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• U.S. and Philippines seek to de-escalate after sea skirmish with China
• China and Poland agree to boost cooperation on electric vehicles
• ‘Lack of capacity’: China climate envoy rejects US, EU overcapacity claims at Dalian forum
• ‘Teeth playing’: China’s most terrifying folk art in which artists sing with wild boar tusks in mouths
• Xi Jinping calls for Chinese scientists to step up innovation in hi-tech ‘battlefield’
• Cash-strapped Sri Lanka to sign debt deals with China, other lenders to meet IMF bailout
• China urged to cut off zombie firms, roll out reforms as auditor flags misused funds
• South China Sea: Hague ruling rejected by Beijing still casts long shadow over dispute
• China approves Wegovy weight-loss drug produced by Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk
• Huawei’s Ren Zhengfei seen with disgraced pianist Li Yundi, sparking speculation on Chinese social media
• [Sport] Edinburgh shelves Taiwan friendship deal over China sanctions fear
• China’s ‘combat’ tax operations rattle firms already under pressure amid economic slowdown
• Tech war: OpenAI to further block access by mainland China, Hong Kong-based developers
• China’s Lady Dai mummy embroiled in controversy as latest 3D facial reconstruction resembles project expert
• Outrage in Japan as ‘indoctrination’ blamed for stabbings of woman, child in China
• Beijing’s envoy calls on South Korea to protect its workers after fire kills 17 Chinese
• China husband’s 2-year torrent of violence leaves wife with colostomy bag, split sealed
• How to read China’s economic report card for the first 5 months of 2024
• South China Sea: Philippines to stop announcing resupply missions amid push for Beijing talks
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• Chinese firms in US see more negative business climate amid ‘significant’ downturn: survey
• How China’s ‘father of two bombs’ only emerged from the shadows just before his death
• On China and AI, US sends mixed message about talks to ban the technology from nuclear use

U.S. and Philippines seek to de-escalate after sea skirmish with China

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/25/philippines-china-second-thomas-ayungin/2024-06-23T14:29:04.938Z

SINGAPORE — The United States and the Philippines are seeking to de-escalate tensions with Beijing after Chinese coast guard ships forcibly boarded Philippine navy vessels in the most serious confrontation in the South China Sea in recent years, according to U.S. and Philippine officials.

The United States will hold a joint maritime exercise with the Philippines in the coming weeks as a “show of support” to a key U.S. ally, officials said. The exercise was preplanned and is not intended to escalate tensions with China, said a U.S. Indo-Pacific Command representative who, along with several other U.S. and Philippine government officials, spoke on the condition of anonymity to share details of sensitive diplomacy.

The exercise will occur in disputed waters that Manila claims as the West Philippine Sea, and could also involve other U.S. allies, such as Australia or Japan, say U.S. officials.

Though Philippine leaders have condemned China’s behavior as “aggressive” and “illegal,” they have also sought in recent days to lower the heat over the disputed waters. “We are not in the business to instigate wars,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Sunday after visiting troops on the western island of Palawan who were wounded in the skirmish against China.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Monday that the Philippines is being “very cautious at this juncture” about the situation at sea. “They do not seek a crisis with China. They are seeking dialogue,” Campbell said at an event hosted by the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington. As for the United States, “the most important thing in this time frame is to be resolute, to be very clear publicly in our support for the Philippines,” he said.

China has recently grown more aggressive in asserting its presence over the South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by six other governments.

Tensions surged last week when Chinese coast guard ships rammed and boarded Philippine navy vessels attempting to resupply the Sierra Madre, a rusted warship beached on a half-submerged reef known as the Second Thomas Shoal. The confrontation left a sailor severely injured and sparked calls for a response from the United States, which has a mutual defense treaty with the Philippines.

Since the incident, U.S. officials at “the highest levels” have been debating an appropriate response said one official in Asia, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity. “Something needs to be done,” said the official, who works on security issues. “Do we want to commit to something that could spiral out of control? That’s very much a factor at play.”

Visiting nearby Vietnam over the weekend, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink called China’s actions at Second Thomas Shoal “deeply destabilizing.”

The “level of anxiety” on this issue among countries in this region “is very high,” said a second U.S. official. “So the Chinese have miscalculated here.”

Campbell said U.S. officials have lodged diplomatic protests on the incident to the Chinese government.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning asserted at a news conference Monday that Second Thomas Shoal is Chinese territory. “Our message to the Philippines is very clear: Stop the infringement activities and provocations,” she said.

Separate from the joint exercise with the United States, the Philippines will attempt another resupply mission to the Sierra Madre, potentially as soon as this week, according to U.S. and Philippine officials. And U.S. officials will be watching to see how that goes.

In a change of policy, the Philippines will now be publicly announcing the resupply missions ahead of time, said the National Maritime Council, an interagency body that Marcos Jr. convened earlier this year to manage the dispute with China.

Richard Heydarian, a senior lecturer at the Asian Center of the University of the Philippines, called on the United States to “take steps to directly support” the resupply missions to the Sierra Madre and to declare that any lethal attack on Philippine military personnel would be grounds to trigger the mutual defense treaty. There’s a need to “restore some element of deterrence,” Heydarian said in an interview.

But any U.S. involvement in the resupply missions to the Sierra Madre would have to come at the request of the Philippines, U.S. and Filipino officials said. While the United States has provided “technical and logistical” support on previous resupply missions, Manila has deliberately not asked for the United States to join in executing these missions, said a top Philippine defense official. That’s still the policy after the recent incident at Second Thomas, said the Philippine official.

U.S. officials affirmed this. “That whole operation is meant to be a demonstration of Philippine sovereignty,” said the Indo-Pacific Command representative. “Giving that up to the U.S. is not something they want.”

Tan reported from Singapore. Nakashima reported from Washington.

China and Poland agree to boost cooperation on electric vehicles

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3268023/china-and-poland-agree-boost-cooperation-electric-vehicles?utm_source=rss_feed

China and Poland have agreed to cooperate on electric vehicles despite the European Union’s recent decision to raise tariffs on Chinese imports.

“Both sides will support the growth of two-way investments in electric vehicles, green development, logistics and other sectors,” a joint action plan for 2024-27 said.

The document, which aims to “strengthen the comprehensive strategic partnership” between the two countries, was issued after Chinese President Xi Jinping met his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda on Monday.

Earlier this month the European Union announced that it would raise duties on Chinese EV imports by up to 38.1 per cent, prompting Beijing to announce an anti-dumping inquiry into pork imports in retaliation.

However, the bloc has agreed to talk with China about its anti-subsidy investigation in an effort to prevent a trade war.

Meanwhile, economic analysts have said that Chinese firms are likely to increase their manufacturing operations in Europe as a way of getting around the tariffs.

On Friday, the Polish government said that its Minister of State Assets Jakub Jaworowski had met a delegation from the Chinese car maker Geely to discuss the “role that Poland can play in the dynamically changing automotive market in Europe”.

The Chinese company is working with the state-backed Polish firm ElectroMobility Poland to develop an electric car that is expected to start mass production in two year’s time.

“Currently, intensive work is under way to evaluate the project implemented by ElectroMobility Poland. This work is aimed at verifying all business assumptions of the project,” it added.

Meanwhile, another joint venture between the Chinese EV producer Leapmotor and the European firm Stellantis has started building cars at a plant in the Polish city of Tychy.

Elsewhere on the continent, the Chinese car firm BYD has invested in a plant in the Hungarian city of Sezeged, with a second European site under consideration, while SAIC said this month that it “plans to bring China’s new energy technology and green factories to Europe”.

Another Chinese carmaker, Chery, has acquired a plant in Barcelona through a joint venture with Spanish carmaker Ebro-EV Motors, becoming the first Chinese company to sign a deal to produce cars in western Europe.

China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao visited the joint venture plant earlier this month, where he urged the EU to “abandon protectionism and return to the right path of dialogue and cooperation”.

Spain is a key supporter of the EU tariffs, along with France, and could be one of the countries most affected by the investigation into pork products.

Beijing sees EVs as one of the key sectors for boosting exports and economic growth along with lithium-ion batteries and solar panels.

In the first five months of the year, EV exports had a total value of US$14.6 billion, a 3 per cent increase on the same period last year, according to Cui Dongshu, the secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association.

“New energy vehicle exports in May were not strong due to the EU’s investigation,” he wrote.

‘Lack of capacity’: China climate envoy rejects US, EU overcapacity claims at Dalian forum

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3268017/lack-capacity-china-climate-envoy-rejects-us-eu-overcapacity-claims-dalian-forum?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s special envoy for climate change has called for expanded production of the country’s renewable energy products, citing a strong global demand, in a sharp dismissal of overcapacity claims raised by Western economies.

“[There are] only two groups of countries that are talking about so-called overcapacity. One is the United States, the other [is] the European Union,” Liu Zhenmin told an international forum on Tuesday.

“For the rest of the world, for international organisations including the United Nations … [and] globally speaking, there is no overcapacity.”

Liu China’s former vice-minister for foreign affairs, was responding to a question at a panel discussion on climate leadership at the 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian.

His remarks came as the US and EU increasingly took aim at China’s industrial overcapacity, with the issue emerging as a key point of contention in the deepening economic rivalry between Beijing and the West.

Washington in May unveiled substantially higher tariffs on Chinese goods including EVs and solar panels. The EU followed suit shortly after, announcing punitive tariffs of up to 38 per cent on EVs imported from China, citing Beijing’s “unfair” subsidies that led to overcapacity and distorted the market.

China and the European bloc have since agreed to hold fresh trade talks, with Chinese nationalist tabloid Global Times reporting that Beijing wanted the EU to scrap its tariffs by July 4, when the duties were set to take effect.

Liu told the forum on Tuesday that – instead of overcapacity – there was a “lack of capacity because there’s a huge demand globally for renewable energy facilities and technology”.

“That’s why I think we need to continue to encourage and support our enterprises to build up the capacity to produce more products for that,” he said.

In a clear signal that China would not let up on its production capacity despite growing Western pressures, Liu stressed that China has led in the innovation and manufacturing of renewable energy products – including EVs and solar and wind equipment – and that leadership has reduced prices of products globally.

“This should have been appreciated, really,” he said.

“I think China will continue to build up its manufacturing capacity to maintain current prices, to support its own deployment nationally, and to [transition] our current energy system [to clean energy].”

If countries were committed to achieve carbon neutrality, they would need to resolve issues surrounding technologies, including making them “much cheaper”, Liu argued.

Countries would also have to “safeguard the open international system”, he said, so that exports and trade could be easily conducted.

“That’s why I think globally we need to be united to avoid … these unilateral actions … because they are going to help raise the cost,” Liu added, referring to the tariffs levied by the US and the EU.

Pointing to a report by energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, which suggested that energy transitions would cost 20 per cent more without China’s energy products, Liu said the result would not be an issue for China, but rather a global problem.

Asked about challenges the world faces in reaching key global energy goals, Liu said he expected the geopolitical climate to be “even worse” next year.

Earlier in the day, Chinese Premier Li Qiang also pushed back against Western allegations about Chinese firms benefiting from unfair government subsidies.

In his opening address, he said that advanced EVs and batteries made by Chinese companies have not only met domestic demand but “enriched” supplies in the international market.

“China’s renewable-energy instalment, EVs and solar panel development not only safeguard domestic needs, but also enrich international supplies and help ease global inflation,” he said.

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‘Teeth playing’: China’s most terrifying folk art in which artists sing with wild boar tusks in mouths

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3262896/teeth-playing-chinas-most-terrifying-folk-art-which-artists-sing-wild-boar-tusks-mouths?utm_source=rss_feed

A performer with a fierce makeup conceals the tusks of several wild boars in their mouth, flipping them up and down with their tongue and teeth.

Throughout this process, they need to sing, read and dance.

It could well be the most terrifying, and most difficult, folk art in China. It is called shua ya, which literally means “teeth playing”.

Shua ya is a stunt used in traditional Chinese opera designed to portray the dark, dangerous and complex psychology of villainous characters.

The tusks of male wild boars that it uses are polished and disinfected and usually reach the length of an adult index finger.

Performers need to manipulate four to 10 tusks in their mouths, using their lips, teeth, and breath to make them move, conveying the emotions of characters.

Lowering the tusks indicates relaxation and satisfaction, while shaking them vigorously indicates anger.

Shua ya has become a traditional Chinese folk art due to its challenging techniques and chilling effects.

It is seen as being on a par with face-changing, a centuries-old Chinese art form integral to Sichuan opera, which involves rapid changes in performers’ facial expressions and makeup on stage.

Shua ya has a history spanning over 400 years and is a distinctive feature of opera performances in Ninghai, a county located in Zhejiang province in eastern China.

The most classic shua ya performance is Jinlian Slays Jiaolong.

Jiaolong, or the Chinese water dragon, diverges from the auspicious portrayal of Chinese dragons, causing chaos and bringing misfortune to people.

Artists portraying Jiaolong need to master shua ya to perform the part of a villain.

The stunt is recognised by the government as an intangible piece of cultural heritage.

Due to the arduous training process, the art form is on the brink of extinction.

Its exponents must keep sharp tusks in their mouths at all times, except when eating or sleeping, until they can speak clearly.

It typically takes over a decade of practice to fully master.

Xue Qiaoping, 41, from Zhejiang province, is a sixth-generation inheritor of China’s shua ya art and one of its few female performers.

She told China Central Television: “When training with eight tusks in my mouth because they are very hard, my entire gums were worn out. I couldn’t eat or drink for a week, only relying on intravenous drips for nutrition.”

When she reached 10 tusks, Xue needed to use both hands to open her mouth wide enough to fit in all the teeth. Her mouth cracks after each performance.

Meanwhile, Li Yi, 19, from Henan province in central China, is a shua ya artist with 1.4 million followers on Douyin.

He has been practising this stunt for eight years.

“My mouth has torn and ulcerated more than 70 times, my jaw muscles enlarged, my teeth were ground down and my appearance changed dramatically,” Li said.

“But I am willing to devote my youth entirely to traditional culture,” he added.

Xi Jinping calls for Chinese scientists to step up innovation in hi-tech ‘battlefield’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3267982/xi-jinping-calls-chinese-scientists-step-innovation-hi-tech-battlefield?utm_source=rss_feed

President Xi Jinping has called on Chinese researchers to step up innovation in six key areas of the hi-tech sector – which he called a “main battlefield” in superpower rivalry – to help secure the country’s supply chain.

Addressing a science and tech conference in Beijing on Monday, Xi said the focus should be on achieving breakthroughs in “bottleneck” technologies for integrated circuits, industrial machine tools, basic software, advanced materials, scientific research instruments and seed sources.

“Technological revolution is intertwined with the wrestling of superpowers, with the hi-tech sector becoming the main battlefield,” Xi was quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying.

Xi said China had made remarkable scientific progress in areas ranging from space to deep sea exploration. But he said the capacity for “original innovation” was relatively weak, some core technologies were constrained by other countries, and there was a skills shortage.

“We must have a greater sense of urgency,” he said. “We must step up innovation in order to occupy the commanding heights of the tech competition for future development.”

It comes as Beijing is locked in a tech war with the West, led by Washington. The US has blocked the sale of advanced semiconductors, and the technology and know-how to make them. Advanced chips are essential for the development of artificial intelligence technology that could bring revolutionary changes to industry, services and the military.

The US Treasury Department last week said it was proposing new rules to restrict outbound investment in tech critical to “the next generation of military, intelligence, surveillance or cyber-enabled capabilities that pose national security risks to the United States”, with China being a “country of concern”.

As China’s battle for tech supremacy with the US has intensified in recent years, Xi has frequently stressed the need for technological self-reliance and innovation, which Beijing also hopes will drive long-term economic growth.

Addressing some 3,000 scientists and researchers at the Great Hall of the People on Monday, Xi – flanked by the rest of the Politburo Standing Committee – laid out his expectations.

He said China should have “strong capabilities in basic research and original innovation”, and it should be able to “continuously produce important, original and disruptive tech fruits” so that the country can “profoundly reshape the global order and development landscape”.

Xi pointed to having the tech needed for “high-quality development and high-level security” and said there should be a focus on emerging technologies in AI, quantum science, biotechnology and other areas.

He also spoke about the leadership’s ambitions for China to play a leading international role in science and innovation.

And he vowed to improve funding for basic research under a “whole-nation system”, with resources pooled to support tech development, better incentivise scientists and promote international collaborations.

Beijing has earmarked some 98 billion yuan (about US$13.5 billion) for basic research this year, up 13 per cent from 2023. In comparison, the US federal budget for basic research this year is US$48.6 billion – an increase of US$1 billion from 2023.

“As the international environment is getting more complex, we should open our hearts and open up our doors even wider. We should coordinate [the requirements of] opening-up and security, and achieve self-reliance and self-improvement,” the Chinese leader said.

Xi also presented the country’s most prestigious annual science prize during the meeting. Two scientists received the State Pre-eminent Science and Technology Award: satellite-imaging expert Li Deren, from Wuhan University; and quantum physicist Xue Qikun, who is president of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen.

Cash-strapped Sri Lanka to sign debt deals with China, other lenders to meet IMF bailout

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/3268001/cash-strapped-sri-lanka-sign-debt-deals-china-other-lenders-meet-imf-bailout?utm_source=rss_feed

Sri Lanka has finalised long-delayed debt deals with its bilateral lenders including China to meet a key condition of an IMF bailout, the government said on Tuesday.

A treasury delegation is on its way to France to sign agreements with creditors on Wednesday, government spokesman Bandula Gunawardana said.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its foreign debt in April 2022 after running out of foreign exchange, and the unprecedented economic crisis forced the then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to step down.

The government had expected a debt deal with all its creditors before the end of 2022, but negotiations dragged.

Bilateral creditors account for 28.5 per cent of Sri Lanka’s current outstanding foreign debt of US$37 billion, according to treasury data at the end of March.

China is the largest single bilateral lender, accounting for US$4.66 billion out of a total of US$10.58 billion borrowed from other countries.

Japan is second, with US$2.35 billion, and India is third with US$1.36 billion.

Sri Lanka’s commercial borrowings include US$12.55 billion raised through International Sovereign Bonds (ISB), and another US$2.18 billion from the China Development Bank.

“Talks with ISB holders are still ongoing,” Gunawardana said, adding that the debt deal with bilateral creditors was an important achievement for the island.

He said President Ranil Wickremesinghe will disclose details of the deal with official creditors in a speech to the nation on Wednesday evening.

While the cabinet of ministers has approved the terms of the agreements with creditors, Gunawardana declined to provide detail, saying that would be announced by the president on Wednesday.

The International Monetary Fund gave Sri Lanka this month the latest tranche of US$336 million out of a US$2.9 billion rescue package designed to help repair the island nation’s ruined finances over four years.

Sri Lanka is due to hold a presidential election this year, and opposition parties have vowed to renegotiate the terms of the IMF bailout.

IMF’s Sri Lanka mission chief Peter Breuer said they were willing to listen to alternative proposals from rival political parties, but said it was necessary to stick with the benchmarks set in the bailout.

Sri Lanka had made good progress, but the country was not out of the woods yet, he said.

China urged to cut off zombie firms, roll out reforms as auditor flags misused funds

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3267997/china-urged-cut-zombie-firms-roll-out-reforms-auditor-flags-misused-funds?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s National Audit Office on Tuesday called for a new round of fiscal and tax reforms, better debt management and also the end of credit supply to so-called zombie companies after it found funds had been misused during its annual check of government spending.

“Based on audits, some of the issues in economic and social development stem from incomplete and inadequate institutional mechanisms, as well as a lack of financial and legal awareness in certain regions ,” auditor general Hou Kai said in his report to China’s top legislature.

“Also, they are owing to inadequate implementation of reform and development measures.”

The suggestions came ahead of next month’s third plenum, which is expected to chart China’s growth path and also solve stubborn issues from a debt crisis to financial speculation, an ongoing property slump, industrial overcapacity, external challenges and weak domestic demand.

The audit annual report, which is widely used to assess government operations and enforcement of local implementation of central government policies, often reveals embezzlement or misuse of funds by ministries or subsidiaries.

The latest report found a wide range of problems in areas including employment benefits, credit allocation and local debt management.

Tax agencies were found to have not provided tax deductions of 127.3 billion yuan (US$17.5 billion) for 27,500 eligible firms, while providing 2.4 billion yuan of tax preferences for 2,568 unqualified firms.

The audit office found that implicit local borrowing – which the central government often refers to as so-called hidden debt -still existed as state-owned firms in 24 regions raised 37.3 billion yuan of public funds through local exchanges to pay maturing debt and their workers. This resulted in 11.2 billion yuan of implicit debt being formed.

Also, some state-owned banks were found to have deviated from Beijing’s order to support the real economy, with four unnamed institutions allocating 68 billion yuan of loans intended for the innovation field to other areas.

During the audit of social security benefits, the agency found that 109,000 people eligible to claim such benefits had not received assistance from the government, while 130 million yuan of funds had been misused on fake work contracts.

“We need to check frequently appeared economic problems,” Hou added.

“We should insist on reviewing them from a reform perspective and also solving them through reforms.”

The national auditor proposed accelerating the construction of a unified national market, calling for more financial input in areas such as tech innovation, small businesses and financial inclusive projects, but ending credit supply for loss-making state firms often referred to as zombie companies.

The auditor also investigated 582.4 billion yuan in budget allocations for 41 central departments and 346 affiliated units between November and February.

Since May 2023, it had disclosed more than 310 cases of violations involving more than 1,200 people, with the main issues involving regional corruption and extracting policy dividends.

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South China Sea: Hague ruling rejected by Beijing still casts long shadow over dispute

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3268013/south-china-sea-hague-ruling-rejected-beijing-still-casts-long-shadow-over-dispute?utm_source=rss_feed

Eight years ago, when an international tribunal ruled against China over its disputes with the Philippines in the South China Sea, it was viewed as one of the biggest diplomatic setbacks for Beijing.

Beijing has maintained its hardline approach, first with non-involvement in the arbitration case and then steadfast refusal to accept the ruling. However, even though Beijing dismissed the tribunal’s rejection of its expansive maritime claims as a US-led attempt to encircle and isolate China, the ruling still casts a long shadow over the dispute.

According to people with knowledge of the situation, Beijing remains deeply worried about the lasting impact of the 2016 ruling, which marked a legal precedent for dispute settlement and a turning point in China’s ties with its neighbours in Southeast Asia.

Although China gained the upper hand in what started as a fishing dispute in 2012 near the contested Scarborough Shoal, known as Huangyan Island in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines, it was the trigger for Manila to take the matter to the Hague-based tribunal the following year.

That was doubtlessly one of the most important moments in the internationalisation of the South China Sea dispute, defying strong opposition from Beijing.

The ruling dealt a major blow to Beijing’s claims over much of the disputed waters under what it calls its historic “nine-dash line”, and has since been deemed a taboo topic in Chinese interactions with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), several mainland-based observers said.

The 10-member bloc includes several South China Sea claimants. But apart from the Philippines, most Asean members – including Vietnam, a rival claimant that voiced support for the 2016 ruling – have largely refrained from publicly mentioning the arbitration case for fears of aggravating China.

The arbitral award has also galvanised international critics of China’s assertive posturing, with the United States and its allies often singling out Beijing for its alleged “militarisation” of the vast, resource-rich South China Sea and ignoring the “final and legally binding” decision.

As military tensions between China and the Philippines approach boiling point over a string of violent confrontations in the disputed waters, analysts have warned of growing risks of a second arbitration case against Beijing.

“The chance of another arbitration initiated by the Philippines is fairly high,” a Chinese expert said privately. “It is like a sword hanging over China’s head that other claimant countries can make use of whenever they want.”

While it is still too early to tell whether Beijing would want to participate in such an international arbitration, experts said it was at least partially prepared for the “nightmarish scenario”.

The Chinese foreign ministry issued a warning against such a move late last month, with spokeswoman Mao Ning reiterating that the 2016 arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was “illegal”.

But while ties with the Philippines are unlikely to return to the era of Beijing-friendly former president Rodrigo Duterte, it may not be too late to avoid a second arbitration.

Manila is trying hard to bring Beijing back to the negotiation table to resolve the dispute peacefully, Philippine foreign minister Enrique Manalo said on Tuesday, just a week after one of their worst maritime confrontations.

While diplomatic dialogue itself may not be enough, both sides should at least take urgent steps to lower tensions and avoid any potential armed conflict.

As Manila has shown a willingness to return to talks, Beijing should also respond positively, by refraining from using force and moderating its rhetoric towards Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and his pro-US stance.

Beijing should probably also rethink its approach towards Manila, which is widely viewed as aggressive and hostile. This is especially so when it comes to the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, known in China as Renai Jiao, a part of the Spratly Islands claimed by both sides.

Their latest and most violent confrontation took place in waters off the shoal on June 17.

While Beijing may have a hard time appreciating the fact that smaller nations such as the Philippines have agency too and are capable of making sovereign decisions, it should at least try to avoid seeing everything Manila does through the lens of the US-China rivalry.

China approves Wegovy weight-loss drug produced by Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3268018/china-approves-wegovy-weight-loss-drug-produced-danish-pharmaceutical-firm-novo-nordisk?utm_source=rss_feed

Novo Nordisk on Tuesday said its hugely popular weight-loss drug Wegovy has been approved in China, the world’s second-largest economy and the country estimated to hold the highest number of overweight or obese people.

Denmark-based Novo will communicate details on pricing and availability when it launches, the company said in a statement. The 100-year-old firm said in March it would initially target Chinese patients willing to pay out-of-pocket for the weekly injectable drug.

Raffles Hospital Beijing, a major medical institution in the Chinese capital, might place an order around September, but concrete timing is uncertain, Rose Niu Wei, a marketing manager at the private hospital, told Reuters.

Novo’s shares on Tuesday were up 1.5 per cent, having earlier touched record highs that valued the company at nearly US$490 billion.

The number of overweight adults in China, the world’s second most populous country, is projected to reach 540 million by 2030, 2.8 times higher than 2000 levels, a Chinese public health study showed in 2020. Numbers who are obese are seen jumping 7.5 times to 150 million.

But Novo may have a much shorter time in the Chinese market to make the most of its early-mover advantage in weight-loss drugs.

Its patent on semaglutide, the key ingredient in Wegovy and its diabetes drug Ozempic, is set to expire in less than two years in China, compared to in 2031 in Europe and Japan, and in 2032 in the United States, and local drug makers are racing to develop generic or biosimilar versions.

Novo is also in the midst of a legal fight in China over the patent, an adverse ruling in which could make it lose its semaglutide exclusivity even sooner. That would make China the first major market where it is stripped of patent protection for the drugs.

Booming demand for Wegovy has propelled Novo’s shares to record highs, and the company last year overtook LVMH to become Europe’s most valuable listed company.

But Wegovy’s success has left Novo facing shortages and forced to limit the number of patients taking the once-weekly injection.

“At the moment capacity and not global demand is the main limit on how fast (sales volumes) can grow, and adding a huge Chinese market will only increase the need for more capacity,” said Allan von Mehren, China economist at Danske Bank.

“It is hard to say how fast volumes can go up, but the potential should be big.”

The group faces competition from rival Eli Lilly, whose diabetes drug tirzepatide received approval from China in May. Some analysts expect Zepound, the US firm’s weight-loss drug with the same active ingredient, will be approved in China this year or in the first half of 2025.

Both Eli Lilly and Novo are racing to increase production in a weight-loss market estimated to reach at least US$100 billion globally by the decade’s end. Both companies’ obesity treatments belong to a class of drugs originally developed for diabetes known as GLP-1 agonists.

Novo announced on Monday a US$4.1 billion investment to build a US facility to fill injection pens for Wegovy and Ozempic.

Ozempic won approval from China in 2021, and Novo saw sales of the drug in the Greater China region double to 4.8 billion Danish crowns (US$698 million) last year.

At least two Chinese firms, Livzon Pharmaceutical Group and Hangzhou Jiuyuan Gene Engineering, have already applied to begin commercial sales of Ozempic copies.

Shares in Livzon finished unchanged, while major Jiuyuan Gene shareholder Huadong Medicine closed down 0.3 per cent.

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Huawei’s Ren Zhengfei seen with disgraced pianist Li Yundi, sparking speculation on Chinese social media

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3268010/huaweis-ren-zhengfei-seen-disgraced-pianist-li-yundi-sparking-speculation-chinese-social-media?utm_source=rss_feed

Huawei Technologies founder and chief executive Ren Zhengfei has whipped up a storm on Chinese social media after he was seen with disgraced Chinese classical pianist Li Yundi, when they visited the telecommunications equipment giant’s Songshan Lake campus in Dongguan over the weekend.

Ren, 79, accompanied Li on a tour of the European-themed campus – the Shenzhen-based company’s research and development base – according to photos and videos circulating on various Chinese social media platforms. Both wore casual attire during their visit.

The photos and videos sparked discussion on Chinese social media, as netizens were puzzled about Ren’s jaunt with the musician formerly known in China as the “piano prince”, who was arrested and briefly detained in 2021 by the police in Beijing on suspicion of patronising a prostitute.

“Li’s appearance is so unexpected, and I can see controversy brewing,” a user wrote on microblogging service Weibo.

Some Weibo users described Ren’s meeting with Li as “inappropriate”. One commenter wrote: “It’s natural to hold a public figure to a higher standard, and they should pay the price for making a mistake.”

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

The negative publicity received by Ren, one of the best-known Chinese tech industry leaders, for meeting Li is in stark contrast to the public goodwill the low-profile Huawei leader earned for his efforts to overcome US sanctions after Washington added the company to a trade blacklist in May 2019.

Before this Li brouhaha, Ren last made a public appearance on June 5 during a visit to Sichuan University in southwestern China, where he said that US-sanctioned Huawei is working closely with universities around the world on basic theoretical research to “overcome its shortcomings”.

Other Weibo users defended Li by pointing out that he had already paid the price for his past mistake. “We should be more tolerant about Li for his rare talent, and Ren has set an example,” a user wrote.

Li rose to international fame at age 18 in 2000 by winning the prestigious International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition, which is held every five years in Warsaw, capital of Poland.

He was widely discredited in China following his misconduct and stayed away from the public limelight. Li, however, remained active on social media and regularly shared updates this year about his latest tour in Europe.

Ren met Li during Huawei’s annual developer conference last week, where the company pledged to break the dominance of Western mobile operating systems in the country with its self-developed HarmonyOS.

[Sport] Edinburgh shelves Taiwan friendship deal over China sanctions fear

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw00y46n3j9o

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Rex

China’s ‘combat’ tax operations rattle firms already under pressure amid economic slowdown

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3267959/chinas-combat-tax-operations-rattle-firms-already-under-pressure-amid-economic-slowdown?utm_source=rss_feed

Media reports on the opening of a series of joint task forces between police and tax authorities have sent ripples across Chinese businesses, with lawyers saying such operations could send the wrong signal to the public amid weak confidence over China’s economic outlook.

A “combat” operations centre opened last month in Changzhi in central China’s Shanxi province, pledging to “safeguard national tax security”.

Last week, the State Taxation Administration also had to deny that it would launch a national investigation after several listed firms said they had been asked to pay decades-old overdue taxes.

The move was seen by analysts as part of efforts to squash speculation that some regions might be looking to punish companies for overdue tax or misconduct amid mounting fiscal stress.

“Of course, it is reasonable that some entrepreneurs might be concerned,” Beijing-based lawyer Zhu Bao said.

“Largely because there are problems with the economy now and some might have experienced difficulties. So they are more sensitive to these [reports].”

Similar joint operations between police and tax authorities began 10 years ago in a bid to share information and coordinate tax-related matters, he added.

However, some of the latest operations have raised eyebrows in Chinese media as confidence over China’s economic outlook is relatively weak among businesses.

“[The operation will] deepen and expand tax coordination, realise the precise and integrated crackdown on tax-related crimes, down the chain, better serve the real economy, and effectively safeguard fairness and justice, so as to promote the high-quality economic and social development of Changzhi city,” said a front-page article in the Shangdang Evening News, a publication owned by the city government, last month.

China’s economic recovery has been highly uneven, and the central government has pledged greater fiscal stimulus, as well as help for entrepreneurs and small companies, but public concern remains over local government finances.

Fiscal revenues fell by 2.8 per cent in the first five months of 2024 from a year earlier, accelerating from a 2.7 per cent decline in the January-April period, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday.

Revenue from land sales, a key source of income for many local governments, also plunged by 14 per cent in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year.

According to the city government of Xiamen in the southeastern Fujian province, since a joint force between the police and the tax authorities was set up in 2022, the two sides had exchanged and analysed 78 batches of suspicious tax-related data and had worked together to investigate 751 cases of tax evasion and fraud.

The joint force had also recovered 2.585 billion yuan (US$356 million) in taxes, eliminated 48 illegal and criminal gangs, and taken compulsory measures against 270 suspects, according to an article in China Tax News on June 7, citing data from the Xiamen government.

But Wang Cailiang, a Beijing-based lawyer, believed local authorities publicising their integrated “combat” operations may add unnecessary fears among taxpayers.

“This problem is not just a matter of the names [of these operations], but that some civil servants may regard taxpayers as targets of warfare, and there is something wrong with this concept in law enforcement,” Wang said in a blog post last week on his WeChat social media account.

He added that regional authorities should consider collaborating with the public, rather than treating them as “enemies”, when the economy is weak.

Tech war: OpenAI to further block access by mainland China, Hong Kong-based developers

https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3267971/tech-war-openai-further-block-access-mainland-china-hong-kong-based-developers?utm_source=rss_feed

ChatGPT creator OpenAI is tightening measures to block attempts from “unsupported countries and territories”, including mainland China and Hong Kong, to access its generative artificial intelligence (AI) services via application programming interfaces (APIs), according to a notice sent to Chinese developers, deepening the AI divide between China and the US.

While Microsoft-backed OpenAI has rolled out its AI services in over 160 countries, the products remain officially unavailable in mainland China and Hong Kong. Users there have been turning to virtual private networks or third-party apps to access ChatGPT, while developers need to use proxies and outbound servers to bypass restrictions.

OpenAI’s move, which is set to go into effect on July 9, could affect Chinese companies developing their own services based on OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs) – the technology that underpins ChatGPT and similar generative AI applications – according to some experts.

The latest move by OpenAI essentially represents the US further restricting China’s access to advanced AI technology, according to an industry insider who declined to be named for discussing politically sensitive matters.

A number of AI start-ups in China are building apps based on OpenAI’s large models, which also generate revenue for OpenAI, the person said, adding that if OpenAI strengthens its regulations, Chinese developers will have to turn to local alternatives.

Zhipu AI, one of China’s top generative AI start-ups, said it would help affected developers transfer to its platform.

“We are rolling out a special migration plan for shifting to home-grown LLMs,” the Beijing-based start-up said on Tuesday, dangling perks such as 150 million free tokens, as well as tailored training courses to support such moves.

Rapid development in AI has opened a new front in the US-China tech war. The Biden administration is limiting China’s access to advanced semiconductors and restricting American investments in the mainland’s AI sector. Washington is also reportedly planning new regulations to curb the export of advanced AI models.

OpenAI has been mindful of foreign misuse of its services.

In May, the San Francisco-based company said it had disrupted five “covert influence operations”, including networks in China, Russia, Iran and Israel that used its AI products to manipulate public opinion or shape political outcomes while obscuring their true identities.

In a separate move, OpenAI said in December it suspended TikTok owner ByteDance’s access to its services, citing policy violations. The Chinese company later said that a small group of its engineers had used OpenAI’s API service in an experimental model not intended for public launch.

OpenAI – which provides some of the technology behind Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI features recently unveiled by the iPhone maker – is not expected to support Apple’s new AI functions in China.

Apple is reportedly seeking local partners to provide services that adhere to Beijing’s various AI regulations, including those laid out by the China Electronic Standardisation Institute last year to enforce national LLM standards.

Chinese tech companies, which have introduced more than 200 self-developed LLMs, are still racing to catch up with their global peers in AI.

Some of the front runners include Big Tech companies such as Baidu, ByteDance and South China Morning Post owner Alibaba Group Holding, as well as start-ups including Zhipu AI, Baichuan, Minimax and Moonshot AI.

Additional reporting by Ben Jiang

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China’s Lady Dai mummy embroiled in controversy as latest 3D facial reconstruction resembles project expert

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3266697/chinas-lady-dai-mummy-embroiled-controversy-latest-3d-facial-reconstruction-resembles-project-expert?utm_source=rss_feed

A forensic facial expert is under fire in China after his digital facial reconstruction of one of the world’s best-preserved mummies bore a striking resemblance to himself.

Yuan Zhongbiao, the expert responsible for the facial reconstruction, admitted that Lady Dai’s face had badly decomposed by the time she was unearthed, and the team could only use X-ray images of the mummy for reference.

The 3D digital representation of the mummy, Lady Dai, was released on May 17 and featured depictions of what historians believed she may have looked like at 35 and 50 years old, as reported by state broadcaster CCTV.

However, the facial reconstruction has been criticised for its perceived lack of authenticity and anatomical accuracy.

An online observer on Xiaohongshu, known as AAAJiancaipifazhaojie, who claimed to be a professional in digital restoration, noted that the images appear to have used a digital human creator tool called Metahuman, which allows users to import their own photos and transport them on top of models.

The observer said Lady Dai’s reconstruction shared characteristics with Yuan in her brow bone, mid-face, and ear position. She added that the photograph does not convincingly match Lady Dai.

“It’s likely that the expert simply took a selfie and uploaded it, which could be done in under five minutes,” the user commented, receiving over 18,000 likes.

Another person said: “This type of bone-based reconstruction could be manipulated because the shape of soft tissues is not clear. Whether the result looks good or bad depends largely on the intentions of the person doing the reconstruction.”

Lady Dai’s mummified body, found in Hunan province in central China in 1972, is renowned for being remarkably well-preserved despite her old age. She is thought to have died of a heart attack around 168 or 169 BC at about 50 years old.

The mummy’s skin is still attached to her body, including soft tissue features like her nose and ears. That being said, her face has been distorted by the decomposition process and is stuck in a grotesque expression, making it impossible to know what she looked like just by photographing the mummy.

She was the wife of Li Cang, the chancellor of the Changsha Kingdom, during the Western Han dynasty (206 BC-25).

Yuan, a forensic facial expert with 30 years of experience in skull reconstruction, previously demonstrated on CCTV his ability to reconstruct a suspect’s face accurately from mere fragments of a broken skull.

He said that, due to the limitations of medical imaging equipment in the 1970s, the team could only use X-ray scans of her skull.

“Our team matched the potential facial features of Lady Dai within the craniofacial database system I developed to establish an approximation of her appearance,” Yuan explained.

Other online observers complained that Lady Dai, often referred to as the “Sleeping Beauty of the East”, did not appear as beautiful as they had imagined.

“The reconstruction looks too old. A noblewoman’s muscles and skin wouldn’t sag so quickly,” one commented.

“The image seems disrespectful to Lady Dai,” another added.

Yuan, however, explained in the CCTV interview that “Lady Dai’s craniofacial features are relatively ordinary, and she was not the ‘noble beauty’ many people imagine.”

In 2002, the Hunan Museum, where her body and possessions are preserved, invited another forensic facial expert, Zhao Chengwen, to create a wax sculpture of Lady Dai. This wax figure appeared younger and had more traditionally beautiful facial features.

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Outrage in Japan as ‘indoctrination’ blamed for stabbings of woman, child in China

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3267957/outrage-japan-indoctrination-blamed-stabbings-woman-child-china?utm_source=rss_feed

An attack on a Japanese woman and her young son by a Chinese man has triggered a fierce backlash in Japan, with many laying the blame on years of anti-Japanese “indoctrination” in schools and state-run media.

The woman, who has not been identified but is in her 30s, and her preschool age son were apparently attacked on Monday along with a Chinese woman as they waited for a bus to her other child’s Japanese school in the city of Suzhou in Jiangsu province.

The city is a key location for many Japanese corporations’ operations in China and has a sizeable Japanese expatriate population, as well as Japanese schools and shops.

The woman and her child were treated at a local hospital and did not sustain serious injuries, although the Chinese woman was in a critical condition, Jiji Press reported.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman on Tuesday called the knife attack an isolated incident and said it could have happened in any country in the world.

The Japanese embassy in Beijing issued a statement on Monday calling on its nationals to be alert in the wake of the attack, which came two weeks after four university lecturers from Cornell College were stabbed at a public park in China’s Jilin province.

The embassy called on Japanese to pay “careful attention to the surrounding situation”, pointing out that there had been a number of stabbing incidents in China in recent months. The Suzhou Japanese school was closed on Tuesday, and other Japanese schools around the country have been instructed to step up security.

“Behind these kinds of incidents are years of anti-Japanese and anti-US propaganda promulgated by the Chinese government,” said Yoichi Shimada, a professor of international relations at Fukui Prefectural University.

“It is no secret that the atmosphere and feelings against Japanese and Americans in China have been steadily getting worse, and I see no other source of that dislike, which sometimes – as in this case – verges on irrational hatred,” he told This Week in Asia.

Chinese children are taught from a young age about the Japanese invasion of mainland Asia in the early decades of the last century, along with the atrocities committed in Nanjing and elsewhere during the conflict, Shimada told This Week in Asia.

State media was also constantly attacking Tokyo over its support for Taiwan, the sovereignty of the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and other sources of bilateral tension, he said.

“Given that, it is not really a surprise when eventually someone decides to attack a Japanese person,” Shimada said.

“I believe the Japanese government should demand that the Chinese government halt its unreasonable anti-Japanese propaganda, but I do not expect that to happen as this government is simply too weak-kneed,” he said.

And if Tokyo was not ready to act, Shimada said, then Japanese companies should withdraw dependants of the staff they had dispatched to their Chinese offices in order to protect them.

“If they do not, then women and children will be living in constant danger,” he added.

Messages on Japanese online media coverage of the incident were broadly in alignment with Shimada’s position.

“This was not an accident or a drunken incident, but the fact that they are targeting foreigners is more frightening,” said one message on the Sankei Shimbun web page. “This was not something that happened in the heat of the moment; it was planned.”

Another claimed that in the past, Chinese authorities would punish attacks on foreigners severely, but the police seemed to be “more lenient now because of the anti-Japanese sentiment”.

One user urged the foreign ministry to impose an emergency travel ban on China and order Japanese there to return home.

On the Japan Today website, a message read, “Probably a hate crime. And that is exactly what the Chinese government teaches and encourages.”

“It beggars belief that any Japanese person – let alone a Japanese mother and her children – would take the risk of being in China,” another poster said. China is “a place where the government endlessly whips up anti-Japanese fervour, which no doubt encourages the targeting of Japanese citizens”.

Min Zhengwan, a Chinese national who works for an electronics company in Tokyo, said the growing antagonism between the two nations was “very unfortunate and unnecessary”.

“I have never felt threatened in the 20 years that I have lived in Japan,” he said. “But I accept that people who do not speak the language or are in low-wage and low-skilled jobs might face more problems,” he said.

“Even when I was a boy, there were always anti-Japanese films and soap operas on television in China, and it seems that some people believe every word of those stories.”

“And that’s why we have people coming to Japan to urinate against the pillars at Yasukuni Shrine and cause stupid problems that are not necessary,” he added.

Additional reporting by Reuters

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Beijing’s envoy calls on South Korea to protect its workers after fire kills 17 Chinese

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3267960/beijings-envoy-calls-south-korea-protect-its-workers-after-fire-kills-17-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s envoy to South Korea has asked for a thorough probe and urged relevant companies to “effectively safeguard the lives and health” of Chinese citizens after a factory fire on Monday killed 17 Chinese nationals.

Ambassador Xing Haiming said the embassy would work with Seoul “to do its best in the aftermath of the accident” as he arrived at the fire-stricken lithium battery factory in Hwaseong, south of the South Korean capital, on the day of the fire.

“We hope that the South Korean enterprises concerned will learn a painful lesson so that similar accidents will not happen in the future, and [to] effectively safeguard the lives and health of Chinese citizens,” he added.

The blaze broke out around 10.30am in a building around 45km (28 miles) south of Seoul that is owned by Aricell and used for lithium battery production.

At least 23 people have been confirmed dead, according to the region’s fire department. The Chinese embassy has confirmed 17 of the victims who died were Chinese nationals. One Chinese citizen suffered minor injuries.

In an initial briefing, the fire department said the blaze broke out on the second floor of the building. The bodies of the victims – who had been inspecting and packaging finished battery products – were found on the same floor.

The exact cause of the fire could not be determined, but the fire department said “one of the battery cells exploded”.

“When the first firefighters arrived, the battery cells inside the factory exploded continuously and the fire spread rapidly, making it difficult to extinguish the fire,” said Kim Jin-young, head of the disaster prevention department at Hwaseong fire station, of the fire that took 4½ hours to put out.

A team of police, firefighters, forensic workers and other government officials will jointly investigate the fire site. Police will also request autopsies on the casualties to determine the cause of the death, according to Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency.

A Chinese worker in the factory told The Beijing News there were more than 100 workers in the factory, most of whom were Chinese women of ethnic Korean background aged between 30 and 40.

She told the newspaper she had not been trained in workplace fire procedure, and she had seen no fire drills at the factory during the month she had worked there.

South Korea is a leading producer of lithium batteries which are used in many items, such as in electric vehicles (EVs), mobile phones and laptops.

However, lithium batteries are known to be a fire risk. Lithium battery fires are difficult to extinguish as internal heat continues to be generated, there is a high possibility it will reignite even if it appears to have been extinguished.

Chinese citizens account for the biggest foreign group in South Korea – 37.6 per cent of the total in 2023 – followed by Vietnamese and Thais.

A significant number of Korean-Chinese – known as Chaoxianzu – have legally or illegally entered South Korea since last century, working as low-paid labourers.

In 2008, some 12 Chaoxianzu died after a fire and accompanying explosions tore through a refrigerated warehouse in Icheon, near Seoul.

Also in Icheon, 38 construction workers died in 2020 in a fire at a warehouse that was being built.

In 2018, some 46 people died in the southern city of Miryang after a fire broke out in a small hospital that had no sprinkler system.

The South Korean consulate in Hong Kong and embassy in Beijing have been contacted for comment but had not responded by Tuesday afternoon.

China husband’s 2-year torrent of violence leaves wife with colostomy bag, split sealed

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3265549/china-husbands-2-year-torrent-violence-leaves-wife-colostomy-bag-split-sealed?utm_source=rss_feed

A woman in China who endured a two-year barrage of domestic violence from her husband, which left her having to use a colostomy bag, has finally been granted a divorce.

The victim, surnamed Xie, 30, suffered terrible injuries at the hands of her then-husband after he severely beat her at their home in Chengdu in southwestern Sichuan province on April 25, 2023, China National Radio reported.

“My liver, spleen, stomach, kidney and duodenum were all damaged. My bowels were broken, so doctors did a colostomy surgery on me,” she was quoted as saying.

Xie was in intensive care for eight days before being transferred to an ordinary ward. For a month thereafter she received blood infusions for 22 hours every day.

Her husband, surnamed He, was arrested and charged with abuse and causing intentional harm, according to the report.

It is not clear when the case will be heard because the judicial authorities are still evaluating the degree of Xie’s injuries and the loss she has sustained.

Meanwhile, Xie filed for divorce and appealed to the court to grant her a divorce and custody of the couple’s two-year-old daughter.

The case was heard at the Wuhou District People’s Court in Chengdu on May 31.

Xie said at a consultation meeting before the trial that He agreed on divorce and nodded in apparent agreement that his wife should have custody of their daughter.

However, in court, He went back on his word.

He also requested Xie to write a letter of forgiveness to him, which would be helpful in reducing his jail term. If she did not, he would not agree to the divorce.

“I didn’t expect that he would back out of what he had agreed before,” Xie said.

“In the court, he repeatedly said he did not want to divorce me and said he still had love for me. He’d like to continue to live with me and raise our child together.

“I was devastated when hearing his words. But fortunately, the court made a verdict for the divorce,” she added.

Xie said He had beaten her 16 times since they married in May 2021.

The first violent attack came in July of that year, when Xie was in the early stages of her pregnancy.

She said she made a report to the police after the first assault.

The police issued He with a warning and he also knelt down before Xie’s parents, promising he would not beat her again. But the gesture did not stop his violence.

“I hope my story and my tragedy can help and encourage others not to become the next me,” said Xie.

Her ordeal sparked heated discussions on mainland social media.

“Domestic violence can happen to any woman. Many female friends told me that they don’t want to marry because of this,” an online observer said on Douyin.

“Reading your story, I feel my heart ache,” another person wrote. “I’ve also endeared domestic violence many times, but, for the sake of my kids, I don’t know what to do.”

How to read China’s economic report card for the first 5 months of 2024

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3267915/how-read-chinas-economic-report-card-first-5-months-2024?utm_source=rss_feed

As the first half of 2024 comes to an end, the state of China’s economic recovery is a mixed bag of joy and concern. The positive aspect is that multiple economic indicators show a significantly better growth trend compared to the same period last year. However, what is worrisome is that consumers, investors and entrepreneurs still lack confidence in the economic outlook.

Traditionally, three of the leading drivers behind China’s economic growth have been consumption, investment and exports. Economic indicators related to these factors in the first five months of the year have shown a clear improvement compared to 2023.

Overall investment has been recovering at a slower pace but, if we excluded real estate, the situation is clearer. In the first five months, national fixed asset investment grew 4 per cent year on year, but the modest rate is mainly due to a 10.1 per cent decline in real estate investment. In 2021, this sector accounted for nearly 27 per cent of total fixed-asset investment, declining to 22 per cent in 2023.

If we exclude real estate development investment, national fixed asset investment grew by 8.6 per cent in the first five months, exceeding gross domestic product (GDP) growth. This indicates that, excluding real estate, fixed asset investment has already recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

Second, in the first five months, the import and export of goods increased by 6.3 per cent in yuan terms, with exports growing by 11.2 per cent in May. This indicates the recovery of the global economy has boosted demand for Chinese products.

However, tariffs on Chinese products imposed by the United States and the European Union may pose challenges in the future. Additionally, former US president Donald Trump warned that if he is reelected, he would raise tariffs on all imported products from China to 60 per cent.

Third, the recovery of consumption, which has contributed most to GDP growth in recent years, seems to be falling short of market expectations. For example, in the first five months, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 4.1 per cent year on year. In May, it grew by only 3.7 per cent.

The reason may be that the higher growth rate from last year makes this year’s growth rate appear lower. In the first half of 2023, retail sales of consumer goods grew by 8.2 per cent, with a full-year growth of 7.2 per cent.

The data indicates that, overall, China’s economy is undergoing a comprehensive recovery. So why do consumers, investors and entrepreneurs remain less confident about the economic outlook?

First, the continued adjustment in the real estate market has had a wide-ranging impact. In previous years, Chinese households and institutions were enthusiastic about real estate investment. The decline of property prices directly affects the value of household and institutional wealth.

Around 70 per cent of gross household wealth in China comes from real estate. With shrinking household wealth, it is difficult for consumption to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

Second, the stock market has been in a prolonged slump. In 2022 – the year Covid-19 affected the Chinese economy the most – the wealth of the top 100 billionaires on the Forbes China Rich List shrank by nearly 40 per cent. In 2023, their wealth continued to decline, albeit by a significantly narrower margin. A lot of that wealth is tied to the stock market and property.

Since both real estate and stock market valuations are struggling to reverse declines, China urgently needs to implement significant reforms to break the impasse. The third plenary session of the 20th Communist Party Central Committee, scheduled for July, is expected to bring structural reforms.

Although there are still some short-term difficulties, the long-term positive development trend of China’s economy remains unchanged, especially with more Chinese companies becoming global industry leaders. Despite the slowdown in the growth rate in recent years, Chinese business has continued to perform.

I recently had the privilege of accompanying Dr Francesca Cornelli, dean of the Kellogg School of Management, on visits to BYD and Mindray in Shenzhen. These two technology- and innovation-driven companies have become global players in their respective industries in a few decades, which fills me with confidence in the future of China’s economy.

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South China Sea: Philippines to stop announcing resupply missions amid push for Beijing talks

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3267966/south-china-sea-philippines-stop-announcing-resupply-missions-amid-push-beijing-talks?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines has decided not to announce resupply missions to a disputed South China Sea shoal in advance as Manila pushes for talks with Beijing to defuse tensions following a recent stand-off in the waterway.

Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr said the move should not be construed as “seeking permission from anyone in performing our sworn duties in the West Philippine Sea”.

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

Teodoro said the voyages carrying supplies for Filipino troops stationed aboard a rickety warship that serves as a military outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal would continue without revealing their schedules, rejecting the National Maritime Council’s suggestion that publicising the trips could help avoid clashes with China’s coastguard.

Last Monday, the Philippines accused the Chinese coastguard of blocking its forces trying to resupply marines posted on the BRP Sierra Madre by brandishing knives and an axe and damaging their boats.

Beijing said its sailors behaved in a “professional and restrained” way and blamed Manila for the skirmish, which Teodoro called an “aggressive and illegal use of force”.

The vessel, deliberately grounded atop the shoal in 1999 to assert the Southeast Asian nation’s territorial claims, has emerged as a major flashpoint between the two sides in recent months.

The Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, a think tank, recently claimed the United States was reinforcing the crumbling ship to turn it into a permanent structure to host American military assets.

China has repeatedly asked the Philippines to tow away the vessel and stop sending repair and construction materials there.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said on Tuesday the two countries were preparing to host the next round of the bilateral consultative mechanism on the South China Sea in July to prevent the situation from spiralling further.

“Whatever confidence-building measures we achieve, they will not be at the expense of promotion of our sovereignty, sovereign rights, as well as our rights and jurisdiction on the West Philippine Sea,” Manalo said.

The last meeting was held in January in Shanghai.

As the diplomatic efforts gathered pace, the 165-metre Chinese coastguard vessel, nicknamed “The Monster”, was spotted near the Sierra Madre on Tuesday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

Military spokeswoman Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla described the ship’s presence as “part of a broader pattern of intrusive patrols aimed at asserting unlawful claims over areas within the Philippines’ EEZ”.

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

[Sport] Moment China's lunar probe lands back on Earth

https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cgrr57d7m8jo[Sport] Moment China's lunar probe lands back on Earth

South Korean rescuers search burned factory after a blaze killed 22, mostly Chinese migrants

https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-lithium-battery-factory-fire-chinese-workers-ac55d1ae148c6b9b1b98780272a2f147A man wearing a bandage on his right hand and a cast on left leg looks at the site of a burnt battery manufacturing factory in Hwaseong, South Korea, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

2024-06-25T04:15:28Z

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Rescue workers were combing through the charred ruins of a factory building near South Korea’s capital to find any more fire victims Tuesday, a day after a devastating blaze likely triggered by exploding lithium batteries killed 22 people, mostly Chinese migrant workers.

More than 100 people were working at the factory in Hwaseong city, just south of Seoul, when the fire tore through it Monday morning. Security cameras showed smoke engulfing the second-floor worksite of the factory, soon after sparks were detected from a site where lithium batteries were stored, fire officials said.

One victim was pronounced dead at a hospital, and fire workers retrieved 21 bodies from the factory one by one later Monday. Eighteen victims were Chinese, two were South Korean and one was Laotian. The nationality of one of the dead was being verified.

Many Chinese people, including ethnic Koreans, have migrated to South Korea to find jobs since China and South Korea established diplomatic ties in 1992. Like other migrant laborers from Southeast Asian countries, they often work in factories, construction sites and restaurants, engaging in the so-called “difficult, dangerous and dirty” jobs that are shunned by more affluent South Koreans.

Chinese Ambassador Xing Haiming visited the factory site on Monday night and reportedly expressed condolences to the victims. Police were extracting DNA samples from the dead bodies and their potential relatives to confirm their relations, according to fire officials.

One factory worker remains out of contact but his mobile phone signal was detected at the building on Monday afternoon. Eight were injured, two of them in serious condition.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol also visited the factory site Monday. He expressed condolences to the dead people and ordered officials to put in place measures to effectively deal with battery-related fires, according to Yoon’s office.

On Tuesday, more than 50 fire officers, aided by two rescue dogs and other equipment, were mobilized to continue searching the burned factory, local fire official Kim Jin-young told a televised briefing. He said partial remains had been discovered but it wasn’t immediately known if they belonged to the missing person.

Kim said a separate team of fire, police and other experts were also set to examine the site later Tuesday to investigate what exactly caused the blaze. Labor officials said the government will separately investigate whether any safety issues were involved in the fire. The factory is owned by a battery manufacturer, Aricell.

Most of the dead workers were daily laborers so they were not likely familiar with the building’s internal structure, senior fire officer Jo Seon-ho told reporters Monday. He said the video of the fire site showed they rushed to an area where there was no exit after failing to put out the blaze with fire extinguishers. He said the victims likely inhaled toxic smoke.

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous in consumer goods from laptops to cellphones. They can overheat if damaged, defective or packaged improperly, leading to fires and explosions and making them a hazard for shipment aboard aircraft.

Monday’s blaze is one of the deadliest in South Korea in recent years.

In 2020, a fire at a warehouse being built in Icheon City, south of Seoul, killed 38 construction workers. In 2018, 46 people died after a fire ripped through a small hospital with no sprinkler systems in the southern city of Miryang. In 2008, 40 workers, 12 of them ethnic Koreans with Chinese nationality, died after a fire and accompanying explosions tore through a refrigerated warehouse in Icheon city.

South Korea has struggled for decades to improve safety standards and change widespread attitudes that regard safety as subservient to economic progress and convenience.

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A Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth with the world’s first samples from the far side of the moon

https://apnews.com/article/china-far-side-of-moon-probe-samples-c2dd59505402c07f9382bbca14eed4cfFILE -In this photo provided by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Long March-5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 spacecraft, blasts off from its launchpad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Wenchang, south China's Hainan Province, May 3, 2024. China's Chang'e 6 probe returned on Earth on Tuesday with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon in a global first.The probe landed in northern China on Tuesday afternoon in the Inner Mongolian region. (Guo Cheng/Xinhua via AP, File)

2024-06-25T06:15:05Z

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Chang’e 6 probe returned on Earth on Tuesday with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon in a global first.

The probe landed in northern China on Tuesday afternoon in the Inner Mongolian region.

“I now declare that the Chang’e 6 Lunar Exploration Mission achieved complete success,” Zhang Kejian, Director of the China National Space Administration said shortly in a televised news conference after the landing.

Chinese scientists anticipate the returned samples will include 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock and other material that scientists hope will answer questions about geographic differences on the moon’s two sides.

The near side is what is seen from Earth, and the far side faces outer space. The far side is also known to have mountains and impact craters, contrasting with the relatively flat expanses visible on the near side.

While past U.S. and Soviet missions have collected samples from the moon’s near side, the Chinese mission was the first that has collected samples from the far side.

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

China’s leader Xi Jinping sent a message of congratulations to the Chang’e team, saying that it was a “landmark achievement in our country’s efforts at becoming a space and technological power.”

The probe left earth on May 3, and its journey lasted 53 days. The probe has drilled into the core and scooped rocks from the surface.

The samples “are expected to answer one of the most fundamental scientific questions in lunar science research: what geologic activity is responsible for the differences between the two sides?” said Zongyu Yue, a geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a statement issued in the Innovation Monday, a journal published in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

China in recent years has launched multiple successful missions to the moon, collecting samples from the moon’s near side with the Chang’e 5 probe previously.

They are also hoping that the probe will return with material that bear traces of meteorite strikes from the moon’s past. With the successful reentry of the probe, scientists will begin studying the samples.

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AP video producer Olivia Zhang contributed to this report.

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe returns world’s first samples from far side of the moon

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/25/chinas-change-6-lunar-probe-returns-world-first-samples-from-far-side-of-the-moon

China has become the first country to gather samples from the far side of the moon and bring them back to Earth in a landmark achievement for the Beijing space programme.

A re-entry capsule containing the precious cargo parachuted into a landing zone in the rural Siziwang Banner region of Inner Mongolia on Tuesday after being released into Earth’s orbit by the uncrewed Chang’e-6 probe.

The return of the lunar material wraps up a highly successful mission for the China National Space Administration (CNSA) amid a wave of interest in which space agencies and private companies will build instruments and bases on the moon and exploit its resources.

The Chang’e-6 mission, named after the Chinese moon goddess, blasted off from Hainan province in south China on 3 May and touched down on 2 June on the side of the moon that is never seen from Earth. The moon shows only one face to the Earth because it is tidally locked and completes one full rotation in the time it takes to circle the planet.

The mission’s lander spent two days collecting rock and soil from one of the oldest and largest craters on the moon, the 1,600-mile-wide South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, using a robotic arm and drill. Its ascent module then lifted off from the moon’s surface and rendezvoused with the orbiter before embarking on its journey home.

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“This is a great achievement by China,” said Martin Barstow, a professor of astrophysics and space science at the University of Leicester. “Recovering any samples from the moon is difficult, but doing so from the far side, where communications are particularly difficult is a step taken by no other agency. A real technological feat.”

The US, China and the former Soviet Union have gathered samples from the near side of the moon but China is the first to bring material home from the far side. The intention was to collect up to 2kg of moon rock and soil.

China previously collaborated with international scientists to study samples it brought back from the near side of the moon but it is unclear whether similar access will be granted to the new material from the far side.

The latest samples could shed light on longstanding mysteries in the early history of the moon and Earth. Ian Crawford, a professor of planetary science at Birkbeck, University of London, said dating the SPA was a “key objective” of lunar science because it would pin down the timeframe for lunar cratering.

Understanding the rate at which large asteroids battered the moon in its early history would shed light on the impact history of Earth, he added, as our home planet would be struck by the same kinds of asteroids at the same time. “Constraining this is important for understanding the impact regime under which life first appeared on Earth,” he said.

The collision that created the SPA basin may have scooped out enough rock to expose areas of the lunar mantle, which researchers believe is crucial to understanding the history, and potentially the origins, of the moon.

“It is possible that the SPA has excavated deep enough to expose the lunar mantle, and possible that fragments might be found in the Chang’e-6 samples,” Crawford said. “It’s long shot but it’s worth looking.”

The far side of the moon has fewer ancient lava plains or maria, a thicker crust, and because it is not shielded by Earth, sports more craters from violent impacts.

“Recovering samples from the far side is tremendously exciting scientifically, as we only have very limited information on the geology there,” Barstow said. “It has been processed very differently to the side of the moon facing us, which has been extensively resurfaced by volcanic activity in the past, creating the maria from which most samples have been obtained.”

China has more lunar missions planned this decade. They are intended to pave the way for an International Lunar Research base, which it will co-lead with Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, and the eventual landing of a Chinese astronaut on the moon.

Dr Simeon Barber, a senior research fellow at the Open University, said: “We’re entering a new era of discovery, and getting samples returned from the far side is a milestone achievement that will help us understand the geological history in that region, and why it differs so markedly from the more familiar near side.

“Specialised laboratories around the world have spent five decades finessing the analytical techniques to tease out the moon’s secrets from within near side samples returned by the Apollo and Luna missions. And now we are on the cusp of applying all that expertise to learn about the enigmatic far side of our nearest neighbour in space.”

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‘Polite’ China thief steals watch, laptop from firm, leaves note advising boss to upgrade security

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3266636/polite-china-thief-steals-watch-laptop-firm-leaves-note-advising-boss-upgrade-security?utm_source=rss_feed

A burglar in China robbed a business in Shanghai and then left a note asking the owner to improve their anti-theft system, amusing the mainland internet.

The Shanghai police said the burglary happened on May 17. The man, surnamed Sang, scaled the building’s outer wall before gaining entry, and stole a watch and an Apple MacBook.

Officers said they apprehended the individual a few hours after the crime.

When inside the house, Sang gathered mobile phones and laptops, piled them onto a desk, wrote inside a notebook, left it open and stuffed it under the pile of digital devices.

“Dear boss,” the man wrote, “I took a wristwatch and a laptop. You should improve your anti-theft system. I did not take all the phones and laptops, fearing it might hurt your business.”

At the end of the note, Sang wrote: “Contact me if you want your laptop and phone back,” and left his number.

The police then tracked down the thief using public surveillance cameras and the phone number he left.

Sang was caught while on a train leaving Shanghai, and he still had the stolen items. He is now under custody.

Many people online reacted with hilarious comments about the “kind thief”.

“He committed the crime of being too cocky,” said someone on Weibo.

Another joked: “Rather than asking the company to improve the anti-theft system, he should have improved his getaway skills.”

“Just like the old saying goes, ‘There is honour among thieves’,” a third said.

In 2022, another burglar from the southwestern Chinese municipality of Chongqing stole a laptop, four mobile phones and two cartons of expensive cigarettes from a company. He then left a note saying he was just borrowing the items and would “return them in three days and include a 1,000-yuan (US$140) ‘thank you fee’”.

He begged the company to trust him and not call the police, but the company called the police anyway.

Three days later, the man returned with all the stolen items and the 1,000-yuan payment he had promised.

It turned out he mortgaged the items as a deposit to take out a gambling loan and had happened to win.

The company’s owner forgave the thief, and the police also gave him a lighter punishment of parole.

A few months later, the man committed several thefts in the same area again.

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China’s Chang’e-6 moon mission returns to Earth with historic lunar far side cargo

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3267939/chinas-change-6-moon-mission-returns-earth-historic-lunar-far-side-cargo?utm_source=rss_feed

The first rock samples collected from the moon’s far side landed on Earth at 2.07pm Beijing time on Tuesday, as China’s Chang’e-6 completed its historic 53-day lunar mission.

The re-entry capsule, with its precious cargo of up to 2kg (4.4lbs) of material scooped and drilled from the moon’s most ancient basin, touched down in the Siziwang Banner grasslands of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The re-entry and landing procedure started at 1.22pm when mission controllers uploaded high-precision navigation data to the orbiter-re-entry capsule combination, after which the capsule unlocked and separated around 5,000km (3,110 miles) above the southern Atlantic Ocean.

According to Zongyu Yue, a geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the samples are expected to answer “one of the most fundamental questions in lunar research – what geologic activity is responsible for the differences between the two sides”.

Yue, first author of a paper published yesterday by The Innovation, a Cell Press journal, about the lunar landing site and its implications for further study, said his greatest hope is that the Chang’e-6 samples contain some “impact melts”.

These are fragments that would have been generated when smaller bodies crashed into the moon that could “provide crucial constraints on the early impact flux of the moon”, he said.

“Once this information is obtained, it will not only help clarify the role of early lunar meteorite impacts on the moon’s evolution, but [will] also be of great significance in analysing the early impact history of the inner solar system.”

More to follow...

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[Sport] China space probe returns with rare Moon rocks

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c04447venm1o

EPA

Distinguished Economist Spots the Lodestar in China’s Economy

https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/hong-kong/education/topics/harmony-urban-jungle/article/3267025/distinguished-economist-spots-lodestar-chinas-economy?utm_source=rss_feed

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Wars and conflicts have erupted across nations. Grappling with a complex web of challenges emanating from global and domestic uncertainties, China’s economy stands at a crossroads. How will it navigate these obstacles in the face of cut-throat competition?

In collaboration with the Youth of Guangzhou and Hong Kong Association, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences of City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) invited an esteemed economist, Professor Justin LIN Yifu, to deliver a public lecture titled “How to understand the opportunities and challenges in mainland China” on 9 September 2023. Drawing an audience of over 500 students, faculty members and guests, the seminar brimmed with insightful perspectives and thought-provoking discussions.

Setting the stage for the captivating lecture was Professor Jennifer LIN Fen, Associate Vice-President (Global Strategy) and Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at CityUHK. With great enthusiasm, she first welcomed and introduced the keynote speaker.

Lin is a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) National Committee and vice-chairman of the Committee on Economic Affairs of the CPPCC National Committee, focusing on development policy, agriculture and poverty in China and abroad. In 2008, he made history by becoming the first individual from a developing country to assume the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. After his tenure at the World Bank, he returned to Peking University, where he contributed to higher education and academic research.

Lin has maintained a long-standing collaboration with CityUHK and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Social Science degree by the University in 2009.

Lin then took to the stage and brought his astute observations and expertise to the audience. The very first question one would raise was: How did China manage to distinguish itself economically?

Karl MARX once preached his belief that history repeats itself. Lin thus drew parallels between the long-standing dominance of the Group of Eight (G8) in global economic affairs and the characteristics observed during the era of the Eight-Nation Alliance a century ago. This prevailing status quo remained unshaken throughout the last century.

Yet, the dynamics shifted following the global financial crisis in 2008 as a new key player came: China. According to Lin, the nation’s rapid economic growth altered the global order. One of the many far-reaching impacts was the recalibration of Sino-American relations, which was a significant hurdle to China’s ongoing economic development.

The speaker then unpacked the tension between two mighty nations. “The outbreak of a war between China and the United States would pose challenges to the entire world, constituting an unprecedented global paradigm shift,” he remarked.

While identifying China’s current predicaments in the global economy and within its society, the speaker also presented a promising forecast for future opportunities as the silver lining. Lin noticed that China is realising its potential in developing innovative technologies. It will consequently drive growth in high-value-added sectors and facilitate the transformation into a digital society.

With a compelling blend of business acumen and political insight, Lin also supported his analysis with a data-driven approach. He skilfully interpreted key indicators such as GDP per capita and unemployment rate, spelling out their implications for the mighty nations.

“As the world watches with bated breath, China’s economic trajectory is poised to shape not only its future but also the international economy at large,” said Lin, concluding the importance of the Chinese market to economic stability worldwide.

The seminar later reached its culmination with an engaging dialogue facilitated by Professor Linda LI Chelan, Director of CityUHK’s Research Centre for Sustainable Hong Kong and Professor of Department of Public and International Affairs, and Professor Isabel YAN Kit-ming, CityUHK’s Associate Provost (Student Life) and Associate Professor of Department of Economics and Finance. Alongside Lin, the moderators guided a discussion and Q&A session, in which the participants eagerly seized the opportunity to delve into the complex issues at hand.

Lin offered valuable recommendations when asked about the increasing youth unemployment rate and shortage of skilled labour in China. He suggested government officials implement policies to promote investment and instil confidence among consumers and private enterprises. He was optimistic that the youth unemployment rate would show improvement by the end of 2023.

As the discussion wound down, it was not difficult to realise that opportunities and challenges are two sides of the same coin. The insightful seminar indeed left the audience inspired and better equipped to navigate the ever-changing economy.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang says ‘next frontiers for growth are taking shape’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3267904/chinese-premier-li-qiang-deliver-opening-speech-world-economic-forum?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Premier Li Qiang will deliver a speech during the opening plenary session at the 15th Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Dalian on Tuesday.

This year’s forum, which is also known as the Summer Davos, will feature the theme “Next Frontiers for Growth”.

Follow our live coverage of the opening session as it unfolds.

Child, 2 women injured in apparent China knife attack on Japanese school bus

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3267903/child-2-women-injured-apparent-china-knife-attack-japanese-school-bus?utm_source=rss_feed

A small child and two women were injured when a man, who appeared to be armed with a knife, attacked a bus used by a Japanese school in Suzhou, eastern China on Monday, according to Tokyo’s consulate in Shanghai.

According to a Reuters report, the Japanese woman was standing at the bus stop with her preschool aged child when the attack occurred. Neither were seriously injured. A Chinese woman who was on the bus is in a critical condition.

All three are currently being treated in hospital while the man has been taken into custody, the official said. Chinese authorities have not yet issued a statement on the incident.

A receptionist at the consulate told the South China Morning Post that all staff were busy and that it would be “inconvenient” for them to receive further calls on the matter.

This is the second attack involving foreign residents in China this year. Earlier this month, four American instructors on an exchange visit from Cornell College were attacked in a park in the northeastern province of Jilin.

In that incident, a 55-year-old man was taken into custody but his motives remain unclear. According to local police, the attacker was walking in the park when he “bumped into a foreigner then stabbed them with a knife”,

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said initial investigations into the Jilin attack concluded that it was an “isolated incident that would not affect the normal development of China-US cultural exchanges”.

Bad manners: China coffee shop chain feels heat after hard-worked staff lose it with patrons

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3267899/bad-manners-china-coffee-shop-chain-feels-heat-after-hard-worked-staff-lose-it-patrons?utm_source=rss_feed

A café server in China has become an internet sensation after she threw soggy coffee granules into the face of a pushy customer who threatened to file a complaint against her.

The incident became the most viral topic on mainland social media the following week. Relevant Weibo hashtags attracted hundreds of millions of views.

It also sparked heated discussions about the rights of workers in China’s service industry.

On June 17, at a Shanghai branch of the coffee shop chain MANNER, the staff member who was behind the counter, flung a cupful of cold, wet coffee granules at the customer before repeatedly screaming “go complain”.

Her meltdown was recorded by a surveillance camera behind the counter and the footage was later posted online.

It is unknown who released the footage, but as the story brewed, it was the coffee shop company that received most of the angry backlash.

The company said it had fired the member of staff.

Two similar extreme conflicts between staff and customers at other MANNER Shanghai stores soon emerged.

Also on June 17, a customer asked a male member of staff to make her coffee first because she needed to catch a flight, but he refused. When she took her phone out to film him, he grabbed it and slapped her.

Other surveillance footage showed a physical altercation between a male customer and a male staff member at another MANNER branch on May 22. The reason for the conflict was not reported.

Some people have criticised the staff for lacking professionalism, as they were “paid for the job”. Many more empathised with the staff, blaming the brand for putting its employees under pressure.

The MANNER brand was founded in Shanghai in 2015, and by June 2024, it had 1,295 stores across the nation, according to Chinese food industry data provider Canyan Data.

In 2021, TikTok owner ByteDance became one of its investors.

As the brand rapidly expanded, its employee benefits were slashed.

A former MANNER staff member told The Beijing News that they were required to make 500 cups of coffee in an eight-hour shift.

The monthly salary is around 5,000 yuan (US$700), and they have to “work overtime and give up holidays” to earn more.

A customer in one MANNER branch said she once saw a timer being used when an employee went to the toilet.

With its coffee priced at around 20 yuan per cup, an average MANNER store’s daily sales rack up to 7,000 to 8,000 yuan, according to Chinese finance service company Zheshang Securities.

It was reported that only one or two employees work in branches where daily sales are less than 5,000 yuan, to cut costs.

The brand proudly markets its barista-quality coffee, made with semi-automatic espresso machines, which requires staff to do a lot of manual work.

The brand’s founders, Han Yulong, 39, and his wife, Lu Jianxia, 31, are on the Hurun Global Rich List 2024 with 7.2 billion yuan (US$1 billion) in assets.

The brand has revealed plans to open a total of 2,000 stores in China this year.

“Chinese workers’ lives are more bitter than coffee,” one person said on Weibo.

“The workers and customers are both suffering, and only the brand’s owners are happy,” said another.

On June 21, MANNER posted a statement on its Weibo account saying it has apologised to the customers involved in the incidents and “comforted” the staff members.

It added that it will train employees’ “sense of service”, reduce customer waiting times, and raise “comfort at work” for its staff.

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Nothing brings Hongkongers and mainland Chinese closer together than sports

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3267606/nothing-brings-hongkongers-and-mainland-chinese-closer-together-sports?utm_source=rss_feed

Recently, a heartwarming scene unfolded at the Hong Kong Coliseum at the FIVB Volleyball Women’s Nations League. On June 15, after the Chinese team clinched a tough comeback victory over world No 1 Turkey, the crowd spontaneously erupted, singing Red Sun, the classic anthem by Hong Kong legend Hacken Lee Hak-kan.

Clips of thousands of fans belting out the familiar Cantonese lyrics went viral on the mainland’s social media. The moment was a glimpse into the potentially unifying role of sports in complex cross-border relations.

Red Sun has been an enduring emblem of Hongkongers’ unique identity since its 1992 release. Lee’s lyrics reflected the city’s uncompromised spirit in the face of adversity, resonating deeply with locals’ pride in their distinct culture and way of life. Hongkongers’ use of a song symbolising their unique identity to celebrate a mainland triumph highlighted the complex interplay between local identity and a sense of pride in Team China.

In recent years, political tensions have strained ties between Hong Kong and the mainland. From the 2014 Occupy Central movement to the 2019 social unrest and the subsequent national security legislation, the relationship has faced significant challenges. Yet amid these tensions, sports has persisted as an important platform for bonding.

The power of sports to bridge divides is not new in Hong Kong-mainland relations. For decades, athletic competitions have fostered connections across the border, creating shared experiences and mutual admiration.

The China women’s volleyball team, crowned Olympic champions in 1984, 2004 and 2016, has long held a special place in the hearts of Hong Kong fans. Star players like Hui Ruoqi and Zhu Ting enjoy celebrity status in the city. Visits by mainland Olympic medallists have also drawn enthusiastic crowds and inspired young athletes.

This sporting connection is not one-sided. Table tennis stars like Li Ching and Ko Lai-chak, originally from Guangdong, have represented Hong Kong and carried on to mentor local-born players, including Doo Hoi-kem, Lee Ho-ching and Minnie Soo Wai-yam, who won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Elite Hong Kong athletes, such as Olympic gold medallist fencer Cheung Ka-long, have trained with mainland coaches and at premier sports institutions.

Hong Kong also contributed to the 2008 Beijing Olympics by hosting the equestrian events.

The roots of these cross-border sporting exchanges stretch back decades. Even before Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, exchanges took place, primarily with Guangdong. For instance, the Guangdong-Hong Kong Cup, a football competition that started in 1979, was the brainchild of the late Hong Kong industrialist Henry Fok Ying-tung. This annual event has been held 42 times, serving as a lasting symbol of sporting goodwill.

Since 1997, these exchanges have expanded significantly. Visits by Olympic champions, coaching exchanges and joint training programmes have become routine. The city’s professional clubs, such as the Hong Kong Eastern basketball team, are eyeing opportunities to join mainland competitions to hone their skills. These exchanges infuse Hong Kong with a sense of excitement and unity.

Moreover, individual athletes have begun to reach over the gap in unprecedented ways. Hong Kong footballer Dai Wai-tsun, who became a naturalised Chinese citizen after years in the British and Chinese football leagues, has become the first Hong Kong-born player to represent the Chinese national team in recent times, embodying the potential for sports to transcend political boundaries.

The commitment to sports collaboration extends beyond informal exchanges and individual athletes. In 2009, the Hong Kong Sports Institute signed a memorandum of collaboration with five prestigious mainland training and research institutes. As officials noted then, the formalised partnership would “enable the two sides to complement each other and share resources”, ultimately helping athletes from both Hong Kong and the mainland to excel on the international stage.

These exchanges show that sports continues to serve as a relatively non-controversial link between Hong Kong and the mainland, fostering understanding and a shared pride even in times of political tension.

Next year, the National Games will be jointly hosted by cities across the Greater Bay Area. Hong Kong will host eight events in this multi-sport competition, marking a significant milestone as it will be the first time it is co-hosting this national event.

Apart from strengthening Hong Kong-mainland cooperation, co-hosting the National Games also has the potential of boosting sports infrastructure development in Hong Kong, which would benefit local athletes and communities for years to come.

The event also offers a unique platform for exchanges between people, allowing athletes, officials and spectators from different parts of China to interact and build understanding in a positive, non-political environment. By focusing on the common ground of sports rather than political divisions, Hongkongers and mainlanders can develop bonds of fellowship.

The thunderous singalong to Red Sun at the Hung Hom Coliseum demonstrated Hongkongers’ enduring pride in their distinct identity. It also underscored their appreciation for China’s sporting ambition and prowess on the global stage. At a time of lingering cross-border tensions, sports can light a path beyond controversial rhetoric towards a more constructive shared future.

China’s expanding next-generation icebreaker fleet welcomes Jidi, its newest member

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3267898/chinas-expanding-next-generation-icebreaker-fleet-welcomes-jidi-its-newest-member?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s fourth polar research icebreaker was delivered to the Ministry of Natural Resources in Guangzhou’s Nansha district on Monday and was expected to be dispatched for research resupply missions later this year.

“Jidi”, which translates to “polar region”, is the latest addition to China’s next generation of icebreakers, alongside Xuelong 1 and Xuelong 2, which are tasked to support research and replenish supplies for the nation’s seven stations at the North and South Poles. It was designed and built by CSSC Offshore & Marine Engineering Company in Nansha, which is owned by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation.

“In winter, the ship can sail in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea to break ice, conduct marine environment monitoring and sea ice measurements … and also manage ice area rescues,” Cai Ruimou, Jidi’s chief designer, told state broadcaster CCTV.

In an earlier interview, Cai said the ship could break ice up to 1 metre (39 inches) thick, making it suitable for voyages in the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea, where ice usually forms first in the winter season and seldom gets much thicker than 1.2 metres. Multi-year ice can reach thicknesses of 3 metres.

The vessel will be used to conduct polar and deep-sea surveys over summer months, Cai said. It would also help improve China’s marine disaster prevention and mitigation capabilities, CCTV reported.

Jidi is the latest addition to China’s expanding next-generation icebreaker fleet, which has allowed the country to make year-round scientific expeditions to the geopolitically important polar regions.

The boat first debuted at the Guangzhou Shipyard in December and has since completed construction and undergone testing.

Zhang Fumin, China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s chief designer, told CCTV in January that the vessel would be “beneficial” to the development of China’s polar, deep-sea and long-distance marine science and technology.

“The significance of the completion of the construction of the Jidi icebreaker research vessel is that our country has completely systematised the research system of the entire ice zone, that is, including the North and South Poles,” Zhang said.

According to Beijing Daily, China built more than 30 marine research vessels between 2010 and 2022, including the Xuelong icebreakers and Zhongshan Daxue Jidi, which has the largest displacement and the strongest comprehensive research capabilities of all the icebreakers.

Jidi has a displacement of 5,600 tonnes, is 17.8 metres wide and 89 metres long – the length of three basketball courts.

With a range of 26,000km (16,155 miles), the ship can remain at sea with a crew of up to 60 for as long as 80 days. The Jidi can carry drones, unmanned ships, underwater autonomous robots and other equipment used in deep polar seabed exploration.

Jidi’s “integrated research capability” means it is equipped to conduct research in the air, space, sea, ice and submersible areas with the help of China’s satellite network system.

It is also able to simultaneously complete multidisciplinary comprehensive scientific expedition tasks, including gathering atmospheric, geophysics and sea ice data, as well as collecting information from bodies of water.

China’s energy security drive rolls on as oilfield hits 100 million tonne milestone

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3267850/chinas-energy-security-drive-rolls-oilfield-hits-100-million-tonne-milestone?utm_source=rss_feed

Production from China’s largest state-owned offshore oilfield has reached 100 million tonnes (733 million barrels) amid Beijing’s energy security drive, making it the first to hit the milestone, according to official Chinese media.

The Suizhong 36-1 oilfield, which started production in 1993, is a major part of China’s oil producing hub in Bohai Bay.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday that the milestone showed how old oilfields have continued to yield supplies and have played an important role in China’s efforts to improve energy security and cut reliance on imports.

“It is specifically meaningful in terms of safeguarding national energy security, driving economic growth and meeting the needs of daily life,” Zhang Chunsheng, a vice-general manager of the field’s operator, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s Tianjin Branch, told CCTV.

Output of 100 million tonnes is enough to meet the energy demand of a city of 10 million people for about 20 years, he added.

As the world’s biggest crude oil buyer, China consumes over 700 million tonnes each year, but it only produces 200 million tonnes.

China has intensified its quest for domestic oil sources in recent years amid growing geopolitical uncertainties.

The Suizhong 36-1 oilfield, with proven geological reserves of over 300 million tonnes, has 24 drilling platforms and produces 8,900 tonnes of crude oil per day.

Workers at the field have invented a technology that solved the global challenge of exploiting heavy oil, Zhang added, while they are also aiming for more technological breakthroughs to “keep an old oilfield young”.

As the world’s biggest industrial producer, China still has a significant demand for crude oil, although cleaner and renewable energy sources are being utilised.

Its annual consumption of the natural resource reached a record high of 756 million tonnes last year, according to a report issued by a research institute under state oil giant Sinopec in March.

China has relatively high proven reserves of crude oil, ranking 13th in the world, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources.

But it relies on imports to meet over 70 per cent of its crude oil demand, largely due to complex terrain and technological limitations on domestic production.

Last year, it imported 564 million tonnes, up by 11 per cent from 2022, according to customs data.

Russia replaced Saudi Arabia as the top oil seller to China last year, contributing to nearly 19 per cent of its imports.

The United States is among China’s top crude oil suppliers, selling 14.28 million tonnes last year, accounting for 2.5 per cent of imports.

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Dubai-based airline Emirates seeks to expand network to 4 more cities in mainland China

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3267854/dubai-based-carrier-emirates-seeks-expand-network-four-more-cities-mainland-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Dubai-based airline Emirates has set its sights on expanding its network to four more cities in mainland China, part of a growing number of Middle Eastern carriers wanting to cash in on aviation opportunities by increasing flights to the country.

Emirates Airline chief Tim Clark told the Post in Dubai earlier this month that the company hoped to extend its reach into the mainland but was waiting for Beijing to give it the go-ahead. He was speaking on the sidelines of the annual general meeting of airline trade body the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

“We’d like to go to lots of destinations in China, but it’s up to the Chinese government,” he said, adding that there were four new cities Emirates could “go to immediately” and that the central government was aware of the company’s ambitions.

With a global network spanning more than 140 destinations across six continents, the carrier at present operates three daily flights between Dubai and Hong Kong – two direct services and one via Bangkok – with 35 weekly flights to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai. It also has six regional points via Guangzhou through its partnership with China Southern Airline.

The company also offers routes to other destinations on the mainland through its interline agreements with Air China, China Eastern and Cathay Pacific.

In May, the carrier reported record profits of US$4.7 billion for the financial year up to March 31. This was up 63 per cent from US$2.9 billion the previous year. It attributed the growth to strong demand for travel across customer segments and low fuel costs.

The airline also rewarded its employees with bonuses equivalent to 20 weeks of salary.

In a separate interview with the Post in Dubai, Emirates chief commercial officer Adnan Kazi echoed Clark, saying the airline would “definitely expand into China” once it was given the green light to increase capacity.

“As far as China is concerned, today we’re optimising and operating at full capacity,” he said.

“But if in the future we get more openings from the government in China to operate more flights, for sure we’ll consider opening up more [routes].”

A company spokesman also noted that the airline had already signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Cultural Centre in the Emirates, to develop traffic into the mainland from its global network.

“Mainland China and Hong Kong have always been strategically important markets for Emirates. We will continue to monitor market demand and invest in our already strong partnership with [them],” he said.

For Hong Kong, Kazim said, Emirates was still “catching up” to resume full pre-pandemic capacity of four daily flights, one more than it currently operates, adding that he was upbeat about the city’s aviation outlook and demand.

“Hong Kong remains an important market for Emirates,” he said, noting that demand for flights from the city to Dubai and other destinations beyond, such as Europe and the United States, was “quite strong”.

Separately, Qatar Tourism chairman Saad Al Kharji said last month that the Gulf nation and China were in advanced talks over increasing the number of direct flights between the two countries. Qatar had stepped up tourism promotion and met greater interest from Chinese travellers in visiting the country, he added.

Qatar Airways’ North Asia senior manager Chan Cheong-eu told the Post the airline was in discussions with its counterparts operating in the Greater Bay Area to provide flights from China to Qatar’s capital, Doha.

The bay area is Beijing’s plan to link Hong Kong and Macau with nine cities in Guangdong Province to form a major economic zone.

“Continued expansion in the China market remains a high priority for Qatar Airways,” Chan said, pointing to strong demand from both leisure and business travellers looking for more direct air links between secondary mainland cities and Doha, as well as other destinations in the Middle East.

Qatar’s flag carrier operates flights to more than 170 destinations across the world, including gateway points such as Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing and Xiamen – the latter through a code-share partnership.

The airline operates 14 weekly passenger flights between Hong Kong and Doha, but said there was “no immediate plan” to increase flight numbers despite passenger traffic having returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Chan said Qatar had also entered into code-share and interline agreements with major mainland carriers such as Air China, China Eastern and China Southern to connect its network with those of its Chinese partners.

Adding more routes to the mainland and Hong Kong would funnel more connecting passengers through Doha Hamad International Airport, he added, saying such “synergy” would promote local tourism even for those in transit.

Censorship fears as Singapore moves to scrub ‘offensive’ cigarette from Chinatown mural

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3267793/censorship-fears-singapore-moves-scrub-offensive-cigarette-chinatown-mural?utm_source=rss_feed

An order by the Singapore authorities to erase a cigarette from a Chinatown mural has sparked an online controversy about street art censorship.

The mural, which depicted a young Samsui woman holding a smoking cigarette, was completed in early April, according to The Straits Times of Singapore.

The city state’s Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) told the landlord in an e-mail dated May 8 that the mural is “not aligned with Singapore’s anti-smoking policy stance”.

In a subsequent email on June 18, the URA also cited anonymous public feedback that the woman depicted “looks more like a prostitute” and was “offensive”.

URA issued a July 3 deadline for a new proposal and warned of the potential loss of the temporary permit of the restaurant operating there, which expires on July 27.

The artist who created the mural, Sean Dunston, a 50-year-old American based in Singapore since 2009, shared the incident on Instagram.

He suggested drawing over the cigarette with a kitten, a taco or an opium pipe.

However, many people have been critical of the URA’s decision, saying the cigarette in the mural is historically accurate and serves as a recognition of Samsui women’s labour and lives.

“Why are we trying to change history?” said one online observer.

The term Samsui women, also known as “red headscarf women” in Chinese, refers to a group of Chinese females who immigrated to Singapore between the 1920s and 1940s for industrial jobs.

They hailed mostly from the Sanshui district of Guangdong, a province in southern China.

It is well-documented that the women smoked cigarettes as a form of recreation after their hard labour and even stored cigarettes under their trademark red headgear.

The women primarily resided in the area where the mural is now located.

“Normally, Samsui women are portrayed as old, but when they came to Singapore, they were young and you don’t really see that kind of depiction.

“I thought it would be nice to change it up to show a younger woman and catch them in a situation when they were not working,” the artist Dunston explained.

He told The Straits Times that the authorities should “try to find a little more balance”, as censoring the work outright was “too rigid and too draconian”.

“The people who make these rules are afraid of offending people or sending the wrong message to kids, and I do understand that.

“But sometimes you can’t avoid it when you are talking about certain subjects and talking about a historical subject,” Dunston said.

The mural would have been a good talking point for tourists to illustrate Singapore’s history, said Cheyenne Alexandria Phillips, a licensed Singaporean tour guide who conducts tours in Chinatown.

Phillips also questioned if public complaints are given too much weight in censorship decisions.

Activists also criticised those who portray the women as prostitutes as being discriminatory towards sex workers.

Murals on conserved shophouses have to be “appropriate to the character of the area”, according to guidelines on the URA website.

A spokesperson from Shepherd Asset Management, who represents the landlord, admitted the mural was completed without prior approval from the URA.

After the controversies, in a June 21 email update to the landlord, URA asked the artist to “delay any works to the mural until the review is completed”, as it had “taken note of additional feedback regarding the mural”.

The e-mail did not provide a timeline for the review.

Dunston has stopped modifying the mural for now and is awaiting more information from the authorities.

“I’m hopeful that they’ll take the context and history into consideration,” said the artist.

Legal moves turn South China Sea into a public image battleground

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3267493/legal-moves-turn-south-china-sea-public-image-battleground?utm_source=rss_feed

Recent clashes between China and the Philippines over the Second Thomas Shoal have heightened tensions in the South China Sea. The Philippines has maintained a presence there since 1999 by stationing a small contingent of marines on the BRP Sierra Madre, a deliberately grounded World War II-era ship symbolising its claims over the area.

China also claims the shoal based on its nine-dash line. It has taken actions to prevent the Philippines from turning the shoal into a military base and attempted to prevent resupply boats from the Philippines from reaching the Sierra Madre.

In response to Chinese actions, the Philippines has lodged diplomatic protests and sought to bolster its military and logistical capabilities. The Philippine government has reiterated its commitment to maintaining its presence at Second Thomas Shoal and has called for international support. Meanwhile, China has accused the Philippines of staging incidents to gain more international attention and sympathy.

The Philippines has taken further actions that add to the complexity of the South China Sea status quo. While there haven’t been any official announcements regarding initiating new arbitration hearings against China, reports suggest there have been discussions to that end.

The Philippines might seek arbitration to challenge specific Chinese actions it sees as illegal. Additionally, the Philippines might aim to highlight concerns about potential environmental damage from Chinese activities on the seabed.

On June 14, the Philippines requested that the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) – an international body established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos) – recognise that the outer limits of its continental shelf extended beyond 200 nautical miles in the West Palawan region. Although the CLCS lacks enforcement power, it provides recommendations by reviewing the technical details of a country’s extended continental shelf claims.

This dual approach of seeking arbitration and submitting claims to the CLCS reflects the Philippines’ strategy of using international legal mechanisms to uphold its claims and challenge China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea.

However, the timing and effectiveness of these legal actions suggest countries see international law as a tool for public image campaigns, serving both strategic and diplomatic purposes. This is particularly evident in the South China Sea dispute between the Philippines and China.

This approach offers several potential advantages. First, invoking international law lets countries position themselves as adherents to a rules-based international order, garnering support and sympathy from the global community. For the Philippines, framing its claims in the South China Sea through Unclos enhances its moral and legal standing.

The Philippines portrays itself as a law-abiding and responsible actor on the world stage, strengthening its negotiating position. The narratives of China’s bullying behaviour and environmentally damaging activities resonate strongly with domestic and international audiences. This boosts the image of Filipino leaders as courageous individuals willing to confront a powerful nation.

The central legal issue revolves around the relationship between Unclos as treaty law, which the Philippines emphasises, and historic rights as customary international law, upon which China bases its claims. However, China’s side of the story can sometimes go unheard within the international community.

Second, there is the notion that international law provides smaller or less powerful countries with a platform to challenge larger, more powerful adversaries. By emphasising its commitment to principles and international norms, the Philippines aims to offset China’s economic and military strength. The 2016 arbitration panel ruling in the Philippines’ favour seemed to send a message how legal recourse can amplify the voice of smaller nations.

Meanwhile, China finds itself in a weakened position before the international community. Its decision to walk away from the arbitration proceedings undermined the legitimacy of its legal maritime claims. Consequently, China is portrayed as a major state seeking to exert its military and economic power over smaller states.

Furthermore, the strategic use of international law can shape international opinion and influence foreign policy decisions of other states. By highlighting China’s non-compliance with international rulings, the Philippines is swaying global opinion and potentially encouraging other nations to support its stance, isolating China diplomatically.

However, is the Philippines truly pursuing a legal outcome? The procedures of the Philippines’ submission to the CLCS are beyond question. Any coastal state that has ratified Unclos has the right to submit applications to the CLCS. Similarly, China sent a on June 18 to the United Nations secretary general, arguing that any submissions regarding the disputed waters in the South China Sea should not be considered.

Meanwhile, using international law as a tool for public image campaigns has its limitations. Countries could be accused of hypocrisy if they invoke international law only when it is convenient. The complexity and interpretative nature of international law allow countries to manipulate legal arguments to fit their narratives.

Additionally, international law often lacks robust enforcement mechanisms, meaning victories in courts or tribunals might not translate into real change on the ground. The outcome of the 2016 arbitration did not make a meaningful contribution to resolving the main issues between the Philippines and China but instead further escalated tensions.

Another implication is whether China will turn to international litigation or arbitration to pursue its maritime claims. Will China’s conventional approach of bilateral negotiations and consultations remain its preferred method for settling interstate disputes?

Alternatively, will it come to accept that third-party dispute resolution has a pivotal role to play in resolving issues with neighbouring countries? The Philippines’ legal manoeuvring could prompt China to re-evaluate its usual approach to resolving maritime disputes in the South China Sea.

Chinese firms in US see more negative business climate amid ‘significant’ downturn: survey

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3267627/chinese-firms-us-see-more-negative-business-climate-amid-significant-downturn-survey?utm_source=rss_feed

A survey of Chinese enterprises in the United States found that their perceptions of the business and investment climate in the country have turned more negative, with many firms stating fewer plans to invest.

The annual survey conducted by the China General Chamber of Commerce in the US also found that Chinese firms faced a “significant performance downturn” last year, similar to 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic started to hit businesses worldwide.

It found that 21 per cent of the surveyed companies saw revenue declines exceeding 20 per cent last year, compared to 13 per cent facing that level of underperformance in 2022.

“The overall revenue trend in 2023 continued the clear decline that began in 2022,” according to the report, which was launched on Monday. “This trend marks a notable shift from the strong rebound year seen in 2021.”

Conducted in April and May, the survey asked about 100 Chinese companies – financial institutions, industrial enterprises and consumer discretionary firms, among others – about their revenue from the US market in the past year as well as their future outlook.

Trade tensions have been escalating between the world’s two biggest economies with additional American sanctions on Chinese goods. The economic and geopolitical frictions have also been an evolving focal point for investors.

In February, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, an American agency, found that 256 Chinese companies listed on US exchanges had dropped 17.5 per cent in value in 2023 as Beijing pressured state-owned firms to return home.

The American congressional review found that shareholders in Chinese businesses faced risks including limited transparency and the danger they would undercut US national security by buying shares in dual-use civilian and military Chinese firms.

Such sentiments were echoed by Chinese firms in the CGCC survey.

More than 65 per cent of the respondents said “the complexity and vagueness of US regulatory and sanctions policies towards China” represented a main challenge in branding and marketing in the US market.

Another widely held view among the surveyed businesses was that there was a “pervasive anti-China sentiment in American public opinion”, at 59 per cent.

“These [results] highlight the intricate policy environment and the hostile public sentiment influenced by ongoing US-China trade tensions,” the report said.

Looking ahead at this year and the next, more than 90 per cent of respondents said they saw “stalemate in Sino-US bilateral relations political and cultural relations” as a challenge of doing business in America.

Meanwhile, 86 per cent harboured apprehensions about “frictions in Sino-US economic and trade relations”.

Compared to last year’s survey, more companies this year expressed concern about both challenges.

And although companies said they were more pessimistic on future bilateral and economic relations, many respondents voiced long-term optimism.

The report noted that in 2023 nearly 60 per cent said they aimed this year to maintain a stable level of investment, with 30 per cent planning to boost it. About one-seventh said they intended to reduce their investment.

CGCC chairman Hu Wei, who is also the CEO of Bank of China, United States Branches, believed “the cumulative synergies and benefits brought about by the US-China cooperation far outweigh the risks”.

“Chinese companies have demonstrated outstanding resilience” in adapting to the US market, Hu said, “regardless of prosperity or adversity”.

How China’s ‘father of two bombs’ only emerged from the shadows just before his death

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3267814/how-chinas-father-two-bombs-only-emerged-shadows-just-his-death?utm_source=rss_feed

As the dazzling white light swept through the silent desert and the smoke and dust rolled into a brown-red mushroom cloud, Deng Jiaxian lay face down, tears running down his face and said nothing. The project he led had been a success.

His wife Xu Luxi later recalled that six years earlier, when he was first appointed to the job he could not tell his closest family what he would be doing or his whereabouts in the coming years.

He was not even allowed to visit his seriously ill mother while working on the project and only just made it to her deathbed after the test was successfully completed in October 1964.

Tuesday marks the centenary of the birth of Deng, the physicist who played a key role in developing China’s atomic and hydrogen bombs and who has now become a totemic figure in the story of China’s military development known as the “father of two bombs”.

While his American counterpart Robert Oppenheimer became famous around the world – and was the subject of a major biopic last year – Deng remained unknown during his lifetime and his name was only revealed to the public one month before his death from cancer in 1986.

Even his response to the test was more prosaic than Oppenheimer’s. While the American physicist quoted the Bhagavad Gita line “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” after testing the first atomic bomb, according to his family Deng only said: “It’s worth dying for.”

Yang Chen-ning, a Nobel laureate in physics, who knew both men well said they had “diametrically opposed characters”.

In contrast to Oppenheimer, the “restless genius, never missing any chance to display his superiority”, Deng was “always sincere and modest, and never tried to show off”.

“Of all the intellectuals I had known, Chinese or otherwise, Deng was the one with the truest simple honesty of Chinese peasants,” Yang wrote in 1993.

“I believe if Deng had been an American, he could not have succeeded in leading the American atomic bomb project. Likewise, if Oppenheimer had been Chinese, he could not have succeeded in leading the Chinese atomic bomb project.”

Deng was born in 1924 in Anhui to an intellectual family and raised with the principle of “being useful to the country” to the fore.

He became a war refugee when the Japanese occupied Beijing, then known as Peiping, where his family had been living. He then continued his studies first in Yunnan province, enduring frequent air strikes, and then in America at Purdue University, where he completed his doctorate in under two years in 1950.

Nine days after graduating, the 26-year-old took a ship back to the newly established People’s Republic of China. He said he had decided to move quickly as he sensed the political mood was souring, especially since the start of the Korean war in June that year.

It was just in time. Two months later direct links between the two countries were cut off after China entered the war on the North Korean side.

In 1958, Deng was chosen to take charge of China’s nuclear weapons programme, which later became known as Project 596, heading a team of recent graduates with an average age of 23 years old, later augmented by several more experienced scientists and technicians.

By September 1963 they had designed a fuelled implosion bomb following a completely different technological route than the existing nuclear powers, successfully testing the atomic device just over a year later in the Lop Nur test in the deserts of Xinjiang.

Deng immediately turned his attention to developing a hydrogen bomb, working closely with lead designer Yu Min, a lifelong friend, to develop a road map to greatly shorten the time and cut costs on the project. Their plans paid off when China successfully tested its first thermonuclear device in less than three years in June 1967.

By this time the Cultural Revolution was already under way, bringing chaos and factional feuding to the nuclear research institute, but Deng – who tried to stay above politics – convinced the fighting factions to go back to work by telling them “Our first hydrogen bomb has to go off before the French!”

But he could not escape the turmoil that swept China in that era. His sister had a breakdown and subsequently died, his wife was attacked at work and his daughter sent down to the country aged 14, while Deng himself was the target of intense public criticism.

“Those blows against him and the family could not be considered small, but the resilience of his character was such that once the blow had passed, he was soon able to return to normality as he had always done. He was never discouraged, let alone broken, and as soon as his circumstances improved a little, he went about trying to fulfil his work plans and moved towards his set goals,” his wife Xu said later.

There are some echoes of Oppenheimer’s own experiences, when he lost many friends and his security clearance after being denounced as a suspected communist during the McCarthyite “red scare” of the 1950s.

But unlike the American, Deng was never able to express any public doubts or discuss the moral dimension of his work. Instead, he is reported to have said he was focused on keeping up with the world’s superpowers so that his country would no longer face the danger of invasion or war.

“Jiaxian had a uniquely purposeful life, consciously directed, without hesitation, without regrets,” Yang said.

This motivation drove him to continue research into the neutron weapon into the 1980s and even while dying of cancer he continued working with Yu on plans to accelerate nuclear tests, the last of which was held on July 29, 1996 – the 10th anniversary of Deng’s death.

Deng’s wife later said he had told her to send it from the hospital ward immediately once it was finished, saying “this is bigger than your life and mine”.

“Without this proposal to accelerate the nuclear testing process, there would be no new generation of nuclear weapons; and without this new generation of nuclear weapons, it’s hard to imagine what our country’s national defence would look like today,” his former student and colleague Hu Side wrote in a book published this year.

Some recommendations in the still-classified document include accelerating nuclear tests before joining the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, developing some new weapon technologies, and beginning nuclear arms control study, according to Hu.

Deng’s cancer was probably due to a close contact with plutonium after a failed test in 1979, after which he insisted on helping to search for the exploded debris from the bomb, exposing himself to heavy radiation in the process.

His friend Yang Chen-ning, who followed a different course in life by staying in the US to continue his research and enjoying the public acclaim that came with his Nobel Prize, said Deng had once told him they “shared a common path even if miles apart”.

Describing his friend as “closer than a brother”, he said that meeting Deng in 1971 on his first trip back to China in more than 20 years had changed his life.

“That visit was a very, very important part of my life,” Yang told his 100th birthday celebrations in 2021.

Since that visit his trips back to China became more frequent and he promoted academic exchanges and raised millions of US dollars for Chinese educational causes before returning for good in 2017 and renouncing his US citizenship.

“I can tell [Deng] confidently that the second 50 years of my life was in line with his expectations of a ‘common way’, and I believe you will be happy with that.

“Deng personally exemplified the highest spirit of devotion idealised by thousands of years of Chinese tradition.”

On China and AI, US sends mixed message about talks to ban the technology from nuclear use

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3267892/china-and-ai-us-sends-mixed-message-about-talks-ban-technology-nuclear-use?utm_source=rss_feed

Senior Biden administration officials on Monday conveyed a mixed message about negotiations with Beijing to ban the use of artificial intelligence in both American and Chinese nuclear arsenals.

The US had sought “a strategic dialogue with China for years on nuclear matters”, according to US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, who depicted Beijing as reluctant to proceed with negotiations to limit its arsenal.

That said, China “may be prepared to talk about other issues around nuclear issues”, added Campbell in remarks at a Council on Foreign Relations event in Washington.

The two sides in May convened in Geneva, Switzerland, to hold initial talks on the use of AI in managing and deploying nuclear weapons.

“I think both nations understand, on some level, some of the challenges that AI presents to military command and control, particularly in the nuclear arena,” the No 2 American diplomat said.

But Tarun Chhabra, senior director for technology at the US National Security Council, said Beijing did not agree with American policy on the issue, diverging from Campbell’s emphasis on dialogue.

“Our position has been publicly clear for a very long time. We don’t think that an autonomous system should be getting close to any decision to launch a nuclear weapon,” Chhabra explained at the think tank’s event.

“That’s long-stated US policy … widely agreed by our allies … but not agreed by China today.”

Chhabra on Monday also touched on the intergovernmental AI talks carried out in Geneva.

Without elaborating on how or if the issue was raised, he said Washington argued that “as these systems become more powerful, we should simply have a venue to talk about risks and safety”.

“We have to kind of work through and come to the table with similar views about where the capability is going and what risk and safety might look like that in that context,” Chhabra added.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said Beijing “has always … opposed the use of artificial intelligence to seek absolute military advantage and hegemony”.

The military application of AI was one of the issues raised in Geneva, Liu added.

The State Department could not immediately be reached for comment.

As the Post reported in November, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden were widely expected to announce banning AI in nuclear weapons during their summit in California.

The read-out published soon after the two presidents met, however, only vaguely mentioned the subject. It stated “the need to address the risks of advanced AI systems and improve AI safety through US-China government talks”.

Two weeks after the meeting, Colonel Wu Qian of the Chinese defence ministry urged “all countries, especially major countries, to adopt a prudent and responsible attitude to the research, development and application of AI technologies in the military field”.

Referring to related negotiations with the US side, Wu said Beijing was “ready to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with different parties, build consensus on regulating military use of AI, avoid the misuse, abuse and malicious use of relevant weapons systems and ensure human control over these weapons systems”.