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• China opens up medical sector, manufacturing to foreign ownership in growth push
• ‘China week’ at US House puts biotech firms, Hong Kong offices in legislative cross hairs
• Taiwan delays trips by mainland Chinese scholars in fresh setback for cross-strait visits
• Chinese astronauts will test sample bricks for moon research base
• 4 ancient Chinese instruments defined music throughout the ages of bygone eras
• Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez visits China ahead of key EU vote on electric vehicle tariffs
• Is it full steam ahead for China’s high-speed rail network after summer travel surge?
• China-Africa summit a fitting showcase of Global South’s rise
• China shop loses US$4.2 million in 20 minutes after washing machine pricing error
• Chinese legal community asks: where is the line on death penalty for corrupt officials?
• China tourist accused of hurting wild animal in Japan park by furious ‘scary’ volunteer
• Chinachem’s Nina Hospitality eyes UK, Singapore markets while Hong Kong regains momentum
• Time’s AI list names China’s cyberspace chief, ByteDance CEO among most influential
• For China, Africa’s allure grows amid feuds with West. But do risks outweigh its promise?
• Janet Yellen ‘probably done’ when Biden ends term, may meet Chinese counterpart soon
• China make-up brand faces backlash for ‘vulgar’ ad with penis-shaped lip gloss stick
• Chinese tourists scour social media for hidden gems, personal touch as times change
• [Sport] Chinese giant Chery could build cars in UK
• Can China-Japan youth exchanges and goodwill overcome their deep political chill?
• How Azerbaijan’s strategic reach for Brics will benefit China too

China opens up medical sector, manufacturing to foreign ownership in growth push

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3277683/china-opens-medical-sector-manufacturing-foreign-ownership-growth-push?utm_source=rss_feed

China will allow wholly foreign-owned hospitals to be set up in several major cities, and let foreign investors offer human stem cell and gene therapy services in pilot free-trade zones, as part of efforts to bring back foreign investment and stabilise growth.

A joint circular on Sunday from the Ministry of Commerce, National Health Commission and the National Medical Products Administration said foreign investors would be allowed to run hospitals in the cities of Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as in the southern island province of Hainan.

However, they will not be allowed to acquire public hospitals or run businesses relating to traditional Chinese medicine, according to the circular. The detailed requirements and procedures will be released later, it added.

The biotechnology sector will also be further opened up to foreign investment in major free trade zones of Beijing, Shanghai, and the southern provinces of Guangdong province and Hainan.

Effective immediately, foreign-funded firms will be allowed to research and adapt human stem cell and gene diagnosis technology, and offer related treatment services. They can also apply for market registration and mass production licenses that would apply nationwide.

The move from Beijing comes less than two months after the top Communist Party leadership at their key policymaking third plenum pledged to further open up the market.

It also came as Vice-Premier He Lifeng vowed to expand international cooperation and build a new open high-level economic system.

“Foreign investment is an important part of China’s economy and an important force in China’s modernisation drive,” he told the China International Fair for Investment and Trade in the southeastern city of Xiamen on Sunday.

Opening up the medical sector is the latest effort from Beijing to stem the decline in foreign investment amid a domestic slowdown and decoupling measures by the United States.

All restrictions on foreign access to China’s manufacturing sector will also be lifted from November 1, under the latest “negative list” – a document identifying sectors closed to foreign and private participation.

In August last year, Beijing issued a set of guidelines in a bid to increase foreign investment amid sluggish post-Covid economic recovery.

However, January-July foreign direct investment plunged by nearly 30 per cent year on year to 539.5 billion yuan, government data showed.

According to data released by Vice-Premier He in Xiamen, China had nearly 1.18 million foreign-invested enterprises at the end of 2023, with a cumulative investment of 28.4 trillion yuan.

“We sincerely welcome foreign-funded enterprises to seize the favourable opportunity, make long-term plans in China, and continue to produce more beautiful report cards,” He said, as he sought to highlight the bright prospects for China’s economy and its market potential.

Foreign chambers of commerce have frequently complained about barriers to market access in China, even though Beijing has long sought to assure the international community about its business environment.

The “negative list” released on Sunday by the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, and the Ministry of Commerce also cuts sectors barred from foreign investment from 31 to 29. The list was last updated in 2021.

Foreign investment in manufacturing reached 154.48 billion yuan in the first seven months this year, a rise of about 3 per cent year on year.

The updated negative list further removes foreign ownership restrictions on cloud services and other value-added telecoms services provided within domestic pilot zones, particularly in key regions like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hainan.

This includes internet data centres, content delivery networks, and internet service providers.

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‘China week’ at US House puts biotech firms, Hong Kong offices in legislative cross hairs

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3277569/china-week-us-house-puts-biotech-firms-hong-kong-offices-legislative-cross-hairs?utm_source=rss_feed

The US House may vote this week on more than two dozen China-related bills on the floor, including legislation that could close Hong Kong’s diplomatic offices stateside and restrict government contracting with world-leading mainland biotech firms.

In total, 28 measures scheduled this week by the Republican-led House reference or focus on competing with China, addressing issues ranging from countering Beijing’s tech, political and economic influence to bolstering American allies in the Indo-Pacific.

Most of the bills are Republican-led but draw on bipartisan support. They are poised for consideration under the suspension of rules – an expedited process requiring a two-thirds majority to pass.

This push, dubbed ‘China week’, follows numerous bicameral efforts to tackle national and economic security threats posed by Beijing.

Coming just shy of two months before the US presidential election, ‘China week’ is seen as a bid to boost and unite Republicans while making progress amid a scarcity of political safeground.

“The best way to get something done in Washington is to frame it in the China or national-security framing,” said Rory Murphy, speaking as the vice-president of government affairs at the US-China Business Council, a position he recently left.

“There’s no political consequence to being too tough on China,” he added.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, previewed some of the bills in a speech at the Hudson Institute in July, saying China posed “the greatest threat to global peace” and that “Congress must keep our focus on countering China with every tool at our disposal”.

Among the measures expected to be expedited is a proposal requiring the US secretary of state to review three stateside Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices and close them if it is determined that they no longer enjoy “a high degree of autonomy” from the People’s Republic of China.

The legislation has found support in both the House and Democratic-led Senate and has been championed by Hong Kong activists since the city implemented a sweeping national security law in 2020.

The Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council in a statement called the special administrative region’s offices “vectors for the Hong Kong SAR government’s malign influence operations in the US”.

Another bill, the Biosecure Act, would prevent US federal agencies from contracting with five Chinese biotech companies – BGI Group, Complete Genomics, MGI, Wuxi AppTec and Wuxi Biologics – and their clients. It would also establish an inter-agency process for identifying additional companies.

The legislation has garnered support in the Senate and is meant to encourage US firms to reduce their reliance on Chinese manufacturing and research while preventing American health data from going to Beijing.

After facing resistance from biotech executives who argued that decoupling from the firms would contribute to widespread US drug shortages, lawmakers extended the deadline for halting existing contracts with the named Chinese firms to January 2032.

Another bill would require congressional notification before the US and China could enter, extend or renew any science-and-technology agreement. Just two weeks ago, one such long-standing Sino-American agreement expired after several extensions.

Other tech-themed bills centre on tightening controls on foreign-talent recruitment and usage of foreign telecommunications infrastructure, creating a 6G technology task force and sharpening scrutiny of Chinese-made drones and ports.

Some of the bills aspire to stem Beijing’s political influence, including the creation of a ‘PRC malign influence fund’ and imposing tougher penalties on organisations that take political contributions from foreign nationals.

Beijing has pushed back against claims of its political interference. Meanwhile, an assessment this month from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence found that China is “focused on influencing down-ballot races” and “not attempting to influence the presidential race”.

Still other legislation concentrates on American allies and partners. Two Democratic-led proposals would shore up partnerships with South Korea and Japan as well as Pacific island nations, consistent with the Joe Biden administration’s emphasis on alliances as a pillar of its engagement with the Indo-Pacific.

One Republican-led bill would require additional reporting and restrictions on the financial activities of mainland officials in the event the US determines Beijing has presented a threat to Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing sees as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.

Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

A final bucket of bills seeks to strengthen economic tools to blunt China.

These include technical reforms to export controls and sanctions regimes; a proposal requiring the US to oppose efforts to raise the weight of Chinese currency in special financial assets issued by the International Monetary Fund; and a plan to restrict the Department of Homeland Security from buying batteries from top Chinese battery producers like Gotion.

Yet missing from the list were greater controls on outbound investment to China.

Previously floated provisions, in line with an executive order Biden issued in August last year, would compel companies to notify the Treasury Department before making transactions in China, Russia and other “countries of concern” involving technologies with military applications.

At least 11 of the ‘China-week’ bills and resolutions have companion legislation in the Senate, indicating some level of bicameral support.

Typically, bills are brought to be considered under suspension because they are not expected to face hurdles on the floor.

House Republicans hold a thin majority in the chamber with 220 members, compared to 211 Democrats. All legislation passed by the House must also clear the full Senate before proceeding to the American president’s desk to be signed into law.

Five of the China-related bills that could be put up for a vote will not receive expedited treatment, as none of them gained Democratic support.

One would resurrect the Justice Department’s China Initiative, a now-defunct programme started under Donald Trump’s administration aimed at tackling economic espionage.

The initiative has led to largely failed prosecutions and been widely criticised for over-indexing on paperwork errors and disproportionately casting a cloud of suspicion over Chinese-Americans.

According to the US-China Business Council, some 700 pieces of China-related legislation have been introduced in the current two-year congressional session. The vast majority have failed to pass in a Congress that has seen only 78 bills become law since the session started in January 2023.

Of the China-related legislation that became law, one endorsed a US-Taiwan trade agreement, another advocated for a peaceful resolution in the Tibet autonomous region and the third focused on investigating the origins of Covid-19.

The voting schedule for ‘China-week’ bills is still unclear. It also remains to be seen whether the public list of bills posted by the House Rules committee is complete and whether all bills will be voted on during the week.

The House majority leader’s office did not immediately respond to a request for inquiry.

Even if the bills do not pass this week, other options could exist to bring them up for a vote before the current session ends in January 2025, analysts say.

Zack Cooper of the American Enterprise Institute believed some legislation could be folded into the National Defence Authorisation Act, an annual must-pass bill, particularly if the House, Senate and presidency are split between Democrats and Republicans following the November elections.

“If Republicans win all three, then I think they may prefer to wait until next year to pass a major package of China bills all at once,” Cooper said.

“Conversely, if we get a mixed outcome, there may be more of a desire to push through some legislation during the lame-duck [session].”

Taiwan delays trips by mainland Chinese scholars in fresh setback for cross-strait visits

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3277677/taiwan-delays-trips-mainland-chinese-scholars-fresh-setback-cross-strait-visits?utm_source=rss_feed

Scheduled visits to Taiwan by two mainland Chinese academic delegations in recent days have been postponed due to obstacles imposed by Taipei, according to Taiwanese media.

One of the delegations, led by Xiamen University’s Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies (GIFTS), had been scheduled to visit Taiwan last Thursday for academic exchanges, Taiwan’s United Daily News (UDN) reported.

A separate delegation, led by the president of Xiamen University, had been scheduled to visit Taiwan today, but that trip was also postponed pending approval, according to the report on Friday.

Taiwanese authorities postponed the visits saying the delegations’ applications had yet to be approved, and that the trips would be pushed back to October, the report said.

UDN cited sources suggesting that the delay might be due to “technical obstacles” created by Taiwanese authorities, and potentially linked to internal disagreements between different departments handling the case.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council – the island’s top cross-strait policy planner – told UDN that the case was still under review in accordance with legal procedures. Taiwan consistently supports “healthy and orderly” cross-strait exchanges, it added.

Taiwan would promote exchanges between think tanks from both sides while taking into consideration the cross-strait situation and the “principle of ensuring national security”, the council was quoted as saying.

GIFTS is a leading mainland think tank on Taiwan affairs. Its delegation had planned to engage in exchanges with the National Chengchi University in Taipei.

Cross-strait exchanges, including academics’ visits to the island, have been severely affected in recent years by the Covid-19 pandemic and cross-strait tensions.

Last year, the number of professional exchanges, including academic ones, was only about 6 per cent of that in 2019, while business exchanges were less than 30 per cent of the 2019 total, according to figures reported by UDN in June.

In July last year, a group of 37 students and instructors from five universities in mainland China visited Taiwan, marking the first major academic delegation to travel to the island in more than three years.

Travel by mainland Chinese to Taiwan for tourism remains largely halted, despite the partial lifting of restrictions to allow residents of the eastern province of Fujian to travel to Taiwan’s Quemoy, also called Kinmen, and Matsu counties.

Beijing has also stepped up military pressure on Taiwan since William Lai Ching-te took over as the island’s leader. Lai, who represents the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, has been described as a “troublemaker” by Beijing, which launched large-scale military exercises days after his inauguration in May.

Last month, Taiwanese political activist Yang Chih-yuan was sentenced to nine years in prison in mainland China on charges of “separatism”, marking the first cross-strait case of its kind and prompting an official travel warning from Taipei.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Like most countries, the United States does not recognise Taiwan as independent but opposes any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

Chinese astronauts will test sample bricks for moon research base

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3277453/chinese-astronauts-will-test-sample-bricks-moon-research-base?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese scientists plan to send bricks made from simulated lunar soil into space to see how they hold up in extreme conditions – and if they can be used to build a research base on the moon.

The sample bricks will be sent to the Tiangong space station next month on the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft, according to Ding Lieyun, an expert in intelligent construction from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan.

Ding and his team will observe how the samples degrade under radiation and temperature changes in a three-year experiment.

“We can bake the bricks to a strength of 100 megapascals here on Earth, which is much harder than concrete,” Ding, who heads the university’s National Centre of Technology Innovation for Digital Construction, told a live audience during a show aired by state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday.

But he said research was needed to determine whether the bricks could withstand the harsh environment on the moon.

A standard clay brick typically ranges in strength between 10 and 20 megapascals, while high-strength bricks used in specific structural applications can reach up to 50 megapascals.

Ding said the artificial lunar soil had components that were nearly identical to those of the real thing, though each sample contained slightly different ingredients.

To simulate the environment on the lunar surface, the soil went into a graphite mould that was placed in a vacuum hot-press furnace to bake the bricks, he said.

China plans to build a research base – known as the International Lunar Research Station, or ILRS – near the moon’s south pole by 2035 for scientific exploration and resource development. More than 10 countries and organisations had joined the ILRS as of April, according to the China National Space Administration.

Ding’s team has proposed designs for the research base, including an egg-shaped “lunar pot vessel” that could be 3D-printed on the moon or assembled there using lunar soil bricks with the help of a robot operating on the surface of the moon.

Another option is for the robot to bake the bricks then put them together with joinery structures similar to those used in traditional Chinese architecture, according to Ding.

There will be multiple challenges to overcome when building the research base on the lunar surface, including the lack of water, low gravity and frequent moonquakes, he said in a China Science Daily interview last year.

Ding told the paper they expected the first brick made from actual lunar soil to be manufactured during China’s Chang’e-8 mission in 2028.

Other research teams in China are also working on moon base concepts, including a group from the Harbin Institute of Technology whose “clover” and “red star” designs are for flat surfaces and lunar craters, respectively.

4 ancient Chinese instruments defined music throughout the ages of bygone eras

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3277663/4-ancient-chinese-instruments-defined-music-throughout-ages-bygone-eras?utm_source=rss_feed

Music is universal across all civilisations, both ancient and modern, and stands as one of the great joys of life.

Another joy is that many of the oldest songs and instruments can be played hundreds, and sometimes even thousands, of years later.

Ancient Chinese music features a distinctive sound, enriched by the centuries-long use of string instruments such as guqins and erhus, various types of flutes, and even an ancient organ-like instrument known as the sheng.

Here are four of the most important ancient Chinese instruments and the songs that have come to define them.

Often called the “Chinese lute”, the pipa is a four-stringed pear-shaped instrument meant to be plucked.

During the Han dynasty (206 BC-220), the term pipa may have been referring to how the instrument was played, with “pi” referencing a forward picking motion and “pa” a backward pick. However, the term may have also referred to a variety of instruments during the Han dynasty.

The term pipa was narrowed to refer to today’s instrument during the Song dynasty (960-1279).

It has between 29 and 31 frets, and only six of them are located on the neck of the instrument. The remaining frets are on the pear-shaped body, and the strings used to be made of silk; now, they are typically made of steel wrapped in nylon.

The song “Ambush from Ten Sides” is considered a Chinese classical masterpiece, and it honours the Battle of Gaixia in 203 BC.

The guqin is featured on the Unesco Intangible World Cultural Heritage List and is particularly versatile as a solo instrument.

It is mentioned in writings from 3,000 years ago, which leads some historians to believe it is much older than that.

Mastering the guqin became a crucial requirement for Chinese nobles and was included in the “four arts” that elites were expected to master (the others being calligraphy, painting, and an ancient form of chess).

The guqin can cover four octaves because its seven strings can be configured in 10 different ways. According to Unesco, fewer than 1,000 musicians worldwide are well-trained guqin players, and only 50 qualify as masters.

“Mist and Clouds Over the Xiang River” was composed during the Song dynasty (960-1279) and is meant to evoke a serene environment of calm river waters amid the mountains.

The erhu, or Chinese violin, first appeared during the Tang dynasty (618-907). Its name comes from the number of strings, er, which means “two” and the instrument’s creators, the hu nomadic tribe from northern China.

For much of its history, the erhu enjoyed widespread popularity in southern China. However, a revival of interest in Chinese folk music during the 1920s propelled the instrument into the cultural spotlight of Beijing.

The erhu produces a distinctive sound due to its unique design, notably the absence of a fingerboard. This means that players stop the notes with their fingers rather than on the instrument itself. Additionally, the two strings are positioned very close together, allowing the player’s hands to treat them almost as a single string.

In 1918, Liu Tianhua composed “Birds Singing in the Desolate Mountain,” inspired by a poem by Wang Wei, a renowned Tang dynasty poet. Liu drew inspiration from a line describing a sound produced by a human in a desolate mountain, which he reimagined as the song of birds.

Unlike the other instruments on this list, the sheng is rarely played alone. The wind-reed instrument features 17 bamboo pipes that are set vertically into a larger bowl. The player uses a reed to blow into a mouthpiece to create a sound similar to an organ.

The sheng, an ancient instrument dating back to at least 1100 BC, has evolved over the past century with more bamboo pipes for chords and alterations to its air chamber, inspiring similar instruments like Japan’s shō and Korea’s saenghwang.

The “Spring Festival Overture”, composed between 1955 and 1956, is featured in mainland China’s school music textbooks and depicts Chinese New Year celebrations in northern Shaanxi province.

Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez visits China ahead of key EU vote on electric vehicle tariffs

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277669/spanish-pm-pedro-sanchez-visits-china-ahead-key-eu-vote-electric-vehicle-tariffs?utm_source=rss_feed

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez begins a four-day visit to China today, ahead of a key vote by European Union members on whether to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

In the coming weeks, EU members must decide whether to approve a European Commission plan to place duties of up to 36.3 per cent on Chinese-made EVs for the next five years, to counter what Brussels says are unfair subsidies.

If approved, the measure must be written into law by October 30 to take effect the following day.

Spain previously backed the move in an advisory vote, along with Italy and France, while Germany, Finland and Sweden abstained.

China has responded by launching its own probes into European food and drink imports, including pork products.

Spain is the leading source of pork imports into China, representing more than 20 per cent of the total.

Sanchez will meet President Xi Jinping, and other senior Chinese officials his visit, which ends on Wednesday.

“China is willing to take Prime Minister Sanchez’s visit as an opportunity to advance bilateral relations, deepen mutual trust through high-level exchanges, and address global challenges through high-quality cooperation,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said in announcing the coming trip last week.

Chinese observers view the visit as an effort to ease tensions but warned that resolving the fundamental disagreements between China and the EU would be a lengthy process.

“From a diplomatic perspective, Sanchez’s visit to China at this time conveys a message of reconciliation and a search for better compromise methods with China,” said Ding Yifan, former deputy director of the Institute of World Development, a Chinese government research body.

China is Spain’s largest trading partner outside the EU, according to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, with total trade between the two countries standing at US$48.6 billion last year.

According to Jian Junbo, an associate professor at Fudan University specialising in China-Europe relations, Sanchez’s visit could help to ease EU-China tensions but, from a long-term perspective, their disputes were “fundamentally structural”, whose resolution would require a prolonged process.

The challenges stemmed from the increased trade competition between the two sides, Jian said.

“This trend may become even more intense and pronounced in the future, leading both sides to implement more protectionist measures against each other’s trade, which make it difficult to resolve the issues through one or two intergovernmental leader visits, instead, requiring a long-term process.”

Sanchez’s trip follows recent visits by Italian Prime Minister Georgi Meloni and a delegation from Ireland, a major dairy exporter to China.

“The frequent visits by EU member states clearly show they do not want a large-scale trade war, which, along with potential Chinese retaliation, would harm the interests of all,” said Ding Chun, director of the Centre for European Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“I don’t believe we’ve reached an irreparable stage yet. There is still time and space for bilateral consultations, and both sides can seize the remaining opportunities. Hopefully, both can find a solution that at least avoids a lose-lose outcome.”

Ding Yifan said Sanchez’s visit would “have some impact, but not a fundamental one” because the EU as a whole decided trade policy.

But he said there was still room for manoeuvre because not all EU countries were fully supportive of the current “unfriendly” approach towards China.

Europe is currently facing “manufacturing hollowing out” and “the real goal isn’t about the tariffs, but to pressure Chinese EV companies into investing in Europe,” according to Ding.

There may still be some space for a compromise. Last month, the European Commission said it would not impose retroactive EV tariffs.

Days later, China said an investigation had found that brandy was being dumped on the Chinese market at a rate significantly lower than its retail price in Europe, but it would not impose anti-dumping duties just now.

Is it full steam ahead for China’s high-speed rail network after summer travel surge?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3277512/it-full-steam-ahead-chinas-high-speed-rail-network-after-summer-travel-surge?utm_source=rss_feed

China boasts the world’s largest high-speed railway network - 45,000km by the end of last year - and some of the fastest passenger trains.

First launched in 2008, the network is considered essential to the world’s second-largest economy and its 1.4 billion population.

And with the return of high-volume transport to post-Covid levels, China has resumed its plans to link the country via high-speed railway.

The 62-day summer transport season in July and August concluded with China’s railway network having transported 887 million passengers, with a daily average of 14.31 million, the China State Railway Group reported last month.

The total passenger number represented a 6.7 per cent increase from the same period last year.

At the start of the summer season from July 1 to July 24, the national railway network had transported 423 million passengers.

At the start of August, Shenzhen approved the building of the Xili Transportation Hub, which would integrate different train lines. The mega hub is intended to become one of the largest transport junctions in China, and will be completed in 2026.

It is being built in an effort to alleviate the overcrowding at Shenzhen’s North station, and it will combine four high-speed lines, two intercity lines, as well as four subway lines.

The Shenzhen subway line 13 will link the hub to the Shenzhen Bay checkpoint, which is a major route to Hong Kong.

The hub plans to handle 1.3 million people a day, following a total investment of 17.7 billion yuan (US$$2.5 million).

The southern cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen will also be linked via subway next year, adding to the existing high-speed rail connection.

Tunnels will connect the new Nansha-Zhuhai intercity line, that starts at Nansha’s Wanqingsha station and ends at Zhongshan’s Xingzhong station, to the existing Shenzhen–Zhongshan intercity line.

The construction would connect the Shenzhen and Guangzhou subway systems, allowing connections from anywhere from downtown Guangzhou to the city centres of Zhongshan, Zhuhai, and Shenzhen within around 50 minutes, 60 minutes and 75 minutes, respectively, said a representative from the Guangzhou Metro, according to the That’s online news portal.

In an effort to enhance the domestic travel experience, the China Railway Shanghai Group introduced three new high-speed rail passes at the end of August that will allow travellers the convenience of “one purchase, three destinations, valid for seven days”, according to the Hangzhou government site.

The three routes introduced are Shanghai-Dongtai-Yangzhou, Hangzhou-Qiandao lake-Yellow Mountain and Nanjing-Huai’an-Yancheng.

Tickets are available via ticket machines or the 12306 app and website, which is the only official online ticketing platform for China Railway.

Passengers must provide an eligible form of identification, which includes a passport for foreign travellers.

A seven-day pass on the Hangzhou-Qiandao Lake-Yellow Mountain route would cost 210 yuan (US$29.6) – significantly cheaper than buying individual tickets along the same routes.

China is the third largest country in the world in terms of land mass, but it plans to achieve a three-hour travel time between all major cities by 2035 under its national comprehensive three-dimensional transport network.

The plan was introduced in 2021, and also intends to shorten the commuting time within a city to one hour and between two cities in a city cluster to two hours.

It will also look to guarantee delivery of goods within China within one day, and two-days to neighbouring countries, as part of its Global 123 Logistics Circle.

China’s three-dimensional transport system, which aims to unite the country via transport, aims to use the “railways as the backbone”.

By 2035, China is seeking to expand its overall railway network to 200,000km, including 70,000km of high-speed rail.

China-Africa summit a fitting showcase of Global South’s rise

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3277661/china-africa-summit-fitting-showcase-global-souths-rise?utm_source=rss_feed

As Xi Jinping last week rolled out the red carpet in Beijing for more than 50 of Africa’s leaders, along with the UN’s Antonio Guterres, at the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, one could only muse on the recent comment from Singapore’s Kishore Mahbubani that “the coming decades may belong to the Global South”.

Given its unlovely acronym, FOCAC, many can be forgiven for being unaware of this three-day “grand reunion of the China-Africa big family”. (Tiny eSwatini, population 1.2 million out of Africa’s 1.2 billion, sits alone outside the family because it has stubbornly maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan since 1968).

After all, FOCAC only meets every three years – and the last reunion, hosted by Senegal, was necessarily a virtual affair because of Covid-19.

But you miss FOCAC’s significance at your peril – as with other creations like Brics, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, all of them evidence of rising power and confidence among countries once dismissed as poor and benighted.

Such groupings, mostly driven by Beijing, have given form and substance to the once-vague concept of the Global South. They reflect accelerating change in the global balance of economic and diplomatic power. They illustrate vividly the persistent failure of the post-World War II powers, gathered around the Group of 7, to move beyond what many in the Global South see as a condescending, colonial relationship with the Third World.

Most Western leaders have in recent decades kept Africa on the distant periphery of their foreign policy concerns. The continent may be huge, and blessed with a wide range of valuable natural resources, but even today it accounts for a measly 2.7 per cent of global GDP. Worse, it is home to the vast majority of the world’s poorest and most troubled countries. Africa’s “coup belt” of seven countries has suffered a string of coups in recent years.

In contrast to the Western reflex, Beijing has for more than five decades been consistently present, consistently concerned, and unjudgmental. Even back in 1982 when I was living in Beijing, it has hard to keep count of the steady stream of African leaders being hosted to grand dinners in the Great Hall of the People. This consistency has earned China significant soft power not just in Africa, but in the United Nations; as a committed member of the Global South, it is becoming a prime force behind the global economic rebalancing.

As Paul Melly at the London-based Chatham House noted over the weekend: “For African governments resentful of the pressure to take sides in international disputes, China now appears as a refreshingly reliable partner, ready to collaborate without discrimination both with the allies of Moscow and with civilian-ruled states that are closer to Europe and the US.”

Melly notes, for example, that in spite of a coup in Niger in July last year, Beijing is pressing on with a 2,000km oil pipeline between Niger and Benin. In Guinea, China continues to build a 600km iron ore rail line to the coast, despite a coup in 2021.

Reinforcing China’s willingness to put its money where its mouth is, Xi used the China-Africa summit to commit a fresh US$50 billion, through credit lines and investments, to Africa over the next three years. He signalled that priority will be expanded beyond the big infrastructure projects to include green energy transition, including investment in local manufacturing of electric vehicles.

He also hinted at a willingness to invest in nuclear energy – in sharp contrast to France, which has for decades mined uranium in Niger to fuel its own nuclear plants, but has never supported development of nuclear power for Niger or other west African countries.

This shift in investment priority may go some way towards addressing the other big elephant on the table – the pressing need to reduce China’s massive trade surplus with the continent; it exported goods worth US$173 billion last year, compared with US$109 billion in imports from Africa.

While Xi’s promises have yet to translate into action, Beijing has been Africa’s biggest bilateral investor for coming to two decades, and seems set to remain so in spite of perhaps inevitable controversies that have sometimes arisen – for example, over its Ugandan oil pipeline into Tanzania, or its shipping of illegal logs from Mozambique. Then there is the steady stream of accusations of “debt-trap diplomacy”; notably, Zambia defaulted in 2020.

African debt problems were undoubtedly at the heart of many of the bilateral discussions held quietly on the margins of FOCAC last week – not least because many African economies today carry debt burdens at record levels, and debt interest rates for many of them are unlikely to fall as quickly as they would like.

UNCTAD reported recently that 24 African countries today have public debt that is higher than 60 per cent of gross domestic product, and that 20 nations have debt servicing costs that amount to more than 10 per cent of revenue. In bare terms, that means 750 million people live in countries where governments spend more on interest payments than they do on health or education.

While the China-Africa summit may have come across as all theatre and no substance to some, but it forms part of a consistent Africa strategy that stretches back decades. It is part of a strategy that is quietly but fundamentally altering the balance of power across our world.

China shop loses US$4.2 million in 20 minutes after washing machine pricing error

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3277651/china-shop-loses-us42-million-20-minutes-after-washing-machine-pricing-error?utm_source=rss_feed

A small business in China has been devastated by the potential loss of 30 million yuan (US$4.2 million) after an employee accidentally labelled some of its washing machines with the wrong prices, triggering a buying spree.

Little Swan Dongshan Franchise Shop, which also has a brick-and-mortar outlet in Jixi county, Anhui province in southeast China, apologised and asked customers to withdraw their orders, Red Star News reported.

More than 40,000 orders were placed with its online shop in about 20 minutes on the evening of August 28.

Little Swan is a leading domestic washing machine brand and customers had spotted the extremely low prices at the franchise shop.

The shop said it was an error made by one of its workers who misunderstood the preferential rules of the shopping website Tmall, operated by Alibaba Group, owner of the South China Morning Post.

It stood to lose 30 million yuan if it fulfilled the orders because the original price of the products amounted to 70 million yuan, but customers only paid 40 million yuan due to the mistake.

A customer, surnamed Wang, said she learned about the dramatic price drop via social media on August 28.

She bought three machines online, including two that usually sold for 1,699 yuan (US$240) each but were priced at just 299 yuan. And another that should have been 2,499 yuan but was labelled 439 yuan.

Wang said that after seeing the store’s apology statement she immediately followed its appeal and cancelled her orders.

According to the shop’s statement, the majority of customers purchased multiple machines and placed their orders “in a professional way”. This suggests that the orders were likely made by businesses aiming to profit, rather than individuals merely looking for a bargain.

The company acknowledged that, “Due to the misunderstanding, we made a significant mistake. We recognise that this issue has caused confusion among the public and has seriously disrupted the market.”

“We feel deeply guilty and upset.”

Little Swan Dongshan Franchise Shop said it has only six employees and has made minimal profit in the past few years amid the economic slowdown.

“Tens of thousands of orders and tens of millions of yuan are astronomical figures for us. We feel sincerely sorry for all the affected customers,” said a statement from the company.

“We humbly beg you to understand our difficulties and to agree to withdraw orders. We will refund you as fast as we can.”

The company also released a video of the member of staff who made the pricing error.

“I am deeply sorry for my blunder. By the time I realised it, 20 minutes had passed,” she said.

“I cannot afford to cover the losses even if I sold everything of mine.”

The local market supervision authority said it is investigating the cause of the incorrect pricing by the shop.

Zhao Liangshan, a lawyer from Shaanxi Hengda Law Firm, told news portal The Paper that if a company intentionally mislabels prices to gain online visibility or boost sales, it is obligated to fulfil the order.

Conversely, if the pricing is due to an error, the company can petition the court to annul the purchase contract, allowing it to refund customers without the necessity of delivering the goods.

“The company must present compelling evidence demonstrating that it has indeed made a genuine mistake so that the court will be persuaded to rule in favour of cancelling the purchase contract,” Zhao stated.

Chinese legal community asks: where is the line on death penalty for corrupt officials?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3277649/chinese-legal-community-asks-where-line-death-penalty-corrupt-officials?utm_source=rss_feed

In China, there may be more death sentences handed down to corrupt officials in the future as President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption efforts reach into lucrative sectors and the spoils of corruption rise, according to Chinese law practitioners and observers.

The Chinese legal community’s latest discussion about standards for the death penalty come after a court in Inner Mongolia autonomous region upheld the death sentence of a local official who pleaded guilty to pocketing more than 3 billion yuan (US$422 million) in total.

On August 27, Inner Mongolia’s regional high court dismissed an appeal by Li Jianping, 64, former party secretary of the economic and technological development zone in Hohhot, the region’s capital city, according to its website.

Li’s death sentence is awaiting final approval by the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) in keeping with a practice observed since 2006.

Li was also found guilty of condoning a local mafia organisation headed by Zhao Wenyuan that carried out numerous illegal and criminal activities.

Even though more than 4 million officials have been caught up in China’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign since Xi Jinping took power at the end of 2012, it is rare for death sentences not to be suspended in corruption cases.

Li is only the third known case among officials handed the death penalty in the past decade. The others were Lai Xiaomin and Bai Tianhui, the former chairman and general manager of China Huarong International Holdings (CHIH), one of the country’s largest state-controlled asset management firms.

Lai was put to death by a court in the northern city of Tianjin in January 2021 after he was indicted for taking almost 1.8 billion yuan in bribes, other forms of corruption and bigamy. His former subordinate Bai was handed the death penalty in May for accepting bribes exceeding 1.1 billion yuan.

Two Chinese lawyers who handle corruption cases say the recent death penalty cases are being closely watched by China’s law practitioners for strong hints about the standard for the death penalty in corruption cases. Both declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

“If Bai is sentenced to death without a two-year suspension, then the ‘death line’ will be around 1.1 billion [yuan] in Bai’s case,” said one Beijing-based lawyer.

There is no official information about an appeal by Bai, but his death sentence has not been sent to the Supreme Court for final approval, meaning the ruling is not yet final.

A Shanghai lawyer concurred. He also noted that Zhang Zhongsheng – a former deputy mayor of Luliang city in Shanxi province who was indicted of taking 1.04 billion yuan – avoided execution when in 2021 he was granted a two-year reprieve on his death sentence on his appeal to Shanxi’s provincial high court.

Under the presidency of Hu Jintao between 2003 and 2013, death penalties handed to corrupt officials were also rare but the sums involved were smaller.

Xu Maiyong and Jiang Renjie, former mayors of the eastern cities of Hangzhou and Suzhou respectively, were two corrupt officials who paid the ultimate price for corruption. Both were put to death in 2011.

Xu pleaded guilty to accepting more than 160 million yuan in bribes and embezzling more than 53 million yuan, while Jiang pocketed more than 100 million yuan.

Zheng Xiaoyu, the former director of the State Food and Drug Administration of China from 2003 to 2005, was sentenced to death for taking more than 6.49 million yuan. He was executed in 2007 in a case that was deemed extraordinary because he oversaw a sector considered highly consequential to the health of all Chinese.

Liu Changsong, director and founder of Beijing Mugong Law Firm, said although today’s 1 billion yuan red line was “a rough threshold”, any final decision on death penalty sentencing involved many other factors, including harm to the country and society from the crime, and mitigating circumstances such as a sincere confession of guilt, expression of repentance and efforts to return the proceeds of crime.

“In some cases, if the harm caused is extremely terrible, even if the bribe amount is not much, or just over the limit, the death penalty may be imposed,” he said, noting the case of Lin Shiyuan, former deputy secretary of Chongqing’s Qijiang County in 1999.

Lin was found guilty of accepting bribes of just 110,000 yuan, which was just over the 100,000 yuan limit deemed to be serious corruption. But he was sentenced to death because the bribes he took led to neglect of a local bridge that collapsed in 1999, killing 40 people. He managed to plead to a suspended death sentence in the second instance by reporting his boss for corruption.

Li Jianping, who is accused of receiving bribes from mining businessmen in the resource-rich Inner Mongolia region, was charged with pocketing 3 billion yuan in total – a record amount in recent decades. It is an example of what China’s anti-corruption agency calls “small officials with big corruption”.

China is likely to see the death penalty handed down to more corrupt officials as Xi puts sectors that have been extremely lucrative in the cross hairs of anti-corruption investigators, including finance and mining, said Deng Yuwen, a former deputy editor of the Study Times, the Central Party School’s official newspaper.

“Despite his rank, the total amount on Li’s charge paper is even bigger than Lai Xiaomin, who is of deputy-ministerial rank, and holds the previous corruption record,” Deng said.

“That shows that while rank can be important, the position and what sectors under their control is key. If he is in charge of approving land usage, mining rights, et cetera, people will be willing to pay him top money or give him shares in the business to get a bite of the cake.”

China tourist accused of hurting wild animal in Japan park by furious ‘scary’ volunteer

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/environment/article/3277654/china-tourist-accused-hurting-wild-animal-japan-park-furious-scary-volunteer?utm_source=rss_feed

A Japanese man became outraged after alleging that he witnessed a Chinese tourist mistreating a wild deer at a national park in Nara City, Japan.

He shared a video of the incident on August 30 on his X account @hezuruy, which has since ignited a heated discussion on social media.

In the video, a middle-aged man speaking Mandarin is shown teasing a deer by poking one of its hooves with his foot. Disturbed by the sight, @hezuruy quickly rushed over to confront the tourist about his behaviour.

He shouted at the tourist accusing him of abusing the deer and demanded he stop.

The man immediately stopped and said “sorry” in English many times. He also explained in Mandarin that he was just “playing with the deer”.

His explanation did not convince the Japanese man, who continued to berate him.

A woman who appeared to be with the tourist said the local man was “scary”, and that she would call the police, but the local man said her companion would be arrested.

The Japanese man, identifying himself as a volunteer who patrols the park to protect the deer, took to X to share the incident. He reported that he confronted two tourists, stating that a Chinese man had been “kicking the deer as if he was kicking a football.”

His post attracted 30 million views and 6,000 comments and sparked heated debate.

“Bullying animals as cute as the deer is intolerable,” one said.

Another agreed but said the Chinese tourist “only appeared to be teasing the deer, and it was the Japanese man who was bullying the tourist”.

Speculation has arisen regarding the accuracy of @hezuruy’s description of the incident, with some questioning whether his threatening behaviour towards the Chinese tourist may have crossed legal boundaries.

While opinions vary on the tourist’s actions in the video, it is important to note that any form of abuse or bullying of the deer in Nara Park is both illegal and unethical.

Folklore has it that they are the heavenly offspring of a legendary white deer that the thunder god Takemikazuchi rode into Nara.

The deer in Nara Park, which have inhabited the area for 1,300 years, are deeply embedded in local folklore.

According to legend, these graceful creatures are considered the heavenly offspring of a mythical white deer, which is said to have been ridden into Nara by the thunder god Takemikazuchi.

The park’s official website also reminds visitors that deer are wild animals and must only be fed with the crackers sold in the park and that any attempt to capture or hurt them is illegal.

Offenders might face up to two years imprisonment or a 2 million yen (US$14,000) fine.

In July, a Chinese mother and son caused a stir online after attempting to provoke the deer in Nara Park by feeding them crackers dipped in deer faeces. Their actions sparked considerable outrage online.

In response, a quick-witted park volunteer humorously engaged with the tourists by offering them a similar snack, resulting in the duo fleeing the scene.

Chinachem’s Nina Hospitality eyes UK, Singapore markets while Hong Kong regains momentum

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3277647/chinachems-nina-hospitality-eyes-uk-singapore-markets-while-hong-kong-regains-momentum?utm_source=rss_feed

Nina Hospitality, the hotel unit of Hong Kong-based private developer Chinachem Group, is looking to expand into mainland China and overseas markets such as the UK, Australia and Singapore within two years.

The company is setting the goal following a 2021 rebranding effort helmed by its new managing director Simon Manning, who joined the company the same year.

“Our goal in the short term is to be a leading hospitality group within Hong Kong,” Manning said in an interview with the Post. “But following the same investment criteria as our parent company, and looking at more traditional real estate acquisitions, we think that this makes sense because those jurisdictions have similar tax, employment and people, and they are similar to our home market.”

The company could move into new markets either through a management contract that introduces Nina to a wider audience or by acquiring an existing asset.

Locally, it will spend at least HK$240 million (US$31 million) to launch new facilities and refurbish existing ones, including the main and sky lobbies of its flagship hotel, Nina Hotel Tsuen Wan West.

Manning said all these initiatives are in the pursuit of becoming one of Hong Kong’s upscale hotel groups.

“When I looked at the portfolio, I realised it could perform a lot better than what it was doing,” he said. “We had actually terrific assets in great neighbourhoods that had a lot of room for improvement by the way they traded and the way they serviced customers. So some of the first things I did was put in a new service philosophy, put in key renovation plans and business models.”

As the fourth-largest hotel group in Hong Kong, with 3,400 rooms across the city, Nina first opened its doors in 2005 – which was then called L’hotel Causeway Bay Harbour View. Its rebranding sought to capture a wider clientele that included airline workers, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions) participants and other overseas travellers.

The other locations of Nina’s hotels are Island South, Kowloon East and Mong Kok.

Manning said the company would be open to acquire another group that has at least five key assets in core retail and commercial districts, as it is “the area that’s missing for the group”. Building these assets themselves is another option, he added.

The group’s rebranding comes amid a prolonged economic slump in Hong Kong. Retail sales have been declining as locals turn to cheaper goods in mainland China or splurge overseas. Mainland Chinese tourists coming into the city are not spending as much.

Manning is unfazed. He said the group is now getting a lot of business from airlines and the layover segment.

“In our hotel in Tsuen Wan, we never had an airline crew staying, we never worked with AsiaWorld-Expo, yet [hotels in] Tung Chung were already running high occupancies pre-pandemic,” he said. “We have over 1,600 rooms here so we can take a lot of trade missions and trade customers coming to the fairs.”

To get the airline crew and conference participants business, the hotel allocated a lounge for them called Nina Communal, which has dedicated areas for work, dining and gaming. Long-stay guests also get access to the exclusive zone.

“We are now getting airline crew business and, more importantly, we’re also one of the main providers for layover business,” Manning said. “So when there’s an aircraft delay or when the airlines need a service where there’s a delayed flight, they call us and we can provide them with 300 rooms within a very short notice. So we are now doing very well with airport business.”

Manning also believes that the downturn in China’s economy is temporary.

“China will recover,” he said. “If you believe in the prosperity of the region and China, overall, Hong Kong cannot fail. So therefore the future of the hospitality industry in Hong Kong is immensely strong.”

He predicted that Hong Kong tourism will recover by 2025. “What is pleasing to see is the support now from all sectors of the community,” he said, “especially the business community and the Tourism Board of promoting Hong Kong as a key Asian destination.”

The group enjoys as much as a 90 per cent occupancy rate in its hotels, but Manning said room prices are still 10 per cent below their pre-pandemic rates.

Hong Kong is targeting 46 million visitors this year, 35 per cent more than in 2023, according to a government forecast. However, that would still be 70 per cent of the record 65 million tourists in 2018. Meanwhile, estimated spending per overnight visitor is expected to shrink by as much as 16.4 per cent to HK$5,800 this year from HK$6,939 in 2023.

Manning said the company expects room prices to reach their pre-pandemic level by the first quarter of 2025.

Another issue is the trend of converting hotels into student housing. Manning sees this as a “short-term issue” when it involves properties in prime locations. In noncore areas, however, the conversion can make financial sense for asset owners.

“It all depends on your location, how you’re trading and how you’re positioning today,” he said. “That does not make sense for us because we’re trading exceptionally well. That does not make sense for any of our portfolio.”

Time’s AI list names China’s cyberspace chief, ByteDance CEO among most influential

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3277587/times-ai-list-names-chinas-cyberspace-chief-bytedance-ceo-among-most-influential?utm_source=rss_feed

Time Magazine has ranked China’s internet watchdog head and the chairman of TikTok owner ByteDance among the 100 most influential people working in artificial intelligence for their impact on the sector in the world’s second-largest economy.

Zhuang Rongwen, director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, made the second annual Time 100 AI list as one of 15 people in the leaders category for taking on a mission that some thought impossible: imposing the mainland’s “censorship practices on unpredictable generative AI technology without stifling domestic innovation”, the publication said.

Under Zhuang’s oversight since 2018, the authority made history last summer by issuing the world’s first generative AI (GenAI) regulation, less than a year after the US start-up OpenAI launched ChatGPT. The rules require that companies get government approval for AI models before releasing them publicly.

The other AI leaders from China were ByteDance chairman and CEO Liang Rubo and Wang Xiaochuan, founder of GenAI start-up Baichuan AI.

ByteDance made AI one of the company’s top priorities in recent years. It launched the chatbots Cici and Doubao, and created the Jimeng AI video generator. But with ByteDance’s TikTok facing tough political scrutiny in the US, “don’t expect any softening when it comes to broader AI applications”, Time said.

In January, Liang berated employees for being too slow to react to the emergence of new technologies such as GenAI. Employees did not start discussing ChatGPT until months after the launch of ChatGPT, Liang said at the time.

Wang’s Baichuan AI, established in April 2023, has been recognised as one of China’s so-called AI tigers, four start-ups considered to be new trailblazers in the field.

Baichuan announced its latest funding round of about 5 billion yuan (US$687.6 million) in July, valuing the firm at more than 20 billion yuan. Investors included some of the biggest names in China’s tech sector, including Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Xiaomi, along with some state-backed funds. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Wang was also the founder and former CEO of Sogou, once China’s second-largest internet search engine after Baidu. Tencent acquired Sogou in 2021.

Other figures from tech giants named as AI leaders are Google CEO Sundar Pichaai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The other categories on the list are innovators, thinkers and shapers. Chinese computer scientist Andrew Yao Chi-chih was named as one of 23 thinkers, alongside American computer scientists Ray Kurzweil and Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder of OpenAI.

Yao, a Turing Award winner and the dean of Tsinghua University’s Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, has cultivated a generation of entrepreneurs and academics. His students were behind some of the most promising start-ups in China, including AI giant Megvii and autonomous vehicle company Pony.ai.

Law professor Zhang Linghan is also among the 37 shapers.

Zhang, professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, was a key author of a preliminary draft of a comprehensive AI law published in March. The biggest challenge in drafting such legislation was “how to balance development and safety needs”, she said in a March interview with state-backed publication Legal Weekly.

The inaugural list last year included Baidu co-founder and chairman Robin Li Yanhong, venture capitalist and 01.AI founder Lee Kai-fu, and professor Yi Zeng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

For China, Africa’s allure grows amid feuds with West. But do risks outweigh its promise?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277621/china-africas-allure-grows-amid-feuds-west-do-risks-outweigh-its-promise?utm_source=rss_feed

When Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the China-Africa summit on Thursday, he called on the continent to join China in leading the modernisation of the Global South, which he said has suffered “injustice” at the hands of the West.

At this week’s Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in Beijing, attended by more than 50 African leaders, China once again pushed for its own development initiatives as an alternative to Western ones.

In a joint action plan, China called for strengthened cooperation on supply chains and green technology as it continues to navigate tech and trade restrictions put in place by the US, European Union and allies.

Observers said Africa’s strategic importance to China is growing, but Beijing is also carefully weighing the opportunities and risks as it deepens engagement on the volatile continent.

Tang Xiaoyang, a Tsinghua University professor specialising in African studies, said the continent offered great political and economic support for China amid Western “containment”.

“If the developed countries in the world want to decouple [from China], then we, as the fastest-growing regions in the Global South, can strengthen our relations with each other,” said Tang, who is also a China Forum expert, adding that this could serve as a model for future cooperation mechanisms.

As tensions grow with the West, China has thrown its support behind mechanisms led by developing countries, such as FOCAC and Brics.

Africa is home to the world’s youngest population, offering a growing market for Chinese goods and potential for Chinese companies that want to set up overseas manufacturing facilities.

The continent also has an abundance of critical minerals used in semiconductor and battery manufacturing, giving it strategic importance as Beijing spars with Washington and Brussels over chip-related trade restrictions and electric vehicle (EV) tariffs.

However, Tang noted that Africa’s strategic and economic importance to China is “far more than just minerals and resources”.

“China hopes that Africa can develop and industrialise, so that it can provide China with better supporting facilities in the industrial chain, and then provide an investment market and become a strong trading partner,” he said.

“This can provide an all-round economic benefit, which is also our medium- and long-term strategy.”

China is the continent’s biggest trading partner, and most African nations have joined the Belt and Road Initiative – Beijing’s flagship global development scheme, which has seen over US$700 billion in deals signed since its inception in 2013. These projects include construction or upgrades to more than 100,000km (62,137 miles) of roads and railways and hundreds of ports, Chinese government data showed.

But the belt and road’s expansion on the continent has often been dogged by accusations – denied by Beijing – that it is a “debt-trap”, as African nations have struggled to repay loans from China to fund these projects.

Most of the continent’s debt is to multilateral and private lenders, but China is its biggest bilateral creditor. Beijing lent over US$125 billion to Africa from 2013 to 2023, according to data from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre.

Beijing has started to help with loan restructuring for some African nations, including a landmark deal with Zambia last year.

Under the action plan announced at the FOCAC summit, China will cancel intergovernmental interest-free loans due by the end of 2024 for least developed countries (LDCs) in Africa that have diplomatic relations with Beijing.

According to the Boston University data, China’s lending to Africa shrunk during the Covid-19 pandemic as Beijing’s overseas investment dropped to cope with the economic hangover.

Xi’s speech at the FOCAC summit also mentioned “small and beautiful” belt and road projects, a phrase previously used to describe less costly initiatives aimed at improving livelihood, prompting questions over whether China is shifting from big-spending infrastructure projects to more financially sustainable ones.

Following several years of decline, construction of and investment in belt and road projects in Africa rebounded in 2023. This was particularly true in metals and mining, though infrastructure investments and projects saw a drop of over 30 per cent, according to data from Fudan University’s Green Finance and Development Centre.

Tang said the “debt-trap” accusations and political and financial instability in Africa had disrupted China’s economic cooperation with the continent.

“Political pressures sometimes affect some normal market judgments. For example, if you accuse China of creating a debt crisis or a debt trap, China may also be cautious in financing some apparently normal infrastructure projects that are urgently needed in Africa,” he said.

“Financing in Africa has also become very difficult and expensive because of the current economic cycle. In the past few years, the inflow of capital into the African economy has been relatively small,” Tang said.

“China is also very cautious and will no longer make large-scale lending. So the original large-scale infrastructure construction may also be shrinking, relatively speaking.”

Seifudein Adem, a visiting professor at Japan’s Doshisha University specialising in China-Africa relations, said China is trying to minimise the “risks” in its economic engagement with Africa.

“Unfortunately, there will be political instability in many places in Africa for a long time to come,” he said.

“A degree of risk is always there in doing business anywhere. In some places, like Africa, the risk is of course higher. But China will be better off by continuing its economic engagement with Africa than by totally becoming risk-averse and disengaging.”

Cobus van Staden, a senior researcher at the South African Institute of International Affairs and managing director of the China-Global South Project, said Africa is also strategically important for China’s military.

China opened its first overseas military base in Djibouti in 2017 and is reportedly looking to install a second one in West Africa, prompting concerns from Western powers who fear it could strengthen Beijing’s foothold on the continent.

Beijing has deployed thousands of peacekeeping personnel to the continent. They have taken part in missions in South Sudan and Mali, with over a dozen Chinese soldiers killed over the years. Hundreds of Chinese peacekeepers have recently left the Democratic Republic of the Congo as armed conflict has escalated in the country.

Van Staden said China’s relative lack of overseas security experience and domestic backlash over the deaths of Chinese soldiers killed in peacekeeping missions had created barriers for China’s security engagement on the continent.

“I think China feels more comfortable in security cooperation via overarching bodies like the [African Union], and isn’t interested in replacing other security providers like the US.”

Adem, however, said China could seek to increase its military presence in Africa, and it would probably be welcomed.

“The global geopolitical climate is conducive for this. Therefore, it will not be surprising if China begins to forge quasi-military alliances with select African countries sooner rather than later,” he said.

In his summit speech, Xi offered 1 billion yuan (US$140.5 million) in military aid to Africa as well as training for 6,000 military personnel and 1,000 police officers. He also said China was willing to conduct more joint military drills and patrols.

Beijing will support African nations in solving internal conflicts in their own way, but will help to mediate if requested, according to the action plan.

Van Staden said China’s involvement in mediation has been “relatively limited”.

“China’s non-interference policy limits more direct involvement … China has done some mediation, but it was somewhat piecemeal. I’m not sure that China is interested in expanding its role in African mediation at present.”

He Wenping, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of West-Asian and African Studies, said China has been committed to peacemaking through diplomacy including installing a special envoy for the Horn of Africa and holding peace conferences, as well as post-conflict reconstruction.

“China is still very willing to continue to be a link for peace,” she said. “And without economic development, peace will also be fragile.”

Janet Yellen ‘probably done’ when Biden ends term, may meet Chinese counterpart soon

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3277637/janet-yellen-probably-done-when-biden-ends-term-may-meet-chinese-counterpart-soon?utm_source=rss_feed

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Saturday that she is “probably done” serving at the highest levels of government after US President Joe Biden’s term ends in January, but is likely meet again soon with her Chinese counterpart.

Asked at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, Texas whether she was “done” when a new administration takes over in January, or might continue in her job or take on a new administration role, Yellen said: “Probably done, but … we’ll see.”

The comments are the closest that Yellen, 78, has come to announcing her future plans as the presidential race between US Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump heats up. Yellen has been the first woman to serve as Treasury Secretary, Federal Reserve Chair and director of the White House National Economic Council.

Yellen told the event in Austin that she still has a lot of work to do at Treasury in coming months, including another likely meeting with Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng, her Beijing counterpart, to try to manage an often tense relationship.

The two met in April in Beijing, where Yellen warned China to rein in excess industrial capacity ahead of Biden’s decision to impose steep tariff increases on Chinese-made electric vehicles, batteries, solar products and semiconductors.

Yellen said she would welcome a visit to the US but also may return to China herself, adding: “My guess is that we will have, one way or another, a visit.”

The Treasury’s top economic diplomat, Undersecretary Jay Shambaugh, will lead a delegation to Beijing “very soon” to discuss economic issues. Shambaugh leads a US-China economic working group that has made addressing China’s excess factory production a top issue

Yellen said the US-China relationship “needs to be prioritised and nurtured” by the next US administration, with discussions at the highest levels and among agency staffs.

“We have enough differences and without a chance to discuss them and put them in context, it’s certainly possible for tensions to rise,” Yellen said. “So this is something that really requires ongoing attention. I hope that it would get it.”

Yellen also said the US economy has largely reached a “soft landing” with lower inflation after US August jobs data on Friday showed a slight decline in the unemployment rate despite slower hiring.

“When you see pace of job creation diminishing over time, what I love to see is that it stabilises roughly where it is now, and we have to be careful to make sure that it’s not going to weaken further,” Yellen said.

She said consumer spending remains “quite solid” and while there is “less frenzy” in hiring, there are not meaningful lay-offs

“I’m attentive to downside risks now on the employment side, but I what I think we’re seeing, we will continue to see, is a good, solid economy,” Yellen said.

China make-up brand faces backlash for ‘vulgar’ ad with penis-shaped lip gloss stick

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3277410/china-make-brand-faces-backlash-vulgar-ad-penis-shaped-lip-gloss-stick?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese cosmetics brand’s latest advertisement has been criticised as “vulgar” for featuring a female model provocatively kneeling next to an image of lip gloss shaped like a penis.

The furore began on September 2 when a blogger with about 5 million followers, known as “Bunny Class”, criticised FLORTTE’s latest promotional design and tactics on Weibo, saying they were excessively “teasing”.

Established in January 2019, FLORTTE targets women aged 18 to 24 with its affordable products, including lip mud and lipsticks costing less than 100 yuan (US$14).

The controversy centres on a promotional poster from their official Taobao store for the latest “Little Bow Series” lip gloss, priced at 45 yuan, of which about 30,000 have been sold.

Taobao is operated by Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post.

The poster shows a female model in lace gloves kneeling provocatively.

In another photo, the product’s applicator, designed to be heart-shaped, appears to resemble male genitalia in the poster due to the lighting and camera angles.

The advertisement has drawn significant criticism for disrespecting women.

In an interview with the Post, Feng Yuan, co-founder of Equality, a Beijing-based NGO focused on gender equality, sharply criticised the marketing strategies as exhibiting a “male gaze”, questioning their effectiveness in the market.

“Employing a male gaze that presents women as sexual objects for male pleasure will likely alienate women who have an increasing self-awareness. This approach often leads to feelings of disgust, anger, and resistance,” she explained.

“From the perspective of online criticism, the effect has been counterproductive. The backlash reflects the sharp eyes and strong voices of young women today. They are asserting their autonomy by exercising their right to make choices as consumers,” Feng added.

Further backlash arose from the naming of FLORTTE lip mud colours, which were called “Kiss Little Juju”, “Kiss Neinei”, “Kiss Cherry” and “Kiss Mimi”.

In the Chinese context, the terms juju, neinei, cherry, and mimi colloquially refer to male and female genitalia.

“It’s quite difficult to envision a lip gloss for girls called ‘Kiss Little Juju’. While there is no direct translation for ‘juju’ in Chinese, it’s a homophone for ‘JJ’, isn’t it? So, the term essentially means ‘kissing penis’, right?” one observer wrote.

The company responded to the criticisms on mainland news source ifeng.com, saying: “The customer service team is currently unaware of the issues and will forward them to a specialist for verification.”

While the new products are still available, the lip mud product has been removed from the brand’s official store on Taobao.

The company has not yet responded to an interview request from the Post.

Netizens are overwhelmingly expressing profound dissatisfaction, with many describing the brand as “disgusting” and accusing it of grossly disrespecting women.

“Who would buy this lipstick? If someone asks what the shade is called, how could you say ‘Kiss Little Juju’ with a straight face?” one person said.

“I thought it was some kind of sex toy advertisement based on the photo,” another commented.

“If you do not respect women, do not expect to make a penny. I hope you go bankrupt,” a third person said.

In February 2021, Chinese lingerie brand Ubras hired male internet celebrity and famous stand-up comedian, Li Dan, to promote their products with the slogan, “An outfit that allows women to lie down and win in the workplace.”

Following the campaign’s ignition of widespread controversy and its perception as insulting to women, both Ubras and Li Dan issued formal apologies.

Chinese tourists scour social media for hidden gems, personal touch as times change

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3277500/chinese-tourists-scour-social-media-hidden-gems-personal-touch-times-change?utm_source=rss_feed

Lily Luk, a 21-year-old university graduate from Guangzhou, has visited Japan three times since outbound travel from mainland China resumed in earnest last year following the coronavirus pandemic.

She arranged her trips by collecting information from Chinese social media platforms.

“I typically start by searching for short videos that offer quick glimpses of the travel route, highlighting must-see spots and must-try foods along the way,” Luk said.

“A simple search using destination name plus keyword in the search box yields plenty of relevant content.”

As well as the standard landmarks, Luk was led to the unlikely treat of ricotta hot cakes with banana and honeycomb butter in the Japanese city of Kamakura.

The hot cakes surfaced in user-generated photos, reviews and recommendations aimed at Chinese tourists.

Across the world, in the German city of Düsseldorf, arrivals from China in the first five months of this year totalled 15,111, up by 38 per cent year on year.

The city promotes a fairy-tale-like castle and a historic old town, but many travellers have gone looking for Chinese food including youtiao – deep-fried dough strips – as recommended by posts on China’s Instagram-like Xiaohongshu social media platform.

Düsseldorf became so popular that a Chinese Xiaohongshu “influencer” reported live from the city in August, a city marketing official said.

These vignettes show that Chinese social media platforms, such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, are shaping how people travel abroad by leading them to exactly what they want: special foods, prime hotel rooms, spots to pose for photos and other attractions – both on and off beaten tracks.

The trend gives some locations quick, unexpected fame while allowing tourists to guide themselves through foreign countries instead of having to join tour groups.

“The rise of Xiaohongshu’s importance for travel is one of the biggest shifts in Chinese consumer behaviour in recent years,” said Janice Meng, a market research analyst with business consultancy Dragon Trail International.

Fifty-two per cent of respondents to a survey of Chinese traveller sentiment by Dragon Trail International in April said they used Xiaohongshu, while 43 per cent sought out Douyin and 37 per cent consulted Ctrip, with many using more than one platform.

On Douyin, searches for travel-related content rose 300 per cent year on year in the first quarter of last year, right after Covid-19 controls were lifted, Dragon Trail International said, with the number of travel “key opinion leaders” growing “significantly”.

Online travel agency Trip.com, Ctrip’s brand outside China, said social media recommendations often hold more sway than traditional guidebooks, maps or word of mouth advice “because they offer dynamic, peer-generated content that feels authentic and relatable”.

Guidebook publisher Lonely Planet announced in July that it had closed its China office and would quit posting updates on its Chinese internet outlets.

Some social media advice is so fine-tuned that Chinese tourists routinely book the same room in a particular Paris hotel because of the view, a trend that initially confused the hotel staff, the Chinese online news outlet Jing Daily reported last year.

In other places, such as the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, in Australia, the apps offer tips on just where to pose for photos.

Recommendations start with individual reports and images, with algorithms then used to form networks of people keen on visiting the same places.

On the flip side, algorithms normally recommend content based only on keyword frequency, rather than giving a city or country’s full list of attractions as found in traditional guidebooks.

Dragon Trail International’s survey found that videos resonate most strongly with travellers when it comes to motivating them to pick travel destinations.

“Unlike guidebooks or maps, which can become outdated … social media posts offer the latest insights on a destination, deals and tips in real time,” said Charlene Ree, CEO of Hong Kong marketing technology firm EternityX.

“If a user frequently engages with luxury travel content on Xiaohongshu and Douyin, the platform will prioritise posts about high-end accommodation and exclusive experiences. This personalised approach enhances the relevance and perceived value of recommendations.”

Xiaohongshu, with about 212 million monthly active users in China as of June, has become the most heavily used travel platform among people aged 24 to 30, according to an outlook report by EternityX and Tongcheng Travel.

It said people born in the 1990s and 2000s form a “significant portion” of active Douyin users, especially for travel content.

Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Dubai are working with Xiaohongshu to set up promotions that capitalise on Chinese travellers’ fixation with the app, Chinese data provider Dao Insights said.

Tourism Australia, an Australian government agency, mounted a social media campaign on Xiaohongshu for China’s June 18 online shopping festival this year that let users share experiences with photos and vlogs. It generated 12.54 million views, a spokeswoman for the agency said.

That same month, Tourism Australia invited Chinese actor-singer Yu Shi to explore the island state of Tasmania and share his experiences on Xiaohongshu.

Social media services WeChat, Weibo, Douyin and Bilibili have also facilitated Chinese travel in Australia, said Nick Henderson, China country manager with Tourism Australia.

“These platforms have become key resources for discovering hidden gems, crafting personalised itineraries and sharing recommendations,” he said.

[Sport] Chinese giant Chery could build cars in UK

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74jgk1kw87o

Chery

Can China-Japan youth exchanges and goodwill overcome their deep political chill?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277600/can-china-japan-youth-exchanges-and-goodwill-overcome-their-deep-political-chill?utm_source=rss_feed

Yasushi Kaifu has never been to China, and the 15-year-old Tokyo resident does not plan on visiting any time soon.

Few of Kaifu’s high school friends have ever travelled to China either, and as reports of tensions in the East China Sea and the Taiwan Strait mount, so too do their negative views and unease about Japan’s big neighbour.

“Because I live in Japan, I would be worried if there was a big war once a conflict broke out in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

Keitoku Ikegami, 24, a graduate student at International Christian University in Tokyo, has been to China, but said visiting now would not be an easy decision.

“As a Japanese person, considering political tensions between the two countries, I will be quite hesitant on whether I should really go to China,” he said.

When he was 10, Ikegami went on a family trip to the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan. His most recent visit to the country was last year, when bilateral tensions spiked again after China imposed a ban on all imports of Japanese seafood following Tokyo’s controversial discharge of water from its damaged Fukushima nuclear plant.

Ties had already been strained since 2020, first amid Japanese concerns over Beijing’s transparency regarding the extent of the Covid-19 pandemic and then its introduction of a national security law in Hong Kong, where Japanese businesses have a significant presence.

“My impression of China is that the food is very delicious and roads are broad, but the society is under tighter control than I expected, and there are so many surveillance cameras on the streets and in the subway stations,” Ikegami said.

He added that he would prefer travelling to neighbouring South Korea, which shared similar political systems and democratic values.

While Beijing and Tokyo have been at odds on many issues, leaders and politicians from either side – including Chinese President Xi Jinping and outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida – have pledged to build strong bonds between their young people.

Yang Wanming, president of the semi-official Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, told People’s Daily in a recent interview that the organisation was planning to invite 1,500 Japanese youths to China.

“The goodwill of the youth of the two countries towards each other is an important base of public opinion and the improvement of public opinion is fundamental work for the development of Sino-Japanese relations,” Yang was quoted as saying by the Communist Party mouthpiece.

“We will always attach great importance to the work of youth exchanges, and endeavour to nurture the power of knowledge and friendship with China for the new era.”

But the political chill, coupled with Japan’s increasing alignment with the United States, record low public opinion of China, and Beijing’s controversial anti-espionage law will hamper efforts to rebuild youth ties, according to observers.

Relations between China and Japan, the world’s second and third largest economies, respectively, are contentious and complicated.

Once a victim of brutal Japanese aggression from the 1930s to the end of World War II, China established diplomatic ties with Japan in 1972. Six years later, both countries reaffirmed they would “settle all disputes by peaceful means” in a peace treaty following a historic visit by late Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping.

Japanese were among the first foreign investors to come to China, and more than 31,000 Japanese companies now operate in the country. The two countries are also each other’s major export destinations.

Still, bitterness runs deep – from wartime history to territorial disputes in the East China Sea, and frequent confrontations between coastguard ships and military jets.

China has yet to resume its 15-day visa waiver policy for Japanese travellers. The number of Japanese visiting China in the first 11 months of last year was just one-third of that during the same period in 2019, according to the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China.

“This is very worrying, as the exchange of young people has been dealt a blow because of political tensions in recent years and Covid-19 pandemic restrictions,” said a Chinese expert with a government think tank who declined to be named.

“Cultivating bonds between young people is like planting trees for your heirs, and it will have an impact on generations to come,” the expert said.

“I think leaders of the two countries need to take the initiative, because, like it or not, you can either forge ahead or fall behind when it comes to China-Japan relations.”

Youth exchanges have long been seen as a barometer of the health of ties between China and Japan.

The first group of Japanese students arrived in China soon after the two countries signed an agreement on exchanges in 1979. According to Chinese state media, some 480 Japanese students studied in Chinese universities between 1979 and 1982, while 960 students from China, sponsored by scholarships and loans from the Japanese government, enrolled in Japanese universities.

The peak came in the early 1980s, when Hu Yaobang, then general secretary of the party, visited Tokyo and extended an invitation to 3,000 Japanese young people to visit China.

In September 1984, a total of 12 flights carried 3,000 Japanese youths to China, according to China Youth Daily, and Hu Jintao, then head of the Communist Youth League of China, met them at the airport in Shanghai.

In 1985, Hu, who became party general secretary in 2002 and president of China the following year, led a delegation of 100 Chinese youths on a reciprocal trip to Japan.

“At that time, political ties were warm and it was largely the Chinese top leaders that spearheaded the exchanges between the young people,” the Chinese expert said. “And many of the young people at that time later became politicians and businessmen and helped improve ties with China.”

Even when political ties were strained and general public perception of China was negative, it appeared that Japanese youth held the most positive views of China.

In the most recent poll, conducted by the Japanese government last September and October, a record low of 12.7 per cent of the Japanese public said they considered China to be “friendly”, a dramatic drop from a peak of 78.6 per cent in 1980.

But the same poll last year showed about 20 per cent of people aged between 18 and 39 felt China was “friendly” – much higher than the percentages for those over 40.

Shin Kawashima, a professor at the University of Tokyo who specialises in modern Chinese diplomatic history, said improving youth exchanges was more important than ever.

“The negative public sentiment is a major challenge and cannot be overcome overnight, so seeking to strengthen exchanges between young people is becoming more meaningful now because they have better views of each other compared with other age groups,” Kawashima said.

Measures need to be taken before young Japanese lose interest in China, observers say, but the task will not be easy.

In Japan, where the population is ageing faster than in almost any other country, it will be a growing challenge to promote interest for exchanges among the younger generations.

“In the 1980s, young Japanese were invited to eat delicious Chinese food and watch performances in the Great Hall of the People [in Beijing] under a typical ‘friendship’ atmosphere, but do you think young people nowadays would like that?” Kawashima said.

Meanwhile, China’s controversial anti-espionage law and the detention of Japanese businesspeople and academics have sent chills across Japan, including scholars who used to be active in taking Japanese students to China for study programmes.

“Before that, many Japanese professors worked very hard to promote youth exchanges, however now it is not just the young students but also scholars whose interest in coming to China is waning,” the Chinese expert said.

Kawashima agreed that there were grave security concerns.

“Japanese people do not really know where the red line is, so many of them just give up going to China, and this also brings a negative impact on people-to-people exchanges.”

A first step would be to encourage young Japanese to see China for themselves to shift negative perceptions of China, according to Kawashima.

Kaifu, the 15-year-old from Tokyo, said he and his friends were fascinated with mahjong video games, which were inspired by the 19th century Chinese tile-based game, and someday he would like to experience “the differences in daily life between Chinese and Japanese”.

When he was 17, Takumi Inoue, now a 22-year-old undergraduate at Waseda University in Tokyo, decided that he wanted to go to China.

At the time, China’s alleged suppression of ethnic minorities in its western Xinjiang region had drawn international criticism and media attention, but this had also raised Inoue’s interest in China’s ethnic policy.

“Japan also has a history of suppression of the Ryukyuan people in Okinawa and the Ainu people in northern Japan,” he said.

In 2022, when China was still under a strict zero-Covid policy, Inoue flew to Beijing, where he endured a month-long quarantine before joining Peking University’s double-degree programme.

“I think it’s easy to attack China’s authoritarian system, and right-wing politicians in Japan have often criticised the zero-Covid policy, but I believe that unless I really experience it, I cannot just criticise it.”

Spending time in China did give him a new perspective on the country, he said.

“I used to believe that Chinese people hate us, and in fact, while I was called riben guizi [Japanese devil] twice in China, many people were very friendly after knowing I was Japanese,” he said.

Shotaro Abe, a 20-year-0ld from Kamakura, the political centre of medieval Japan, said he held “very negative views on the authoritarian government in China, especially after the Tiananmen crackdown and its policy in Xinjiang”.

But Abe, whose dream is to become the mayor of his hometown, recently applied for a two-week exchange programme to China, hoping to “really experience China because honestly I don’t really know the country”.

“I also want to talk to my peers in China, about everything from politics to music, for example, why China has so many young and famous pianists like Lang Lang and Yuja Wang.”

How Azerbaijan’s strategic reach for Brics will benefit China too

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3277306/how-azerbaijans-strategic-reach-brics-will-benefit-china-too?utm_source=rss_feed

Nestled on the shores of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, an important strategic partner for China in the South Caucasus, has become one the latest countries to seek membership in the Brics grouping, a formidable economic bloc founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China, and later joined by South Africa.

In the evolving multipolar world order, Azerbaijan exemplifies the trend of countries leveraging their unique geopolitical positions to diversify alliances, pursue national interests and strengthen their global standing, as displayed by its strategic efforts to capitalise on its location at the crossroads of East and West.

The increasing economic and political impact of Brics is the source of Azerbaijan’s enthusiasm for the bloc. With its recent expansion, which included Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran, Brics has become a formidable economic powerhouse, accounting for almost half of the world’s population and more than a quarter of the global economy.

For Azerbaijan, a country looking to lessen its reliance on hydrocarbons and diversify its economy, Brics could provide access to large markets, technology transfers and development experience. Brics’ New Development Bank offers an appealing alternative to Western lenders by financing infrastructure projects and promoting economic development.

Aside from economics, Brics membership aligns with Azerbaijan’s ambition for a more multipolar world order. The bloc’s emphasis on multilateralism and its status as an alternative to the conventional Western-dominated international system resonate with Azerbaijan’s foreign policy stance, which strives to balance relations with Russia and the West while strengthening connections with developing nations.

Brics provides a chance for Azerbaijan to speak out on global issues and help shape a more equitable and just international order. Azerbaijan’s membership in Brics would not only strengthen the group’s geopolitical influence but also provide China with major economic and diplomatic benefits. Hence, China’s enthusiastic response to Azerbaijan’s intention to join Brics comes as no surprise.

China, as a primary architect of Brics development and a loud proponent of multipolarity, sees Azerbaijan’s future participation as strategically important. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Astana in July, both countries reinforced this confluence of interests by issuing a joint declaration on establishing strategic cooperation.

Azerbaijan’s strategic location in the centre of Eurasia makes it a critical link in China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure development project designed to connect China to Central Asia, Europe and beyond.

Azerbaijan’s well-developed transport infrastructure, including the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway and the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route – also known as the “Middle Corridor” – complements China’s pursuit of alternative trade routes to Europe, especially amid geopolitical tensions stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Azerbaijan’s strategic position on the Middle Corridor is crucial for China’s trade ambitions, offering a safe and efficient land-sea route that dramatically reduces transit times and costs. This pathway enables China to diversify its freight distribution, strengthen Eurasian economic relations and increase its worldwide influence.

With transit times already cut from 53 days to 18 to 23 days and goals for further reductions, the Middle Corridor will considerably strengthen China’s trade and economic connectivity across Eurasia. Joining Brics could foster preferential trade agreements, boosting China-Azerbaijan trade and expanding Chinese market access in the Caucasus. It may also boost Chinese investments in Azerbaijan’s tech, agriculture and infrastructure sectors.

The partnership could enhance collaboration in renewable energy too, leveraging Chinese expertise in solar and wind technology. This aligns with Azerbaijan’s goal to generate 30 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030 targeting US$2 billion in investments for such projects.

Azerbaijan’s commitment to intercultural dialogue and regional cooperation, evident in its membership in forums such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, is consistent with the Brics vision of an inclusive, multipolar world.

Azerbaijan’s hosting of the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue exemplifies this dedication. Furthermore, as a secular Muslim-majority country, it could serve as a bridge between Brics founding members and Muslim countries that recently joined such as Iran and Egypt.

But while Brics membership holds great promise for Azerbaijan, challenges remain. Domestically, economic diversification, reforming institutions and settling a long-term peace accord with Armenia are critical.

On the global stage, Azerbaijan must strike a cautious balance between its Brics ambitions and existing Western connections, particularly its energy partnership with the European Union. This difficult balancing effort shows the complexity of a multipolar world in which countries want to diversify partnerships while maintaining existing relationships.

Brics’ internal dynamics present additional challenges. The bloc is not a monolithic entity; member states often pursue divergent interests. Azerbaijan will need to navigate these complexities adeptly, leveraging its diplomatic skills to foster consensus and avoid intra-Brics conflicts.

Despite these obstacles, the potential benefits of Brics membership for Baku and Beijing outweigh the risks. Brics offers Azerbaijan a platform to speed up its economic development, diversify its partnerships and enhance its global standing. For China, Azerbaijan’s inclusion strengthens Brics’ presence in Eurasia, enhances regional security cooperation and eases regional commerce and investment.

Azerbaijan’s invitation to the Brics summit in Kazan, |Russi, in October is pivotal. The summit’s decisions, particularly those concerning Azerbaijan’s Brics ambitions, could determine the country’s future and affect regional dynamics, potentially altering the growing multipolar international order.

As the world moves away from unipolarity, strategic connections like the one emerging between Azerbaijan and Brics will become increasingly crucial in establishing a more just, equitable and multipolar global environment, brick by brick.