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• US thinktank leader arrested on charges of acting as unregistered agent of China
• Warm fronts to Y-fronts: Chinese city hit by underwear storm
• ‘Super Mario’ Draghi calls for €800 billion to ensure EU competes with US and China
• Overwork obesity: China woman gained 20kg in a year due to work stress, sees change after quitting
• Saudi Arabia ‘open’ to petroyuan, closer China ties, minister says
• Tech war: China’s chip industry becomes key breeding ground for unicorns, report says
• No rise in Chinese visitors arrested in Singapore since start of visa-free travel: official
• China, US vow to work together on climate issues, but American election may alter path
• Chinese, Russian navy, air forces to hold joint drills again in Sea of Japan
• China’s AI integration ‘advancing rapidly’ as it plays catch-up with US
• China’s brand new space port damaged by Super Typhoon Yagi
• South China Sea: Philippines ‘will not allow’ Beijing to remove vessels
• China to enforce up to 10-year ban on ex-regulators investing in new stock offerings
• Chinese fans get excuses in early on social media for pending World Cup loss to Saudi Arabia
• Super Typhoon Yagi: officials, military in Southern China push to restore power, services
• Philippines’ Sabina Shoal dilemma, Chinese super radars’ Giza discovery: 5 weekend reads
• VW factory fears renew concerns about China exposure of German carmakers
• China triplets attend same university, mother says is fulfilment of ‘prophecy’ linked to trio’s names
• Japan faces uncertainties amid threats from China abroad and political and earthquake fears at home
• Xi overlooks differences to stress China-North Korea ties in anniversary message
• A blockbuster Chinese video game sparks debate on sexism in the nation’s gaming industry
• Puppy love: dog weddings on the rise in China even as pet owners shun marriage
• China-US team creates nano-plant drug for deadliest brain cancer
• China blames US ‘coercion’ for new Dutch export controls on ASML chip-making equipment
• China’s consumer inflation misses expectations amid calls to fight ‘deflationary pressure’
• China mum aims to teach son lesson, makes him work at snack stall, he earns US$1,400 in 10 days
• More talk ‘not always best’ for US-China relationship, it’s the results that count

US thinktank leader arrested on charges of acting as unregistered agent of China

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/09/gal-luft-arrested-china-agent

The leader of a US thinktank who was indicted last year on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of China has been arrested and will be extradited in the coming weeks or months, prosecutors said on Monday.

In July 2023, federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Gal Luft of paying a former high-ranking US government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016, as well as seeking to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil.

Luft, a dual US-Israeli citizen, was arrested in Cyprus last February but fled while released on bail, prosecutors said in a court filing. He has since been re-arrested, prosecutors said, without specifying when or where.

Luft, the co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, said in posts on X last year that he had never been an arms dealer and that the charges were “politically motivated”.

The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security describes itself as a thinktank focused on energy, security and economic trends. The group last year said it was convinced of Luft’s innocence.

Neither Luft nor the institute immediately responded to requests for comment on Monday.

The US justice department is cracking down on alleged agents of adversaries like Russia and China. Last week, federal prosecutors charged two employees of Russian state media network RT with scheming to influence the 2024 election.

They also charged a former New York state government employee with promoting China’s interests. Congressional Republicans have touted Luft as a potentially useful source in their investigation into alleged corruption by Joe Biden. The White House has dismissed the Republican inquiry as unsubstantiated.

Once Luft is extradited, he will appear in Manhattan federal court and be asked to enter a plea.

Warm fronts to Y-fronts: Chinese city hit by underwear storm

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/sep/09/chinese-city-underwear-storm-chongqing-heatwave-cloud-seeding

It was the talk of the town. After authorities sought to break a long-running heatwave in Chongqing by using cloud-seeding missiles to artificially bring rain, the Chinese megacity was blasted by an unusual weather event – an underwear storm.

Termed “the 9/2 Chongqing underwear crisis”, an unexpected windstorm on Monday brought gusts of up to 76mph (122km/h), scattering people’s laundry from balconies on the city’s high-rises. Douyin, China’s sister app to TikTok, was filled with videos of pants and bras flying through the skies, landing in the street and snagging on trees.

“I just went out and it suddenly started to rain heavily and underwear fell from the sky,” one resident, Ethele, posted on the social media platform Weibo.

“Who’s going to compensate me for my emotional damage?” joked one person who lost their brand new Calvin Klein set.

“It’s actually quite romantic. You might even pick up your crush’s underwear while taking a walk on the street,” countered another.

One man bereft of his underwear said he was “laughing like crazy” but the rain storm in Chongqing had now turned him into a “lifelong introvert”.

Chongqing and the surrounding region had been sweltering for more than a week in extreme temperatures that had already delayed the return of schools and universities. In an effort to bring down the temperatures and ease drought conditions, last week the authorities turned to cloud-seeding technology, sending almost 200 rockets into the sky. Authorities said it worked, and rain soon arrived. But on Monday, the sudden windstorm hit without warning, and residents linked the two – though this was rejected by authorities.

Tens of thousands of comments were posted to Weibo, where more than 7 million people viewed the “underwear crisis” hashtag, which became Wednesday’s 11th most popular across China. Another 18 million engaged with a hashtag suggesting “if you think you messed up at work, just think of the Chongqing Meteorological Bureau”.

Zhang Yixuan, the deputy director of the Chongqing Weather Modification Office, rdefended the government’s work at a press conference on Wednesday. Zhang said the winds, which had also brought down billboards and trees, were a naturally occurring convection, and not caused by the cloud seeding.

“There are definitely strong winds, but this is caused by natural conditions. Artificial rainfall will not cause extreme weather,” Zhang said.

Regardless, the incident has now linked bad weather with flying boxer shorts in the minds of Chongqing residents. Heavy rain was predicted again late last week, residents warned one another to bring in their laundry ahead of another underwear crisis.

“The people of Chongqing will never forget this heavy day,” said one.

An employee at a central Chongqing lingerie store told the Guardian that people weren’t yet rushing in to buy replacements, he said, but also it was “the season to buy new underwear” so he expected sales to increase anyway.

“[Chongqing people] laugh about it,” he said, “because life is fun.”

‘Super Mario’ Draghi calls for €800 billion to ensure EU competes with US and China

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277830/super-mario-draghi-calls-eu800-billion-ensure-eu-competes-us-and-china?utm_source=rss_feed

“Massive investment” and a quantum leap on industrial policy are required if the European Union is to survive in an increasingly hostile world defined by spiralling US-China rivalry.

That is the advice from Mario Draghi, the venerated former Italian leader who has, for a second time, been drafted to save the European economy from oblivion.

Tasked a year ago with drawing up a blueprint for the “future of European competitiveness”, the man who – when at the helm of the central bank – was dubbed “Super Mario” for helping drag the bloc out of its debt crisis from 2011, was unequivocal about the scale of the challenge.

Jolting the EU from its productivity mire will cost €800 billion (US$883 billion) in investment, including significant joint funding – anathema to some of its members – and an embrace of subsidies and tactical protectionist trade measures, Draghi wrote in a hotly anticipated 400-page report, presented in Brussels on Monday.

“If Europe cannot become more productive, we will be forced to choose. We will not be able to become, at once, a leader in new technologies, a beacon of climate responsibility and an independent player on the world stage. We will not be able to finance our social model. We will have to scale back some, if not all, of our ambitions,” he wrote.

He proposed an investment hike to around 5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) to “levels last seen in the 1960s and 70s” if Europe was to digitise, decarbonise and increase its defence capacity in line with his assessments.

“This is unprecedented: for comparison, the additional investments provided by the Marshall Plan between 1948-51 amounted to around 1-2 per cent of GDP annually,” Draghi wrote.

This level of funding is essential if Europe is to bridge the innovation gap with the US and China, particularly in hi-tech sectors.

“Our clean tech industry now faces competition from China. Certainly China could offer the cheapest route to meet the EU’s climate targets, but China’s state-sponsored competition represents a threat to developing our productive clean industries,” Draghi said at a press conference.

Europe’s decarbonisation efforts should be an engine for growth, not an exercise in bureaucracy, he added.

Asked whether his report meant Europe should become tougher on China, Draghi suggested that it needed to be smarter.

“Trade policy has to be pragmatic … you asked me, softer or harder? We can’t be softer or harder across the board. We have to look at specific sectors, and decide what we want to do,” he said.

“China is actually slowing very much, but it’s become much less open to us, and it’s actually competing with us in global markets,” he added.

An example of that pragmatism would be refraining from imposing tariffs on Chinese solar panel imports, where European industry stands no chance of competing, Draghi said. In his report, he described the extra costs on consumers in such instances as “deadweight”.

In some cases, Europe should be open to the use of tariffs as long as they “avoid creating perverse incentives that undermine European industry”, the report read.

The former Italian prime minister painted a gloomy picture of both the global geopolitical scenario and Europe’s prospects if it did not act urgently to turbo-boost productivity.

“The EU exists to ensure that Europeans can always benefit from these fundamental rights. If Europe can no longer provide them to its people – or has to trade off one against the other – it will have lost its reason for being,” he said.

The era of burgeoning global trade conducted under multilateral rules was dead, he wrote, while the low-cost safety of the US security umbrella was no longer guaranteed. Dependencies created under this era of freewheeling trade had “turned out to be vulnerabilities”.

The EU’s 27 members must therefore collaborate closely on buying, mining and pooling critical minerals, amid dominance from China and a global race for untapped resources around the world, Draghi said. This would require a “genuine foreign economic policy”, whereby the EU pursues trade and investment deals depending on its own resource requirements.

The need for reform, as painted in the lengthy report, is stark. Amid sluggish productivity growth, the average European citizen’s income has grown at around half that of their American counterpart since 2000, while European businesses are being outflanked by rivals from both China and the US.

According to the report, “the share of sectors in which China is directly competing with the euro area exporters is now close to 40 per cent, up from 25 per cent in 2002”.

Only four European companies are among the world’s top 10 tech firms, while many unicorn companies founded in Europe jump to the US and other markets due to EU regulators’ habits of “hindering innovation”.

But even such vast sums of money alone will not be enough: Draghi’s report called for a philosophical shift. Policymakers must embrace industrial policy – until recently a dirty word in much of a bloc where regulating rather than nurturing is often the default action.

“The threat to Europe’s position in clean tech owes mainly to a lack of an industrial strategy equivalent to other major regions,” Draghi wrote.

He pointed to research estimating that Chinese subsidies for the solar sector are twice as big a portion of GDP as the EU’s, and are often paired with measures to protect home producers. As a result, it costs up to 65 per cent more to produce solar panels in Europe than China, or 35 per cent more to make battery cells.

Where long-term decarbonisation policies have been adopted, they are not underpinned by industrial strategy, Draghi found. This has resulted in the disjointed dynamic whereby the EU has ordered the phase-out of tailpipe emissions by 2035 without “following up these ambitions with a synchronised push to convert the supply chain” to electric vehicles.

The report will tell the policymaking direction of the next five years under European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the German politician confirmed, suggesting a rocky few years for China, defined by the conflation of economic and security concerns.

Overwork obesity: China woman gained 20kg in a year due to work stress, sees change after quitting

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3277675/overwork-obesity-china-woman-gained-20kg-year-due-work-stress-sees-change-after-quitting?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese woman stated that she gained 20kg in one year due to work-related stress, sparking renewed online discussions about “overwork obesity”, a term that describes weight gain resulting from work-related tension.

In China, “overwork obesity” is frequently attributed to job pressure, long working hours, or an irregular lifestyle.

Ouyang Wenjing, a 24-year-old woman from southern China’s Guangdong province, said on her Xiaohongshu account that her weight increased from 60kg to 80kg after working for one year.

The woman did not specify her workplace or the nature of her job, but she shared with the mainland news outlet Star Video that her job had become a “disaster” for her physical and mental health. She mentioned that she quit her job in June and is now “feeling much better.”

Ouyang said she often worked overtime, had irregular shifts, and ordered food delivery for all her meals.

She shared that she weighed 105kg in secondary school before losing 45kg in the next four years. She said that her recent job had sabotaged those weight loss efforts, and she had started to gain the weight back.

Ouyang now works as a freelance weight loss influencer with 41,000 followers on Xiaohongshu. She adjusted her diet to lower oils and sugars, focusing on balanced meals with vegetables, grains, and proteins. She lost 6kg in one month after these changes.

Ouyang’s experience resonated with many people who also shared their experiences with “overwork obesity”.

A 33-year-old woman who worked at a tech company in Shanghai said she gained 3kg in two months due to work-related pressure, which she said led her to “overindulge in desserts”.

“All my willpower was used at work, so I had none left for my life,” she said on Xiaohongshu.

Despite China’s labour laws stating that employees should not exceed 40 hours of work per week, many companies frequently overlook these regulations.

The prevalent “996” work culture – working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week – continues to be widespread in mainland tech firms. On the online forum Douban, members of a “workaholic” group noted that it is rare to find jobs that offer a two-day weekly break.

Zuo Xiaoxia, a doctor at the Nutrition Department of the People’s Liberation Army No 309 Hospital told Chinese media Health Times that late dinners, overeating, and a lack of sleep are the reasons behind “overwork obesity”.

She suggested that people eat more vegetables and less meat and try not to let their work interrupt their regular eating time. She also suggested exercise to stay fit.

Saudi Arabia ‘open’ to petroyuan, closer China ties, minister says

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3277788/saudi-arabia-open-petroyuan-closer-china-ties-minister-says?utm_source=rss_feed

A top official from Saudi Arabia said the country is “open to new ideas” – including use of the yuan in crude settlements – as the oil-rich Middle Eastern nation looks to incorporate Chinese products like electric vehicles (EVs), the C919 passenger jet and renewable energy infrastructure while it attempts to diversify its economy.

Bandar Al-khorayef, Saudi minister of industry and mineral resources, made the comments as the two countries have moved closer despite an escalating rivalry between China and the US, Saudi Arabia’s traditional ally.

“The petroyuan is not substantial to [the ministry], we believe Saudi Arabia will do what’s in its best interest … but I think Saudi Arabia will always try new things, and is open to new ideas, and we try not to mix politics with commerce,” Khorayef said in an interview on Saturday in Hong Kong.

Broader adoption of the petroyuan – shorthand for the use of China’s currency in cross-border crude oil settlements – is widely viewed as the next step for the yuan’s internationalisation, and a challenge to the omnipresent US dollar in global commodity markets.

The currency’s use has grown – alongside trade with Russia, China’s largest source of crude imports – after Moscow was locked out of the US dollar system following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Beijing is also advancing the yuan’s reach in international trade more generally – it signed a three-year currency swap deal with Saudi Arabia worth 50 billion yuan (US$7.1 billion) in November 2023 and has shown a preference for settling in local currency with trading partners.

The ubiquity of the US dollar in the oil trade – surpluses of which are known as petrodollars – is a key pillar of its status as the global reserve currency.

“Our monitoring policy is based on having a balanced exchange rate between the Saudi riyal and [US] dollar,” Khorayef said. “This gives us great opportunity to plan and compete, but most importantly, it gives our investors who will invest in our country the ability to hedge their risk on currency.”

Though the Saudi minister described “positive” sentiment in his country for using the petroyuan in transactions, he did not give a timetable for when it would happen.

“From a commercial point of view, between a supplier and a customer, I think such an arrangement can happen with the freedom they have,” he said. “It is not something that we would look at from a policy point of view.”

Saudi Arabia is China’s second-largest source of crude imports – purchases declined 1.8 per cent year on year to 86 million tonnes in 2023, significantly lower than Russia’s 107 million tonnes.

A report from S&P Global Ratings released in August said that a deepening of economic relations between China and Saudi Arabia will advance the use of the yuan in oil purchases, though it would take time for those trades to become profitable.

Riyadh is looking to diversify its economy and become an industrial hub in the Middle East under its Vision 2030 initiative, and Chinese companies are eager to explore alternative markets as a US-led containment effort broadens in scope. These complementary phenomena have prompted closer relations between the two countries.

Khorayef is the latest high-ranking Saudi official to visit China, with Hong Kong his last stop in a week-long Asia tour that included Singapore and Guangzhou.

Spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mao Ning announced on Monday that Premier Li Qiang will travel to Saudi Arabia to chair the fourth meeting of the High-Level Chinese-Saudi Joint Committee, touring the country as well as the United Arab Emirates for four days starting Tuesday.

The minister said he anticipated more cooperation – mainly in the form of Chinese investment – in numerous areas, naming metals, pharmaceuticals, smart cities, robotics and renewables.

“We welcome Chinese companies to come and invest in EVs.”

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies has already established a presence in the Middle Eastern country, opening a cloud data centre and advising on automation.

“We have the Future Factories Initiative, and we welcome any provider of solutions to participate,” he explained.

On the aviation front, Khorayef said Saudi Arabia has been talking to multiple aerospace suppliers – including those from China – as the country seeks high-value applications for its upgraded aluminium.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation, Saudi’s industry regulator, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) in May to explore localisation of its aviation industry and developing the local supply chain.

“Saudi Arabia will be a buyer of planes for the next 25 years. From the growth that we are seeing, they will definitely look at multiple suppliers,” he said.

The Persian Gulf state also established a US$182 million exploration incentive programme in January, trying to expand its mining sector by tapping vast reserves of phosphate, gold, copper and bauxite.

“Saudi Arabia would like to convert its natural resources in minerals to high-value products,” Khorayef said.

“We are also working on titanium, and we have expanded our titanium production. It’s a project where there is great demand globally with very few players, and therefore we believe that Saudi Arabia can be a major contributor to these very critical industries.”

Tech war: China’s chip industry becomes key breeding ground for unicorns, report says

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3277756/tech-war-chinas-chip-industry-becomes-key-breeding-ground-unicorns-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s integrated circuit (IC) industry has minted more unicorns than any other sector in the country in the past three years, despite the growing financing pressure faced by local start-ups, according to a new report.

With fundraising becoming more challenging for start-ups across the board, China saw its number of newly funded unicorns – start-ups valued at over US$1 billion – drop from a peak of 192 in 2021 to 137 in 2022, and further to 106 last year, according to the China Unicorn Enterprise Development Tracking Report published on Sunday by Great Wall Strategy Consultants.

While total funding has dwindled, start-ups that were able to attract investors received more backing on average than in previous years. Most of it came from renminbi funds. Last year, US-dollar funds accounted for just 28 per cent of all fundraising deals, compared with 35.5 per cent in 2022 and 50 per cent in 2021, the report said.

A large part of the investments went to unicorns in hard tech industries such as ICs and new energy vehicles, according to the report, as the Chinese government doubles down on its self-reliance strategy aimed at reducing dependence on foreign technologies, particularly those from the US.

The Yangtze River Delta, China’s industrial heartland and a semiconductor production base, was home to 40 per cent of all Chinese unicorns in 2023, the report showed. In the past few years, more unicorns were founded outside first-tier cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hangzhou.

Changes in China’s unicorn landscape come as the US ratchets up pressure on tech sectors that it deems critical to national security. Washington last year introduced restrictions to curb US venture capital and private equity investments in Chinese companies covering semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and some artificial intelligence systems.

Chinese unicorns are also encountering hurdles in listing on US stock exchanges amid growing scrutiny from both Beijing and Washington, deterring US venture capital – once a key funding source for the mainland’s internet sector – from investing in Chinese start-ups.

While the number of unicorns in China nearly tripled between 2016 and 2023 from 131 to 375, those that reached initial public offerings declined by more than a third between 2021 and 2023, from 31 to 19.

In contrast with the more mature US venture capital market, the Chinese start-up ecosystem relies more on government-backed investments, according to Jonathan Ortmans, founder and president of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, during a speech at a side event at the Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai on Sunday.

Examples of state-backed investment efforts include the Beijing Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, established by the state-owned Zhongguancun Development Group in August with 8.5 billion yuan.

In May, China set up the third phase of the China Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund, known as the Big Fund, with a registered capital of 344 billion yuan.

Unicorns are considered a key force driving China’s tech innovation and private economy. In May, President Xi Jinping, during a meeting with entrepreneurs, questioned the recent slowdown in the emergence of new unicorns.

According to Hurun Research Institute’s 2024 Global Unicorn Index, the US still leads the world with over 700 unicorns among a global total of 1,453, compared with 340 in China.

No rise in Chinese visitors arrested in Singapore since start of visa-free travel: official

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3277812/no-rise-chinese-visitors-arrested-singapore-start-visa-free-travel-official?utm_source=rss_feed

Singapore has not experienced an increase of Chinese visitors arrested in the city state since the implementation of visa-free travel between the two countries, a government official has said.

Last month, three Chinese nationals, believed to be linked to foreign syndicates, were charged in the city state in relation to a spate of housebreaking cases in private residential estates. Police said they were working with Chinese authorities to locate another 14 Chinese nationals linked to the cases who had left Singapore.

The suspects are believed to be transient travellers who entered Singapore as visit pass holders, usually one to two days before committing the offence. After committing the crime, they would leave the scene and attempt to depart the country as soon as possible to avoid detection, local media reported.

Since February 9, holders of passports issued by Singapore and China have been exempted from visa requirements for a stay of up to 30 days in each country.

Responding to a parliamentary question from opposition politician Leong Mun Wai on whether more of such pass holders had been arrested following the visa exemption, Sun Xueling, Minister of State of Home Affairs and Social and Family Development, said on Monday there had been no increase in the number or percentage of such visitors since the visa exemption began.

“Even if the 14 Chinese nationals were taken into account, the percentage of Chinese visitors arrested in Singapore would be lower than the corresponding percentage last year,” she said, without giving exact figures.

Sun said no visa regime would completely weed out undesirable visitors and stop them from committing crimes in Singapore. Closing the borders would deter bad actors, “but doing so would destroy Singapore’s economy.”

Sun noted that the tourism sector contributed S$27.2 billion (US$20.8 billion) in receipts last year, and employed more than 71,000 workers as of December 2023. The sector also contributed on average 3 per cent of Singapore’s gross domestic product from 2014 to 2023, excluding 2020 to 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Neighbouring countries Malaysia and Thailand had also rolled out initiatives to attract Chinese visitors, Sun said, including visa exemptions, increased flight frequencies, and cultural and entertainment experiences that appealed to Chinese travellers.

“Against this backdrop, we must take steps to maintain our attractiveness to visitors. But this does not mean that we allow unrestricted entry of foreigners,” Sun said.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority’s new clearance rules had resulted in a greater percentage of travellers being denied entry into Singapore, Sun said. The automated lanes use biometric technology, which allows those who had committed crimes in Singapore to be flagged even when they try to enter using a different identity.

“The mutual visa exemption with China was a carefully assessed and weighed decision – that the security, criminal and immigration risks were manageable, and that the economic and bilateral benefits would be significant, and that overall, it is in Singapore’s interests to have this arrangement with China,” Sun said.

Leong stressed that his party, Progress Singapore Party, was not for closing Singapore off to foreigners. However, given that people of Chinese origin had been found to have committed crimes in Singapore including scams and money laundering, Leong questioned if more deterrent measures were needed against foreign actors with ill intent.

Responding to Leong, Sun noted that over the years authorities had been revising the laws to enhance measures against transnational crime.

“I take Mr Leong’s point that with the increasing number of visitors, and not only that, the increasing use of technology to commit transnational crimes, that we must always monitor and review our laws to make sure that they take into account the evolving nature of crimes,” she said.

In June, the last of the 10 money launderers who had roots in China’s Fujian province was dealt with by Singapore’s courts. The group was involved in an illicit online gambling ring that had bases in Southeast Asia and used their ill-gotten gains to purchase high-end items including memberships at exclusive golf clubs, luxury cars, properties, jewellery and designer goods.

A month later, Singapore made legislative changes to strengthen its anti-money-laundering regime, including by increasing fines for errant corporate service providers and tighter restrictions on nominee directorships in companies.

Singapore police last month said 10 cases of housebreaking were reported between June 1 and August 4, with most of them taking place in private residential estates around the Rail Corridor and Bukit Timah Road.

About S$1.36 million worth of items – valued at a total of S$3.85 million in the 10 cases – had so far been recovered.

China, US vow to work together on climate issues, but American election may alter path

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277813/china-us-vow-work-together-climate-issues-american-election-may-alter-path?utm_source=rss_feed

Climate envoys from China and the United States have pledged to work together to narrow differences on critical issues such as climate finance and non-carbon dioxide emissions after another round of talks in Beijing amid uncertainties over the US presidential election.

Despite a lack of breakthroughs, US climate envoy John Podesta, who wrapped up his first China visit on Friday, said he had held “excellent discussions” with Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenmin and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi.

In readouts issued by both sides separately on Sunday but similarly worded, Beijing and Washington “reaffirmed their intention to jointly host” a summit to tackle methane and other non-CO2 gases at the Cop29 United Nations climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan, in November.

Podesta and Liu also agreed to “further strengthening dialogue, collaborative efforts” to help make Cop29 a success and “to enforce their respective laws on banning illegal imports, and promote global forest conservation and sustainable management,” the readouts said.

Li Shuo, director of China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), said that while talks between the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters climate dialogue were important, expectations were low for the visit, largely because of the US elections. In November, Americans will go to the polls to vote for their next president.

“As expected, there was no major shift in position, but some mutual understanding on finance and [emissions of] non-CO2 gases,” he said. “The overall sense is positive and the two sides wanted to keep climate engagement.”

Li, who is also a senior fellow with ASPI’s Centre for China Analysis, said it would be difficult for both sides, especially China, to make major commitments ahead of the election given the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Former president Trump, who has called climate change a “hoax”, withdrew the US from the 2015 Paris Agreement and suspended climate talks with China in 2017.

Li noted that Beijing and Washington would conduct a series of important climate exchanges between the US elections and the inauguration of the new US administration in January, including at the Cop29 and Group of 20 summits later this year.

“In this sense, Podesta’s visit would be helpful for both sides to look at the options they face in November, which is a particularly sensitive time when important climate decisions would need to be made,” he said.

“That’s why, because of the highly speculative nature of the elections, it’s difficult to expect any substantive results from the talks in Beijing when the November poll is still up in the air.”

Podesta did not get to meet top Chinese leaders in Beijing like his predecessor John Kerry, who also met Premier Li Qiang and Vice-President Han Zheng during his last China visit in July last year.

During a meeting with Podesta on Friday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi indicated Beijing’s concerns about the possible impact of the US elections on bilateral ties, and climate talks in particular.

“It is hoped that the United States will maintain policy stability, effectively respect China’s legitimate concerns, avoid protectionism and pan-securitisation, and work with China to address global challenges,” he said, according to a statement from his ministry.

Wang renewed Beijing’s pledge to deliver on its climate goals as promised and said the climate dialogue sent “a positive signal to the outside world that as two major powers, China and the US not only need to cooperate but can indeed work together”.

Podesta acknowledged that both sides still had “some differences” on critical issues such as climate finance and carbon emissions. Beijing has refused to accelerate efforts to reduce its coal consumption at home and the building of coal-fired power plants overseas, according to climate observers.

“Notwithstanding some friction in our bilateral relationship, we can find places to collaborate for the good of our people and of our climate,” Podesta told reporters on Friday.

Instead, both sides chose to focus on tackling methane, a key part of global campaigns to limit global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius.

“They get less attention but they’re fully half of what’s causing global warming,” Podesta said.

China and the US also took part in a summit on “methane and non-CO2 greenhouse gases” at Cop28 in Dubai last year, however Beijing did not sign a global pledge to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30 per cent from 2020 levels by 2030.

According to a study by the China Climate Hub, to help keep global warming to 1.5 degrees, China needs to peak its emissions imminently and cut emissions across its entire economy by at least 30 per cent by 2035.

The state-owned tabloid Global Times voiced Beijing’s distrust of Washington’s climate engagement amid a climate crisis and the deepening US-China feud.

In a commentary on Thursday, it said that despite Podesta’s visit, the US-led West had actually undermined global green cooperation by hyping up the overcapacity issue and imposing punitive tariffs on China’s new energy sector.

“On one hand, the West makes a big fuss about China’s carbon emissions; on the other, it seeks to undermine China’s efforts in tackling this global climate crisis,” it said. “Their strategic suppression of China is actually aimed at curbing the country’s leading position in this field.”

Chinese, Russian navy, air forces to hold joint drills again in Sea of Japan

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3277816/chinese-russian-navy-air-forces-hold-joint-drills-again-sea-japan?utm_source=rss_feed

Russian naval and air forces will join the Chinese military for drills later this month in the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, and Sea of Okhotsk, as tensions simmer between Beijing and Tokyo.

The “Northern/Interaction-2024” exercises aim to “deepen the level of strategic coordination between the Chinese and Russian militaries, and enhance their ability to jointly respond to security threats”, China’s defence ministry announced on Monday.

Additionally, Chinese and Russian naval fleets will hold their fifth joint patrol in the Pacific, and China will take part in Russia’s “Ocean-2024” strategic exercise, according to the ministry statement, which did not mention the dates for any of the drills.

Northern/Interaction-2024 marks the second time that both the Russian navy and air force will join routine drills with their Chinese counterparts in strategic waters near Japan.

Last year, China sent five warships and four ship-borne helicopters from the eastern port of Qingdao to rendezvous with Russian forces for the “Northern/Interaction-2023” drills held between July 20 to 23.

The warships were the guided-missile destroyers Qiqihar and Guiyang, frigates Zaozhuang and Rizhao, and the comprehensive replenishment ship Taihu.

The Chinese air force sent multiple types of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters to the drills, including the Y-20 large transport aircraft, KJ-500 early warning aircraft, J-16 fighter jet and the Z-20 helicopter.

News of this year’s Northern/Interaction comes just two months after the two navies carried out drills code-named “Joint Sea-2024” in the South China Sea. The five-day exercise in July started at a military port in China’s southern Guangdong province, and included on-map military simulation and tactical coordination exercises.

In recent years, both China and Russia have stressed the importance of their strategic partnership aimed at countering the influence of the United States.

A joint statement following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Beijing in May said the two sides would “further deepen mutual military trust and cooperation” by expanding the scale of joint military exercises, carrying out regular joint maritime and air patrols, and strengthening coordination under bilateral and multilateral frames.

The latest drills come at a time of wider geopolitical tensions, and increasing military exercises from both China and Japan, with Tokyo deepening defence ties with Washington and other allies as it perceives Beijing as a growing threat.

In July, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned that relations with Japan were at a “critical stage” and risked going backwards.

Apart from historical grievances and long-running territorial dispute in the East China Sea, Beijing has also been angered by Japan’s increasing support for US pressures on China, including efforts to limit its access to advanced microchips.

Japan has reported an increase in Chinese military manoeuvring near its shores in the past few months, most recently on August 31, when the Japanese foreign ministry said a Chinese naval survey vessel entered the Tokara Strait off southern Japan.

Observers interpreted the sailing as part of Chinese efforts to test the defences of the US and its allies in the region.

Meanwhile, Japanese defence forces have been conducting a series of joint exercises with other players in the region. In July, Japan hosted the first-ever joint drills with the air forces of Germany, France and Spain. The Japanese defence ministry described the exercises as aimed at deepening cooperation with the three European countries towards the “realisation of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’”.

“This month, we also conducted bilateral exercises with the Turkish Navy, the Royal Netherlands Navy, and the Indian Navy in the waters around Japan. The successive visits to the Indo-Pacific region by the armed forces of these countries are proof of the countries’ willingness and ability to engage in the region,” Defence Minister Minoru Kihara said on June 25.

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China’s AI integration ‘advancing rapidly’ as it plays catch-up with US

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3277783/chinas-ai-integration-advancing-rapidly-it-plays-catch-us?utm_source=rss_feed

While the United States maintains a lead in technological innovation and investment in artificial intelligence, China has the potential to rival it in AI supremacy thanks to its massive market, abundant data resources and growing industrial base, according to Chinese officials and observers.

The integration of AI with China’s vast industrial landscape gives the country a unique advantage in transitioning from traditional manufacturing to intelligent manufacturing amid intensifying competition between the two powers, as AI has become a key arena, they said at a forum during a trade fair in eastern China’s Xiamen city on Sunday.

“The US is clearly ahead of China in terms of technological activity, but we are ahead of it in terms of market friendliness,” Peng Wensheng, chief economist at the China International Capital Corporation (CICC), said during the discussion on the emerging field at the 24th China International Fair for Investment and Trade.

The assessment was made as China increasingly seeks tech-driven growth and shows a driving ambition in generative AI, which has profound economic implications, including increased productivity and cost savings.

With the escalation of the tech race between the world’s two largest economies, China in 2021 specified AI as one of the seven “frontier technologies” to develop, and in July hosted its biggest AI conference in Shanghai, exhibiting more than 1,500 AI-related products and systems.

Noting that China has roughly a third of the world’s unicorn AI companies and about 36 per cent of large AI models, Chinese vice-minister of commerce Ling Ji said China’s vast population and enormous data resources provide a strong foundation for the country’s AI development.

“In terms of application scenarios, China leads in industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, education, housekeeping, retail and social governance, where AI integration is advancing rapidly,” Ling said at Sunday’s forum, organised by the China Investment Corporation and CICC.

However, China needs more venture capital and investment to support the sector’s growth, as it has fallen behind the US since 2018 in this regard, according to Peng, the economist.

China ranked top of the world in 2017 in both the absolute amount of venture capital in AI, which stood at US$25.6 billion, and in its proportion of total venture capital, at about 29 per cent, according to CICC Research.

But Chinese venture-capital enthusiasm for Al waned rapidly after that, with the US overtaking it in 2018 and widening the gap ever since.

In terms of talent, while both countries have a considerable pool of AI professionals, the US still holds a commanding lead in top-tier talent, despite China’s progress, Peng said.

Among the top 20 per cent of PhD holders who graduated from a US university and chose to stay and work in the country in 2022, 38 per cent were from China, a larger percentage than that of local students, he said, according to a research note from CICC Research, which cited figures from Chicago-based think tank MacroPolo.

Richard Zhang, head of Greater China operations at private equity advisory firm Apax Partners, agreed that China’s opportunity for leadership in general AI models is “limited”, but said the country has great potential in the technology’s application.

“China has a huge amount of data and a large population with rich business scenarios … many new concepts may be born in China, such as AI plus education, AI plus finance and taxation, AI plus new energy, and AI plus healthcare,” he said.

To leverage the strength, he called for more money to go to application-related ventures instead of large models, which currently absorb 80 per cent of AI investment in China, compared with 40 per cent in the US.

China’s brand new space port damaged by Super Typhoon Yagi

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3277822/chinas-brand-new-space-port-damaged-super-typhoon-yagi?utm_source=rss_feed

Super Typhoon Yagi – the world’s second most powerful tropical cyclone this year – has damaged a newly built Chinese space port in the southern island province of Hainan.

On Friday Yagi, which had winds of around 245km/h (152mph) near its centre, made landfall in Wenchang, a city that hosts several space facilities, including China’s first international commercial space launch centre, the Wenchang Aerospace Supercomputing Centre.

The site has two launch towers, one dedicated to servicing the state’s Long March 8 rockets, while the other services both public and private rockets, including a Long March 12 that was due to make its debut launch later this year.

On Saturday, the city’s deputy mayor, Wei Bo, said the typhoon had posed a “serious threat” to facilities and equipment at the commercial space hub but emergency restoration work was being carried out.

A spokesperson for the launch centre told the Post that much of the city is experiencing flooding and power cuts, but most of its equipment and facilities are intact.

However, an employee at the Wenchang Aerospace Supercomputing Centre, speaking on condition of anonymity, said some electronic equipment had been damaged by flooding.

Meanwhile, an article published on Sunday by Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co Ltd, which operates the site, said some doors and windows at the facility had been broken, while flooding in the main control room had seriously damaged computers and display screens.

However, the article said that the Long March 12 rocket at the site had not been damaged.

Yang Tianliang, chairman of HICAL, told state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday that the No 1 launch tower – specially designed to service Long March 8 rockets – remained intact but said detailed inspections needed to be carried out.

He said a Long March-8A had recently finished a test launch and had been put back in storage before the typhoon struck.

Yang said staff were “really on edge” as the typhoon approached but the site had been designed to cope with this sort of extreme weather.

The commercial launch centre, which covers around 54 hectares (133 acres), will play a key role in China’s efforts to build its own satellite constellations, comparable to

Construction work at the site began in July 2022 and was finished in less than two years. The site was declared operational in July, with its first mission scheduled later this year.

Yang said the typhoon was not expected to have a major impact on operations and the first rocket launch would take place within the next two months.

The typhoon has killed at least four people in China as well as 59 in Vietnam.

South China Sea: Philippines ‘will not allow’ Beijing to remove vessels

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3277751/south-china-sea-philippines-will-not-allow-beijing-remove-vessels?utm_source=rss_feed

In the escalating game of tit-for-tat that is playing out in the South China Sea, Manila has drawn a bold line in the sand: no Philippine vessel will be removed by force.

But as tensions rise, analysts warn that the spectre of armed conflict looms – potentially drawing the United States into the showdown.

Colonel Xerxes Trinidad, chief of the Philippine military’s public affairs office, recently addressed these high-stakes dynamics in an interview with This Week in Asia.

He was responding to remarks from Beijing-based strategist Hu Bo, director of the South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative, who suggested towing the BRP Teresa Magbanua was “one of the options” being considered by Beijing.

Deployed to Sabina Shoal more than four months ago, the Teresa Magbanua is a symbol of Manila’s determination to counter Chinese expansionism in a region fraught with historical tensions.

The ship was stationed at the disputed shoal 146km west of the Philippines’ Palawan island – and around 1,200km from the nearest major Chinese land mass – to deter China from carrying out island-building efforts similar to those elsewhere in the disputed waterway.

Another vessel, the World War II-era BRP Sierra Madre, currently serves as a Philippine outpost at another South China Sea flashpoint, the Second Thomas Shoal.

Trinidad said the Philippine military also had options it could consider if China attempted to forcibly remove the BRP Teresa Magbanua.

“We have contingencies” if that happened, he said. “Nevertheless, we would like to assure that we will not allow it as it would infringe on our sovereign rights in the West Philippine Sea”.

The West Philippine Sea is Manila’s name for those parts of the South China Sea it considers to be within its exclusive economic zone.

“We will not give an inch of our territory,” Trinidad told This Week in Asia, citing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s earlier vow.

China’s presence in the West Philippine Sea is illegal, Trinidad argued.

Beijing has frequently been accused of using grey-zone tactics, such as firing water cannons and high-intensity lasers at Philippine vessels, as part of its strategy to gain control of the South China Sea.

Clashes between Philippine and Chinese vessels have been intensifying in the contested waters recently. A Chinese coastguard vessel allegedly rammed the Teresa Magbanua near Sabina Shoal earlier this month, prompting condemnation from the international community, including the Philippines’ long-standing ally, the US.

Defence analyst Jose Antonio Custodio warned that if Beijing were to forcibly tow Philippine ships in these waters, it could lead to armed confrontation.

“In Ayungin Shoal, that’s a Philippine Marines detachment,” said Custodio, a fellow at the Consortium of Indo-Pacific Researchers, using Manila’s name for Second Thomas Shoal.

“And BRP Teresa Magbanua in Sabina Shoal, although it’s a coastguard ship, they have weapons. So they will defend their ship. The captain will not give up the ship.”

Should China escalate its actions, Custodio said he believed it would activate the 1951 Mutual Defence Treaty, compelling the US to respond.

“You will see US ships steaming into the South China Sea and the West Philippine Sea. You could also see the US supporting the Philippines diplomatically. That’s not automatically war. But it will trigger a military response from the US. It will make China’s situation worse because they cannot confront,” he said.

“But rationally speaking, this is all a bluff by China. They are also trying to see if they can intimidate the Philippines.”

Sherwin Ona, an associate professor of political-science at De La Salle University in Manila, emphasised the potential for aggressive actions against the Teresa Magbanua or Sierra Madre, including deliberate ramming or towing.

He said any such actions would cross a crucial threshold: “This act is a red line.”

Ona highlighted the Philippine military’s commitment to reinforcing its presence in the region, noting, “The latest exercise of the Philippine Navy is a strong statement that [it] will enforce rights in our maritime zones.”

“I think the US has expressed its willingness to escort our resupply and rotational missions,” he said, regarding the possibility of invoking the mutual defence agreement. “This can happen even without invoking [the treaty]. I believe that this will be the first step once Beijing decides to escalate the situation.”

Last month, during a visit to Manila, US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Sam Paparo proposed that American vessels escort Philippine ships on resupply missions, referencing the mutual defence agreement.

However, Philippine military chief General Romeo Brawner Jnr said Manila would only accept such assistance if it could not deliver essential supplies to personnel stationed at Second Thomas Shoal.

“The US commitment is actually clear,” Ona said. “But the Philippines must clearly define how it sees the US role … and what it needs to strengthen its capacity and position.”

Analyst Chester Cabalza, president of the Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation think tank, urged the Philippine Navy and coastguard to consider broader partnerships for resupply missions, including collaborations with allies like Australia and Japan.

“Using this security cooperation card is not a weakness for the Philippines but a game-changing strategic operation to deter China’s aggressive and coercive grey-zone tactics,” he said.

Cabalza emphasised that the US would find a way to defend the Philippines amid shifting security dynamics in the region, calling it “a now or never chance for Washington to flex its strategic authority in the bipolar South China Sea”.

He criticised China’s weak legal approach to its maritime claims, arguing that it justified aggressive tactics against vessels like the decommissioned Sierra Madre. “China’s approach wilfully allows the use of force to justify its might,” he said.

Custodio echoed this sentiment, urging Manila to adopt a firmer stance against China instead of being too “cautious”, which he said Beijing would interpret as fear.

“The weaker you become, the more the Chinese will bully you. But if you push back, they will back off,” he said.

China to enforce up to 10-year ban on ex-regulators investing in new stock offerings

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3277777/china-enforce-10-year-ban-ex-regulators-investing-new-stock-offerings?utm_source=rss_feed

China has tightened rules on how long employees who leave the stock-market regulator must wait before investing in new share offerings, as part of a heightened anti-corruption campaign.

Senior officials who leave the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), its regional branches and the stock exchanges will have to wait 10 years before investing in initial public offerings, according to a revised rule posted on the CSRC website. The current moratorium is three years.

The prohibition for those holding mid-level positions will be extended to five years from three, while that for general staff will increase to four years from two, it said. The rule was published after a two-week public comment period in April and May, and will take effect next month.

The change is part of a wider crackdown on corruption in the financial industry to bolster flagging investor confidence in China’s US$8 trillion stock market. The scrutiny has led to investigations of a slew of senior officials from the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the CSRC’s branches.

“The CSRC will strictly implement the rule on the departing staff, continue to perform gatekeeping and strengthen co-ordination with the discipline inspection departments,” the regulator said in the statement. “Anyone will be handed over to the relevant departments if clues lead to violation of law and rule, to maintain a fair and open order on the oversight of stock offerings.”

The new edict came as the benchmark CSI 300 Index approached a seven-month low, threatening to erase gains made earlier in the year after government rescue measures including direct state buying and the clampdown on market excesses. The Index dropped 1.6 per cent on Monday, taking its decline to almost 7 per cent this year.

The new rule will also be applied to departing staff members’ parents, spouses, and children, as well as their spouses, the CSRC said. Companies seeking to list, as well as intermediary agencies such as sponsors and law firms, will need to highlight whether former regulatory officials are among the shareholders, according to the rule.

If so, special explanations must be given about the background of the former regulatory employees, the source of investment capital, the investment prices and how the investment opportunity is obtained, it said.

Last month, Dong Guoqun, deputy general manager of the Shanghai exchange, and Chen Xiaopeng, head of CSRC’s Shenzhen branch, were placed under investigation. In 2021, China removed Cao Jian, a deputy director in charge of listings on the Nasdaq-like Star Market under the Shanghai bourse, from both his post and Party membership, for corruption including massive gains from investing in companies seeking to list.

Since , CSRC chairman Wu Qing – who has the sobriquet as China’s “” because of his track record of shutting errant brokers – has unveiled drastic measures, including imposing stricter rules for new stock offerings, cracking down on fraudulent deals, and tightening oversight of high-frequency trading.

The CSRC will continue to implement the related to company listings and stock trading, and remove underperforming companies from stock exchanges, Wu said in August. The CSRC is keen to attract more stable, long-term capital to the market, he added.

Chinese fans get excuses in early on social media for pending World Cup loss to Saudi Arabia

https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3277752/chinese-fans-get-excuses-early-social-media-pending-world-cup-loss-saudi-arabia?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese football fans are getting their excuses in early before their 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with blame being placed on the rain before the downpours even begin.

A hashtag announcing that China’s Group C game against Saudi Arabia at the Dalian Suoyuwan Football Stadium could be played in the rain has been trending on Weibo, with football fans debating whether the shower would benefit the national side.

Despite China, ranked 87th in the world, having home advantage against the World Cup regulars Saudi Arabia, who are 30 places ahead on Fifa’s table, fans have convinced themselves the weather will determine the outcome.

“The national football team have lost this match because of the rain. Let’s think of the reason first,” one Weibo user said.

Another particularly pessimistic user commented: “I think even if the opposition [had only] a goalkeeper, the national team still would not score.”

In their first game in the third round of Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup – which will be hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada – China suffered a humiliating 7-0 defeat to 18th-ranked Japan in Saitama on Thursday.

The defeat to Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their all-time record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012.

“The rain made the grass slippery, and the Chinese national football team lost the home advantage, losing 10-0 to Saudi Arabia,” one user mischievously predicted.

The difficulty of China’s task is highlighted by the fact Saudi Arabia opened their 2022 World Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory over Lionel Messi’s Argentina, which went on to win the tournament.

The top two teams from Group C will automatically qualify for the World Cup. Those in third and fourth spots will advance to the fourth round while the bottom two will be eliminated.

China are the second-lowest-ranked side in their group, which also features Australia, Bahrain and Indonesia – at 133rd spot, the only team below them.

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Super Typhoon Yagi: officials, military in Southern China push to restore power, services

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3277760/super-typhoon-yagi-officials-military-southern-china-push-restore-power-services?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s southern province of Guangdong and the tropical island province of Hainan are working to restore power and communications after severe damage caused by Super Typhoon Yagi.

Electricity and water supplies have been “basically restored” in Zhanjiang, the southernmost city in Guangdong, the city’s official outlet Zhanjiang Daily reported on Monday.

But electricity has not been restored in Xuwen, which was hit head-on by Yagi, it said.

Local officials were still repairing damaged communication facilities on Monday, the Zhanjiang Daily report said.

The report said the city’s “main roads” had been reopened. Rural roads in Xuwen were blocked on Monday morning, but were expected to reopen by midday on Monday.

Local officials were helping farmers, fishermen and factories resume production, according to the report.

The super typhoon has killed four people and injured 95 in Hainan. No casualties had been reported in Guangdong by Monday.

Xuwen is separated from Hainan, an island south of Guangdong, by the Qiongzhou Strait which people and vehicles can cross by ferry. Local ferry terminals are expected to “fully resume” operations on Tuesday, according to local media reports.

Yagi made landfall in Wenchang, Hainan, on Friday afternoon and again in Xuwen, Guangdong, during the night.

The state news agency Xinhua said on Monday morning that communications were still cut off in “many places” in Wenchang.

The official Hainan Daily said on Sunday that People’s Liberation Army soldiers stationed in Wenchang were working with local firefighters and residents to restore water, power and communications.

In another report on Monday morning, the paper said local health officials would sanitise the streets of Wenchang and the provincial capital Haikou to prevent infectious diseases and food safety problems.

The report also said that Hainan’s 14,000 communications base stations had been repaired by Monday morning, but that more than half the damaged facilities had not been repaired.

The Haikou government said it expected to restore communications in the city from Monday to Wednesday and in rural areas from Wednesday to Friday.

All bus routes in Haikou had resumed on Monday. There were still 21 roads waiting to be cleared.

Power was restored to 100,000 of the city’s 320,000 households without electricity on Monday.

Hainan authorities said at a press conference on Saturday night that “preliminary estimates” put the damage caused by Yagi in Wenchang at 32.7 billion yuan (US$4.6 billion), roughly equivalent to the city’s annual GDP last year. The economic loss in Haikou was 26.324 billion yuan.

Philippines’ Sabina Shoal dilemma, Chinese super radars’ Giza discovery: 5 weekend reads

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3277711/philippines-sabina-shoal-dilemma-chinese-super-radars-giza-discovery-5-weekend-reads?utm_source=rss_feed

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

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VW factory fears renew concerns about China exposure of German carmakers

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277728/vw-factory-fears-renew-concerns-about-china-exposure-german-carmakers?utm_source=rss_feed

The bombshell that Volkswagen is considering the first ever closure of its German factories has sparked a fresh debate about the company – and the country’s – exposure and strategy towards China.

Last week, Volkswagen chief executive Oliver Blume said the group was considering closing a large vehicle plant and a component factory, amid stiff competition from Chinese rivals.

“The European automotive industry is in a very demanding and serious situation. The economic environment became even tougher, and new competitors are entering the European market,” he said, while also pointing to Germany’s comparative weakness as a manufacturing location.

For economists and analysts, it is the latest symptom of the rapid march of cutthroat competitors from China, at a time when European companies are struggling with rising energy costs associated with decoupling from Russia, and grappling with an increasingly volatile geopolitical picture.

Sino-German relations analyst Noah Barkin, from the Rhodium Group research house, said Germany’s economic success in the first two decades of the 21st century was built on three pillars: “cheap energy from Russia, an open global trading system, and highly competitive industrial products”.

“In the span of a few years, the first pillar has collapsed and the other two are showing deep cracks,” he said.

“China has played an important role here. In the sectors Germany once dominated, from cars to machine tools, China has evolved into a formidable competitor. This has major implications for the German economy and employment.”

The Volkswagen statistics make for dichotomous reading. From 2020 to 2024, German car companies’ share of the Chinese market fell from 19 per cent to 16 per cent, according to Dunne Insights, a specialist automotive newsletter.

Between 2017 and 2024, Volkswagen sales in China fell from 4 million units to 2.5 million. Last year, it was overtaken by BYD as biggest selling carmaker in China, with Chinese companies’ sales rocketing from 420,000 to 3.6 million in the same period.

Yet figures from the Bundesbank – Germany’s central bank – reported by the Financial Times showed that German vehicle companies were doubling down on investments in China, even as sales dwindled.

In the first half of 2024, total German investment in the world’s second economy was €7.3 billion (US$8 billion), compared with €6.5 billion (US$7.2 billion) for the whole of 2023, with much of this coming in the vehicle sector.

German exports to China, meanwhile, fell by more than 11 per cent in the first seven months of 2024 compared to the equivalent period last year, Chinese customs data showed.

At the same time, German machinery makers find that Chinese competitors are showing up in their home markets with products well below what local firms can afford to sell for.

In an earlier interview with the South China Morning Post, Ulrich Ackermann, managing director of foreign trade at the Mechanical Engineering Industry Association, said the competition was “entering the European market with high speed at prices where sometimes Europeans cannot buy the materials”.

Critics say the picture shows that neither the big car companies, nor the German government are working for the betterment of Germany’s national economy.

“German carmakers are eager for the EU to maintain ‘open’ trade policies mainly, it seems, so that they can reduce costs by switching manufacturing into China. This probably benefits German carmakers more than it benefits the German economy,” influential Peking University economist Michael Pettis wrote on X.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with a steady stream of car industry executives, has railed against an EU move to slap anti-subsidy duties on Chinese EV imports. They have also been sluggish in their efforts to de-risk, in line with EU-floated policy.

“Instead of stepping in to mitigate this risk, the chancellery has sought to avoid an impression of China-bashing and intervened to water down collective EU action to place tariffs on Chinese EVs in response to unfair Chinese practices,” read a paper by the German Council on Foreign Relations last week.

These developments have provided further ammunition for those predicting a “second China shock” – a sequel to the first supposed shock of 20 years ago when China joined the World Trade Organization, ushering in a wave of outsourcing and a hollowing out of American manufacturing.

This time around, it is seen to be caused by exported industrial capacity in key hi-tech industries.

“The second China shock will play out differently around the world because for many economies, like Germany, it will be associated with the loss of export markets, not just a surge in imports,” said Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform in Berlin.

“This process is already well under way. German exports to China as a share of German GDP have been falling for the last two to three years, already representing an approximate 0.5 per cent loss for the German economy, and there is much more room for decline,” he said.

“The German government should not equate the interest of German business operating in China with the interest of Germany’s economy.”

Industry specialists have little sympathy for VW or the German car industry writ large. Conversations about an inability to compete with China’s hotshot EV producers inevitably turn to a pun – that they have been “asleep at the wheel”.

“I think it’s really important to just add up all the profits that Volkswagen Group has had since 1998 – Volkswagen would not be who they are without the China market,” said Tu Le, managing director of mobility consultancy Sino Auto Insights.

“Fifty per cent of their profits come from China, so it’s not like they didn’t gain anything from it. I feel like they want to play the victim, yet they’ve been counting their money for the last 35 years.”

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China triplets attend same university, mother says is fulfilment of ‘prophecy’ linked to trio’s names

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3277671/china-triplets-attend-same-university-mother-says-fulfilment-prophecy-linked-trios-names?utm_source=rss_feed

It is said that twins, or in this case, triplets, possess a special intuition, which may explain how three young women in China were accepted into the same prestigious mainland university.

The sisters – Hong Yilan, Hong Qilan, and Hong Shenglan – were born in 2005 and were all admitted to Fuzhou University in Fujian province in southeast China, for the upcoming academic year, according to People’s Daily.

While each sister will pursue different programmes, they will uphold their family’s tradition of attending the same school, continuing a bond they have maintained since kindergarten through primary and secondary school.

“What luck!” their mother, Hong Yashuang, remarked. “They were born together, grew up together, and share the closest relationship in the world.”

She also mentioned that the university admissions were a “fulfilment of the prophecy of their names”.

Their names are rooted in the foundational character “lan” and include the distinct characters “Yi”, “Qi”, and “Sheng”. Together, the phrase yi qi sheng signifies “being born together”, which also resembles another phrase that means “achieving victory together”.

The lan character means “blue” in English, but the mother took it from the idiom qing chu yu lan sheng yu lan, which means “the pupil has outgrown the master”.

She chose her daughters’ names after seeking advice from her former teacher.

Mother Hong said the girls have been self-disciplined since they were children and share the same hobbies of drawing and calligraphy.

The girls would stay home to read books, draw pictures, or do calligraphy when their parents were busy at work.

The eldest daughter, Yilan, stated: “We accompany and help each other. We compete with each other in our studies. We learn from each other and make progress together.”

Yilan emphasised that the sisters would provide emotional support while preparing for the gaokao, China’s challenging, standardised university entrance exam.

The triplets achieved impressive scores of 602, 605, and 590 out of 750.

They applied to many institutions across China, but all managed to get accepted into Fuzhou University. The sisters’ majors will be information management, international trade, and mineral processing.

The Fujian-based Yingdu Education Fund rewarded each of them with 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) for their excellent academic performances.

Mother Hong expressed her hopes for her daughters, stating that she wants them “to continue encouraging one another and to study hard at university.”

Their story soon became one of the top stories online in China.

“What beautiful sisters! They look identical, haha,” said one netizen on Douyin.

Another person said: “Their parents are so fortunate to have such pretty, smart, and obedient children.”

Japan faces uncertainties amid threats from China abroad and political and earthquake fears at home

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3277706/japan-faces-uncertainties-amid-threats-china-abroad-and-political-and-earthquake-fears-home?utm_source=rss_feed

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Even as Japan deals with military challenges and diplomatic skirmishes with China, it is beset by domestic worries and anxieties, including the resignation of its prime minister, health scares and a series of earthquakes, with authorities even warning of an impending mega earthquake.

In recent months, Tokyo has reported an increase in Chinese military manoeuvring near Japan, and earlier this week the Japanese foreign ministry said a Chinese naval survey vessel entered the Tokara Strait off southern Japan last weekend.

Days earlier, Tokyo expressed “strong concern” and lodged a protest with the Chinese embassy after a Chinese naval surveying vessel sailed close to Japanese territory, prompting Beijing to insist that it was a “legal passage” through international waters.

Last week, China’s embassy in Manila accused a Tokyo envoy of making “irresponsible remarks” over collisions between Chinese and Philippine vessels near a disputed South China Sea shoal.

In a bid to further counter China, Japan’s defence ministry submitted its largest-ever budget request this week, seeking US$58.1 billion in the next financial year to help safeguard the nation from what it termed as growing threats to the region’s peace and stability.

The move came just days after veteran Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao urged visiting Japanese lawmakers to take “a long-term perspective” on ties between China and Japan and manage their differences constructively.

In July, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned his Japanese counterpart Yoko Kamikawa that China-Japan relations are at a “critical stage” and risk going backwards, adding that he hoped Tokyo would take an “objective and correct” view of China.

Days later, Beijing hit out at Tokyo over security talks with the United States, calling on Japan to stop allying with countries outside the region, with the Chinese foreign ministry making it clear that Japan should “end the practice of rallying non-regional countries to create divisions and confrontations in the region”.

China also made its dissatisfaction felt with Japan after Tokyo’s coastguard took part in a joint rescue exercise with its Taiwanese counterpart, with Beijing expressing firm opposition and lodging “solemn representations”.

Amid a chronic manpower shortage and rising regional tensions, Japan announced plans for a new research centre focused on advanced military hardware to boost its defence capabilities.

Japan’s defence ministry also announced that it will commission its latest “ship killer” missiles one year earlier than originally planned, citing the need to counter regional threats, including China’s growing military might.

Domestically, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said last month he would not seek re-election to pave the way for a new leader to form a united ruling Liberal Democratic Party that can begin afresh in regaining public trust.

The move prompted many contenders to put themselves forward for the role, including former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba who said he would run in the party leadership election on September 27 that will pick a successor to Kishida.

In July, Japan grappled with a new and highly contagious coronavirus variant that is fuelling the country’s 11th wave of Covid-19 infections. Health experts warned that the KP. 3 variant is spreading rapidly, even among those who are vaccinated or have recovered from previous infections.

Last month, a string of earthquakes hit Japan – including a magnitude 7.1 that occurred off the coast of Miyazaki prefecture – with authorities warning of the risk of a “megaquake”, meaning an increased likelihood of a magnitude 8 or 9 earthquake and major tsunamis.

Just as the reverberations of a 6.1 magnitude earthquake which struck the eastern coast of Taiwan was felt in Japan, the Seismological Society of China said the high risk of a mega earthquake from a fault line off the east coast of Japan could pose devastating threats to millions of people living in the zone.

Amid a surge in travel cancellations, Japan has been urged to provide earthquake tips to tourists as concerns mount over a lack of crucial safety information for foreign tourists, who could be left vulnerable when the next disaster occurs.

To curb the problem of looters stealing from evacuated homes, shops and other buildings, Japanese police have turned to artificial intelligence-powered drones to identify individuals acting suspiciously in a disaster zone.

On the anniversary of its defeat in World War Two last month, at least three Japanese cabinet ministers visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine – a site that China and other Asian nations view as a symbol of the country’s wartime aggression.

60-Second Catch-up

Japan makes record US$58 billion defence spending request amid Indo-Pacific tensions.

Video: Japan weighs bold era of militarisation as Tokyo races to meet defence spending goals.

China says it has ‘no intention’ of breaching any nation’s airspace after Japan claim.

Video: Japan condemns Chinese military plane’s ‘totally unacceptable’ airspace incursion.

Video: Japan’s former leaders couldn’t fix the economy, but will the next PM be able to?.

Japan’s broadcaster NHK slammed after its reporter says Diaoyu Islands belong to China.

Critics blast Seoul’s ‘submissive’ Tokyo ties as Kishida seeks Yoon talks before exit.

Opinion: Could Japan’s ruling party election revamp relations with China?.

China and Japan need ‘frank’ talks to find common ground, Tokyo’s envoy tells security forum.

Opinion: Why Japan’s role in Philippines’ defence is nearly as big as the US’.

Deep Dives

Justin Lin Yifu is a professor of economics at Peking University and former chief economist at the World Bank. His theory of “new structural economics” – which advises governments of developing countries to take an active role in building and optimising their industrial base – is widely believed to have influenced Beijing’s economic policies over the past decade, and he has predicted China will “surpass the US, as measured by market exchange rate, around 2030” and surmount the middle-income trap “within two or three years”. He was a counsellor for China’s State Council from 2013 to 2023.

In this latest interview in the Open Questions series, Lin elaborates on his projections, analyses the documents issued in the wake of the highly anticipated third plenum and expounds upon the relationship between governments and markets. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click .

Read more.

Japan’s rumoured bid for a major warship project in Australia is fuelled by strategic geopolitical considerations, analysts say, as Tokyo seeks to fortify security ties with regional partners and deepen its involvement in defence initiatives like Aukus.

A recent report from the Yomiuri newspaper revealed that Japan hopes to collaborate with Canberra on this new warship – with its Mogami-class frigate specifically singled out as a blueprint. Competing designs will also be submitted by Germany, Spain and South Korea, reports said.

Read more.

A brief incursion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japanese airspace has sparked concerned debate among analysts, who believe the act was a strategically calculated move despite protestations from Beijing that it was not intentional.

Some experts said the incursion carried an implicit threat to Tokyo ahead of the election next month of a new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the nation, or a warning to European members of Nato to dial back their increased activities in the Indo-Pacific region.

Read more.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s surprising decision to step down is expected to throw the future of Sino-Japanese relations into deeper uncertainty, with experts predicting that Japan will continue its strategic coordination with the US to counter China.

No matter who succeeds Kishida, observers said Japan’s next prime minister would face two pressing challenges abroad: rising geopolitical tensions with China, and Donald Trump’s potential return as president of the United States, Tokyo’s only treaty ally.

Read more.

The announcement by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that he will not seek re-election as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has caught politicians and pundits off guard, with the LDP at the crossroads amid a myriad of challenges facing Japan.

It has also triggered speculation as to his likely successor, with several high-profile LDP members indicating before Kishida’s Wednesday announcement that they would seek the leadership of both the party and the nation. The LDP election must take place before the end of September, and the winner will have a three-year term to try to turn around the party’s fortunes and win the next general election.

Read more.

Former defence chief Shigeru Ishiba has emerged as the Japanese public’s favourite for the posts of president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and prime minister, but experts say his popularity may falter as party insiders rally around conservative alternatives, potentially fracturing the September 27 vote.

With at least 11 politicians either declaring their candidacy in the party presidential vote or expected to do so in the coming days, analysts warn that the crowded field makes it virtually impossible to identify the likely successor to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who announced last week that he would not contest the election.

Read more.

The upgrading of the command and control of US forces in Japan will allow both countries to better deal with “fluid circumstances” and sends a “powerful geopolitical signal to China” on the strength of Washington’s commitment to Tokyo and the region, according to observers.

On Sunday, US and Japanese defence chiefs and top diplomats agreed at the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee in Tokyo, known as the “2+2” security talks, to further bolster military cooperation by upgrading the command and control of American forces in the East Asian country.

Read more.

Japan’s joint military drills with three European powers were aimed at bringing the country’s air force “up to speed” with its other military branches, analysts say – while also signalling Europe’s commitment to maintaining an “open and free Indo-Pacific”.

The joint exercises with Germany, Spain and France, which ran from July 19 to 24, saw aircraft from the three European nations deployed to Japan for the first time, underscoring Europe’s growing security presence in the strategic Asia-Pacific theatre. German and Spanish fighter jets and transport planes operated out of Chitose Air Base in northern Hokkaido prefecture, while French fighter jets and refuelling tankers took part in drills at the Hyakuri Air Base northeast of Tokyo.

Read more.

Defence ministers from South Korea, the United States and Japan have signed a landmark agreement to formalise their trilateral security cooperation, but analysts warn that politics and historical tensions between Seoul and Tokyo could undermine it.

Although the memorandum of cooperation is not legally binding, South Korean Defence Minister Shin Won-sik underscored the significance of the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework (TSCF), describing it as “the first document in history” that would act as a foundational agreement to “institutionalise” the three-way security cooperation.

Read more.

Japan is expected to deploy its hypersonic “ship killer” missile system when it is commissioned next year to deter perceived threats from Beijing in the South China Sea, in a move observers say will help boost security for the Philippines given a recently signed reciprocal deal.

The details of the upgraded Type-12 surface-to-ship missile were revealed in the Japanese defence ministry’s annual white paper published earlier this month.

Read more.

Global Impact is a weekly curated newsletter featuring a news topic originating in China with a significant macro impact for our newsreaders around the world.

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Xi overlooks differences to stress China-North Korea ties in anniversary message

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277740/xi-overlooks-differences-stress-china-north-korea-ties-anniversary-message?utm_source=rss_feed

China is willing to deepen cooperation and “strategic communication” with North Korea, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday, amid signs of frayed ties in recent months between the two Asian neighbours.

In a congratulatory message to leader Kim Jong-un on the 76th anniversary of North Korea’s founding, Xi said the Workers’ Party of Korea – the ruling party led by Kim – had united North Koreans and promoted “vigorous development” of the country.

Xi said Kim had led North Korea to achievements in construction and development. He also expressed the hope that Pyongyang would continue to “win new and greater victories in the journey of promoting the cause of Korean-style socialism”.

According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi noted that this year marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea [DPRK] and said ties had “become stronger over time”.

“China will continue to view China-DPRK relations from a strategic height and long-term perspective, and is willing to deepen strategic communication with the DPRK, [and] strengthen coordination and cooperation,” he said.

China is also ready to maintain and develop “traditional friendly and cooperative relations” with North Korea and to make “greater contributions to promoting peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and the world”, the report said.

The two leaders are last known to have communicated in January, when they exchanged New Year’s greetings.

In that message, Xi said the two countries were “friendly neighbours connected by mountains and rivers” and pledged to deepen cooperation with Pyongyang and safeguard the interests of both countries.

China’s third-ranking official Zhao Leji visited Pyongyang in April – for the highest-level meetings between the two countries in nearly five years – as part of a series of engagements marking 75 years of the bilateral relationship.

Zhao pledged to “intensify” high-level exchanges and bolster mutually beneficial cooperation and speculation was rife that Xi and Kim could meet later this year, for the first time since Xi’s 2019 visit to Pyongyang.

But ties appear to have frayed in the months that followed, at the same time that North Korea has been stepping up its diplomatic and military efforts with Russia, including the June visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin – his first to Pyongyang in 24 years.

Putin vowed to deepen trade and security ties and to support Pyongyang against the US, while North Korean state news agency KCNA called the relationship “a strong strategic fortress for preserving international justice, peace and security and an engine for accelerating the building of a new multipolar world”.

Two weeks after Putin’ visit, North Korea switched transmission of its state television broadcasts from a Chinese satellite to a Russian one – a move that was viewed as a sign of the waning influence of North Korea’s largest trading partner.

Observers had previously suggested that closer ties between Pyongyang and Moscow could be a “burden” for Beijing, noting that China would be wary of creating a perception of an alliance among the three countries.

In a rare rebuke to its larger, more powerful neighbour, North Korea condemned a joint statement issued in May by China, Japan and South Korea that committed to denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Also marking the occasion with messages to Kim were the leaders of Russia and Cuba. According to Russian news agency Tass, Putin said ties are “at a high level” and he was certain the two countries would continue to strengthen their partnership.

A blockbuster Chinese video game sparks debate on sexism in the nation’s gaming industry

https://apnews.com/article/black-myth-wukong-controversy-game-science-sexism-f95cd1b9fc8fd20f9dafd1a43ec51048A man holds up an umbrella against the rain as he walks past an ad promoting the latest blockbuster new Chinese video game "Black Myth: Wukong" in Beijing, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

2024-09-09T03:15:54Z

WASHINGTON (AP) — A blockbuster new Chinese video game hailed as a milestone for the country’s gaming industry has put an unexpected spotlight on longstanding claims of rampant sexism in China’s male-dominated gaming culture.

While some gamers are basking in the runaway success of the action-adventure title “Black Myth: Wukong,” others are voicing their complaints about sexism in Chinese gaming and lodging allegations against the game’s Shenzhen-based developer, Game Science, that it posted offensive messages online.

Critics posted screenshots of the messages on Chinese social media platform Weibo, with one compilation receiving over 400,000 likes. One of the posts that critics say came from founder Feng Ji uses descriptions of oral sex as a metaphor for the positive responses about the game’s promotional video. Other examples include lewd recruiting posters.

AP was not able to independently verify the screenshots, though gamers interviewed reported seeing the posts. Game Science did not respond to an email seeking comment and hasn’t publicly commented on the controversy.

The criticism reflects simmering anger among Chinese women in the industry who say they have long been targeted by misogynistic remarks and behavior.

Gender inequality is a global problem in the heavily male-dominated gaming industry. Despite making up almost half of the gamers globally, women made up only about 22% of the gaming industry workforce in 2020, according to Women in Games, a United Kingdom-based organization.

Skylar Hu, the only woman on her game engineering team of over 20 people, said her male colleagues often posted sexual jokes in work chat groups. She said when she told offenders to stop, her messages were ignored.

“Offensive jokes are so common and explicit,” Hu, 23, said in a phone interview, speaking on condition she be cited by her English name out of concern for her safety online.

For Jessica Hua, a former video game operation manager, controversy over the game reminded her of the toxic environment she experienced as a woman in the game industry.

“A lot of people think it’s just kidding around. But I cannot accept such misogynistic remarks,” said Hua. “I take it quite seriously.”

“Black Myth: Wukong” is China’s first-ever AAA game, a designation for big-budget productions akin to A-list movies. The game made history when over 2.4 million people played the game simultaneously online, breaking the record for most-played single-player game on Steam, a major online gaming platform. Three days after the game’s debut, over 10 million copies had been sold.

Many in the Chinese gaming industry say they regard the game as a point of national pride, promoting Chinese culture and challenging Western dominance in the industry.

“There is no doubt that this is a milestone in the Chinese gaming industry,” said Feng Xu, secretary of the Chengdu Cyber Game Industry Association. “It’s exporting authentic Chinese culture by introducing Monkey King to the world.”

China, which famously imposed limits on how long kids can play video games and sought to curtail excessive spending on online gaming, has shown full support for “Black Myth.” The government of China’s northwestern Shanxi province collaborated with the game’s developer to promote local tourism. State media have also published a series of articles praising the game.

Feng Xu says he doesn’t think the allegations against Game Science would have much impact on the game’s success. “Political correctness has nothing to do with the game,” he said. “We gamers only play the games, and we only care if the game is good and fun.”

Others say it was only a matter of time before addressing sexism in Chinese gaming culture gained more traction.

“Most game creators are men. You can see in a lot of games women are usually unnecessarily sexy and objectified,” said Ashley Li, a cultural critic and game enthusiast. “But I think this will gradually change in the future. We need to give it some time.”

Puppy love: dog weddings on the rise in China even as pet owners shun marriage

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3277640/puppy-love-dog-weddings-rise-china-even-pet-owners-shun-marriage?utm_source=rss_feed

Pet weddings are on the rise in China. The trend is driven by the popularity of owning furry friends and a growing willingness to splurge on them, as young couples put off marriage and having children.

Shanghai dog owner Ling Rye arranged professional photographers, designed wedding booklets and ordered a 800 yuan (US$110) custom-made cake, complete with toppers that resemble his golden retriever Bond and his ‘bride’ Bree.

“People have weddings, why can’t dogs, right?” Ling said. “So we arranged for Bree and Bond to have a wedding ceremony – two dogs, to give them a sense of ritual.”

China-US team creates nano-plant drug for deadliest brain cancer

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3277266/china-us-team-creates-nano-plant-drug-deadliest-brain-cancer?utm_source=rss_feed

A new plant-based nanoparticle treatment for glioblastoma, the fastest growing and most aggressive form of brain cancer, has been developed by scientists in China and the US.

Researchers from Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University and Yale University found that bardoxolone methyl (BM) – a phytochemical capable of self-assembly into spindle-shaped nanoparticles – was able to effectively target tumour cells when injected into mice.

“These nanoparticles are designed to overcome the dual challenges of effectively killing [glioblastoma] cells and efficiently penetrating the brain,” the team said in a paper published in the August issue of the peer-reviewed journal, Small Science.

These spindle-shaped nanoparticles have a diameter of just 50 to 80 nanometres and a length of around 170 nanometres. A nanometre is one-millionth of a millimetre – an average sheet of paper has of thickness of around 100,000 nanometres.

Nanomedicine is an area that is showing a lot of potential in the fight against cancer. And the BM nanoparticles are displaying a lot of promise as a safe treatment for glioblastoma in particular.

Glioblastoma is one of the most common forms of cancer that originates in the brain or spinal cord. It is also one of the most aggressive: those diagnosed with it are immediately classified as stage four, the most advanced cancer stage.

Globally, around 250,000 people are diagnosed with glioblastoma every year. After diagnosis, the median survival time is just 14 to 16 months.

Currently, treatment includes surgery to remove the tumour followed by radiation and chemotherapy. But this type of cancer resists conventional therapies, so the treatment can have little effect on the disease.

A reason for this is the lack of drugs that can cross the blood-brain barrier, a membrane that protects the brain from pathogens and toxins.

It is a challenge the research team has been trying to address.

They said they recently discovered a group of phytochemicals derived from medicinal plants that were able to self-assemble into nanoparticles to treat various diseases.

Among these phytochemical nanoparticles, which are able to enhance the permeability of the blood-brain barrier, BM was found to be “highly effective” in killing glioblastoma cells.

When the BM nanoparticles were also combined with the anticancer peptide P28 and vasodilator lexiscan (LEX), the resulting P28-LBM nanoparticles were found to even better penetrate the tumours.

This is due to an autocatalytic effect – when the nanoparticle reaches the tumour, the release of LEX makes the membrane more permeable, which in turn allows in more nanoparticles.

The team found that the BM nanoparticles killed the tumour cells by inducing a type of cell death called pyroptosis, as well as inhibiting the epithelial-mesenchymal transition – a process which is involved in tumour progression.

Injecting the P28-LBM nanoparticles into the tail veins of mice three times a week for four weeks led to “pronounced suppression of tumour growth”.

“Notably, no significant weight loss was observed in the mice, indicating minimal systemic toxicity, and suggesting potential safety for intravenous administration,” the team wrote, adding that no obvious tissue damage or liver toxicity was observed either.

The team said the spindle shape of the nanoparticles might allow for enhanced cellular uptake and tumour penetration compared to spherical particles.

“The P28-LBM nanoparticles present a promising approach for [glioblastoma] treatment, with potential for effective and safe clinical applications in the future,” they wrote.

China blames US ‘coercion’ for new Dutch export controls on ASML chip-making equipment

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3277709/china-blames-us-coercion-new-dutch-export-controls-asml-chip-making-equipment?utm_source=rss_feed

China is “dissatisfied” with the Dutch government’s decision to expand export controls on ASML Holdings chip-making equipment, the Chinese commerce ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The Dutch government on Friday said it would expand export licensing requirements for ASML’s 1970i and 1980i deep ultraviolet (DUV) immersion lithography tools, aligning its rules with export restrictions on these machines unilaterally imposed by the United States last year.

Beijing has repeatedly criticised Washington’s strategy of pressuring allies like the Netherlands and Japan to join export controls targeting Chinese access to cutting-edge chips and chip-making equipment.

“In recent years, in order to maintain its global hegemony, the United States has continued to … coerce certain countries to tighten export control measures for semiconductors and (related) equipment … China is resolutely opposed to this,” China’s commerce ministry said in response to the Dutch government’s announcement on Friday.

The ministry added that the Dutch side should not abuse export controls, avoid measures that damage Sino-Dutch cooperation in semiconductors, and safeguard the “common interests of Chinese and Dutch enterprises”.

US lobbying has effectively stopped ASML, the world’s biggest vendor of chip-making equipment, from exporting its most advanced lithography systems to China.

Dutch Trade Minister Reinette Klever said on Friday the decision was made “for our safety”.

China’s consumer inflation misses expectations amid calls to fight ‘deflationary pressure’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3277707/chinas-consumer-inflation-misses-expectations-amid-calls-fight-deflationary-pressure?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s consumer price growth fell short of expectations in August, extending over a year of economic weakness, with a former central bank governor calling for urgent measures to combat deflation, which poses a growing threat to the economic outlook.

The consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, grew by 0.6 per cent year on year in August, compared to an increase of 0.5 per cent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Monday.

The reading fell short of the expected 0.71 per cent growth projected by economists polled by Chinese financial data provider Wind.

Meanwhile, China’s producer price index (PPI) – which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate – slipped by 1.8 per cent last month, falling for the 23rd consecutive month, compared with a fall of 0.8 per cent in July.

The reading fell short of the expected 1.4 per cent decrease projected by Wind.

Elsewhere, China’s core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose by 0.3 per cent last month compared to a year earlier.

On a month-on-month basis, China’s inflation in August remained positive after increasing by 0.4 per cent following a 0.5 per cent increase in July, according to the NBS.

CPI growth in the world’s second-largest economy has remained near zero for around 16 months, well below Beijing’s annual target of 3 per cent.

Former People’s Bank of China governor Yi Gang recently called on Beijing to address the falling prices by active fiscal policy and loose monetary policy.

“I think right now we should focus on fighting deflationary pressure,” Yi said at the Bund Summit in Shanghai on Friday.

“The immediate task is to turn the [gross domestic product] deflator positive in the short term. I know there are doubts and some people don’t agree, but we must try our best.”

More to follow …

China mum aims to teach son lesson, makes him work at snack stall, he earns US$1,400 in 10 days

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3277666/china-mum-aims-teach-son-lesson-makes-him-work-snack-stall-he-earns-us1400-10-days?utm_source=rss_feed

A boy in eastern China dropped out of school after earning 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) in just 10 days, a decision influenced by his mother, who initially encouraged him to sell snacks to instil an understanding of hard work and its inherent challenges.

In an interview with the Post, the mother, surnamed Deng, said she concocted the plan when her 17-year-old boy’s grades at a culinary arts and vocation school began to slip.

When she confronted him about the poor performance, her son, Shen, told her that he “didn’t want to go to school anymore” because “studying is meaningless”.

Deng, who had been selling fried chicken at a street stall in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, for more than three years, believed that exposing her son to the realities of a challenging work environment would motivate him to take his education more seriously.

“He didn’t want to face the struggles of school, so I wanted him to tackle the challenges of real life instead. Making money isn’t easy,” she said.

Under Deng’s guidance, Shen used a modified electric bike to build a snack stall and, to his mother’s surprise, took to work immediately.

Shen earned 10,000 yuan in just 10 days, and Deng attributed his success to the unwavering support of loyal customers as well as his hard work.

According to Deng, Shen would wake up every morning and start preparing food at 9am. He would set up the stall at 4pm after a 13-km ride to the location, where he would sell chicken all night. He would return home at 3am.

Now, her son’s goal is to make enough money from the business to buy an electric tricycle.

“He is very diligent. I didn’t expect him to get so addicted to the work,” Deng told the Post.

Ironically, Shen’s success motivated him to drop out of school. Deng said she repeatedly tried to persuade him not to give up on his studies, but he was determined.

“A 17-year-old child has independent thoughts. As parents, all we can do is provide our support,” she told the Post.

“If he can’t live the life he wants, he won’t be happy. My priority is for my son to be healthy and happy. I only need to guide him to not do anything illegal,” she added.

The incident has quickly made headlines on mainland social media.

One Weibo user commented: “School is not the only path in life. If someone lacks interest in studying, mastering a skill to earn a living is also a valuable option.”

“Compared to traditional ‘tiger mums’, Deng respects her son’s thoughts instead of forcing him to study,” another said.

In China, “tiger mums” and “wolf dads” are terms used to refer to strict parents who deploy harsh methods to push their children to study hard.

Xiao Baiyou, the most famous “wolf dad”, set strict rules for his four children. He would beat them with a cane and a feather duster if they did not complete their homework.

In recent years, many young Chinese parents have embraced a “Buddha-like” approach, prioritising their children’s physical and mental well-being over grades and academic performance.

More talk ‘not always best’ for US-China relationship, it’s the results that count

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3277614/more-talk-not-always-best-us-china-relationship-its-results-count?utm_source=rss_feed

Shi Yinhong is a professor of international relations at China’s Renmin University who holds academic and research positions at several prestigious institutions, including the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He served as a state councillor from 2011 to 2021 and is an expert in the foreign policies and strategies of China and the US, as well as East Asian security. This interview was first published in . For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click .

I’ve repeatedly emphasised that establishing communication channels between China and the US – no matter how frequent or senior level – is one thing, while producing tangible results is another.

Since the 2013 summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US president Barack Obama at Sunnylands, California, Sino-US interactions have been frequent and have included online and in-person meetings at the highest level.

However, it’s clear that Sino-US relations have consistently deteriorated over the past 11 years. The trend has definitely gone down, again and again. This fully demonstrates that establishing communication channels is one thing, while improving relations and resolving major issues is another.

Moreover, if both sides engage in too many talks and are too candid with each other, there may be another scenario: that [both sides] think the other one is not really a good country.

Their thoughts may become clearer than if they had not held these talks, which also proves that talks themselves, communication itself, and exchanges themselves, are distinct from the results they produce.

Of course, after the [Xi-Biden] summit in San Francisco last November, there were significant and notable advancements in one area between China and the US – namely, a significant reduction in the number of dangerous, non-professional encounters between their naval vessels.

This is a major breakthrough in preventing military conflicts. On the other hand, it also indicates that both sides have heightened their attention and efforts to prevent military conflicts because the danger of such conflicts is escalating.

For instance, the North Korea nuclear issue. The UN Security Council passed a resolution on sanctions against North Korea in December 2016, just after [former US president Donald] Trump took office.

After that, North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities continued to develop, including the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. Every time Western countries propose new sanctions resolutions, China and Russia always veto them, up to this day.

The second example is the Taiwan issue, which has been very clear recently. In May, China conducted Joint Sword-2024A, its biggest military drill [near Taiwan] since early August 2022.

Meanwhile, around the same time at the graduation ceremony of the US Military Academy at West Point, [US President Joe Biden] said he had “always been willing to use force when required” to protect the US, its allies, and core interests. These words are all pointed remarks that carry a lot of meaning.

Another major issue is that since April 2, when Biden and Xi spoke over the phone, the US has repeatedly threatened China over the so-called large-scale revitalisation of Russia’s military industrial foundation and has already taken some measures.

On May 1, more than 10 Chinese entities were sanctioned by the US [for their support of Russia’s war in Ukraine]. The most intense one was when [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken told Beijing that if China didn’t change its approach towards Russia, they would impose sanctions.

To conclude, these events clearly demonstrate that China and the US have been nearly in full-scale confrontations, and it is not uncommon for non-military conflicts to occur over certain major issues.

There is a special reason for this, which is the US presidential election. From initiating the 301 investigation to implementing high tariffs on multiple [Chinese] sectors at an unprecedented speed, Biden did all this because he was in a hurry to compete with Trump for votes.

This is a domestic political issue in the US, and it’s not a new thing to harm China’s economy, but he raised some fields to a higher level. However, the sanctions regarding Russia are quite significant and brand new.

In fact, the difference between Trump and Biden rests in their attitudes towards the United States’ allies. But this difference is mainly evident in Europe and the Atlantic region.

In the Indo-Pacific region, we should note that the Quad initiative was launched by Trump, the US Pacific military build-up and strategic military deployment were initiated by Trump, and the trade war and the hi-tech war against China were also initiated by Trump.

The principle was established in Obama’s “pivot”, which stated that this region was important and must be competed for. However, specific measures, especially significant and powerful ones, were lacking at the time.

Obama focused on diplomatic relations with countries, but he didn’t do much about boosting US military power or strategic weapons systems in the Pacific. It was Trump who did that.

China has neither the ability nor intention to intervene in the US election, but there’s hope. China is hoping to take the lesser of “two evils”, not the “more evil” option.

Trump is truly not good for China. Biden is also not good [for China], but at least he never says the “Chinese Communist Party is this or that”, and he always uses the name of the People’s Republic of China.

At least, as stated in his publicised policies, he doesn’t directly aim to overthrow the Chinese government. Biden and [Vice-President and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee] Harris have never and will never regard changing the Chinese regime as a programmatic goal.

In contrast, Trump was extremely hostile towards China after the pandemic outbreak prevailed in the US after March 2020. This is one thing.

Second, Trump is a very ruthless Machiavellian.

Based on these two points, both options are harmful [to China], and China would rather pick the lesser of two evils.

China has already announced that it won’t intervene in the US election, and it can’t. Moreover, the act of expressing goodwill in itself would be seen as interfering in the election. Whoever wins, China will still have to deal with it.

Has China’s influence increased? Absolutely not.

On Gaza, although the proposal for a two-state solution between Palestine and Israel is supported by more and more countries, for various reasons if you have a strong bias towards the Arab-Palestinian side, your relationship with Israel has been ruined.

A mediator needs to have good relationships with both sides. The same is true for Ukraine and Russia. Will Ukraine’s Western allies listen to you? They will say you’re not neutral, so you have no [increased] influence.

A true mediator must meet two conditions: first, it must be a major country or one that has a crucial position, like Qatar [mediating between Israel and Hamas] because of its location and geopolitical weight. Second, it must be genuinely neutral. Without being neutral, how can both sides listen to you?

There are two flashpoints.

First, the Korean peninsula, because no one knows what’s happening there, and North Korea is not susceptible to external influence or control. No one can directly and clearly influence [North Korean leader] Kim Jong-un.

In the first half of 2017, Beijing almost pushed North Korea to a position of long-standing enmity with China. But it didn’t work out. So in March 2018, when Kim made his first visit to China, Beijing put the [denuclearisation] issue on the back burner.

The top priority was to maintain a good relationship with North Korea, no matter what. Denuclearisation should not seriously damage China’s relations with North Korea.

Then, in March 2021, after the high-level talks between China and the US in Anchorage, Alaska, it became clear that denuclearisation was no longer a key element of China’s Korean peninsula policy. It was no longer important.

The second most dangerous flashpoint is the military arms race [in the Asia-Pacific region]. No matter how many talks there are between China and the US, or how many achievements there are, the strategic military build-up between the two sides will continue to escalate, as long as they have the financial ability to do so.

Meanwhile, Taiwan is actually the most stable issue. China and the US have had many interactions, and as long as the one-China policy exists – even if it’s just a shell – as long as Taiwan doesn’t pursue de jure independence or allow foreign countries to directly control it, China will not use force to attack Taiwan.

Because using force to attack Taiwan would at least potentially lead to a massive joint military intervention by the US, Japan and other allied countries, including Britain and others.

In the East and South China seas, except for some occasional confrontations, things have basically cooled down. China is really not eager to start a war in the South China Sea.

The possibility of a military conflict breaking out on the Korean peninsula is the greatest; the military arms race is the biggest and most common direct driving force behind the possible conflict between China and the United States. The risk of a conflict between China and the US in the South China Sea is low and controllable.

China’s Anti-Secession Law in 2005 [offers some hints].

Firstly, Taiwan’s de jure independence and secondly, foreign countries’ control over Taiwan. Now, the US is actually controlling Taiwan in essence, but according to the law, the foreign force has to directly control Taiwan, such as establishing a US-Taiwan joint command, or stationing US troops and warships in Kaohsiung harbour.

However, even if such a situation arises, making the call is very difficult. Both China and the US are constantly preparing for war, but making a formal decision to launch a massive attack is extremely difficult.

Therefore, preparing for war is day-in and day-out, but making a formal decision to launch a massive attack is just as challenging as it was five years or even 10 years ago.

Many scientists believe that it’s not the case. In some areas, the gap may be narrowing, but overall, it has probably widened even further.

For example, recently there has been an opinion that if China wants to engage in large-scale military intervention, [the US] will change its tactics and not move a single inch.

Instead, the US will rely on 200 strategic bombers, each carrying at least 12 or 14 missiles. What does this mean? With 200 strategic bombers, there will be more than 2,000 conventional bombs with excellent range and radar-evading capabilities.

Assuming that four Ohio-class cruise missile submarines are added, each about 150 metres (492ft) long and known for their excellent sonar capabilities, they can basically get to [mainland China’s] Yangtze River mouth, Xiamen [in Fujian province, opposite Taiwan], or even Bohai Bay without being detected.

China’s destroyers are being built at a rapid pace, but China’s anti-submarine warfare and anti-submarine capabilities are extremely weak. The worst part is that China barely has a missile defence system, which is crucial.

To conclude, everything in the world is contradictory. If China is weak, it is relatively safe. But if China becomes strong, despite increasing its security, it will mobilise its opponents to counter-attack it, making it relatively less safe.

This is a cliché, and it may have been true three to 10 years ago, but not now. It’s been a few years since China began interacting more frequently with developing countries.

China’s national income and tax revenue have been decreasing, and debt has been increasing. Now with shallow pockets, when China visits other countries it doesn’t give anything in return or pay back, will they be happy about that?

First, China has been working on the Belt and Road Initiative for a long time, and is more aware that the countries along the route are very complex and [the projects] risky. Secondly, China’s financial ability has significantly decreased.

So I think overall, the interconnection between China and developing countries has somewhat reduced – which is good and right, because a country’s foreign policy has to conform to its capabilities.

It’s very clear. President Xi emphasised in August 2018 the need to do a good job of painting a “fine brushstroke painting”, which means to observe and analyse carefully, and plan and negotiate specifically, according to the actual situation.

Within a few months, all informed media outlets and think tanks had concluded that China’s belt and road programme was shrinking significantly. And up to now, it has indeed shrunk further.

To begin with, I have to admit that my assumption is limited, as I only interact with a specific group of students, and it may not be representative of all Chinese university students.

However, I can generalise that Chinese universities are tiered. Top-tier universities are quite different from second or third-tier ones. Even though students from these top-tier universities may have a somewhat simplistic view of the world and China’s place in it, they are more sophisticated and less nationalistic than students in lower tiers.

To become a government official, you need to be cautious about what you say. So, even when you’re speaking to someone you know well, unless you’re very familiar with each other, you can’t really expect them to be completely honest with you.

Those who pass the civil service exam are undoubtedly clever and understand what can be said and what cannot be said. Over time, they may not only stop talking about certain topics but also become unable to imagine anything different.

I think in general, American scholars’ views on China are correct, just like Chinese scholars’ views on the US are basically correct as well.

[US scholars think] China is challenging American dominance, the US-led existing international order and key political security rules.

Chinese [academics] believe that the US is trying to maintain its dominance and won’t allow China to adjust the international system according to its own legitimate rights and core interests – and won’t even allow China’s military aircraft and ships to cross the Taiwan Strait median line.

Although the mutual views may contain biases, in general, I think their views of each other are correct.

There are pros and cons of people-to-people exchanges. The positive effects include increased understanding, but that won’t necessarily mean reduced biases. With more interactions, people can reduce the exaggeration of certain aspects.

However, there is a possibility that such exchanges can also prove [many Chinese people’s] original assumption: that Americans are indeed trying to ruin China and exercise global hegemony.

And just imagine if Americans were to live in China like Chinese do, what would be the possible repercussions?

The depiction of China by mainstream media and the government in the US can be summarised in two words: “suppressive” and “aggressive”. If many Americans were to live in China for quite a period, the two perceptions may become even more solidified.