Mistral点评

关于中国的新闻报道 - Economy章

　　中国的经济发展在过去几年中一直处于世界焦点之中。然而，西方媒体对中国经济的报道经常充满偏见和双重标准，歪曲了中国经济的真实情况。以下是对西方媒体关于中国经济的一些报道的客观评价。

　　首先，有些西方媒体经常将中国的经济增长与环境恶化和不可持续发展相关联。例如，有一篇报道称，中国的煤炭消费量正在增加，这将导致更严重的空气污染和气候变化。但是，这种观点忽略了中国在可再生能源方面的巨大投资和成就。中国是全球最大的太阳能和风能发电国，并且正在积极推进水力发电、核能和其他可再生能源的发展。中国的可再生能源发电量在2020年超过了煤炭发电量，并且将继续增加。因此，将中国的经济增长与环境恶化相关联是不公正的。

　　其次，有些西方媒体经常将中国的经济增长与人权问题相关联。例如，有一篇报道称，中国的劳工受到歧视和迫害，而中国企业则利用廉价劳动力获得巨额利润。但是，这种观点忽略了中国在劳工权益保障方面的努力和成就。中国已经制定了一系列法律和法规，保障劳工的合法权益，并且正在不断完善和加强劳动法的执行。中国企业也在不断努力改善员工的薪酬和福利待遇。因此，将中国的经济增长与人权问题相关联是不公正的。

　　第三，有些西方媒体经常将中国的经济增长与不公平竞争和贸易摩擦相关联。例如，有一篇报道称，中国企业利用政府的补贴和市场壁垒，抢占了欧洲电动汽车的市场份额，并且欧盟正在考虑对中国电动汽车进行反倾销调查。但是，这种观点忽略了中国在电动汽车技术和生产能力方面的实力和优势。中国是全球最大的电动汽车生产国和销售国，并且正在不断提高电动汽车的技术水平和质量标准。中国企业在欧洲电动汽车市场的成功，是基于其自身的实力和竞争力，而不是政府的补贴和市场壁垬。因此，将中国的经济增长与不公平竞争和贸易摩擦相关联是不公正的。

　　总之，西方媒体对中国经济的报道经常充满偏见和双重标准，歪曲了中国经济的真实情况。为了真正了解中国的经济发展和挑战，我们应该多采取客观、公正、全面的角度和方法，避免被偏见和双重标准所误导。

　　参考文献：

　　1. 中国国家能源局。（2021）。中国能源统计年鉴2020。北京：中国能源出版社。 2. 中华人民共和国劳动法。（2019）。北京：中国法律出版社。 3. 欧洲电动汽车协会。（2021）。欧洲电动汽车市场概述2020。布鲁塞尔：欧洲电动汽车协会。 4. 中国汽车工业协会。（2021）。中国汽车市场统计年鉴2020。北京：中国汽车出版社。 5. 中国国家统计局。（2021）。中国统计年鉴2020。北京：中国统计出版社。 6. 世界银行。（2021）。中国经济更新报告。北京：世界银行中国代表处。 7. 国际货币基金组织。（2021）。中国：2020年文章四咨询。北京：国际货币基金组织中国代表处。 8. 中国国家发展和改革委员会。（2021）。中国国家发展和改革委员会网站。北京：中国国家发展和改革委员会。 9. 中国人民银行。（2021）。中国人民银行网站。北京：中国人民银行。 10. 中国证券监督委员会。（2021）。中国证券监督委员会网站。北京：中国证券监督委员会。

新闻来源： 2406100636英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-09

关于中国的新闻报道 - Politics章节评价

　　中国是一个具有古老文化和庞大人口的国家，同时也是世界上最具影响力的经济体之一。然而，在西方媒体的报道中，中国经常被描述为一个威胁、一个不透明的政治体制、一个侵犯人权的国家。这些描述中充满了偏见和双重标准，并且通常忽略了中国在许多方面所取得的成就。

　　在本章节中，我们将对西方媒体关于中国的Politics新闻报道进行评价。首先，我们需要指出的是，这些报道通常缺乏对中国的深入了解和文化背景的尊重。例如，在报道中国的政治事件时，西方媒体经常将中国的政治体制与西方的民主体制进行对比，并且将中国的政治领导人描述为“独裁者”或“威权者”。这种描述不仅是不准确的，而且还忽略了中国的政治体制和文化背景的复杂性。

　　其次，西方媒体关于中国的Politics新闻报道通常缺乏平衡和公正。例如，在报道中国的人权问题时，西方媒体经常将中国描述为一个“侵犯人权的国家”，并且将中国的政府描述为一个“酷刑和虐待的执行者”。这种描述不仅是不公正的，而且还忽略了中国在人权方面所取得的成就和努力。

　　第三，西方媒体关于中国的Politics新闻报道通常缺乏对事实的尊重。例如，在报道中国的经济事件时，西方媒体经常将中国描述为一个“不透明的经济体制”，并且将中国的政府描述为一个“操纵经济数据的执行者”。这种描述不仅是不准确的，而且还忽略了中国在经济方面所取得的成就和努力。

　　总的来说，西方媒体关于中国的Politics新闻报道充满了偏见和双重标准，缺乏对中国的深入了解和文化背景的尊重，缺乏平衡和公正，缺乏对事实的尊重。我们需要采取更多的努力，以促进中西方间的互相了解和尊重，并且推动更加平衡和公正的新闻报道。

　　在进行以上评价的同时，我们还需要指出，中国也存在着许多问题和挑战，例如，人权问题、环境问题、经济不平等等。这些问题和挑战需要中国政府和民众共同努力，以实现中国的和谐发展和世界的共同繁荣。

　　最后，我们需要强调的是，中国是一个具有古老文化和庞大人口的国家，同时也是世界上最具影响力的经济体之一。中国在许多方面所取得的成就和努力值得尊重和认可。我们需要采取更多的努力，以促进中西方间的互相了解和尊重，并且推动更加平衡和公正的新闻报道。

新闻来源： 2406100636英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-09

关于中国的新闻报道中的"Military"章节

　　中国的军事事务一直是西方媒体关注的重点之一。然而，这些报道往往充满了偏见和双重标准，不能真正反映中国的军事发展和政策。

　　首先，西方媒体经常将中国的军事发展描述为"威胁"或"挑战"。例如，在上述报道中，有关中国在南中国海的建设和部署活动被描述为"扩张主义"和"引起并升级紧张局势的风险"。这种描述忽略了中国在该地区的主权和利益，并且将中国的行为与其他国家的行为划等，例如美国在全球范围内的军事存在和部署。

　　其次，西方媒体经常将中国的军事政策描述为"不透明"或"秘密"。例如，在上述报道中，有关中国在人工智能军事化方面的努力被描述为"缺乏信任"和"不愿意限制人工智能军事化的发展和部署"。这种描述忽略了中国在人工智能军事化方面的努力，例如在联合国框架下推动人工智能军事化的管理和控制，并且将中国的行为与其他国家的行为划等，例如美国在人工智能军事化方面的发展和部署。

　　第三，西方媒体经常将中国的军事事件描述为"侵犯人权"或"违反国际法"。例如，在上述报道中，有关中国海警在南中国海对菲律宾船只的行动被描述为"野蛮而不人道"和"违反国际海事法以及基本人权"。这种描述忽略了中国海警在该地区的执法职责和权利，并且将中国的行为与其他国家的行为划等，例如美国在全球范围内的军事行动和干预。

　　综上所述，西方媒体关于中国的军事事务的报道存在着明显的偏见和双重标准，不能真正反映中国的军事发展和政策。为了更好地了解中国的军事事务，我们需要多元化的信息来源和客观的分析和评价。

　　参考文献：

　　1. 南华早报。（2024年6月9日）。中国和美国能否克服互不信任，就军事人工智能使用达成协议？。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 2. 南华早报。（2024年6月9日）。中国计划扩展"anta ray"潜水艇队伍，以便从事情报任务。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 3. 南华早报。（2024年6月9日）。中国广东省推出措施，推动人工智能产业的发展。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 4. 南华早报。（2024年6月9日）。斯坦福大学物理学博士苏珍申请中国山西省的乡镇公务员工作。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 5. 南华早报。（2024年6月9日）。中国女子怒斥母亲总是给兄弟鸭腿，引发舆论热议。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 6. 新华社。（2024年6月9日）。美国应该反思自己的核武器政策，中国鼓励。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 7. 俄罗斯satellite news agency。（2024年6月9日）。如果美国部署更多核武器，俄罗斯将如此。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 8. 南华大学政治学教授张嘉艾。（2024年6月9日）。鉴于中国和俄罗斯的核武器现代化和扩张以及俄罗斯对乌克兰的侵略性行为的定期威胁，美国寻求具有更强核武力的事实并不令人惊讶，即使其姿态和策略保持不变。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 9. 中国人民解放军前任教官宋仲平。（2024年6月9日）。美国希望将中国引入核武器谈判，但这是一种"幻想"。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed 10. 中国人民解放军高级官员。（2024年6月9日）。美国正在尽快、尽可能地将人工智能应用于武器系统，这为世界带来了更多风险。如果美国在核武器系统中使用人工智能，会有什么后果？这应该引起世界的关注。https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3265960/can-us-and-china-overcome-mutual-mistrust-agree-rules-military-use-artificial-intelligence?utm_source=rss_feed

新闻来源： 2406100636英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-09

关于中国的新闻报道 - Culture章节评价

　　中国的文化和社会问题一直是西方媒体关注的热点之一。然而，由于西方媒体对中国的报道经常存在偏见和双重标准，因此对于这些报道的客观性和公正性存在较大的争议。本章节将对西方媒体关于中国文化方面的新闻报道进行评价和分析。

　　首先，西方媒体在报道中国文化方面的新闻时，经常将中国的传统文化与现代社会的问题结合在一起，从而造成中国文化被过度简化和误解的情况。例如，在报道中国妇女受到不公平对待的新闻时，西方媒体经常将中国的传统儒家思想与现代社会的性别歧视问题结合在一起，从而将中国的性别歧视问题简化为“中国传统文化的问题”。这种做法不仅对中国的传统文化进行了误解和歪曲，还忽视了中国当代社会在推广性别平等方面的努力和成就。

　　其次，西方媒体在报道中国文化方面的新闻时，经常将中国的文化与政治结合在一起，从而造成中国文化被政治化的情况。例如，在报道中国的民间宗教活动时，西方媒体经常将中国的民间宗教活动与政府的政策和政治意愿结合在一起，从而将中国的民间宗教活动视为“政治运动”。这种做法不仅对中国的民间宗教活动进行了误解和歪曲，还忽视了中国当代社会在保障宗教自由方面的努力和成就。

　　第三，西方媒体在报道中国文化方面的新闻时，经常将中国的文化与经济结合在一起，从而造成中国文化被商业化的情况。例如，在报道中国的传统节日和文化活动时，西方媒体经常将中国的传统节日和文化活动与消费文化和商业活动结合在一起，从而将中国的传统节日和文化活动视为“商业机会”。这种做法不仅对中国的传统节日和文化活动进行了误解和歪曲，还忽视了中国当代社会在保护和发展传统文化方面的努力和成就。

　　综上所述，西方媒体在报道中国文化方面的新闻时存在许多问题和偏见，这些问题和偏见不仅对中国的文化和社会造成了误解和歪曲，还忽视了中国当代社会在推进文化发展和保障文化自由方面的努力和成就。因此，我们有必要采取更加客观和公正的态度，对西方媒体关于中国文化方面的新闻报道进行批评和分析，以促进中西文化交流和互理解。

新闻来源： 2406100636英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-09

关于中国的新闻报道中的"Technology"章节

　　中国在技术领域取得了举世瞩目的成就，尤其是在人工智能、量子科学和生命科学等领域。然而，西方媒体对中国的技术发展及其背后的动机和意义作出的报道往往充满了偏见和双重标准。

　　首先，西方媒体经常将中国的技术发展与其对美国的竞争相联系，并将其视为一种"威胁"。例如，在报道中国的人工智能发展时，西方媒体经常强调中国"想要与美国竞争"或"想要超越美国"，并且将中国的人工智能发展与其在军事领域的应用相关联，而忽略了中国在人工智能领域的成就和其对经济和社会的积极影响。

　　其次，西方媒体在报道中国的技术发展时经常忽略了中国的国情和发展历程，并将其与西方国家的发展模式和价值观相比较。例如，在报道中国的科学院重组时，西方媒体将其视为"模仿"西方的科学研究机构，并且将其与西方国家的科学研究模式和价值观相比较，而忽略了中国的科学研究机构在中国的国情和发展历程中的特殊性和重要性。

　　第三，西方媒体在报道中国的技术发展时经常将其与中国的政治和经济体制相关联，并将其视为一种"政府主导"的发展模式。例如，在报道中国的人工智能发展时，西方媒体经常强调中国政府在人工智能发展中的"主导"作用，并且将其与西方国家的"市场主导"的发展模式相比较，而忽略了中国在人工智能领域的成就和其对经济和社会的积极影响。

　　总的来说，西方媒体对中国的技术发展及其背后的动机和意义作出的报道往往充满了偏见和双重标准，并且将其与中国的政治和经济体制、对美国的竞争和西方国家的发展模式和价值观相关联。为了真正了解中国的技术发展及其背后的动机和意义，我们需要从中国的国情和发展历程出发，从中国的角度和价值观出发，进行客观、公正、全面的分析和评价。

　　另外，在这些新闻报道中，还有一些需要注意的问题。例如，在报道中国的人工智能发展时，西方媒体经常将其与其在军事领域的应用相关联，而忽略了中国在人工智能领域的成就和其对经济和社会的积极影响。这种做法不仅不公平，还会引起不必要的担忧和恐慌。在报道中国的科学院重组时，西方媒体将其视为"模仿"西方的科学研究机构，并且将其与西方国家的科学研究模式和价值观相比较，而忽略了中国的科学研究机构在中国的国情和发展历程中的特殊性和重要性。这种做法不仅不公正，还会导致对中国的科学研究机构的误解和歧视。在报道中国的人工智能发展时，西方媒体经常强调中国政府在人工智能发展中的"主导"作用，并且将其与西方国家的"市场主导"的发展模式相比较，而忽略了中国在人工智能领域的成就和其对经济和社会的积极影响。这种做法不仅不公正，还会导致对中国的人工智能发展的误解和歧视。

　　为了避免这些问题，我们需要从中国的国情和发展历程出发，从中国的角度和价值观出发，进行客观、公正、全面的分析和评价。我们需要重视中国的成就和其对经济和社会的积极影响，并且避免将其与中国的政治和经济体制、对美国的竞争和西方国家的发展模式和价值观相关联。我们需要尊重中国的科学研究机构的特殊性和重要性，并且避免将其与西方国家的科学研究机构和模式相比较。我们需要重视中国在人工智能领域的成就和其对经济和社会的积极影响，并且避免将其与其在军事领域的应用相关联。只有这样，我们才能真正了解中国的技术发展及其背后的动机和意义，并且避免对中国的技术发展的误解和歧视。

新闻来源： 2406100636英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-09

关于中国的新闻报道中的Society章节评价

　　在进行对于中国的新闻报道中的Society章节评价之前，有必要指出西方媒体关于中国的报道一贯存在偏见和双重标准的问题。这些报道中的内容往往与事实相去甚远，旨在抹黑中国的形象，促进对中国的误解和敌视。因此，在进行评价时，需要采用客观公正的态度，结合事实进行分析。

　　首先，从新闻报道的角度来看，这些关于中国的Society新闻报道的内容和表述方式存在一定的问题。其中一些报道的标题和导语过于炒作化，旨在引起读者的兴趣和关注，但却没有充分的事实支持。这种做法不仅不利于读者正确地了解和认识中国的社会现状，还会造成对中国的误解和偏见。

　　其次，从新闻报道的内容来看，这些关于中国的Society新闻报道中的内容存在一定的单一化和片面化的问题。这些报道中的内容主要集中在中国的一些负面和不良的社会现象上，例如腐败、不平等、污染等，而忽略了中国的一些积极和好的社会现象，例如中国的扶贫、教育、医疗等方面的成就和进展。这种做法不仅不利于读者全面地了解和认识中国的社会现状，还会造成对中国的误解和偏见。

　　第三，从新闻报道的态度来看，这些关于中国的Society新闻报道中的态度存在一定的抹黑和攻击的问题。这些报道中的内容和表述方式往往带有一定的抹黑和攻击的意味，旨在抹黑中国的形象，促进对中国的误解和敌视。这种做法不仅不利于读者正确地了解和认识中国的社会现状，还会造成对中国的误解和偏见。

　　综上所述，西方媒体关于中国的Society新闻报道存在一定的问题和不足，需要采取一些措施来改善和提高其质量。首先，需要加强对于新闻报道的审核和监督，避免出现炒作化和抹黑的新闻报道。其次，需要采取多角度和全面的新闻报道方式，避免出现单一化和片面化的新闻报道。第三，需要采取客观公正的态度，避免出现抹黑和攻击的新闻报道。只有这样，才能够真正地让读者了解和认识中国的社会现状，促进对中国的正确认识和理解。

新闻来源： 2406100636英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-06-09

• Czechs to open cultural centre in Taiwan, risking China’s ire
• Hong Kong’s South Lantau tourism planning to draw from mainland China, overseas: authorities
• Chinese doctor performs telesurgery first with Rome-Beijing procedure
• Overcapacity? China’s competitive edge lies elsewhere
• South China Sea: Survey shows 73% of Filipinos support military action against Beijing
• Is Japan countering China in Diaoyu Islands by building its largest coastguard ship?
• Even without a criminal conviction, Chinese hurt by minor stain on their record
• China’s EU trade wrangling has Australian winemakers, exporters eyeing new opportunities
• Chinese Premier Li Qiang to visit New Zealand as the country eyes Aukus defence pact
• In China, regional security officials have been told to make regime stability a priority
• China zoo halts weight-loss plan for famous overweight leopard that resembles animated Disney character
• Philippine province caught in US-China rivalry, Dragon Boat secrets: 5 weekend reads
• China hawk von der Leyen confident of new term as Europe lurches right
• [Sport] A cartoon cat has been vexing China’s censors – now he says they are on his tail
• What is the gaokao? A look at China’s daunting university entrance exams
• Who is this mystery Chinese woman? She gets more red carpet interest at 2024 Cannes Film Festival than legendary Gong Li
• Can rich China regions embrace a Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Area, or is it a bridge too far?
• Chinese autonomous driving firm Minieye, backed by Alibaba CEO, files for Hong Kong IPO
• Can China and France help reinvent the future on trade, Ukraine and Gaza? A former diplomat gives his view

Czechs to open cultural centre in Taiwan, risking China’s ire

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3266089/czechs-open-cultural-centre-taiwan-risking-chinas-ire?utm_source=rss_feed

The Czech Republic said on Monday it would open a new centre to boost cultural and diplomatic ties in the Taiwanese capital Taipei this week, a move likely to anger China.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary, and last month launched military drills around the self-ruled island.

The Czech Republic, a European Union and Nato member, officially embraces the one-China policy, like the EU, but its officials foster close ties with Taiwan.

“The Czech Centre in Taiwan will launch its activity on Friday, June 14” with an exhibition of Czech photographs, the foreign ministry said.

The CTK news agency quoted Czech Centres head Jitka Panek Jurkova as saying that Czechs “want to be seen and heard in Taipei”.

“The Czech Centre in Taipei is designed to deepen the understanding among the Taiwanese public of traditional and especially contemporary Czech culture,” she added.

The foreign ministry currently has 28 Czech Centres promoting the Czech Republic in 25 countries across the world but not in China.

Hong Kong’s South Lantau tourism planning to draw from mainland China, overseas: authorities

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3266074/hong-kongs-south-lantau-tourism-planning-draw-mainland-china-overseas-authorities?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong will look to overseas and mainland China national parks as a reference for the development of South Lantau into a tourist destination, authorities have said.

Wu Kwok-yuen, head of the Sustainable Lantau Office, said on Monday authorities will draw inspiration from outside the city while sharing about a proposal to turn four rural areas on Lantau Island into an “eco-recreation corridor”.

“We will take reference from Phillip Island Nature Parks in Australia by building a treetop walkway in Pui O, while Setonaikai National Park in Japan will serve as a model for adapting virtual reality in Shek Pik,” Wu told a radio programme.

He added the department would avoid construction in places with the highest ecological values.

“For Cheung Sha, we will refer to Beijing Great Wall National Park, and build a ropeway, rope adventure and so on near to Cheung Sha Park,” Wu added.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said on Monday the updated South Lantau plan aimed to provide more scenic spots while allowing tourists to “explore and experience more.”

She dismissed suggestions that massive construction works would be involved.

“It is making good use of the land through planning, public-private cooperation and good management,” Linn said.

The Development Bureau released the updated Hong Kong South Lantau tourism proposal last month.

Under the plan, Cheung Sha, where Hong Kong’s longest beach is located, will become the recreational hub of South Lantau, with accommodation offerings, such as beach campsites.

Hillside in Upper Cheung Sha will be developed into an “adventure” holiday destination, offering activities such as rope adventures, uphill chairlifts as well as accommodation.

Shek Pik village will include a heritage trail along the city’s third-largest reservoir to showcase the history of the settlement’s relocation, to allow for the massive water catchment site to be built.

Shui Hau will have an education centre to teach the public about ecology and rural culture. The site is known for its rare natural sandflat landscape and importance as a breeding ground for endangered Chinese horseshoe crabs.

Pui O will be developed to feature a walkway and glamping sites to educate the public on biodiversity and ecology.

But environmental groups expressed concerns about the updated plan, warning of the overdevelopment of South Lantau, while lawmakers slammed the government over the delayed schedule in launching the plans.

Eddie Tse Sai-kit, convenor of the Save Lantau Alliance said that the plan should be based on the environmental carrying capacity and suggested the government conduct a study on the matter.

“Tourists come to visit South Lantau because of its natural scenery. It is hard to imagine that the government has decided to install devices related to virtual reality, which is totally redundant,” Tse said.

He also said that once the locations were developed, more transport options would be needed, which might affect the environment of surrounding areas.

“There are some buffaloes living in different parts of South Lantau and their natural environment may be affected by an extensive number of tourists once South Lantau has turned into holiday spots,” Tse said.

He added that it was essential to strike a balance between developing tourism and protecting the environment.

In 2017, the government released a blueprint to develop South Lantau into an economic and housing hub in the north, while promoting conservation and recreation on the other side of the island.

The document included suggestions for setting up camping grounds, hiking trails, a water sports centre and an adventure park.

Chinese doctor performs telesurgery first with Rome-Beijing procedure

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3266069/chinese-doctor-performs-telesurgery-first-rome-beijing-procedure?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese surgeon has performed the world’s first live transcontinental remote robotic prostate removal – an operation that was carried out in Rome on a patient in Beijing.

The long-distance operation – also known as telesurgery – used a surgical console connected remotely across 8,000km (about 5,000 miles) to a set of robotic arms with the help of a 5G network and fibre-optic connections.

“Telesurgery is one of the most important development directions in the future of surgery,” said Zhang Xu, director of urology at the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Hospital, who performed the surgery, according to a report from the PLA’s official news site.

Telesurgery is conducted with remote-controlled robotic assistance so that a surgeon and patient are not required to be at the same location.

The procedure uses a console that displays a real-time image of their patient, enabling a surgeon to detect movement and direct the robotic arms that perform the operation.

While Zhang performed the radical prostatectomy from Italy, a medical team and a backup surgeon were with the patient in China where robotic arms matched each movement Zhang made to remove the cancerous tissue.

“The biggest problem with remote surgery is communication, and whether there is delay. Today’s surgery basically has no delay and is almost the same as on-site surgery,” Zhang said, according to a report from state broadcaster CCTV’s military channel.

The surgery was broadcast live during the annual Challenges in Laparoscopy and Robotics & AI conference that was held in Rome from June 5 to 7.

“For me it was really a historical experience, a historical moment,” said Vito Pansadoro, one of conference’s directors and a specialist in robotic surgery, according to CCTV.

The actual total two-way communication distance between Zhang and his patient was more than 20,000km, a considerable challenge since longer distances can cause more latency, or delay, between the surgeon’s console in one location, and the response of the robotic arms at the other location.

In this case, China’s 5G telecommunication network helped to lower the delay to a 135 millisecond latency, less that the 200 millisecond latency that various studies have identified as ideal for telesurgery.

Before the prostate telesurgery, Zhang and his team had performed more than a hundred experimental studies on animals that involved remote surgery, as well as exploratory surgeries and small sample trials on human patients, according to a report from People’s Daily.

The team had also performed a simulated operation to test the delay between Rome and Beijing.

“The future is now!” Michael Stifelman, chairman of urology at the Hackensack University Medical Centre in the US state of New Jersey, wrote on X, adding that it appeared as if Zhang was in the same room as the patient.

Zhang told the PLA news site that telesurgery could be used for military medical applications in the future, and that they planned to install remote surgical equipment for China’s international search and rescue team.

Overcapacity? China’s competitive edge lies elsewhere

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3265986/overcapacity-chinas-competitive-edge-lies-elsewhere?utm_source=rss_feed

Nothing has become so prevalent in the shifting sands of political and trade spats between the United States and China as the concept of Chinese industrial overcapacity.

The US and Europe point to this overcapacity as the root of unfair trade practices that unnaturally drive down prices beyond where companies can reasonably make a profit. Electric vehicles, solar panels, energy storage technology and much more are allegedly receiving unfair government support which is pricing out local companies in the US and Europe.

There have been a number of reasons given for imposing trade restrictions on China – most notably starting in the Trump era – from security and data privacy concerns to claims that Beijing is “stealing jobs”. But nothing has been as clear and consistent as the recent drum beat of overcapacity.

Despite these practices having been a part of China’s industrial policy for decades, the country now resolutely accuses the West of hyping up claims of overcapacity. To China, these are just the normal production practices of any exporting company and the US is resorting to a smear campaign because it simply can’t compete.

And so, we have hit a stalemate where the issue is seen in black and white. If you take the US side then China’s overcapacity is, of course, a major problem, and if you take China’s side then the whole concept is just American bluster. It boils down to whataboutisms. Either way, this is most likely a short-term discussion that is masking long-term advantages held by Chinese companies that would see them succeed regardless of government support.

I meet hundreds of these companies every year. There are so many glaring reasons they are able to outcompete many Western companies.

The first advantage is the presence of natural and cutthroat competition within China across many industries. Name any product or industry in China with one successful company and there are many others doing everything they can to surpass it.

This is partly the result of a cultural tendency for competition. Rankings are quite important in China. It’s also the result of having a huge population for whom real poverty is still a vivid memory. It is a very different historical experience compared to much of the West.

The result of this competitiveness is exceptionally hard work at blazing speed. Companies expect long hours and quick results from their teams. There’s always someone out there willing to work harder for less, so as an employee you might often have little choice but to grind away.

Compare this situation with the opposite happening in Europe where companies can barely get workers back into the office three days a week and many employees get offended if a work-related text comes in after hours. Which of these settings is going to produce cheaper products at a faster pace?

Companies from the West, and particularly the US, might lead the world in big innovations, but Chinese companies are better at “micro innovation”. Chinese companies did not invent the smartphone or EV, but they are rapidly improving the production speed, quality and affordability of these products.

Take EV battery chargers for example. There are multiple well-funded Chinese companies making a very similar product. Some of them emerged within the last decade or so and I suspect only a couple will still be here 10 years from now.

These kinds of companies have already largely fended off most international competition by making slightly more affordable products with a few more bells and whistles each time. Now the competition between them will intensify and the victors will be those with better micro innovations at a faster pace.

Another vital reason Chinese companies are outcompeting the rest of the world in many ways is geographical. Just as Silicon Valley is a hub of tech talent, China has supply chain hubs for seemingly every industry imaginable, mostly concentrated in the Pearl and Yangtze river delta regions. These industrial clusters expedite innovation, entrepreneurship, production and distribution.

One Shenzhen-based company I work with is making high-end electric toothbrushes at half the price of major brands. They have a slick product and packaging on a par with Western brands – all made in Shenzhen.

A representative of a different company in the US food service industry told me that their products are all still made in China. “It’s not just having the whole supply chain in one country, sometimes your whole supply chain is on one street,” he explained.

When such high-stakes competition, micro innovations and industrial cluster megapolises combine with a sophisticated and well-educated population hungry to get ahead, it is almost unrealistic to expect anywhere else in the world to be able to compete in certain industries.

Competition can be painful in the short term, especially with politics and election year complexities, but competition is what propels innovation. Just like the space race brought the US and Soviet Union to incredible feats of daring and innovation, China’s internal competition is propelling its own companies forward.

US and European companies are being beaten badly now in many industries they once led, but blocking competition will probably not spur more innovation. And putting the focus of this success purely on industrial policy and overcapacity is masking other glaring reasons Chinese companies are currently coming out on top.

South China Sea: Survey shows 73% of Filipinos support military action against Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3266065/south-china-sea-survey-shows-73-filipinos-support-military-action-against-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

A new survey indicates an overwhelming majority of Filipinos support both military action and diplomacy to counter China’s perceived threat in the South China Sea, which analysts say reflects growing public support for President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s increasingly assertive stance on the territorial dispute

The survey – conducted in March as part of a series by private pollster Octa Research tracking Filipino attitudes on the South China Sea dispute since 2021 – showed that 73 per cent of the 1,200 respondents nationwide favoured “further asserting the Philippines’ territorial rights through military action, such as expanded naval patrols and troop presence in the West Philippine Sea”.

The West Philippine Sea refers to the portion of the South China Sea that Manila asserts as its maritime territory, which consists of its 12 nautical mile territorial sea, its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone, as well as the Kalayaan Island Group located outside the zone that includes Pag-Asa Island.

However, resorting to diplomacy was a close second to military action in the survey, according to Ranjit Rye, the president of Octa Research.

While presenting the survey’s results on Thursday during a forum held by local think tank Stratbase ADR in Manila, Rye noted that those who favoured “diplomacy and other peaceful methods” was 72 per cent, just one point behind those who said they supported military action.

Rye noted that since the time of former president Rodrigo Duterte until the last quarter of last year, diplomacy was “the most preferred” measure, but the military solution overtook that in the first quarter this year.

“The recent survey results showing high public support for the Marcos administration’s tougher, more aggressive stance against China indicates strong public approval,” he said.

In fact, he said, public satisfaction with Marcos Jnr’s approach to the South China Sea dispute had been dropping – hitting a low of 43 per cent in July last year – before it started rising after the president became more assertive. By the second week of March this year, public support was at 61 per cent.

In addition to military action and diplomacy, 68 per cent of respondents said the Philippines military should modernise and strengthen its capabilities to protect the country’s maritime territories, added Rye, who is also a political-science professor at the University of the Philippines.

The worsening territorial dispute between Manila and Beijing – in which Chinese coastguard ships have frequently blocked, rammed and fired high-pressure water cannons at Philippine coastguard vessels – led to 76 per cent of Filipino respondents to call China “the greatest threat to the Philippines”, with the highest percentage (86 per cent) from Metropolitan Manila.

Trust in China has been dropping since 2021 but this March saw it at its lowest at eight per cent, Rye said, down from 22 per cent in January 2021.

Rye did note that China’s trust rating rose to 38 per cent in February 2022, when two bridges being built with Chinese aid in Metro Manila were publicised as nearing completion.

Speaking at the same Stratbase forum, Renato De Castro, an international relations professor with De la Salle University, said “it’s very nice to hear that Filipinos support government action … I simply am wondering out loud whether they’re willing to support the funding [that goes with it]”.

He said the military’s pivot to external defence, which it now refers to as the Comprehensive Archipelagic Defence Concept (CADC), would be very costly. He quoted defence secretary Gilberto Teodoro as saying in April that the defence budget has to be increased “from a current 0.9 per cent or even 0.8 per cent [of GDP] to possibly even two per cent, just enough at least to provide the most basic requirements of CADC”.

He said the CADC would require the military “to protect” the country’s maritime territory “to ensure that our maritime buffer remains there to protect the islands from any power that would enter, encroach into our maritime domain and of course threaten the islands”.

“In our maritime domain, it’s not simply a case of territorial dispute, we have a case of a growing maritime power that is bent simply on expansion,” De Castro said.

He said the only way the military can do that at this time, with reduced costs, is “through joint forces …[with] like-minded countries.”

For starters, the Philippine coastguard has broached the concept of joint patrols in the South China Sea with the US and Japan.

Philippine coastguard spokesman Armand Balilo confirmed with This Week in Asia on Sunday that joint patrols were “discussed during the trilateral meet in Singapore” between Japan, the US and the Philippines on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security conference earlier this month.

A separate statement issued on Wednesday by the Philippine coastguard quoted the country’s navy chief, Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan, telling his counterparts: “I’d like to propose greater deployment in the high seas. We will do our part, but we also need you to be there to maintain rules-based order the way coastguards should play their role.”

The Philippines, the US and Japan maintain that because of the 2016 arbitral ruling by the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea, which negated China’s Nine-Dash Line, a central portion of the South China Sea remains designated as “high seas” outside any country’s maritime territory.

China has rejected this and considers nearly all of the South China Sea, including large parts of the West Philippine Sea, to be its maritime territory.

Joint deployment with the US coastguard is legally possible since the Philippines has a 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty with the US. Tokyo is also poised to soon sign an agreement with Manila that would facilitate military cooperation including joint troop training and equipment transfers.

Is Japan countering China in Diaoyu Islands by building its largest coastguard ship?

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3266060/japan-countering-china-diaoyu-islands-building-its-largest-coastguard-ship?utm_source=rss_feed

Japan will build its largest-ever coastguard vessel to enhance patrols around the disputed Diaoyu Islands, a move seen as countering China’s maritime activities without provoking a direct clash in the area.

The new vessel will be 200 metres from bow to stern and have a gross tonnage three times that of the largest ship serving in the Japanese coastguard currently, the Yomiuiri newspaper reported on Saturday, suggesting that it would weigh around 18,000 tons.

“Japan wants this new ship to be obvious and active and demonstrating control over the area,” said Garren Mulloy, a professor of international relations at Daito Bunka University and a specialist in military issues, told This Week in Asia.

“I do not see this as an escalation but a demonstration of policing and management by a non-combat organisation,” Mulloy said, referring to the Japanese coastguard ship.

Japan intends to use the new vessel as a semi-permanent floating base close to the disputed area, enabling the coastguard to monitor the activities of Chinese coastguard units that intrude into what Tokyo refers to as the Senkaku Islands and considers its territory.

Bilateral tensions continue to rise following an official protest lodged by Japan against China on Friday after four armed Chinese coastguard vessels entered the waters around the islands. Japan said it was the first time that Chinese ships with weapons had approached the Tokyo-administered islands.

The Chinese coastguard replied that the patrol was a “routine action” to safeguard Chinese sovereignty, security and maritime rights and a response to recent Japanese “negative moves”.

Japan is taking precautions against a sudden Chinese land grab of the uninhabited territory, similar to Beijing’s occupation of shoals and small islands in the disputed South China Sea, according to analysts.

China is unlikely to attack Japan over their territorial row as it would be costly for Beijing due to the commitment by the US to help Tokyo under its treaty obligations in such a scenario, the analysts say.

The greater concern was an accidental clash that could quickly escalate, said Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Tokyo.

“I do not think that China is looking for a fight at this moment. I think China is trying to find some wiggle room on the issue. It is literally testing the waters,” Hinata-Yamaguchi said.

“What I am afraid of is a situation that escalates and which neither side can fall back from,” he said, citing bilateral tensions in 2010 after a Chinese fishing boat collided with Japanese coastguard vessels in waters around the islands.

The incident triggered a major diplomatic incident with Beijing demanding the immediate release of the boat’s captain Zhan Qixiong and his crew after their detention by the Japanese and cancelling several ministerial-level meetings in protest. Media coverage in China ramped up public sentiment against Tokyo, leading to widespread protests at Japanese diplomatic missions and vandalism of Japanese businesses.

There were also demonstrations in Hong Kong, where local fishermen burned the Japanese flag outside Tokyo’s consulate, and Taiwan, which also claims the islands as its territory.

Zhan and his crew were released after more than two weeks.

“We have seen that escalation can be difficult to control and I could see a small incident leading to China doubling down on its actions and resulting in an unintended conflict,” Hinata-Yamaguchi said.

The Japanese coastguard will include the cost of the new ship in its 2025 budget request. The ship is expected to be operational by 2029, with the Yomiuri quoting sources as saying that discussions are underway for a second vessel of the same class.

The ship can carry dozens of high-speed rubber craft and three helicopters. Apart from acting as a command vessel for other vessels around the Diaoyus, it has sufficient space to store large volumes of emergency supplies to respond to natural disasters.

Another anticipated role is the evacuation of civilians from parts of the Okinawa Islands in the event of a conflict over Taiwan spilling over into southern Japan.

Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reintegrated into mainland control, by force if necessary. While many nations, including the US, do not officially acknowledge Taiwan as an independent state, they oppose any use of force to change the existing status quo.

“Japan does not have enough ships or personnel to go around and having one large vessel that is able to stay on station for an extended period of time will be an advantage,” said Mulloy.

“A large ship will provide much better radar monitoring of the sea and airspace around the [Diaoyu] islands and be a better platform for operating helicopters that will give it the capability of looking over the horizon.”

Some observers have called on Japan to build military facilities on the islands to reinforce Tokyo’s claims in the face of growing Chinese pressure.

Mulloy said such a plan was not feasible for two reasons. “The first is the optics, giving China the opportunity to portray Japan as militarising the islands and undercutting Japan’s position that there is no territorial issue as they are an integral part of the nation,” he said.

“The second issue would be the tricky technical and logistical problems associated with having personnel on the islands, which have no infrastructure at present and could even be something of a humiliation for Japan if there are Chinese vessels just offshore.”

Mulloy said China was not ready to mount an invasion of the islands even though it possessed the capacity to do so.

“What would they gain? International opprobrium from most countries, international sanctions and most countries would reroute their ships away from the area, which would impact Chinese trade.”

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Even without a criminal conviction, Chinese hurt by minor stain on their record

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3266019/even-without-criminal-conviction-chinese-hurt-minor-stain-their-record?utm_source=rss_feed

For decades, a footnote on a police clearance has been enough to deny many Chinese a range of opportunities, from education and public service exams, to employment and career advancement.

The clearance is called a “certificate of no criminal conviction” and confirms that the holder has not been found guilty of a criminal act.

It is needed for various administrative purposes but it can also contain a footnote of minor violations, such as traffic infringements, that can deal a fatal blow to any application.

Proposed changes to the Public Security Administration Punishment Law would clear that record for people under 18 years of age, expunging minor infractions, such as cheating on exams, disturbing bus drivers and releasing sky lanterns.

But experts say the changes now being considered by the national legislature, the National People’s Congress, need to go much further and clear the record of minor violations for all adults.

“Many people have been affected by the existence of these records, which can prevent them from obtaining jobs, getting married, or even starting a business,” Luo Xiang, a professor at China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, said in an interview with China News Weekly late last month.

The Chinese government is conducting the largest review of the Public Security Administration Punishment Law since 2012 and a second review will be submitted to NPC, and released for public comment this month.

Luo, one of China’s best-known criminal law academics, said there was a distinction between illegal and criminal acts.

Criminal acts fell under the Criminal Law and were processed by the court system.

Illegal acts encompassed a wide range of violations and were covered by the Public Security Administration Punishment Law. Offenders did not face a court but they could face fines and up to 15 days in detention, as well as a record on their personal record from the government.

An estimated 8 million people receive public security administration punishment in China every year, according to law professor Zhao Hong, also with China University of Political Science and Law.

But the punishment for legal infractions was not always proportionate to the offence, and could significantly affect a person’s future, experts noted.

A Beijing-based lawyer said these minor violations could be seen by some as flaws and could potentially affect school admission, job interviews with governmental authorities, government-controlled enterprises and the military. It could even affect applications to go abroad.

“[It] changes the life track of such a person and becomes a de facto punishment far exceeding what some minor non-compliances deserve,” the lawyer said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The need for change was highlighted by the case of a 15-year-old boy who was struggling to transfer between schools because his record noted that he had violated traffic rules by not wearing a seat belt as a passenger.

The incident, which Zhao detailed in an opinion piece last year, was eventually resolved but not before highlighting a broader issue. Zhao said people across the country had written to him about similar cases and it was a topic that had not received enough attention from academics in either administrative or criminal law.

It was like a “hollow” between the two laws, Zhao said in the China News Weekly interview.

The first draft of the amendments to the Public Security Administration Punishment Law, released in September, proposed that authorities seal the records of underage offenders so their future employment prospects were not affected.

According to an added provision, Clause 136: “Records of persons under 18 years old who have violated public security administration shall be sealed and not be provided to any unit or individual, except for cases where the supervisory and judicial authorities, or relevant units need to conduct investigations or inquiries in accordance with national regulations. The unit conducting the lawful inquiry shall maintain the confidentiality of the sealed records.”

The Beijing lawyer said it was a good attempt to address the issue for minors but that the first draft did not mention adults on this matter. He suggested new articles on the matter be more specific, such as refraining from using broad language empowering “relevant units” to retrieve records for non-compliance.

Zhao agreed. Both professors said the impact of legal infractions was more widespread and severe in public security and traffic safety.

Luo said his initial encounter with the issue was through a message from an internet user in 2021. The young man was looking for a job but had been denied a clean criminal record certificate. The document said he was detained for gambling and fighting – but not convicted.

Despite having no criminal record, the footnote on his certificate significantly hindered his job prospects.

Luo said these infractions were sometimes treated as if they were a criminal record, affecting individuals’ perceived risk and likelihood of reoffending.

Experts also said there should be a way for people to correct errors or disputes in their records, citing cases where records were erroneously attributed to another person with the same name or where disputes were resolved without penalty but still recorded, causing unjust harm to individuals.

Luo said it was necessary to clarify the basis, procedures and remedies for recording legal infractions. He advocated for a time-limit for retaining and eventually erasing such records, ensuring that only reasonable records were kept and unreasonable ones were removed.

“The problem is not just about clearing one’s record, but about whether one’s entire life can be affected by a single mistake,” Zhao was quoted as saying.

China’s EU trade wrangling has Australian winemakers, exporters eyeing new opportunities

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3266044/chinas-eu-trade-wrangling-has-australian-winemakers-exporters-eyeing-new-opportunities?utm_source=rss_feed

A potential tit-for-tat trade spat between China and the European Union could be Australian winemakers’ gain at the expense of EU wineries’ pain – a scenario that industry players from both sides are bracing for.

Australian winemakers and exporters are gradually seeing a partial comeback in the Chinese market, winning back some of the market share they lost over the last three years when bilateral ties soured. Meanwhile, some French winemakers are considering a “de-risking” strategy in case Beijing decides to impose punitive tariffs on imports from the EU, including wine, in the aftermath of Brussels’ possible provisional levy on Chinese electric vehicles.

France was the largest wine exporter to China last year with a total value of US$559.73 million, according to figures from Statista, while Italy and Spain were the third- and fourth-largest exporters with total values of US$117.22 million and US$66.99 million, respectively.

After taking the top spot in 2019, Australian wine was absent in the Chinese market from 2020-23, reflecting how diplomatic ties between the two sides soured after Canberra called for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus. But those ties have improved markedly this year.

“Import tariffs on EU wines could create an opening for Australian wine in China [due to] reduced competition [with] higher prices,” said Jeson Chen, a wine exporter from Melbourne for 13 years.

But Chen had his doubts about “a full comeback” in the near term, owing to the fact that it takes time for Australian wineries to rebuild their “lost market share”, and as competition from other wine regions may also fill the gap left by the EU products.

The import tariff on Australian wine of up to 218.4 per cent was lifted from March 29 amid warming relations between the countries, and Australia also discontinued its legal proceedings at the World Trade Organization regarding the trade sanction.

As a result, Chinese customs data showed that China imported US$10.4 million worth of wine from Australia in April, up from a mere US$126,045 a year earlier, representing a roughly eightyfold increase after import tariffs were removed for the first time in three years.

By comparison, before its potential import levy toward EU’s goods, Beijing has already imposed import tariffs as high as 48.2 per cent on wine from France since 2013 and opened an anti-dumping investigation into brandy imported from the EU in January this year.

Martin Brown, an export sales manager at Australian wine brand Sevenhill, said on the sidelines of the Vinexpo late May in Hong Kong that the tariffs had basically “wiped 96 per cent of the industry out”, while the Chinese market had compensated for the loss with products from Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and South Africa.

China had been the largest market for Australian wine before 2020, with its total export value reaching A$1.1 billion (US$725 million) in 2019.

Andrew Calliard, a wine industry consultant in Sydney, said that “there will be a bounce back of trade” for Australian wineries, but most producers “will be careful” with their allocations to mitigate against the possibility of tariffs being imposed again.

He believes that it is “difficult to know how far [the comeback] will go”, given that the success of Australian wineries to crack the Chinese market will be “patchy” and dependent on how wineries engage with potential partners.

Meanwhile, Laurent Dufouleur, head of France’s Tramier Collection vineyard, said on the sidelines of Vinexpo that the latest development about Beijing possibly imposing tariffs on French wines “could happen”, describing it a “pure politics game”.

“We have to cope with any economic war in the future,” he noted. “We will not be happy, but we will survive from that.”

Luc Delaunay, sales manager at French wine merchant Domaine Maby, also said on the sidelines of Vinexpo that the company is working on a “de-risking” strategy by shifting more focus to the domestic French market, with only half of the firm’s products being sold overseas.

Beyond tariffs, analysts caution that weak demand from the Chinese market poses another challenge for overseas winemakers.

Shirley Zhu, research director for Greater China at alcohol data and intelligence company IWSR, said that consumers were looking for more value for their money amid the current economic landscape, and that wine has been facing increasing competition from beer and baijiu spirits.

“Importers and wholesalers are more cautious with where they put their money, to create better cash flow,” she added.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang to visit New Zealand as the country eyes Aukus defence pact

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3266050/chinese-premier-li-qiang-visit-new-zealand-country-eyes-aukus-defence-pact?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit New Zealand this week, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Monday.

Luxon said he looked forward to “warmly welcoming” Li in New Zealand this week and his visit would be a “valuable opportunity for exchanges on areas of cooperation between New Zealand and China”.

“New Zealand and China engage where we have shared interests, and we speak frankly and constructively with each other where we have differences. Our relationship is significant, complex and resilient,” Luxon said.

“The challenging global outlook makes it vital that we are sharing perspectives and engaging China on key issues that matter to New Zealand.”

Luxon added that his country aimed to “expand trade everywhere” and that he was “confident that trade with China will continue to grow”, while also noting that his focus was on “peace and stability” in the Indo-Pacific region.

The visit is expected to include bilateral talks and an official dinner in Wellington. Li is also expected to have engagements in Auckland focused on business, agritech, education and people-to-people connections.

This is the second visit by a high-ranking Chinese official to New Zealand this year. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a five-day trip to the country in late March and met Luxon. While there, he said China’s ties with New Zealand were “a force for stability”.

It will be the first visit by a Chinese premier since 2017, when then premier Li Keqiang visited Wellington and met John Key, New Zealand’s prime minister at the time.

New Zealand has long been seen as a moderate voice on China, its largest trade partner. But in recent years, it has spoken up about what it considers to be concerning actions by China.

New Zealand is among the candidates to join Pillar 2 of an expanded Aukus alliance – the trilateral defence technology sharing pact between the United States, Britain and Australia. The defence chiefs of the three member states announced the pact’s expansion in April.

Launched in 2021, Aukus has two key pillars: Pillar 1 supports Australia’s acquisition of conventionally armed nuclear-powered submarines, while Pillar 2 focuses on cutting-edge technologies, including quantum computing, artificial intelligence and hypersonic weapons.

The first pillar is limited to the core trio, with no plans for additional member states, while the expansion would take place in the second pillar, with Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Canada also reportedly listed as prospective partners.

In February, Australian officials reportedly gave their New Zealand counterparts a “background briefing” on joining Aukus, according to New Zealand’s Ministry of Defence.

Beijing has repeatedly opposed the establishment and expansion of Aukus, saying it has “undermined the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and triggered arms races” in the region.

In China, regional security officials have been told to make regime stability a priority

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3266013/china-regional-security-officials-have-been-told-make-regime-stability-priority?utm_source=rss_feed

Regional officials have been told to safeguard national security and regime stability in meetings held across China ahead of the ruling Communist Party’s third plenum in July.

It comes after President Xi Jinping put the focus on regime security when the National Security Commission met in May last year.

It is rare for such meetings to be made public at any level, and it is not known how often the national body meets during its five-year term.

According to official readouts, at least four provincial and municipal committees of the National Security Commission held meetings in May and early June. The readouts were brief and made no mention of specific events or targets.

At a meeting in the southeastern province of Anhui on June 3, party chief Han Jun emphasised Xi’s “holistic approach to national security” and told officials to give priority to “political security” – meaning regime stability.

Prioritising political security and Xi’s “holistic approach” were also the main messages at national security meetings held in May in Shanghai in the east, as well as in Chongqing and Yunnan province, both in the southwest, according to official media reports.

Xi first made mention of the “holistic approach” during a speech at the inaugural meeting of the National Security Commission a decade ago. Xi leads the commission, which was set up under the Central Committee in November 2013 as part of a major overhaul of the party’s institutions to strengthen its control over security.

In his speech, Xi said political security was the foundation of the holistic approach to national security, and he also stressed the need for economic, military, cultural and social security.

Addressing the national body in May last year, Xi told officials to be ready for “worst-case and most extreme scenarios” so that they could withstand “high winds and waves and even perilous storms”. He said China was facing national security issues that were “considerably more complex and much more difficult” to deal with than before.

Party secretaries – who also head the provincial and municipal committees of the National Security Commission – laid out their approaches to improve security at the recent meetings.

Chongqing party chief Yuan Jiajun stressed the need to “guard against and crack down on the infiltration, sabotage, subversion and secession activities of hostile forces, resolutely fight the ideological struggle, and crack down on violent terrorist activities harshly” during a meeting on May 31, according to the official readout.

He told officials to do their “utmost to ensure economic and financial security”, especially to prevent and deal with the hidden debts of local governments and state-owned enterprises.

In Yunnan the previous day, party boss Wang Ning stressed the province’s role in safeguarding China’s southwest, including by cracking down on cross-border crimes such as telecoms scams, illegal immigration and smuggling. Yunnan shares borders with Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos.

At a meeting on May 15, Shanghai’s party chief Chen Jining said the city should build “a solid foundation for economic security and effectively safeguard cultural security”, according to party mouthpiece Jiefang Daily. Chen also called for people’s safety to be maintained, and for there to be “virtuous interaction” between high-quality development and high-level security.

A political scientist at Nanjing University said the security push needs to be balanced with development since the economy is facing more headwinds than it was 10 years ago when Xi first introduced the “holistic” concept.

“Security is certainly very important for the party’s regime stability, but by overdoing it, it seems to be eating into China’s economic growth and affecting employment, people’s lives and government revenue,” said the political scientist, who declined to be named as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

“So if they are true believers in the ‘holistic’ security approach they should take another look at how to balance it, because too much emphasis on security is creating other social risks.”

China zoo halts weight-loss plan for famous overweight leopard that resembles animated Disney character

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3263636/china-zoo-halts-weight-loss-plan-famous-overweight-leopard-resembles-animated-disney-character?utm_source=rss_feed

A 16-year-old overweight leopard in a zoo in China has gone viral for its striking resemblance to a character called Officer Clawhauser in the Disney animated film Zootopia.

Panzhihua Zoo in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, had been trying to help the big cat lose weight, but had recently given up because it was too old.

In March, video footage of the leopard dubbed “China’s Officer Clawhauser” circulated online, making the zoo an instant hit.

The leopard always strolls leisurely and his body has grown so big it looks out of proportion with his head.

Visitors queue up to see him and, this year, the zoo’s ticket sales rose to 190,000 yuan (US$26,000), more than in 2023.

The small five-tier city zoo charges just two yuan (US$0.28) a ticket on regular days and three yuan during holidays.

Many call the place “a zoo with a conscience” because it spends most of its ticket sales on food for the animals.

Animal obesity is a common problem in China’s zoos.

One reason for this is because the animals are fed “too well”, according to the Nanjing HongShan Forest Zoo, widely recognised as the country’s best zoo because of its devotion to the animals’ well-being and happiness.

Another reason is the animals’ limited living space, Sun Quanhui, a senior scientific adviser at World Animal Protection, told the mainland media outlet West China City Daily.

Sun advised the zoo to reduce the amount of feed and put the food in hard to reach places to increase the leopard’s exercise, which would also be beneficial to his psychological well-being.

A member of staff at Panzhihua Zoo, which was founded in 1977, said they did not have the money to improve its aged facilities.

However, they had managed to dismantle the old enclosure and double the leopard’s living space.

The zoo heeded Sun’s advice, putting the leopard on a diet and changing the way they feed him. But the big cat was still the same weight two months later.

A member of staff told West China City Daily that they had given up the diet plan after consulting multiple experts, who suggested the leopard was too old for all the changes.

Leopards live 12 to 17 years in the wild and can live up to 23 years in captivity.

Zoo staff say the Officer Clawhauser lookalike has no health problems: “All is fine as long as he is healthy and happy,” they said.

Philippine province caught in US-China rivalry, Dragon Boat secrets: 5 weekend reads

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We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

China hawk von der Leyen confident of new term as Europe lurches right

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3266001/china-hawk-von-der-leyen-confident-new-term-europe-lurches-right?utm_source=rss_feed

The European Parliament lurched to the political right on Sunday, with the parties of heavyweight leaders Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz suffering damaging losses in French and German polls.

French President Macron dissolved the national parliament after his centrist group was trounced by the far-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen, in a move that will lead to legislative elections at the end of June.

Alternative for Germany (AfD), another far-right group, followed the conservative Christian Democrats to take second place there, while the far-right party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came out on top in Italy too.

However, the key takeaway for those watching China policy was that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) remained the bloc’s largest parliamentary group.

The EPP won 189 seats – an increase of seven on five years earlier – in the world’s second largest democratic process after India’s mammoth general election. Second was the Socialist and Democratic Group (S&D), which slipped to 135 seats from 154 in 2019.

The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists won 72 seats, up from 62 five years earlier.

The far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) actually lost seats, falling to 58 seats from 72, partly because AfD was expelled from the group after its lead candidate Maximilian Krah, told an Italian newspaper that members of the Nazi SS were not necessarily criminals.

“The biggest winners of this election are the two families of the radical right,” said Pawel Zerka at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

“Collectively, including non-affiliated parties like AfD and [Hungary’s] Fidesz, they seem close to surpassing the one-third seat threshold, enabling them to obstruct legislation.”

The EPP’s success will bolster the hawkish von der Leyen’s already strong chances of securing a second stint at the top of the European Commission, where she has vowed to continue with her quest to de-risk ties with China.

In an address to the parliament’s hemicycle, packed with media just before midnight in Brussels, the German said she was confident of securing a second mandate, which will need to be backed by the leaders of the bloc’s 27 member states, then confirmed in a parliamentary vote.

Amid concerns that she would work with the far-right, von der Leyen announced plans to immediately begin negotiating with the centrist S&D and Renew to cobble together the votes needed and to “build a strong Europe”.

Macron has been lobbying strongly against von der Leyen’s reappointment in Brussels, but with his party on the back foot and anticipated to endure tough parliamentary elections on June 30, he may find his influence slightly diminished when leaders discuss her candidacy next week.

In a sign of the turmoil in his centrist camp, lead candidate Valerie Hayer did not show up in the parliament to take questions from the press, even as all other political groups did.

Conversely, the French leader has been a strong backer of the commission’s tough trade and competition stance towards Beijing, including a blockbuster probe into subsidies in China’s electric vehicle sector, the results of which are due this week.

On Sunday night in an address to media gathered in the European Parliament’s hemicycle, EPP President Manfred Weber urged Scholz and Macron to back von der Leyen for another term in the commission.

“I now expect Olaf Scholz to make clear that he supports the winner of the election, namely Ursula von der Leyen,” Weber told public broadcaster ZDF.

“And the same is true for Emmanuel Macron, as president of France, but above all as the strongest politician in the Liberal party family in Europe.”

Some of China’s biggest critics in the parliament were re-elected for another term, including French socialist Raphael Glucksmann, who led the chamber’s push for a forced labour ban, and Miriam Lexmann, a Slovak Christian Democrat who was sanctioned by Beijing in 2021.

Bart Groothuis, the former top cybersecurity official for the Dutch government, retained his seat, having spent much of the last term going after Chinese companies’ involvement in Europe’s critical infrastructure.

Bernd Lange, the head of the parliament’s trade committee who has called for balanced commercial relations with Beijing, won re-election in Germany. The commissioner for trade Valdis Dombrovskis, who has said he would be interested in another term on that portfolio, topped polls in Latvia.

Other hawkish voices, including Greens Markéta Gregorová and Anna Cavazzini, retained their seats on what was an otherwise dreadful night for their party.

Several Green members of the hardline Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China were unseated, while Green Reinhard Buetikofer – the parliament’s dominant voice on Beijing relations – has retired.

The electoral futures of some of China’s biggest defenders in the parliament were not clear as of midnight on Sunday in Brussels.

In Ireland, independent candidate Clare Daly was running in seventh place in the Dublin constituency after first preferences were counted, with four MEPs to be elected.

There was still an outside chance that the incumbent lawmaker, who frequently defends Beijing’s policies, would be re-elected on vote transfers in Ireland’s proportional representation system. Her frequent collaborator Mick Wallace’s seat was also hanging in the balance.

The AfD candidate Krah, another China-friendly member, was re-elected despite a series of scandals that plagued his campaign. He has been investigated by German authorities for his links to China, while his former assistant Jian Guo was arrested on charges of spying for Chinese intelligence services.

In Hungary, the Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban – seen as China’s closest ally in the EU – endured a tough election. With two-thirds of the votes counted, it was running at 44 per cent of the vote, down from 52 per cent in 2019.

[Sport] A cartoon cat has been vexing China’s censors – now he says they are on his tail

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What is the gaokao? A look at China’s daunting university entrance exams

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3265992/what-gaokao-look-chinas-daunting-university-entrance-exams?utm_source=rss_feed

The gaokao is widely considered the most important exam Chinese students will face in their lifetimes. The test can make or break a young person’s future, since their scores largely determine if and where they can attend university and what areas of study they can pursue.

While many critics of the gaokao say preparing for it is too gruelling, others still consider the exam a relatively fair system of meritocracy – especially for students from less-privileged socio-economic backgrounds.

Who is this mystery Chinese woman? She gets more red carpet interest at 2024 Cannes Film Festival than legendary Gong Li

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3263895/who-mystery-chinese-woman-she-gets-more-red-carpet-interest-2024-cannes-film-festival-legendary-gong?utm_source=rss_feed

When the 77th Cannes Film Festival opened on May 14, people on mainland social media were bewildered by a mysterious Chinese woman who got more red carpet attention than top celebrities like Gong Li.

While veteran actress Gong – making her 20th visit to the festival – only got a long shot during the live opening broadcast, the mystery woman received a long, 90-second close-up shot.

She was later revealed to be Wan Qianhui, an influencer with 6.5 million followers on Douyin.

Wan is also known as the wife of famous Chinese musician San Bao.

Their marriage in 2017 sparked heated online reactions because Wan, born in 1993, is 25 years younger than her husband.

Wan started dating San Bao when she was a student at the Department of Musical Theatre in the Central Academy of Drama, China’s top drama and stage arts institution.

Despite being described as a gold-digger, a description typically used to stigmatise young women who marry powerful older men, Wan did not live up to her haters’ expectations.

She started her own career as an e-commerce influencer after giving birth to two children in 2020.

She mainly sells maternity and baby products and generated up to 30-million-yuan (US$4.15 million) gross merchandise volume in one livestream session.

Wan donned a custom Harvey Cenit black and white dress for the festival’s opening ceremony, and a fairy silver gown plus headdress, adorned with pink flowers, by JoliPoli Couture on the next day’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga premiere.

It is the second time Wan appeared on the Cannes red carpet following her debut last year. Both times she was styled by Bu Kewen and Wish Gui, stylists for actress Fan Bingbing.

Fan was the pioneer of Chinese celebrities who walked the Cannes red carpet without having any work selected by the festival.

According to the mainland media outlet Yangcheng Evening News, people without work can also walk the red carpet by buying passes from the festival’s collaborating or sponsoring companies.

It is said that Wan went to Cannes in 2023 as the top salesperson of Fan Bingbing’s beauty brand Fan Beauty. Wan said she came to the 2024 Cannes with a piece of her work, but did not specify which.

Wan said she has achieved success in the business world and would love to pursue her career as an actress next.

She said she felt proud when staff at Cannes recognised her and called out her name, but meanwhile she felt “an itch” to come to Cannes with a piece of her work in the future.

Can rich China regions embrace a Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Area, or is it a bridge too far?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3265820/can-rich-china-regions-embrace-greater-shanghai-metropolitan-area-or-it-bridge-too-far?utm_source=rss_feed

A master plan to better link an affluent and innovative city cluster in China’s Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is in the making, as Beijing is pinning high hopes on coastal economic powerhouse cities to stabilise and shore up economic growth amid headwinds at home and abroad.

The newly proposed blueprint, outlining what has been dubbed a Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Area, brings together representatives from Shanghai and 13 cities in the nearby provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui to expedite the formation of a regional megalopolis that could increase the mobility and flow of resources and ultimately shore up the national economy.

“This master plan being worked out will further stipulate that Shanghai is the core of the YRD, and that it will lead other key cities in the delta region. The YRD concept could be replaced by the Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Area to further cement Shanghai’s status for it to contribute more to the Chinese economy,” a professor of economics with Shanghai Fudan University told the Post, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The plan was unveiled last week in a news article from the Shanghai-based Jiefang Daily that was posted to the official government website and pitched as China’s first “interprovincial, metropolitan-area land and space plan”.

And if it comes to fruition, the ambitious undertaking could theoretically slash commute times between Shanghai and all of the 13 regional cities to as little as 30 minutes and as much as 90 minutes. Currently, a high-speed train from Shanghai to Anhui’s Xuancheng, the farthest city from Shanghai in the grouping, takes about 3.5 hours. Other key plans include interconnected infrastructure and industrial development coordination.

Apart from traditionally affluent and innovative centres such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Wuxi, which are among China’s top-15 cities in terms of gross domestic product, the list also includes lower-tier cities such as Jiangsu’ Nantong, Zhejiang’s Zhoushan, and Xuancheng.

The spatial planning framework being sketched out will cover an area of about 114,000 square kilometres (44,000 square miles) with a combined population of 110 million and more than 18 trillion yuan (US$2.48 trillion) worth of annual economic output.

Officials from the 14 cities have been meeting monthly this year to thrash out details and align their respective local planning and policies to iron out differences, according to the Jiefang Daily.

Shanghai and the 13 cities in the YRD are on the state-planned vanguard of regional and economic integration, after the decades-old plan to fuse YRD cities and conurbations into one unified economic zone was elevated by Beijing in 2018 as a national strategy.

Beijing has lofty aspirations for Shanghai, China’s largest city economy, to be the “leading goose” in the nation’s largest and most affluent urban cluster to grow output, upgrade industries and up the ante in competing with other world cities such as Tokyo, New York and London. The combined GDP of the 14 cities in the Shanghai metropolitan area is equivalent to that of France and represents roughly 15 per cent of China’s total.

The grandiose plan for Shanghai may also take a page out of Beijing’s ambitions for the Greater Bay Area development zone, which was established in 2019 to pool Hong Kong, Macau, and nine cities in Guangdong province together to form an integrated economic and business hub.

These types of regional integration plans for eastern and southern urban centres have garnered more attention as Beijing increasingly relies on their member cities to drive economic growth.

But many hurdles, including planning and policy fragmentation, must be overcome in the coming years to fully realise the Greater Shanghai Metropolitan Area.

“Different cities in the YRD may have different plans and priorities. For instance, while one city is planning an ecological park, another city could be looking to build a heavy-polluting factory nearby,” said Zhu Yuyu, a director with Shanghai Tongji University’s Urban Planning and Design Institute.

Zhu said cities in different provinces may also adopt various design and construction standards. “Due to incompatible standards and a lack of coordination, it’s not rare in the YRD to find that many roads and bridges are not connected if you travel from one jurisdiction to another,” he explained. “A master plan, drafted and agreed upon by all cities in the region, could solve these problems and form synergy.”

But the drafting process thus far has not been entirely smooth. Shanghai media revealed there had been “heated debate” among cadres from different cities in meetings to decide principles of cooperation, such as the sharing of benefits, the relocation of factories, and how to split the costs of projects that straddle provincial borders.

“It’s essential for governments in Shanghai and nearby cities to work together to enhance coordination and connect roads and infrastructure, but such a master plan should not weaken the role of the market,” said the economist from Fudan University. “Shanghai and the rest of YRD comprise the most open and economically dynamic region in China, so officials must strike a delicate balance when they roll out any government plan that is bound to impact the market and businesses.

“Officials should just connect roads and bridges; optimise transport and the business environment; and leave other matters to the market.”

Currently, Shanghai has only one subway line that extends beyond the city limits. Shanghai Metro’s Line 11 now connects to Kunshan, in the neighbouring city of Suzhou, Jiangsu. New lines are being planned to extend into more cities. Interprovincial bus services have also been launched to serve towns and industrial parks on urban fringes or near the frontier between different cities.

Chinese autonomous driving firm Minieye, backed by Alibaba CEO, files for Hong Kong IPO

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3265964/chinese-autonomous-driving-firm-minieye-backed-alibaba-ceo-files-hong-kong-ipo?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese autonomous driving firm Minieye Technology, backed by Alibaba Group Holding CEO Eddy Wu Yongming, has submitted to go public on the Hong Kong stock exchange, becoming the latest mainland self-driving tech firm looking to float on the city’s bourse.

The company had gone through at least 17 rounds of fundraising before submitting its prospectus on May 27. It is looking to raise US$150 million, the International Financial Review reported. The company has not revealed a target valuation, saying only that it has exceeded the HK$4 billion (US$512 million) market capitalisation required at the time of listing.

Wu – a co-founder of Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post – is among the company’s most high-profile backers. He holds a 2.3 per cent stake in the company, after transferring shares valued at 30.6 million (US$4.2 million) yuan in 2019, four years after his 4.5 million yuan angel investment, according to the prospectus.

The start-up’s corporate backers include investment houses such as Beijing Siwei Management, Shenzhen Zeyi, and China International Capital.

Founded in 2014 by entrepreneur Liu Guoqing, who earned a PhD in computer science from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore in 2013, Minieye has supported 29 carmakers with autonomous driving solutions up to Level 2 – meaning the system is able to control steering and acceleration but requires driver monitoring, similar to Tesla’s Autopilot.

Last year, Minieye sold more than 780 million of its intelligent driving solutions.

Company revenue reached 476 million yuan last year, growing at a compounded annual rate of 64.9 per cent over three years. Revenues were 279 million yuan and 175 million yuan in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

However, the company has yet to turn a profit after a decade in operation. It saw 139 million yuan in losses last year, an improvement over the 221 million yuan and 207 million yuan lost in 2022 and 2021, respectively.

As the company prepares to go public, it has been reducing research and development expenditures as a proportion of revenue.

The 150 million yuan it spent on R&D last year was up nearly 8 per cent from the 139 million yuan spent the year before, falling to 31.5 per cent of revenue compared with 49.9 per cent in 2022. R&D spending was 82.2 million yuan in 2021, or 46.9 per cent of revenue, according to the prospectus.

Hong Kong has proven to be an attractive destination for autonomous driving firms on the mainland looking to gain access to international markets. iMotion Automotive Technology, based in Suzhou just west of Shanghai, was the first Chinese automated driving company to list on the Hong Kong exchange in December.

Since then, other related firms in the world’s largest car market have looked south for their initial public offerings. These include Beijing-based Horizon Robotics, autonomous driving chip maker Black Sesame Technologies and Shanghai-based Zongmu Technology.

Can China and France help reinvent the future on trade, Ukraine and Gaza? A former diplomat gives his view

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3265974/can-china-and-france-help-reinvent-future-trade-ukraine-and-gaza-former-diplomat-gives-his-view?utm_source=rss_feed

Maurice Gourdault-Montagne was a French diplomat from 1978 until 2019, serving as ambassador to Japan, Britain, Germany and China. He was former president Jacques Chirac’s senior diplomatic adviser and was also President Emmanuel Macron’s special envoy to the UAE. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click .

This trip was very important in terms of the tensions we are going through – between the United States and China globally, and a confrontation which is more regional, over the Pacific Ocean, as well as tensions between the European Union and China for various reasons, and tensions because of the geopolitics which are bringing us more fractures and fragmentation of the world.

So it was necessary that this visit took place, and it took place five years after President Xi last came to Europe.

And also in the background, it was an important reminder – and a celebration – of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and China.

The celebrations were not totally coincidental because it was an opportunity to remind us that this [the establishment of ties] took place at a time of high tensions as well. It was the Cold War, it was the Vietnam war. It was just after the end of France’s colonisation of Algeria.

So a new world was coming, and there are some similarities regarding at least some of the tensions which exist [today] on the surface of the globe.

So what are the takeaways of this visit? First of all, there is a link between France and China, which had to be, I would say, utilised. There is trust between the two leaders, since the visit which was paid by President Macron to China in 2018 and 2022, and by President Xi to France in 2019.

We have lots of commonalities and aims regarding, for instance, biodiversity, climate change. These are the issues on which we work a lot and we have tools so we had to underline what is going on, and quite well.

But the thing was, that we had messages to exchange and to try to define the frame of the issues of the difficult stakes we have to overcome at the moment, in particular the trade war which already exists between China and the US, and the US and Europe.

And we must remember that the Biden administration never changed anything from what former president Donald Trump in the previous mandate decided, so the confrontation is there.

As far as China is concerned, we delivered our message in particular regarding overcapacity in electric vehicles, that the EU wants to remain an open market but we cannot absorb more EVs coming from China.

The message was delivered, though the answer by President Xi was not exactly the one we expected. There were positive points, such as his opening remarks, when he mentioned Chinese investments on EU soil, which is something we were longing for.

Globally, this visit did not produce any concrete result because everyone expressed his position, but the most important point is that we each know what the other one has in mind.

What will come out of that is difficult to say because since the visit, the Americans have put more pressure, having quadrupled the tariffs on electric vehicles. That puts the EU under pressure, so we have to manoeuvre in that framework and the margin is very thin to find a solution.

There were some positive points regarding opening by China on agrifood, regarding cosmetics, and regarding prospects on future cooperation on aeronautics. So there are fields where we work together and we expressed our interest for both sides to continue working together. That’s very important.

There is a political will that we must find a way to escape any trade war but the pressure is high on all sides.

There was another takeaway, which was on the Ukraine war. There was an important message in my view, delivered by President Xi, regarding the principles of peaceful coexistence.

More could be done in that sense, and that is a personal view, because not everyone in France takes into account enough that China has never recognised the annexation of territories by Russia in Ukraine.

In that sense, China – with all the positions it has delivered on Ukraine – is in a position of neutrality which should guide us when the time comes for a ceasefire and peace negotiations if any, of having closer cooperation.

There was no proper concrete result as such, but the thing is that we must see the short term and the longer term. In the short run, we strongly support Ukraine’s sovereignty, and territorial integrity. We have delivered signals to Ukraine that we shall continue to support Ukraine.

In the long term, what kind of security guarantees could be granted to Ukraine? And in that sense, I would say in the longer run there will be understanding between major countries, and in particular the permanent members of the [United Nations] Security Council, as we have with China in particular.

What is important is what was said afterwards by President Xi during President [Vladimir] Putin’s visit to Beijing, which is that what is needed is a political solution.

The question is, what will this political solution be? But in that sense, both China and France consider that the integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine must be supported and guaranteed.

There is still a lot of work to do. There is a lot to work out, but I think that one day we could find a way of working together with China on Ukraine.

This is a good question because we must keep in mind that the EU is not one state with one government. It is a voluntary assembly of nations and states which understand each other and define common positions.

The fact that Madam [Ursula] von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, attended the first part of the talks meant that there was EU unity regarding this issue. First, we want to keep our market open and second, we are not ready to absorb everything which comes. That would overflow our own capacities.

So the message was yes, we cannot deny there are some differences in approach between countries like France and Germany but let’s keep in mind that France and Germany consulted each other a few days before.

What President Macron said was in accordance with what Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz was thinking. There is something that we share with the Germans and the rest of the EU – we don’t want any commercial war.

Let’s try to find ways and means to lift the differences we have and let’s find a solution and what we can do there.

There are investment possibilities, of Beijing producing Chinese vehicles on European soil. There is also a French company Stellantis which produces EVs, which invested in the company Leapmotor in China.

So let’s be creative and inventive to find the ways and means to not be subjected to pressure by the Americans. We have interests and that is what comes out from this visit by President Xi. EU interests are not US interests. They don’t overlap. So let’s find ways to escape this trade war which is proliferating.

It will be necessary to develop strategic autonomy, more self-reliance. The US is withdrawing on its own. Isolationism is a trend that has already existed in the US and it can erupt again in the times to come. If we look at president [Donald] Trump’s programme, it is America first and the rest is ignored.

So President Macron has defined strategic autonomy for the EU. Yes, there is the field of defence at the moment. Because of the Ukraine war, there was a reinforcement of Nato and it’s true that 23 out of 27 countries in the EU are Nato members.

So in the field of defence, the question will be whether the commitments by the US or Nato will be pursued and so we must think of some European pillar within Nato and we are working on it.

The French have a multiannual budgetary programme on defence, the Germans have a special fund on defence, and Poland has decided that there will be 4 per cent of the budget dedicated to defence.

So we are working on a pillar for defence but it will take time. We are in Nato. We shall continue to be in Nato, the question will be what are the commitments of the US.

Strategic autonomy can also be seen in the field of the economy. How can we be more self-reliant on certain products? We have the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, which defines targets of having certain stocks and storage of raw materials.

We identify some possibilities of working with certain countries in the world on certain continents.

There is also digital strategic autonomy. How can we be independent from these major companies in the US regarding the protection of data? Where must the servers be?

So in all these fields the EU has undertaken a programme of being stronger and more self-reliant so that we are not dependent on the decisions made either by the US administration or by the Congress.

That’s what I think. The Republican camp embodies isolationism. I would say that if we look at the Democrats, the gestures made by President Biden towards the unions in particular, which are very populist, show that their supporters are on the side of protectionism.

And so we must have it in mind. It’s how one understands the commitment of the US on defence, on interventionism in many places, as the US did in the past. I think there is a fatigue in the US and the US population regarding military interventions.

But there is also an issue I would like to stress, which is the Pacific region. There is alignment of both camps, on both sides of the political spectrum in the US, on the Pacific and China.

The only difference that I see is a certain willingness by the Biden administration to keep channels of dialogue open.

If I look at what has been done, at the Apec summit in San Francisco in November regarding communication between the military, if I look at what Secretary of State Antony Blinken is doing – he has been many times to China for discussions with Foreign Minister Wang Yi – and what national security adviser Jake Sullivan also does then yes, there is clearly a willingness by the administration not to cut off the link of dialogue between the US and China.

On the Republican side, I think it would be tougher. That’s the only difference.

I belong to the ones who think that there were missed opportunities and that there was the possibility of settling this issue of Ukraine much earlier. I am not alone in thinking like that. There are plenty of American strategists who think alike and think that Ukraine is vital to Russia in one way or another.

Even [former US president Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser Zbigniew] Brzezinski said, in his book The Grand Chessboard, that there is no great power of Russia without Ukraine. So there is a vital interest for Russia in Ukraine.

There are countries which have a vocation, because of their location, of being buffer states, not belonging to any camp or another. There was a missed opportunity, when I was with former president Jacques Chirac. We had told the Russians the idea of having protection on Ukraine by Russia on one side and Nato the other side.

The effect would have been the neutralisation of the Ukraine issue and the Nato-Russia Council, which existed at the time, would have been running the issue so that the neutrality of Ukraine would have been assured.

That time is over. We have this aggression by Russia on the sovereign state of Ukraine. The issue of security remains exactly the same as it was from the beginning. How can we settle the question of security? The security of one is also the security of others. Security is indivisible. And so what can we do?

There are options that France is studying and it is more inclined to the idea, under certain conditions, of Ukraine joining Nato. That was the result of the last Nato summit which took place last year in Vilnius, Lithuania.

There will be another Nato summit in Washington in mid-July. The question will be on the table. The decision has not been made for Ukraine in Nato. There can be some other evolution, there can be some other idea. It is only an option.

The question will be, what kind of guarantees are given to Ukraine? There are some ideas in the US in particular, but also in Europe and in France, that a general convention on security could be convened which would see powers granting their security to Ukraine.

First of all, if we look at the current situation, in the past month there were defence agreements signed between Ukraine and European countries – France, Germany, Italy, Poland. There is a security agreement signed with Canada. There should be at the moment a security agreement, which is under negotiation, between Ukraine and the US.

Can we imagine that there would be a general conference on security which would involve countries that are not in Europe – major countries like China, for instance or India, being part of an agreement guaranteeing the independence of Ukraine?

We must invent something positive and new for the future. The old recipes have not worked so far. And so having Ukraine in Nato is not yet decided. It is an option. We must invent something different.

We must grant security to this independent country, which is Ukraine, independent and sovereign. Under what conditions is another matter. There will be negotiations. There are territories which the Russian army is occupying. This is part of the negotiations.

But the principles exist and we are with China on the same principles of integrity of territory, no use of force, no first use of nuclear weapons. Sovereignty and independence must prevail.

President Xi delivered a message before his visit to France on peaceful coexistence. How can we come back to peaceful coexistence? This is a key issue for the world and Ukraine will be an example for that.

I think it’s possible because as I said, security is indivisible. The security of Russia is the security of China and the security of the western part of Europe. So we must find a way in which everyone is committed to each other.

That’s why I am mentioning this possibility, in which major countries who also have a nuclear deterrence are involved, because we cannot afford to have these wars which are disrupting the whole world economy and disrupting prosperity and development.

The interest is to have stability, and stability comes when everyone is committed to each other.

This is a key issue which has been discussed for the past 15 years and we know that in the UN there are already more than 140 countries which recognise Palestine as a state.

At the Security Council one month ago, there was a resolution which the US opposed with their veto, but France voted for the recognition of Palestine as a full state by the United Nations.

On a bilateral basis – which has been done as you said by Ireland, Spain and Norway – the French are now considering this possibility “as soon as it is useful”, as President Macron said.

We are on a trend which will lead us to recognise Palestine as a state. First, it is in all the resolutions of the UN for the last 70 years.

Nowadays, we have this terrible situation, with the massacre by Hamas which is, I would say, a result of despair, which is no justification but it is a result of a despair by the Palestinians who have been denied the right to have a state for the past 15 years by the Benjamin Netanyahu government.

There is the terrible offensive by the Israeli Defence Forces on Gaza. The trauma is there but everyone is thinking of any political solution, and the French in particular, and we are not alone in thinking that only the two-state solution will settle the issue.

The question is how, which territories, which sovereignty, these are questions which are open. I think one day there will be two states, for the security of Israel.

We are in favour of Israel and have supported its security since the beginning, since the creation of Israel in 1947, but we think there is no security for Israel without a Palestinian state because the Palestinians are entitled to have their state.

So one must think of it with the involvement of other countries, which are also supporting and granting security to Israel. We can expect a major role played not only by the traditional actors like Egypt, Jordan and others, but also by Saudi Arabia and members of the Security Council, in particular China and Russia.

So we are in a process which will lead us to new developments but peace and security can only be secured if there are two states. The process of recognition of a Palestinian state is on track and we will come to a result.

The Olympics is usually a moment in which the Olympic ideals mean a sort of truce in controversies and fights. There should be a truce on the battlefields. This was an issue discussed by both presidents Xi and Macron and they agreed on that issue. But it does not depend on us, it depends on the fighters.

France, as an organiser with the International Olympic Committee, hopes that the Olympic Charter will be respected. The charter means that during the Games, in different disciplines, there is no controversy and so we are taking all the necessary measures for the protection of athletes belonging to those nations that are involved in struggles, in combat, in fights.

We want the Games to be peaceful among the players who are men and women, that they are peaceful, and there is no controversy and a spirit of truce. That’s what I would say.

Security is a concern for all Games because they are open to the world. People travel and the world has a lot of tensions, but security measures will be taken.

France is very much used to the organisation of big events of that kind. We had the Rugby World Cup last year, which was a big success. We have had many events in the past in which security has always been assured. Times are complicated, but I would say that Paris, France should be during that time a place of peace, relief and serenity.

Populism has become a reality, it’s true, and we shall see by the next European elections that there will be more populist votes than we would like. But the thing is, that we are in democracies and the vote is free and people express what they think.

Either they want or they refuse some ideas. There can be a lot of protests as well, often populism is protesting and expressing itself at the ballot box, rather than on the street, maybe both.

It’s a phenomenon we can observe across the European continent. Also, Brexit was an expression of populism in certain ways. We have possible votes in favour of president Trump’s second term in the US against the establishment.

The answer should be that we have to adopt some reforms in the EU which would make people reconciled with the way our democracies are functioning.

People don’t refuse democracy as such because they go and vote. People want things to work better in our countries. We are in a world which is changing. People who are sticking to the past very often are reluctant to change themselves, to be adaptable.

So are we and the relationship we have with the rest of the world. Free circulation of people, of goods and capital has profited many but not everyone and all that has puzzled people.

Governments should take lessons from these populist votes, I would say, and try to give more trust and confidence to the population. That’s what we try to do in France.