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• Thailand extradites Malaysian fugitive to China over US$14 billion cryptocurrency scam
• US national security adviser to meet Wang Yi in China in first for Biden administration
• China’s military focuses on beating ‘strong enemies’ in Deng Xiaoping commemorations
• China to ‘vigorously, orderly’ expand sales of finished homes in property-sector overhaul
• Olympic stars Quan Hongchan, Pan Zhanle to join Team China athletes visiting Hong Kong
• Bungled double eyelid job leaves China woman with blurred vision, hair loss
• China’s own Tesla Optimus? Beijing’s ambitions in humanoid robots in full display at expo
• China’s Xi Jinping and Britain’s Keir Starmer speak in first official phone call
• Beijing hosts World Robot Conference as China eyes expanding humanoid robot market
• China’s yuan hits internationalisation landmark with record share of global payments
• China’s cruise ship services 220,000, sailing full steam into uncharted market
• [Sport] Taiwan jails spies 'seduced by money' to work for China
• Accepting historic nomination, Harris vows ‘America, not China’ will win 21st century
• Chinese woman sues South Korea for negligence in husband’s death at immigration detention facility
• Mainland Chinese tech vendors at computer fair vie for Hong Kong market share
• Deaths of 5 Chinese nationals in Thai plane crash sparks outpouring of grief on internet
• EU and China should join hands to lead new era of green trade
• China’s green panda bonds are ‘reliable’ financing option for Africa, summit hears
• China considers higher tariffs on large petrol cars as EU tensions escalate
• Huawei’s polar code beats Nato protocol in South China Sea submarine communication test
• Deng Xiaoping: 120th anniversary of the man who changed China
• Universities in China change course to meet government’s need for hi-tech workforce
• [Sport] Chinese scammers cheated victims from Isle of Man base
• China’s tech hub Shenzhen prime for property tax trial at ‘critical moment’: top adviser
• Panama unveils deportation flights to China, India and Ecuador to stem US-bound migration
• US charges former Chinese democracy advocate with being illegal agent for Beijing
• ‘Millions benefited’: why generations see Deng Xiaoping as the architect of modern China

Thailand extradites Malaysian fugitive to China over US$14 billion cryptocurrency scam

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275722/thailand-extradites-malaysian-fugitive-china-over-us14-billion-cryptocurrency-scam?utm_source=rss_feed

A Malaysian businessman accused of leading a fraud syndicate has been extradited from Thailand to China in a case involving more than 100 billion yuan (US$14 billion).

He is the first suspect in an economic crime that Bangkok has turned over to Beijing since an extradition treaty between the two countries took effect in 1999, according to the Chinese Ministry of Public Security.

“The successful extradition … is of landmark significance to the consolidation and deepening of law enforcement and judicial cooperation between China and Thailand,” the ministry said on Friday, calling the move a “major achievement”.

The ministry said the suspect was sent to China on Tuesday and only gave the man’s surname: Zhang. This was a reference to Zhang Yufa, better known as Tedy Teow Wooi Huat, the founder of the business conglomerate MBI Group.

Following an investigation, Teow is suspected of running a pyramid scheme and defrauding people, many of them thought to be Chinese nationals, out of money by tricking them into buying MBI’s unlicensed and unrecognised cryptocurrency.

More than 10 million investors have fallen prey to the scheme since 2012, and the money involved amounted to over 100 billion yuan, according to the ministry.

Authorities in the southwest Chinese megacity of Chongqing launched an investigation into Teow in late 2020, and months later the China bureau of Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organisation, issued a worldwide wanted notice for him.

Thai police arrested the businessman in July 2022 after he fled Malaysia. Following that, Beijing submitted a request to Bangkok seeking to have him deported to stand trial in China.

A Thai court issued a final ruling to transfer Teow to China in May, a decision later supported by the Thai government.

Kuala Lumpur had also sought Teow’s deportation to Malaysia, where he is also wanted for fraud. But their request was made after China’s.

MBI Group, which describes itself as having “diversified interests in resources and management developments”, made headlines in October 2019 when about 100 Chinese nationals staged a demonstration outside Beijing’s embassy in Malaysia claiming they had lost their life savings to the firm.

The Chinese government has characterised Teow’s case as “extraordinary” and expected the handover of the suspect to set a “positive example” for future extradition cooperation between China and other countries.

During the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation forum in the Thai city of Chiang Mai last week, China’s top diplomat Wang Yi called for intensified transnational cooperation to combat cross-border crimes in the region, especially online gambling and telecoms fraud.

Meeting his counterparts from Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, Wang said the four countries had undertaken many collaborative operations and arrested more than 50,000 suspects in gambling and fraud cases since last year.

The foreign ministers of all six countries under the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, which also includes Cambodia and Vietnam, reached a joint statement on strengthening cooperation in combating transnational crime during the gathering.

“We are deeply concerned about the gravity and seriousness of the persistent and escalating threats posed by transboundary crimes,” the statement said.

“We urge member countries to prioritise cooperation in the areas of anti-drug trafficking as well as curbing telecommunication/online frauds and all kinds of online gambling,” it added, calling all six nations to work together to improve information sharing and border controls.

US national security adviser to meet Wang Yi in China in first for Biden administration

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275724/us-national-security-adviser-meet-wang-yi-china-first-biden-administration?utm_source=rss_feed

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will travel to Beijing next week to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the first trip to China by a national security adviser in President Joe Biden’s administration.

The trip from Tuesday to Thursday will be the fifth time the two high-ranking officials will meet, following their last meeting in January in Bangkok, Thailand, a senior US administration official told reporters on Friday.

The two are expected to discuss key issues in the Sino-American relationship, advancing counter-narcotics cooperation, military-to-military communication as well as AI safety and risk, she said.

Sullivan will also raise US concerns about China’s support for Russia’s defence industrial base and the South China Sea, she added, noting he would also exchange views on global issues including North Korea, Middle East, Myanmar and cross-strait issues, referring to Taiwan.

While stressing the importance of communication, the official said American diplomacy and channels of communication “do not indicate a change in approach to the PRC”.

“This is an intensely competitive relationship,” she added. “We are committed to making the investment strengthening our alliances, and taking the common-sense steps on tech and national security that we need to take.”

“We are committed to managing this competition responsibly, however, and prevent it from veering into conflict.”

The coming visit underscores the complex nature of the bilateral relationship, balancing diplomatic engagement with competitive tensions.

While Washington seeks to advance high-level dialogue, its tech race with China has intensified. More than 120 Chinese companies have been added to US government blacklists since Biden took office in 2021.

The pattern continued on Friday with the addition of 123 entities to the US export control list, including 42 Chinese firms, amid persistent domestic concerns over technology and national security.

When asked about the possibility of Sullivan and Wang discussing America’s presidential election in November, the US official said the event would not be a focal point of the visit.

“That will be up to the next administration to determine China policy and how they intend to use some of these channels of communication,” she said.

“What we can speak to is how we intend to manage the balance of this administration and how we intend to manage the transition.”

Additional reporting by Khushboo Razdan

China’s military focuses on beating ‘strong enemies’ in Deng Xiaoping commemorations

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3275713/chinas-military-focuses-beating-strong-enemies-deng-xiaoping-commemorations?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese military has pledged to stay alert to potential risks and is focused on making sure it can “win against strong enemies” during the commemorations to mark Deng Xiaoping’s 120th anniversary.

At one such event on Thursday, President Xi Jinping told the military to improve its “strategic ability to defend national sovereignty, security and development interests”.

Xi said Deng had highlighted the need to build the People’s Liberation Army into a strong, modernised and well-organised force, and to have fewer but better troops.

Deng had started advocating for this approach in 1975, while Mao Zedong was still alive, and once in power he cut the PLA’s numbers by one million.

At a PLA commemoration on Monday Miao Hua, a member of the Central Military Commission, the military’s top decision-making body, said: “In the new journey, we should … focus on strengthening capabilities to defeat strong enemies and opponents.”

On Wednesday an article in the official PLA Daily said Deng had made the strategic judgment that “world wars can be postponed or avoided” in the 1980s, but China now faces “great changes unseen in a century”.

“We must … always maintain strategic clarity on the possible risks of war, make full preparations for military struggle, effectively deter war and resolutely win the war”, it said.

Analysts said those comments are in line with Beijing’s thinking about the risks it faces and increasing focus on security, particularly in the face of the growing rivalry between China and the United States on multiple fronts.

Tensions with the Philippines have also risen following a series of clashes in the South China Sea, while maritime disputes with Japan and a number of other Southeast Asian nations are yet to be resolved.

Domestically, an unprecedented anti-corruption campaign in the military is still ongoing. It has already led to the removal of two former defence ministers, Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, and a number of senior commanders.

Timothy Heath, a senior researcher on international defence at the Rand Corporation think tank, said Deng had put the PLA on the path to modernisation by breaking away from Maoist doctrines that emphasised ideological fervour over technical expertise.

During the 1980s, Deng said building up the military “must be clearly subordinate” to building up the economy, but Heath and other analysts said that was not the case today.

“Today, as a wealthy and powerful country, Chinese leaders have sought to coordinate both economic and military strengthening instead of subordinating the military to economic development,” Heath said.

Military spending was tightly controlled in the 1980s because Deng believed that “if military spending is too high … it will definitely affect economic development”. But now the defence budget is rising steadily, with 7.2 per cent increase this year compared with 2023.

His reforms took place at a time when “China was weak and had little ability to influence situations outside its borders”, as Heath put it.

There was also an international environment that was more favourable towards China.

“Today, [Beijing] is preparing for potential conflicts and the priority now has shifted towards security. The current commemorations help to cope with the great changes now,” said a Beijing-based analyst who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Deng’s approach was driven by the need to improve relations with Southeast Asian countries at the time. However, with the significant development of China’s navy and advances in its weaponry, Beijing now believes a tougher stance is necessary to safeguard its sovereignty.”

Deng favoured “setting aside disputes and pursuing joint development” with Japan and rival South China Sea claimants. In 1988 he told the Philippine president Corazon Aquino the two countries could put the Spratly Islands dispute to one side “for the time being” and focus on “pursuing joint development”.

As it gets richer, China is becoming more assertive in territorial disputes, especially in the resource-rich South China Sea, but Wang Kuan-Hsing, a professor in the Institute of Political Science at National Taiwan Normal University, said Deng’s approach could still have a positive effect today.

“I believe this approach remains acceptable to different parties and is beneficial for exploiting resources [in the disputed seas],” he said.

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China to ‘vigorously, orderly’ expand sales of finished homes in property-sector overhaul

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3275698/china-vigorously-orderly-expand-sales-finished-homes-property-sector-overhaul?utm_source=rss_feed

Following a critical report this week about “disappointing progress” three months into Beijing’s plan to buy unsold homes and prop up China’s embattled property market, housing officials have reiterated intentions to expand sales of fully finished homes that are ready to be lived in – rather than half-built homes – in a bid to protect buyers and stabilise the sector.

Stressing that a host of measures are being taken in the real estate industry to restore confidence and ensure the timely delivery of finished homes to buyers, authorities said on Friday that sales of finished homes will be “vigorously and orderly” expanded in more locales. And for select projects, the sale of finished homes will be stipulated when land is auctioned.

“Many localities have launched a number of trial projects to sell fully finished homes and have explored the reform of the housing sales system … Joint efforts are also being made to uphold homebuyers’ rights and interests and to help developers get funding to complete projects,” Dong Jianguo, deputy housing minister, said at a State Council press conference.

Beijing’s emphasis on selling finished homes is a rectification of the once-rampant practice of Chinese developers launching home sales when units were not built, or even before construction had started. Homebuyers who made down payments have often faced project delays or developer defaults. The country has seen a spike in project failures and delays in home deliveries amid the sector’s downturn.

The emphasis on selling homes only upon their completion is putting more strain on the cash flow of numerous developers, but the move has been hailed by homebuyers as a means of restoring lost confidence and shoring up transactions.

Investment in real estate development saw a year-on-year decline of 10.2 per cent in the first seven months of 2024, following a 10.1 per cent drop from January to June and constraining fixed-asset-investment growth. Meanwhile, home sales across the country plunged by 25.9 per cent through July, year on year.

Officials also reaffirmed that measures will be earnestly implemented to guarantee timely home deliveries to buyers plagued by project delays and developer defaults, and that qualified builders are ensured access to easier funding under a so-called white list arrangement.

The property sector used to be a major growth driver, underpinning the economy by contributing to around a quarter of China’s gross domestic product if the output of related industries, including construction, is tallied together. Last year, the proportion of property added value accounted for about 6 per cent of GDP.

Now the sector is dragging the nation’s economic recovery, straining developer and local government finances, and even weighing on social stability amid protracted slumps.

Beijing has called for lower mortgage rates and down payments, amid other property-easing measures, in a bid to galvanise the market. At last month’s third plenum, Beijing also vowed to accelerate the establishment of a new model for the sector.

While reforming financing for developers and home sales, Beijing has allowed regions to formulate localised boosting policies. In May, the State Council also convened a meeting about ensuring on-time home deliveries, to stave off risks.

At Friday’s presser, Dong revealed that the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, together with financial watchdogs, had identified 3.96 million unfinished homes in troubled projects nationwide that are due to be delivered to their buyers by the year’s end, as per sales contracts.

He said ministries, local governments, financial institutions and courts are working under a financing-coordination mechanism to inject funding into developers to help them finish projects.

“All qualified developers must be included on the white list, and loans must be granted,” Dong said, calling the effort a battle that must be won to ensure home deliveries. He said 5,300 such “white list” projects across the country had received 1.4 trillion yuan (US$196 billion) worth of loans for their timely completion.

Dong also pointed to plans for the nationwide replication of a trial in the central city of Zhengzhou, Henan province, that has seen “white list” developers and projects given ample funding while homebuyers are prioritised for compensation if a developer goes under.

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Olympic stars Quan Hongchan, Pan Zhanle to join Team China athletes visiting Hong Kong

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3275708/olympic-stars-quan-hongchan-pan-zhanle-join-team-china-athletes-visiting-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed

Diving superstar Quan Hongchan and controversial record-breaking swimmer Pan Zhanle are among 65 mainland Chinese Olympians from the Paris Games who are visiting Hong Kong next week following their triumph.

The athletes and eight coaches represent 16 different sporting events, including table tennis, swimming, diving, gymnastics and weightlifting, the government revealed on Friday.

The three-day visit between August 29 and 31 will see the group participate in three public events.

The first is the Mainland Olympians Gala Show at Queen Elizabeth Stadium in Wan Chai in the evening of August 30, and two events: Sports Demonstrations by Mainland Olympians held at the stadium as well as the Victoria Park Swimming Pool in the morning on August 31.

Other athletes arriving in Hong Kong for the three-day visit include table tennis legend Ma Long, swimmer Zhang Yufei and newly-engaged badminton player Huang Yaqiong.

Huang went viral after fellow badminton player Liu Yuchen proposed to her after she won her badminton mixed doubles final in Paris.

The team will leave Hong Kong on the afternoon of August 31.

More to follow...

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Bungled double eyelid job leaves China woman with blurred vision, hair loss

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3275425/bungled-double-eyelid-job-leaves-china-woman-blurred-vision-hair-loss?utm_source=rss_feed

A woman in China has been left traumatised after her eyeball was sewn to the corner of her eye during a botched cosmetic surgery which left her with blurred vision, hair loss and depression.

On August 17, the woman, surnamed Zhang, from Weifang, Shandong province in eastern China, told Sohu Video about the bungled operation.

She underwent the double eyelid surgery at the Weifang Kuiwen Lirendu Medical Beauty Clinic in 2021 It cost her about 30,000 yuan (US$4,200).

Zhang explained that during the operation, she felt discomfort in her eyes and later discovered that her left eyeball and the corner of that eye had been stitched together.

“In November 2021, I underwent double eyelid surgery because the outer corners of my eyes were uneven. The doctor said he would make some adjustments, but when he was stitching, I felt discomfort in my eyeball,” Zhang said.

“After the stitches were removed, I noticed a threadlike connection between my eyeball and the corner. The surgeon, hospital director Wang, assured me it was nothing serious and offered me another operation to separate them.”

However, her condition deteriorated and her eye became inflamed.

The tissues fused again a week later, which severely limited the movement of her left eye and she had persistent blurred vision.

Zhang now has to rely on eye drops and can only move her eye by turning her head.

She tried to negotiate with the clinic to pay for corrective surgery at a larger hospital in Shanghai, but the clinic insisted the problem could be resolved locally at a lower cost.

“I told Wang that I could not go on like this, but he insisted it was a simple operation that could be done in Weifang for just 1,000-2,000 yuan (US$140-US$280).

“He said, ‘If you’re uncomfortable, go ahead and get it done. If not, just leave it as it is,’” Zhang said.

“I asked for 30,000 yuan back, but he said that was too much. He only offered 10,000 yuan, which wouldn’t even cover my travel expenses to Shanghai. Also, he kept delaying the payment, and now it has been two years.”

Zhang revealed that her mental health has also suffered because of the stress. She has developed depression and is experiencing significant hair loss.

The Weifang medical beauty clinic has declined to comment on the situation, according to Sohu Video.

Zhang’s case and her post-surgery photos have terrified many people on mainland social media.

“I can feel the pain just from reading this,” one person said.

“Stitching the needle through the eyeball is really terrifying. It’s a miracle she did not go blind,” said another.

Similar previous cosmetic surgery blunders have caused an online stir.

In February 2021, Chinese actress Gao Liu took to Weibo to show her botched nose job at a Guangzhou clinic.

The failed procedure caused her to lose work opportunities and face a potential breach of contract penalty amounting to two million yuan (US$280,000).

In July, an influencer in China called Qin Xinyu lamented his failed nose job and wrote a song about it called Return My Nose Mum Gave Me, which went viral.

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China’s own Tesla Optimus? Beijing’s ambitions in humanoid robots in full display at expo

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3275609/chinas-own-tesla-optimus-beijings-ambitions-humanoid-robots-full-display-expo?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese technology companies unveiled more than two dozen humanoid robots at an industry expo in Beijing this week, where Tesla’s Optimus was the only foreign competitor present, a sign of the mainland’s drive to dominate the field.

The five-day 2024 World Robot Conference, which concludes on Sunday, is the latest event in China to showcase the nation’s progress and ambitions in robotics. The show has attracted 400 industry experts and academics from the sector and more than 160 domestic and overseas robotics firms that exhibited more than 60 new products, including 27 Chinese-designed humanoid robots, according to the organisers.

While China is not considered a global leader in humanoid robots, hopes are high among mainland manufacturers that they can repeat the country’s international success found in the smartphone and electric vehicle sectors.

Agibot – founded by Li Zhihui, a Huawei Technologies alumnus who aims to create humanoid robots rivalling Tesla’s Optimus –unveiled several examples powered by large language models (LLMs), the technology underpinning generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). Equipped with sensors, the robots are able to “watch” and “listen” by processing text, audio and video.

“LLMs have enabled a lot of new concepts and possibilities for robots,” said Hu Jingping, an Agibot employee.

Agibot’s products are geared towards industrial use, such as automated stacking, loading and unloading of materials in factories, as well as greeting customers in shops and offering help before the arrival of a human assistant, according to Hu.

Another exhibitor Astribot – based in the souther tech hub of Shenzhen and backed by venture capital firm MPC, formerly Matrix Partners China – launched a robot assistant called S1 that performed tasks such as writing calligraphy and playing the Chinese dulcimer, a traditional stringed musical instrument.

Start-up Galbot, which counts on-demand food-delivery giant Meituan as an investor, demonstrated how its wheeled robots can pick up and deliver orders to customers, as well as organise goods on shelves for retail chains.

Deep Robotics, a Hangzhou-based company specialising in robot dogs that are often used in hazardous or challenging industrial environments, introduced the Dr.01, the company’s first humanoid robot, supported by sensors and autonomous learning capabilities.

These demonstrations drew swarms of spectators, suggesting growing interest from consumers. Still, technological hurdles and costs continue to hinder humanoid robot manufacturers in China, according to industry experts.

One challenge could be a lack of sufficient data to train LLMs used in humanoid robots, said Li Guangyu, head of data intelligence at the Beijing Embodied AI Robot Innovation Centre (BEAIRIC), a consortium of leading local robotics firms.

“Data is a key restraining factor … LLMs are powerful because there is a sea of internet data [that can be used for training],” Li said. “But there is a lack of data in robot operations.”

To overcome the challenge, Li said BEAIRIC is working to build the world’s largest general-purpose database for robotics AI training.

Other factors limiting the growth prospects of humanoid robots include limited use case and high price, according to Shao Hui, a manager at Juxie Intelligent, a supplier of robot components based in Wuxi, a city in eastern Jiangsu province near Shanghai.

A humanoid robot typically costs hundreds of thousands of yuan, according to Shao. To appeal to families, he suggested that companies lower the prices of their humanoid robots to at least 120,000 yuan (US$15,000).

China’s Xi Jinping and Britain’s Keir Starmer speak in first official phone call

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275676/chinas-xi-jinping-and-britains-keir-starmer-speak-first-official-phone-call?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke on the phone on Friday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The call, made at Starmer’s request, is the first between Xi and a British prime minister since March 2022, when the president spoke with then leader Boris Johnson.

More to follow …

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Beijing hosts World Robot Conference as China eyes expanding humanoid robot market

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3275685/beijing-hosts-world-robot-conference-china-eyes-expanding-humanoid-robot-market?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese robot manufacturers are expressing optimism for China’s humanoid robot market at the World Robot Conference in Beijing on August 21, 2024.

Humanoid robots in China are mostly used for industrial purposes. But many firms have confirmed plans to advance into non-industrial markets, such as hospitality and medicine. The conference has attracted 169 companies to showcase over 600 products.

China’s yuan hits internationalisation landmark with record share of global payments

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3275668/chinas-yuan-hits-internationalisation-landmark-record-share-global-payments?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese yuan’s share in global payments hit a record high in July, a milestone in Beijing’s efforts to fend off the hegemony of the US dollar and increase its say in the international monetary system.

The yuan kept its fourth-place spot in the ranking of payment currencies last month, with its share of global transactions rising to 4.74 per cent from 4.61 per cent in June. The increase was observed in data from the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift), the world’s largest interbank messaging service.

It was the ninth consecutive month the Chinese currency has stayed above 4 per cent.

Swift payment data is a major indicator for the relative status of international currencies. Other metrics include frequency of use in foreign exchange markets, commodity trading and governments’ foreign reserves.

The data showed the value of payments settled in yuan increased by 13.4 per cent compared with June, outpacing the 10.3 per cent growth recorded across all currencies.

The world’s second-largest economy first encouraged the use of its currency in international trade settlements in 2009, part of its response to the global financial crisis.

Yuan usage has been on the rise since Russia was ejected from the US dollar system after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. A vast majority of China and Russia’s US$240 billion trade last year was settled in either yuan or roubles.

Beijing’s policymakers have continued to promote the yuan as an alternative currency in international trade, as the perceived weaponisation of the US dollar against Russia has sent chills through emerging markets. In response, countries such as Brazil have expressed a greater openness to accepting Chinese currency.

“Despite depreciation pressures, the yuan’s internationalisation has advanced this year, with its overseas use on the rise,” said Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

Standard Chartered’s renminbi globalisation index, which also tracks the yuan’s international use, continued to grow this year after a strong 33 per cent increase in 2023 in alignment with Swift data.

The yuan surpassed the Japanese yen as the world’s fourth most active currency in global payments in November 2023, following the US dollar, euro and pound sterling.

In July, the US dollar accounted for 47.8 per cent of global payments, followed by the euro at 22.5 per cent and the pound sterling at 7 per cent, Swift data showed.

The yuan also secured the No. 2 position in the trade finance market with a 6 per cent stake, higher than the euro’s 5.8 per cent and second to the US dollar’s considerable share of 83.2 per cent.

As the Global South looks to avoid overreliance on the US dollar amid rising geopolitical tensions, Ding said, the yuan is well-positioned to expand its global role.

But he also pointed out the inherent difficulty of further breakthroughs after the yuan’s internationalisation reaches a certain level, considering the state of the country’s capital controls.

“To strengthen confidence in the yuan, the currency’s exchange rate but also the openness of cross-border capital flow must play a role,” he said, stressing the latter was not being prioritised sufficiently by Beijing.

“Currently, China is more focused on stability amid growing external uncertainties. But in the long term, Beijing will need to further relax its controls over capital accounts.”

China’s cruise ship services 220,000, sailing full steam into uncharted market

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3275648/chinas-cruise-ship-services-220000-sailing-full-steam-uncharted-market?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s first domestically produced cruise ship, the Adora Magic City, has completed 54 voyages and serviced 220,000 domestic and foreign passengers after seven months of operations – an achievement reflecting the country’s ambition to win a stake of the lucrative market.

The ship – long hailed as a source of national pride, along with the country’s home-grown C919 passenger jet – has capacity for 5,246 passengers and holds 2,125 cabins. It has been fully loaded for every trip according to data unveiled at a Wednesday event organised by China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC), the parent company of the Adora’s builder.

The Adora Magic City – a product of a joint venture between CSSC and American cruise operator Carnival – is offering 86 international cruises from Shanghai this year, most of which will berth in Japan and South Korea. The shipbuilder estimated the vessel’s annual purchase volume would reach 220 million yuan (US$30.8 million).

Purchase volume is used to calculate the necessary expenditures to service and supply a ship over a given period or number of journeys, which can benefit downstream industries.

The maiden voyage in early January – longer and more opulent than most subsequent trips – carried a reported purchase volume of over 60 million yuan on its own, according to a report by state media outlet China Daily.

Beijing has made overtures towards boosting service consumption – along with plans for consumer goods trade-ins and equipment upgrades – to drive the national economy through the second half of 2024, after the 4.7 per cent gross domestic product growth recorded in the second quarter fell short of the annual benchmark of “around 5 per cent”.

China Daily’s report said more than 95 per cent of passengers expressed satisfaction when assessing the vessel’s food, accommodation, shopping and entertainment services.

In the first six months of 2024, the Adora accounted for 42 per cent of China’s cruise tourism market, serving nearly 180,000 passengers.

China accounts for the world’s second-largest cohort of cruise tourists, with a projected global market share of more than 10 per cent by 2030 – a year in which the Adora’s builder estimated the number of cruise passengers in China will amount to 4.5 million, the economic contributions from cruise ships will exceed 75 billion yuan, and the total scale of the industry would reach 120 billion yuan.

The performance of the Adora and its organisational management, however, have been called into question by some users purporting to be passengers on the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu.

A frequent criticism concerned the food supply. Some commenters claimed there were “fights for food” and long queues for the free buffet, with “2,000 people and 1.5 hours left for breakfast”.

Another user referenced popular media depicting no-holds-barred contests for superiority: “From Succession to The Hunger Games, it’s only a boat ticket away.”

Younger tourists, meanwhile, disparaged what they saw as “monotonous entertainment activities”, joking that the square dances offered aboard made the ship into a “farmhouse of the sea”.

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[Sport] Taiwan jails spies 'seduced by money' to work for China

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2n7ld331jo

EPA

Accepting historic nomination, Harris vows ‘America, not China’ will win 21st century

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3275595/accepting-historic-nomination-harris-vows-america-not-china-will-win-21st-century?utm_source=rss_feed

US Vice-President Kamala Harris promised to ensure “that America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century”, as she accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination on Thursday, the first Asian-American or African-American woman named standard bearer for a major US political party.

During her almost 40-minute acceptance speech that capped the four-day Democratic Convention in Chicago, Harris focused on economic and social themes she has settled on – including increased opportunity, economic security and reproductive choice for middle class Americans.

“The path that led me here in recent weeks was no doubt unexpected, but I’m no stranger to unlikely journeys,” said Harris, 59, who was vaulted into position just a month ago when US President Joe Biden endorsed her to top the ticket after he decided to withdraw from the race.

The election had been expected to be a rematch between Biden and former president Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, until Biden had a disastrous debate performance on June 27.

The vice-president’s speech on Thursday quickly turned into a critique of her opponent. Warning of the dangers of a second Trump term, she called the Republican nominee an “unserious man”, someone who “would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States … not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”

A staunch advocate for reproductive freedom during her time in the Senate, Harris has reiterated her commitment to the issue, blaming Trump for the repeal of “Roe vs Wade” and pledging to sign a bill codifying abortion rights into law if it passes Congress.

Harris also presented a plan for an “opportunity economy”, focusing on job creation, affordable healthcare, housing and protecting social security. She pledged to work with small businesses and US companies to reduce living costs and support entrepreneurs.

Often criticised for her lack of foreign policy experience, the Democratic nominee said the US would “strengthen, not abdicate, our global leadership” under her administration.

She accused Trump of being “easy to manipulate with flattery and favours” and vowed she would not “cosy up to tyrants and dictators”.

“Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself,” she said.

“As president, I will never waver in defence of America’s security and ideals, because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand and I know where the United States belongs.”

Harris said she had helped the Biden administration “mobilise a global response – over 50 countries – to defend against Putin’s aggression” and intended to continue aid to Ukraine and coordination with Nato allies if elected in November.

She also said she would “always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and … always ensure that Israel has the ability to defend itself,” but that she was working to ensure that “the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realise their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination”.

While China did not feature prominently in her speech, it is expected to be a major topic during debates agreed to between Harris and Trump, the first of which is set for September 10.

If Harris wins on November 5 her policy toward China is expected to edge away from Biden’s incrementally, if at all, analysts said.

“I expect a lot of continuity,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “Continued focus on competition, restrictions on technology, bolstering alliances, targeted dialogues with China on issues that serve US interests. Possibly greater attention to human rights.”

The Democratic Party platform, released on Sunday in advance of the convention, provided little insight into any differences Harris might hold from Biden’s policies regarding Beijing or the Indo-Pacific region.

The 91-page document includes fewer than two pages on China. It outlines familiar hallmarks of Biden policy: close coordination with allies to address “intense strategic competition” with Beijing; continued resistance to Chinese coercion and unfair trade practices; a stronger US industrial base; and cooperation with China where possible on climate, fentanyl and artificial intelligence.

“We will guard against China taking advantage of America’s openness to use US technologies against America, our allies, and our interests,” it said.

The document frequently refers to a second Biden term, reflecting how quickly the party pivoted a month ago from Biden to Harris. Analysts said the errors suggested that the platform was approved before Biden bowed out and never revised.

The party platform also expressed robust, continued support for the defence agreement between Washington, Seoul and Tokyo.

“By bolstering our trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan, we are maintaining peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and beyond,” the document said.

Beijing has interpreted “beyond” to include moves to pressure China.

“I suspect the language championing the South Korea-Japan-US trilateral mechanism will irritate Beijing and underscores why a second Trump presidency is not all bad from China’s perspective,” said Jeremy Chan, a senior China analyst at the Eurasia Group.

Though Harris has served as Biden’s deputy on some international issues, she has reportedly never visited China, analysts noted. Her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, is far more familiar with the country, reportedly taking more than two dozen trips there after a stint as an English teacher in Guangdong province in the late 1980s.

Walz also learned some Mandarin and Cantonese.

“So he might play a more active role on the file than other foreign policy issues,” Chan said.

A source close to the Harris campaign said Harris had a “close, personal relationship” with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, whom she has met a handful of times, more than other Asian leaders.

It is unclear whether this would generate any shift in US support for Manila in the South China Sea, although it is difficult to imagine Washington softening its position under Harris.

While Trump and Biden have little in common, they share the same doubts about China. Biden has largely continued Trump’s policy against China, and has even taken it further.

However, Trump’s approach and policies regarding China during a potential second presidential term remain uncertain.

The former president’s “America First” foreign policy has unsettled US allies, even as he has threatened to enact tariffs of 60 per cent on all Chinese imports and up to 200 per cent on all imported vehicles, including those from China.

“He wants to impose what is, in effect, a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries,” Harris said last week in an economic policy speech, referring to Trump.

“That will devastate Americans.”

Chinese woman sues South Korea for negligence in husband’s death at immigration detention facility

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3275608/chinese-woman-sues-south-korea-negligence-husbands-death-immigration-detention-facility?utm_source=rss_feed

The family of a Chinese man who died earlier this year at an immigration facility in Seoul filed a lawsuit against the government on Thursday alleging that his death was a result of negligence and a lack of proper medical attention.

Migrant rights activists say that the death highlights widespread human rights violations in South Korea’s immigration detention facilities, where detainees often endure inhumane treatment and are deprived of basic needs.

Duroo, an association for public interest law representing the bereaved family of the deceased, held a press conference in front of the Seoul Central District Court, where the family filed a lawsuit against the government seeking 56 million won (US$42,000) in compensation.

According to the lawyers, the Chinese national died on the evening of January 1 at the Seoul Southern Immigration Office in Gangseo district, two weeks after being detained when officials discovered his visa had expired. The autopsy revealed that he died from peritonitis caused by a ruptured liver abscess, exacerbated by his severe diabetic condition.

The detainee, who suffered from chronic illnesses including diabetes and high blood pressure, requested medical attention multiple times, but officials ignored the requests, the lawyers said.

“I visited my husband several times while he was detained, and it was clear that his health was deteriorating,” his wife said during the press conference. “On the morning of the day he died, he called a friend to say he was so sick he felt he was going to die. Yet the officials still ignored him.”

She, also a Chinese national, wished to remain anonymous due to concerns about potential visa-related repercussions.

“I and my young son lost the breadwinner of our family in a sudden death that could have been prevented if he had been allowed to go to the hospital just once.”

She also mentioned that a police investigation into the incident concluded without holding any immigration officials accountable, attributing the cause of death to chronic health conditions.

“Do I have to endure this unfair situation just because I’m a foreign woman with poor Korean skills and can’t afford a lawyer? Where is the justice?” she added.

The facility where the Chinese man was held operates as a temporary holding centre, detaining foreign nationals accused of visa violations until their cases are processed. Detainees typically stay there for days or even weeks while awaiting deportation or the completion of administrative procedures.

Lawyer Lee Han-jae of Duroo alleged that the immigration office violated relevant laws, which state that upon admission to a detention facility, a foreign national must undergo a physical examination.

“The rule also stipulates that if a foreign national is ill, they must receive medical care from a doctor. If there isn’t a doctor available at the facility, the officials must call in a doctor or the patient must be transferred to an outside medical institution for treatment,” Lee explained.

“The essence of this case is that the minimum necessary actions required for detaining a person were not taken at all.”

Sim Ah-jung, a migrant rights activist, emphasised that this incident is one of the many preventable deaths occurring in immigration detention facilities, citing a similar incident at the Busan Immigration Centre on August 16, 2022.

“In the name of ‘protection,’ non-Korean nationals are being detained in immigration facilities across the country, suffering from mental and physical harm. These facilities are intended as temporary holding centres for administrative processes, not places to hold people indefinitely,” she said.

The Korea Times reached out to the Ministry of Justice for comment, but they did not respond at the time of writing.

This story was first published by

Mainland Chinese tech vendors at computer fair vie for Hong Kong market share

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3275627/mainland-chinese-tech-vendors-computer-fair-vie-hong-kong-market-share?utm_source=rss_feed

Mainland Chinese technology vendors at this year’s Computer and Communications Festival are seeking to gain a market share in Hong Kong, amid the city’s potential shift from overseas products due to geopolitical factors.

But discounted products, such as power banks and computer monitors, were the bestsellers on Friday, the first day of the festival.

Many mainland vendors made their debut at the Belt and Road Software Pavilion this year, eagerly seeking opportunities to partner with Hong Kong clients and grow in the local market.

“We want to show that Chinese companies can set up databases and provide alternative products as good as other overseas competitors,” Hailey Long, who works for Beijing Vastdata Technology, said.

The data technology provider set up a business in Hong Kong six months ago and had sealed a deal with a local hospital. Long said the firm was looking for more clients from government departments at the festival.

Katrin Kung, sales manager at ELM Computer Technologies Limited, said more communication between the Hong Kong market and mainland providers was needed.

“The Hong Kong entities used to rely on foreign brands for technology support and know very little about what those mainland companies can provide,” said Kung, whose company aimed to provide an integrated platform to link both the Hong Kong market and mainland companies.

“But now they started to look for alternatives as there might be future risks like trade war and security concerns.”

Outside the Belt and Road Software Pavilion, visitors lined up for discounted products, such as computers, adaptors and televisions.

More than 30 people queued in front of the Ego booth in the first 30 minutes to get their hands on discounted power banks.

People also gathered at Unitree, another popular booth, to watch two robot dogs fight each other. A small Unitree Go2 robot dog waved at the crowd and gave greetings, attracting many people to interact and take photos with it.

The four-day fair kicked off on Friday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai. It was poised to break records with 300 exhibitors this year.

The Belt and Road Software Pavilion attracted 120 software companies, most of which were from the mainland.

For the first time, organisers were offering a limited number of tickets to mainland visitors through Alipay for HK$1 (13 US cents) from Wednesday to Sunday.

Visitors were mainly local residents and not many mainland tourists were seen on Friday morning.

“This year the expo is not as crowded as before,” said Alan Ip, a freelance photographer in his late 30s who just bought a printer.

“The price is slightly cheaper than other stores. I happened to need a printer so I bought it. Apart from that, I don’t have a particular shopping list in mind.”

College graduate Alex Chin, 23, also agreed that fewer people attended this year’s fair than the last time he visited.

Chin, who said he was interested in gaming products, bought a massager instead.

“I tried it on and it was so comfortable that I couldn’t stop using it,” said Chin, who spent more money this year thanks to his part-time job.

Several people queued up to try racing simulators and shooting machines.

Vijay Kumar, 55, said he prepared a target list of models every year before the exhibition.

This year, he said he was looking for small personal computers for his office and home.

“The advantage of this type of festival is that you can find all brands at the same time and their latest models on display,” Kumar, who works in the content industry, said.

“I come here every year and ask for the vendors’ contacts. So next time when I need new products I know where to go.”

A technology fan himself, Kumar expressed his excitement to see new sections of artificial intelligence this year.

“I like to be educated a bit by talking to those companies. But it seems the new sections are relatively quiet. People are more excited about buying the small cheap stuff on the other side,” he said.

Deaths of 5 Chinese nationals in Thai plane crash sparks outpouring of grief on internet

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275631/chinese-internet-mourns-5-nationals-including-2-kids-killed-thai-plane-crash?utm_source=rss_feed

Internet users in China reacted with grief and shock after five Chinese nationals, including two children, were killed in a plane crash in Thailand on Thursday afternoon.

The small turboprop plane headed to Thailand’s southeastern Trat province lost contact with air traffic control shortly after taking off from Suvarnabhumi Airport in the capital Bangkok, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

China’s embassy in Thailand confirmed to Xinhua that five Chinese nationals were among the nine people on the plane. The others were the pilot and co-pilot and two cabin crew, all Thai nationals.

There were no survivors.

Two of the victims were children aged 12 and 13, local media reported.

A rescuer who identified himself only as Chu told The Beijing News that emergency workers had to dig up to 3 metres (about 10 feet) to find the victims’ remains at the crash site, a mangrove swamp in Chachoengsao province about 40km (25 miles) from Suvaranbhumi.

Search and rescue operations continued into Thursday night but had to be stopped after the site was submerged by the rising tide near the mouth of the Bang Pakong River.

Chinese internet users mourned the victims on social media, leaving “please be safe” and praying or crying emojis under a post on the tragedy from state broadcaster CCTV.

“It is so heartbreaking to know that there were even two children among five Chinese tourists. They just went to have fun on a summer holiday,” one user commented on the post on Weibo, a Twitter-like Chinese platform.

The accident has also sparked concerns about the safety of small aircraft.

“So are these low-altitude small aircraft really safe? Even a minor incident could have devastating consequences,” another commenter wrote on Weibo.

According to Aviation Safety Network, the Cessna Caravan C208B was operated by the Thai Flying Service. It ferried passengers between Bangkok and a luxury island resort on an island in Trat, a coastal province about 275km southeast of the Thai capital.

The operator of the aircraft told Chinese media The Paper that the plane had been en route to an island resort.

Several Chinese web users recognised the aircraft and expressed shock.

“I am shocked as I just took this flight. I also felt the plane was too small and might be unsafe at that time. But it would be inconvenient to go to the island if not taking the flight,” a user posted on Weibo with a hashtag related to the crash.

Thai authorities said the cause of the accident was under investigation.

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EU and China should join hands to lead new era of green trade

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3275285/eu-and-china-should-join-hands-lead-new-era-green-trade?utm_source=rss_feed

The European Union has imposed provisional countervailing duties on Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports since July 5, arguing that Chinese companies unfairly benefit from government subsidies. On August 9, China responded by appealing to the World Trade Organization.

Although the European Commission announced a revision on August 20, reducing the planned tariff for Tesla and potentially lowering it for Chinese firms in joint ventures with EU carmakers, the duties for most EVs companies in China will remain significant.

The current tensions between China and the EU are reminiscent of the 2013 solar panel dispute, in which the EU initiated an anti-dumping investigation against Chinese-made solar panels. That dispute was ultimately resolved through negotiations. Replicating such a resolution seems unlikely.

Over the past decade, developed economies that once championed free trade and welcomed cheaper imported goods have turned towards trade protectionism and prioritised domestic re-industrialisation.

Events such as the US-China trade war, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have accelerated this shift, leading to a marked deterioration in the global trade environment. Geopolitical competition has increasingly replaced the free market as the foundation of international trade rules.

In this context, global supply chains have been restructured. Some countries, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, have reduced their trade dependency on China. Conversely, resource-exporting countries like Brazil and Australia, along with several emerging markets, have strengthened their trade relationships with China. Notably, Southeast Asian countries have further integrated into a supply chain with China, resulting in significant trade expansion.

Against the backdrop of US-China decoupling, the strategic importance of the EU market to China has become more prominent. First, the overall economic strength of the EU rivals that of the United States. According to the International Comparison Programme, in 2021, the EU accounted for 15.2 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP), adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), comparable to the US’ 15.5 per cent, making it the world’s third-largest economy. Although China is the world’s largest economy measured by PPP, its per capita GDP was only 39 per cent of the EU average.

Second, the EU maintains a global leadership position in many traditional manufacturing sectors and emerging industries, making it one of the few economies with technological innovation capabilities that can rival those of the US.

Third, after more than 30 years of integration, the EU’s single market has become increasingly competitive and attractive, further enhancing its significance in the global trade system.

As the US intensifies its trade and technology blockade against China, the EU’s role is indispensable in key areas driving China’s economic growth, such as foreign direct investment, exports, technology upgrades and the overseas expansion of Chinese enterprises.

From the EU’s perspective, although it aligns with the US in terms of ideology and geopolitical security, US economic policies like the Inflation Reduction Act have harmed the EU’s interests. The bloc is eager to compete with the US in emerging technologies to enhance its own competitiveness and influence.

Moreover, the EU has aggressively pursued a green transition, aiming to become a global leader in sustainable development and climate crisis mitigation. This ambition drives its immense demand for affordable new energy products.

For instance, after the outbreak of the energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war, the EU dramatically increased its energy transition by expanding imports of Chinese solar panels. This example underscores how trade with China can play a positive role in helping the EU achieve a low-cost green transformation.

However, the EU is justified in its efforts to diversify its supply chain and support its domestic industries. Consequently, the EU inevitably has mixed feelings towards China’s green products. On the one hand, the rapid growth of China’s “new three” exports – electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar panels – poses a potential threat to European industries. On the other hand, the EU has a significant demand for affordable green products, which China is well positioned to supply.

Considering these factors, China and the EU need a bilateral green industry agreement to break the deadlock and create a new win-win trade balance. Addressing the climate crisis represents the greatest common interest between China and the EU. From an economic standpoint, scaling up green industries with government support aligns with the international community’s goals of addressing the climate crisis and achieving sustainable development.

Both the US’ Inflation Reduction Act and the EU’s Net-Zero Industry Act implement fiscal and credit policies favouring green industries. However, such policy tools for promoting green development sometimes may not be aligned with existing international trade rules.

In the absence of updated rules and international agreements, trade conflicts are inevitable, fuelling protectionism, high inflation and hindering the global green transition process. Therefore, reforming international trade rules to better suit green development is in the interest of all parties involved.

Amid current trade tensions, China and the EU are in a unique position to lead the way in negotiating new international trade rules that would promote the green transformation of both economies, setting an example for future WTO reforms in this area. The two sides need to establish a coordination mechanism for green industry policies, ensure bilateral transparency and openness and jointly commit to a win-win green future.

China’s green panda bonds are ‘reliable’ financing option for Africa, summit hears

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3275597/chinas-green-panda-bonds-reliable-financing-option-africa-summit-hears?utm_source=rss_feed

African countries can easily raise financing by issuing “stable and reliable” green panda bonds, an executive of China’s central bank has told a summit in Nairobi, as Beijing steps up its internationalisation of the Chinese currency.

“We welcome Africa to launch green bonds in China to raise stable and RMB-based financing from the Chinese market,” said Ji Min, director general of the People’s Bank of China counsellor’s office.

Speaking at the 2024 China-Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Summit on Wednesday, Jin described the bonds as a “reliable and predictable source of funds” and noted that Egypt last year became the first African nation to issue green panda bonds.

Facing an economic crisis and consequently fewer US dollars and other hard currencies, Egypt floated a three-year sustainability panda bond worth 3.5 billion yuan (US$478 million) in October.

Panda bonds – typically denominated in yuan and issued in China by non-Chinese organisations, including governments and corporations – have gained traction as traders and countries seek to diversify from an over-reliance on the US dollar.

More than 150 billion yuan worth of panda bonds were issued in China last year, with the number of issuers increasing by more than 80 per cent year on year, according to Chinese data.

Ji also told the summit that the yuan could play a bigger role in trade and cooperation between African countries and China, with opportunities for currency swaps and cross-border settlements.

For example, China and Kenya could use yuan and “Kenyan shillings to settle cross-border trade”, Ji said.

Beijing has been encouraging the use of local currencies as part of its bid to de-dollarise the continent. The Bank of China said last year that its Zambian division would boost the yuan as a trading currency in Africa.

Also last year, South Africa’s biggest lender, Standard Bank, and China’s largest state-owned bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, renewed a long-standing partnership that facilitates use of the Chinese currency across 15 African markets.

Use of the yuan as a trading currency has also increased dramatically in other parts of the world. More countries – including Brazil, Argentina, Iraq and Pakistan – are accepting Chinese trade payments in yuan.

Saudi Arabia is said to be considering oil trade with China using the yuan. Use of the Chinese currency has also increased dramatically in Russia-China trade, because of Western sanctions on Moscow in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.

The Nairobi summit heard that Beijing is ready to export its financial inclusion model – which saw the creation of fintech giants such as Tencent and Ant Group – to Africa, where it could serve as a guide.

Ji said Chinese authorities gave fintech companies the room to grow with a “tolerant, open and supportive” regulatory environment.

Africa could achieve similar success if countries accelerated digital financial inclusion through regulatory reforms that encouraged financing for small, medium and micro enterprises, as well as agribusiness, he said.

“We should go beyond large-scale projects,” said Ji, referring to the need to fund more small businesses serving a broader population.

The summit also heard from Bei Duoguang, president of Renmin University’s Chinese Academy of Financial Inclusion, who pointed out that China’s digital financial inclusion had started with using mobile phones to make payments.

This progressed to digital lending and borrowing, and fintechs were now developing digital insurance, he said.

A total of 106 companies from Africa, China and other Asian countries signed up as inaugural members of the Afro-Asia Fintech Association, which was also unveiled at the event with the aim of increasing digital financial inclusion.

April Long, founder and chief executive of Pyxis Go, a cross-border mobile payment platform and a member of the association, said person-to-person money transfers were possible between Kenya and China, but the service was not provided to businesses.

Cross-border payment solutions would help individual traders to pay for products, since China remained the number one source of merchandise for African traders, she said.

Trade between China and Africa is massive, reaching US$282.1 billion in 2023, up 1.5 per cent year on year, according to China’s customs data.

Grace Kyokunda, chief investment officer at the African Development Bank, said Africa had a lot to learn from China’s digital financial inclusion. “We look forward to strengthening our partnership with China in developing digital financial solutions that cater to underserved populations,” she said.

China considers higher tariffs on large petrol cars as EU tensions escalate

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3275650/china-considers-higher-tariffs-large-petrol-cars-eu-tensions-escalate?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese carmakers and industry associations provided “opinions and suggestions” to commerce officials in a closed-door meeting on Friday as Beijing considered raising import tariffs on large engine petrol-powered vehicles.

The move is viewed as the latest tit-for-tat response to the European Union’s tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs).

The ministry said officials had “listened to the opinions and suggestions of industry, experts and scholars on raising the import tariffs on fuel-powered cars with large displacement engines”, according to its online statement.

“The timing of the action basically suggests that this is a response to the EU tariff on made-in-China EVs,” said Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank.

“China might hope for a product that probably is less painful for itself and probably affects some of the EU countries a bit more than the others. So this is more like targeting the advantage of the others.”

In an article posted by state broadcaster CCTV in June, Chinese producers had called for import tariffs on European cars during a closed-door meeting attended by Chinese trade officials in Brussels earlier that month.

And in a separate CCTV article in June, Cui Fan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics, had suggested raising import tariff on European cars to 25 per cent, which he said would be in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

Friday’s meeting came after the EU had announced a revised version of its provisional tariffs on leading Chinese EV brands on Tuesday.

A day later, China announced an anti-subsidy investigation into dairy products produced in the European Union.

Chinese authorities had earlier started investigations into port and brandy produced in the EU.

Large engine petrol-powered vehicles usually include sports utility vehicles, limousines and other luxury segments, in which European manufacturers have long been competitive.

China’s vehicle imports fell by 10 per cent last year from a year earlier to 800,000, which included 196,000 petrol-powered passenger cars with engines larger than 2.5 litres from the EU, according to the China Automobile Dealers Association.

The import value of large engine petrol-powered vehicles from the EU rose by 3 per cent year on year to US$17.9 billion last year, higher than the value of EVs exported from China to Europe.

Europe has been the primary destination for Chinese-made EVs, with about 38 per cent of China’s 1.2 million EV exports heading to Europe last year.

The revised EU tariffs on Chinese-made EVs announced on Tuesday were slightly lower than the rates proposed in July, with the bloc set to vote on the final tariffs in October.

Cui Hongjian, a professor with the Academy of Regional and Global Governance at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said earlier this week that the latest proposal by the EU was “obviously not in line with China’s expectations”.

Earlier this month, Beijing announced that it had filed a complaint against the EU’s tariff increases on Chinese-made EVs at the WTO.

“Regrettably, the use of trade defence instruments by one government is increasingly being responded to seemingly in kind by the recipient government,” the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said on Wednesday in response to China’s investigation into fresh and processed cheese, as well as uncondensed milk and cream without added sugar or other sweeteners.

In the first half of the year, China’s EV exports to the EU declined by 15 per cent year on year, according to Chinese customs data.

Monthly exports in June marked a new low for the year, dropping below the 30,000-unit mark for the first time, representing a 31 per cent decrease.

Huawei’s polar code beats Nato protocol in South China Sea submarine communication test

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3275418/huaweis-polar-code-beats-nato-protocol-south-china-sea-submarine-communication-test?utm_source=rss_feed

A milestone for underwater communication has been achieved following testing of new technology that features a powerful method of data encoding developed by Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies, according to scientists involved in the project.

The 92150 unit of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in collaboration with Xiamen University recently conducted tests on the new underwater data transmission technology at an undisclosed location in the South China Sea, with a water depth of 3,000 metres (9,842 feet), far from the Chinese mainland.

Scientists deployed a small hydrophone 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) below the surface and successfully received signals transmitted from a ship that was 30km (18.6 miles) away, achieving a data transmission speed of 4,000 bits per second (bps).

This sets a new record for the performance of underwater acoustic communication equipment in open reports.

Extremely low-frequency (ELF) radio waves can penetrate the water, but their efficiency is very low, with only a few characters being transmitted per minute. Sound waves are more efficient but susceptible to refraction from the sea surface and seabed, ocean currents, and other environmental disturbances, making it difficult to transmit large amounts of data over long distances.

The previous record was also held by China. In March 2022, Zhejiang University and China State Shipbuilding Corporation conducted a similar test, achieving a distance of 14km (8.7 miles) at a rate of 3,000bps.

Benefiting from the booming telecommunications industry, China’s advantage in wireless communication technology is expanding from the air to the sea. These advanced technologies can support the large-scale application of underwater drones powered by artificial intelligence, and they could have a profound impact on future military and geopolitical power struggles.

This includes China’s response to Nato’s expansion.

Nato has identified China as a major target and is actively seeking to expand its reach into Asia – which has triggered alarm bells for Beijing.

The current underwater acoustic communication protocol for Nato submarines, JANUS, was launched in 2017. According to publicly available information, the longest communication supported by JANUS is 28km (17.4 miles), but at that distance the sound wave frequency drops to 900Hz, allowing only a small amount of information to be transmitted.

JANUS uses a method called OFDM to transmit signals. OFDM technology can split data streams and modulate them onto multiple carrier sound waves to achieve high-speed transmission over a short distance.

In China, though, OFDM is considered an outdated technology.

This is because communication devices using OFDM require higher operating power, and the related components are complex and expensive. Plus, as the communication distance increases, noise also increases, leading to a sharp deterioration in performance, which is not helpful to the large-scale deployment and collaboration of small unmanned platforms.

Instead, the Chinese team has used higher-order polarisation weight (HPW), a unique and powerful information encoding method released by Huawei in 2017.

Underwater acoustic communication equipment using the HPW encoding method does not require data splitting and can modulate information onto a single carrier wave for transmission and reception, significantly reducing device power consumption and complexity.

The 92150 unit, based in Quanzhou, Fujian, specialises in unmanned underwater operations.

They collaborated with a team of scientists led by Professor Tong Feng at Xiamen University’s college of ocean and Earth sciences to develop the new device.

During testing, Tong’s team achieved zero error code transmissions over an ultra-long distance of 30km (18.6 miles) at frequencies between 4,000Hz and 8,000Hz.

Tong and his colleagues described Huawei’s encoding method as “precise and stable” in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese Journal of Acoustics in July.

The HPW method originates from a significant breakthrough in number theory and was jointly developed by Huawei scientists from China, France and Canada. It can transmit information with unprecedented efficiency and eliminate noise.

It belongs to a large family of coding methods developed by Huawei known as polar codes.

Polar code was invented by Turkish scientist Erdal Arikan in 2008 and is the first algorithm that can elevate information transmission efficiency to the theoretical limit.

The implementation of this technology is very challenging. Huawei is one of the few telecommunications companies that support this path.

Professor Arikan received a special award from Huawei’s founder, Ren Zhengfei, in 2018.

“Without the vision and technical contributions of Huawei directors and engineers, polar codes would not have made it from lab to a standard in less than 10 years. And as engineers, there is no greater reward than seeing our ideas turn into reality,” Arikan said at an award ceremony in Paris.

Polar codes are now widely used in 5G communications and consumer electronic products. For example, Huawei’s wireless headphones using this encoding achieve a data transmission rate six times higher than the latest Bluetooth products, with one-thirtieth of the latency, double the coverage distance, and a 40 per cent reduction in power consumption.

Meanwhile, the underwater competition between China and the United States is intensifying.

In June, the US military proposed using unmanned surface and underwater drone swarms to transform the Taiwan Strait into an “unmanned hellscape” in its latest plan for a military intervention over the island of Taiwan.

China has also established a high-density underwater surveillance and communication network in the South China Sea and around Taiwan.

Some Chinese military researchers have also recently proposed planting unmanned underwater vehicles on seabeds near US ports or overseas military bases to perform tasks such as intelligence gathering or strikes – which could be activated following a potential US attack on China.

Deng Xiaoping: 120th anniversary of the man who changed China

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/series/3275575/deng-xiaoping-120th-anniversary-man-who-changed-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Universities in China change course to meet government’s need for hi-tech workforce

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3275503/universities-china-change-course-meet-governments-need-hi-tech-workforce?utm_source=rss_feed

More than a dozen Chinese universities are overhauling their engineering and technology majors in favour of hi-tech areas such as AI and big data to answer a government call for more talent.

By July 31, a total of 19 universities had suspended or completely removed 99 majors, news portal The Paper reported on Thursday, citing its own tally.

For example, Sichuan University was considering removing 31 majors, including animation, acting and applied physics, and setting up a new major in biomass science and engineering, the report said.

The university said the major would replace “light chemical engineering” amid hopes it would not only support traditional industries such as tanning and papermaking, but would adapt to future needs of the emerging biomass industry.

This move follows requests from the Ministry of Education to “adjust structures of university majors and talent-training schemes to better serve China’s modernisation”.

Last month, a ministry document said it supported efforts by universities to cultivate talent in key areas, including manufacturing of integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, quantum technology, life sciences and energy.

According to a research paper from the Wuhan-based Huazhong University of Science and Technology last month, the biggest changes to academic courses in the past decade have been in engineering majors.

Official data shows that from 2013 to 2022, the number of engineering majors in universities across China increased by 7,566. There were also 96 new areas of study, including robotics, AI and big data.

The research paper said the majors removed were often in the traditional engineering industry, while new majors – such as blockchain, integrated circuit design and cybersecurity – reflected emerging technologies, government strategy and regional economic development.

The Chinese government and ministries have repeatedly called for tech talent to be developed and nurtured.

On August 2, education vice-minister Wu Yan called for professional education in China to be “more suited to industry development”. In an article in the CPPCC Daily, Wu said the ministry had encouraged universities to hold classes where talent was needed the most.

The call is coming from the top down. In recent years, President Xi Jinping has been pushing an innovation-driven economy amid competition with the United States, and seeking self-reliance in the face of Western sanctions that curb access to semiconductors.

In a speech in June, Xi said China needed to “seize the high ground”.

“There are still some shortcomings [and] weaknesses,” Xi said while urging a boost to “national strategic scientific and technological forces” to support “basic research while encouraging free exploration”.

China has also launched programmes to train digital engineers, technicians and workers in big data, AI, smart manufacturing, integrated circuits, data security and other areas, according to a recent three-year government plan.

As part of the plan, Chinese universities must introduce new majors related to the digital economy and improve interdisciplinary training.

[Sport] Chinese scammers cheated victims from Isle of Man base

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz6x1ql1yelo

BBC

Excel Group

China’s tech hub Shenzhen prime for property tax trial at ‘critical moment’: top adviser

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3275477/chinas-tech-hub-shenzhen-prime-property-tax-trial-critical-moment-top-adviser?utm_source=rss_feed

China should consider expanding its property tax trial to Shenzhen and some low-tier cities, said a senior government adviser, a move that would pave the way for the much-delayed legislation and nationwide implementation and also bring a new source of revenue for debt-ridden local governments.

Shenzhen, which is home to tech giants such as Huawei, Tencent and DJI, would be an ideal choice to explore tackling the local land dilemma, said Yin Zhongli, a senior real estate finance expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences governmental think tank. He was hired as an adviser serving as a counsellor for China’s cabinet, the State Council, two months ago.

Around half of the housing in the southern mainland Chinese city that borders Hong Kong is situated on rural land collectively owned by communities, which restricts property rights and hampers the implementation of property tax, he added.

Under the pilot programme, introduction of property tax in the tech hub could also serve as a catalyst for reforms in property rights recognition, he wrote in an article published in the August issue of monthly Chinese Banker magazine.

The suggestion came at a time when municipal and county-level governments are struggling with huge debts and falling revenues from land sales and taxes.

According to the Ministry of Finance, confirmed debts totalled 42.6 trillion yuan (US$5.97 trillion) as of the end of June, while estimates also put implicit debts in the trillions of yuan.

China’s proposed property tax, akin to the system used in the United States, is widely viewed as a potentially stable source of income that local governments could count on to empower their fiscal capability and help address their debts.

The property tax pilot programme began in 2011 in Shanghai and Chongqing.

The central government announced in 2021 its intention to expand the pilot programme to more cities, however, it was delayed in 2022 due to a weak domestic economy and fragile market sentiment.

China’s top legislature did not include property tax legislation in its five-year plan last year.

“The real estate market is caught in a vicious cycle of debt defaults, declining sales, and tightened credit” said Yin.

“Imposing a property tax nationwide at this critical moment could push the market over the edge, intensifying the negative loop.

“Plus, implementing a property tax could cause housing rents to rise, directly affecting young people’s affordability as landlords might offset the impact of a property tax by increasing rental prices.”

Yin suggested expanding the property tax pilot programme beyond major cities like Chongqing and Shanghai, which have had property taxes in place for over 10 years, to include third- or fourth-tier cities in order to accumulate more experience.

Property tax could also contribute to Beijing’s goal of narrowing the wealth gap, he added.

The expansion of the pilot programme was also suggested last year by former finance minister Lou Jiwei.

“Property tax is the most suitable tax to be levied at the local level. It should be piloted as soon as the economy returns to normal growth,” wrote Lou in an article published in March 2023.

In the third plenum decision released in July, Beijing stated the intention to “improve and refine the property tax system”.

The scope of the pilot programme, though, remains relatively limited as only high-priced homes are included.

Newly purchased homes in Shanghai are subject to a property tax of 0.6 per cent.

But for homes priced below twice the average selling price of new residential properties in the city during the previous year – which was 91,954 yuan (US$12,890) per square metre in 2023 – the tax rate is reduced to 0.4 per cent.

Chongqing, meanwhile, charges tax on new homes with a market price above 29,616 yuan per square metre.

Starting this year, the tax rate was reduced to a flat 0.5 per cent, resulting in a substantial decrease in the amount of tax payable by homeowners.

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Panama unveils deportation flights to China, India and Ecuador to stem US-bound migration

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/americas/article/3275536/panama-unveils-deportation-flights-china-india-and-ecuador-stem-us-bound-migration?utm_source=rss_feed

Panama’s government announced on Thursday additional deportation flights for migrants apprehended in the Central American nation to China, India and Ecuador, in a bid to reduce of flow of mostly US-bound migration.

Panama’s recently-inaugurated President Jose Mulino, who campaigned on a pledge to end his nation’s status as a major migrant transit point, made the announcement during his weekly press conference.

Financed by Washington, the deportation flights kicked off earlier this week with a first planeload of Colombian migrants.

The flights come less than three months before November’s US presidential election, where unlawful migration has emerged as a major issue.

For years, would-be migrants from South America and beyond have sought to cross the dangerous Darién Gap jungle on foot that connects Colombia with Panama en route to the United States.

Mulino did not specify the legal status of the migrants who will be flown to Ecuador or the two Asian countries, or if they have criminal records.

He noted that flights to Ecuador will take place on August 29, flights to Colombia on August 30, and to India on September 3.

Mulino added that additional flights to Colombia will take place between August 24-30, but he did not provide dates or number of flights set to take off for China.

US charges former Chinese democracy advocate with being illegal agent for Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3275538/us-charges-former-chinese-democracy-advocate-being-illegal-agent-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

A naturalised US citizen from China has been arrested on charges of acting as an unregistered agent for Beijing and for lying to the FBI after he allegedly ran a pro-democracy civic group while providing intelligence on dissidents to the Ministry of State Security (MSS).

Arraigned in federal court in New York on Wednesday, Yuanjun Tang, 67, faces up to 20 years in prison, charged with one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the US Attorney General, one count of conspiracy and one count of making false statements.

According to court documents, Tang was imprisoned in China during the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown as a dissident opposing Beijing’s one-party state and Chinese Communist Party control before defecting to Taiwan around 2002.

Tang was subsequently granted political asylum in the US where he “regularly participated in events” with fellow Chinese dissidents, according to the criminal complaint.

In 2018 and 2023, and possibly on other occasions, however, Tang worked as an agent for MSS, China’s principle civilian agency handles foreign intelligence, counter-intelligence, espionage and political security activities.

Prosecutors allege that Tang agreed to cooperate in a bid to see his family back on the mainland. They add that after a visit home in 2018, he was introduced to an unnamed MSS official at which point the MSS provided money to his family.

The Chinese embassy in Washington said it was not aware of specific details involving the case.

“But in recent years, the US government and media have frequently hyped up the so-called ‘Chinese agents’ narratives, many of which have later been proven untrue,” said spokesman Liu Pengyu.

“China requires its citizens overseas to comply with the laws and regulations of the host country, and we firmly oppose the groundlessly slandering and smearing targeting China,” he added.

Two weeks ago, a jury in New York convicted a naturalised US citizen from China of leading a pro-democracy group while secretly working with Beijing intelligence officers to monitor dissidents.

And in April 2023, the FBI arrested two New York residents for allegedly running a secret Chinese police station in New York City.

According to the Justice Department filing, Tang used an email account, encrypted chats, text messages and audio and video calls to communicate with and receive instructions from an MSS intelligence officer.

Of particular interest to Beijing, US prosecutors said, were details on US-based Chinese democracy activists, dissidents and groups that China saw as “potentially adverse” to its interests; events planned to commemorate the 2021 June 4 anniversary; and details of the US asylum process.

“He also travelled at least three times for face-to-face meetings with MSS intelligence officers and helped the MSS infiltrate a group chat on an encrypted messaging application,” the filing said.

The chat platform with some 140 participants was reportedly used to communicate about activist issues and criticise the Chinese government.

Tang also allegedly provided MSS with information about an unnamed Congressional candidate – reportedly a Chinese dissident and human rights activist – including details on the candidate’s campaign team and fundraising.

During a 2022 meeting, prosecutors allege, the MSS officer inserted a monitoring device in one of Tang’s cellphones that “caused any photo, screenshot, or voice memorandum generated or captured on the compromised phone to be immediately transmitted” to the officer.

The Justice Department said that the FBI is still investigating, but that law enforcement agencies have recovered instructions that MSS sent Tang as well as photographs, videos and documents Tang collected or created to send back to the spy agency from several electronic devices.

In recent years, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made security a cornerstone of his administration and significantly expanded the power of the MSS.

The US State Department expressed “great concern” last year that China’s vaguely worded counter-espionage law has the potential to criminalise legitimate activities, including corporate due diligence, financial accounting, academic research and college application consulting.

In May, MSS warned on its WeChat account against “quite deceptive” foreign operatives seeking to steal hi-tech Chinese industrial secrets.

Agencies investigating and prosecuting the Tang case include the FBI’s national security unit and the Justice Department’s counter-intelligence and export control section.

Neither Tang, who was arrested in the New York City borough of Queens, nor any lawyer he has hired could be reached. New York, where Tang has lived for two decades, has the largest concentration of Chinese-Americans – more than half a million – of any US city.

‘Millions benefited’: why generations see Deng Xiaoping as the architect of modern China

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3275485/millions-benefited-why-generations-see-deng-xiaoping-architect-modern-china?utm_source=rss_feed

As China commemorates the 120th anniversary of ’s birth, the Post examines his legacy across generations. In the second instalment of a , we look at the impact of his policies – from the factories to the countryside.

A year after Deng Xiaoping stepped down as China’s paramount leader, Mindy Guo took a risk and left her secure job in the “iron rice bowl”.

It was November 1990 and the 21-year-old had been working for a state-owned enterprise in Beijing. She moved south to Shenzhen – a city rapidly developing thanks to Deng’s reform and opening-up policies – for a job with a footwear manufacturer.

“Our generation boldly ventured into uncharted waters … we ‘crossed the river by feeling the stones’,” she said, referring to the metaphor Deng used to describe China’s gradual approach to those policies.

Guo, who had recently graduated with a major in English translation, started at the company as an assistant earning 8,400 yuan a year. Seventeen years later she was general manager, on an annual salary of 800,000 yuan.

She learned shoemaking skills but also the professionalism and integrity needed to run a modern export operation – something she credits her colleagues from Hong Kong and Taiwan with teaching her.

As for Deng, she is grateful for his liberal policies.

“He is revered almost as a godlike figure,” Guo said. “He was like the head of a big family – assured us to work hard without fear and cleared obstacles from the path, no matter big or small.”

It is a sentiment shared by many Chinese across generations and all walks of life – even 120 years after Deng’s birth on August 22, 1904.

Celebrated as the architect of contemporary China, Deng transformed a nation that had been devastated by political turmoil into a global economic powerhouse in just a few decades – something President Xi Jinping has called a “historic and worldwide” contribution.

After taking the Communist Party helm in the late 1970s, Deng set about changing mindsets. He unleashed experiments on the economy, on education and culture, science and technology, and tried to rally support with an approach he said aimed to benefit the majority.

“Deng brought his pragmatism to the service of clear goals, based on a few clear concepts: the Chinese people were tired of being poor; they wanted individual dignity at home; and they wanted a respected, equal role in the world,” said David Lampton, former president of the National Committee on US-China Relations and professor emeritus and former director of SAIS China at Johns Hopkins University.

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said the value of Deng’s leadership was widely recognised in China.

He said those born in the 1950s to 1970s tended to appreciate Deng for bringing stability to the country and fostering growth, while the 1980s generation valued Deng’s legacy during the high-growth period following China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001.

But he said Chinese born in the 1990s and 2000s tended to lack awareness of the challenges the country faced before Deng took over and even took the country’s economic success and global status for granted.

Fast-forward to today and the leadership is grappling with a raft of other challenges – from a slowing economy to growing wealth disparities and a divided society as tensions escalate with the United States and the West.

Concerned over threats to the economy and its ideology, the ruling party under Xi has tightened its grip on many aspects of society.

China was reeling from the chaos and upheaval of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution when Deng, at 74, returned to politics for a third time in 1978.

His top priority was “survival”, according to Shan Wei, a senior research fellow at the NUS.

“There was a broad consensus on reform – from top leaders to the general public – aiming to move beyond the Cultural Revolution,” Shan said. “Even [Deng’s conservative rival] Chen Yun was willing to promote economic reform, making it easy to rally support.”

Deng pushed for accusations made during the Cultural Revolution to be reversed but was opposed to people seeking revenge. He sought unity and introduced extensive reforms aimed at revitalising the stagnant economy.

A party meeting in December 1978 marked a departure from strict Maoist ideology when it was agreed to prioritise economic output over dogma.

State control was loosened, private ownership legalised, foreign investment embraced and special economic zones set up in the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian.

The shoe manufacturer Guo went to work for was in Shekou, a district in Shenzhen, which was designated by Deng in 1979 as the first place in China to permit foreign direct investment.

A Chinese-American businessman started the company and brought in foreign investors and experts from Hong Kong and Taiwan. The shoes were made by mainland Chinese workers and sold overseas, and the business later expanded with factories in Quanzhou and Guangzhou.

Victor Shih, an expert in Chinese elite politics and finance at the University of California San Diego, said Deng “genuinely trusted” private and foreign investors and pushed for minimal state intervention – no easy task given that the country had just “emerged from a rigidly planned economy”.

Deng, having left public office in 1989, made another push for China’s opening in 1992 during a historic tour of the south. It was a time when conservatism dominated the leadership in the wake of the international isolation and internal purge that followed the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

During the southern tour, Deng said development was “the hard truth” and emphasised the importance of taking risks and being unafraid to make and correct mistakes.

Guo said she benefited, particularly after the British handed Hong Kong to China in 1997, from expedited customs procedures that were part of Deng’s free-trade goals.

“These were Deng’s policies … designed to empower any capable cat that can catch mice by … allowing it to move freely,” she said.

Guo was referring to another of Deng’s well-known quotes – “it does not matter if a cat is black or white; as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat”.

Lampton from Johns Hopkins-SAIS said this and other slogans could be the result of a lesson the “pragmatist” Deng learned under Mao – that “leftist, ideologically driven attempts to achieve rapid progress lead to disaster”.

Deng’s economic liberalisation policies were felt in the countryside too, as the system of collective land ownership changed to one of household management – a huge improvement for farmers who could now retain most crops after fulfilling state quotas.

A 54-year-old farmer from Hunan province, who requested anonymity, recalled how significant that move was. It meant individuals could manage their own land and resources – a big departure from the rigid controls of the Mao era when “you would be labelled a capitalist for raising one extra chicken”.

Deng pointed to township and village enterprises as the “greatest success” in rural reforms that “we had by no means anticipated”. Small private enterprises in China’s urban areas were also creating more jobs, especially for young labourers.

After the Communist Party took power in 1949, Beijing for a long time strictly adhered to dogma laid down by Karl Marx – including that an employer with eight or more staff could be exploiting workers. For decades the Chinese leadership sought to restrict the private sector with a quota for employees, and Deng pushed back.

The relaxed rules under Deng allowed private entrepreneurs like 63-year-old Huang Manning to thrive.

Huang was one of the early risk-takers in the coal market. The industry had been subject to stringent controls under the planned economy since coal was seen as a critical resource. After market liberalisation, private businessmen like Huang started transporting coal from regions where there was a surplus to those with a shortage.

“Thanks to [Deng] millions have benefited,” Huang said.

Chinese intellectuals – persecuted and forced to do hard labour in the Mao era – also benefited from Deng’s policies.

When senior leaders labelled intellectuals as “bourgeois”, Deng said scientists were part of the “working class” and that experts were needed to advance automation and education.

Deng opened the door for millions to be educated, restoring the university entrance exam known as the gaokao after higher education had been brought to an abrupt halt for a decade during the Cultural Revolution.

Victor Gao, a former foreign ministry official, said the opportunity to sit the exam changed his life.

He and his two brothers were among the first 5.7 million – along with former premier Li Keqiang and Foreign Minister Wang Yi – to take the gaokao when it restarted in 1977.

The education ministry had wanted to resume the gaokao in 1978 but Deng insisted it start earlier.

Gao earned a place in the English programme at Suzhou University and went on to join the foreign ministry, where he worked as a translator for Deng in the 1980s.

“In a vast country like China, especially after 10 years of isolation and universities being closed, Deng’s decision to resume the gaokao half a year earlier was crucial,” Gao said.

“That extra half-year was very important as it affected millions of people and an entire generation. Sometimes being even half a year late or early can make a significant difference in one’s life.”

Younger generations of Chinese may not have direct memories of Deng’s leadership but his legacy endures.

Gu Yu, a lawyer born in 1992, noted Deng’s emphasis on the rule of law, saying “if it wasn’t for him, the legal profession and the legal sector might not exist”.

For Matt Chen, a 23-year-old university student in Beijing majoring in Chinese literature, there is no direct connection to the Deng era “but growing up, I was still influenced by the impact he had on China’s development – his embrace of a market economy and individualism being the most profound”.

Chen said his parents were laid off during the reform of state-owned companies in the 1990s, but their financial situation improved by taking part in the market economy as China opened up. That provided Chen with a better education and the opportunity to travel overseas at a young age.

Nearly three decades after Deng’s death in 1997, his policies are still being used to rally support for the party. Just before a key conclave in Beijing last month, state media hailed Xi as a “true reformer” on par with Deng.

But Xi faces a much tougher challenge to motivate the country than Deng did in the 1980s and 1990s, amid an economic slowdown, weak domestic demand, a property crisis, trade tensions and a widening wealth gap.

According to a new study, Chinese are more likely to blame being poor on inequality and an unfair economic system rather than personal failings, suggesting growing discontent with the opportunities available. It marks a shift from previous surveys from 2004 to 2014, when respondents identified lack of ability, low education and a lack of effort as the reasons why people in China were poor.

For Sheng Jiang, a retiree in Beijing, there is a stark contrast between the Deng era and China today under Xi.

Sheng, who is 60 and worked for a state-run financial company, said people “genuinely believed that the country was flourishing and that life would only get better in the future” when Deng was in power.

“It’s the exact opposite [now] – people don’t see any space for personal growth,” she said.

Sheng said that was reflected in the “lying flat” culture, where young people do the bare minimum to get by, and the popularity of poker-like card game in the public sector.

According to a 51-year-old Shanghai-based executive with a US consulting firm, the focus today is on survival “rather than the grand ideals of contributing to the nation, society or changing the entire status quo of China, which characterised the spirit of the Deng era”.

And while many – like Guo – left state jobs for opportunities in the private sector during that time, more young people have been looking to the state sector in recent years.

At a time of high unemployment, a record 2.25 million people sat the annual civil service exam in November.

Shih from the University of California San Diego said the younger generation “can hardly remember a time when private and foreign companies presented a good option as employers”.

“Now they prefer the state sector, which is really quite sad,” he said.

Shih noted that while Deng was no democrat and had ordered the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989, he understood the importance of minimising market intervention by the government.

“Of course, the party gave up some control and had corruption, but China enjoyed three decades of spectacular growth,” Shih said. “It is hard to imagine Xi being willing to bear the costs of genuine market liberalisation.”

While Deng talked a lot about letting Chinese get rich, Xi has taken a more nationalistic approach. Xi has said the country has moved beyond the “getting rich” stage and it is now about “getting strong”, pledging the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.

Shan from the NUS said that goal – centred on hi-tech growth amid pressure from the US – and the focus on national security may not appeal to people facing more immediate concerns, or the younger generations who are drawn towards Western ideals, particularly individualism.

“For someone struggling with daily work such as a food delivery driver, this [collectivist] goal might seem less relevant,” Shan said.