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• Ancient artefacts can bridge US-China ties, if we tell the right story
• UK’s MI5 issued Chinese spy alert to distract from PM scandal, court hears
• US calls for immediate release of Chinese rights activists held by Beijing
• China support for Russia in Ukraine compels Nato to seek Asian partnerships: top official
• China could match US in military conflict thanks to shipbuilding strength, analysts say
• South China Sea: Philippines slams Beijing for ‘dangerous manoeuvres’, raising tensions
• Chinese equities can soar even with a property crisis on, spot-on stock picker says
• China new home prices drop at fastest rate in nearly a decade
• Online rumours of civil war in Philippines tied to China’s covert agenda
• China lashes out at US over report of Pentagon’s secret anti-vax campaign
• Chinese smartphone giant Vivo in talks to sell stake in Indian factory to Tata Group: report
• Swiss philosopher Iso Kern sues former Chinese student Ni Liangkang for alleged plagiarism
• The EU should exercise strategic autonomy by rethinking China tariffs
• Chinese senior officials’ South Korea trip to coincide with Putin’s Pyongyang visit
• Chinese and Philippine ship collision just the latest in a string of South China Sea confrontations
• Some Chinese insurers face ‘material’ profit risk from property exposure: Moody’s
• China targets EU pork in new anti-dumping investigation after Brussels’ EV action
• China, Australia to ‘properly’ manage differences: Premier Li after ‘candid’ talks
• Australian reporter Cheng Lei, detained in China, says diplomats tried to ‘block’ her at Li Qiang event
• Philippines’ Chinese visa clampdown: a response to South China Sea tensions?
• As Shein heads towards IPO, its Chinese billionaire founder stays under cloak of secrecy
• China preps plane research refuel after C919’s first year in the air
• Chinese and Philippine ships collide in first incident under Beijing’s new coastguard law
• 102-year-old China-born shopkeeper turns unwitting TikTok sensation in Singapore
• China’s tax man hand out decades-old bills to companies, hinting at funding shortage
• Chinese premier’s Australia visit overshadowed by officials’ apparent attempt to block Cheng Lei’s view at event
• China says a Chinese vessel and Philippine supply ship collided in the disputed South China Sea
• German firms hope EU-China tariff talks can help dodge shake-up in EV business
• China expanding nuclear arsenal faster than any other country, report says, but still lags behind US and Russia
• China’s ancient Baobao Festival: parents pursue strangers in parks to find godfathers who give children good health
• China’s property fall outshines spending rebound in May, challenging Beijing economic targets
• Menzies Aviation aims to triple mainland China footprint after Hong Kong expansion
• In the name of the law: scholar He Weifang argues his case for remembering China’s past
• China pursuing ‘significant’ expansion of nuclear arsenal, report says
• Chinese Company Develops Robots with Facial Expressions

Ancient artefacts can bridge US-China ties, if we tell the right story

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3266572/ancient-artefacts-can-bridge-us-china-ties-if-we-tell-right-story?utm_source=rss_feed

Can ancient Chinese artefacts bridge the growing gap in China-US ties? It honestly depends.

If the approach is merely showcasing the finest examples of Chinese culture and art, the effect will be very limited – even if it is the first time to share such heritage with the outside world. Put simply, it is one-sided lecturing.

People involved in the presentation may get very excited, but listeners can grow bored quickly. We have all seen the scenario play out again and again, either as a parent, a teacher or someone just trying to help.

Unfortunately, this is how Chinese cultural artefacts are presented in the United States. For example, an exhibition in San Francisco, “Phoenix Kingdoms: The Last Splendour of China’s Bronze Age”, is displaying more than 150 artefacts from the Zhou dynasty (circa 1046-256 BC).

As expected, the exhibition’s organisers are very excited, stressing that some of the artefacts have never been outside China until now, especially considering it’s a rare chance for American audiences to appreciate the richness of Chinese history and traditions. The organisers say these kinds of exchanges can help build trust, start dialogue and perhaps “heal the gap” between the two nations.

That is wishful thinking, to put it bluntly. Except a small number of people, such as Chinese-Americans who are proud of their heritage, archaeological enthusiasts who are interested in ancient times or professionals in related fields, many Americans will not care. As far as they are concerned, it may as well be an exhibition of ancient Sumerian tablets. It is all really old stuff that has nothing to do with their lives.

This is not speculation. We can see this limited impact manifested in another exhibition, “Anyang: China’s Ancient City of Kings”, which ended two months ago in Washington, showcasing some 200 Chinese artefacts from the Shang dynasty (c1600-1050BC).

While the total number of visitors was not mentioned, the curator said it was toured by nearly 1,000 students and teachers from public and private schools in Washington, Maryland and Virginia during its two-month run, which he considered a far-reaching impact. It must be mentioned that Anyang is included in the curriculum for schools in these areas.

There are more than 3,500 public schools in Washington, Maryland and Virginia, with well over 2 million students. Of course, that is not even counting private schools. Granted, it may not be easy for some schools to organise a field trip, but 1,000 out of millions over a two-month period is rather tiny.

Although this type of exhibition has limited appeal, it does not mean ancient Chinese artefacts cannot be used to foster ties between China and the US – if we know what the right points of connection are.

Rather than focus on how old and magnificent Chinese civilisation is, the message could be on how the US is helping China restore its cultural identity by returning its long-lost artefacts.

To stress that some artefacts have never been outside China is pointless. There has never been a shortage of them for well over a hundred years. Millions of cultural relics have been lost due to wars and smuggling. The narrative should be focused on them returning.

Since the People’s Republic of China was founded, around 150,000 objects have been returned through various channels. And the US has helped a great deal in this regard. Last year, American officials returned looted stone carvings valued at more than US$3 million In April, the US returned 38 Chinese artefacts.

We can only imagine how hard it is and how many experts need to get involved to track down these stolen relics, as well as recover, store, care for them and go through the necessary procedures to return them.

But it is all worth it. To quote Matthew Bogdanos, chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, “The repatriation of lost cultural relics to their country of origin is a righteous act. The US is willing to work together with China to protect the shared cultural heritage of humanity”.

This is where cultural relics show genuine power to connect people and bridge differences, and for getting China and the US to demonstrate mutual respect, cooperation and trust.

Therefore, exhibitions should be curated based on two storylines – showcasing magnificent archaeological discoveries, which Chinese people are very proud of, and also how these artefacts were once lost and made their way back with the help of Americans. Along with sharing the historical facts, people or institutions that contributed to the repatriation should be credited.

The goal is to make Chinese artefacts relevant to Americans, and to show that Chinese people are grateful for what they have done. Such appreciation may help improve general American sentiment, given that for the fifth year in a row, about eight out of 10 Americans have unfavourable views of China, according to Pew Research Centre.

Such exhibitions can be organised in both countries to bring the Chinese and American people closer.

In doing so, while the ancient artefacts on display will still tell ancient Chinese stories, they will also take on a new significance, telling contemporary stories of the US and how two countries of different backgrounds can work together to rectify historical wrongs.

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UK’s MI5 issued Chinese spy alert to distract from PM scandal, court hears

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3266986/uks-mi5-issued-chinese-spy-alert-distract-pm-scandal-court-hears?utm_source=rss_feed

Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 issued an alert branding a woman a Chinese agent to possibly divert attention from a Covid-19 lockdown party scandal involving former prime minister Boris Johnson, her lawyer told a London tribunal on Monday.

In January 2022, MI5 sent out an alert notice about lawyer Christine Lee, alleging she was “involved in political interference activities” in the United Kingdom on behalf of China’s ruling Communist Party.

The warning was circulated to lawmakers by the House of Commons Speaker, who said MI5 had found that Lee had “facilitated financial donations to serving and aspiring parliamentarians on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China”.

Lee is now suing MI5 for unspecified damages, arguing the agency had acted unlawfully and unreasonably.

At an Investigatory Powers Tribunal hearing on Monday, her lawyer Ramby de Mello read out a message sent to Lee from Barry Gardiner – a lawmaker for the opposition Labour Party who said he had received hundreds of thousands of pounds in donations from her – in which he queried MI5’s motives.

Gardiner wrote “many people” believed the timing of the alert was to divert attention from Johnson’s admission of an unlawful gathering at Downing Street during the first Covid-19 lockdown.

The day before the notice was issued, Johnson had apologised to parliament for attending a “bring your own booze” gathering that had been held at his official residence.

“I had never believed that the Security Services would be overtly party political in that way,” said Gardiner’s message, sent to Lee via a mutual friend in May 2022.

“What has been suggested to me is that the Security Services may have wished to ‘pick a fight’ or to ‘detract attention’ from something else and that we were simply collateral damage.”

Gardiner could not immediately be reached for comment.

De Mello said MI5 had no power to issue the “unprecedented” notice, which he said was factually wrong in asserting Lee had carried out political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party.

He said the UFWD would not engage her as an agent because she was a devout Christian, saying the impact of the alert, which had attracted worldwide interest, had been “catastrophic”, leading to threats of death and rape, and other abusive emails.

Her lawyers said in court documents that Lee, who watched proceedings from the public gallery, had been forced to spend most of her time in hiding, adopt a fake name and disguise her appearance with a new hairstyle.

On its website, MI5 states there is a legal duty on its director general not to act to further the interests of any political party.

“Our role is to protect democracy, not to influence its course,” the website says. “The government of the day cannot instruct MI5 to perform any action for party political reasons.”

In its written submissions, the agency’s lawyers said the alert (IA) had been issued on the grounds of national security to protect parliamentary democracy from foreign interference.

“The respondent assessed that [Lee)]posed a risk of this nature, and its judgment was that the issuing of the IA was the most effective and proportionate means to address that risk. Those assessments were rational and lawful,” the lawyers said.

The lawyers did not address Gardiner’s comments in the hearing on Monday. The hearing is expected to continue on Tuesday.

US calls for immediate release of Chinese rights activists held by Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3266988/us-calls-immediate-release-chinese-rights-activists-held-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

The United States on Monday condemned prison sentences given to women’s rights activist Huang Xueqin and labour rights activist Wang Jianbing in China and urged Beijing to release both activists immediately.

The sentences demonstrate China’s “continued efforts to intimidate and silence civil society”, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Supporters said Huang has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of incitement to subvert state authority, almost three years after she Wang were detained.

The verdict provided to Associated Press stated that Huang would also face a fine of 100,000 yuan (US$14,000), underscoring the ruling Communist Party’s intolerance of any activism outside its control in a system whose upper echelons are dominated by men.

China’s #MeToo movement flourished briefly before being snuffed out by the government. China often silences activists by holding them incommunicado for a long time and then sentencing them to prison.

Huang’s release date was listed as September 18, 2026, accounting for her earlier detention. Co-defendant Wang was sentenced to three years and six months on the same charge. Wang is more known for his labour rights activity but also helped women report sexual harassment.

Huang and Wang’s cases appear to have become intertwined as part of the most recent wave of a general crackdown on rights advocates, a trend that predates the #MeToo movement and includes previous incidents such as the 2015 detentions of women distributing pamphlets against sexual harassment on public transport.

Working as a freelance journalist, Huang helped spark China’s first #MeToo case in 2018 when she publicised allegations of sexual harassment made by a graduate student against her PhD supervisor at one of China’s most prestigious universities.

Friends say that Huang and Wang disappeared on Sept. 19, 2021, a day before Huang was scheduled to fly to the United Kingdom to start a master’s degree programme on gender violence and conflict at the University of Sussex. They went on trial in September 2023.

The International Women’s Media Foundation earlier gave Huang its Wallis Annenberg Justice for Women Journalists Award.

Supporters of Huang and Wang created a GitHub webpage to post case updates and share their thoughts. China is routinely listed by monitoring groups as among the top imprisoning nations of journalists.

Amnesty International’s China Director Sarah Brooks issued a statement condemning Huang’s conviction as an attack on women’s advocacy in the People’s Republic of China, which has long promoted the concept that “women hold up half the sky”, but whose institutions remain dominated by men.

“These convictions will prolong their deeply unjust detention and have a further chilling effect on human rights and social advocacy in a country where activists face increasing state crackdowns,” Brooks said in an emailed statement.

“In reality, they have committed no actual crime. Instead, the Chinese government has fabricated excuses to deem their work a threat, and to target them for educating themselves and others about social justice issues such as women’s dignity and workers’ rights,” Brooks said.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

China support for Russia in Ukraine compels Nato to seek Asian partnerships: top official

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3266992/china-support-russia-ukraine-compels-nato-seek-asian-partnerships-top-official?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s support for Russia’s efforts in Ukraine has made it necessary for Nato to forge global partnerships, particularly in the Indo-Pacific, and significantly ramp up defence spending, the transatlantic security alliance’s top official said on Monday.

The position adopted by Beijing has intensified the largest armed conflict in Europe since the end of the second world war, according to Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, requiring the allies to act and “impose a cost”.

“The growing alignment between Russia and its authoritarian friends in Asia makes it even more important that we work closely with our friends in the Indo-Pacific,” he said.

Stoltenberg offered his remarks during a visit to Washington and previewed a stance Nato leaders are expected to take at their summit in the American capital from July 9 to 11.

“Publicly, President Xi [Jinping] has tried to create the impression that he’s taking a back seat in this conflict to avoid sanctions and keep trade flowing,” said Stoltenberg of the Chinese leader in remarks at the Wilson Centre, a think tank.

“But the reality is that China’s fuelling the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War Two. And at the same time, it wants to maintain good relations with the West.”

Chinese exports of dual-use semiconductors and satellite capabilities were enabling Russia to “inflict more death and destruction on Ukraine, bolster its defence industrial base and evade the impact of sanctions and export controls”, Stoltenberg added.

By working together, allies in Europe and Asia “can uphold the international rules-based order and protect our shared values”.

Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – known as the ‘Indo-Pacific Four’ – are slated to join the Nato gathering next month.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Nato has enhanced its cooperation with Indo-Pacific countries.

In June that year, the leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea took part in the Nato summit in Madrid, Spain, amid heightened alarm over Beijing’s rising economic and military might in the strategically vital region and beyond.

Stoltenberg’s remarks on Monday followed a visit to Nato headquarters in Brussels last month by US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.

The veteran US diplomat said he briefed his European counterparts on Chinese support for Russia, going into “as much detail and specifics as possible”.

Last week at the Stimson Center, another Washington think tank, Campbell said China and North Korea were the two countries that had “done the most” to help Russia’s “retooling and reconstitution” since it invaded Ukraine.

Noting the significance of the IP4 countries joining the Nato summit in July, Campbell said their presence would allow European leaders to hear the perspectives of Indo-Pacific partners on how the region is “more linked to Europe than ever before”.

In a sign of deepening ties with nuclear-armed North Korea since the start of the Ukraine war, Russian President Vladimir Putin is due this week to travel to Pyongyang. The trip would mark his first visit to the country in 24 years.

On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US was “concerned” about Russia and North Korea getting closer because of the impact that could have on Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific region at large.

“We know North Korean ballistic missiles are still being used to hit Ukrainian targets, but because there could be some reciprocity here that could affect security on the Korean peninsula,” Kirby added.

The development coincided with mounting tensions in the South China Sea after a Philippine supply ship and a Chinese vessel collided near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal early on Monday.

The Chinese coastguard accused the ship of “unprofessional” and “dangerous” behaviour. The Philippines, an Indo-Pacific defence treaty ally of Washington’s, rejected the charge.

Kirby condemned what he described as “provocative, reckless, unnecessary” actions by China that “could lead to something much bigger and much more violent”.

As for Ukraine, Stoltenberg on Monday asserted the war had shown that European security was not regional but global, “not least because of the support we know Russia was getting from China and others”.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Later on Monday, the Nato chief was scheduled to meet US President Joe Biden at the White House and announce new defence-spending figures.

“I can only now reveal that this year more than 20 allies will spend at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence,” Stoltenberg said. At present, Nato has 32 member states.

“This is good for Europe and good for America, especially since much of this extra money is spent here in the United States,” he added, noting more than US $140 billion of Europe’s defence acquisitions in the last two years came from American companies.

Donald Trump, the former US president and presumptive Republican nominee for the coming American election in November, has often criticised Europeans for inadequate defence spending. He has argued they rely excessively on the US for security.

Stoltenberg said it would be “stupid” for North America and Europe to stand “divided” in a world “where we are afraid of not only Russia but also the security consequences of China for our security”.

On Tuesday, the Nato chief is scheduled to hold talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department.

Stoltenberg is also set to visit Capitol Hill to meet members of the US Senate Foreign Relations committee, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and members of the Senate Nato observer group.

China could match US in military conflict thanks to shipbuilding strength, analysts say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3266860/china-could-match-us-military-conflict-thanks-shipbuilding-strength-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s naval expansion and bolstering of its shipbuilding capabilities may give the PLA a strategic edge in a potential conflict, including the “hellscape strategy” floated recently by the US, military analysts said.

Raymond Kuo, director of the Rand Corporation’s Taiwan Initiative, said that China, alongside Japan and South Korea, has the “largest shipbuilding industry in the world” and can produce completed hulls at a faster rate than the US.

While “American ships tend to be more complex and have greater displacement … China’s ability to relatively rapidly produce naval ships means that it can reconstitute any combat losses more quickly than the United States can,” he said.

“[The PLA] have an additional advantage in that any conflict over, say, Taiwan or the South China Sea would be much closer to their shores.”

According to an analysis of satellite imagery published by the Paris-based Naval News in late May, China’s 10th Type 055 destroyer – its most advanced warship and prime aircraft carrier escort – was recently launched by naval builder Dalian Shipbuilding.

Since the first Type 055 was commissioned in 2020, the first batch of eight are in service and construction of the second batch is well under way, with the ninth reportedly launched late last year.

The Naval News said the shipbuilder has also launched five Type 052 destroyers, all assembled in a single large dry dock, while the same yard was also responsible for modernisation work on the Liaoning, China’s first aircraft carrier, until the middle of April.

A report earlier this month from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said China’s “massive shipbuilding industry would provide a strategic advantage in a war that stretches beyond a few weeks”.

According to the report, China would be able to repair damaged vessels or construct replacements much faster than the US, “which continues to face a significant maintenance backlog”.

The report noted that the US “would probably be unable to quickly construct many new ships or to repair damaged fighting ships in a great power conflict”.

The launch of China’s new destroyer coincided with a ramping up of US efforts to develop a drone strategy to create what Admiral Samuel Paparo described this month as a “hellscape” in the Taiwan Strait to counter any mainland attack on the island.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China, to be reunited by force if necessary. Like most countries, the US does not recognise Taipei’s government but is committed to supplying arms for the island’s defence.

Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, said the US plans to use a large, lethal drone force to distract China’s military and buy time for the US to defend Taiwan in the case of an attack.

But Washington would have “a lot of work to do” before it could carry out the strategy, including ramping up military stockpiles and increasing production of drone swarms, said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

“One shouldn’t forget that you still need to neutralise the Chinese ability to project force on Taiwan … you have to even take out the Chinese ability to sustain the war,” he said.

“For example, you would have to, say, destroy the shipyards if necessary. There will still [be a requirement for] the US to invest in other force projection capabilities, like long-range precision-guided munitions – for example, cruise missiles.”

Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said a Taiwan contingency would depend in part on whether the US reverses its declining shipbuilding capability.

The US Naval Institute said in 2021 that the US has just seven shipyards that can build large warships, while China has more than 20, along with dozens of commercial facilities that dwarf the largest US shipyards in size and throughput.

According to Davis, it’s “conceivable” that a larger, more powerful and well armed PLA Navy could allow China to win a prolonged conflict, simply through its “quantitative and firepower advantage”.

“And geography benefits China with the US having to project force across the Pacific into China’s maritime approaches,” he said.

“Also, the relative strength needs to be considered in a broader context of China’s anti-access and area denial capabilities, including land-based long-range missiles, more advanced air power, counter-space capabilities, and cyber and electromagnetic operations.”

The Type 055 destroyer – also referred to as a missile cruiser because of its size and capabilities – is 180 metres (591ft) in length with a beam of 20 metres (65ft) and has a displacement of around 13,000 tonnes at full load.

It features 112 vertical launch system cells – an advanced system for holding and firing missiles on mobile naval platforms – housing the HHQ-9 long-range surface-to-air missiles and the YJ-18 anti-ship missiles.

Footage revealed in April 2022 showed a Type 055 test-firing China’s latest hypersonic anti-ship missile, the YJ-21.

According to Koh, the import and indigenisation of foreign technology has made Chinese shipyards more “mature” and the increased production of Type 055 destroyers would allow the PLA Navy to deploy them with “greater regularity”.

However, he pointed out that there still remains the question of “how good they are”, with China’s ability to sustain its rapidly growing naval fleets undetermined.

“The only question is that … each of these Type 055 [destroyers] is also quite expensive. So the question of course arises whether China can [even] sustain the construction [with its] current economic issues.”

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South China Sea: Philippines slams Beijing for ‘dangerous manoeuvres’, raising tensions

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3266981/south-china-sea-philippines-slams-beijing-dangerous-manoeuvres-raising-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines has condemned China’s ships for engaging in “dangerous manoeuvres, including ramming and towing” to disrupt its “routine” resupply mission to a vessel grounded by Manila on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea.

Referring to the resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre at the Ayungin Shoal, Manila’s name for the reef, the statement on Monday by the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea slammed the actions of the vessels of the People’s Liberation Army-Navy, the Chinese coastguard and Chinese maritime militia.

Eduardo Año, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s national security adviser who chairs the Task Force, said in the statement that the mission was a success. “Our personnel showed restraint and professionalism, refrained from escalating the tension, and carried on with their mission.”

On Monday, the Chinese coastguard released a statement saying the Philippine vessel had “dangerously approached a Chinese vessel in normal navigation unprofessionally, resulting in a collision”.

In response, Philippine military spokesman Colonel Xerxes Trinidad said: “We will not dignify the deceptive and misleading claims of the China coastguard.”

It was the third time since August that the Chinese coastguard has accused a Philippine vessel of deliberately causing a collision.

The incident was also the first since the Chinese coastguard on Saturday began enforcing a policy to detain foreigners for up to 60 days if they were found to have “illegally entered China’s territorial waters and the adjacent waters”.

China claims nearly all of South China Sea with its 10-dash line and considers the Second Thomas Shoal, which Beijing refers to as Renai Jiao, as being within its territory.

However, Trinidad noted that the Second Thomas Shoal “is well within our [exclusive economic zone]”.

Monday’s collision took place during a Philippine resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre, a World War II-era navy vessel purposefully grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal to act as an outpost that would bolster Manila’s territorial claims to the region.

“The main issue remains the illegal presence and actions of Chinese vessels within the Philippines’ EEZ, which infringes on our sovereignty and sovereign rights. The continued aggressive actions of the [Chinese coastguard] are escalating tensions in the region,” Trinidad said.

Philippine Defence Chief Gilberto Teodoro has slammed “China’s dangerous and reckless behaviour”. He said: “It should now be clear to the international community that China’s actions are the true obstacles to peace and stability in the South China Sea.”

US ambassador to Manila MaryKay Carlson said in a statement that “the United States condemns the PRC’s aggressive, dangerous manoeuvres near Ayungin [Second Thomas] Shoal, which caused bodily injury, damaged Philippine vessels, and hindered lawful maritime operations to supply food, water, and essential supplies to Philippine personnel within [its] exclusive economic zone. We stand by our allies in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. “

The European Union’s ambassador to Manila Luc Veron expressed “deep concern” over China’s “dangerous actions” and that the EU “opposes coercion and intimidation in the South China Sea, or anywhere” and supports “peaceful dispute resolution.”

American security analyst Raymond Powell told This Week in Asia on Monday that around the time of the collision incident, China had three coastguard vessels and 21 fishing vessels swarming around the Second Thomas Shoal.

The director of SeaLight – a project based in Stanford University that aims to track maritime “grey zone” activities – said while his team was able to track the vessels, it was unclear from the data on the incident which vessel was responsible for Monday’s collision.

“All [Chinese coastguard] ships are running ‘dark’ on AIS,” Powell said, referring to the Automatic Identification System that ships were supposed to keep on while at sea to prevent collisions.

“I can’t tell from the ship tracking, since Philippine resupply vessels are too small to broadcast on Class A automatic information system, and it’s not clear which [Chinese coastguard] ship was involved,” he said.

However, Powell noted that “experience has demonstrated that these collisions happen when [Chinese] vessels block the path of the Philippine boats”.

“This is a continuation of the trend of escalation we’ve seen from China, which has been tightening its blockade around Second Thomas Shoal,” he added.

Former House defence committee vice-chairman Ruffy Biazon challenged Beijing to file a formal complaint against Manila before the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency in charge of cases involving vessel collisions.

Biazon wrote on social media platform X: “They are invoking the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, the best thing for them to do is file a formal complaint at the IMO. But of course, they won’t do that because they know they have been violating it themselves for a long time now.”

Last Friday, the Group of Seven issued a statement siding with the Philippines on its maritime dispute with Beijing, saying, “we oppose China’s militarisation, and coercive and intimidation activities in the South China Sea.”

Chinese equities can soar even with a property crisis on, spot-on stock picker says

https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3266957/chinese-stocks-dont-need-property-rebound-hit-new-heights-analyst-says?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese stocks do not need a turnaround in property prices to chalk up further gains despite an entrenched bearish consensus that says they do, according to a top market strategist who called the timing of the reopening rally in late 2022 and the 2015 stock-market meltdown.

Cheaper property prices could boost household spending power and savings, potentially redirecting funds into the stock market once domestic confidence improves, according to Hong Hao, partner and chief economist in Hong Kong at Grow Investment Group, a Chinese hedge fund.

“The rally in April and May could be a prelude of what is to come,” he said in a note to clients on Monday. “Chinese stocks can rebound without a rebound in property.”

The Hang Seng Index, which tracks the largest and most liquid stocks listed in Hong Kong, surged 21 per cent between a low on April 19 and a high on May 20 as mainland and global investors scooped up cheap local shares in an effort to diversify their assets.

That happened despite the property market showing little sign of stabilising, with prices of new homes in 70 medium and large Chinese cities falling by the most in nearly 10 years as Beijing’s ambitious 300 billion yuan (US$41.3 billion) relending facility for excess housing inventory has yet to trickle through.

“The more property prices decline, potentially the bigger the household spending budget will be, and hence better discretionary spending,” Hong said. That could help ease the deflationary pressure and prompt the economic cycle to tick up, he added.

Hong worked for China International Capital Corp and Bocom International Holdings before joining Grow Investment. He recommended buying Chinese stocks at the end of October 2022, just before a 54 per cent run-up in the Hang Seng Index. He also correctly predicted the 2015 market meltdown that wiped away US$5 trillion in value.

Hong’s argument has added to a recent chorus of optimistic calls on China’s market prospects from the likes of Societe Generale and UBS, at a time when doubts about the strength of China’s recovery and geopolitical concerns continue to put off investors.

To be sure, trade friction remains an overhang on Chinese stocks, particularly for companies heavily reliant on exports. Concerns about capital outflows amid weakening foreign investor confidence are valid, Hong said.

Meanwhile, Chinese mom-and-pop investors are putting much of their household deposits in Chinese treasury bonds and higher-yield wealth-management products instead of stocks at the moment, indicating that domestic investor confidence has yet to fully recover.

Hong remains optimistic, suggesting that China’s economic cycle is bottoming out. A 3.7 per cent increase in retail sales and a 7.6 per cent jump in exports last month show that the economy is not faltering as much as headlines suggest, he said.

“China’s economy is bottoming with some upticks, not stalling,” Hong said. Capital outflow has not entirely stopped but has slowed rather sharply, as there will always be some investors who see opportunities in such a vast market.

China new home prices drop at fastest rate in nearly a decade

https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/jun/17/china-new-home-prices-fall-property-market

House prices in China slumped at the fastest rate in almost 10 years in May as a glut of properties on the market hit demand, despite renewed efforts by the government to prop up the sector.

The price of new homes in 70 cities, excluding subsidised housing, fell by 0.7% from April. This was the steepest drop since October 2014, according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) figures posted on Monday. Values of existing homes fell by 1%, the steepest drop since China started using its current data collection method in 2011.

The disappointing data comes despite the most ambitious attempt yet by the government to revive house prices in China. In May, the People’s Bank of China scrapped the minimum rate of interest and reduced down-payment ratios to 15% for first-time buyers and 25% for second homes. It also created a 300bn yuan (£32.8bn) facility to support local state-owned companies to buy homes at reasonable prices.

Investors say the amount the central bank has invested may not be enough. Measures in several cities allowing local governments to buy up excess properties from developers have made slow progress in deploying allocated funds. The oversupply of homes on the market has hit prices, making people less likely to invest.

Prices also declined from a year earlier. New house prices dropped 4.3%, while existing homes fell 7.5%, according to the NBS.

Liu Aihua, a spokesperson for the NBS, told a media briefing on Monday that the property market is undergoing adjustment and it would take some time for policy measures to kick in.

Policymakers have been attempting to rein in the oversupply of housing, and support debt-laden developers since the market went into freefall in 2020, hit by the pandemic and a sudden regulatory crackdown on indebted lenders.

China’s ailing property market reflects struggles in the wider economy. Industrial output grew more slowly in May at 5.6% compared with 6.7% a year earlier. Economists were expecting growth of about 6%.

Retail sales beat expectations in May, however, climbing 3.7%. This was better than analyst expectations of 3% growth.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said gloomy economic data could prompt the Bank of China to cut interest rates to help demand. “The latest data showed that home prices there slid at a faster pace in May despite all the efforts that the Chinese government puts in to stop the bleeding and industrial production slowed significantly more than expected, as well, during the same month,” she added.

“The People’s Bank of China is expected to maintain its rates unchanged this week, but some economists at Bloomberg believe that the week could bring a 10 basis point cut in China to prop things up.”

Online rumours of civil war in Philippines tied to China’s covert agenda

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3266870/online-rumours-civil-war-philippines-tied-chinas-covert-agenda?utm_source=rss_feed

A recent surge of online rumours about civil war in the Philippines may be linked to China’s attempts to manipulate public opinion amid the South China Sea conflict, reflecting Beijing’s broader disinformation tactics and strategic goals.

Analysts link such efforts to a broader cognitive warfare strategy by China, leveraging disinformation through social media and traditional channels in an attempt to sway public sentiment and destabilise the Philippines’ political landscape.

“What we are seeing is just the tip of the iceberg,” Sherwin Ona, a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Defence and Security Research think tank in Taiwan, told This Week in Asia. “We must brace ourselves for more of this.”

Last week, The Philippine Star reported on coordinated efforts by anonymous Chinese social media accounts that shared a November statement by Pantaleon Alvarez, a representative from Davao del Norte, calling for the secession of Mindanao’s southern islands from the rest of the Philippines.

Alvarez, a known ally of former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte, served as speaker of the House of Representatives under the ex-president.

Within days, more than 60 social media accounts posted about Mindanao’s “independence campaign”, fuelling speculation of conflict and blaming President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s “pro-United States” policy for the rift, the Philippine Star reported.

Online personalities linked to the Duterte camp amplified the secession posts, claiming Marcos’ administration was escalating the issue. Pro-Duterte commentator Rigoberto Tiglao, for example, wrote that officials’ “knee-jerk reactions” signalled to the world “that there is already an ongoing armed secession movement” – after National Security Adviser Eduardo Año and Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro had said that any secession movement would be “met by the government with resolute force”.

Duterte, who is in the midst of a vitriolic public feud with Marcos, in February called for the independence of his home island of Mindanao.

The suspected disinformation campaign aligned with Beijing’s “grey-zone” strategy of using covert tactics like cognitive warfare to achieve strategic objectives without direct military action, Ona said.

“We can also see that disinformation is being pushed through traditional channels, such as state media, astroturfing techniques using pro-Beijing social media sites for amplification, and trolls,” he told This Week in Asia.

Ona claimed similar cognitive warfare tactics had been deployed in Taiwan and Hong Kong, citing disinformation spread ahead of Taiwan’s election in January, including unfounded claims of corruption and dictatorship against eventual winner William Lai Ching-te and fake news about tainted pork and eggs imported from the US.

A US State Department report last year accused China of spending billions of dollars to expand global disinformation campaigns that it said constrain free speech and undermine information reliability.

“The tactic is to generally push a cyber-enabled disinformation campaign combined with offensive cyber operations, such as hacking of public data and cyberespionage,” Ona said, noting that this strategy often works in tandem with other malign tactics, like sowing division, co-opting local leaders, and controlling critical infrastructure.

He said these efforts aimed to advance Beijing’s strategic vision of national rejuvenation and hegemony over the Indo-Pacific by 2049, as part of its “Chinese dream”.

“Its excessive claims in the South China Sea, its Belt and Road Initiative, among others, are part of this goal. It also plays the victim card by saying that China has endured centuries of humiliation perpetrated by foreign powers,” Ona said, arguing that Beijing extended its victimhood narrative to territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea – Manila’s term for its exclusive economic zone within the larger disputed waterway.

“The narrative is usually the opposite of what they do in the West Philippine Sea. Normally, Beijing resorts to blame-shifting, such as blaming the [Philippines’ coastguard] for the water cannon and collision incidents,” he said.

In April, Marcos unveiled a six-year plan to strengthen the Philippines’ cybersecurity efforts following a spate of cyberattacks from suspected Chinese actors.

The month before, an anonymous hacker breached the Philippine coastguard’s Facebook page, flooding it with malicious content for a week before the government regained control.

Marcos’ website, the Department of Information and Communications Technology’s email server, and the National Coast Watch Centre also fell prey to hackers in January. The information department said the hackers were traced by investigators and were suspected of using the services of state-owned telecoms company China Unicom.

Chinese embassy officials in April refuted Philippine military reports that Beijing had been recruiting Filipino military personnel as consultants and planting operatives in “sleeper cells” across the country.

Don McLain Gill, a geopolitical analyst and lecturer at De La Salle University’s Department of International Studies in Manlia, noted a rise in information operations targeting the Marcos administration’s policies to secure Philippine sovereignty, coinciding with Manila’s efforts to bolster security ties and economic cooperation with the US.

Gill said Beijing wanted to undermine the Philippines-US alliance and reshape the political landscape ahead of elections by sowing societal discord.

While Marcos has two years left in post until the Philippines’ next presidential race, midterm polls are set take place in 2025 for Senate and local government seats.

Gill said Beijing’s disinformation campaign on social media platforms like YouTube aimed to catalyse domestic unrest in the Philippines by spreading fabricated videos and posts “with the general aim of catalysing domestic clamour” and convincing Filipinos that Manila was provoking conflict in the South China Sea.

“Such information manipulation also aims to harness Filipinos’ negative perceptions of the US and its alliance network in the Indo-Pacific. More importantly, Beijing’s media mouthpieces, like the Global Times and the China Daily, conveniently parrot such narratives. One can safely assume that there is a strong link with Beijing’s overarching interests,” Gill said.

He called information operations a common “sharp power” tactic, referring to a country’s ability to disrupt governance and social cohesion in a target state through disinformation and propaganda.

Gill said democracies were more vulnerable to sharp power due to their open information flows, unlike authoritarian states that regulate media, and urged Manila to proactively counter the spread of malicious online disinformation.

“This is no time to be complacent. Manila must continue to consolidate a whole-of-government and society approach to call out and push back such malicious information. This will require a robust public-private partnership,” he said.

“Constant effort is needed from Manila to sustain its ability to transparently communicate its people-centric and agency-driven approach in the West Philippine Sea.”

China is not the only country that has been accused of conducting disinformation campaigns that have impacted the Philippines.

Reuters recently reported that the Pentagon attempted to discredit the quality of the Sinovac vaccine, which was the first Covid-19 jab that was available in the Philippines.

Responding to a query about the report, the US Defence Department did not deny it but said in a statement on Sunday that it conducts “a wide range of operations, including operations in the information environment (OIE), to counter adversary malign influence”.

China lashes out at US over report of Pentagon’s secret anti-vax campaign

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3266960/china-lashes-out-us-after-report-pentagons-secret-anti-vax-campaign?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing has called on Washington to “stop fabricating and disseminating false information” in response to a report that the Pentagon ran a secret campaign during the Covid-19 pandemic to discredit China’s vaccines.

“The facts have proven time and again that the United States has consistently spread false information through the manipulation of social media, poisoned the public opinion environment and smeared the image of other countries. China firmly opposes this,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing on Monday.

He said Washington should “set its mind right, shoulder its responsibilities as a great power, and stop fabricating and disseminating false information against other countries”.

Lin was responding to a media query about a Reuters investigation published on Friday that said the Pentagon had tried to discredit the quality of Chinese face masks, test kits and Chinese biopharmaceutical company Sinovac’s vaccine. The shot was the first Covid-19 jab to become available in the Philippines, which had struggled to source vaccines during the pandemic.

Reuters said the campaign began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021 – several months into the administration of US President Joe Biden.

The report quoted a senior US military officer directly involved in the campaign in Southeast Asia as saying: “We didn’t do a good job sharing vaccines with partners. So what was left to us was to throw shade on China’s.”

Lin said the officer’s words had “exposed the truth and intentions of the US in launching a disinformation campaign against other countries”.

“If the US wants to contain and suppress a country, it will ignore the truth, and coordinate resources to discredit and slander [the country],” he said.

Lin said this could also be seen “in the smearing of the popular Belt and Road Initiative and the rumours about overcapacity in China’s new-energy vehicles, which are in high demand and supply”.

“Such practices don’t not reflect the strong capabilities of the US, but only reveal its hegemony and hypocrisy,” he said, calling on the international community to have a “clear understanding” of the issue.

Sinovac hit back over the report on Saturday, calling the Pentagon campaign a “wrong attack that will create enormous disaster”.

On Sunday, the US Defence Department did not deny the report and suggested that the move was an attempt to counter Beijing’s “malign influence campaigns”.

It said the department conducts “a wide range of operations, including operations in the information environment, to counter adversary malign influence”.

The reported campaign was within the time frame that Chinese officials suggested in social media posts and press conferences that a US Army facility should be investigated as a potential source of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19.

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Chinese smartphone giant Vivo in talks to sell stake in Indian factory to Tata Group: report

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3266965/chinese-smartphone-giant-vivo-talks-sell-stake-indian-factory-tata-group-report?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese smartphone giant Vivo is said to be in talks to sell its stake in a factory in India to domestic conglomerate Tata Group, according to a report by local media Moneycontrol, as the South Asian nation tightens its scrutiny of foreign businesses operating in the country.

Tata is considering the acquisition of a majority stake in Vivo’s Indian unit, and the talks are in “an advanced stage”, Moneycontrol reported on Friday, citing an anonymous source. Vivo, according to the source, is seeking a high valuation for its asset.

Vivo – China’s fifth-largest smartphone vendor in the first quarter, according to research firm IDC – declined to comment on the reported negotiations. Tata did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The report also cited other sources who said that Vivo’s factory in Greater Noida, a city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, has been sold to Indian company Bhagwati Products. The factory is expected to start production for Vivo under a joint venture with Chinese electronics contract manufacturer Huaqin Technology, while government approval remains pending, according to the report.

Vivo’s potential deal with Tata reflects the growing ambitions of the Mumbai-based cars-to-software conglomerate, which last year took over the iPhone factory of Taiwanese electronics contract manufacturer Wistron in the southwestern state of Karnataka.

Tata last year received orders for Apple’s iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus models to be made in India, according to research firm TrendForce.

After its Wistron deal, Tata is now expanding its iPhone manufacturing operations at Hosur, a city in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, which will feature about 20 assembly lines, according to an India Briefing post published in April by professional services firm Dezan Shira & Associates.

For Vivo, the potential transaction with Tata comes amid India’s growing scrutiny of Chinese businesses and New Delhi’s efforts to involve local manufacturers in the operations of foreign smartphone brands in the country.

In June last year, Indian news outlet The Economic Times cited sources who said the government has asked Chinese smartphone makers to appoint Indian executives to key roles in their local operations.

India, the world’s second-largest smartphone market, is dominated by foreign brands, including a handful of major Chinese players. In the first quarter, the five top smartphone vendors by value were Samsung Electronics, Apple, Vivo, Xiaomi and Oppo, according to data from Counterpoint Research.

Vivo, headquartered in southern China’s Dongguan city, has already become a target of the Indian government’s scrutiny. Last October, India’s Enforcement Directorate, the agency responsible for fighting financial crimes, arrested four Vivo executives even as the Chinese firm vowed to “exercise all available legal options”.

The arrests came after Indian authorities raided dozens of Vivo’s offices in July last year on suspicion of money laundering, following similar actions against Xiaomi and Huawei Technologies.

India’s revenue intelligence unit, a branch of the Finance Ministry, previously held up some 27,000 Vivo smartphones worth nearly US$15 million at a New Delhi airport, preventing the company’s Indian unit from exporting the devices to neighbouring markets, according to a December 2022 report by Bloomberg.

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Swiss philosopher Iso Kern sues former Chinese student Ni Liangkang for alleged plagiarism

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3266920/swiss-philosopher-iso-kern-sues-former-chinese-student-ni-liangkang-alleged-plagiarism?utm_source=rss_feed

A Swiss sinologist who has spent much of his career introducing Chinese philosophy to the West has filed a lawsuit on alleged plagiarism against one of his former students and a prominent Chinese academic publisher.

Professor Iso Kern, 87, said the Dongcheng District Court in Beijing had formally accepted the case in March and he was now awaiting a trial date.

According to legal documents seen by the South China Morning Post, Kern is suing the two defendants for infringement of copyright: Ni Liangkang, a philosophy professor with Zhejiang University; and the Commercial Press, a publisher known for translation works in humanities and social sciences.

“I am suing Ni Liangkang and the Commercial Press in China, because the Chinese-language version of Husserl’s collected works published is basically illegal and infringing,” Kern said in a video statement sent to the Post.

The book in dispute, “On the Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity”, is a compilation of the writings of German philosopher Edmund Husserl, born in 1859, who is known as the founder of phenomenology. It is a philosophical movement that sees the ultimate source of all meaning as lived experience.

The book is based on a manuscript of more than 40,000 pages, all written by Husserl in the long-abandoned Gabelsberger shorthand.

After obtaining his doctorate in Belgium, Kern worked as a researcher at the Husserl Archives of the University of Leuven during the 1960s. There, he and his colleagues undertook the painstaking process of sorting through Husserl’s manuscript. It was an arduous task, with Husserl’s shorthand first having to be decoded before then translating the text to modern German.

Kern first published the three volumes of the German version of the book in 1973, after more than a decade working on it.

As the first publication of Husserl’s theoretical concepts of phenomenology, the book was a huge success, and it also helped Kern become a well-known figure in the Western philosophical community.

Decades later, though, in 2022, Kern was being interviewed by a Hong Kong film crew for a documentary featuring prominent sinologists, when they mentioned that his book was already published in Chinese. He was shocked.

“That was the result of 10 other philosophers and I, who spent decades editing and translating from Husserl’s posthumous manuscripts into modern German. Three of them have passed away, and I am the only one who understands Chinese. I want justice for all of us, and I will never accept an out-of-court settlement,” Kern said in his video statement.

The lead translator for the Chinese version had been Ni Liangkang, a former student of Kern’s. It had been published by the Commercial Press in 2018, without Kern’s authorisation, and the cover only named Ni as editor-in-chief, with no mention of Kern.

Ni, a professor in the department of philosophy at Zhejiang University, and director of its Centre for Phenomenology, had published 17 volumes of the Chinese version based on Kern’s original work, all under his name without any acknowledgement to Kern.

Ni first served as Kern’s translator in the 1980s when Kern was studying ancient Chinese philosophy at Nanjing University. Kern said he once regarded Ni as one of his favourite Chinese students.

Ni’s work was listed as one of the major projects of China’s National Social Science Fund in 2012, which says it only supports works with “no intellectual property disputes”.

“How can the 17 volumes of Chinese editions of Husserl’s collected works, which were illegally published, become a major project of the National Social Science Fund?” Kern asked in his video statement.

“I am nearly 88 years old now. I have loved China all my life. This matter broke my heart. I wrote a letter to the Chinese President Xi Jinping and asked the Chinese embassy in Switzerland to forward it, but there was no reply yet,” he said.

In his litigation requests, Kern is demanding the two defendants “immediately” stop the infringement and recall the Chinese version of his books nationwide.

He has also asked for 500,000 yuan (US$68,900) compensation from the two defendants, while also demanding Ni make a public apology in Beijing Daily and that the Commercial Press publicly apologise on social media.

Ni and his office at Zhejiang University have not responded to emails and phone calls from the Post, while the humanities department also did not reply to a request for comment.

A representative of the Commercial Press said she was not authorised to comment on the case and would leave it to the court to decide the outcome.

In October 2022, Kern received an apology letter from the Commercial Press. The letter stated that “the unauthorised publication” of his book was “a major mistake due to the fact that the editorial department mistakenly assumed that the copyright had already expired”.

“We are deeply sorry for this and sincerely apologise to Mr Iso Kern,” the letter said. It promised to withdraw all unauthorised copies, pay Kern’s legal fees and compensation, and it offered to name Kern as the editor in every new edition.

But in an interview with SwissInfo in December 2022, Ni said the infringement was “a matter for the publishers and it has nothing to do with me”.

“I don’t think I will apologise to Iso Kern. I think Iso Kern should apologise to me,” he was quoted by SwissInfo as saying.

The EU should exercise strategic autonomy by rethinking China tariffs

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3266861/eu-should-exercise-strategic-autonomy-rethinking-china-tariffs?utm_source=rss_feed

In a move that has sent shockwaves through the automotive industry and could have far-reaching economic repercussions, the European Commission has decided to impose hefty tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs) imported from China.

This decision follows an investigation initiated last October into whether Chinese EV manufacturers benefited from unfair government subsidies. The European Commission announced it will impose additional tariffs ranging from 17.4 per cent to 38.1 per cent, on top of the existing 10 per cent duty. These tariffs are set to come into effect in July unless China offers satisfactory remedies.

BYD, which competes with Tesla for EV sales, has the lowest additional duty at 17.4 per cent. Sweden’s Volvo owner Geely faces a 20 per cent duty, while SAIC faces 38.1 per cent. Other EV makers will pay a 21 per cent duty rate for cooperating with the European Union probe, while those that did not will be subject to a tariff of 38.1 per cent.

Due to its timing and approach, the investigation has raised questions. Unlike typical trade investigations, it started without a formal complaint from the EU’s automotive industry, making it seem politically motivated. The move appears to be part of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election campaign strategy and broader efforts to “de-risk” from China.

The decision was influenced by subtle but clear pressure from the United States. When US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Germany on May 21, she urged the EU to align with the US in addressing China’s alleged industrial overcapacity. The swift response from the European Commission with these tariffs seems to align more with US geopolitical strategy than with the interests of Europe’s automotive industry.

Contrary to the European Commission’s stance, major European automotive leaders have openly criticised the tariffs. Ola Kallenius, CEO of Mercedes-Benz, has argued for reducing tariffs and increased competition to produce better vehicles. BMW CEO Oliver Zipse has suggested tariffs will harm European competitiveness.

Their concerns are not without merit. Importers will bear additional costs, with an estimated US$1 billion expense for every 10 per cent tariff increase, based on 2023 trade data. This extra financial burden comes at a difficult time for a sector that is already grappling with declining demand.

The imposition of tariffs could also disrupt the EU’s ambitious environmental goals. Under the Green Deal, the EU aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 per cent by the end of this decade, with the transport sector slated to play a significant role in this regard.

Reducing Chinese EV imports could undermine the bloc’s timeline to ban the sale of gasoline and diesel vehicles by 2035, given that European production alone may not be sufficient to meet the growing demand for EVs. With its more efficient and cost-effective production capabilities, China is crucial for the EU’s transition to greener transportation.

Notably, Europe is a leading destination for Chinese EV exports. According to Rhodium Group, the value of EU imports of EVs from China has surged from US$1.6 billion in 2020 to US$11.5 billion in 2023, accounting for 37 per cent of all EV imports in the bloc.

Another critical concern is the potential for a retaliatory trade war with China. The China Chamber of Commerce to the EU has already hinted at a possible rise in tariffs on EU vehicle imports to 25 per cent from their current level of 15 per cent.

Moreover, China could target other sensitive European exports in the agricultural and aviation sectors, escalating economic tensions and further straining EU-China relations.

Considering that China passed a law in April to strengthen its ability to retaliate, the consequences of a full-blown trade war cannot be overstated. In an interconnected global economy, the repercussions of such conflicts extend beyond the immediate industries involved, potentially impacting broader economic stability.

The European Commission’s investigation will continue until late October. Definitive tariffs will take effect in November unless a qualified majority of EU states votes against the decision. This allows time for a potential agreement to be reached between Brussels and Beijing, which could be beneficial for both sides.

A more practical approach would involve Beijing not playing into Washington’s hands. This means not allowing the US to pit Europe against China by limiting justified yet reputationally damaging threats of retaliation. Meanwhile, Brussels would be wise to show strategic autonomy and avoid damaging a vital source of prosperity. On both sides, cooler heads need to prevail.

Chinese senior officials’ South Korea trip to coincide with Putin’s Pyongyang visit

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3266968/chinese-senior-officials-south-korea-trip-coincide-putins-pyongyang-visit?utm_source=rss_feed

A trip to South Korea by senior Chinese foreign and defence officials will coincide with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang next door, as tensions soar in the Korean peninsula.

Foreign vice-minister Sun Weidong and Zhang Baoqun, deputy director of the Chinese military’s international cooperation office, will be in Seoul on Tuesday to take part in the “2+2” diplomatic and security dialogue, Beijing’s foreign ministry has confirmed.

South Korean foreign vice-minister Kim Hong-kyun and defence officials will take part in the meeting, a statement from Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

A rough schedule for the coming dialogue was confirmed when Chinese Premier Li Qiang met South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul last month. Set up in 2002, the dialogue has been organised five times so far. It was upgraded to vice-ministerial level in 2020, when the Beijing-friendly Moon Jae-in was president of South Korea.

“The establishment of the 2+2 dialogue mechanism between China and the Republic of Korea … is in view of the needs of the development of bilateral relations,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in Beijing on Monday, referring to the official name for South Korea

“China will focus on exchanging views with South Korea on how to develop and improve [relations and] deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields,” he added.

Meanwhile, Putin will travel to North Korea on Tuesday, the Kremlin has confirmed after months of speculation over the much-hyped trip. It will be the Russian leader’s first visit to the reclusive country in two decades.

This comes amid reports that Moscow is seeking closer ties with Pyongyang as it tries to rebuild its international image following the damaging invasion of Ukraine.

Lin said the date for the dialogue “was agreed upon at an early stage” and had “no special relevance to other countries”.

However, Putin’s coming visit injects greater uncertainty into the situation in the peninsula, as North and South Korea mark new lows in ties. All economic cooperation has been suspended, raising fears of a military confrontation.

The South Korean intelligence agency told Yonhap that Moscow and Pyongyang were likely to set up close military cooperation that would allow Russia to intervene militarily in the Korean peninsula.

Seoul says North Korea may have sent nearly 5 million artillery shells to Russia and Putin is likely to seek even more when he visits Pyongyang.

South Korea and the United States have both warned against further military exchanges, as Russia is under United Nations sanctions over the Ukraine war.

China, which is seen as friendly with both Russia and North Korea as they confront US-led alliances in Asia, has yet to comment on Putin’s trip.

Regarding Tuesday’s dialogue with the senior Chinese delegation, the South Korean foreign ministry said the two sides would exchange views on “bilateral relations, Korean peninsula issues and other topics of interest including regional and international geopolitical situations”.

China-South Korea ties, traditionally strong on trade, have been tested in recent years amid Seoul’s deepening security cooperation with treaty ally Washington, which has stepped up regional groupings in its bid to “contain” Beijing.

However, there has been a gleam of light in recent weeks, with Beijing highlighting the need for a stable development of bilateral ties amid “challenges and difficulties”, and Seoul saying “South Korea is not in favour of a zero-sum game” in foreign relations.

Li and Yoon’s meeting in Seoul last month took place on the margins of a trilateral summit with Japan, another US defence ally. The Chinese and South Korean leaders resumed negotiations on upgrading their bilateral free trade agreement, besides agreeing on Tuesday’s “2+2” dialogue.

Chinese and Philippine ship collision just the latest in a string of South China Sea confrontations

https://apnews.com/article/china-philippines-south-china-sea-ship-06e9fe0ef440aba09bc650d986d83377FILE - Filipino fishermen and activists wear boat costumes to protest against alleged Chinese aggression at the disputed South China Sea as they stage a rally in front of the Chinese consulate ahead of Independence Day in Makati, Philippines, on June 11, 2024. China has been at odds with many other countries in the Asia-Pacific for years over its sweeping maritime claims, including almost all of the South China Sea, a strategic and resource-rich waterway around which Beijing has drawn a 10-dash-line on official maps to delineate what it says it its territory. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

2024-06-17T10:20:13Z

BANGKOK (AP) —

China has been at odds with many other countries in the Asia-Pacific for years over its sweeping maritime claims, including almost all of the South China Sea, a strategic and resource-rich waterway around which Beijing has drawn a 10-dash-line on official maps to delineate what it says it its territory.

Beijing is in the midst of a massive military expansion and has become increasingly assertive in pursuing its claims, giving rise to more frequent direct confrontations, primarily with the Philippines, though it is also involved in longtime territorial disputes with Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei.

A 2016 arbitration ruling by a United Nations tribunal invalidated Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea, but China did not participate in the proceedings and rejected the ruling.

At stake are fishing rights, access to undersea oil reserves and other natural resources, as well as the possibility of establishing military outposts.

The U.S., a treaty partner with the Philippines, has raised concerns about China’s actions and President Joe Biden has pledged “ironclad” support for Manila. That’s sparked fears that if an incident escalates, it could spark a wider conflict.

In the latest incident, a Chinese vessel and a Philippine supply ship collided near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Monday. China’s coast guard said a Philippine supply ship entered waters near the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands that’s part of territory claimed by several nations. The Philippine military called the Chinese coast guard’s report “deceptive and misleading.”

Here’s a look at some other incidents and developments in recent months:

June 4: Philippine officials say the Chinese coast guard seized food dropped for Filipino naval personnel on an outpost on Second Thomas Shoal. Philippine Gen. Romeo Brawner says the Chinese may have suspected the packages contained construction materials intended to reinforce the rusty Philippine navy ship deliberately run aground at Second Thomas Shoal to serve as a Philippine outpost.

May 16: About 100 Filipino activists on wooden boats change plans to distribute food to Filipinos based on the Second Thomas Shoal after being shadowed by Chinese coast guard ships through the night. Instead, they distribute food packs and fuel southeast of the disputed territory.

April 30: Chinese coast guard ships fire water cannons at two Philippine patrol vessels near the Scarborough Shoal, another hotly disputed area where tensions have flared on and off. Philippine officials say water cannons could damage their ships’ engines, or even capsize the smaller vessels. China called its move a “necessary measure,” accusing the Philippines of violating China’s sovereignty. China also re-installed a floating barrier across the entrance to the shoal’s vast fishing lagoon.

April 23: A Chinese coast guard ship blocks a Philippine patrol vessel near Second Thomas Shoal, causing a near-collision. Before the incident, a Chinese naval vessel had shadowed two Philippine patrol boats as they cruised near Subi, one of seven barren reefs in the Spratly Islands that China has transformed in the last decade into a missile-protected island military outpost. Subi is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

March 23: Chinese coast guard hits Philippine supply boat with water cannons near Second Thomas Shoal, injuring crew members and damaging the vessel, Philippine officials say. China says the Philippines intruded into its territorial waters despite repeated warnings.

March 5: Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels are involved in a minor collision off the Second Thomas Shoal, and four Filipino crew members are injured when China blasts a supply boat with water cannons, shattering its windshield. China’s coast guard says the Philippine ships were illegally intruding in the area’s waters and accused one of them of ramming a Chinese vessel.

Jan. 12: Filipino fishing boat captain says Chinese coast guard drives him away from Scarborough Shoal, forces him to dump his catch into the sea.

Dec. 9, 2023: The Chinese coast guard surrounds a supply ship, blasts it with a water cannon in the area around Second Thomas Shoal. The head of the Philippine military, who was aboard the supply boat, says they were also “bumped” by a Chinese ship.

Nov. 10, 2023: China blasts Philippine supply ship with water cannon near Second Thomas Shoal; China says it acted appropriately under maritime law to defend its territory.

Oct. 22, 2023: A Chinese coast guard ship and accompanying vessel ram Philippine coast guard ship and a military-run supply boat near the Second Thomas Shoal. Chinese coast guard says the Philippine vessels “trespassed” into what it said were Chinese waters.

Sept. 26, 2023: The Philippine coast guard says it removed a floating barrier from blocking the entrance to the lagoon at the Scarborough Shoal, put in place by China to prevent Filipino fishing boats from entering. China would later replace the barrier.

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

Some Chinese insurers face ‘material’ profit risk from property exposure: Moody’s

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3266935/some-chinese-insurers-face-material-profit-risk-property-exposure-moodys?utm_source=rss_feed

A protracted downturn in China’s property market could hurt the profitability of the country’s insurers, who are exposed to the sector through commercial real estate and may lack sufficient provisions to cover potential losses, according to analysts.

While the size of the insurers’ property investments are “generally moderate” relative to their asset bases, some insurers have exposure in excess of 15 per cent of shareholders’ equity, according to a report published on Monday by Moody’s Ratings. For these groups, the impact of losses from property investments on their profitability and capital could be “material”, the report said.

New home prices in China fell by 0.7 per cent month on month in May, the steepest drop in almost 10 years, according to official data.

Alternative investments pose the greatest potential challenge for insurers, the report said. These investments include debt-investment schemes, asset-management products and trust plans that use commercial properties as underlying assets.

“The exact amounts of exposure to property developers through alternative investments are hard to gauge because of limited public disclosure and complicated transaction structures,” Moody’s analysts said.

“For example, certain trust plans or asset-management products may invest in a diversified portfolio of financial assets,” the report said. “A subset of these assets could subsequently invest in debt instruments or equities issued by property developers, thus creating a layer of indirect exposure to the property sector.”

Meanwhile, the quality of investments in physical properties – another way for insurers to be exposed to the country’s commercial real estate sector – could also face challenges as rental yields decline against the backdrop of challenging economic conditions and lower income prospects.

China’s commercial real estate sector faces persistent headwinds against a broader decline in the property sector. The nationwide office vacancy rate rose by 0.3 percentage points quarter on quarter in the first quarter of 2024 to 24.8 per cent, marking a historical high, according to data published in April by CBRE.

Commercial real estate investment volume dropped 37 per cent quarter on quarter, and 23 per cent year on year to 44.7 billion yuan (US$6.2 billion) as institutions and property funds remained on the sidelines to avoid risks.

Retail property emerged as a bright spot, as further improvement in supply and demand pushed overall vacancy down for a third consecutive quarter to 8.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

The Moody’s report comes a month after China rolled out its most ambitious rescue package yet to shore up the nation’s slumping property market.

The measures, which included 300 billion yuan in “relending” funds for state-owned firms and local governments to clear excess housing inventory, plus the removal of mortgage-floor rates nationwide, has done little to revive sentiment.

China targets EU pork in new anti-dumping investigation after Brussels’ EV action

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3266905/china-targets-eu-pork-new-anti-dumping-investigation-after-brussels-ev-action?utm_source=rss_feed

China has announced an anti-dumping investigation into certain pork products imported from the European Union.

The move on Monday follows the EU’s decision last week to raise tariffs on Chinese EVs by up to 38 per cent from July 4.

The products under investigation include fresh, cold and frozen pork; pork offal; pig fat without lean meat; as well as pig intestines, bladders and stomachs, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

The investigation period on import dumping is between Jan 1 to December 31 of last year, while the period for evaluating industrial damage covers four years from the first day of 2020 to the last day of 2023, the ministry said.

Starting from Monday, the investigation will last no more than a year, but it could be extended for a further six months, it added.

More to follow…

China, Australia to ‘properly’ manage differences: Premier Li after ‘candid’ talks

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3266914/china-australia-properly-manage-differences-premier-li-after-candid-talks?utm_source=rss_feed

China and Australia have agreed to “properly” manage their differences to enhance the “vitality and durability” of their bilateral relationship, following “candid” talks in Canberra.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang met his counterpart Anthony Albanese in the Australian capital on Monday, as the most senior Beijing official to visit the country in seven years.

The talks were “in-depth and fruitful”, Li said, highlighting “candid” exchanges on some differences and disagreements between the two countries.

The two sides will expand cooperation on new energy vehicles, Li told a joint press conference with Albanese after the meeting. The pledge comes amid a looming trade war between China and the European Union over Brussels’ tariff hikes and investigations into state subsidies for the Chinese green sector.

Li also announced that travel to China would become visa-free for Australians, mirroring an initiative for New Zealanders he unveiled last week in Auckland, but did not offer details.

The world’s No 2 economy has granted visa waivers to more than a dozen countries in Europe and Southeast Asia over the past year, as it tries to draw more foreign visitors and investors to boost post-Covid growth and mend its global image, dented by strict pandemic controls and nationwide anti-espionage efforts.

A joint statement issued later on Monday said the two countries had agreed on reciprocal access to multiple-entry visas for up to five years for tourism, business and family visits.

Referring to points of contention between China and Australia, Li said: “[We] agreed to properly manage them in a manner befitting our comprehensive strategic partnership.”

Albanese in his remarks highlighted mutual differences in “histories, political systems and values”.

“We will cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must and engage in the national interest,” he said, repeating his government’s formula for engaging with Beijing.

Geopolitical tensions have strained ties between the two major trading partners in recent years, as Australia’s closer security bonds with the United States through the Quad partnership with Japan and India and the Aukus defence agreement with Britain being viewed by China as parts of efforts to “contain” its rise.

Australia, a part of the anglophone “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance with the US, is viewed by Washington as a “vital ally, partner, and friend”.

China-Australia relations hit a low point four years ago after Albanese’s predecessor Scott Morrison in April 2020 called for an international investigation into the origins of Covid-19. China criticised the Australian move as politically motivated.

The escalating diplomatic row saw China halt ministerial-level exchanges and impose several trade barriers on Australian products, including beef, barley, sugar, wine, timber, coal, copper and lobster, at a huge cost to the exporters.

But ties have warmed since Albanese’s election victory two years ago. His visit to China last November, which included a meeting with President Xi Jinping, was followed by Beijing lifting some tariffs and bans on Australian imports – although the ban on live lobster remains.

Australian trade chief Don Farrell said on Sunday that he would raise the issue of the lobster ban – the “one remaining product outstanding” – with his Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao during Li’s visit, now that the two countries had managed “to remove all of the trade impediments”.

Li, China’s No 2 official after Xi, is the first premier to visit Australia since his predecessor Li Keqiang in 2017. His trip is expected to pave the way for Xi’s first visit to Australia in a decade.

“This relationship is on the right track of steady improvement and development,” Li reiterated at the joint press briefing.

“We both stand for expanding mutually beneficial cooperation and enhancing the vitality and durability of China-Australia relations.”

But while trade frictions have eased, the two sides remain at odds over a series of issues in the Asia-Pacific, such as the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Albanese called on Beijing, “as a regional and global power” to play its “vital role” in keeping the region open, stable and prosperous.

“Australia advocates that we should all work together to promote a regional balance where no country dominates and no country is dominated, a region where countries large and small operate by the same rules, rules that we have all had a say in shaping,” Albanese said.

It was “crucial” for China and Australia to engage, he said, “given how close we are geographically, how interconnected we are economically and the deep enduring bonds between our people”.

“I’m determined to keep growing our relationship where we can,” Albanese added.

Li said that the two sides agreed to step up communication to jointly safeguard regional peace and to explore ways to better help the development of Pacific Island nations.

The joint statement said the two sides had agreed to launch a bilateral dialogue mechanism on maritime affairs, and to continue political talks between the two defence ministries.

Li and Albanese oversaw the signing of five cooperation documents – on trade, economic dialogue, education, climate and cultural exchanges.

Li said that both sides were committed to making good use of several dialogue mechanisms to address economic and trade concerns, and provide a “fair, open and non-discriminatory” business climate for their companies.

“We will leverage our respective strengths to expand cooperation in energy, mining, new energy vehicles, green development and the digital economy,” he said.

Li’s next stop will be Perth, in the mining state of Western Australia. He arrived in Adelaide on Saturday for a four-day Australian trip as part of a week-long tour of the region that will also take him to Malaysia.

Li reaffirmed that China would provide a pair of younger giant pandas to Adelaide Zoo, a promise he made in Adelaide on Sunday. “They will continue to serve as a bridge of friendship between the two peoples,” he said.

He also called on Australia to support Hong Kong’s accession to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a request he also made to New Zealand last week.

Australian reporter Cheng Lei, detained in China, says diplomats tried to ‘block’ her at Li Qiang event

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3266921/australian-cheng-lei-detained-china-says-diplomats-tried-block-her-li-qiang-event?utm_source=rss_feed

An Australian journalist and former high-profile prisoner said Chinese officials tried to “block” her at a press conference in Canberra on Monday in an apparent attempt to stem negative coverage of Premier Li Qiang’s visit.

A former anchor for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, Cheng Lei spent three years detained in China on murky spying accusations before she was released to Australia in October 2023.

She has written extensively about the bleak conditions and tough treatment she faced while in detention.

Cheng, now working as a journalist for Sky News Australia, said Chinese officials tried to stop her being filmed when she arrived to cover Li’s visit to the nation’s parliament on Monday.

“They went to great lengths to block me from the cameras and to flank me,” she told Sky News Australia.

“And I’m guessing that’s to prevent me from saying something or doing something that they think would be a bad look,” she told Sky News Australia. “But that itself is a bad look.”

Footage shows two individuals huddling next to Cheng at the media event, in what she says was an effort to stop her being filmed, before Australian officials intervene and moved her to a new seat.

Australian media said the individuals were Chinese diplomats, but this could not be independently confirmed.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he “didn’t see” the incident, but that journalists should “be allowed to participate fully” inside the country’s parliament.

Cheng was detained in China between August 2020 and October 2023, charged with “supplying state secrets overseas” in a case that many saw as politically motivated.

The mother of two had been a familiar face on the state broadcaster’s English-language channel, conducting interviews with noted CEOs from around the world.

She was tried behind closed doors, with even Australia’s ambassador to China blocked from entering the court to observe proceedings.

Cheng’s case had been a serious point of friction between Canberra and Beijing.

China’s ministry of state security said at the time that Cheng was deported after serving her time on charges of “illegally providing state secrets overseas”.

Li’s visit comes as the trading partners moved on from a bitter economic dispute, despite a duel for influence in the Pacific.

Li, the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit since 2017, said his trip to Australia demonstrated “that this relationship is on the right track of steady improvement and development”.

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Philippines’ Chinese visa clampdown: a response to South China Sea tensions?

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3266902/philippines-chinese-visa-clampdown-response-south-china-sea-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines has imposed an additional requirement for Chinese tourists applying for visas amid Beijing’s implementation of a controversial anti-trespassing regulation in the South China Sea.

Analysts are split on whether the new visa restrictions are a response to Beijing’s threat to detain foreign nationals in the disputed waters, or a security measure aimed at quelling concerns about illegal activities of Chinese nationals in the Philippines.

Representatives of the country’s tourism industry, however, worry that they will have a negative impact on the economy since Chinese tourists are “a major source of income”.

Citing a June 13 directive, Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Undersecretary for Civilian Security and Consular Affairs Jesus Domingo said Chinese nationals applying for temporary visitor visas must now submit their Chinese Social Insurance Record Certificates, in addition to proof of financial capacity with employment certificates and bank statements.

The certificate must have been registered for at least six months at the time of the visa application. The directive provides exceptions for Chinese nationals currently enrolled in primary, secondary, or college education, who must submit proof of enrolment, and retirees above 55 years old. It says other exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

The proof of financial capacity requirement was announced last month following the discovery of fraudulent immigration applications, which led to the illegal entry and overstaying of foreigners in the country.

The measure came after the National Security Council dispatched a team to investigate Tuguegarao, the capital of Cagayan province, where some 4,600 Chinese nationals were enrolled in private universities.

According to Domingo, the policy aims to “weed out” the “illegitimate and unsavoury” tourists from the legitimate ones. He said several Chinese citizens had reportedly been involved in organised crimes such as human trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping and fraud.

The social insurance record requirement came two days before China’s anti-trespassing policy on June 15, which authorises Beijing’s coastguard to detain foreigners found in what it considers to be China’s territorial waters.

The Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA) warned these additional visa requirements could negatively affect the country’s economy.

“Chinese tourists are a major source of income for the Philippines, so making it harder to visit could discourage tourism and hurt businesses. They might even be the ones to issue travel advisories against visiting the Philippines,” PTAA president Evangeline Tankiang-Manotok said in an interview with local network GMA in May.

“They also spend on accommodation, shopping and food, which boosts our economy,” she said, adding that the government must ensure the new policy was fair and clear to avoid accusations of discrimination.

Since January, the Department of Tourism reported around 140,000 Chinese arrivals in the Philippines, double the number from the same period last year.

Political analyst Sherwin Ona, an associate professor of political science at De La Salle University in Manila, told This Week in Asia that the new requirement could be a direct response to China’s anti-trespassing regulation, as well as the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) issue.

The Pogo sector, which targets patrons in China where gambling is illegal, has been linked to crimes such as trafficking, kidnapping and prostitution.

“This can be seen by China as a provocative move by the Philippines. It may also affect Filipinos travelling to China and its territories,” Ona said.

“Nevertheless, the Philippines can show its resolve against China’s illegal declaration by conducting maritime patrols. Protecting Filipino fishermen is paramount. The Philippine Navy and Coast Guard will play an active role in this situation,” he added, referring to China’s anti-trespassing policy.

The Philippines, China, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam have competing claims in the South China Sea. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague dismissed China’s claims to the South China Sea as delineated in Chinese maps. China rejected the ruling, insisting it had jurisdiction over the waterways as indicated by its so-called nine-dash line.

However, analyst Edmund Tayao, president and CEO of the Political Economic Elemental Researchers and Strategists think tank, said the DFA’s stricter visa measures were more likely a security response to reports of Chinese operatives infiltrating local communities.

“It cannot be a response to China’s anti-trespassing policy, as its application is questionable in disputed areas,” said Tayao, noting that the visa policy would not directly affect the countries’ maritime territorial dispute.

Tayao said Beijing was unlikely to accept the new visa rules without some sort of escalated response.

“We’ve seen how China has consistently thrown its weight around, emphasising its power and size,” he said.

Ray Powell, a maritime security analyst at the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University, said the new rules could be linked to “recent investigations into Chinese criminal syndicates in Pogos and possible espionage operations in the Philippines”.

Authorities have been investigating whether Chinese military personnel were posing as Pogo workers following the discovery of People’s Liberation Army uniforms inside a Pogo hub raided in Porac, Pampanga province.

Another Pogo controversy involved Bamban’s ethnic Chinese mayor Alice Guo, who has been accused of being an undercover agent for Beijing.

As Shein heads towards IPO, its Chinese billionaire founder stays under cloak of secrecy

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3266882/shein-heads-towards-ipo-its-chinese-billionaire-founder-stays-under-cloak-secrecy?utm_source=rss_feed

Xu Yangtian, the founder of Chinese-originated fast-fashion shopping app Shein, has deliberately kept himself from the public eye for fear of attracting unwanted attention, sources say, as the company seeks to raise £50 billion (US$64 billion) from an initial public offering (IPO) in London.

While it has become a trend in recent years for tech entrepreneurs in China to keep a low profile, the lengths that the Shein CEO – also known as Sky Xu or Chris Xu – has taken to avoid personal publicity stand out among his peers.

The company has never published any photos of him. Neither has he made any public speeches throughout his career, even as Shein became an increasingly familiar e-commerce brand around the world. Shein has not released any IPO prospectus or details about its business operations.

According to multiple people who worked with Xu, the Chinese billionaire has decided to stay away from the limelight because of his personality and the belief that any attention drawn to him could only add to the scrutiny faced by Shein.

“Ordinary, quiet, humble” – that was how Liu Mingguang, a supply chain adviser for Shein from 2015 to 2021, described Xu. The unassuming image, however, belies how much of a quick learner he was, Liu said.

In the early days of Shein, Xu and Henry Ren Xiaoqing, the firm’s head of supply chain management, reached out to Liu through a mutual contact to pick his brains on how to source clothing from Chinese wholesalers to sell abroad and use software to manage a large number of orders. “He just listened quietly and didn’t say much, only starting discussions after the training was over,” Liu recalled.

Several former and current employees at Shein told the South China Morning Post that the wiry, bespectacled Xu often goes unnoticed by staff in the office.

As is common in the Chinese tech industry, employees at Shein like to share memes based on their boss. But since there are no available photos of Xu – the CEO’s internal profile picture consists of the slogan “if you have dreams, you are remarkable”, overlaid on a generic natural landscape – those memes are made up of text only.

A consultant who worked for Xu and declined to be named to protect his business relationships, said the entrepreneur finds more value in getting things done than feeding his ego. “He basically sees no point in exposing himself to possible questioning,” the consultant said.

Shein declined to comment on this story.

Despite his hard-fought attempt at secrecy, public scrutiny on Xu, who reportedly obtained permanent residency in Singapore as part of Shein’s efforts to soften its perceived ties with China, has only increased. It is unknown whether Xu continues to hold a Chinese passport.

Shein’s executive chairman Donald Tang said at a Milken Institute conference in Los Angeles last month that the company can be seen as Chinese, as it was born in China and still maintains many employees and suppliers there. But he said it can also be regarded as Singaporean because it is registered there, and American because its biggest market is the US and the business follows American values.

Shein is trying to play down those comments over concerns that they could displease Chinese authorities and potentially derail its IPO plans, according to a report by the Financial Times over the weekend.

It remains unclear whether Shein needs to get its proposed listing cleared by mainland regulators, including the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Cyberspace Administration of China.

China preps plane research refuel after C919’s first year in the air

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3266945/china-preps-plane-research-refuel-after-c919s-first-year-air?utm_source=rss_feed

Over a year after the commercial debut of its home-grown C919 narrowbody jet, China is set to plough more resources into its aviation sector, with a new research fund established to spur the development of new widebody planes and expand the domestic production of essential parts.

On Friday, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation agreed to move capital into a joint fund for aircraft research. The authorities did not disclose the size of the fund, but industry insiders have made low-end estimates of several billion yuan.

Filling its airspace with its own planes and reducing foreign sourcing for advanced components like engines and avionics have been decades-long priorities for Beijing, and the launch of the C919 under the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) was a milestone moment in the pursuit of those goals.

The new fund, building off this initial success, comes shortly after the country established its largest-ever investment pool for semiconductor research.

“The fund’s focus on basic research can be a sign Beijing has realised that, even with the launch of the C919, China needs to lay a more solid foundation … to close the gap with the West in making bigger jets,” said Li Hanming, an aviation analyst and founder of a transport consultancy which operates in the United States.

“It’s a whole new level if you aim to progress from the C919 to bigger models with comparable capabilities to [Boeing’s] 787 and 777 or [Airbus’] 350 and 330 series,” he added.

At last week’s launch ceremony, minister of industry and information technology Jin Zhuanglong said the fund will identify the realms where its help is most needed. State media, meanwhile, touted the fund’s creation as a move serving national strategic needs.

While Li estimated the fund’s initial size to be in the billions of yuan, he also said Beijing would likely inject more money if needed now that civil aviation has become a showpiece sector in China’s drive for self-sufficiency in tech and advanced manufacturing.

Development of bigger models like the widebody C929 is already in the works, though numerous hurdles must be surmounted before China’s planes can hope to challenge the long-established duopoly held by Boeing and Airbus. The Post reported last month that Comac and its partners are already sketching out preliminary designs for the C939, another widebody jet.

While considerable, the new fund is not unprecedented. The US and Europe operate similar state-led bodies for their own aviation industries, Li said, and China has had a separate research grant backed by state-owned conglomerate Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) since 1985.

However, the establishment of the fund could indicate Beijing intends to take a more active role in the industry, as the capital needed for making the dream of flying advanced widebody jets into reality can be astronomical.

“The design, production and subsequent operation of any new aircraft is a very expensive and complex business requiring huge levels of working capital,” said John Grant, founder of the London-based JG Aviation Consultants.

“The issue for China is that it does not have widebody aircraft comparable to its market demand, and getting places on the production schedule is very difficult … Deciding to design more aircraft models on its own is a step few countries could take.”

Grant added that while Beijing foots the bill for the lengthy, costly process of research and development, it needs to bear in mind the marketability of Chinese widebody jets at a time when overseas commercial prospects would be far from certain.

“Ultimately this will probably be a very expensive exercise that will end up with a few new aircraft types that look similar to [China’s] old wide-bodied aircraft that got no [international] sales. If the challenges [launching the C919] were difficult, then for this project you could multiply them tenfold.”

Chinese and Philippine ships collide in first incident under Beijing’s new coastguard law

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3266867/south-china-sea-china-blames-philippines-ships-collide-second-thomas-shoal?utm_source=rss_feed

A Philippine ship and a Chinese vessel collided after the Philippines ship “illegally entered” the waters near the Second Thomas Shoal and “dangerously approached” the Chinese ship, China Coast Guard said on Monday.

The incident took place early on Monday morning during the Philippines’ latest resupply mission to a grounded navy vessel on the shoal, an atoll claimed both by Beijing and Manila.

“The Philippine supply ship ignored multiple stern warnings from the Chinese side … dangerously and in an unprofessional manner approached Chinese vessels navigating normally, resulting in a collision,” the coastguard said in a statement. It did not mention damage or injuries on either side.

It said the Philippines ship had “illegally entered” the waters near Second Thomas Shoal and that the Chinese coastguard took “control measures” against the Philippine vessel in accordance with the law.

The Philippine government had not issued a statement on the most recent events at the Second Thomas Shoal by noon on Monday.

It is the first run-in since China’s new coastguard rules – which allow it to detain suspected trespassers for up to 60 days – took effect on Saturday.

In 1999, Manila deliberately grounded the BRP Sierra Madre, a decrepit World War II-era ship, on the Second Thomas Shoal, and stationed Filipino soldiers there on routinely rotating duties. The soldiers based on board rely on periodic resupply missions for food, water and other necessities.

Referred to as Renai Jiao by China, the shoal under Manila’s control has been the focal point of multiple sea stand-offs. The Chinese coastguard has been accused of ramming Philippine supply vessels and using water cannons against them, sometimes damaging the ship and injuring people on board.

The frequent face-offs at sea between Beijing and Manila show no sign of abating. More recently, tensions have also been brewing at Sabina Shoal, known as Escoda Shoal in the Philippines, around 139km (75 nautical miles) west of Palawan, the westernmost island province of the Philippines.

Last week, China Coast Guard said it took “restrictive measures” towards the Philippine boats that landed on the islets of Sabina Shoal – known as Xianbin Jiao in Chinese.

The recently concluded Group of Seven summit also criticised what it called the “dangerous use of coastguard and maritime militia” in the South China Sea and the “increasing use of dangerous manoeuvres and water cannons” against Philippines vessels.

China claims nearly the entire South China Sea but overlapping areas are claimed by the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Last week, the Philippines submitted a claim to a United Nations body for an extended continental shelf off the coast of western Palawan province in the South China Sea. This action challenges China’s sweeping territorial claims in the region.

Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, a coastal state can secure exclusive rights to exploit resources in its continental shelf, which can extend up to 350 nautical miles, including the right to authorise and regulate drilling activities.

102-year-old China-born shopkeeper turns unwitting TikTok sensation in Singapore

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3266868/102-year-old-china-born-shopkeeper-becomes-unwitting-tiktok-sensation-singapore?utm_source=rss_feed

A 102-year-old woman who sells snacks, toiletries and other odds and ends at a Singapore shopping centre has gone viral on TikTok after her generosity was caught on camera.

Sie Choo Yong, whose age was confirmed by family members, was filmed working in Lean Seng Lee Trading at the Beauty World Centre in Upper Bukit Timah.

But it turns out making money isn’t top of her mind, because she kept giving away extra items and even refusing payment in the video TikTok user “dinahnahnah” posted on Wednesday.

“Dinahnahnah” said Sie gave her multiple lollipops even though she paid S$2 (US$1.48) for just two. Sie also seemingly charged a lower price for several items bought later by the TikTok user’s husband.

The couple could not understand what Sie was saying and when they recalculated the amount they owed and gave her S$20, telling her to keep the change, the shopkeeper refused and kept shoving more snacks into their bag.

A passer-by who helped bridge the communication gap then told the couple Sie’s age and encouraged them to patronise her shop more often.

As of Monday, the video had been viewed more than 182,000 times and had over 17,300 likes.

The provision shop belongs to Sie’s youngest son, who said his mother helps manage the store because she finds staying at home “boring”.

Due to her age, her voice isn’t very clear, but she gestures energetically with her hands when asked her age. She has seven children and 27 grandchildren.

The provision shop was initially located at the old Beauty World — a market and shopping venue in the 1960s — and moved to its current location in 1984. It’s just one of the many businesses that her family runs, including Lean Seng Lee Goldsmith located one floor above the provision shop.

Sie’s youngest son, who did not want to be identified, said that he chose to keep the store open for his mother so that she could do simple tasks and would not be alone and bored at home. He says he has no plans sell the store for now.

Sie hopes to keep running the shop until she is no longer physically able to do so.

Her second oldest son Lean Kee Suh, 66, who works at a supermarket in Bukit Batok, said in Mandarin that Sie emigrated from China in her 30s.

She used to work long hours as a farmer in China, he said. “She worked from day to night, lifting bags that were up to 60kg.”

Even now, she is highly mobile for her age, standing up to attend to each customer and taking occasional breaks by sitting on a chair outside her store. She also lifted a bundle of newspapers, neatly arranging each copy.

Lean says his mother is extremely healthy, requires no medication and rarely visits the hospital.

“She is healthier than me,” he said, adding that he was diagnosed with diabetes. “This store does not make a profit, it is just for her to pass time. We would make more money renting it.”

Each day, Sie arrives at the shopping centre at 8am, has her breakfast nearby and opens the store at around 9am.

One of the neighbouring store owners, Tay Kok Yih, 63, spoke of how mobile Sie was for her age and questioned lightheartedly: “Is she really 102 years old?”

When a reporter visited the shop, Sie was seen giving extra snacks to a child who bought from her, just as she did in the TikTok video.

She also refused to accept payment when a reporter bought some biscuits, so the money was left on a counter.

Most people who viewed the TikTok video looked kindly upon her, calling her “a gem” and “sweet”, with some making promises to patronise her shop.

One TikTok user wrote: “Yes, please support this aunty. I grew up buying snacks from her shop since primary school. I’m hitting 30 and till this day she remembers me.”

Another wrote: “I always drop by on Thursdays to buy something from them, she’s always happy whenever someone patronises her store.”

“Thanks for sharing! I live just one stop away but never knew about this shop,” read another. “Will definitely pay her a visit and support her.”

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China’s tax man hand out decades-old bills to companies, hinting at funding shortage

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3266878/chinas-tax-man-hand-out-decades-old-bills-companies-hinting-funding-shortage?utm_source=rss_feed

Local governments in China have asked several companies to pay tax bills dating back as far as the 1990s, underscoring their need for funding given the uneven economic recovery and persistent housing slump.

A number of listed firms have said in exchange filings in recent months that they’ve got government demands to pay tens of millions in back taxes and warned investors this could impact their earnings.

V V Food & Beverage said last week that a liquor-making unit was told to pay some 85 million yuan (US$11.7 million) on income it “failed to disclose” for about 15 years starting in 1994. ChinaLin Securities, Ningbo Bohui Petrochemical Technology, Zangge Mining and PKU HealthCare Corp. have issued similar statements.

China’s local governments are facing unprecedented pressure to expand revenues because economic growth is slowing and the contracting real estate market has sent income from land sales plunging. Their already elevated debt stockpile is limiting their ability to leverage up further, forcing the central government to borrow more and give them the funds.

The tax recovery is “likely due to the fiscal distress of local governments,” said Xing Zhaopeng, an analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group. “I think they need some money to pay by quarter end” because regional authorities usually pay contractors of government projects then, he added.

Local governments booked less than 5.8 trillion yuan in revenues under the general public budget and the government-fund account, which include taxes and land sales income, in the first four months of the year. That figure was less than the more than 5.9 trillion yuan in the same period last year, according to data from the Finance Ministry.

Their spending also fell to just under 10 trillion yuan from 10.4 trillion yuan a year earlier.

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Chinese premier’s Australia visit overshadowed by officials’ apparent attempt to block Cheng Lei’s view at event

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/jun/17/chinese-premier-li-qiang-australia-visit-detained-journalist-cheng-lei-signing-ceremony

The Australian government has rolled out the welcome mat as China’s premier, Li Qiang, visited Canberra, but his visit may have been overshadowed by an apparent attempt by Chinese officials to block the view of the formerly detained Australian journalist, Cheng Lei, during a signing ceremony.

The first trip to Australia by a Chinese premier in seven years is the most striking symbol yet of the easing of tensions in a previously turbulent relationship.

On Monday, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, strongly backed the need for “mature” dialogue between the two nations and hailed the progress made so far. But he gently rebuffed calls from the Chinese government to “shelve” their differences.

The formal events in the nation’s capital began with a ceremonial welcome on the Parliament House forecourt, including a 19-gun salute and an opportunity for Li to inspect the guard of honour.

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As the Chinese and Australian national anthems were played, Li and Albanese stood on a podium facing out from Parliament House from where the two leaders would have had a good view of two distinct groups gathered about 200m away on the lawns.

A patriotic pro-China group included people waving Chinese and Australian flags in support of the visit, while others, holding Tibetan flags, protested the visit on human rights grounds.

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“Free Tibet” chants from the anti-visit demonstrators could be heard during the ceremonial welcome; and protesters also held a large sign declaring: “Human rights, not for sale. Free Uyghurs! Free Tibet! Free Hong Kong! Free China!”

After Albanese and Li held their annual leaders’ meeting, the pair attended a media event where officials and ministers signed a series of agreements, including ones to deepen economic dialogue and cooperation on the climate crisis.

Cheng, who was detained in China on ill-defined national security-related accusations from 2020, attended the event in her capacity as a presenter and reporter for Sky News Australia.

The journalist was finally released from detention late last year after repeated calls from the Australian government to allow her to return home.

She sat with fellow Australian journalists in the seats set aside for media representatives. As the agreements were being signed, a Chinese embassy official stood in a position in front of Cheng but looking towards the official proceedings.

Australian officials repeatedly asked the Chinese embassy official to move, initially politely. After these requests were rebuffed, an Australian official was heard to say: “You’re standing in front of my Australian colleague – you must move.”

A fellow Australian journalist then offered to swap seats with Cheng, resulting in her moving two seats to the right. After the pair swapped seats, another embassy official appeared to move around to try to get close to Cheng. An Australian official blocked the path before that official could get close to Cheng.

Albanese and Li proceeded to give their statements to the media, in a format that did not allow journalists to ask questions.

Cheng later told Sky News she believed the officials were trying “to prevent me from saying something or doing something that they think would be a bad look, but that in itself was a bad look”.

She said the Australian officials “behaved courteously” whereas the Chinese embassy officials were “willing to go above and beyond the line of decency”.

Cheng said the need to participate in “musical chairs” had distracted her and other journalists from doing what they were there to do – report on the content of the announcements.

Comment is being sought from the Chinese embassy.

Li was later feted at a state lunch in Parliament House’s Great Hall, where Albanese called for “a secure and stable region” and said it was “always better if we deal direct with each other”.

Albanese said the two countries were “making progress in stabilising and rebuilding” dialogue, but added: “We won’t always agree – and the points on which we disagree won’t simply disappear if we leave them in silence.”

China says a Chinese vessel and Philippine supply ship collided in the disputed South China Sea

https://apnews.com/article/china-philippines-second-thomas-shoal-collision-navy-8c14b945066967189b01d701b17c10aeFILE - Philippine navy ship BRP Sierra Madre is seen at the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, at the South China Sea, April 23, 2023. A Chinese vessel and a Philippine supply ship collided near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Monday, June 17, 2024, China's coast guard said.(AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

2024-06-17T03:17:45Z

BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese vessel and a Philippine supply ship collided near the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea on Monday, China’s coast guard said.

The coast guard said a Philippine supply ship entered waters near the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands that’s part of territory claimed by several nations.

The Chinese coast guard said in a statement on the social media platform WeChat the Philippine supply ship “ignored China’s repeated solemn warnings … and dangerously approached a Chinese vessel in normal navigation in an unprofessional manner, resulting in a collision.”

“The Philippines is entirely responsible for this,” it added.

The Philippines says the shoal, which lies less than 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from its coast, falls within its internationally recognized exclusive economic zone and often cites a 2016 international arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea based on historical grounds.

Several incidents have happened in recent months near the shoal, where the Philippines maintains a post aboard the BRP Sierra Madre ship.

The territorial disputes have strained relations and sparked fears the conflict could bring China and the United States, a longtime treaty ally of the Philippines, into a military confrontation. Washington lays no territorial claims to the busy seaway, a key global trade route, but has warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack in the South China Sea.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-seething territorial disputes, which are regarded as a flashpoint in Asia and a delicate fault line in the longstanding U.S.-China rivalry in the region.

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German firms hope EU-China tariff talks can help dodge shake-up in EV business

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3266816/german-firms-hope-eu-china-tariff-talks-can-help-dodge-shake-ev-business?utm_source=rss_feed

German firms in China have yet to revise their business plans in response to the European Union’s new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and potential retaliation from Beijing, as they wait for the outcome of political negotiations, according to a business advocacy group.

The European Union’s tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles cannot offer protection to German carmakers or increase their competitiveness, said Maximilian Butek, executive director of the German Chamber of Commerce in East China.

“Now what is the goal, if you implement those [tariffs] to protect the industry, but the industry says they do not want this protection?” Butek said during a press conference on Friday.

“As we need the Chinese market to remain open, therefore we are also longing to keep the European market open,” he said.

The EU announced last week that it would raise tariffs on Chinese EVs by up to 38 per cent from July 4, after a seven-month probe revealed some of the world’s leading EV makers had undercut European competitors with the help of vast state subsidies.

Germany, which is expected to be affected the most by possible retaliation from Beijing, has already lobbied intensely against the duties.

For German carmakers, including Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen, China has been one of the most important markets. And their close involvement with local partners and Chinese governments has deeply shaped economic relations between Beijing and Berlin.

Many German auto giants have also bet heavily on the new-energy industrial chain in China for their own green transformations.

“The industry also made quite clear statements that tariffs, as suggested now by the EU, will not increase the competitiveness of the automotive industry. Therefore, we […] advocate for investing into the competitiveness of the European Union, rather than trying to protect the auto industry [with tariffs],” Butek said.

The new tariffs are likely to trigger intense negotiations between Beijing and Brussels, with China having vowed to take countermeasures. The EU must decide by November whether to adopt the tariffs permanently.

Robert Habeck, German vice-chancellor and minister for economic affairs and climate action, will start a two-day visit to China on Thursday, with negotiations on EV tariffs high on the agenda.

Until the final deadline in November, “we hope that China and the European Union can still find ways through negotiation which are quite fair”, Butek said.

“The market share of Chinese EVs in the European Union is still so small that I think there is enough space to negotiate rather than fostering these tariff escalations,” he said.

He added that German carmakers in China do not see “unfair subsidies from the government” – the basis for the EU’s decision – as a major operational challenge.

But he said the German government should continue pushing for fair competition for its firms operating in China, especially as Chinese companies in the automotive industry are already seen as technological leaders.

“German companies need policymakers to take action towards establishing a level playing field and providing a transparent regulatory environment in China,” said Clas Neumann, chairman of the board of the German Chamber of Commerce in East China.

Also on Friday, the chamber released the results of a recent business survey conducted in May. It showed that although German companies operating in China are increasing their turnover expectations, optimism about the Chinese economy has been slow to return.

Price pressure has been the biggest challenge German firms have faced this year, especially in the automobile and machinery industries, according to the survey, which was conducted among 186 member companies.

“We have more and more local competitors on par with our own companies,” Neumann said. “Therefore, there is a significant price pressure now inside the markets due to a higher number of competitors or a higher output of products of those competitors.”

This competition has been magnified by weak demand in China and abroad, he added.

China’s automotive sector has been engaged in a price war over the past two years, with EV makers continuing to intensify their bid for a bigger piece of the world’s biggest automobile market.

According to the survey, three-quarters of German companies reported overcapacity in their industries in China, with around half of these firms saying the overcapacity had only been seen since last year, and 96 per cent saying that the excess capacity was affecting their business.

Among the respondents, 38 per cent expected an improvement in China’s economic situation in the coming six months, while 16 per cent said they expected the economy to weaken.

The business outlook also appeared to be improving slightly, with 38 per cent of respondents anticipating a worsening situation for their industry compared with 2023 – a significant decrease from 52 per cent in September.

And 29 per cent of respondents expected their industry outlook to improve compared with 2023 – a slight increase of 8 percentage points from September.

Meanwhile, 39 per cent of companies projected that their turnover would increase in 2024 compared with last year, up from 13 per cent in September of last year.

Still, only 53 per cent of respondents were planning to increase their investments in China over the coming two years – down from 61 per cent in September – while 16 per cent were looking to invest less.

China expanding nuclear arsenal faster than any other country, report says, but still lags behind US and Russia

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3266808/china-expanding-nuclear-arsenal-faster-any-other-country-report-says-still-lags-behind-us-and-russia?utm_source=rss_feed

China is expanding its nuclear forces “faster than any other country” and may end up with more intercontinental ballistic missiles than Russia or the United States within a decade, a report has concluded.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)’s annual yearbook published on Monday, China added 90 more warheads to its nuclear stockpile, holding a total of 500 as of January this year.

It also said its total number of ICBMs – which currently stands at around 238 – could surpass America’s holding of 800 or even Russia’s total of 1,244 within the next 10 years.

However, the overall size of the nuclear arsenal is expected to remain much smaller than those held by the two largest nuclear powers. The US has 5,044 warheads while Russia has 5,580, the report said.

“China is expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country,” said Hans Kristensen, associate senior fellow with Sipri’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme. “But in nearly all of the nuclear-armed states, there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces.”

There were an estimated total 12,121 warheads in the global nuclear stockpile as of January 2024, with Russia and the US together possessing almost 90 per cent of all nuclear arms. About 9,585 of these are ready to be used, with the rest consisting of retired warheads from the Cold War that have not been fully dismantled.

The sizes of their respective military stockpiles remained relatively stable in 2023. The report said Russia had deployed 1,710 warheads with its operational forces as of January 2024, a slight rise from 1,674 a year earlier. However, the report said there was “no conclusive visual evidence” to back claims weapons had been deployed in Belarus.

SIPRI said nuclear arms control and disarmament diplomacy had “suffered more major setbacks in 2023” with Russia suspending the last treaty on strategic nuclear arms controls with the US, withdrawing its ratification of a test-ban treaty and making nuclear threats in response to European and US support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, the outbreak of war in Gaza had undermined efforts to get Israel involved in talks on a nuclear-free Middle East as well as “apparently ending Iranian–US diplomatic efforts”.

“While the global total of nuclear warheads continues to fall as Cold War-era weapons are gradually dismantled, regrettably we continue to see year-on-year increases in the number of operational nuclear warheads,” according to Dan Smith, the institute’s director.

“This trend seems likely to continue and probably accelerate in the coming years and is extremely concerning.”

The report said China was building around 350 new silos for its land-based ballistic missiles.

If China fills each of its new silos under construction with a single-warhead missile, within the next decade, it will increase the number of warheads it can deploy on its ICBMs to around 650.

But the report said it is not clear what China is planning for the silos and if these were used to store missiles equipped with three multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles – which allow strikes on multiple targets – the number of ICBM warheads could rise to more than 1,200.

Last year a report by the Pentagon drew similar conclusions about China’s nuclear arsenal, estimating it had around 500 operational warheads and saying this could pass the 1,000 mark by 2030.

“[China’s] expansion of the ICBM is probably influenced by … concern that the United States has a capability to destroy a significant portion of the force in a first strike [and] efforts to overcome the growing capability of US missile defences to intercept ICBMs,” said Kristensen.

“[It is also] an attempt to increase nuclear deterrence forces to allow greater freedom to conduct offensive conventional operations without fear of US intervention.”

China does not comment on its nuclear arsenal and has said that Washington’s estimates are being used as “a convenient pretext for expanding its own nuclear arsenal aimed at absolute strategic predominance”.

The country has a “no first use policy” and keeps the minimum number of warheads needed to meet its national security needs, Lin Jian, a foreign ministry spokesman, said last week.

Around 346 nuclear warheads were assigned to land-based ballistic missiles, making up to 70 per cent of China’s nuclear force as of January 2024, according to SIPRI.

Around 20 warheads were assigned to the air force and 72 to China’s nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines.

The remaining 62 warheads are stored elsewhere and have been earmarked for missiles that are not yet operational.

Citing US intelligence sources, Kristensen said Beijing’s recent moves to place solid-fuel missiles in silos, carry out naval deterrence patrols and, potentially, develop a launch-on-warning capability suggests that “it might have started pairing a small number of its warheads with their launchers”.

Previously, China was believed to store its nuclear warheads, missiles and launchers separately except at times of crisis.

“The Chinese navy conducts ‘near-continuous at-sea deterrence patrols,’ which appears to imply the submarine at sea is carrying nuclear-armed missiles. Each submarine can carry up to 12 ballistic missiles that we assume is each equipped with one nuclear warhead,” said Kristensen.

“Missile brigades conduct ‘combat readiness duty’ and ‘high-alert duty,’ which includes ‘assigning a missile battalion to be ready to rapidly launch’. We assume this increased readiness is rotated through the ICBM force with a few battalions – six to 12 launchers – on high-alert duty at any given time.”

Kristensen added that the deployment of warheads on missiles could be motivated by an “effort to improve the full operational capability of the forces” including the detailed procedures of “handling and safeguarding” nuclear warheads.

He said this has prompted the US to consider increasing its nuclear presence in the Indo-Pacific region, adding: “The addition of more US nuclear capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region is obviously not in China’s interest. Nor is an increase in China’s nuclear capabilities in the interest of the United States or its allies in the region.”

However, the report also said the reliability of Chinese missiles is “in question” after reports of widespread corruption in the PLA Rocket Force, which could undermine the modernisation programme.

China’s ancient Baobao Festival: parents pursue strangers in parks to find godfathers who give children good health

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3264374/chinas-ancient-baobao-festival-parents-pursue-strangers-parks-find-godfathers-who-give-children-good?utm_source=rss_feed

A traditional Chinese custom known as La Baobao in which people visit parks to find strangers to be godfathers for their children is believed to bring good health and has been popular for centuries.

The tradition is prevalent in Guanghan, Sichuan province, in southwestern China, saw the flourishing of the Baobao Festival, which is usually held on the 16th day of the first lunar month. Baobao means godfather in Sichuan’s dialect.

Here the Post takes a closer look at the custom.

Origins

The 300-year-old custom dates back to the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) and evolved from the tradition of “roaming to cure all illnesses”.

After celebrating the Lantern Festival which is on the fifth day of the first lunar month, people would dress in festive attire and go out for the day.

The belief was that “roaming around” would ward off illnesses and bring good luck and prosperity.

Legend has it that during one such outing, a mother and daughter encountered some ruffians who tried to harass the daughter.

The harassment continued until they reached the magistrate’s office at which point the mother declared: “My daughter is going to see her godfather at the magistrate’s office. Why are you still following us?”

The magistrate claimed the girl as his godfather and ruffians fled.

The story led people to begin finding godfathers during their spring outings, which gradually developed into the custom.

Finding a godfather?

Since 1985, the festival has become an annual cultural event, attracting people who are eager to find or become a godfather.

Typically, children seeking godfathers are under 10 years old.

Adults hoping to become godfathers dress impressively, aiming to appear fortunate to enhance their chances of being chosen.

During the festival, facilitators mingle with the crowd with a child’s “piglet hat”, placing it on the head of a potential godfather when they find someone suitable and introducing him to the child’s parents.

Once the parents approve, they hand their child to the chosen person, who then lifts the child, symbolising the establishment of the godfather relationship.

Next, they visit a fortune teller to match their birth dates and formalise the relationship.

Local customs dictate that godfathers cannot volunteer and must be chosen, often with the help of relatives and friends or other attendees and facilitators.

Middle-aged men who appear well-off are particularly sought after.

The crowd can sometimes burst into laughter when a man is jokingly “forced” by strangers to become a godfather.

China’s property fall outshines spending rebound in May, challenging Beijing economic targets

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3266847/chinas-property-fall-outshines-spending-rebound-may-challenging-beijing-economic-targets?utm_source=rss_feed

The performance of China’s economy was mixed in May, with property investment contracting further but consumer spending slightly more than the same time a year ago.

A raft of data released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) presented fresh challenges for the world’s second-largest economy, whose leaders vowed to meet its 2024 growth target of around 5 per cent during a protracted post-pandemic recovery.

The government data also showed that overall fixed-asset investment, which includes properties, manufacturing investment and transport construction, rose by 4 per cent in the first five months of 2024 compared with a 4.2 per cent gain in the January-April period.

Property investment fell by 10.1 per cent, year on year, in the first five months of 2024, worsening from a 9.8 per cent drop from January through April and a 9.5 per cent drop in the first quarter.

Floor space of new homes sold fell by 20.3 per cent in the first five months of the year compared with the same period of 2023. The total sales value of new homes plunged 27.9 per cent, year on year.

Retail sales growth, a barometer for consumption, rose by 3.7 per cent year on year last month, compared with the 2.3 per cent growth seen in April.

Spending ballooned during China’s five-day May Day break, when officials tracked 295 million domestic trips. May Day tourism revenue reached 166.89 billion yuan (US$23 billion), 12.7 per cent higher than the previous year and up 13.5 per cent over 2019.

China’s industrial output grew by 5.6 per cent last month from May 2023, after a 6.7 per cent year-on-year rise in April.

China’s surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5 per cent last month, unchanged from that in April.

More to follow...

Menzies Aviation aims to triple mainland China footprint after Hong Kong expansion

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3266802/menzies-aviation-aims-triple-mainland-china-footprint-after-hong-kong-expansion?utm_source=rss_feed

One of the world’s largest aviation services companies is looking to triple its footprint in mainland China while also expanding in Asia, after acquiring a 50 per cent stake in Hong Kong’s second-biggest ground handling operator.

Menzies Aviation CEO Philipp Joeinig said the UK-based company aimed to claim a bigger slice of the Asian market and would soon begin airport operations in another city on the mainland, as well as an extra country in the region.

“So we want to grow. We want to triple our presence in China, but we want to do it through our customers,” he told the Post.

“We are ready to invest and we are ready to deploy resources as required to grow in the country.

“What we see today, based on the demand of our customers and our partners, we think that there is value that we can add at least in the next couple of years in a couple of airports that would lead to a tripling of our presence.”

The firm acquired a 50 per cent stake in Jardine Aviation Services Group from Jardine Matheson, an Asia-focused conglomerate, in January in a joint venture with China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC).

The joint venture, now called Menzies CNAC Aviation Services, offers a host of ground handling services at Hong Kong International Airport, including passenger services, ramp operations, baggage and cargo handling, flight control, load planning and crew care.

It is the second-largest ground handling operator in the city with a 45 per cent market share, behind Cathay Pacific Group, which controls half of the market.

CNAC itself is part of a broader company that has a controlling stake in Air China, while CNAC and Menzies also operate a separate venture at Macau’s airport.

The Menzies Group recently posted 10.7 per cent revenue growth to US$2.2 billion for last year, marking three years of consecutive double-digit expansion as air travel continued to edge closer to pre-pandemic levels.

With the company having operations in over 265 locations across more than 60 markets, including Indonesia and Malaysia, Joeinig said the group was also eyeing expansion in other parts of Asia, with another jurisdiction to be announced soon.

“We’re committed as a business that continues to grow and share our service expertise across the region, recognising that Southeast Asia has very strong partnerships throughout Asia-Pacific, especially with China and Australia,” he said.

Joeinig also predicted Menzies CNAC would achieve robust business growth of more than 20 per cent this year followed by an estimated 20 per cent expansion next year, as he was upbeat about the city’s aviation demand.

He said the Hong Kong operation, at about 1,000 employees, was still short of around 300 workers.

But 200 of the roles would be filled by bringing in workers from the mainland, and the company would need to hire 500 to 600 staff for the coming launch of the city’s third runway to cope with the added capacity.

Joeinig said the firm would put a large emphasis on staff training with attractive packages to allow employees to climb up the career ladder with different relocation opportunities.

“For us, the people are the most important. We are confident and we have a lot to offer,” he said.

“First of all, it’s attractive for young people to work in an aviation environment. It’s very agile, it’s flexible, you can work in different jobs.

“You can work towards the career path or you can work in an environment that allows you to expand yourself through other activities.”

Joeinig also sought to assure airlines that there were no plans to increase ground handling charges.

“We are not here to increase prices, by no means is this our aim … we live with the current price structure, so we will not change anything of this,” he said.

In the name of the law: scholar He Weifang argues his case for remembering China’s past

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3266820/name-law-scholar-he-weifang-argues-his-case-remembering-chinas-past?utm_source=rss_feed

He Weifang is a retired professor from Peking University Law School. Named one of Foreign Policy’s top 100 global thinkers in 2011, He has long advocated for judicial independence. . For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click .

It’s quite good. I still have three PhD students under my supervision who have not yet graduated.

I supervised a concentration in Western legal history, which is more historically oriented. Some of my students specialise in the different versions of the Magna Carta that evolved, some study the early development of the legal profession in England, and some study how the common law adapted to the 13 colonies as a “New World” environment prior to the founding of the United States.

I encourage students to do such studies because they help people understand how the rule of law works. They do not necessarily have to relate to the reality of China.

I am happy to say goodbye to the classroom at this moment, because university teachers now face more difficulties. My discipline is law and constitutionalism, and my comments on current affairs have often been at odds with the authorities.

I am particularly convinced that what I study and teach is an extremely important discipline for the future of China.

More than 2,000 years of governance in ancient China has given us the impression that the Chinese legal system has a significant “genetic defect”.

So I think my life has been fulfilling because I have been able to think about China’s future based on historical comparisons between Chinese and Western legal systems, which is also meaningful for our mission to rebuild the Chinese civilisation.

At Peking University Law School, I was voted the best teacher many years in a row, as well as the best teacher in the entire university. These honours have also made me proud.

Legal practitioners of my generation are eyewitnesses to history and have seen this country go from having almost no laws to having many new kinds of laws.

Victor Hao Li, a Chinese-American scholar of Chinese law who served as president of the East-West Centre in Hawaii, wrote a book about the legal situation in China during the Cultural Revolution. He said that the state was “law without lawyers”, which describes the practice of “mass struggle”, probably similar to the “Fengqiao experience” that has now been revived. It was a state where there were no lawyers and the rule of law was not even a possibility.

When my generation was in college, in 1979, China enacted its criminal law and criminal procedure law. They were the first laws after the reform and opening up. Later, China introduced the administrative litigation law and the general rules of civil law. Laws are being drafted more frequently.

There was also a lot of legislation that did not follow the spirit of the rule of law. Nevertheless, China has established the direction of “law-based governance”, which was exciting for us.

For a long time, we legal scholars had a good relationship with the courts and procuratorates. When they made new rules, they would hold meetings to listen to our views.

I personally participated in the revision of the Organic Law of the People’s Courts, but it failed in the end. What a pity!

That was in 2004, when I drafted an almost new 50-article proposal. At the end of that year, The Beijing News heard about our draft law and interviewed me, but it caused a huge uproar.

Our proposal was to remove the word “people” from the name of the “People’s Court”.

This seemed to outrage the leadership, and it became almost an ideological debate over whether to keep “the people” or not.

In the end, our proposal did not work. After that, I became more and more “sensitive”.

I was also keenly aware that it was impossible to separate changes in the legal system from reforms in the political system and ideology. The so-called question of “which is more important, the party or the law” cannot be resolved.

Many things happened in the next few years, and then it was 2008.

Looking back, I have realised that the year 2008 was the beginning of many political changes that followed in China, a “first year” in a sense.

In March of that year there were protests in Tibet. In May there was a massive earthquake in Sichuan, and doubts about the construction quality there were suppressed by the authorities.

In August, Beijing hosted the Summer Olympics, which fuelled nationalist sentiment among many. It was a year in which Chinese politics began to turn conservative.

Because when you relax a little bit, a lot of sentiments from the Cultural Revolution will come back, including the use of irrational and violent language to attack people, as well as prejudice and discrimination against private enterprise.

It’s important that the party has completely repudiated the Cultural Revolution. But I find it rather sad that it has also banned the study of the Cultural Revolution, making it a forbidden zone.

As a result, many people of the next generations simply do not know what the Cultural Revolution was about.

So even though I no longer have much room to speak out, I am still trying to find ways to remind people.

In 2011, I published an open letter to the legal community of Chongqing, criticising the “Chongqing model” implemented by [then Chongqing party chief] Bo Xilai, arguing that the “red culture movement” he had launched had brought back the feelings of the Cultural Revolution, and that the “Chongqing gang trials” had made the courts and the procuratorate practically useless. All this gave me the impression of a repeat of the Cultural Revolution.

In 2012, I published another article saying that, looking at Bo’s case and the changes in Chongqing before the 18th Party Congress, I thought the collapse of the “Chongqing model” had given us some “optimistic inspiration”.

But I did not at all expect the direction China has taken since then.

In terms of political reform, I think the last window for China was when Deng Xiaoping was in power, the mid- to late 1980s, but the transition did not happen, and it became even more difficult afterwards.

The communists of Deng’s generation believed that economic development would inevitably bring about a change in the political system.

However, the course of history has shown a paradoxical situation in which a certain degree of economic development has proved the superiority of the existing political system. The absence of political reform has also led to widespread corruption, with interest groups becoming more motivated to maintain their privileges, which has ultimately led to a more serious dilemma.

Because in order to maintain a good market economy, the government must strictly protect citizens’ property rights, business freedom and freedom of contract.

If a place does not have a solid guarantee of private property and transaction security, it cannot have a rule of law, nor can it have a good guarantee of human dignity.

After Deng Xiaoping’s reform and opening up, China finally saw the emergence of a class called the entrepreneurial class, which had been excluded for decades, and also the private capital. They have proved to be invaluable to China.

So in China, if there is no solid rule of law to go with the market economy, and if the capitalist class does not feel that there is real stability, they will always be very nervous.

The problem now is the regular appearance of huge fines and other punishments in the absence of public hearings and fair trials. In a place where there is political rationality and the rule of law, property cannot be taken away so easily and serious hearings and judicial decisions are required.

You cannot say that sometimes you deprive a group of people of their property and sometimes you want to calm them down. This repetition will not solve any problem.

I think it is better to start at the root. For example, the protection of private property should be improved and firmly stated in the constitution.

One is that the study of law is gradually deepening. When I was a student, law books were incredibly poor. But now students read more broadly and more deeply. So I think students who have graduated in recent years have a much better understanding of the law.

The difficulty is how to really bring the pros of the Western legal system to China to solve China’s problems.

Academics need to respond to the challenges that arise in legal practice, and the new theories that emerge from these challenges need to be tested and enhanced in practice. It is a virtuous cycle.

The problem in China, however, is that some of the major cases that have received widespread attention have not been conducted with basic fairness in the judicial process.

In the trials of some top officials, such as Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang, judges and lawyers could have seriously discussed some systemic issues in the courtroom, like a doctor’s check-up. This would have helped people understand the rule of law. But China’s political system dictates that these trials could not explore these issues.

For those studying law, such a reality is some sort of corrosion and quite a frustration. Some students may feel that what they are learning is a luxury or even taboo in this country.

So over the years I have sensed powerlessness among university teachers and students.

In terms of political attitudes, some of my younger colleagues have embraced nationalism and some have even harboured strong nationalist sentiments. And some young academics themselves have become increasingly anti-Western.

Yes. The Cultural Revolution had just ended, and everyone was reflecting on the lessons of that history. There were still vivid memories of the tragic events and human rights traumas during that decade-long catastrophe.

So the problems we have just been talking about did not exist then. Moreover, China’s relations with the West were in a “honeymoon” after the start of reform and opening up.

It’s entirely the result of silencing by the authorities.

In 2011 or so, when there was the most discussion about public events on Weibo, I had 1.87 million followers. Then I was silenced for a month or three months, the longest being 108 days, for the slightest criticism of the authorities. In the end, my account was completely blocked, and there was no room for any public speech online.

I published many articles in the media before, but in the end I was not even allowed to publish them under my pseudonym.

It’s about silencing your voice.

Public intellectuals are also subject to criticism in Western countries. But it is crucial that you can hold on to your principles when you are being criticised and continue to do what you believe is valuable.

This kind of two-way exchange is especially important. Our observations of Western systems are not accurate unless we are there in person. Exchanges with our counterparts in Western universities are also important.

Western scholars also need interaction to understand China. It is clear, however, that such communication is becoming more difficult.

There is no contradiction. An organisation with almost 100 million members cannot be one-sided. Mao Zedong said in his time that “it is feudal to believe that there is no party outside the party, and it is strange that there is no faction within the party”.

Of course I am a party member, but I do not think that this identity is more important than my identity as a scholar.

I am first and foremost a professor of law, and I must use the knowledge and logic of law to analyse social problems and make my own suggestions or criticisms, which is the role of a scholar and does not conflict with my role as a party member.

Personally, I don’t want to take myself too seriously in the current situation, and there are still lots of fun things to do. If you are not in a hurry to put your ideals into practice, then sit down and wait for the dawn. For example, in recent years I have returned to history books.

But young academics today are in trouble. They are under pressure to publish papers, and they have to undertake a variety of national research projects. The topics of these projects are too ideological and political now.

Under such circumstances, it does not seem easy to adapt and build up one’s reputation in academia.

But I think there should still be a sense of hope. Something regressive does not necessarily last too long.

Do not believe that the Yellow River and the Yangtze River will not flow backwards, they do sometimes, but in terms of the general trend they are still flowing eastward.

China pursuing ‘significant’ expansion of nuclear arsenal, report says

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/16/china-nuclear-arsenal-weapons/2024-06-13T14:29:05.452Z

China is in the midst of a “significant” expansion of its nuclear capabilities and may have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as the United States or Russia by 2030, according to a new global analysis of nuclear weapons.

Beijing is both growing and modernizing its nuclear arsenal, according to an annual report released Sunday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a group that tracks global security and arms control. China’s military stockpile grew from 410 nuclear warheads last year to 500 as of January, the report found.

The expansion of China’s capabilities came as SIPRI warned that even as the total number of nuclear warheads around the world was declining as Cold War-era weapons were phased out, there were steady year-on-year increases in the number of operational warheads that could be used quickly in the event of conflict.

Around 2,100 deployed nuclear warheads are being kept in a state of “high operational alert” on ballistic missiles — and while almost all belonged to Russia or the United States, China was believed to have placed some warheads on this level of alert for the first time, SIPRI found.

Hans M. Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the nonprofit group Federation of American Scientists and an associate senior fellow with SIPRI, said in a statement that China was “expanding its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country” but added that “in nearly all of the nuclear-armed states there are either plans or a significant push to increase nuclear forces.”

SIPRI’s estimates aligned with figures recently included in a Pentagon report to Congress, which stated that China probably had “more than” 500 operational nuclear warheads by May and was “on track to exceed previous projections.”

At a recent conference on nuclear disarmament, a senior Biden administration official warned that the United States might need to deploy a greater arsenal of nuclear weapons if rivals such as Russia and China continue on this path.

“Absent a change in the trajectory of adversary arsenals, we may reach a point in the coming years where an increase from current deployed numbers is required,” Pranay Vaddi, a National Security Council official who specializes in nuclear weapons, said at an annual meeting of the Arms Control Association in Washington this month.

China had for years maintained a relatively small arsenal of about 200 warheads, but it has been shoring up that stockpile “very quickly” in recent years, said Tong Zhao, a senior fellow with the Nuclear Policy Program and Carnegie China at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who was not involved in SIPRI’s research.

Beijing denies that it is in the middle of a major nuclear buildup, but based on the current trajectory, it could have more than 700 warheads by 2027 and 1,000 by the end of the decade, Zhao said, assuming growth continues at its current pace.

The 2030 estimate would still be less than a fifth of the current size of the U.S. inventory, which, according to the SIPRI report, was 5,044 warheads as of January. Russia has 5,580, according to the report.

“Personally, I don’t think China has made the decision to reach nuclear parity with the United States,” Zhao said. “But I understand that many American experts already assume nuclear parity is the goal of the Chinese expansion.”

The quiet buildup of China’s nuclear arsenal comes as various conflicts continue to rage around the world, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The war in Ukraine has had a “negative impact” on nuclear arms control talks and has “diminished opportunities to break the long-standing deadlock in nuclear arms control and reverse the worrisome trend of nuclear-armed states developing and deploying new weapon systems,” SIPRI stated in the report.

Speaking at the arms control event in Washington this month, Vaddi said that China, along with Russia and North Korea, were “expanding and diversifying their nuclear arsenals at a breakneck pace, showing little or no interest in arms control.”

He added that the three countries, as well as Iran, were “increasingly cooperating and coordinating with each other — in ways that run counter to peace and stability, threaten the United States, our allies and our partners, and exacerbate regional tension.”

Among China’s recent efforts is the development of a nuclear triad capability — growing its number of submarines and adding an airborne element, in addition to existing land-based launch capabilities, Zhao said.

“This is a major change,” Zhao said, “because historically China criticized the United States and Russia for maintaining a triad.”

China is also for the first time believed to have deployed a small number of warheads during peacetime — readying them on missiles rather than storing them separately from the vehicles that can volley them toward a target, according to SIPRI. Of China’s 500 warheads, 24 were deployed as of January, according to the report — less than 5 percent of its stockpile.

By comparison, the United States had readied nearly half of its warheads, with 1,770 of the 3,708 warheads in its stockpile deployed (its inventory of 5,044 warheads includes the stockpile as well as warheads that are set to be dismantled).

Zhao said that it’s not apparent what’s behind the recent changes in Beijing’s nuclear posturing. “My own research makes me believe that recent Chinese nuclear expansion is not driven by clearly defined military objectives,” he said.

Rather, he said, it seems that Chinese President Xi Jinping believes that stronger strategic capabilities will impact the West’s perception of China, possibly convincing the United States and others to treat China as “an equally powerful country that deserves respect — deserves to be treated equally.”

Chinese Company Develops Robots with Facial Expressions

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/chinese-company-develops-robots-with-facial-expressions/7654548.html

Engineers at the Chinese company Ex-Robots are developing human-like robots at a factory in China’s northeastern coastal city of Dalian. Their goal is to increase the ability of the company’s robots to show facial expressions and emotions.

Robot body parts like arms, feet, and heads are spread out around the factory. The parts are made from a soft, moveable material called silicone. And human-like robots in different stages of construction can be found nearby. Drawings of robot designs are on a wall.

Li Boyang is Ex-Robots chief executive. He said, “We have our own software and algorithm teams.” Algorithms are commands or rules that a computer program follows. Robots need them to operate.

Li said, “There are many basic models and algorithms that are commonly open source, which everyone uses.” Open-source programming is usually freely available to software developers to use in their systems.

But Li said that his company is centering its efforts on how to get the artificial intelligence (AI) “to recognize and express expressions and emotions.”

In a demonstration, for example, an Ex-Robots worker moved her head, smiled, and stuck out her tongue. A human-like robot then copied her movement using small motors placed in several spaces in its head.

Li said, “We are also working on the foundation model. The model we’re making is multi-modal and capable of emotional expression.”

Multi-modal AI can process different kinds of signals and can react to them. For example, a multi-modal system could react to video, text, sound or touch. Li added that it can examine the surrounding environment and produce correct facial feedback.

Ex-Robots said it takes from two weeks to a month to produce a humanoid robot. The robots cost from $207,000 to $276,000.

So far, the robots’ main purpose is to be shown in museums. One of the museums is in the same building as the Ex-Robots factory.

Looking ahead, Li believes human-like robots will have a bigger part to play in the healthcare and education industries.

He said that mental health treatments like psychological counselling are ways these robots will be used in the future. He added that his company is currently researching treatments and information gathering for mental health disorders.

Li said, "Moreover, I believe that emotional interaction has broader applications in service fields, such as those aimed at children."

I’m Jill Robbins.

 

Gregory Stachel adapted this Reuters story for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

stage –n. a level of development in a process such as building something

construction – n. the act or process of building something (such as a house or road)

artificial intelligence – n. an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence

tongue – n. the soft, movable part in the mouth that is used for tasting and eating food and in human beings for speaking

foundation –n. the earliest model from which other models can be designed and built

museum – n. the soft, movable part in the mouth that is used for tasting and eating food and in human beings for speaking

interaction – v. to talk or do things with other people

broader – adj. including or involving many things or people: wide in range or amount