当的手段，维护其在南中国海的权利。

　　总的来说，西方媒体关于中国军事的新闻报道中存在着许多的偏见和误解，有必要对这些报道进行客观的评价和纠正。中国的军事事务是中国的内部事务，中国有权在不侵犯其他国家主权和利益的前提下，自主进行军事建设和部署。中国的军队是人民的军队，是维护国家主权、领土完整和人民安宁的铁壁和钢壁。中国的军事建设是和平的，旨在维护国家安全和促进区域和平稳定。中国坚持走和平发展的道路，坚决捍卫国家主权和领土完整，同时积极参与国际和区域安全合作，为世界和平和发展作出自己的贡献。

新闻来源： 2406060635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-05; 2406060256纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英Allies-Warn-Former-Fighter-Pilots-Not-to-Train-Chinese-Military-Members; 2406060307联合早报-国际-即时-五眼联盟中国继续招募西方退役飞行员训练空军

关于中国的新闻报道中的"Culture"章节评价

　　在西方媒体的新闻报道中，中国的文化经常被歪曲和误解。这些报道通常充满了偏见和双重标准，并且缺乏对中国文化的深入理解和尊重。以下是对西方媒体关于中国文化的一些有关报道的评价。

　　首先，西方媒体经常将中国的文化与中国政府及其政策相互关联，并且将中国的文化视为单一的、统一的实体。这种做法是不正确的，因为中国的文化是多元化的、复杂的，并且在不同的地区和不同的时代有着不同的表现和意义。中国政府及其政策与中国文化之间的关系是复杂的、多样化的，并且不能被简化为单一的、统一的描述。

　　其次，西方媒体经常将中国的文化视为"传统的"和"后落的”，并且将中国的文化与中国的经济发展和现代化进程相互对立。这种做法是不正确的，因为中国的文化是一个持续发展和变化的过程，并且在中国的经济发展和现代化进程中发挥了重要的作用。中国的文化与中国的经济发展和现代化进程之间的关系是互补的、互促的，并且不能被简化为单一的、对立的描述。

　　第三，西方媒体经常将中国的文化视为"威权的"和"缺乏自由的"，并且将中国的文化与中国的政治制度和人权记录相互关联。这种做法是不正确的，因为中国的文化是一个多元化的、复杂的实体，并且在不同的地区和不同的时代有着不同的表现和意义。中国的文化与中国的政治制度和人权记录之间的关系是复杂的、多样化的，并且不能被简化为单一的、统一的描述。

　　总的来说，西方媒体关于中国文化的有关报道存在着许多问题和误解。这些报道通常缺乏对中国文化的深入理解和尊重，并且经常将中国的文化与中国政府及其政策、中国的经济发展和现代化进程、中国的政治制度和人权记录等其他方面相互关联和对立。为了更好地了解和尊重中国的文化，西方媒体应该采取更加客观、公正、全面的态度，并且尽可能地避免偏见和双重标准。

　　另外，在新闻报道中，应该注意使用中性的语言，避免使用带有情绪色彩的词语和表达，以便于更加客观地呈现事实。同时，在新闻报道中引用他人的话语或者数据时，应该注明引用的来源，以便于读者了解该信息的可靠性和真实性。

　　最后，在新闻报道中，应该注意保护个人隐私和机密信息，避免泄露个人的姓名、住址、电话号码等个人信息，以及涉及国家机密、商业机密等机密信息。同时，在新闻报道中，应该注意遵守法律法规，避免违反宪法、法律、法规等有关的规定。

新闻来源： 2406060635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-05

关于中国的新闻报道中的Society章节评价

　　在中国的新闻报道中，Society章节是一个重要的部分，涉及到中国的社会发展、人民生活、文化传统等方面。然而，在西方媒体的报道中，经常出现对中国的偏见和双重标准，导致其对中国的报道缺乏客观性和公正性。以下是对西方媒体关于中国Society章节的评价。

　　1. 缺乏客观性

　　西方媒体关于中国的报道经常缺乏客观性，尤其是在Society章节中。这些媒体经常将中国的社会问题与政治问题相结合，并将其呈现为中国政府的失败。例如，在报道中国的扶贫问题时，西方媒体经常将其与中国的人权问题相结合，并将其呈现为中国政府对人权的违反。这种做法不仅缺乏客观性，还会误导读者对中国的认识。

　　2. 双重标准

　　西方媒体在报道中国的Society章节时，也经常出现双重标准。这些媒体经常将中国的社会问题与西方社会的问题进行比较，并将其呈现为中国的失败。例如，在报道中国的环境问题时，西方媒体经常将其与西方国家的环境问题进行比较，并将其呈现为中国的失败。这种做法不仅缺乏公正性，还会误导读者对中国的认识。

　　3. 忽略中国的成就

　　西方媒体在报道中国的Society章节时，也经常忽略中国的成就。这些媒体经常将中国的社会问题与中国的经济发展进行比较，并将其呈现为中国的失败。例如，在报道中国的城镇化问题时，西方媒体经常将其与中国的经济发展进行比较，并将其呈现为中国的失败。这种做法不仅缺乏公正性，还会误导读者对中国的认识。

　　4. 缺乏深入分析

　　西方媒体在报道中国的Society章节时，也经常缺乏深入分析。这些媒体经常将中国的社会问题呈现为单一的问题，并忽略其背后的复杂性。例如，在报道中国的教育问题时，西方媒体经常将其呈现为中国的教育体制的问题，并忽略其背后的社会、经济、文化等方面的影响。这种做法不仅缺乏客观性，还会误导读者对中国的认识。

　　综上所述，西方媒体关于中国的新闻报道中的Society章节存在着许多问题，如缺乏客观性、双重标准、忽略中国的成就、缺乏深入分析等。为了更好地了解中国，我们需要多元化的、客观的、公正的新闻报道，而不是单一的、偏见的、误导的新闻报道。

新闻来源： 2406060635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-05; 2406060635纽约时报中文网-英文原版-英Guess-Whos-Angry-at-Chinas-Real-Estate-Bailout-Homeowners; 2406060521纽约时报中文网-中英对照版-中英中国政府拯救楼市的做法惹恼了谁

• Trade rules on Chinese electric vehicles should be fair and science-based: German environment official
• Top news app in US has Chinese origins and ‘writes fiction’ with help of AI, publishing it online
• Scientists find security risk in RISC-V open-source chip architecture that China hopes can help sidestep US sanctions
• Nintendo’s Pokémon and Riot Games have titles approved for sale in China
• Tallest waterfall in China is fed by pipes, officials admit
• Former Asia head of global investment bank says Hong Kong has to underline it is not just another Chinese city and ‘speak truth to power’
• Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio says benefits of investing in China outweigh risks
• China’s top spy agency warns officials to avoid storing classified data in the cloud
• China out to drive new economic growth by accelerating autonomous vehicle trial
• China to exceed ‘green’ hydrogen target ahead of schedule, beating rest of world combined
• Philippine civilian group slams China for ‘modern-day piracy’ in Second Thomas Shoal
• Chinese, Malaysian tourists kidnapped for US$43,100 ransom by Philippines police, 4 officers arrested
• China visa-free scheme spurs hope for Malaysian travel boom, more business: ‘I hope the numbers will be better’
• Chinese tech giant Tencent moves into Singapore tower to consolidate office space in city state
• China’s Dalian shipyard begins work on 3rd liquefied carbon dioxide carrier in boon for sequestration push
• South China Sea: Philippine troops accused of cutting Chinese fishing nets near Second Thomas Shoal
• Pride before a fall: water pipe helps cherished waterfall in China stay flowing
• Does China need its own theory of economics? Some academics call for a new model
• From food truck to launching 4 eateries in Paris, China man introduces knife-cut noodles, enchants palates of diners worldwide
• China’s Covid-19 response rallied the public up until Shanghai lockdown: study
• Could China gain from Vietnam’s political infighting and ‘hardline’ tilt?
• Land or air? The Post weighs up options as China Railway launches a new sleeper service from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai
• China’s services activity accelerates at quickest pace in 10 months in May, drives up employment, Caixin PMI shows
• ‘Life mentor’ girl, 3, adored for mature way of speaking by 4.9 million fans online, prompts debate on raising daughters in China
• Where are India’s ties with the US and China headed in a third Narendra Modi term?
• Chinese firms offer credit for orders, but payment delays remain an issue: survey

Trade rules on Chinese electric vehicles should be fair and science-based: German environment official

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3265449/trade-rules-chinese-electric-vehicles-should-be-fair-and-science-based-german-environment-official?utm_source=rss_feed

With China and the European Union on the cusp of a trade war over alleged state subsidies for Chinese-made electric vehicles, a senior German environment official has spoken in Beijing on the need for stronger multilateral ties to fight climate change.

In a speech at the German embassy on Friday, Dirk Messner, president of Germany’s Environment Agency, said that climate neutrality would not be achieved without overcoming the current state of geopolitical challenges.

Speaking to the South China Morning Post after the event, Messner also called for trade disputes, such as the China-EU confrontation over EVs and Washington’s recent 100 per cent tariff increase on Chinese electric vehicles – to be resolved through the World Trade Organization.

In his embassy address, Messner said the world is encountering “an erosion of trust and a move away from international order”, emphasising that he wanted to make a “strong argument” on this issue.

“We … need strong multilateral relations and more investments in global cooperation to achieve our climate change goals.”

On the erosion of trust, Messner said he was referring to “the current polarised global debates between powerful nations and includes the political situation and energy crisis [since] Russia invaded Ukraine”.

Pan Jiahua, director of the research centre for sustainable development at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, speaking after Messner at the same event, said geopolitical tensions and trade disputes would delay global efforts to mitigate climate change.

According to Pan, the EU’s investigation into China-made EVs “would delay our process to promote and to fasten the energy transformation”, adding that the same goes for the US.

China is both the world’s largest producer and market for electric vehicles, with nearly four out of 10 new cars in the country powered by batteries. But rapidly growing Chinese EV exports have alarmed the US and Europe.

After Washington’s recent 100 per cent hike in tariffs, the EU is reported to be on the verge of putting its own tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, on the grounds that alleged state subsidies are distorting the market.

Speaking to the Post about the EU’s investigation into Chinese EVs, Messner noted that trade disputes “are everywhere and a normal thing”, including within Europe where “we are good neighbours with each other”.

“I recommend that we should rely on fair, science and rule-based mechanisms to solve trade disputes and I will say the same to my American colleagues,” he said.

“The WTO is the global platform to manage trade disputes and to avoid protectionist escalations which would damage economic welfare and climate protection.”

Beijing has criticised the EU investigation as “trade protectionism”. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning last week called it “unreasonable and non-compliant” and vowed that China will take countermeasures to safeguard its interests.

In May, the Chinese commerce ministry announced an anti-dumping investigation into imports of polyoxymethylene copolymer, an engineering chemical commonly used in manufacturing, from countries and regions that include the EU.

Top news app in US has Chinese origins and ‘writes fiction’ with help of AI, publishing it online

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3265514/top-news-app-us-has-chinese-origins-and-publishing-ai-generated-fiction?utm_source=rss_feed

Last Christmas Eve, NewsBreak, a free app with roots in China that is the most downloaded news app in the United States, published an alarming piece about a small town shooting. It was headlined “Christmas Day Tragedy Strikes Bridgeton, New Jersey Amid Rising Gun Violence in Small Towns.”

The problem was, no such shooting took place. The Bridgeton, New Jersey police department posted a statement on Facebook on December 27 dismissing the article – produced using AI technology – as “entirely false”.

“Nothing even similar to this story occurred on or around Christmas, or even in recent memory for the area they described,” the post said. “It seems this ‘news’ outlet’s AI writes fiction they have no problem publishing to readers.”

NewsBreak, which is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, said it removed the article on December 28, four days after publication.

The company said “the inaccurate information originated from the content source,” and provided a link to the website, adding: “When NewsBreak identifies any inaccurate content or any violation of our community standards, we take prompt action to remove that content.”

The operators of the website, findplace.xyz, did not respond to a request from Reuters for comment. The police declined to provide further comment.

As local news outlets across America have closed in recent years, NewsBreak has filled the void.

Billing itself as “the go-to source for all things local,” NewsBreak says it has over 50 million monthly users. It publishes licensed content from major media outlets, including Reuters, Fox, AP and CNN as well as some information obtained by scraping the internet for local news or press releases which it rewrites with the help of AI. It is only available in the US.

But in at least 40 instances since 2021, the app’s use of AI tools affected the communities it strives to serve, with NewsBreak publishing erroneous stories; creating 10 stories from local news sites under fictitious bylines; and lifting content from its competitors, according to a Reuters review of previously unreported court documents related to copyright infringement, cease-and-desist emails and a 2022 company memo registering concerns about “AI-generated stories.”

Reuters spoke to seven former NewsBreak employees, including five who said most of the engineering work behind the app’s algorithm is carried out in its China-based offices. The former employees requested anonymity, citing confidentiality agreements with NewsBreak.

Two local community programmes assisting disadvantaged people said they were impacted by erroneous stories produced by NewsBreak’s AI.

On three occasions in January, February and March, Food to Power, a Colorado-based food bank said it had to turn people away because NewsBreak stated incorrect times of food distributions. The charity complained to NewsBreak in a January 30 email to NewsBreak’s general customer support email address, which Reuters has reviewed. The charity said it received no response.

Harvest912, a charity in Erie, Pennsylvania emailed NewsBreak about two inaccurate, AI-based news stories which said it was holding a 24-hour foot-care clinic for homeless people, asking the outlet to “cease and desist” erroneous coverage.

“You are doing HARM by publishing this misinformation – homeless people will walk to these venues to attend a clinic that is not happening,” Harvest912 told NewsBreak, in a January 12 email seen by Reuters.

In response to Reuters’ questions, NewsBreak said it removed all five articles about the charities after learning they were erroneous and that the articles were based on incorrect information on some of the charities’ web pages.

Without providing a reason to Reuters, NewsBreak added a disclaimer to its homepage in early March, warning that its content “may not always be error-free”.

NewsBreak generates revenue by showing ads to its users, who are predominantly female, above the age of 45, without college degrees, and live in suburban or rural parts of the US, according to the seven former employees and a 2021 company presentation reviewed by Reuters.

The company launched in the US in 2015 as a subsidiary of Yidian, a Chinese news aggregation app. Both companies were founded by Jeff Zheng, the CEO of NewsBreak, and the companies share a US patent registered in 2015 for an “Interest Engine” algorithm, which recommends news content based on a user’s interests and location.

NewsBreak told Reuters the patent was assigned by Zheng to both companies because “some of the concepts were developed from Jeff’s time at Yidian” and NewsBreak is “US-based” and “US-invested”. The shared patent has “absolutely no bearing on the company and its operations”, NewsBreak said in written responses to Reuters, describing the technology referenced in the patent as “outdated”.

A May 2022 company memo from a NewsBreak consultant to Zheng, reviewed by Reuters, raised concerns about NewsBreak’s use of AI tools to republish stories from local news sites under five fictitious bylines.

“I cannot think of a faster way to destroy the NewsBreak brand,” Norm Pearlstine, former Executive Editor at the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times who was working at the time as a consultant to NewsBreak, wrote in the memo to Zheng.

In an interview after NewsBreak gave him permission to speak with Reuters, Pearlstine said he learned of the practice from a NewsBreak colleague.

“I question the legality of creating fake accounts using content publishers put behind their paywalls. If I had learned about the practice while at the LA Times, I would have instructed our lawyer to seek a restraining order and sue for damages,” wrote Pearlstine, whose six-month consulting role at NewsBreak in 2022 consisted of advising the company about US editorial businesses.

Pearlstine, who confirmed the memo was authentic, attributed the lapse to a lack of journalistic experience. “A fair number of people on the staff were either new to journalism or new to the US market. That was part of the reason I felt I had to be very direct and very explicit in explaining why I thought this was important,” he told Reuters.

NewsBreak said the news stories referenced in Pearlstine’s memo were a “limited experiment in three US counties” to aggregate third-party content, and that the effort was disbanded after producing 10 articles. The company denied going behind paywalls and said it used “snippets” of articles that were publicly visible to produce complete news stories using OpenAI.

NewsBreak also pointed Reuters towards Zheng’s emailed response to Pearlstine, saying he recognised the problem and asked his team to fix it.

OpenAI told Reuters its policies prohibited using its technology to mislead people.

In 2022, Patch Media, which operates digital local news feeds in every US state, reached a US$1.75 million settlement in a lawsuit against NewsBreak for copyright infringement, according to court documents reviewed by Reuters, which alleged that NewsBreak republished Patch’s news stories without permission or credit.

Patch did not respond to a request for comment. NewsBreak said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.

Emmerich Newspapers, which operates newspapers in Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana, reached a 2021 settlement with NewsBreak in a lawsuit alleging copyright infringement related to NewsBreak’s use of Emmerich’s content without permission. NewsBreak said the settlement was “amicable.”

Another copyright lawsuit is ongoing. The two parties are “embroiled in additional lawsuits which we are vigorously defending against,” NewsBreak said.

Wyatt Emmerich, the company’s president, said the lawsuit against NewsBreak involved “verbatim copying of content”. He added: “What worries me in the future is that news aggregators could use artificial intelligence to slightly rewrite our stories which would make proving copyright infringement much more difficult. I have witnessed instances of this happening already on news aggregation sites.”

NewsBreak is a privately held start-up, whose primary backers are private equity firms San Francisco-based Francisco Partners, and Beijing-based IDG Capital, NewsBreak told Reuters.

Francisco Partners declined to answer questions about its investment in NewsBreak. IDG did not respond to repeated emailed requests for comment.

In February, IDG Capital was added to a list of dozens of Chinese companies the Pentagon said were allegedly working with Beijing’s military. IDG Capital told Bloomberg in February that it has no association with the Chinese military and does not belong on that list. NewsBreak did not comment on the finding.

Yidian, the Chinese aggregation company, divested from NewsBreak in 2019 because “its management team at the time did not understand the US market”, Zheng said. Until then, Li Ya, the president of Phoenix New Media, a Chinese state-linked media firm which held a 46.9 per cent stake in Yidian, had been a director at NewsBreak, according to corporate records.

Yidian continued to describe NewsBreak as its US version on its website until 2021, according to The Wire China.

Yidian in 2017 received praise from ruling Communist Party officials for its efficiency in disseminating government propaganda. Reuters found no evidence that NewsBreak censored or produced news that was favourable to the Chinese government.

A NewsBreak spokesperson said there was no ongoing commercial relationship with Yidian. Yidian, Phoenix New Media and Li Ya did not respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

About half of NewsBreak’s 200 employees are China-based where they are engaged in R&D, the company said.

A 2022 company roster reviewed by Reuters showed that 100 of NewsBreak’s 137 engineers at the time were based in China.

Five of the former NewsBreak employees said CEO Zheng divides his time between China and the United States.

Zheng, who was born in China, is a permanent resident of the United States and his family relocated to the US early last year, the company said.

Reuters found five job advertisements NewsBreak posted on Chinese job sites seeking data analysts or engineers for its Beijing and Shanghai-based offices capable of “in-depth mining” of “massive user behaviour data” from the app’s US users.

A Republican aide to the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee told Reuters the use of Chinese-based engineers by NewsBreak raised possible concerns that American user data can be accessed in China. The aide declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

In a recent high-profile case, US officials warned that TikTok, whose parent company is the Chinese firm ByteDance, could be compelled by the Chinese government to use its algorithm to control what kind of news is viewed by Americans and hand over their data.

TikTok, the most downloaded short video app globally, with 170 million US users, now faces a forced sale or a US ban.

In response to Reuters questions, TikTok said it was planning to offer third parties more access to examine its code and verify the app functions as intended.

Zheng told Reuters that NewsBreak complies with US data and privacy laws and is maintained on US-based Amazon (AWS) servers. “Staff in China only access anonymous data stored on AWS servers in the US,” he said. Amazon declined to comment.

NewsBreak also said that as a US-based business it was not subjected to Chinese data laws.

Pearlstine, the former NewsBreak consultant, said NewsBreak’s ability to demonstrate it is a US company was critical.

“The long term health of NewsBreak was dependent on its being perceived as a California company and that the more the leadership was in Mountain View, the better it would be for the company,” he said.

Scientists find security risk in RISC-V open-source chip architecture that China hopes can help sidestep US sanctions

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3265493/scientists-find-security-risk-risc-v-open-source-chip-architecture-china-hopes-can-help-sidestep-us?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese research team says it has uncovered a significant security flaw in processor design that could have a wide impact on China’s booming domestic chip industry.

China was relying on the structure of the world’s largest open-source CPU architecture to build their own CPUs and bypass the US chip ban, and was paying attention to any weaknesses, they said.

The issue was found in RISC-V, an open-source standard used in advanced chips and semiconductors. Compared with mainstream CPU structures – such as X86 used by Intel and AMD –RISC-V offers free access and can be modified without restriction.

The flaw allows attackers to bypass the security protections of modern processors and operating systems without administrative rights, leading to the potential theft of protected sensitive information and breaches of personal privacy.

The vulnerability was confirmed by the team of Professor Hu Wei at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), a major defence research institute in Shaanxi province. The researchers are experienced in hardware design security, vulnerability detection and cryptographic application safety.

It was first reported by the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Centre of China (CNCERT) on April 24, and NPU gave further details in an official announcement on May 24.

To make CPUs run faster, they must have a suitable “translator” to communicate between software and hardware. US multinational tech companies Intel and AMD adapt complex translators that combine instructions so their CPU deals with fewer instructions. RISC-V processors tend to use translators that break up instructions so every operation runs faster.

The two routes lead to Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) CPU and Complex Instruction Set Computer (CISC) CPU. In an analogy comparing them, imagine RISC-V processors giving step-by-step instructions for eating – such as pick up food, open your mouth, chew and swallow – compared with Intel processors that would issue a single command: eat.

The processors have gained attention for their openness, simplicity, modularity and scalability, having rapidly evolved since RISC-I was designed in 1980 and RISC-V was developed in 2010, both by Professor David Patterson, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

The recently vulnerability was revealed in the RISC-V SonicBOOM open-source code, also developed with the involvement of Patterson’s team.

RISC-V is seen as an opportunity to help accelerate China’s path to semiconductor independence via a proliferation of domestic RISC-V-based processor cores and chip products.

US lawmakers are reportedly considering sanctions to restrict China’s access to RISC-V technology because of concerns over rapid technology transfer and the Chinese industry’s adoption of the architecture.

The move could affect global tech firms, especially those with a significant consumer base in China. More importantly, it follows a history of tech sanctions that have spurred affected nations to find alternative solutions.

“By the end of 2022, about 50 different models of domestically produced RISC-V chips were in mass production in China, used primarily in embedded applications, such as industrial controls, power management, wireless connectivity, storage control and the Internet of Things,” according to the announcement by NPU.

“Recent developments suggest an expansion of RISC-V into more demanding applications like industrial control, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, telecommunications and data centres.”

Silicon Valley chip specialist Jim Keller, a microprocessor engineer who has worked for AMD, Apple and Intel, highlighted the limitless potential of RISC-V during a speech in March, noting its prospective role in powering unprecedented AI software applications.

CNCERT said RISC-V applications spanned stand-alone chips and integrated processor cores in large system-on-chip designs, with SonicBOOM playing a foundational role in many commercial RISC-V processor developments in China. This security risk requires vigilance from all manufacturers and stakeholders, CNCERT said.

The breakthrough is part of China’s national key R&D in processor hardware security. Initiated in 2021, the programme focused on the research and detection of hardware vulnerabilities and was carried out by CNCERT, Tsinghua University, NPU and the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

“Processor-related vulnerability mining is very challenging. The number of processor vulnerabilities included in global vulnerability libraries is far less than that of software and firmware vulnerabilities,” the NPU website said.

The effort underscores NPU’s role as a pioneer in China’s information security education and research, and its alignment with China’s national strategic needs, according to CNERT’s report.

The university’s “information confrontation” undergraduate programme was established in 2000 and was renamed “information security” in 2009. In 2011, a National Institute of Confidentiality was established, adding “secrecy” to the curriculum. In 2018, NPU established the School of Cybersecurity.

“At present, NPU has formed distinctive disciplines such as system software and hardware security, cyberspace cognitive security and confrontation, uncrewed system security, industrial control and Internet of Things security” the NPU website said.

Nintendo’s Pokémon and Riot Games have titles approved for sale in China

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3265519/nintendos-pokemon-and-riot-games-have-titles-approved-sale-china?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s video gaming regulator has approved a new batch of 15 foreign video games, with titles from -maker Riot Games, Nintendo and Sega among those to be released in the domestic market.

The mobile version of Valorant, a popular first-person shooter from Riot, which is based in the US but owned by Tencent Holdings, is among the titles approved on Wednesday by the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA), the agency in charge of licensing video games in China.

Under Chinese regulations, an overseas video game cannot be monetised in the country without a government permit. Getting approval often involves localisation with censorship of sensitive content and it must be operated through a Chinese partner – often Tencent and NetEase, the country’s two largest video gaming companies.

Valorant’s arrival on smartphones in China has been highly anticipated since the PC version found great commercial success on the mainland, where it launched last July. That was three years after its global release.

Tencent touted the title as its “most important game published in 2023”. The tech giant credited Valorant as a major contributor to its first-quarter domestic game sales this year.

The regulator also approved three titles for the Nintendo Switch, including the role-playing game Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and platform adventure game Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury. Tencent is the official distributor of the Switch in mainland China.

The Pokémon game was released globally together with the related title Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee! in November 2018. Eevee was approved for sale in China in April.

Another approved title is Hatsune Miku: Colorful Stage, a Japanese rhythm game developed by Colorful Palette and published by Sega in 2020. The mobile game, based on the Japanese virtual pop star Hatsune Miku, will be operated in China by Nuverse, the video gaming unit of TikTok owner ByteDance.

The approval comes days after the Chinese social media giant clarified the strategy for its video gaming business going forward, following an earlier retreat in the market marked by hundreds of lay-offs and shutting down or selling off parts of its business.

Nuverse said it is entering a stage that requires patience and “longtermism”, as it now refocuses on creating “fun games”. ByteDance appointed a new head of the unit after the company started internal restructuring of its video gaming business last November.

The NPPA has approved 61 foreign games for sale in China so far this year, which includes two previous batches of approvals in February and April. That is about two-thirds of the 98 such licences approved in all of 2023.

The domestic gaming market is seeing competition heat up over the summer holiday as several new titles such as Tencent’s DnF Mobile and miHoYo’s Zenless Zone Zero try to attract players to their platforms.

China’s video gaming market saw total sales grow 7.6 per cent year on year to 72.6 billion yuan (US$10 million) in the first quarter, according to data released by market research institute CNG.

Tallest waterfall in China is fed by pipes, officials admit

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/05/tallest-waterfall-china-yuntai-pipe/2024-06-05T08:10:16.731Z

Shrouded in mist and towering nearly twice as high as the Washington Monument, local officials describe Yuntai Falls as China’s “tallest uninterrupted waterfall” to the millions of visitors who flock to the protected landscape every year.

But what they failed to mention until this week is that the cascade, located in China’s central Henan province, is boosted by a concealed network of water pipes.

The admission came after footage taken by a hiker circulated widely on Chinese social media, prompting consternation online. It showed water gushing out of pipes that had been built high up into the rock face, feeding some — if not all — of the waterfall’s flow.

In a statement Tuesday, tourist officials at the Yuntai Mountain scenic resort, where the waterfall is located, admitted that they had made a “small enhancement” to the otherwise natural waterfall to improve the viewing experience for tourists.

“Depending on the season, I cannot guarantee that I am in my best condition whenever my friends come to see me,” read the statement, written from the perspective of the waterfall.

“To make your experience of the journey more complete and to make you feel that it’s a worthwhile trip, I underwent a small enhancement so that I could meet my friends in better shape in the dry season,” it continued.

Officials did not provide details on when the pipes were constructed or how frequently they were used, but suggested that tourists who visit the waterfall in the wetter summer months would witness its “magnificence in a perfect and the most natural manner.”

According to the park’s official website, the natural landscape attracts more than 7 million Chinese and international tourists each year — with its nearby geological formations dating back more than a billion years.

The landscape is one of 213 globally certified as a UNESCO Global Geopark, defined as a protected landscape that “uses its geological heritage, in connection with all other aspects of the area’s natural and cultural heritage, to enhance awareness and understanding of key issues facing society.”

UNESCO did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday on whether enhancing a waterfall’s flow with pipes breached its conservation guidelines.

According to the state-run Henan Daily news outlet, an unnamed official at the site denied that the enhancement meant the waterfall should be considered man-made.

“Considering that many visitors come all the way from out of town, the scenic area set up an auxiliary device to divert water to the source of the waterfall, in a move to boost visitor experience based on natural landscape and to make sure the Yuntai Falls stays visually appealing even in the dry season,” the official said.

The waterfall straddles the boundary between Henan and neighboring Shanxi province, and its location — and lucrative status as a tourist attraction — occasionally inflames tensions between the two provincial governments. Officials in Henan province have previously accused their counterparts in Shanxi of diverting water from the Yuntai by planning to construct a reservoir and dam upstream, causing the waterfall to dry up in some months.

According to Henan Daily, the video of the water pipes that prompted the admission was recorded from a steep area beyond the bounds of the permitted tourist area. “After verification from multiple sources, the scenic area [management] found that the person who filmed the original video climbed up to the spot on a trail from another province,” the outlet reported.

One comment on Chinese news aggregator Toutiao quipped that if Dubai affixed a water pipe to the top of the Burj Khalifa — the tallest building in the world — would it not become the world’s tallest waterfall instead? Others tried to defend the intentions of the resort area’s management, with one saying on Weibo that a dried-up waterfall would have caused more grievances than an artificially enhanced one.

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Former Asia head of global investment bank says Hong Kong has to underline it is not just another Chinese city and ‘speak truth to power’

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3265513/former-asia-head-global-investment-bank-says-hong-kong-has-underline-it-not-just-another-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed

A US economist whose views on Hong Kong’s changing fortunes sparked anger among officials on Wednesday appealed to residents to highlight it is not just another Chinese city.

Stephen Roach, the former chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia and regarded as China’s “good friend”, on Wednesday also asked the city to uphold the integrity of constructive criticism and “speak truth to power”.

Roach said at an event in the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Central that he was well aware the city retained room for debate and had not reached the point of becoming just another Chinese city.

“While that’s not the case in Hong Kong, at least not yet, I note, with some concern, a recent news item reporting on John Lee’s urging for Hongkongers to, quote, ‘stand united in telling others about the real and glorious side of the city’, he added.

“Something tells me that was not just a casual remark.”

Roach appeared to be talking about a point made by the chief executive at a press briefing on April 30.

Lee also asked the public to view the closure of businesses in the city with a “positive and enterprising” attitude and refrain from exaggeration of the implications.

Roach explained that the US had become reluctant to distinguish between Hong Kong and mainland China, partly due to the “clearly altered” political climate since the unrest of 2019.

“I implore all of you who want to stand up for Hong Kong, the best thing you can do is stand up for the distinction that makes this city special, to make the case that you are not just another Chinese city,” Roach told the gathering.

“And there’s a lot of things that could be said there.”

Roach in February wrote an op-ed piece called “It pains me to say Hong Kong is over” during the month-long public consultation on Hong Kong’s domestic national security legislation.

He said the piece was seen to be “so sensitive” he was “muzzled” at the China Development Forum in Beijing a month later.

“That’s too bad, mainly too bad for China,” Roach said at an event at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Central.

“Now, literally any debate over the, quote, ‘good stories of China’, is now provocative.”

Roach underlined the importance of preserving a culture of constructive criticism and protecting the ability to deliver uncomfortable messages, as well as the “courage that dares one to speak truth to power.”

“These messages don’t need to be taken personally,” he said. “The ability to listen to constructive criticism can deepen friendships, making intellectual adversaries better versions of themselves.

“The power of criticism, if it’s delivered effectively, need not be seen as a threat based on ulterior motives.”

Roach, also a faculty member at the Ivy League Yale University, said his appearance at the event marked the end of his fourth trip to his “second home” in the last 15 months.

He said he had been involved in “great discussions with a lot of Hongkongers” over the last few days and learned of some great ideas to boost the city’s fortunes.

But Roach reaffirmed pessimism over the Hong Kong economy.

He added the city would need to diversify and that new technologies could be its next source of strength.

But he said, with a mainland Chinese economy that would be “likely to underperform over the foreseeable future”, it would be difficult for Hong Kong to spring back to life on its own because the links between the city’s economy and the mainland’s had become tighter.

Roach said he believed the city government did not have the right political environment to come up with ideas to reverse the city’s fortunes.

“If you want to break the linkage, you’ve got to have some mechanism that would encourage spontaneous autonomy,” he told the audience.

“The politics and the influence that Beijing has in shaping your politics in the last four years don’t lend themselves to a lot in the way of independent policy initiatives that could make a difference to an economy that will struggle because of China-related linkage.”

Hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio says benefits of investing in China outweigh risks

https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3265497/hedge-fund-billionaire-ray-dalio-says-benefits-investing-china-outweigh-risks?utm_source=rss_feed

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the world’s largest hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, said investing in China is a good idea despite the risks, because Chinese assets are cheap and can help balance portfolios.

“Diversification and investment in China is desirable,” Dalio said in a virtual presentation at the Greenwich Economic Forum in Hong Kong on Wednesday. “Chinese assets are very attractively priced.”

There are concerns among international investors about potentially being penalised by their governments for investing in the country, with anti-China policies set to gain bipartisan support in the US election this year, he said. Meanwhile, China’s own economic problems, including its protracted real estate crisis, debt issues and the knock-on effects of those, are also making investors anxious.

However, none of these risks outweigh the potential benefits of investing in the world’s second largest economy in Dalio’s view.

“There are certainly effective ways to make investments in China” despite the challenges, and Bridgewater has “done very well” over the last five years operating there, he said.

The long-term China bull’s latest remarks follow his endorsement of the country’s battered markets earlier this year.

“The time to buy is when everyone hates the market and it’s cheap, which is now the case in Chinese equities,” Dalio wrote on his LinkedIn blog in April.

Since then, the country’s markets have staged a powerful rebound. The Hang Seng Index has climbed as much as 31 per cent from a January low, while the CSI 300 Index that tracks stocks traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange has rallied over 10 per cent in the same period as optimism at home grows.

Fuelling the rally, the Chinese government has stepped up efforts to stimulate the economy, which has struggled against a tide of local government debt and geopolitical tensions as well as the moribund property market.

Beijing launched a US$41 billion housing rescue package last month to halt the real estate downturn, and home sales are showing early signs of recovery as the stimulus filters through. More economic support measures are expected to emerge from next month’s key policy meeting as leaders try to bolster growth.

Foreign investors are regaining their appetite for Chinese as they become less pessimistic about the prospects of economic recovery. Offshore funds bought 8.8 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) of yuan-denominated stocks in May, bringing the net buy this year to US$11.5 billion, according to Stock Connect data.

Veteran emerging market investors like Mark Mobius have also turned bullish on Chinese markets given the attractive valuations on offer.

“The Chinese market has reached the bottom and is beginning to deliver the recovery after all the government measures to support the real estate market. We have seen light at the end of the tunnel,” Mobius said last week.

China’s top spy agency warns officials to avoid storing classified data in the cloud

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3265452/chinas-top-spy-agency-warns-officials-avoid-storing-classified-data-cloud?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top spy agency has warned government officials against storing classified information on cloud services, saying the data could easily be compromised by foreign spies.

Cloud data has become “a major focus of foreign spy agencies”, the Ministry of State Security said on its official WeChat account on Wednesday morning.

The ministry warned that “they [foreign spies] are trying to steal our sensitive information and classified data through various means, such as cyberattacks and inserting Trojan horse viruses, posing a serious threat to personal privacy and national security”.

It cited several cases of government officials using cloud storage to store classified information, adding that they had “weak security awareness” and had been punished.

But it did not say whether the cases involved espionage or what punishment the officials received.

To prevent data leaks, the ministry urged officials and employees of government departments “involved in classified information” to “strictly prevent the storage, processing, transmission and discussion of confidential and sensitive information on the internet, mobile phones and cloud storage”.

It advised officials to disable all sharing if they must use a cloud drive and to encrypt documents, change passwords frequently and turn off the automatic backup option.

The Wednesday morning post also cited the laws on guarding state secrets and data security, calling on the public and government departments to ensure confidentiality in their work and to “raise awareness, strengthen understanding, fulfil obligations and take responsibility” when it comes to protecting secrets.

China passed a comprehensive data security law in 2021 that penalises companies that send national “core data” overseas without official approval from Beijing. It also requires government departments to uphold confidentiality and regulatory responsibilities.

The law broadly defines “core data” as any information related to national and economic security, people’s welfare and important matters of public interest.

An amended anti-spy law came into force last July, broadening the definition of espionage and the investigative powers of state security agencies.

Last month, a revised law on guarding state secrets also came into effect, adding more than a dozen provisions to expand the depth and breadth of its coverage.

The Ministry of State Security has become more active on social media over the past year to warn of threats from foreign spies, educate society about security and urge the public to share information about suspicious activities.

Earlier this week, it drew public attention by disclosing a case of alleged espionage by the British Secret Intelligence Service, also known as MI6.

China out to drive new economic growth by accelerating autonomous vehicle trial

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3265484/china-out-drive-new-economic-growth-accelerating-autonomous-vehicle-trial?utm_source=rss_feed

China will allow leading carmakers to test autonomous driving and other technologies on restricted roads, marking a step forward to transform its 10 trillion yuan (US$1.4 trillion) industry, while also highlighting a huge market for future economic growth.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and three other government agencies jointly announced on Tuesday the approval for nine manufacturers, including the world’s top electric vehicle producer BYD, as well as Nio, Changan Automobile and GAC Motor, to test level three autonomous driving systems.

“This pilot programme can accelerate the mass production and application of smart internet-connected vehicle products, drive the integration of automotive, new energy, artificial intelligence, information and communication industries,” the MIIT statement said.

A level three licence, as defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers International, allows a car to be conditionally self-driving without human intervention unless in case of an emergency. The scale ranges from fully human-driven at level zero to fully autonomous at level five.

The ministry highlighted that the current stage completes only the selection phase for pilot applications, and does not signify approval or permission for autonomous vehicles to operate on the road.

With the pilot programme approved, manufacturers would use data to enhance autonomous driving technologies, establish industry standards and assist governments with related legislation, regulation and infrastructure development, MIIT said.

Beijing’s bet on the new energy wave a decade ago has proven to be successful as it has become the world’s leading manufacturer of electric vehicles (EVs).

China is seeking new areas, including autonomous driving, to support future economic growth amid heightened trade frictions and unpredictable disruptive technologies.

“[Such a pilot programme] will allow China to build a more comprehensive EV ecosystem and utilise the advantages of different sectors to create symmetry,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank.

Ng said the primary motive for the programme was to boost the competitiveness of the EV sector, which has consistently received significant support unlike many other industries in China, but is also faced with geopolitical headwinds.

“There could be more trade barriers, or tariffs being placed on Chinese EVs in the future due to the concern of overcapacity,” he said.

“Enhancing the competitiveness on providing good products with a low cost would be the best way from the Chinese government perspective to retain its footing in the global market.”

Revenue from Chinese carmakers rose by 11.9 per cent year on year to 10.1 trillion yuan in 2023.

The industry is transiting to new energy and smart technologies, while it is also producing and exporting the world’s most new energy vehicles.

A report in May from the People’s Daily newspaper said that tech firms, including Huawei Technologies, Xiaomi and DJI, have been accelerating their presence within the driverless car industry.

“This is a strong policy signal that would actually enhance the collaboration between the EV sector and also these tech firms in this case,” Ng said, adding that tech firms that had experienced regulatory crackdowns may find more business opportunities via such collaborations.

Beijing is endeavouring to promote the testing of autonomous driving, with cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Hangzhou opening specific suitable roads.

Chinese EV makers are accelerating the adoption of autonomous driving technology, and according to the China Passenger Car Association, the utilisation rate of vehicles equipped with automation of level two and above had reached 62.5 per cent in the first two months of the year, compared to 55.3 per cent last year.

China to exceed ‘green’ hydrogen target ahead of schedule, beating rest of world combined

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3265502/china-exceed-green-hydrogen-target-ahead-schedule-beating-rest-world-combined?utm_source=rss_feed

China is set to surpass its national hydrogen production targets, solidifying its leading position in the global markets for electrolysers and hydrogen-powered vehicles thanks to a strong policy push, record-breaking renewable energy installations and a mature automotive supply chain.

The country, already the world’s largest producer and consumer of hydrogen, is projected to install around 2.5 gigawatts of hydrogen electrolyser capacity by the end of this year, according to a Rystad Energy report on Wednesday.

This capacity is expected to generate 220,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually, which is 6,000 tonnes more per year than the rest of the world combined and beats a national 2025 target of 200,000 tonnes, the report said.

The projected rise in green hydrogen production would help China meet its overall demand for the gas, which is seen rising sharply after 2030 at the same time that hydrogen production using fossil fuels and industrial processes is expected to decline, according to Go Nakanishi, founder of Shanghai-based research firm Integral.

“After 2040, the green hydrogen market will start to show prominence and boom at a large scale, as the levelised cost of green hydrogen starts to become the lowest among all the production methods [in China],” he said at the International Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicle Congress and Exhibition in Shanghai on Tuesday.

China, the world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitter, has identified hydrogen as a key element in its future energy mix to meet the national carbon-neutral goal by 2060. The country released its first national hydrogen plan in early 2022, setting goals spanning from hydrogen production to application for the period between 2021 and 2035.

The country produced around 35.5 million tonnes of hydrogen in 2023. But green hydrogen, which is made by splitting water into its component elements using electricity generated from renewable sources, only accounted for 1 per cent. The rest was so-called grey hydrogen and blue hydrogen, which are made using heavy-emitting fossil fuels and industrial processes, according to data from China Hydrogen Alliance.

Driven by the country’s decarbonisation push as well as the lower costs of renewable power, China’s total supply of green hydrogen is expected to surpass 70 million tonnes by 2050, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the country’s 118 million tonnes of overall hydrogen supply, according to Nakanishi.

Hydrogen consumption in China is expected to reach 119 million tonnes by 2050, up from an estimated 40 million tonnes in 2025, mostly driven by demand from the chemical and steel sectors using hydrogen to decarbonise their production, as well as from the transport sector using hydrogen as a fuel, he said.

As a key component of China’s hydrogen plan, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are just “one last mile away” from large-scale commercialisation, Zhang Jinhua, secretary general of the China Society of Automotive Engineers, said in Shanghai on Tuesday.

Hydrogen fuel cells have more immediate potential in heavy-duty and long-distance vehicles like trucks and buses than in passenger cars. China aims to have 50,000 hydrogen-powered vehicles on the road by 2025, compared with fewer than 20,000 units last year. High vehicle prices, lack of affordable hydrogen fuel, an unclear business model and competition from battery-based EVs are key hurdles to wider adoption.

However, with the falling cost of the gas and the increasing efficiency of vehicles, hydrogen-powered trucks are expected to reach life-cycle cost parity with their fossil-fuel-burning counterparts in China by 2027, according to Robin Lin, chairman and president of Refire Group, a Chinese supplier of hydrogen fuel cell technologies.

Philippine civilian group slams China for ‘modern-day piracy’ in Second Thomas Shoal

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3265508/philippine-civilian-group-slams-china-modern-day-piracy-second-thomas-shoal?utm_source=rss_feed

A Philippine civil society group has accused Beijing of committing “modern-day piracy” in the disputed South China Sea and vowed to picket outside the Chinese embassy as maritime tensions between the two sides continue to flare.

Rafaela David, one of the leaders of Atin Ito (“It’s Ours”), said China’s coastguard cannot get away with the reported seizure of supplies for Filipino troops stationed aboard a rickety warship that serves as a military outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal.

David called on citizens to display their “unyielding spirit” at next Tuesday’s rally in front of the Chinese diplomatic mission in Manila to protest against the May 19 incident that also resulted in the alleged blockade of a medical evacuation of a sick soldier from the BRP Sierra Madre, which the Philippines grounded on the shoal in 1999 to assert its territorial claims.

“They cannot do a ‘Made in China’ Jack Sparrow act in our backyard and expect no accountability,” she said on Wednesday, referring to the protagonist of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Philippine navy spokesman for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said the Chinese coastguard personnel snatched a package airdropped by a military aircraft for the troops on the outcrop, suspecting it had construction materials to reinforce the crumbling vessel.

He later released pictures that showed the parcel contained food rations that were dispersed in the sea.

The West Philippine Sea is the term Manila uses to describe the eastern parts of the South China Sea that are within its exclusive economic zone and territorial waters.

David described the act as “outright modern-day piracy” and an “assault on our dignity as a nation”.

“Our brave frontliners deserve unwavering support, not pillaging by foreign aggressors,” she said.

The Second Thomas Shoal, known to Filipinos as Ayungin, has become a flashpoint between Manila and Beijing in recent years.

Chinese fishing boats and coastguard vessels have often blocked and rammed Philippine ships in the resource-rich waterway, prompting Manila to lodge repeated diplomatic protests over the behaviour.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entirety of the South China Sea – where the Philippines and several other nations have competing claims – and has rejected a 2016 international ruling that ruled in favour of Manila and found China’s assertions have no legal basis.

David said next week’s demonstration was about “standing up for what’s just, what is rightfully ours, and making it clear that the West Philippine Sea is not up for grabs”.

Meanwhile, senate president Francis Escudero urged President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s administration to raise the food-grabbing episode with Asean states.

Escudero said the 10-member bloc may not be a well-known political association, but it still serves as a forum to discuss what is happening in Southeast Asia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

He expressed hope the rising tensions could be eased through talks, saying “nobody wants any kind of war to erupt in our region”.

Chinese, Malaysian tourists kidnapped for US$43,100 ransom by Philippines police, 4 officers arrested

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3265479/chinese-malaysian-tourists-kidnapped-us43100-ransom-philippines-police-4-officers-arrested?utm_source=rss_feed

Four police officers assigned to the Philippine capital region have been arrested for kidnapping for ransom that victimised four foreign tourists, officials said on Wednesday.

Two of the officers on board motorcycles flagged down a luxury car carrying three Chinese and a Malaysian over the weekend, while their armed civilian cohorts handcuffed and dragged the four tourists into a van. Two of the Chinese managed to escape and notified authorities, police said.

The remaining captives were beaten by the kidnappers but freed overnight after payment of a 2.5-million-peso (US$43,100) ransom, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos said. Information provided by the freed tourists and images from security cameras led to the arrest of the four police, including a police major, he said.

“I was shocked that policemen were the ones involved,” Abalos said in a news conference, where the four police were presented in handcuffs and orange detainee shirts. “This incident is a serious breach of public trust and core values of the police force.”

Police said they’re looking for at least 10 other suspects who were not police but implicated in the kidnapping.

Police said they filed criminal complaints for kidnapping, carjacking and robbery against the suspects.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte had described many members of the national police, numbering more than 230,000 nationwide, as “rotten to the core,” although he ordered them to enforce his anti-drugs crackdown that led to the killings of thousands of mostly poor suspects.

The International Criminal Court has been investigating the large-scale killings as a possible crime against humanity. Duterte and the national police chiefs who served under him had denied authorising extrajudicial killings, although the former president had publicly threatened drug suspects with death during his presidency, which ended in 2022.

China visa-free scheme spurs hope for Malaysian travel boom, more business: ‘I hope the numbers will be better’

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3265460/china-visa-free-scheme-spurs-hope-malaysian-travel-boom-more-business-i-hope-numbers-will-be-better?utm_source=rss_feed

More Malaysians are expected to fly to Asian holiday destinations such as Japan and Thailand later this year, while China also hopes to bolster weak tourist numbers from Southeast Asia that have yet to escape the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.

China last week agreed to double the time frame for visa-free access for Malaysian citizens to 30 days to celebrate 50 years of diplomatic ties between the two nations, according to Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The move followed an earlier decision by China to extend its visa-free policy for Malaysian citizens to the end of 2025.

“With the new announcement, I hope the numbers will be better,” said Adam Kamal Ahmad Kamil, general manager of Suka Travel & Tours, which manages Muslim-friendly overseas holidays with a focus on China.

“There is [growing demand], especially with the current pattern for the Muslim market. They go for packages below 5,000 ringgit [US$1,058], and China definitely fits in that category.”

Malaysians have been on a travelling spree in the last year, spending an estimated US$11.1 billion abroad in 2023, according to data compiled by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, as they racked up record numbers at favoured destinations in Southeast Asia.

Rising interest in China travel is a recent development among Malaysia’s Malay-Muslims, who make up nearly 60 per cent of the country’s 33 million population.

Prior to China’s decision last December to allow Malaysians visa-free travel, people “were still sceptical” of China, Adam said without elaborating, adding that his firm had since handled tour groups in the “double digits” this year after seeing zero demand in 2023.

The United Nations in 2022 accused China of “crimes against humanity” over a sustained crackdown on Muslim minorities, which some rights groups have said led to at least 1 million ethnic minority Muslims detained in “re-education camps”.

Malaysia has not taken a public position on the crackdown, though there had been sporadic protests against China in capital city Kuala Lumpur, the latest being in 2019.

Adam said his clients preferred modern attractions such as Universal Studios in Beijing and Shanghai’s Disneyland, but also historical monuments such as the Great Wall and secondary cities like Zhangjiajie, where clients hoped to experience the setting of the 2009 live action film version of popular cartoon Avatar.

The only sticking point was food, he said.

“It’s not that we don’t get halal food, but they can only take so much Lanzhou noodles,” he said of the popular hand-pulled noodles made by China’s Muslim community, adding that there were broader food options in South Korea, Taiwan and Japan – currently the top picks by his clients.

Thailand’s government counted 4.4 million Malaysian visitors in 2023, the single largest group visiting the kingdom and a shade higher than the 4.3 million Malaysians that visited in 2019 before Covid-19 all but shut down cross-border travel for two years.

Malaysians were also the largest group of visitors to Indonesia last year, with 2.3 million travelling to Southeast Asia’s largest country.

Travellers from Malaysia are increasingly seeking experiences they may not find at home, such as the seasonal variety of Japan which made the East Asian nation the top pick for groups managed by Tai Poh Kim’s Hello Holidays in 2023.

“Japan very clearly has four seasons, so the weather is one of the attractions,” Tai told This Week in Asia, adding that his clients were also drawn to the spring sakura bloom season in Tokyo and Osaka, and the summer flower season in Hokkaido further north, where they could see endless fields of sunflowers and lavender.

Recent data on Malaysian arrivals to China is currently not publicly available. UN Tourism data showed around 1.4 million Malaysians visited the republic in 2019.

Last year, China saw total travel plunge by 36.7 per cent to 424 million in and out of the country, according to data released by its National Immigration Administration in January.

A December report by the China Tourism Academy showed that the country’s tourism industry was almost entirely propped up by domestic travel in 2023. Local tourists spent an estimated 5.2 trillion yuan (US$724.8 billion) in domestic travel last year, inching closer to the 5.7 trillion yuan in tourism revenue collected in 2019.

China received 477,800 foreign tourists in the first six months of 2023, tourism ministry data showed, a fraction of the more than 8.5 million foreign arrivals over the same period before the pandemic struck.

Malaysians named Japan as the top country to visit, according to a Global Travel Intentions Study published last October by card payment system operator Visa, followed by Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore.

China ranked seventh on the list, just one rung above the United Kingdom – the only non-Asia-Pacific country to make the top 10 countries ranked in the study.

But visa-free entry for Malaysians could well boost the numbers, driven by the growing accessibility to western Chinese provinces such as Chengdu and Tibet where tourists seek to experience travel and scenery along the Silk Road, according to Hello Holiday’s Tai.

“This year, China is the No 1 pick. Every month we have sent over between 10 and 15 groups,” Tai said.

“When you go to Japan, it would cost about 10,000 ringgit now [per person]. A trip to China for two people will cost around 10,000 ringgit, so it is relatively more affordable for more people.”

Chinese tech giant Tencent moves into Singapore tower to consolidate office space in city state

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3265464/chinese-tech-giant-tencent-moves-singapore-tower-consolidate-office-space-city-state?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has moved into a new space at a prime office tower in Singapore to bring together more employees in the city state.

Employees at the video gaming and social media conglomerate moved into CapitaSky, a 29-story tower in Singapore’s central business district this week from a WeWork office at 30 Raffles Place, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters.

A Tencent representative confirmed the company has moved employees to the new location.

For now, Tencent is taking up one floor, or about half of a 56,000-square-foot (5,203-square-metre) flexible working space, in the tower. The Shenzhen-based firm may eventually move staff from another co-working centre at nearby CapitaSpring tower when the lease ends into the new space, the people said.

Other tenants in CapitaSky include German multinational financial services firm Allianz and Boston Consulting Group, according to the building’s majority owner CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust.

The Work Project, a co-working operator backed by CapitaLand Group, operates both the CapitaSky and CapitaSpring spaces. The Work Project’s head of sales, Sheena Goh, confirmed the move in a statement, saying the company affirms its “three-year strong partnership” with Tencent.

“We recently relocated one of our offices from 30 Raffles Place to The Work Project at CapitaSky due to the conclusion of our lease agreement,” the Tencent representative said. “We are excited to continue our business in Singapore.”

Tencent’s move reflects the cautious mood in an office market showing early signs of weakness because of rising lay-offs in sectors like technology and finance, along with the shift to working from home.

Some firms are consolidating employees in one location, while keeping the option for future expansion if needed. Others including Meta Platforms, Citigroup and BNP Paribas have moved to cut space.

Still, Singapore has so far skirted the downturns seen in other cities, with vacancy rates for prime central business district offices hovering at 2.6 per cent at the end of the first quarter, according to Colliers International Group. That is less than a fifth of the rate for Central district-based offices in Hong Kong, a rival financial hub.

Singapore has benefited from an influx of wealth and firms, particularly from China, as companies seek to expand regionally and reduce their presence at home amid rising US tensions. That includes ByteDance-owned short video app operator TikTok, which has set up its headquarters in the city state, as well as online fast-fashion retailer Shein.

China’s Dalian shipyard begins work on 3rd liquefied carbon dioxide carrier in boon for sequestration push

https://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/3265469/chinas-dalian-shipyard-begins-work-3rd-liquefied-carbon-dioxide-carrier-boon-sequestration-push?utm_source=rss_feed

Dalian Shipbuilding Industry (DSI), a unit of one of China’s biggest shipbuilding conglomerates, has commenced the construction of a third specialist vessel ordered by Northern Lights, which will transport liquefied carbon dioxide from emitters to sites for permanent geological storage.

Northern Lights is developing the world’s first cross-border carbon dioxide transport and storage infrastructure and has ordered four such vessels from DSI’s subsidiary Dalian Shipbuilding Offshore (DSO).

“It will be deployed to extract industrial emissions as part of Europe’s carbon capture and storage plan for achieving its medium term decarbonisation goal,” the shipbuilder said. “The gas will be sent to a receiving terminal on the west coast of Norway, treated and injected some 2,600 metres under the sea floor for permanent storage.”

DSI is a unit of Shanghai-listed China Shipbuilding Industry. China has the world’s largest shipbuilding industry. Northern Lights is a joint venture founded in 2021 by Norway’s state-controlled energy firm Equinor, British multinational oil and gas company Shell and France’s TotalEnergies.

The world needs to capture and store some 6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions at factories or directly from the atmosphere by 2040, and 8 billion tonnes by 2050, to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by mid-century, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

Currently, only 0.4 million tonnes are captured each year, due to high costs and lack of infrastructure.

The world will need 55 liquefied carbon dioxide carriers and 48 export and import terminals by 2030, according to research firm Rystad Energy, which forecast that over 90 million tonnes of captured carbon dioxide will be shipped by the end of the decade.

Norway, Europe’s largest oil and gas producer, is at the forefront of efforts to promote commercial carbon dioxide storage.

The Norwegian government has launched research and innovation support programmes dedicated to carbon capture and storage with an eye towards halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 1990 levels.

In June 2023, state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation commissioned the country’s first offshore carbon capture and storage demonstration project. It aims to store around 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide under the seabed after capturing it from one of the country’s largest oilfields over five years.

In 2022, the company teamed up with Shell, ExxonMobil and the Guangdong provincial government to conduct a feasibility study to build China’s first large-scale offshore facility near Shenzhen to capture and store carbon emissions from chemical plants.

Construction of the Northern Lights terminal began in 2021, with the first phase expected to be completed later this year, offering an initial annual storage capacity of 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide over 25 years. The capacity could be raised to as high as 7 million tonnes by 2026. At the initial stage, it is expected to handle emissions captured from a cement factory and a waste-to-energy plant in Norway.

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South China Sea: Philippine troops accused of cutting Chinese fishing nets near Second Thomas Shoal

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3265478/south-china-sea-philippine-troops-accused-cutting-chinese-fishing-nets-near-second-thomas-shoal?utm_source=rss_feed

Philippine troops have been damaging and removing Chinese fishing nets in waters near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, according to state media.

Official news agency Xinhua reported on Tuesday that military personnel stationed at Second Thomas Shoal on the BRP Sierra Madre had cut nets placed by Chinese fishermen in the surrounding waters.

Tensions have been rising near the Sierra Madre, a rusting World War II-era ship the Philippines deliberately grounded on the shoal in 1999 to strengthen its sovereignty claim.

Video footage accompanying the report shows Philippine troops in rubber boats cutting nets and pulling some of them aboard their vessels near Second Thomas Shoal.

The Xinhua report alleged that Philippine military personnel had damaged more than 2,000 metres of fishing net and taken more than 100 metres since May 15. It said the Chinese coastguard had helped the fishermen to retrieve their damaged nets.

China claims most of the resource-rich South China Sea, but the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims.

Second Thomas Shoal is among the contested areas. A prime fishing ground in the Spratly Island chain, it is known as Renai Jiao in China and Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines.

The shoal is located within the area the Philippines claims as its exclusive economic zone, but it is also claimed by Beijing. It has become a hotspot in the past year, with increasingly tense confrontations between the Chinese coastguard and Philippine vessels.

Manila has yet to comment on the latest accusation. It comes after Chinese state media on Sunday claimed troops from the Sierra Madre had pointed guns at a Chinese coastguard patrol in May when supplies were being delivered to the outpost.

Footage from China’s coastguard appears to show at least two men on the grounded warship aiming their rifles at the Chinese crew. A video released by the Philippine military meanwhile shows the Chinese coastguard intercepting supplies that had been airdropped near the ship.

General Romeo Brawner Jnr, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said the troops were holding their rifles to guard against the Chinese coastguard’s “provocative” actions, but they did not point weapons at anyone.

“It was just in preparation for self-defence in case something happens because they were very close,” Brawner said on Tuesday, adding that the troops were legally armed.

Philippine military officials told reporters that the Chinese coastguard’s inflatable boats came within five to 10 metres of the Sierra Madre and coastguard officers had confiscated some of the airdropped supplies – actions they said were illegal.

China’s foreign ministry responded that grounding the warship on Second Thomas Shoal was illegal.

“Furthermore, the Philippine side has repeatedly infringed and provoked, escalating the tensions, which is unacceptable to China,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

“We urge the Philippines to stop creating further friction and return to the path of resolving differences through dialogue and consultation,” she added.

Manila has taken a more assertive stance with Beijing over the South China Sea since Ferdinand Marcos Jnr became president two years ago. The Philippines has also sought to strengthen military ties with the United States and its regional allies, including through increased joint exercises – moves that have angered China.

Pride before a fall: water pipe helps cherished waterfall in China stay flowing

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/05/china-yuntai-falls-waterfall-pipe-used-henan-province

It is a cherished natural beauty spot in China: the Yuntai waterfall sees plumes of water cascade hundreds of metres down a gorge, soaking the many tourists it receives with mist as they stare up at its heights to take photos.

However, officials have admitted the 314-metre falls in Henan province has received a “small enhancement” and relies partly on water pumped from a pipe during the dry season.

The admission was sparked by a video filmed by a visitor using a drone that was widely shared across Chinese social media this week. It showed water coming from a circular pipe nestled between the rocks.

Yuntai falls has China’s highest tourism site classification and is one of the most popular attractions inside the Yuntai Geo park, where visitors view the towering falls from a platform near its base.

The source of Asia's highest #waterfall is a water pipe?😅 In Xiuwu County, Henan Province, the Yuntai Mountain Scenic Area boasts the "highest waterfall in Asia," the Yuntai Mountain Waterfall, with a staggering drop of 314 meters.
A man discovered with a #drone on Tuesday that… pic.twitter.com/m4EJ7rjQz7

— Shanghai Daily (@shanghaidaily) June 4, 2024

The viral video quickly became one of the top trending topics on Weibo, with more than 14m interactions with the related hashtag. The videos was reported on by some local state media outlets including the Shanghai Daily.

Most responses online found the news humorous, and few seemed to mind the revelations about the pipe.

“We come here to have fun. We come here to see the beauty. The beauty is good and the pictures are good!” said one commenter.

“Appropriate artificial intervention increases the beauty of the scenic area. This is essentially to give tourists a better experience,” said another.

On Tuesday the park responded with a statement, written in the voice of the waterfall, saying that the pipe was used to ensure visitors always see it “in the most beautiful way”.

“In order to enrich your visiting experience and make your visit worthwhile, I made a small enhancement during the dry season, just to meet you in a better posture.”

Online discussion also saw many local residents say they had long known of the water pipe, blaming it on neighbouring Shanxi province for blocking the upstream river flow with development.

The Yuntai Geo park received more than 11 million visitors in 2019. The popular attraction also made headlines in 2015 after operators installed a glass skywalk which was quickly shut down after cracks formed during a holiday weekend.

Does China need its own theory of economics? Some academics call for a new model

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3265386/does-china-need-its-own-theory-economics-some-academics-call-new-model?utm_source=rss_feed

China should have its own economic theory to frame its development and answer the questions that Western systems cannot, according to a series of commentaries published in Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Monday.

The calls by a number of academics come as Western ratings agencies offer increasingly pessimistic outlooks for China’s growth prospects despite Beijing’s attempts to convince the world otherwise.

One of the main arguments in favour of a new framework is that China’s modernisation differs from the West’s, and Western economics is not the answer to China’s problems – a point supported by Fudan University professor Zhou Wen and and Hong Yongmiao, dean of the school of economics and management at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.

In his commentary, Zhou said President Xi Jinping’s political doctrine on the economy should serve as a guide for the framework, saying Xi’s thoughts on the economy “provide accurate guidance for grasping the logic of economic and social development”.

He echoed Xi’s comments last year that China’s progress had debunked “the myth that modernisation means Westernisation”.

At the time, Xi said the Chinese model “presents another picture of modernisation, [and] expands the path choices for developing countries”.

Xi’s political doctrine on the economy is part of what is called “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”, a theory that also covers diplomacy, the military, the environment, legal affairs and culture. It is enshrined in both the state and party constitutions.

Zhou also said a new system should draw on the country’s traditional culture which “contains many economic ideas and concepts that still hold contemporary value”.

The construction of China’s own system of economics required “historical and cultural confidence”, integrating “the essence of Marxist political economy with the essence of Chinese traditional culture”, he said.

In another commentary, Hong, from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, said differences in social systems, history and culture meant that Western economic theories could not offer direct answers for the construction of China’s socialist economy.

“For example, China’s development of the new energy industry has enriched global supply with high-quality production capacity, alleviating global inflationary pressures and promoting global low-carbon transformation. However, some overseas politicians and media have hyped it up as ‘overcapacity’,” Hong wrote.

This reflected the “necessity, importance, and urgency” of accelerating the construction of China’s independent knowledge system of economics, and expanding influence of its theories, he said.

But some ratings agencies are pessimistic about China’s economic formula.

In April, leading credit rating agency Fitch Ratings downgraded China’s sovereign debt outlook from stable to negative, citing concerns over the country’s property and public finances, as well as “eroded fiscal buffers” as the result of wide fiscal deficits and rising government debts.

China’s Ministry of Finance responded by saying that the downgrade was a “pity”, and that the decision failed to foresee the “positive role” of Beijing’s fiscal policy mix in promoting economic growth and stabilising the macro-leverage ratio.

Beijing also expressed disappointment in December after international rating agency Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook for Chinese sovereign bonds from stable to negative.

The agency attributed the decision to “rising evidence that financial support will be provided by the government and wider public sector to financially-stressed regional and local governments and state-owned enterprises, posing broad downside risks to China’s fiscal, economic and institutional strength”.

From food truck to launching 4 eateries in Paris, China man introduces knife-cut noodles, enchants palates of diners worldwide

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3265122/food-truck-launching-4-eateries-paris-china-man-introduces-knife-cut-noodles-enchants-palates-diners?utm_source=rss_feed

A man from China has launched a successful restaurant chain in Paris, France, which sells traditional Chinese noodles that initially began as a food truck two years ago, inspiring many people on the mainland.

Guo Zhanglong, from Shandong province in eastern China, studied at a French university as an exchange student in 2011. He spent his initial years after graduation working for the Sino-France trade industry and then became a full-time influencer, according to the news portal dzwww.com.

During this time, Guo was catering for his local friends and neighbours, bringing traditional Chinese food made by his mother-in-law to their home in Paris. One friend who loved the food suggested he open a restaurant, according to the report.

With a limited budget, Guo started with a food truck and drove it to fairs across Paris in the summer of 2022. His mother-in-law, who had more than two decades of experience opening restaurants in China, was in charge of the cooking.

The duo would sell knife-pare noodles, a unique local food from China’s central-north province of Shanxi.

Knife-pare noodles are one of 10 traditional forms of Chinese noodles, and they originate from Shanxi province and have a history of around 1,000 years.

Cooks usually hold a big piece of dough with one hand and use the other to hold a thin knife to quickly slice chunks of dough, with the strips being transferred directly into boiling water.

Minutes later, the cooks place the boiled willow-leaf-shaped noodles into a soup that is mixed with chilli oil. Sometimes, they include vegetables, beef, or lamb in the dish.

“Shanxi knife-cut noodles are a bit oily and spicy. At first, we were concerned that locals would not accept the food as they generally have a light taste, and many Chinese food restaurants in Paris have also adjusted their recipe to cater to the local customers,” Guo was quoted as saying.

“But it turned out that all of our customers like our food,” he added.

He said the food truck business boomed, and diners queued for two hours to order the noodles.

Emboldened by this success, Guo opened his first Kung Fu Pate Restaurant in downtown Paris in October last year. That was also a success, and he has opened three more restaurants under the same brand.

“French people have never seen the performance of slicing dough chunks. They think my mother-in-law can do Chinese kung fu,” said Guo.

“When I told them the noodles are our traditional food and date back 1,000 years, they were amazed, saying, ‘It’s as old as our Notre Dame’.”

Guo said it is not difficult to find cooks who can cook knife-cut noodles in Paris, but the main challenge is hiring servers and dishwashers due to high wage expectations in the city.

Guo added that no matter what happens in the future, he will keep the recipe the same.

“My mother-in-law said the taste of knife-cut noodles has been like this for hundreds of years, and we should make the most authentic version,” said Guo. “Maybe some people won’t like it, but I am sure some other people will, which is a normal phenomenon.”

China’s Covid-19 response rallied the public up until Shanghai lockdown: study

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3265317/chinas-covid-19-response-rallied-public-until-shanghai-lockdown-study?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese government enjoyed significantly increased public support after the first Covid-19 lockdown in Wuhan, but its approval saw a “sharp decline” – to lower than pre-pandemic levels – in the wake of Shanghai’s shutdown two years later.

Researchers from three universities in Denmark, the United States and Hong Kong, found that people surveyed during the lockdown in February 2020 gave an average score of 8.5 out of 10 when rating their trust in Beijing – up from 8 out of 10 in May 2019.

Wuhan in central China was the original epicentre for the coronavirus which causes Covid-19. The city was locked down on January 23, 2020 for nearly 2½ months, a strategy that was followed in many other cities as the virus spread across the world.

According to the study, published online on May 27 by the Journal of Contemporary China, trust in the central government fell sharply in September 2022 – after Shanghai’s two-month lockdown – compared to March that year, weeks before the city shut down.

The sudden decrease in support – from 8.6 in March to 7.8, even lower than 2019’s level – was a possible trigger for the protests against China’s harsh zero-Covid policy that spread to a number of cities a few months later, the researchers said.

The authors – Yue Guan from Aarhus University in Denmark, the University of California San Diego (USCD)’s Lei Guang and Yanchuan Liu, and Lianjiang Li of Hong Kong’s Lingnan University – analysed eight online surveys of urban Chinese residents.

The surveys, which each had around 1,000 respondents, were conducted between May 2019 and September 2022 by the China Data Lab of the 21st Century China Centre at UCSD’s school of global policy and strategy.

Respondents were asked to rate their level of trust in the central government but were not questioned on their opinions towards local governments, unlike similar surveys that were conducted.

The researchers were interested in the rally effect, a political science term that describes the tendency for governments to gain support when countries face an external crisis.

According to the study, the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent lockdown of more than 10 million people in Wuhan was “the only major political event in the country that could have significantly affected trust in the central government”, causing a rally effect.

In May 2020, a month after the Wuhan lockdown was lifted, average trust in the central government reached a record high of 8.9, the researchers said. For the next two years, the figure remained above 8.5 – significantly higher than in the 2019 survey.

The authors argued that the high level of trust was down to the fact that “the government completed the seemingly impossible mission of containing the virus within the country’s borders”, as well as the official propaganda praising Beijing’s achievements in fighting the pandemic.

The researchers also cited the large number of Covid-19 deaths that were reported in other countries at the time, which “gave the Chinese people good reason to continue to rely on the government for protection”.

Turning to the sharp decline in trust noted two years later, the researchers said there may be several causes, “but the most likely triggering event was the disastrous Shanghai lockdown”.

“It not only eroded political trust among those directly affected but also affected political trust nationwide,” they wrote.

“By early 2022, repeated and frequent lockdowns had already led to harassment and caused suffering, draining people’s patience and confidence. The Shanghai lockdown in spring 2022 dealt a decisive blow to public confidence.”

According to the researchers, the two-month shutdown had a different impact on Shanghai compared with other cities and played a key role in the sudden erosion of public trust in the central government.

“Unlike residents of other cities who were largely muted, those in Shanghai managed to make their voices heard,” the researchers wrote.

“They kept exposing the increasingly insane control measures and the resulting widespread suffering and mounting discontent through audio and video clips on social media platforms like Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin.

“As social media pierced the information bubble bloated by censorship, the voices from Shanghai revealed to people across the country what was actually happening.”

According to the researchers, the impact of Shanghai’s lockdown was key to the widespread protests that broke out in November 2022 across several cities, including Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu.

Protesters called for an easing of the harsh Covid-19 restrictions – with some advocating for political change – after people gathered to mourn the deaths of 10 people in a fire in a block of flats in Xinjiang that was reportedly under lockdown.

Most of China’s Covid-related controls were dropped in December 2022, in a move that some analysts have attributed to political pressure from the protests and the country’s growing economic difficulties.

Beijing has consistently argued that both its pursuit of zero-Covid and the abrupt relaxation of controls were the right decisions.

However, the researchers noted that “a policy that initially boosts public confidence in the central government can end up causing a potentially unrecoverable loss of trust in the top leader”.

Could China gain from Vietnam’s political infighting and ‘hardline’ tilt?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3265337/could-china-gain-vietnams-political-infighting-and-hardline-tilt?utm_source=rss_feed

Three of Vietnam’s top five leaders – president Vo Van Thuong, chairman of the National Assembly of Vietnam Vuong Dinh Hue and Truong Thi Mai, head of the powerful Organisation Commission of the Communist Party’s Central Committee – have stepped down for unspecified wrongdoings since March.

They are among the six out of 18 members of the Politburo forced to resign since December 2022 as part of the “blazing furnace” anti-corruption campaign championed by party chief Nguyen Phu Trong.

The country’s former minister of public security To Lam, who is widely seen as playing a central role in the political upheaval, has been appointed president and is in a prime position to succeed Trong in the next leadership transition, along with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

While the anti-graft drive has proved popular with the public, the expanding crackdown – which ensnared thousands of people, including top officials and senior business leaders – came as Vietnam sought to benefit from the diversification of Western investment away from China.

China is expected to benefit from Vietnam’s unprecedented political turmoil amid months-long infighting and internal machinations within the ruling Communist Party, and signs of a more authoritarian tilt in Hanoi, according to observers.

Bill Hayton, an associate fellow at the Chatham House Asia-Pacific Programme, described the turmoil as “unprecedented” and said it showed politics in Vietnam was “in a permanent state of flux”.

“We do not know if this is the end of the fight or a kind of halfway stage,” he said. “At the moment, it looks like the hardliners, notably the police generals and the Leninists, have won the battle.”

Aside from Lam’s rise, General Luong Cuong, 67, director of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People’s Army, was promoted to replace Truong Thi Mai at a plenary session of the Central Committee on May 18. The party also named four new members to the Politburo last month.

The intense power struggle might have a far-reaching impact on the country’s future development, as the new Vietnamese leadership appeared willing to “sacrifice some economic growth in the interests of tighter political control”, Hayton said.

“This is probably going to slow down Vietnam’s integration into the world, as Vietnam looks set to follow China in a political inward turn, focusing more on political security and regime survival than economic development,” he said.

Beijing, which has watched Vietnamese politics closely, would be pleased to see the personnel changes, according to Hayton.

“This is exactly what they [Chinese officials] want. They want a kind of hardline group politically thinking the same way as [President] Xi Jinping and China and much more sceptical about the West, following a lot of Chinese hardline policies, copying the anti-corruption campaign and closing down access to information for outsiders,” he said.

With the people in power becoming more suspicious of the United States and its role in promoting democracy and openness, Hayton said Vietnam was likely to turn away from the US.

“It becomes obvious that they have a pro-China leadership. Vietnam will claim they are still neutral and their policy remains unchanged. But it’s going to be a more authoritarian leadership that will find it more difficult to work with the West than China and Russia,” he said.

Zhang Mingliang, a regional affairs specialist at Jinan University in Guangzhou, noted the emergence of several factors that favour Beijing in the unusual political shake-up in its Southeast Asian neighbour.

“There are few signs that the infighting is already at its peak, and it is expected to continue and may become more intense in the lead-up to the 2026 transition. It shows the cracks in Vietnam’s top leadership, which may affect the ruling party’s ability to stand united to deal with China on the South China Sea dispute and other issues,” he said.

While Hanoi and Beijing are closely aligned on safeguarding their respective one-party rule and socialist system to counter alleged threats of a “colour revolution”, their conflicting claims in the South China Sea remain a top obstacle to bilateral ties.

“For China, Vietnam has always been a thorn in its side. But the spiralling political turmoil may distract the leadership in Hanoi, making it more difficult to seek unity on external issues, which could weaken its policy towards China and thus benefit Beijing,” he said.

In Lam’s inauguration remarks shortly after he became Vietnam’s third president in less than two years – his two immediate predecessors resigned for “violations and wrongdoing” – he vowed to “resolutely and persistently continue the fight against corruption”.

Unlike former president Thuong, who proposed socio-economic development goals after taking office in March last year, Lam barely mentioned the economy in his speech after being sworn in at the National Assembly on May 22.

Instead, Lam focused on the party’s leadership and control, pledging to “strengthen order and discipline” and resolutely “prevent and repel ‘self-evolution’”, which according to Hayton refers to the tendency of individuals to place themselves ahead of the party.

According to Zhang, Lam’s ideologically-focused, combative remarks underlined Hanoi’s priorities of political stability, which could be achieved only through close cooperation with Beijing.

“With consolidating the party’s control and safeguarding the system becoming a rallying cry within the ruling party, it is likely that Vietnam will keep a distance from the West. That’d be good news for China too,” he said.

Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia and a Southeast Asia specialist, said the leadership turmoil was unlikely to affect Vietnam’s foreign policy and its balancing act between Beijing and Washington.

“Vietnam has been on a steady course of diversifying and multilateralising its foreign relations for more than three decades. Vietnam has and will continue to go out of its way to develop all-round cooperative relations with its partners, especially its seven top-tier comprehensive strategic partners: Russia, China, India, South Korea, the US, Japan and Australia,” he said.

“One indication of Vietnam’s balancing act is that as Chinese exports to the US decline, Vietnamese exports to the US increase based on a rise in Chinese exports to Vietnam.”

Former president Thuong – Trong’s protégé and the youngest member of the powerful Politburo – visited China twice last year in a bid to ease Beijing’s concerns about Hanoi’s warming ties with the US, Japan and their allies amid their widening rift over the maritime dispute.

Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, also played down the impact of the political turbulence at the top on the general direction of the country.

“Vietnam has gradually become more authoritarian, but its open economy and multilateral foreign policy prevent it from becoming an inward-looking state,” he said. “While the turmoil might distract Vietnam’s efforts in addressing the situation in the South China Sea, I don’t think it will change its current approach.”

But Zhang also cautioned that Beijing should remain vigilant because excessive infighting and struggles for power could undermine Vietnam’s political stability and “an unstable Vietnam would not be a blessing for China”.

However, he said, external factors, such as possible incidents with Beijing in the South China Sea, could disrupt Sino-Vietnamese ties and push Hanoi closer to Washington’s orbit again.

Noting the oil rig crisis of 2014 – which prompted mass anti-Chinese protests across Vietnam and became a turning point in Hanoi’s ties with Washington – Zhang said the possibility of a repeat of a similar unfortunate incident “cannot be ruled out”.

Hayton also said Beijing should tread carefully in handling the maritime row with Hanoi.

“In some way, that’s the one issue where China is shooting itself in the foot, because China takes such a hardline attitude towards the South China Sea and does not recognise the validity of other countries’ claims. That undermines the communist leadership in Vietnam,” he said.

He suggested that “if China wanted to be smart, it would find a compromise with Vietnam and that would make the position of its friends in Hanoi much more secure”.

“Anything that sees the leadership as unpatriotic or being too subservient to China would be a major cause against them. So if Vietnam suffers any humiliation from China in the South China Sea or other areas, it’d be an excuse to act against the leadership and cause a backlash, and that would probably go against what China’s real interests are,” Hayton said.

While the political turmoil raised concerns among countries abroad about the real motivation behind the anti-corruption drive, they are certain of one thing: it has not come to an end.

Zachary Abuza, a Southeast Asia expert and professor at the National War College, in Washington, said it was the most politically turbulent period of Vietnamese politics in history.

“[Lam] has weaponised anti-corruption investigations to systematically eliminate his political rivals,” Abuza said.

Lam has manoeuvred to become the country’s next top leader when the 80-year-old Trong is expected to retire at the party’s five-yearly congress in early 2026.

“That clearly dents the country’s selling point to foreign investors, that it offers political stability and predictability. But Vietnam’s political system is based on collective leadership, so that gives them a degree of resiliency,” he said.

“The infighting, however, is not over, and I expect more heads to roll before the 14th [party] congress, expected in January 2026.”

Land or air? The Post weighs up options as China Railway launches a new sleeper service from Hong Kong to Beijing and Shanghai

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3265392/land-or-air-post-weighs-options-china-railway-launches-new-sleeper-service-hong-kong-beijing-and?utm_source=rss_feed

High-speed overnight sleeper trains are to run regular services between Hong Kong and Beijing as well as Shanghai and back from June 15, with tickets sales to begin at noon on Wednesday.

China Railway said on Tuesday the new services would cut travel time by half and increase the number of seats to 600, replacing the suspended through train running between Hung Hom in Hong Kong and the two mainland Chinese cities.

It will take around 12½ hours to get to Beijing West railway station and about 11 hours to Shanghai Hongqiao railway station on the services, which will leave from Hong Kong’s West Kowloon terminus.

The trains, which will run from Friday to Monday, will have ordinary seats as well as a range of sleeper cabins.

The Post here explains the details of the new services and compares them with alternatives for time and cost from Hong Kong to the two mainland cities.

The D910 service will leave at 6.24pm from Hong Kong’s West Kowloon terminus and arrive at 6.53am the next day at Beijing West railway station – a journey time of about 12½ hours.

It also stops at five cities along the route – Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Changsha and Shijiazhuang.

The return D909 service will leave Beijing at 8.13pm and arrive in Hong Kong at 8.47am the next morning.

The ticket costs HK$937 for a second-class seat, HK$1,031 (US$132) for an upper deck sleeper and HK$1,163 for a lower deck sleeper on June 15 and 17.

The price for the latter two will go up on Sunday June 16 and will range between HK$1,163 and HK$1,448.

Lawmaker Michael Tien Puk-sun said the new arrangement was perfect for business and family travellers.

“I have always dreamed of travelling on overnight trains with my family and my dream has finally come true,” he said.

But Tien added he felt the 9am arrival time of the return train from Beijing was not early enough, which meant travellers might have to take a day off on arrival.

He appealed to the authorities to arrange an earlier arrival time so people would be able to get to their jobs for the usual start time of 9am.

The Shanghai-bound D908 service will leave the West Kowloon terminus at 7.49pm and arrive at Shanghai Hongqiao at 6.45am the next day, a trip of about 11 hours.

The train will stop along the way at Shenzhen, Chaoshan, Xiamen and Hangzhou.

The return D907 train will leave Shanghai at 8.15pm and arrive in Hong Kong at 7.29am the next day, with stops in Hangzhou and Shenzhen.

A second-class seat will cost HK$682, and the ticket price for sleeper carriages goes from HK$878 to HK$1,821 on Saturday, June 15 and Monday, June 17.

The price for sleepers will cost between HK$1,009 and HK$2,128 on Sunday, June 16.

The sale of tickets will open from Wednesday noon on the mainland’s ticketing platform 12306 as well as ticket counters, windows and machines at stations.

The Post’s search for flight tickets from Hong Kong to Beijing on website Trip.com found that the price of non-stop one-way tickets to Beijing on June 15 ranged from HK$755 to more than HK$5,000, depending on the departure time, flight duration as well as the airline used.

Most non-stop flights take less than four hours.

The shortest journey was three hours and five minutes, available on two flights – one with Air China and the other on Cathay Pacific Airways.

The price of the Air China flight was HK$2,190 and the Cathay Pacific flight came in at a little over HK$4,000.

The price of non-stop one-way flight tickets from Hong Kong to Shanghai on the same day cost from HK$609 to more than HK$2,500.

Most of them have a duration of less than three hours, with the shortest just two hours and 20 minutes.

Despite the shorter travel time by air, most airlines recommend passengers arrive at the airport at least two hours before departure, which adds to total travel time.

There is only one high-speed direct daily train service running from Hong Kong to Beijing at present.

The G80 train departs at 11am from Hong Kong’s West Kowloon terminus and arrives in Beijing at 7.30pm, an eight and a half-hour trip.

But the service only has seating accommodation and lacks overnight services.

The daytime train stops at six cities en route to Beijing – Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Changsha, Wuhan, Zhengzhou and Shijiazhuang.

Fares run from 1,179.50 yuan to 3,907.50 yuan.

There are also seven other options, but they all require passengers to change trains along the way.

There is also only one high-speed service without any changes of train between Hong Kong and Shanghai at present.

The G100 train leaves West Kowloon terminus at 11.36am and arrives at Shanghai Hongqiao at 7.25pm.

Additional reporting by Vivian Au

China’s services activity accelerates at quickest pace in 10 months in May, drives up employment, Caixin PMI shows

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3265412/chinas-services-activity-accelerates-quickest-pace-10-months-may-drives-employment-caixin-pmi-shows?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s services activity in May accelerated at the quickest pace in 10 months, while staffing levels expanded for the first time since January, a private sector survey showed on Wednesday, pointing to sustained recovery in the second quarter.

The Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to 54 from 52.5 in April, expanding for the 17th straight month and growing at the fastest pace since July 2023. The 50-mark separates expansion from contraction.

Together with the Caixin manufacturing PMI, which hit a near two-year high, the readings suggested business activity expanded robustly last month, although more indicators including exports, bank lending and retail sales due to be released would give more clues on the growth momentum.

The Caixin/S&P’s composite PMI, which tracks both the services and manufacturing sectors, rose to 54.1 last month from 52.8 in April, the highest in a year.

Faster new business inflows underpinned services activity growth. New business increased at the quickest pace since May 2023, as did new export business.

Additional staff were hired last month to cope with ongoing workload according to respondents, pushing up staffing levels to their highest since September.

Price pressures intensified, however, with firms raising their charges amid rising cost burdens.

Business confidence levels also eased to a seven-month low amid concerns about the global economic environment and rising prices.

China’s economy staged a solid start in the first quarter, prompting International Monetary Fund and rating agency Moody’s to lift their annual growth forecasts.

But a protracted property downturn has weighed on any meaningful economic rebound.

Nomura analysts on Monday said “growth momentum has remained tepid in general, especially for domestic demand, as developer contract sales remain in deep contraction”.

But in light of the export strength, the Japanese investment bank revised up China’s 2024 gross domestic product growth forecast to 4.5 per cent from 4.3 per cent.

‘Life mentor’ girl, 3, adored for mature way of speaking by 4.9 million fans online, prompts debate on raising daughters in China

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3265119/life-mentor-girl-3-adored-mature-language-49-million-fans-online-prompts-debate-raising-daughters?utm_source=rss_feed

A three-year-old girl in China who has become famous for her moments of profound wisdom caught on video has sparked a heated debate about whether daughters should be brought up according to traditional values.

The girl, who goes by the nickname Niu, lives in Beijing and boasts 4.8 million followers on Douyin, China’s TikTok, because of her mature way of speaking and her deep philosophical insights.

Her fans call her a “life mentor” due to moments of brilliance, such as when she picked up fallen flowers, placed them in her hair, and said: “This is free beauty.”

After she expressed regret for giving away a gift that she liked, the little girl said: “Don’t let embarrassment hold you back.”

In another video, while sitting by the window watching the sunset and skyscrapers, Niu asked her mother what would happen if the buildings were to “break”.

Her mother replied that people would repair and maintain the buildings. Niu replied: “So, what is obtained through effort is always cherished by the people.”

Niu grew up in a bilingual home, with her father having spent his childhood in the US before moving to China to be closer to his family.

She learned English from him and Chinese from her mother, seamlessly switching between the two languages.

Her parents always try to engage Niu in discussions and encourage her to express herself in front of the camera.

On her mother’s birthday, Niu expressed her gratitude with the innocent words: “Thank you, mum, for waiting for me since your birth.”

On weekends, Niu’s parents take her on hikes, introducing her to new adventures and sharing knowledge, including identifying flowers and recounting the history of buildings.

In one video, Niu wanted her grandfather to sleep with her at night, but her grandfather suffers from hypertension and needed to rest alone, which left her heartbroken and in tears.

Her father, speaking in English over the phone, told her: “Sadness doesn’t solve problems, but communication does.”

He explained to Niu the reasons behind her grandfather’s condition, asked about her love for her grandfather, suggested she sleep with her grandmother, and expressed gratitude for her willingness to communicate.

Niu’s upbringing breaks traditional Chinese beliefs, in which daughters are expected to be obedient and gentle because they will eventually be expected to provide for another family.

However, Niu’s parents guide her towards independent thinking and promote equality between parents and their children, nurturing her to become an optimistic and wise individual.

Their parenting approach has inspired many people on mainland social media.

“Parents are the first teachers of children,” said one on Douyin.

“I really need to have more patience and respect for my son because he is excellent, but I’ve been suppressing him,” said another.

One online observer commented on Douyin: “In my 40 years, this is the first time I’ve heard such wise words.”

Another said: “Niu’s high emotional intelligence and exceptional expression skills reflect the excellent upbringing by her parents.”

Where are India’s ties with the US and China headed in a third Narendra Modi term?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3265405/where-are-indias-ties-us-and-china-headed-third-narendra-modi-term?utm_source=rss_feed

India’s general election results on Tuesday delivered an unexpected twist in the ongoing tale of the country’s popular yet polarising Hindu nationalist leader, Narendra Modi, unveiling a reality quite distant from a widely anticipated landslide victory.

With his Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition projected to narrowly secure the required majority to form a government, Modi, the twice-elected leader of the world’s largest democracy, appears poised to return as the country’s top elected official.

Questions swirl as to the implications of the poorer-than-expected performance, with many asking what a weaker Modi means for India’s evolving relationship with the US and for its uneasiness with China, whom America sees as posing a “pacing challenge”.

Even if Modi’s actual clout is not necessarily diminished, the outcome represented “a setback to the massive expectations tied to his indomitable popularity on the ground and abroad”, according to Farwa Aamer of Asia Society, a New York think tank.

“India will continue to be seen as an important global player regardless, but we may just see a lot more focus on domestic issues and challenges, given the election results, at least for the initial months of the new government,” Aamer added.

During Modi’s tenure, US-India relations have transformed owing to shared security concerns over China’s ascent and a decades-long border dispute. Numerous bilateral summits have arisen, as have fortified joint-defence collaborations in the Indo-Pacific.

High-level initiatives like the ‘2+2 ministerial dialogues’ involving each country’s top defence and diplomatic officials have bolstered ties as well.

And throughout the headway, Modi has sought to position New Delhi as an appealing alternative amid Washington’s efforts to diversify supply chains away from Beijing’s sway.

At the same time, India has adeptly preserved its close diplomatic relations with Russia while managing to blunt US inclinations to raise cases of transnational repression and human-rights violations alleged under Modi’s leadership.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Tuesday described US-India ties as a “great partnership both at the government level and at the people-to-people level”.

Asked about a third Modi term, Miller replied that the US looked forward to the final results and that it “fully” expected the good dealings to continue.

Aamer believed India’s relationship with the US was likely to stay on its current path, whether in their “manner of managing frictions or maintaining the trajectory of ongoing joint initiatives”.

“The US has so far managed its differences with India well, especially with regards to the India-Russia equation,” she said.

As for China, that was “more complicated” due to New Delhi and Beijing’s unresolved border dispute lying “at the heart of Sino-Indian relations”, Aamer added.

Both sides maintain a significant number of troops and advanced weaponry along the “Line of Actual Control” – the effective Himalayan border between the two countries.

The stalemate persists despite 21 rounds of talks and at least four rounds of disengagement. Tensions exploded in May 2020 following a violent clash that resulted in the deaths of more than 20 Indians and four Chinese soldiers.

During the election campaign, Modi spoke of tackling border issues soon to achieve normalised relations, stressing the importance of regional stability.

“It is my belief that we need to urgently address the prolonged situation on our borders so that the abnormality in our bilateral interactions can be put behind us,” he said in an interview in April.

That said, India has keenly pursued its status “as an alternative market to China”, noted Aamer of Asia Society, “now becoming an increasingly viable investment and manufacturing global and regional hub”.

Indeed, Modi has pledged to transform India into a global manufacturing hub. In a third term, he is expected to follow US President Joe Biden’s example by offering subsidies for Indian domestic production of semiconductors and electric vehicles.

Such developments, coupled with the BJP’s performance on Tuesday, have apparently left investors jittery. The country’s benchmark National Stock Exchange Nifty 50 plunged to its worst intraday level since March 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, the rupee lost 0.5 per cent against the US dollar, its biggest slide in 16 months.

Jabin Jacob, a China expert at Shiv Nadar University in New Delhi, described India as a stable political system and said “one should not get carried away by short-term market sentiments”.

Its position on the global stage, Jacob added, was “not at all connected to the nature of the government in place in New Delhi”.

“It doesn’t take a decisive mandate to run effective foreign policy. Just good thinking, planning, human and material resources and a willingness to walk the talk”.

As for the prospect of India and China resolving their border issues during a third Modi term, Jacob believed no Indian government could do so because Beijing itself “does not wish to compromise”, independent of how power is wielded in New Delhi.

Not long after Modi spoke of breaking ground with Beijing, China’s state-run Global Times cited local experts in asserting that it was “imperative for India to uphold a strategic perspective” towards the bilateral relationship.

“The relationship between China and a number of countries, including US allies like Japan and Australia, is now improving,” Lin Minwang of Fudan University was quoted as saying.

“In light of this, India may question why there is no sign of easing and an improvement in China-India relations so far.”

Biden, for his part, hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a summit in San Francisco in November last year to restore high-level dialogue and stabilise US-China relations amid tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

However, Modi and Xi have only met on the sidelines of the Brics summit – a group of leading emerging economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates – in August 2o23 in Johannesburg.

While both parties called for efforts to improve ties, each asserted that the one-on-one meeting was initiated at the other’s request.

Jacob of Shiv Nadar University said Chinese analysts pushing for amity should look deeply at their country’s positions “including its unwillingness to respect bilateral agreements and international law”.

India’s relationship with the US has been stronger than at any time in the past, Jacob added, saying “it will only get stronger”.

“The US understands India is useful precisely because it has reach and connections that the US does not. India might not go the distance the West wants it to go on Russia, but India is still critical and plain-spoken with the Russians.”

Chinese firms offer credit for orders, but payment delays remain an issue: survey

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3265362/chinese-firms-offer-credit-orders-payment-delays-remain-issue-survey?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese firms became active in offering credit to obtain orders last year amid hot domestic competition, but payment delays continued to haunt small businesses, a report from global trade credit insurance group Coface on Wednesday showed.

Companies were found to be particularly prominent in providing more credit terms, with 79 per cent offering payment terms in 2023, up from 50 per cent in 2022, marking the highest level since Coface began its survey in 2016.

But with the overall economic recovery struggling to sustain momentum, firms in China have continued to call for more efforts to alleviate their cash flow pressure, despite the survey finding a shorter delay in payments from a year earlier.

The average payment delay in China fell to 64 days last year from 83 days in 2022, lower than 74 days for Hong Kong companies, 70 days for Malaysian businesses, 64 days for firms in Thailand and 66 days for companies in India.

The delay in China, though, was still higher than 63 days in Singapore, 53 days in Taiwan and 50 days in Japan, the survey showed.

The annual payment survey, covering over 2,400 companies in the Asia-Pacific region, was conducted between December and March.

It showed 60 per cent of companies in the region reported overdue payments last year, higher than 57 per cent in 2022.

However, the report found overall improvement in terms of payment delays, with the exception of textile and construction sectors.

“Private business owners like me are struggling because the entire industry, from upstream and downstream, is facing overcapacity,” said Guangdong-based textile equipment integrator Yao Ke.

Revenues this year are expected to double to more than 300 million yuan (US$41.4 million) from a year earlier, but 40 million yuan in accounts receivable – money owed for goods or services that have already been provided – and several months of payment terms hint at a potential cash flow risk.

“There are only two ways to play the game: either forgo profit and significantly lower prices to maintain cash flow to keep the factory running, or provide widespread credit sales to increase orders,” he added.

Yao has already reduced the price of his products by up to 15 per cent compared to last year, while he has also offered some regular customers a maximum credit period of 120 days.

“These companies with growing performance actually have high risks because they are definitely offering credit sales on a large scale to increase orders, but the risk of a break in the capital chain is also high,” said Peng Biao, a textile and clothing supply chain specialist.

Peng said that most Chinese textile manufacturers are more cautious with payment terms, preferring to control the payment period between 30 days and 45 days for foreign customers, and between 60 days and 90 days for domestic customers, even if it means taking less or no new orders.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is seeking public opinion on revisions to the Regulation on Ensuring Payments to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, vowing to tackle “chain debts”.

In the draft amendment, large enterprises are required to make timely payments to small businesses, while large listed companies are required to disclose information of overdue payments to small and medium-sized enterprises in their annual reports.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that in the first three months of the year, the cost per 100 yuan of business revenue for large-scale industrial enterprises with annual revenues over 20 million yuan stood at 85.18 yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 0.16 yuan.

The average collection period for accounts receivable, meanwhile, stood at 67.3 days, representing a year-on-year increase of 3.8 days.

At the end of March, the accounts receivable for large-scale industrial enterprises had reached 23.33 trillion yuan (US$3.2 trillion), representing a year-on-year increase of 8.2 per cent, while the inventory of finished products stood at 6.26 trillion yuan, representing an increase of 2.5 per cent.

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