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• China’s Communist Party targets another PLA general with corruption investigation
• China, Russia eye stronger cross-border payments as sanctions create ‘time bomb’
• Beijing protests after Vietnam asks UN for extended continental shelf in South China Sea
• Wahaha heiress Kelly Zong Fuli quits Chinese drinks giant 5 months after founder’s death
• China KOL with 20 million fans pledges US$21 million refund over shoddy skincare items
• Philippines to develop airport on South China Sea island, amid Beijing tensions
• China’s foldable smartphone market heats up with Samsung-ByteDance AI pact, Xiaomi launch
• Ousted Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang loses seat in Communist Party inner circle
• Chinese study finds new CAR-T therapy may be safe, low-cost option
• China steps up European brandy import probe with hearing, focuses on ‘industrial damage’
• Sick China scavenger boy earns US$1.4 a day to help ill uncle captivates 8 million online
• UK wage growth slows; global chip stocks fall amid growing tensions between US, China and Taiwan – business live
• South China Sea: US-Philippines intelligence deal ‘long overdue’, marks deepening ties
• Chinese warships near Alaska signal growing naval projection – and a message to Nato
• Trump’s pick J.D. Vance takes stage protesting US jobs lost in China ‘sweetheart deal’
• China nanny chokes newborn baby to death with milk on first day on job, shocks nation
• Hong Kong, mainland China weigh on Asia-Pacific office rents amid high vacancy: report
• Average Chinese national now eats more protein than an American: United Nations
• Will China’s patience run out as security threats and provocations pile up?
• China seeks space supremacy and to exploit it ‘to our detriment’: US intelligence head
• Chinese state media touts Xi Jinping’s commitment to private sector
• China suspends nuclear talks with US over arms sales to Taiwan

China’s Communist Party targets another PLA general with corruption investigation

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3270993/chinas-communist-party-targets-another-pla-general-corruption-investigation?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s Communist Party has announced an anti-corruption investigation into yet another senior general who oversaw its nuclear arsenal, adding to a slew of military leaders disgraced over the past year.

Sun Jinming, chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force, was expelled from the party, according to a communique released on Thursday, the final day of the party’s third plenum.

The corruption probe into Lieutenant General Sun, which had already been concluded, was endorsed by the plenum.

Sun’s downfall followed anti-corruption probes since last year into at least seven past or serving senior military officials from the PLA’s Rocket Force, which oversees the country’s nuclear arsenal, in the latest anti-corruption purge in the military since last year.

Sun, an alternate member of the party’s 20th Central Committee, took on the role of chief of staff of the force in 2022 after serving a long stint in its predecessor, the Second Artillery Corps.

The rocket force, which was established in 2015 as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s military overhaul, has been at the centre of the latest anti-corruption campaign targeting the military.

Other disgraced generals who had served in the force include Li Yuchao, who assumed the role of commander in 2022; his predecessor Zhou Yaning, who served from 2017 to 2022; and Wei Fenghe, who headed the rocket force from its inception until 2017.

Wei, who later served as the country’s defence minister from 2018 to 2023, was also expelled from the party at the end of last month.

The plenum also endorsed the Politburo’s previous decision to expel former defence minister Li Shangfu and Li Yuchao from the party.

Li Shangfu was the country’s shortest-serving minister of defence when he was abruptly dismissed in October after just seven months in the post.

The 66-year-old, who previously oversaw military procurement, was put under investigation in late August, accused of accepting “large sums of money” to seek benefits for others, and allegedly bribing others.

Li Yuchao’s downfall was announced in December, when he was dismissed from the country’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress.

While it appeared that most corruption cases involving the military over the past year were coming to a close, they continue to cast a long shadow over the PLA.

The plenum did not announce the anticipated promotion of defence chief Dong Jun to the Central Military Commission (CMC) – China’s top military command body – a position that his predecessors held in the party, leaving him below their rank.

Dong, a former navy top commander, succeeded Li Shangfu two months after he was sacked in October.

Thursday’s communique also contained language that may suggest further rectification of the military after the surge of corruption cases.

The communique called for efforts to “improve the systems and mechanisms for leading and managing the people’s armed forces”, echoing calls from Xi to curb corruption following the string of high-level scandals.

During a meeting with the CMC last month, Xi insisted that there could be no room for corruption in the military.

He also stressed the importance of training “a high-quality cadre team that is loyal, clean, and capable of shouldering the heavy responsibility”.

China, Russia eye stronger cross-border payments as sanctions create ‘time bomb’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3270980/china-russia-eye-stronger-cross-border-payments-sanctions-create-time-bomb?utm_source=rss_feed

Financial institutions in China and Russia are exploring ways to boost cross-border payments, according to Beijing’s ambassador to Moscow, amid new US sanctions aimed at interrupting financial links between the neighbours.

“Currently, the relevant financial institutions of China and Russia are studying the possibility of cooperation on the Mir payment system,” said Zhang Hanhui in an interview with Russia’s state-backed Izvestia newspaper on Wednesday.

Russia’s home-grown Mir payment system was set up by the Bank of Russia as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard.

Zhang said that financial cooperation between China and Russia was an “important component and reliable guarantee” between businesses in the two countries, adding that institutions have continued to work together on trade settlements, asset management and insurance.

“Regarding the payment problems due to sanctions from third countries, financial institutions of China and Russia will continue to strengthen contact,” Zhang said, adding that China would allow more foreign e-wallets to be used, including by Russian tourists.

“We are confident that the parties will be able to find a practical solution to this issue.”

Zhang’s comments came after Washington imposed new sanctions on Moscow last month, which raised the risk of secondary sanctions for foreign financial institutions backing Russia’s war against Ukraine.

But Dr Li Mingbo, deputy dean at the Guangzhou Institute of the Greater Bay Area, said that the Mir payment system might not be actually beneficial to China.

“China’s long-term goal is to have an international settlement system under its control. Therefore, Mir is a questionable one to look at, or it may just be a short-term emergency measure,” said Li.

Li earlier led a research team to survey companies in Guangdong, Fujian, Henan, and Shaanxi provinces and found that almost all Chinese banks had become increasingly strict in reviewing foreign exchange receipts from Russian-related businesses as a result of the expansion of the scope of secondary sanctions by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

He added that all surveyed companies only produced non-sensitive materials related to daily necessities, including clothing, shoes, hats and kitchenware.

The US Treasury Department said in February that Mir had permitted Russia to build out a “financial infrastructure that enables Russian efforts to evade sanctions and reconstitute severed connections to the international financial system” after it had imposed sanctions on Russia’s state-owned National Payment Card System.

“The key reason is that most of the businesses of Chinese financial institutions are closely linked to the Western financial system,” Li said.

“If China and Russia can achieve direct financial payment system cooperation, they can bypass the US, and Chinese financial institutions do not have to worry about being subject to secondary sanctions by the US.”

While China has not joined the West in imposing sanctions against Russia, Chinese exporters that have dealt with Russian companies have said they had experienced payment delays.

“After more than four months of not getting paid, Chinese merchants have now switched to the new GEP payment method, but there is still a risk of being sanctioned. This is a time bomb,” said an exporter in Guangdong.

GEP is an e-wallet option on Ozon, Russia’s Amazon-like e-commerce giant, which has gained popularity by offering Chinese products after many Western brands left.

Steve Juan, a furniture material exporter in Jiangsu province, said the risks of using the Mir payment system were high for small and medium-sized Chinese exporters who still want to maintain business with the US.

“Frankly speaking, it may be preferable to accept higher US tariffs than this so-called Brics settlement system,” said Juan, referring to an idea for members of the Brics bloc to use local currencies for trade among member states independent of the current Swift financial messaging system.

“High tariffs would mean an agreement to keep the current scale of exports to the Western market. Mir payment system cooperation will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the business of exporting to the Western market. This is something our small and medium-sized exporters cannot afford.”

And Tony Ye, a machinery exporter in Shandong, said he was concerned about which currencies the Mir system can handle.

“What currency will the Mir payment system use as the benchmark when the time comes? Even digital currencies, as long as they’re launched by a country, would be basically closely tied to the national currency. Unless it’s bitcoin, then it might still be possible,” Ye said.

Economic ties have grown significantly between China and Russia since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Bilateral trade between China and Russia hit a record high in 2023 to US$240 billion, up by 26.3 per cent from 2022, according to Chinese customs data.

China has recently stepped up efforts to make it easier for foreigners to link their foreign bank cards to Chinese payment platforms in a bid to attract tourists and businesses.

Additional reporting by Victoria Bela

Beijing protests after Vietnam asks UN for extended continental shelf in South China Sea

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3270997/beijing-protests-after-vietnam-asks-un-extended-continental-shelf-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed

China has protested against Vietnam’s latest claim to an extended continental shelf in the disputed South China Sea following a similar request by the Philippines last month.

According to Vietnam’s foreign ministry, the country filed a submission on Thursday to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to seek formal validation of the outer boundaries of its legal continental margin beyond the 200-nautical mile (370km) limit in a contested area of the South China Sea.

If its claim is recognised, Hanoi would gain exclusive rights to exploit natural resources on the extended continental shelf under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Vietnam’s submission came a month after the Philippines filed a similar request in June seeking to confirm the extent of its continental seabed in the western part of Palawan province in the South China Sea.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Thursday that Vietnam’s “unilaterally submitted claim” included maritime areas encompassing parts of the Spratly Islands and infringed upon China’s “territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.”

Beijing and Hanoi have competing claims in the Spratly Islands, known in China as the Nansha Islands.

Lin said China had protested to Vietnam over the latest submission. He also cited CLCS rules of procedure that state the commission will not consider or qualify a submission if there is a land or maritime dispute in the area.

“Such actions are actually meaningless and only serve to exacerbate existing differences and intensify conflicts, which is not conducive to resolving disputes,” Lin said.

“China will continue to adhere to properly addressing the South China Sea disputes through dialogue and consultation with the relevant parties.”

UNCLOS requires claims for an extended continental shelf to be validated through a formal and scientific process by the CLCS.

Mainland China has sweeping claims covering almost all of the South China Sea. However, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all have competing claims to the waterway, which serves as a global shipping hub.

In an arbitration case brought by the Philippines against China, an international tribunal ruled in favour of Manila in 2016, concluding that Beijing’s claims in the South China Sea had no legal basis – a decision Beijing has rejected.

According to a statement from Vietnam’s foreign ministry, this is the third extended continental shelf submission Hanoi has filed.

In 2009, Vietnam filed a claim regarding the northern part of the South China Sea. That same year, it also filed a joint submission with Malaysia with respect to the southern part of the South China Sea.

Vietnam presented a diplomatic note to the secretary general of the UN on Thursday rejecting the Philippines’ claim to an extended continental shelf. According to the note, Manila’s claim “encroaches upon Vietnam’s 200-nautical-mile continental shelf and violates Vietnam’s inherent sovereign rights and jurisdiction”.

Hanoi also requested the commission to refrain from considering Manila’s submission until all relevant issues between Vietnam and the Philippines were resolved.

China and Malaysia separately voiced their objections to the Philippines’ claim in June.

It is expected that other claimants would raise objections to Vietnam’s latest submission.

In 2019, Malaysia filed to have its extended continental shelf recognised by the CLCS.

However, the commission deferred consideration of the two separate submissions by Malaysia and Vietnam, as well as their joint submission.

When a deferral occurs, the CLCS will not make recommendations regarding the outer limits of the continental shelf extending beyond 200 nautical miles. Only the outer limits established based on the recommendations of the CLCS will become legal and binding.

Wahaha heiress Kelly Zong Fuli quits Chinese drinks giant 5 months after founder’s death

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3270950/wahaha-heiress-kelly-zong-fuli-quits-chinese-drinks-giant-5-months-after-founders-death?utm_source=rss_feed

Kelly Zong Fuli has tendered her resignation as vice-chair and general manager of China’s Hangzhou Wahaha Group, according to an internal company letter, in a surprising move less than five months after her father’s death put her in charge of the drinks company he founded.

In the letter seen by the Post, Zong said Hangzhou’s Shangcheng district government and some of Wahaha’s shareholders had questioned her legitimacy as the company’s leader, leaving her unable to perform her duties of managing Wahaha and its subsidiaries.

“I have already tendered the resignation letter to Hangzhou Wahaha Group and all the shareholders and urged related parties to take responsibility of hiring a new general manager,” she said in the letter, dated Monday.

Calls to an official in Wahaha’s public relations department went unanswered. Two sources with knowledge of the matter said it was still uncertain whether the company’s board or the local state-owned assets watchdog had accepted Zong’s resignation.

The shake-up adds to the tumult at Wahaha, which was once China’s biggest drinks maker but has lost market share as a lack of products catering to younger customers collides with increased competition from the likes of Nongfu Spring.

Zong assumed control of the privately held company after her father Zong Qinghou died in February, and was expected to be appointed as chairwoman.

An investment arm under the Hangzhou Shangcheng district government is the biggest shareholder in Wahaha, with a 46 per cent share. Zong’s family has a 29.4 per cent interest, followed by a stockholding party representing Wahaha’s employees with 24.6 per cent.

Wahaha, which means “laughing child” in Chinese, posted a 35 per cent year-on-year decline in sales to 51.2 billion yuan (US$7.1 billion) in 2022, the latest annual figure available, according to the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce.

Rival Nongfu Spring’s revenue increased almost 30 per cent to 42.7 billion yuan in 2023, and its founder Zhong Shanshan is now ranked as China’s wealthiest businessman with net assets worth US$53.4 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

The younger Zong, 42, has been working to win back market share since taking the helm. She picked a new brand ambassador, spent more on TV commercials and expanded online sales through live-streaming commerce.

An only child, she graduated with a degree in international business from Pepperdine University in the US and then started her career at one of Wahaha’s factories to learn how to manage production. She was named as vice-chair and general manager in December 2021, paving the way for her to take over the business empire her father created.

The family was ranked 31st on China’s rich list in 2023 with wealth of US$13.1 billion, according to the Hurun Research Institute. It was the richest family in the nation in 2010 and 2012.

Zong also owns Hongsheng Group, a drink and packaging-service company she has been in charge of since 2007, where she launched her own brand of tea drinks, KellyOne.

The elder Zong founded Wahaha in 1987 after transforming it from a school grocery. He built the empire by launching nutritious milk drinks and bottled water. Wahaha grabbed headlines in the early 2000s for a tussle with French multinational Danone over control of local joint ventures. The elder Zong resolved the dispute by paying an estimated US$500 million to the French partner.

China KOL with 20 million fans pledges US$21 million refund over shoddy skincare items

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3270764/china-kol-20-million-fans-pledges-us21-million-refund-over-shoddy-skincare-items?utm_source=rss_feed

A popular beauty blogger in China has offered to refund consumers a total of 150 million yuan (US$21 million) after doubts were cast over a skincare product sold from his online shop.

Luo Wangyu said he would give the money to people who bought the Cosmetics Skin Solutions (CSS) brand olive essence either via his live-streaming sessions or the online shop linked with his Douyin account, reported the Shanghai Morning Post.

The CSS brand claimed its olive essence contained a high proportion of olive leaf extract.

However, a mainland blogger known as Dahu Kedaibiao, revealed it did not contain any oleuropein or hydroxytyrosol, the two main components of olive leaf extract, the report said.

Dahu Kedaibiao said the essence was examined twice at CAIQ Cosmetics Tech Centre in Beijing, a respected inspection and quarantine institute, with the same result.

After the blogger’s discovery generated considerable attention on social media, Luo said he sent a lawyer’s letter to CSS in March.

He also informed Shanghai market supervision authority about the false advertising by the company.

Chinese cosmetics manufacturer CSS was established in Shanghai in 2022, according to Tianyancha, a company information data provider.

The firm claims its olive essence has an anti-ageing effect, and it sells for more than 200 yuan (US$28) for a 30ml bottle.

In a statement issued in March, the company claimed its products were “legal and effective’, adding that it was contacting the raw material provider to investigate.

It promised to refund consumers who had bought the essence from its website in the past three months and had not opened the package.

There was no further response from CSS at the time of writing.

Other beauty KOLs who sold the product on a smaller scale than Luo had already refunded their customers.

Luo has apologised to his customers for the wait.

“Sorry for letting you wait for the past few months,” he said in a video on July 13.

“I spent a long time making this refund plan because CSS would not agree to refund, saying there was no justification and it involved a large amount of money.”

He said he considered resorting to legal action, but that would take one to two years and he understood consumers would not want to wait that long.

“Previously I said either CSS or I would refund. In the current circumstances, I will take responsibility,” said Luo.

“If one day, I cannot afford to refund, a company that I’ve been cooperating with will continue. Be assured that everyone will get their money back. I don’t want to disappoint my loyal fans,” Luo said.

The 29-year-old, who had more than 20 million followers on Douyin before the incident, now has 18.5 million fans. He said he intends to stop using social media.

“A long time ago, I found I was not so needed by others, but I did not acknowledge this reality. Now I do. So I’ve decided to leave the internet for a while,” Luo said in the video.

The refund video which was viewed 11 million times on Douyin, sparked widespread discussion on mainland social media.

“Why didn’t CSS come out to apologise and refund? Where is it? The customer service function on its website did not reply to me,” one customer said.

“I bought the essence and I used it. I don’t need your refund. I value your sincerity,” said another.

Philippines to develop airport on South China Sea island, amid Beijing tensions

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3270969/philippines-develop-airport-south-china-sea-island-amid-beijing-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines is developing an airport on an island it occupies in the South China Sea, as the Southeast Asian nation asserts its claims in the disputed waters amid lingering tensions with Beijing.

Procurement of land for the runway extension is under way for the Pag-asa Island Airport Development Project, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s communications office said in a statement on Thursday.

Pag-asa is the local name of Thitu Island in the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, where Beijing lays sweeping claims. Once completed, the project is expected to provide an efficient mode of travel to and from the remote island where Filipino civilians and military personnel live, according to the statement.

The plan shows the Philippines’ resolve to keep its presence in contested waters, as China also pushes its claims that have been dashed by a 2016 arbitral ruling. Manila has also been sending vessels in the disputed sea, causing clashes with Beijing.

A military runway on the island of Balabac in Palawan province near the South China Sea is also nearing completion. Balabac is one of the four new sites that the US military can access under a defence agreement that was expanded last year.

“We are in the final stages of working on the Balabac military runway, especially since Palawan will play a big role in national security,” Marcos said.

The infrastructure projects are among priorities under the Marcos administration and are part of efforts to open the region south of the capital to new investments, ease transport, and strengthen the tourism sector.

China’s foldable smartphone market heats up with Samsung-ByteDance AI pact, Xiaomi launch

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3270977/chinas-foldable-smartphone-market-heats-samsung-bytedance-ai-pact-xiaomi-launch?utm_source=rss_feed

The market for foldable smartphones in mainland China is poised to heat up, as Samsung Electronics partners with ByteDance to bolster the artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities of its latest handsets and Xiaomi launches two new models on Friday.

Samsung, which introduced its new Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 models in Paris last week, will add new AI-driven avatar and voice-assistance functions to those handsets using ByteDance’s own large language model (LLM), Duobao, the two companies announced on Wednesday. LLMs are the technology underpinning generative AI (GenAI) services like ChatGPT.

Beijing-based Xiaomi – the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor in the June quarter, according to research firm IDC – is expected to unveil the Mix Flip, its first-ever clamshell-type model, and the Mix Fold 4, with a slim booklet design that opens horizontally into tablet form, according to teasers released by the company.

These initiatives reflect how major Android handset players are betting on foldable, AI-powered models to compete with Apple’s iPhone in the high-end segment of the world’s biggest smartphone market. Foldable handsets with AI features are projected to boost smartphone sales on the mainland, with total 2024 shipments rising 3.1 per cent year on year to 279 million units, according to IDC.

IDC data showed that total 2023 foldable smartphone shipments in China jumped 114.5 per cent year on year to 7 million units.

Last Friday, Chinese Android handset maker Honor, a spin-off from Huawei Technologies, launched what it touted as the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone with AI capabilities – the 5G-capable Magic V3 handset, which has “a folded thickness” of 9.2 millimetres and weighs just 226 grams.

In the first quarter, Huawei beat Samsung to become the world’s bestselling foldable smartphone brand with a 35 per cent market share, as the South Korean tech conglomerate’s share fell to 23 per cent, according to data from Counterpoint Research. Samsung, however, remained the world’s overall top smartphone vendor in the second quarter with shipments of 53.9 million units, according to IDC.

Samsung’s ByteDance AI-supported foldable handsets for China are expected to start shipping this Saturday, which could potentially boost demand for its devices on the mainland, where it once was the biggest smartphone vendor with a 20 per cent market share in 2013.

The partnership with Samsung leverages “the high-quality content sourced from [ByteDance’s] Douyin group to provide users with the latest and authoritative online information”, according to a social media post on Wednesday by Volcano Engine, the cloud computing unit of ByteDance. Douyin, which has more that 600 million daily active users, is the Chinese version of global hit short video platform TikTok.

The Doubao AI model enables users of the new Samsung handsets to generate avatars in four different styles based on just one photo of a person. The LLM also supports the Bixby voice assistant, Samsung’s answer to Apple’s Siri, to generate videos of a place when a user searches for travel information.

Samsung, which has Google’s Gemini as its AI partner overseas, has localised its GenAI efforts in China amid the country’s strict censorship policies. Samsung has also partnered with Baidu and photo-editing platform Meitu to support its Galaxy devices on the mainland.

“The integration of generative AI and foldables’ multi-window display strength can enable greater productivity and become a key driving factor for the speedy growth of this [smartphone] segment,” Counterpoint said in a recent report.

Xiaomi’s Mix Flip, meanwhile, has Qualcomm’s new-generation Snapdragon 8 as its processor and German firm Leica Camera’s Summilux for its optical lens.

Ousted Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang loses seat in Communist Party inner circle

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3270939/ousted-chinese-foreign-minister-qin-gang-loses-seat-communist-party-inner-circle?utm_source=rss_feed

Qin Gang, China’s former foreign minister who disappeared from public view more than a year ago, has lost his seat as a member of the elite Central Committee of the ruling Communist Party.

The decision was reviewed during the Politburo meeting held earlier this month and formally endorsed at the four-day meeting of the third plenary session, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday, citing a communique from the meeting.

The wording suggests he is not under criminal investigation.

There continues to be much speculation about the fate of China’s shortest-serving foreign minister, whose disappearance the ministry attributed to “health reasons”.

More to follow ...

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Chinese study finds new CAR-T therapy may be safe, low-cost option

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3270879/chinese-study-finds-new-car-t-therapy-may-be-safe-low-cost-option?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese researchers have developed a new version of a cell therapy used to treat blood cancers, and they say it has potential as a versatile and much cheaper option than those currently being used.

The treatment, known as CAR-T, is a type of immunotherapy that has taken off in recent years and has also shown promise in treating other conditions such as .

But the cost of the therapy is prohibitive. After it was first approved in the United States in 2017, commercial CAR-T therapies now cost between US$370,000 and US$530,000, not including hospital fees and drugs to treat side effects, according to a March paper in Nature.

CAR-T, or chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, works by genetically engineering a patient’s own T-cells – a type of white blood cell crucial for fighting infections – to recognise and destroy enemies such as cancer cells.

The treatment is highly specialised and personalised, which is why it remains so expensive. It involves extracting a patient’s T-cells, genetically modifying them and then returning them to the patient’s body.

The new version developed by a team of researchers in Shanghai works a little differently. Called TyU19, it uses T-cells from healthy donors then genetically modifies them. The team said it was a universal medicine, so a batch could be used to treat many patients, greatly reducing the cost.

It was developed by scientists from biotech company BRL Medicine, East China Normal University and Shanghai Changzheng Hospital. The results of their study were published in peer-reviewed journal Cell on Tuesday.

According to a statement from BRL Medicine, the “most outstanding advantage” of TyU19 is that it can be manufactured on a large scale, while being convenient, safe, low-cost and with good efficacy.

It said the treatment could also overcome the “pain points” of existing, personalised CAR-T therapies, including a long preparation cycle, high risk of failure and extremely high cost.

For the study, the cell therapy was used to treat three patients with autoimmune diseases – one with refractory immune-mediated necrotising myopathy (IMNM) and two patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (SSc). The scientists said it was the first time autoimmune diseases had been successfully treated using a general purpose CAR-T therapy.

During a follow-up six months after they were treated, all three patients were said to be in “deep remission” with no serious adverse events observed.

IMNM and SSc are both rheumatic immune diseases – a group of diseases that affects more than 8 per cent of the world’s population. IMNM is a rare and severe disease characterised by muscle fibre necrosis and progressive muscle weakness, while SSc is characterised by extensive organ fibrosis.

George Gao Fu, a leading Chinese virologist and immunologist, said the new treatment was promising.

In a post on Chinese social media account “BioArt” on Tuesday, Gao noted that the sample size of the study was small. He said they were high-risk and difficult-to-treat cases but the fibrosis had been reversed for some of them.

“These results show the potential of this therapy, which deserves to be further validated in larger clinical trials in the future,” said Gao, former head of the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

China steps up European brandy import probe with hearing, focuses on ‘industrial damage’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3270923/china-steps-european-brandy-import-probe-hearing-focuses-industrial-damage?utm_source=rss_feed

China stepped up its investigation into imports of European brandy on Thursday with an anti-dumping hearing taking place less than two weeks after the bloc’s additional duties on Chinese-battery electric vehicles (BEVs) took effect.

The Ministry of Commerce said the hearing would focus on “industrial damage, cause and effect, and public interest in the anti-dumping investigation of related brandy products”, with French cognac the main target.

The ministry added that the investigation would look at brandy in containers holding less than 200 litres (52 gallons) imported from October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023, and if they caused damage to the Chinese brandy industry between January 1, 2019, and September 30, 2023.

The Ministry of Commerce had launched the investigation in January following a request from the China Alcoholic Drinks Association, who said the prices of the imported products had been reduced by an estimated 15.88 per cent.

The investigation is expected to be finished before January 5, but it could be extended for another six months under special circumstances.

Trade tensions between China and the EU have risen since last year after the bloc questioned China’s use of subsidies.

The date of Thursday’s hearing had been set on July 5, when the EU’s additional duties of up to a revised 37.6 per cent on Chinese battery electric vehicles took effect.

Chinese customs figures showed that China imported 43.31 million litres (11.4 million gallons) of brandy in 2023, with products from France accounting for 96.16 per cent.

Policy research organisation Trivium China said last month that agricultural products, such as French brandy or Spanish pork, were the “two biggest cheerleaders” that could help “punish the EV probe”.

China announced an anti-dumping investigation into certain pork products imported from the EU in June due to accusations of “overcapacity” and subsidies.

“Farmers are also a highly influential bloc in EU politics, giving Beijing leverage to crank up the political pressure,” Trivium China added. “Despite the bravado, China doesn’t want a trade war with Europe.”

But Trivium China pointed out that Beijing’s response would be related to the “geography” of the EU and specific sectors.

Chinese state media claimed earlier that Beijing would launch investigations into large-engine vehicle exports from Europe, with a view to raising duties to 25 per cent, as well as EU pork exports.

Eurasia Group’s director of Europe Emre Peker said in May that Chinese duties on EU cars would hit Germany and Slovakia, while levies on pork would hurt Spanish, Dutch, Danish and French exporters.

“Going forward, we anticipate continued efforts at both the EU and member-state levels to engage with Beijing on addressing European concerns tied to market access and overcapacity,” Peker added.

“Where talks fall short, the EU will expand its trade investigations against China. Tariffs on Chinese EVs will be the bellwether of the EU’s commitment to counter Beijing’s market-distorting practices in other sectors.”

Additional reporting by Mia Nulimaimaiti

Sick China scavenger boy earns US$1.4 a day to help ill uncle captivates 8 million online

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3270754/sick-china-scavenger-boy-earns-us14-day-help-ill-uncle-captivates-8-million-online?utm_source=rss_feed

A 13-year-old boy in China, who scavenges for less than 10 yuan (US$1.4) a day to support himself and his sick uncle, has been diagnosed with kidney disease, breaking many hearts online.

Yuan Liushou, from central China’s Henan province, was born with only one kidney in 2011.

He was diagnosed with late-stage uremia, a fatal condition caused by a kidney that cannot filter waste from blood, in 2019.

Yuan’s father died when he was six. His mother abandoned him the next day.

The boy, whose circumstances have meant he has developed a maturity far beyond his age, said he never blamed his mother, as she “has epilepsy and could not take care of herself well”.

He went to live with his uncle, who is now 65.

After Yuan was diagnosed, both were given beds in the county hospital without having to pay.

A local government staff member said they had covered 280,000 yuan (US$39,000) of the 300,000 yuan total cost for Yuan’s dialysis treatment, which he undergoes three times a week.

Yuan and his uncle could barely survive on the 600-yuan (US$80) monthly subsidy from the local government, which is given to children, the elderly and disabled who do not have families supporting them.

Sometimes they were forced to go on the streets and pick up whatever they can find to sell and make a little extra cash.

One night this month, Yuan was spotted by @Caicai, a Douyin influencer with 1.8 million followers, while picking up rubbish alone.

He told Caicai he earned less than 10 yuan a day from selling bottles he finds.

When asked if his family worried about him working late at night, Yuan said: “I don’t have a family any more.”

He also expressed a desire to play with other children, but said: “I’m afraid I no longer have the opportunity.”

Yuan’s story went viral after Caicai posted it on Douyin, attracting 8 million views on the platform.

Many flocked to Yuan’s account, @Xiaoshoushou, to donate money to the boy. Some also ordered food to be delivered to the hospital.

Caicai said enough money had been raised for the boy’s treatment from the online funds and Yuan said he would soon undergo kidney matching for an organ donation.

“A child of this age should not be so mature. My heart is broken seeing him so well-behaved,” said one online observer.

“He speaks like an adult but looks like a seven-year-old boy,” said another.

“I’m moved by so many kind-hearted people who donated money to him. I wish him all the best,” a third person wrote.

UK wage growth slows; global chip stocks fall amid growing tensions between US, China and Taiwan – business live

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2024/jul/18/uk-wage-growth-slows-unemployment-rate-global-chip-stocks-fall-growing-tensions-us-china-taiwan-trump-business-live

South China Sea: US-Philippines intelligence deal ‘long overdue’, marks deepening ties

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3270914/south-china-sea-us-manila-intelligence-sharing-deal-long-overdue-marks-deepening-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

US President Joe Biden has sent a top military official to inspect American bases in the Philippines before finalising an intelligence-sharing deal with Manila to counter China’s maritime aggression.

The move is expected to ruffle China’s feathers and be perceived by Beijing as an attempt to intervene in its operations in the South China Sea, according to observers, who however agree it is a “long overdue” arrangement that will improve Manila’s decision-making as it navigates a diplomatic minefield with Beijing.

On Tuesday, General Charles Brown Jnr, US military chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met Manila defence officials at Camp Aguinaldo, showing America’s “solid commitment” to its long-time ally following last month’s violent confrontation between Filipino and Chinese vessels in the Second Thomas Shoal.

Brown Jnr is set to inspect selected US military bases under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), a pact between the Philippines and the US that allows for large-scale joint military exercises, troops rotation and pre-positioned defence material, equipment and supplies.

The inspection is necessary before both countries will approve the intel-sharing framework, known as the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSMIA), allowing the exchange of classified information in a timely manner.

Once approved, both countries will have protocols for safeguarding top-secret military information and early detection of potential threats in the West Philippine Sea, Manila’s name for parts of the South China Sea it considers to be in its exclusive economic zone.

“This is very important also for the Philippines. This is the first time that we’ll be having this with another nation. And of course, it’s very good to show that the Philippines can also have intel-sharing in terms of our defence cooperation,” military spokesman Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla told reporters.

In a statement on Wednesday, US Joint Chiefs of Staff public affairs office spokesman Navy Captain Jereal Dorsey said Brown Jnr had discussed the “ongoing efforts to strengthen the alliance” with Philippines’ National Security Adviser Eduardo Año, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr, and Armed Forces of the Philippines chief General Romeo Brawner Jnr.

At the same time, the four officials exchanged their evaluation of the June 17 incident where a Filipino navy sailor lost his thumb amid a clash with the Chinese coastguard, marking a pivotal point in the territorial row.

Rej Torrecampo, a security analyst at the Political Economic Elemental Researchers and Strategists, told This Week in Asia any US involvement in the South China Sea would be viewed in a negative light by Beijing.

“As a sovereign and independent state, we actually have the right to engage with another country,” said Torrecampo, who is also a senior lecturer of international studies at Miriam College.

“Now that we are improving our relationship with the US, that’s something that China will closely monitor … like what will be the changes, the new capabilities that will be stationed here in the Philippines.”

Torrecampo also warned that Beijing was likely to develop its own countermeasures when it came to intelligence capabilities.

He added that in any decision-making process, particularly for resupply missions to the Second Thomas Shoal where Filipino troops are stationed, access to intelligence was necessary and having real-time data pertaining to Chinese ship locations and movements could help Manila safely execute its operations.

The reason Washington and Manila are only now working to share intelligence, despite an alliance spanning decades, is due to new technologies and the evolution of the intelligence-gathering environment, according to Torrecampo.

Abdul Rahman Yaacob, a research fellow in the Southeast Asia Programme at the Lowy Institute, told This Week in Asia he believes the Philippines would benefit more from this agreement at the operational level, given its limited surveillance or intelligence capabilities.

“The Americans have far more advanced intelligence-gathering capabilities and any intelligence they gather regarding Chinese military activities in the region may be useful to the Philippines, given its overlapping maritime disputes with China and proximity to Taiwan,” Yaacob said.

At the broader strategic level, he added, it further showed closer US-Philippine defence relations. “The Philippines should and must engage China diplomatically while building up its military capabilities – and intelligence gathering is one of them.”

Matteo Piasentini, a security analyst from the China and Indo-Pacific desk at Geopolitica, an Italian think tank, said the latest intelligence-sharing move was a logical step forward to deepen ties between both sides.

“The Philippine-US alliance lies on less institutionalised frameworks compared with other regional US allies, and sharing classified information in a timely manner is essential in coordinating military responses and actions.”

Joshua Espeña, a resident fellow and vice-president of the International Development and Security Cooperation, said the agreement between Manila and Washington was “long overdue”.

“Since the GSMIA can be the eyes and ears, it can serve as a building block to improve Manila’s decision-making capabilities for diplomacy. It will enable Manila’s ability to verify and confirm intelligence products needed as it continues diplomatic dialogues with China not just for crisis management but for collective deterrence,” he added.

Brown Jnr’s visit came as the Philippines’ Department of Foreign Affairs announced it had also reached a deal with Beijing to open a direct line of communication between both nations’ presidential offices in case leaders needed to convene over clashes in the disputed waters.

Chinese warships near Alaska signal growing naval projection – and a message to Nato

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3270880/chinese-warships-near-alaska-signal-growing-naval-projection-and-message-nato?utm_source=rss_feed

Sightings of Chinese military vessels off the waters of Alaska by the US coastguard earlier this month were the latest sign of growing military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow in the Arctic and the northern Pacific, and a move that analysts said was intended to “counter” the strategic agenda led by Washington and Nato in the region.

Three Chinese military vessels were spotted about 200km (124 miles) north of the Amchitka Pass at the southwestern reaches of the Aleutian Islands. A fourth ship was spotted about 135km north of the Amukta Pass, also in the Aleutian Islands.

In a statement, the United States Coast Guard said that all four of the Chinese ships were transiting in international waters “in accordance with international rules and norms”, but were still inside the US exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which extends 200 nautical miles (370km) from the US coast.

The Chinese crews stated their purpose was “freedom of navigation operations” in radio communication, while the vessels were monitored until they had sailed south of the Aleutians towards the North Pacific Ocean to ensure there were “no disruptions to US interests in the maritime environment around Alaska”, the coastguard said.

The latest sightings were the fourth consecutive year that Chinese military ships have been spotted in the region. In July 2023, Washington deployed destroyers near Alaska after the Chinese and Russian navies conducted joint patrols near the Aleutian Islands.

Troy Bouffard, director of the Centre for Arctic Security and Resilience at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said the entry of the Chinese warships into the waters off Alaska is “rare” because of historical maritime constraints, which until recently, have mostly confined China to coastal operations.

“However, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy has embarked on an ambitious trajectory to rapidly develop its blue-water capabilities, with a particular emphasis on naval force projection,” Bouffard said.

“This strategic pivot is evident when conducting operations within another state’s EEZ. This approach not only signals China’s evolving maritime doctrine but also serves as a crucible for its developing naval presence in the international arena.”

The sightings – on July 6 and 7 – came a week after the Chinese navy started a joint patrol with its Russian counterpart in the Pacific Ocean, the latest in a series of annual patrols which began in 2021.

China’s defence ministry said the Chinese and Russian naval vessels sailed in the western and northern Pacific Ocean and had entered the South China Sea on Sunday, where a joint exercise was taking place.

“This action is not aimed at any third party and has nothing to do with the current international and regional situation,” a ministry statement said.

Hu Bo, director of the Beijing-based think tank South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, said that the passage of Chinese warships near Alaska was becoming more regular.

“Chinese warships are going [near Alaska] more often, but this has not become the PLA’s normal practice yet,” Hu said.

He added that the recent passage was “separate” from the joint patrol with Russia.

The Arctic region has gained attention for its strategic importance – not only as a flashpoint between the US and Russia but also as a marine link between the Asia-Pacific and Europe, as climate change melts Arctic ice.

As a result, Alaska and the Bering Sea in the North Pacific Ocean have become significant gateways to the Arctic Sea.

Marc Lanteigne, an associate professor of political science at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, said the North Pacific Ocean has become an “arena of greater Sino-Russian maritime cooperation”, where China has sought to use its closer strategic alignment with Russia to allow for an increased Chinese military presence.

“Although Beijing has been cautious about framing its Arctic policies in hard power terms, the Chinese government is now more willing to demonstrate the ability of its military to operate closer to the Arctic Ocean,” Lanteigne said.

While it remained “very unlikely” that China would seek any unilateral military presence in the Arctic, Beijing was interested in partnering with Moscow to “counter what it sees as a US-led and Nato-led attempt to expand a Western strategic agenda in the far north”, he said.

Following the sightings of the Chinese vessels in the waters off Alaska, four Asia-Pacific countries – South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand – took part in the Nato summit in Washington last week.

The declaration issued after the summit said China’s “ambitions and coercive policies” continued to challenge Nato’s “interests, security and values” and its deepening strategic partnership with Russia in attempts to “undercut and reshape the rules-based international order” were a cause for profound concern.

Liselotte Odgaard, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank, said China’s military cooperation with Russia is also a “main enabler” for Moscow to continue to pose a hard power threat to Nato member states in the Arctic region.

She said the “real concerns” about China and Russia’s close military collaboration in the Arctic would be reinforced by their economic and technological cooperation.

“[China has] some of the most advanced logistic systems in the world to combine air, land, [and] sea transport. They have space surveillance, polar satellites [and] they can share data with Russia, which creates situational awareness about the movements of sea-ice as well as adversaries, Odgaard said.

“All these things can … also have military uses.”

“China wants to help [Russia] continue to pose a hard power threat to Nato because that takes the heat off China in its home region in Asia, where it’s busy enough with other conflicts,” she said.

“China does not want to be a military power in the Arctic, but it will signal support for Russia, as it feels that the West is increasingly provocative and uncooperative.”

Cameron Carlson, founding director of the Homeland Security and Emergency Management programme at the the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said China’s self-positioning as a “near-Arctic state” reflects its ambition to capitalise on economic opportunities.

These include oil, gas and minerals extraction, as well as shorter maritime routes between Asia and Europe, he said.

“Collaborations with Russia will continue to further enhance China’s military presence and surveillance capabilities in the Arctic, challenging US influence and capabilities within the region.”

According to Carlson, the US perceives China’s Arctic ambitions “with suspicion, particularly concerning potential military expansion and challenges to Arctic sovereignty”.

“The US is likely to bolster its Arctic strategy by increasing its military presence and hopefully invest in Arctic infrastructure and capabilities, while simultaneously strengthening alliances with other Arctic nations to counterbalance the PRCs efforts to expand its influence,” he said.

Trump’s pick J.D. Vance takes stage protesting US jobs lost in China ‘sweetheart deal’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3270899/trumps-pick-jd-vance-takes-stage-protesting-us-jobs-lost-china-sweetheart-deal?utm_source=rss_feed

US Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio spoke to his working class roots and took aim at trade deals such as China being accepted to the World Trade Organization in a speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night.

He spoke for around 36 minutes, formally introducing himself to America as Donald Trump’s running mate at the convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Vance blamed a loss of jobs in Ohio and around the country on Joe Biden’s support of the North American Free Trade Agreement and China becoming a member of the WTO in 2001.

“When I was in the fourth grade, a career politician by the name of Joe Biden supported Nafta, a bad trade deal that sent countless good jobs to Mexico,” he said.

“That same career politician named Joe Biden gave China a sweetheart trade deal that destroyed even more good American middle class manufacturing jobs,” he continued.

Describing Ohio as a place that had been “forgotten by America’s ruling class in Washington,” Vance blamed establishment politicians for letting unemployment and drugs take hold there, and beyond.

“Our country was flooded with cheap Chinese goods, with cheap foreign labour and, in the decades to come, deadly Chinese fentanyl,” he said.

Washington has frequently accused Beijing of supporting the production of precursor chemicals for fentanyl, though the two countries have improved their counter-narcotics cooperation in recent months.

Vance pledged on Wednesday to spur domestic manufacturing by building more factories.

“We’re done sacrificing supply chains to unlimited global trade,” he said, adding that it was time to “stop the Chinese Communist Party from building their middle class on the backs of American citizens”.

Vance was introduced to the stage by his wife Usha Vance, who also spoke to his working class roots: “It’s hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream,” she said.

The role that American vice-presidents play in setting policy varies by administration and it is not clear what Vance would do in a second Trump administration. The attempted assassination of the former president on Saturday, however, has put into stark relief the importance of the vice-presidential role.

On stage Vance spoke about the former president’s bravery. “Even in his most perilous moment we were on his mind,” referring to Trump showing a fist pump after he was shot.

Earlier in the week, Vance – a Marine Corps veteran, graduate of Yale Law School and one-time tech industry venture capitalist – told Fox News that China was the “biggest threat” to the US and he urged a rapid end to the Ukraine crisis so Washington could focus on the “real issue” of China.

The 39-year-old is expected to largely see eye to eye with Trump on foreign policy issues, including related to Taiwan and tariffs on mainland China.

Vance has long been critical of China’s contribution to the loss of manufacturing jobs across the US, and has supported Trump’s plan to impose new tariffs on China.

Trump has previously committed to levying a 60 per cent tariff on Chinese goods. However, he did not repeat this vow during his debate with President Biden and walked back the percentage during an interview with Bloomberg last month. Still, he has not retracted his commitment to impose a 10 per cent tariff on all imports into the US.

If the Republican ticket wins in November, Vance would have the least government experience of anyone a heartbeat away from the presidency in the modern era.

His memoir of growing up in a broken family in the rust belt, Hillbilly Elegy, was a bestseller in 2016 and led to a fast-rising career as a political commentator. He opposed Trump in 2016, for example, though he has since become a strong supporter.

In 2022, Vance defeated the Democratic candidate Tim Ryan for the Ohio Senate seat, and took office in January 2023.

Regarding Taiwan, Vance said last year the US needed to reduce its reliance on Taiwan-made semiconductors yet develop more weapons domestically to assist the island in case of a conflict with Beijing.

Trump has been less clear about coming to Taiwan’s aid in a conflict, saying that “Taiwan should pay us for defence” when directly asked by Bloomberg in June.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China to be eventually reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. Most nations do not recognise Taiwan, a self-ruled island, as an independent state, including the US, although it is opposed to any forcible change to the status quo and is bound by law to provide arms to Taiwan for its defence.

A proponent of “America First”, Vance told Fox News on Monday that his foreign policy would be “the Trump doctrine”, which he summarised as “you don’t commit America’s troops unless you really have to, but when you do you punch and you punch hard”.

As a senator, Vance has voted against increased aid to Ukraine, and has affirmed Trump’s claim that he could bring about a quick end to the war if he is elected. Like Trump, Vance has said Nato members need to take a more active role in their own defence.

The Trump critic-turned-ally, however, has been more explicit about the need for the US to pivot to Asia.

The Republican Party platform, formally adopted on Monday on the first day of the convention, includes a commitment to “secure strategic independence from China”, in line with Vance’s pledges on Wednesday night.

“Republicans will revoke China’s most-favoured-nation status, phase out imports of essential goods and stop China from buying American real estate and industries,” the document states.

Beijing’s preferential trade status currently allows China a baseline of non-discriminatory treatment and lower tariffs for many goods.

No debate has yet been arranged between Vance and his presumed Democratic opponent, Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Vance, meanwhile, pledged to never forget his roots. “I promise you this: I will be a vice-president who never forgets where he came from.”

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China nanny chokes newborn baby to death with milk on first day on job, shocks nation

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3270745/china-nanny-chokes-newborn-baby-death-milk-first-day-job-shocks-nation?utm_source=rss_feed

A nanny in China who was hired by a couple for her specialist post-partum skills, accidentally choked their baby to death on her first day on the job.

The accident came to light via an online video that showed the baby receiving emergency treatment in hospital, where a significant amount of milk had to be removed from its lungs.

The parents, from Xian in Shaanxi province in central China, employed the woman in April through Tian’e Daojia, a housekeeping service company.

They agreed to a monthly salary of 12,000 yuan (US$1,700), expecting her to provide professional post-partum care for the mother and her newborn, in accordance with the traditional Chinese practice of “sitting the month”.

In this tradition, which can last from one month to 100 days, the nanny provides comprehensive support that includes childcare and personal care for new mothers to help them rest and recover after giving birth.

In tier-one cities like Shenzhen, salaries for post-partum confinement nannies average 12,800 yuan a month, with more experienced ones earning more than 20,000 yuan (US$2,800), according to the state media outlet CCTV.

In this case, the mother said that, because her child was born prematurely and had been hospitalised for three months, she specifically sought a “platinum nanny” with experience in caring for premature newborns.

However, on April 10, the first day the nanny was on duty, the couple quickly noticed her lack of professionalism. Yet their repeated attempts to secure a replacement through the company failed.

In the evening, while the father was feeding the baby, he noticed that what usually took 10 minutes was taking more than half an hour, and the baby became unresponsive.

The distraught parents rushed the infant to hospital.

“The doctor informed us that our baby had inhaled a significant amount of milk into the lungs and could not be saved,” the mother said.

An autopsy issued by police confirmed the baby had died from milk suffocation.

Although the parents immediately reported the incident to the police, no case was filed as it was considered a civil matter.

Efforts to seek an explanation and compensation from the company were also unsuccessful.

“The company said they had insurance and would only bear 10 to 20 per cent of the responsibility,” the mother said.

On learning of the tragedy, Chen Xiaohua, founder and CEO of Tian’e Daojia, suggested the baby’s pre-existing health issues from a premature birth may have contributed to the incident.

“The baby had 15 major illnesses at birth, including ‘neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.’ Whether the nanny was guilty of negligent homicide should be determined by the police investigation and court judgment,” he said.

On July 15, the customer service representative from the company told Chongqing Daily that they are in communication with the parents and will continue to pursue a resolution.

The incident has triggered nationwide outrage online.

“As an eight months pregnant mother, reading this is truly heartbreaking. I cannot imagine how devastated the mother must feel,” one person said.

“Post-partum confinement should be considered a university major. Only after passing a national exam should postgraduates be allowed to work. This profession currently has high salaries and significant demand, so managing it is necessary,” said another.

Hong Kong, mainland China weigh on Asia-Pacific office rents amid high vacancy: report

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3270823/hong-kong-mainland-china-weigh-asia-pacific-office-rents-amid-high-vacancy-report?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong and mainland Chinese cities are likely to see more empty prime space and falling office rents in the next 12 months, contrasting with the fortunes of Australian cities, Taipei and Singapore, according to Knight Frank.

In a study of 23 cities across Asia-Pacific, the property consultancy found 15 markets recorded stable or increasing rents in the second quarter compared with a year earlier.

However, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou were the worst performers, registering rental declines of between 8.8 per cent and 11.1 per cent, the property consultancy’s data shows.

In terms of quarter-on-quarter change, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Beijing were also among the laggards, with rents decreasing by between 0.9 per cent and 3.6 per cent, the report said. Their vacancy rates ranged from 12 per cent in Guangzhou and Hong Kong to 25.8 per cent in Shenzhen.

“Prime office markets in the Chinese mainland’s first-tier cities endured another challenging quarter, with rents declining by 10.8 per cent year on year in the second quarter, steeper than the 10 per cent drop in the first quarter,” Knight Frank said.

This indicated “worsening market conditions in these areas”, it added.

Vacancy rates in first-tier cities edged up by 0.2 percentage points in the second quarter, hitting more than 19 per cent.

“This rise coincided with the delivery of more than 700,000 square metres of new office space across Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen,” Knight Frank said.

In Hong Kong, on the other hand, “falling office rents are also spurring recentralisation and flight-to-quality moves by occupiers”.

Despite recording higher prime office vacancy rates and lower rents, Hong Kong still commanded the most expensive rents in the region at US$154.76 per square foot per year, followed by Singapore and Sydney with rents at US$118.93 and US$97.42, respectively, said Knight Frank.

However, a 7 per cent decline in premium office rents in Hong Kong is anticipated this year, according to a separate report by Colliers. In the second quarter, vacancy rates hit 16.6 per cent, which translates to 13.8 million sq ft. This set a record for the second straight quarter, surpassing the previous peak by 400,000 sq ft.

“The majority of tenants prioritised cost savings and optimisation in view of a more conservative sentiment towards business outlook, thereby limiting the market demand,” said Fiona Ngan, head of occupier services at Colliers Hong Kong.

In contrast, the Australian cities of Brisbane, Perth and Sydney saw prime office rents rising between 5.1 per cent and 8.1 per cent in the quarter compared with 12 months earlier, Knight Frank said. Taipei, Seoul and Singapore rounded out the six best-performing markets, with rents rising from 2.9 per cent to 4 per cent in the period.

In quarter-on-quarter terms, Brisbane still topped the table with a 3.5 per cent rental increment, followed by Melbourne and Sydney.

“Markets with solid fundamentals are still recording strong growth, particularly in Australian cities and Taipei,” the report said.

Overall, second-quarter rents across the region slipped 3.1 per cent from a year ago, slightly improving from a 3.2 per cent drop in the preceding three months, Knight Frank said.

“The downwards trend has now persisted for two consecutive years,” it said. “Chinese mainland cities remain the primary factor behind this decline.”

Regional vacancy rates stabilised at 14.8 per cent, halting an upwards trend since the third quarter of 2022.

More than 11 million square metres of grade A office stock will come on stream this year, of which 60 per cent will be in mainland Chinese markets, the report said.

“Overall, Asia-Pacific’s prime office sector will remain tenant-favourable in 2024,” Knight Frank said.

Average Chinese national now eats more protein than an American: United Nations

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3270808/average-chinese-national-now-eats-more-protein-american-united-nations?utm_source=rss_feed

China has surpassed the US in the amount of daily dietary protein available to its population – an important indicator of a modern quality of life, and one that some commentators and politicians in the West thought would be impossible to achieve.

According to the latest data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), China overtook the US in 2021, reaching a daily supply of 124.61 grams (4.39oz) of protein per capita.

In the same year, Americans had access to 124.33 grams (4.38oz). For comparison, Japan’s daily protein supply per capita was 91.99 grams (3.24oz). It was 108.31 grams (3.82oz) in South Korea, 113.63 grams (4oz) in the United Arab Emirates, and 119.55 grams (4.21oz) in Australia.

Covering 187 countries from 2010 to 2021, the FAO’s food balance sheets measure national supply based on the amount produced plus the quantity imported, giving snapshots of what is potentially available for consumption.

India, which has a population akin to China’s, boasted a mere 70.52 grams (2.48oz) of daily protein supply per capita in 2021, according to the FAO food balance sheets.

Among the other top five populous developing nations, Indonesia reached 79.75 grams (2.81oz), with Pakistan trailing at 70.77 grams (2.49oz) and Nigeria at 59.08 grams (2.08oz).

While China has previously pulled ahead of the US in a range of living standard measures – including life expectancy, healthcare insurance coverage, high-speed rail and 5G – the challenge to outpace American agriculture has been far steeper.

With its 1.4 billion population more than four times that of the US, China’s rise to Western levels of food security was believed by some to be impossible without dooming the Earth to an unsustainable future.

American environmental analyst Lester Brown predicted in his 1995 book Who Will Feed China? that the Asian giant would eventually have to import so much grain to feed its population that it could precipitate an unprecedented rise in world food prices.

The theory gained traction among some politicians, with former US president Barack Obama using it to justify his China policies in an interview on Australian television in April 2010.

“If over a billion Chinese citizens have the same living patterns as Australians and Americans do right now, then all of us are in for a very miserable time, the planet just can’t sustain it,” Obama told the ABC’s 7.30 Report.

While Obama’s intention might have been to spur Beijing’s climate change efforts, his comments elicited strong dissatisfaction in China, where they were widely perceived as a justification for containing Chinese growth and development.

Instead, China has built up its protein supply not only through imports but also intense animal husbandry, as well as agricultural and aquacultural developments that have put some of its food products among the best in the world.

China is now the world’s top aquaculture nation and is increasingly turning to agriculture technology and new scientific breeding methods to ensure higher and more stable output of crops that can be used for animal meat production.

But the Chinese people are also showing that it is possible to increase protein consumption without eating as much meat as the Americans, which also benefits the planet.

In addition to recognised health benefits, plant proteins also have an environmental advantage. Each 1kg of soybeans produced provides 56 per cent more protein – and 48 times fewer carbon emissions – than its equivalent in beef, for example.

According to the FAO food balance sheets, animal products like meat, fish, eggs, and dairy dominated US protein supply in 2021 by 69 per cent. In contrast, China’s supply of animal protein was around half that of the United States.

China’s protein supply contained more vegetal sources, with vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, and wheat, oat, rice, barley, maize and their products making up 60.5 per cent.

The FAO data showed that China’s daily per capita protein supply rose by 15.81 grams (0.55oz) from 2010 to 2021, with around two-thirds derived from vegetal products. Nearly all of the 5.31 grams (0.18oz) US increase was attributed to animal products.

While Chinese per capita meat consumption lags significantly behind the US, China is the world’s largest consumer of animal products, making up 27 per cent of the global total in 2021, because of the size of its population, according to a McKinsey & Company report.

In 1944 the journal Science published an estimate attributing just 5 per cent of China’s protein intake to animal proteins, a figure that had grown to around 26.96 per cent by 1990.

By 2019, animal proteins accounted for 49.2 per cent of China’s protein intake, according to a Chinese study published last year in the peer-reviewed journal Environment, Development and Sustainability.

Hon Ming Lam, a professor of life sciences at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said animal product consumption started to surge in China in around 2000.

“In the old days, the Chinese diet was less animal meat-oriented. Consuming animal meat is a symbol of wealth. Parallel to the growth of China’s economy, more people could afford to eat meat,” he said.

But the growing of feed crops led to more land and resource use, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, creating a problem for sustainability, he said.

“China imports a huge amount of soybean each year, most of it for oil pressing and animal feed, Lam pointed out. “Plant-based proteins – without complicated processing – will be best for large populations,” he added.

Lam worked with researchers in China, Vietnam, England and Canada to examine how willing people would be to alter their diets to help mitigate climate change, with their results published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports Sustainability in February.

Lam and his fellow study authors surveyed individuals in China, Japan and Vietnam and found “many Asian consumers still prefer traditional diets featuring rice and pork over alternative food baskets”.

UN projections suggest that on present trends meat consumption in China could increase by 21 per cent from 2010 levels by the end of this decade.

“Although animal-based protein consumption has increased in Asia, the consumption of beef has not reached the levels observed in Western markets”, which means policy action could help reduce this trend.

The Chinese government is encouraging people to reduce their consumption of animal products and to eat more plant-based proteins.

Other recommendations include vegetables in every meal, daily servings of soy and grain products, more fish and less highly processed meats, according to the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Plant-based proteins have always played a role in Chinese cuisine, especially in soy-based foods like tofu which has been eaten in China for more than 2,000 years.

According to the FAO food balance sheets, China’s top 10 protein providers were wheat and rice and their products, followed by vegetables, pork, poultry, eggs, freshwater fish, soybeans, groundnuts, and milk, excluding butter.

Iceland topped the world in protein supply at 145.62 grams (5.13oz), while the Democratic Republic of Congo had the lowest, at 28.59 grams (1 oz), a decrease of nearly 3 grams (0.105822oz) since 2010, the FAO found.

Will China’s patience run out as security threats and provocations pile up?

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3270759/will-chinas-patience-run-out-security-threats-and-provocations-pile?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing last week officially confirmed its joint naval exercise with Russia near Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, nearly a week after Moscow announced the patrol. The exercise, which includes anti-submarine and air defence drills as well as search and rescue measures at sea, is the fourth of its kind.

It took place under a bilateral agreement to deepen the two countries’ strategic partnership and address “maritime security threats”. It has also raised anxiety among some countries in the region, particularly in the Philippines and Taiwan, after the PLA Navy aircraft carrier Shandong was spotted en route to its first far-sea exercise.

Japan defined the repeated joint sorties by China and Russia near Japan as “clearly intended as a demonstration of force” and “a grave concern from the perspective of national security” in its latest defence white paper. China has attacked the report, saying it “interferes in China’s internal affairs brutally”.

Meanwhile, South Korea has expressed concerns over Russia’s growing closeness with North Korea. Passing near Jeju Island, Beijing and Moscow’s joint patrol appears to traverse the same waters where Seoul, Tokyo and Washington conducted their “Freedom Edge” joint drill last month.

China has dismissed any suggestion it plays a role in rising tensions in the region. At the same time, it is difficult to deny that the latest China-Russia joint exercise comes amid several events Beijing views as provocations.

For example, the US-led 29-nation Rimpac exercises began last month with the goal of countering a large and protected adversary in open waters. While it was never explicitly named, China has not been invited to Rimpac since 2018 and clearly seems to be the intended target.

The Washington Summit Declaration adopted at the recent Nato summit defined China as a “systemic challenge” to Euro-Atlantic security as well as a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China lashed out at the declaration in response, saying it would not accept “groundless accusations”.

From China’s perspective, the threat posed by these incidents in the military sphere is exacerbated by Washington’s continued arms sales to Taiwan and a series of recent measures by the United States and European Union to counter what they see as China’s overproduction and tariff evasion in foreign trade. While China’s Ministry of Commerce dismissed the tariffs as “symbolic”, analysts said they will hurt both Beijing and Washington’s interests while disturbing global trade flows.

At the heart of China’s concerns in the region, however, are worsening relations with the Philippines. Many in China blame the US for this, calling Washington’s support for Manila an excuse to normalise the US military presence in the region. One Chinese commentary blamed the US for its “bottom-line” support to the Philippines, resulting in a violent clash between Beijing and Manila which caused a Filipino soldier to lose a finger.

To many in China, the incident was further evidence of Washington’s use of Manila as a proxy against Beijing and the consequences of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr “letting the wolf in” by seeking closer ties with the US. While the withdrawal of US Typhon mid-range missile system from the Philippines was warmly received in China, the recent reciprocal access agreement between Manila and Tokyo was deemed by mainland observers as another effort to contain China.

Many in China still view the geopolitical situation favourably to some extent. A commentary in Kunlunce asserted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza had damaged Washington’s image and “naturally highlighted China’s influence”. Such arguments are further supported by claims that China remains a favourable development partner, particularly among Pacific islands which have traditionally remained under American influence.

Another commentary even asserted that the US was trying to stoke conflict by encircling Beijing to hamper its development and give itself an excuse to abandon Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Chinese analysis has described the Philippines’ growing “arrogance” towards Beijing as stemming from a wide range of factors, the most important of which being the fear of possible retaliation from Washington if it does not do its bidding.

Moreover, China retains a certain level of scepticism towards Russia. Many Chinese experts have advised Beijing not to turn the two countries’ strategic partnership into a full alliance as Russia would not accept a subservient position to China and its support for Beijing against Washington cannot be guaranteed. Similarly, a commentary in Xinhua noted that Sino-Russian ties have an “internal developmental logic” and forming an official alliance would run counter to that logic.

Both the scaled-down size of the Chinese and Russian fleets in their joint exercise and the delay in the operation’s announcement show a more cautious approach from Beijing. This arises from a more anxious security outlook informed by calls for strong but calculated deterrence but also its naval limitations. While the rapid modernisation of China’s navy has put it ahead of the US in terms of battle force ships, most of its vessels remain untested in warfare and are focused on defending the country’s claims instead of leading far-off, blue-water operations.

In addition, there is a growing consensus among Chinese observers that Washington is trying to goad China into a war to derail the course of its development and that Beijing must not fall into this trap.

Sadly, such trends remove focus from pressing issues such as rising sea levels amid climate change and marine pollution which demand immediate and committed cooperation from all sides. Deterrence appears to be China’s preferred approach for now, but its patience running thin could unleash dangerous outcomes.

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China seeks space supremacy and to exploit it ‘to our detriment’: US intelligence head

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3270871/china-seeks-space-supremacy-and-exploit-it-our-detriment-us-intelligence-head?utm_source=rss_feed

America is seeing from China a heightened “intent to use counter-space capabilities to threaten space”, the director of the US Defence Intelligence Agency said on Wednesday.

“When you talk national security, China aims to displace the United States as the global leader in space and to exploit space in a way that is to our detriment,” according to Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse.

“It counts on what they perceive as a US over-reliance on space, and it intends to hold that capability at risk,” he said during the annual Aspen Security Forum in a panel discussion on space and national security.

Kruse pointed to China’s advances in directed energy weapons, electronic warfare, anti-satellite capabilities as well as on-orbit technology with military applications.

The Sino-American space rivalry has intensified in recent years amid rapid expansions in satellite networks and associated technology.

Beijing has repeatedly stated a commitment to the peaceful utilisation of space. It contends Washington instigated and has driven the current competition, having first established a space force.

As China aspires to become a “broad-based, fully capable space power, both economically and militarily”, Kruse said, the US should think about how to defend space.

The DIA director described China as “the one country that, more so even than the United States, has a space doctrine, space strategy, and they train and exercise the use of space and counter-space capabilities”.

“Both Russia and China viewed the use of space early on, even ahead of conflict, as important capabilities to deter or to compel behaviours,” Kruse explained. “We just need to be ready.”

Speaking on the same panel in Colorado, General Stephen Whiting, head of the US Space Command, said the combatant command had to “help the joint force be protected against the space-enabled militaries of China and Russia”.

“China is building a kill web, if you will, in space, tailor-built to find, fix, track, target and help provide engagement vectors for over-the-horizon fires against US and allied forces throughout the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility,” said Whiting.

“We have a role there to help defend those US forces from China’s more precise, more lethal and more far-ranging terrestrial army, navy and air force.”

The US Space Command chief also said China should “continue to incorporate responsible behaviours” in space safety.

“We want to have a way to talk to them about space safety as they put more satellites on orbit … so that we can operate effectively and do not have any miscommunication or unintended actions that cause a misunderstanding.”

Kruse believed space might be one of the national security areas that was “OK to talk to China about”, but warned about the dual-use possibilities of space technologies from the commercial sector.

“We, to some degree, should partner with them, or at least understand what they’re doing.”

China’s efforts in space technology, Kruse said, involved “applications and on-orbital regimes for what may be peaceful space-bearing reasons, but then move into potential uses that we could envision going forward”.

Chinese state media touts Xi Jinping’s commitment to private sector

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3270852/chinese-state-media-touts-xi-jinpings-commitment-private-sector?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese state media is stepping up its efforts to portray President Xi Jinping as the true successor to Deng Xiaoping while pointedly addressing some international concerns about his reform programme.

As the Communist Party elite met this week for the third plenum – a key meeting to determine country’s development strategy for the next five to 10 years – state news agency Xinhua released a profile of Xi that was only available on its overseas service.

The article published on Monday hailed Xi as a “true reformer” on par with Deng, who is widely regarded as the architect of the greatest reform programme in modern history.

It said: “They shouldered the same mission: to modernise China, but they were faced with different circumstances.”

But Western critics of Xi remain sceptical about his pledges to reform the economy. They have pointed out that China’s growth rates have significantly slowed over the past decade while Beijing still appears to prioritise state-controlled enterprises over the private sector and foreign investors.

Xinhua tried to address these concerns without directly mentioning the criticisms, saying he had to deal with many complex structural problems and “tough bones that are hard to chew” such as concerns among China’s private sector and international investors.

It said that when he first took office as the party’s general secretary in late 2012, China’s growth rate fell below 8 per cent for the first time since 1999 because of the financial crisis in the West.

“The easy part of the reforms has finished … but Xi refused to rest on the laurels of his predecessors and determined to steam ahead,” it said.

The article said China had introduced more than 2,000 reform measures over the past decade and more than doubled the size of its economy.

It also painted the Chinese leader as a staunch supporter of the private sector and foreign investors, saying: “Xi always bears in mind the needs of private enterprises. He often talks bitterly about the ‘mountains and gates’ [unfair burdens and red tape] private business has to endure.

“When Xi became the party secretary, it was 20 years since we first said in 1992 that China needed to establish a socialist market economy. Yet still, many private businesses could not get a licence.”

It pointed out that he set up China’s first joint-venture bank when he was the vice-mayor of Xiamen in Fujian in 1985 and later became the first party secretary in Zhejiang to take part in events organised by the local private business community.

Xinhua listed many measures Xi initiated to help the private sector and said: “Between 2012 and 2023, the number of private enterprises [in China] more than quadrupled. The share [of private enterprises] in total economic entities rose from about 79 per cent to more than 92 per cent.”

It went on to say that Xi had opened more restricted areas to private capital, adding: “In 2017, China Unicom became the first state telecommunications enterprise to open up to private investors. Tencent, Baidu, Jingdong, Alibaba [which owns the South China Morning Post] and others have all took part.

“The first private bank, the first private railway and even the first private space company were all established [under Xi].”

The article also praised his support for foreign investors, stating that the World Bank had recognised China under his leadership as one of the top 10 economies with the most improved business environment.

“The American company Tesla, for instance, is one of the companies that greatly benefited from these reforms,” the profile said.

“In 2013, Xi directed the establishment of China’s first Pilot Free Trade Zone (PFTZ) in Shanghai. The number of PFTZs has since grown to 22. The whole of Hainan is now a free-trade port.

“He also planned many national-level trade fairs and exhibitions to showcase his vision of trade liberalisation and globalisation.”

The Xinhua piece came amid rising concerns about China’s faltering private investment and growing pessimism in the private sector in the wake of three years of tough Covid controls.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, private sector fixed-asset investment rose only 0.1 per cent in the first six months of this year, compared with a rise of 3.9 per cent in overall investment.

Private investment also fell by 0.4 per cent last year, while the figure for the state sector rose by 4.9 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign direct investment dropped by 28.2 per cent year on year in the first five months of 2024.

Many private businesses have complained about policy uncertainties and excessive controls, while overseas critics have asked whether Beijing is turning its back on the private sector.

China suspends nuclear talks with US over arms sales to Taiwan

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/17/china-suspends-arms-talks-over-us-weapons-sales-to-taiwan

China has suspended talks over arms control and nuclear proliferation with the US in protest against arms sales to Taiwan, the democratically governed island aligned with Washington that China claims as its own territory.

The decision, announced by China’s foreign ministry on Wednesday, halts the early nuclear-arms talks in a period of growing tensions between China and the US, with both US presidential candidates calling for increased trade restrictions and efforts to contain Chinese influence in east Asia.

The US is Taiwan’s main international partner and largest arms supplier. The House of Representatives in June approved $500m in foreign military financing for Taiwan to strengthen military deterrence against China, along with $2bn in loans and loan guarantees. The US also approved $300m in spare and repair parts for Taiwan’s F-16 fighter jets.

China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said that the US had continued to sell arms to Taiwan despite “strong Chinese opposition and repeated negotiations”.

He added: “Consequently, the Chinese side has decided to hold off discussion with the US on a new round of consultations on arms control and nonproliferation. The responsibility fully lies with the US.”

Lin said China was willing to maintain communication on international arms control, but that the US “must respect China’s core interests and create necessary conditions for dialogue and exchange”.

In response, the US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, accused China of “following Russia’s lead” by holding arms control negotiations hostage to other conflicts in the bilateral relationship.

“We think this approach undermines strategic stability, it increases the risk of arms-race dynamics,” Miller told reporters.

“Unfortunately, by suspending these consultations, China has chosen not to pursue efforts that would manage strategic risks and prevent costly arms races, but we, the United States, will remain open to developing and implementing concrete risk-reduction measures with China.”

China is estimated to have 500 nuclear warheads, but the US department of defence expects Beijing to produce more than 1,000 by 2030. The US and China held arms talks in November for the first time in five years and discussed the nuclear nonproliferation treaty and other nuclear security issues, as well as compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention, and outer space security and regular arms control, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

Donald Trump has signalled that US support for Taiwan may come with a higher price tag in the future, and has dodged questions on whether the US would defend Taiwan in the case of an invasion by China.

“Taiwan should pay us for defence,” Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek. “You know we’re no different than an insurance company.”

The Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, has signalled strong support for Taiwan, saying that US backing of Ukraine has diverted Washington’s attention from providing arms to Taiwan in case of a conflict.

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