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• Top US diplomat to discuss South China Sea and Ukraine at Asean summit
• Chinese tech giants from ByteDance to Meituan see surge in ‘golden week’ consumer spending
• China fires water cannons at Philippine boats that ‘invaded’ waters near Scarborough Shoal
• China’s ‘father of quantum’ says global secure communications just 3 years away
• China’s commitment to economy not undermined, analysts say in absence of large stimulus
• [Sport] China hits back at EU with tax on European brandy
• Tencent’s WeChat Pay says transactions jump during ‘golden week’ after China’s stimulus bazooka
• Huge potential for jobs in China after stimulus measures, national planners say
• Cross-border trips near pre-pandemic levels during China’s ‘golden week’ holiday
• China ‘golden week’ saw spending regain its shine, buoyed by confidence boost
• China’s home sales saw ‘golden week’ spurts. Are they enough to save the market?
• China warns against Pakistan travel in wake of deadly blast near Karachi airport
• Chinese author Can Xue is favourite to win 2024 Nobel prize in literature
• Thailand aims to surpass pre-Covid tourist levels, even as Chinese travellers slow to return
• China hits out at EU brandy ‘threat’, signals car probe days after EV tariff vote
• China should make its economy work for its youth
• China’s ex-justice minister Tang Yijun faces corruption charges and is expelled from party
• China aid agency commits emergency medical supplies to Lebanon amid worsening conflict
• China scientists develop space battery that can run on Mars’ atmosphere: paper
• Kamala Harris adds little detail to her China policy in 60 Minutes interview
• Malaysia eyes strengthened South China Sea defence with new naval base in Borneo
• Mainland Chinese conglomerate-owned health product chain to close all 19 Hong Kong stores
• China boy, 4, has finger amputated after dad takes him to foot spa for nail infection
• Indonesia bans Temu over fears Chinese shopping giant will ‘destroy’ local SMEs
• China ally Kiribati criticises Chinese ICBM test: ‘stop these acts to maintain world peace’
• [Sport] Chinese stocks jump after Golden Week break
• Meet China ‘Spider-Woman’ who scales 108-metre cliff without safety gear
• China’s top economic planner set to unveil a wide-ranging action plan
• Chinese stocks soar as they catch up with Hong Kong after ‘golden week’ break
• Philippines moves to define sea routes, strengthening sovereignty against China
• [Sport] Does China now have a permanent military base in Cambodia?
• China’s small but beautiful ‘little giants’ charged with punching above their weight

Top US diplomat to discuss South China Sea and Ukraine at Asean summit

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3281619/top-us-diplomat-discuss-south-china-sea-and-ukraine-asean-summit?utm_source=rss_feed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will continue to raise Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea and the US concern over its alleged support for Russia’s war in Ukraine when he attends the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Laos this week.

Blinken, who departs for Vientiane on Tuesday, is expected to be there until Friday.

Discussing Blinken’s agenda with reporters on Tuesday, Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that “a number of PRC [People’s Republic of China]-related issues are likely to come up in the context of the Asean meetings, including the situation in the South China Sea”.

He contended that China was “continuing to take a number of escalatory and irresponsible steps designed to coerce and pressure many of the South China Sea claimants”.

Along with China, the Asean member states of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei assert overlapping claims to territory in the South China Sea. In recent months, the region has seen escalating clashes between the Chinese coastguard and Philippine vessels.

Kritenbrink had no meetings to announce during Blinken’s visit but said that “given how central the South China Sea is to regional and global peace and stability” it would be a key issue should “any engagements” with Chinese officials occur.

Kritenbrink, the State Department’s top East Asia diplomat, noted that channels of communication with China “remain open” and that the US would continue to focus on “defending our national interests” as well as “those of our allies”.

Regarding Ukraine, Kritenbrink said that US concerns about “China’s strong support for the Russian defence industrial base remain, they are ongoing, and I would say they are growing”

In July, Blinken took up the issue with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the margins of the Asean ministerial meetings, also in Vientiane. The topic was raised again when the two diplomats met in New York in September during the UN General Assembly.

Kritenbrink said that China needed “to stop fuelling the Russian war machine through their support for the Russian defence industrial base, and we’ll continue to take steps together with partners elsewhere, including in Europe, to curb that behaviour going forward”.

Some US diplomats were reportedly troubled that US President Joe Biden decided not to attend the Asean summit, believing that his absence would undermine the US in its competition for influence against Beijing.

Concerning Biden’s decision, Kritenbrink said that “there should be absolutely no doubt about his unwavering commitment, as well as that of the United States, to the region”.

He recalled the visits Biden and US Vice-President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, made to six Southeast Asian countries during their term in office as well as hosting the 2022 US-Asean leaders’ meeting at the White House.

“The message is crystal clear that the United States of America under the Biden-Harris administration is committed to the Indo-Pacific in clear and unmistakable ways,” Kritenbrink said.

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Chinese tech giants from ByteDance to Meituan see surge in ‘golden week’ consumer spending

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3281591/chinese-tech-giants-bytedance-meituan-see-surge-golden-week-consumer-spending?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese tech giants providing dining and travel-booking services saw consumer spending surge on their platforms during the “golden week” National Day holiday, according to data released by on-demand local services firms including Meituan and ByteDance-owned Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

During the first five days of the annual break, which ran this year from October 1 through October 7, spending on in-restaurant dining booked via Meituan grew 41.2 per cent over last year, according to Chinese media reports that cited data from the Beijing-based company.

Chinese consumers also splurged on hotel reservations, overseas trips and holiday packages via popular online travel agencies (OTAs) that include Trip.com and Alibaba Group Holding travel-booking platform Fliggy. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Outbound travel booking and holiday packages – which bundle flight tickets, hotel stays and dining – grew by more than 50 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively, during “golden week” on Fliggy, according to a statement from the platform.

On Trip.com, average daily orders related to outbound travel reached a historic high over the same period, according to a post published by the popular OTA on WeChat, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, overall hotel reservations on Douyin more than tripled, while short-distance cruise trips arranged via the platform increased 123 per cent, according to a statement from the ByteDance unit.

The rise in spending on these popular online platforms during the annual break reflects a welcome shift in consumer behaviour on the mainland, following Beijing’s announcement of wide-ranging economic-stimulus measures on September 24.

The rebound in travel orders on multiple platforms, for example, showed a strong recovery for Chinese consumers going on overseas trips, according to Cheng Liteng, an analyst with e-commerce consultancy 100ec.cn.

Tourism in northern Shanxi province, meanwhile, received a boost during “golden week” from the broad popularity of Chinese blockbuster video game , which was released in August.

Online travel bookings to the Xiaoxitian Temple in the province’s Xixian County, which inspired many scenes in the game, grew nearly 60-fold during the first six days of the holiday, compared with a year earlier, according to data from Douyin, which started offering on-demand local services in 2020.

Shuozhou and Xinzhou, historical cities in the same province, have also seen a large influx of tourists during the same six-day period of “golden week”, Douyin data showed.

Meanwhile, online payment services also benefited from the National Day travel boom.

Ant Group mobile-payment arm Alipay, which supports international bank cards, reported a 120 per cent year-on-year increase in spending by foreign travellers on the mainland during the first four days of “golden week”, bolstered by Beijing’s visa-free policies that have driven inbound tourism. Ant Group is the fintech affiliate of Alibaba.

In the same period, the number of transactions made via Alipay in overseas markets surged 60 per cent year on year. Malaysia, South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong and Singapore recorded the fastest growth in transaction numbers.

Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay said its transaction numbers during “golden week” climbed 20 per cent year on year.

Additional reporting by Iris Deng and Wency Chen

China fires water cannons at Philippine boats that ‘invaded’ waters near Scarborough Shoal

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3281602/china-fires-water-cannons-philippine-boats-invaded-waters-near-scarborough-shoal?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese coastguard said on Tuesday that it took “control measures” against two Philippines vessels that had “invaded the waters” near the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

China Coast Guard (CCG) spokesman Liu Dejun said in a statement that two Philippine vessels – 3001 and 3002 – “intentionally intruded into waters near the Scarborough Shoal without the permission of the Chinese government”.

Liu said the CCG “had tracked and monitored the situation throughout and took control measures in accordance with the law” off the waters of Scarborough Shoal, known as Huangyan Island in China.

The coastguard’s operations have been “professional, standardised and legitimate”, he added.

“We urge the Philippine side to immediately cease its infringement actions,” Liu said, adding that China’s coastguard would continue its law enforcement activities “to safeguard rights within China’s jurisdictional waters, resolutely upholding national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights”.

It was the latest stand-off between Beijing and Manila in the South China Sea where China also has rival claims with Vietnam and Brunei. Tensions between Beijing and Manila have intensified since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr came to power and took a more assertive stance against China.

Reuters quoted a statement from the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) on Tuesday morning that said three coastguard vessels and one PLA vessel fired water cannons at two fisheries vessels in the waters off Scarborough Shoal as the crews were carrying out a resupply mission for several Philippine fishing boats.

According to the BFAR, the Philippine civilian boats evaded the water cannons and were able to be resupplied, Philippine media outlet GMA News Online reported.

Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad acknowledged the incident and expressed concerns about the situation, the Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported on Tuesday.

“We will continue supporting the [Philippine] coastguard and BFAR, we will continue performing our mandate of patrolling the West Philippine Sea,” Trinidad said.

“We will ensure that the integrity of our territory is intact.”

The clash came a week after China celebrated its 75th National Day, when the Chinese navy conducted a drill in the South China Sea to demonstrate Beijing’s resolve “in safeguarding peace and stability”, according to its Southern Theatre Command.

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China’s ‘father of quantum’ says global secure communications just 3 years away

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3281598/chinas-father-quantum-says-global-secure-communications-just-3-years-away?utm_source=rss_feed

China is aiming to launch an ultra-secure global communications service by 2027, with the completion of its quantum satellite constellation and its integration with ground-based networks, according to leading physicisr Pan Jianwei.

Pan was speaking at the Micius Quantum Prize briefing, named after the ancient Chinese philosopher Mozi, whose name was also bestowed on the world’s first experimental quantum satellite, launched by China in 2016.

Known as the “father of quantum”, Pan was part of the prize’s international selection committee for the 2023 award, which was presented last week to Nicolas Gisin and John Rarity for their experiments using optical fibres.

During the press briefing, Pan said his team of researchers plans to launch two to three satellites into low Earth orbit next year, followed by a high Earth orbit satellite two years later.

By combining the satellite constellation with ground-based optical-fibre quantum networks across the country, they expect to “deliver something truly practical” for large-scale communications in the next five to 10 years, he said.

China’s quantum communications market is rapidly increasing. China Telecom, the country’s largest telecommunications company, reported three million terminal users at the end of 2023, and is predicting the number to surpass five million this year.

The technology is based on the special properties of tiny particles called qubits, which can exist in more than one state at once. Anyone trying to listen in would cause an instant change in the particles, immediately revealing the eavesdropping attempt.

With the Mozi satellite launch, China positioned itself at the forefront of the global race to develop quantum technologies which could make everything from personal banking to national defence communications virtually impossible to hack.

The satellite was the world’s first to use entangled photons – particles of light that remain connected even over long distances – to exchange quantum signals over a distance of 1,000km (621 miles) with ground stations on Earth.

China also achieved the world’s first intercontinental quantum key distribution, when the Mozi satellite was used to securely transmit encrypted data in an exchange with Austria.

In 2022, China launched Jinan-1, the world’s first quantum micro-nano satellite that was significantly more efficient at quantum key distribution, thanks to its utilisation of laser communications, and weighed just one-sixth of Mozi.

The success of Jinan-1 was hailed as an important step towards China’s ambitions of building a low-cost, practical space-to-ground quantum communications network with global coverage.

According to Wang Jianyu, an expert in space-based optoelectronic technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China’s planned geostationary orbit quantum satellite – operating tens of thousands of kilometres from Earth – will be far more complex than Mozi.

In an interview last year with China Science Daily, Wang said the satellite will require a more precise optical path alignment with the ground stations as well as stronger on-board quantum light sources and advanced micro-vibration suppression technologies.

According to Pan, a global quantum communication network – and eventually a quantum internet – will consist of three key components, starting with fibre-based metropolitan quantum communication networks and culminating in global satellite coverage.

The second building block is to achieve intercity communications supported by quantum repeaters – devices that extend the distance over which information can be sent without losing accuracy.

Pan and his team are developing quantum repeater technology capable of supporting communications over thousands of kilometres and aim to achieve intercity quantum transmissions within five years, he said.

China’s commitment to economy not undermined, analysts say in absence of large stimulus

https://www.scmp.com/economy/policy/article/3281588/chinas-commitment-economy-not-undermined-analysts-say-absence-large-stimulus?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top economic planner has solidified Beijing’s commitment to bolstering the economy, by reiterating confidence in achieving the full-year growth target, while the lack of a new big-bang stimulus that the markets had expected does not change the supportive policy direction, according to analysts.

Pundits added that more measures may be in store as authorities have signalled that reviving the economy is the top priority.

“It is clear that Beijing does not want to exhaust its policy tools too quickly. There has been repeated emphasis on systematic, targeted and precise measures, and the overall message of the press conference remains positive,” said Su Yue, principal economist for China with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) market research organisation.

At the widely watched conference on Tuesday, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) expressed confidence that the growth goal of “around 5 per cent” for the world’s second-largest economy this year remained attainable with policy support, without unveiling highly anticipated large-scale additional stimulus.

Disappointment resulting from the lack of fresh stimulus firepower from the NDRC, after the quick-fire roll-out of easing at the end of September, should not undermine the significance of the pledge for an effective implementation of what is already in place, the analysts said.

“[The NDRC has] stressed that development is the key to addressing issues, and in the Chinese context, ‘development’ essentially means economic growth,” Su said.

Further punctuating Beijing’s economic commitments on Tuesday, Premier Li Qiang chaired a study session of the State Council that morning and called for the timely release of measures to stabilise growth and expectations. Then, in the afternoon, he chaired a symposium with economic experts and entrepreneurs to solicit views on the government’s plans.

The moves came after top leadership tapped policy tools and urged Communist Party cadres, at an unexpected Politburo meeting last month, to spare no efforts in getting growth back on track, amid persistent challenges from weak employment, a property market crisis, diminished consumption, and trade frictions with the West.

At Tuesday’s press conference, NDRC chairman Zheng Shanjie ensured the effective implementation of a raft of existing policies and incremental measures for countercyclical adjustments, while also vowing to boost consumption and backstop the property and stock markets.

He revealed that China would tap the central government’s 2025 budget to advance 100 billion yuan (US$14.14 billion) worth of bonds by the end of this month.

“There is a slither of new spending and some tinkering around the edges of existing policies,” said Harry Murphy Cruise, an assistant director and economist at Moody’s Analytics.

“That’s not to say more support isn’t coming,” he added. “We expect more announcements through the remainder of the year. But it won’t just be money.”

Analysts add that the NDRC’s signal about the 5 per cent growth target and its stepped-up implementation work on existing policies, as well as those to be announced, reflects an approach of aligning and attaining both short- and medium-term objectives.

Meanwhile, markets will likely be looking ahead to potential support from other ministries.

Sophie Xu, a 24-year-old retail investor who has held electricity-related stocks since earlier this year, said on Tuesday that she was pleasantly surprised after the National Day holiday to see a significant rise in her portfolio.

“The stock market was relatively low when I made my purchase, but now my stocks are steadily climbing,” said Xu, who works in marketing in Shenzhen. “And I’m confident they’ll keep going up after the holiday.”

The EIU’s Su said she expects that Beijing will arrange 1 trillion to 3 trillion yuan worth of additional fiscal support this year and in 2025, in a bid to boost the real economy, recapitalise banks and stabilise the property market.

“This, along with investments from special long-term bonds planned for next year, is expected to primarily impact 2025’s economic growth,” she said.

Moody’s Analytics expects a much greater push to drive the uptake of property-market support measures launched in May.

“Only a fraction of an available 300 billion yuan has been tapped, as low expected returns and squeezed finances have deterred local governments from opting in,” Murphy Cruise said.

China will likely pull broader “policy levers” and accelerate the roll-out of previously announced measures, like those announced at the Communist Party’s third plenum in July, he said.

“These could include breaking down the barriers to social welfare that rural households face, and lifting pension payments. Both of those policies are vital to boosting confidence and lifting household spending,” Moody’s Murphy Cruise said.

NDRC officials also said on Tuesday that China would support the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) along with the property market, and that urbanisation would be a key driver of growth.

“This will likely be via banks that may have preferential policies in place to encourage these loans, and providing better access to financing will provide a better operating environment for SMEs,” said ING Greater China economist Lynn Song.

“With that said, credit demand has been quite weak so far this year, as the appetite for private sector investment is limited. So, it remains to be seen if this can recover with a combination of rate cuts and financing support.”

Su said that the advancement of urbanisation was also an important direction.

The NDRC mentioned a potential 4 trillion yuan investment in urban pipework construction over the next five years, Su noted. Such an expenditure, she said, would align with the new stage of urbanisation and dovetail with other municipal projects such as public transport.

Additional reporting by Mia Nulimaimaiti

[Sport] China hits back at EU with tax on European brandy

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8jz39xl19o

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Tencent’s WeChat Pay says transactions jump during ‘golden week’ after China’s stimulus bazooka

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3281506/tencents-wechat-pay-says-transactions-jump-during-golden-week-after-chinas-stimulus-bazooka?utm_source=rss_feed

Tencent Holdings’ WeChat Pay, one of China’s dominant digital payment platforms, saw a jump in transactions during the “golden week” national holiday, as consumer spending shows signs of recovery after Beijing rolled out its biggest stimulus package since the pandemic.

Known as Weixin Pay on the mainland, the digital wallet recorded a 20 per cent year-on-year surge in transaction numbers during the week-long break, which ended on Monday, according to the company.

Tourism-related transactions nearly doubled from the week before the holiday, with cross-border payment volume growing over 70 per cent, WeChat Pay said. In Hong Kong and Macau, cross-border transactions more than doubled from the previous week, suggesting that those cities were especially popular among mainland tourists.

Consumers in China appear to have loosened the purse strings after Beijing announced late last month a slew of heavyweight measures to boost the economy, including mortgage rate cuts and tools to support the stock market. Many people spent the holiday abroad as sentiment improved.

Alipay, the other major mobile payment service in China, reported a 60 per cent rise in transaction numbers year on year in overseas markets. Ant Group, which operates Alipay, is an affiliate of Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post.

Outbound travel bookings saw substantial growth, and interest in long-haul and niche destinations also rose, according to Alibaba’s travel booking platform Fliggy.

Still, plenty of Chinese tourists chose to stay in their home country.

During the golden week holiday, local tourists made 765 million domestic trips, up 5.9 per cent from the same period last year, and up 10.2 per cent from 2019, according to estimates released by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism on Tuesday.

Domestic travel spending rose 6.3 per cent from a year ago to 700.8 billion yuan (US$99.3 billion), up 7.9 per cent from 2019, the data showed.

The rise in digital payment transactions also comes after WeChat Pay expanded its service to Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall. The two online marketplaces, the largest in China, began accepting Tencent’s payment services for online purchases in early September.

The landmark cooperation deal was part of a major effort to tear down the digital walls separating the ecosystems of the country’s largest tech firms, in response to a call by the Chinese government to enhance interoperability.

Huge potential for jobs in China after stimulus measures, national planners say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3281571/huge-potential-jobs-china-after-stimulus-measures-national-planners-say?utm_source=rss_feed

There is still huge potential for new jobs in China, the country’s top economic planner said on Tuesday, days after the central government unveiled an array of stimulus measures.

Plans were in place to address “structural issues” in employment and expand strategic industries, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) officials told a press conference in Beijing.

They also pledged to ease operational difficulties for small and medium-sized enterprises – the backbone of growth and job creation.

“There have been increases and decreases in job availability; some positions may be receding, while others are still in high demand, indicating some structural issues. We are taking measures to resolve these problems,” NDRC chairman Zheng Shanjie said.

Li Chunlin, one of four NDRC deputy heads at the briefing, pointed to the jobs potential of China’s booming low-altitude economy.

“Technological advancements not only drive economic transformation and industrial upgrading but also give rise to many new professions and job opportunities,” Li said.

Beijing unveiled a flurry of measures to boost market confidence and regain growth momentum in the run-up to the National Day “golden week” holiday starting on October 1.

This came as China’s economic recovery remained sluggish, with young people struggling to find jobs despite government encouragement to hire graduates. SMEs, despite being vital for technological innovation and employment, have borne the brunt of the economic slump.

Zheng Bei, another deputy head, said the planning body would work to ensure equal treatment for state-owned and private enterprises, and revise regulations to facilitate prompt payments to SMEs.

Beijing has repeatedly pushed to address the country’s long-standing affliction of “triangular debt” – where a series of delayed or partial payments leave companies indebted to each other or the banks.

The top leadership has also repeatedly reassured private entrepreneurs of their firm support, while clearing market entry barriers and cracking down on the abuse of administrative power.

“We will … adopt more inclusive, cautious regulatory practices and flexible enforcement methods in administrative law enforcement to minimise or reduce the impact on the normal production and operation activities of businesses,” Zheng Bei said.

According to Li, the low-altitude economy has created a huge market for drone operators, with a talent gap estimated to be as high as one million.

The low-altitude economy has been increasingly touted as a new growth driver as planners look to manned and unmanned activities in the skies for economic momentum, from drone deliveries and surveillance to flying cars and tourism.

By next year, the shortage of specialised talent in new energy vehicle maintenance and research and development were forecast to reach 1.03 million, Li said.

The field currently only employed fewer than 100,000 people, Li added, highlighting the potential for “a significant number of job opportunities” ahead.

The NDRC has called for the creation of more knowledge- and skill-based openings in emerging strategic industries, including information technology, biotech, new material and new energy, and energy conservation and environmental protection, according to Li.

He also pointed to the ageing population in China and the massive “silver economy” as job drivers, citing the potential for employment and consumption in social services sectors such as elderly care, domestic service, childcare and logistics.

The domestic services industry had a “severe shortage” of high-quality and highly skilled personnel, with market demand reaching 50 million, while only around 30 million were currently in the industry, Li said.

Authorities were also working to leverage vocational education and skills training to promote employment, boost investment in training infrastructure, accurately align with firms’ labour needs, and provide workers with “targeted, order-based, and project-based training”, he added.

The national youth unemployment rate has hit a new high since Beijing tweaked the criteria last year to exclude students. The jobless rate for the 16-24 age group rose to 18.8 per cent in August, from 17.1 per cent in July, according to latest data, meaning nearly one in five Chinese youths is unemployed.

Weak consumption sentiment is another challenge facing China’s economy. NDRC chair Zheng pledged that government policies would focus more on improving livelihoods and promoting consumption, while leveraging investment to boost growth.

Deputy head Liu Sushe said that local infrastructure investment would prioritise the people’s needs while his peer Li vowed to ensure there was no shortfall in key livelihood needs.

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Cross-border trips near pre-pandemic levels during China’s ‘golden week’ holiday

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3281577/cross-border-trips-near-pre-pandemic-levels-during-chinas-golden-week-holiday?utm_source=rss_feed

More than 13 million journeys were made across mainland China’s borders during the recent “golden week” holiday, almost reaching pre-pandemic levels, according to the country’s immigration authorities.

The week-long holiday – which this year started on October 1, China’s National Day, and ended on Monday – is traditionally one of the country’s main travel periods involving billions of journeys inside and outside the country.

This year’s holiday came as China’s economy is grappling with flagging growth and with consumer confidence lingering just above historic lows.

In the past week, an average of 1.87 million people a day crossed the mainland Chinese border, a 25.8 per cent year-on-year increase, the National Immigration Administration said on Tuesday. The total number of trips over the week stood at 13.1 million.

For the same period in 2019, two months before the start of the Covid pandemic, the daily average stood at 1.98 million trips.

This year’s cross-border journeys included 7.58 million trips by mainland residents, a year-on-year increase of 33.2 per cent and 4.49 million by Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan residents, up 13.2 per cent year-on-year. The remaining journeys – 1.01 million in total – were made by foreign residents, a year-on-year increase of 37.2 per cent, the administration said.

At a news conference on Tuesday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the increased number of visits from people living abroad showed “China’s attractiveness and open attitude”.

“China’s door will open wider and wider and the level of convenience in entering and exiting the country will improve,” she said. “We welcome more foreign friends to come to China to enjoy the beautiful scenery and feel the charm of the country.”

China imposed strict travel restrictions in March 2020, making incoming travellers go through centralised quarantines and repeated tests, resulting in an exodus of foreigners in China.

It finally reopened the border in January 2023, but visitor numbers have continued to lag behind, prompting the government to introduce a series of measures this year – including “port visas” and visa exemptions – to boost tourism.

Currently residents of 16 countries, including France and Germany, will be allowed to enter the country without a visa for up to 15 days for business, tourism, family visits and transits.

Citizens of a further 54 countries, including the United States, Canada and Britain, are currently allowed to enter the country through one of 37 entry ports and stay for up to 72 or 144 hours without a visa, provided that they have a valid onward ticket to another country.

China ‘golden week’ saw spending regain its shine, buoyed by confidence boost

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3281542/china-golden-week-saw-spending-regain-its-shine-buoyed-confidence-boost?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese households opened their wallets amid a spending spree during the “golden week” holiday that concluded on Monday, kicking off the year’s final quarter with a hefty injection of consumption as Beijing entered the home straight toward its goal of realising “around 5 per cent” economic growth in 2024.

Various sectors, from tourism and catering to housing, saw a substantial bump in revenue over the week-long holiday as mainland consumers spent more generously amid an upturn in market confidence following a comprehensive stimulus package announced late last month.

Spending figures were released on Tuesday as the country’s top economic planner pledged to take further actions to bolster the economy, after a Politburo meeting signalled leadership’s resolve to tackle economic challenges in the week before the holiday.

From October 1-7, one of the longest public holidays on the mainland, mainlanders made 765 million domestic trips, a year-on-year increase of 5.9 per cent and up by 10.2 per cent from the same period in 2019, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said on Tuesday.

Domestic tourists also spent 700.82 billion yuan (US$99 billion), a year-on-year rise of 6.3 per cent and up by 7.9 per cent from the same period in 2019, authorities said.

Beijing’s municipal cultural and tourism bureau on Tuesday reported historical highs in both visitors and tourism revenue during the past week. The capital city welcomed 21.6 million visitors, marking an 18.35 per cent year-on-year increase, with total tourism revenue reaching 26.88 billion yuan, up 11.67 per cent.

In Shanghai, which saw a slump in retail sales over the past few months, overall tourism spending, including dining and entertainment, totalled 26.92 billion yuan for the holiday week – a year-on-year rise of 4.6 per cent – while total visitors reached 18.62 million, comparable to last year.

The overall improvement “reflected enhanced consumer willingness and restored confidence”, according to a research note by investment bank CICC on Tuesday.

It highlighted strong performances in long-distance travel, cross-border trips and cultural activities, while noting robust growth in sales of home appliances and jewellery.

“We continue to be optimistic about the continued support and catalytic effect of subsequent consumption-promotion policies on the consumer market,” it said.

Besides major cities in the east, self-drive and cultural tourism have spurred interest in midwestern and lower-tier cities, with Chengdu, Chongqing and Xian emerging as popular destinations, according to data from several online travel agencies.

“Catering consumption has had an outstanding performance as the consumption-voucher policy is showing obvious effects,” wrote Bian Quanshui, chief macro analyst at Western Securities, in a research note on Tuesday.

Data from leading local service provider Meituan indicated a 33.4 per cent year-on-year increase in daily dining consumption during the first five days of the holiday.

In Shanghai, total online and offline spending on catering from September 30 to October 6 reached 67.6 billion yuan, reflecting a 3.2 per cent increase from the same period last year, with offline dining hitting 8 billion yuan and achieving double-digit growth.

That was largely generated by a 500 million yuan consumption-voucher policy announced by the city government late last month, Bian said.

China’s swift policy interventions and promotional activities ahead of the National Day holiday also brought a resurgence of warmth to the real estate market after a prolonged cold spell.

Notably, sales data from major cities revealed a surge in new home transactions, with projects in cities and provinces such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Hunan and Sichuan seeing up to a 50 per cent year-on-year increase in visitor numbers.

From October 1-5, the transaction area of commercial housing in Shanghai rose 43.87 per cent, while Beijing saw a 30.62 per cent jump, compared with the same period last year.

Property agents and developer sales managers see the market recovery as stronger than the easing cycle in May, due to a sentiment boost following the Politburo meeting that mentioned property-market stabilisation, and amid a rally in the stock market, according to John Lam, head of China and Hong Kong property research for UBS Investment Bank, in a report on Monday.

“Also, the sales improvement is not only in tier-1 cities, but has also spread to tier-2 cities,” Lam said. “Based on the momentum, they expect the recovery to last longer than the previous one in May, which lasted for three weeks.”

Preliminary official statistics showed that, from September 30 to October 4, Guizhou province sold 137,500 square metres, or 1,187 units, of commercial housing – a year-on-year increase of 44.3 per cent, with the transaction amount growing by more than half, year on year. In Daqing, Heilongjiang province, 156 units were sold – a 254 per cent increase compared with last year.

Meanwhile, China’s box office generated 2.1 billion yuan (US$297 million), with more than 52 million people heading to the cinemas over the holiday period, according to the China Film Association.

This season featured 10 new releases, with historical war film The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death topping the charts.

The sector, which has been slow this year, picked up from a summer slump that saw revenue decline by more than 40 per cent compared with a year prior.

Despite this progress, China’s box office continued to fall short of last year’s holiday performance, which reached 2.28 billion yuan by the seventh day and totalled 2.73 billion yuan over eight days.

China’s home sales saw ‘golden week’ spurts. Are they enough to save the market?

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3281584/chinas-home-sales-saw-golden-week-spurts-are-they-enough-save-market?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s ailing property market saw spurts of buying interest last week during the weeklong National Day break, after the government shot its “policy bazooka” to prop up a vital pillar of the world’s second-largest economy.

Transactions of new homes jumped 27 per cent from a year earlier across 25 Chinese cities tracked by the China Index Academy. Showroom visits rose by at least 50 per cent compared with 2023, as 130 cities in 20 provinces held promotional sales during the so-called Golden Week, the state broadcaster CGTN said, citing the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.

Optimism was most apparent in the biggest cities, which are considered the bellwether of the industry. Shenzhen, dubbed “China’s Silicon Valley” for its cluster of technology companies from BYD to DJI and Huawei Technologies, reported a 10-fold jump in new-home sales in the week that ended on September 30, according to Centaline Property Agency, one of the largest agencies in Hong Kong.

Showrooms were also packed in Beijing and Shanghai, prompting some developers to extend their opening hours so they could cater to the increasing number of visitors, local media outlets reported.

Days earlier, Chinese authorities unveiled a slew of measures to stimulate consumption, investment, and property sales. The People’s Bank of China instructed lenders to cut mortgage rates by half a percentage point and reduce the down payment for second homes to 15 per cent from 25 per cent. Four tier-one cities – Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen – relaxed home-purchase rules to spur sales.

Any hopes of a turnaround may be short-lived, analysts said, as more support is needed for a broad-based and sustainable recovery in China’s property market, which was stunted when Beijing introduced a loan limit for real estate companies – known as in mid-2020.

“While policy relief has lifted home sales in selected cities, this may be short-lived as home price weakness will be likely to persist amid oversupply”, said Morningstar’s analyst Jeff Zhang, citing the inventory that remains one of the major hurdles for a sustainable recovery.

To underscore the concern, the shares of Chinese developers pared gains on Tuesday when the markets resumed trading after the weeklong holiday. To make matters worse, the National Development and Reform Commission failed to deliver any additional handouts that the market was expecting at a news conference on Tuesday. The benchmark CSI 300 Index closed 5.9 per cent higher, retreating from an initial gain of as much as 10 per cent earlier.

A key measure was China’s rental yield of 2 per cent, far less than the average mortgage rate of 3 per cent, even after several rounds of rate cuts.

The property market is “unlikely to have a meaningful recovery without greater equilibrium between house prices and rents”, analysts led by Raymond Yeung at ANZ Banking Group wrote.

The recent buying frenzy in China’s property market was induced by incremental policy easing and investors’ reignited investor sentiment, rather than a rebound in durable home demand, he added.

The recovery pace in lower tier cities could also be a major hurdle, given that they have already loosened homebuying curbs a year earlier and have limited room for further relaxation, he said.

“The market sentiment in tier-three or below cities, which contribute to nearly half of home transactions in the country, however, may be more representative to define whether we are going out of the woods,” he added.

The agency maintained its forecast that China’s new home sales value and prices would stabilise in mid-2025, when excess inventory is absorbed.

In September, home sales generated by China’s top-100 developers declined 37.7 per cent from a year earlier, which was worse than the 26.8 per cent decrease in August, according to the China Real Estate Information Corporation.

China warns against Pakistan travel in wake of deadly blast near Karachi airport

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3281585/china-warns-against-pakistan-travel-wake-deadly-blast-near-karachi-airport?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese embassy in Pakistan has urged its citizens to reconsider travel plans to the country following a deadly attack near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport that killed two Chinese workers and injured several others.

In a statement on Monday, the embassy advised Chinese citizens to avoid travelling to the southwest province of Balochistan and the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which have seen a surge in attacks targeting Chinese personnel and projects.

The explosion occurred at around 11pm local time on Sunday when a convoy carrying Chinese engineers and investors was struck by a vehicle-borne explosive device.

The separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility, stating that one of its suicide bombers targeted Chinese workers from a joint China-Pakistan coal-fired power plant project as they left the airport.

Beijing called on Islamabad to “severely punish” the attackers. A Monday statement from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing was “shocked” by the event.

“China calls on the Pakistan side to plug security loopholes and take specific action to protect the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Chinese nationals … in Pakistan,” it said.

In response to Sunday’s attack, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated its commitment to safeguarding Chinese citizens and projects.

“Pakistan and China are iron brothers,” it said in a statement. “Pakistan’s security and law enforcement agencies will spare no effort in apprehending the perpetrators and their facilitators. This barbaric act will not go unpunished.”

On Monday, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and vowed to hold those responsible accountable. Shehbaz visited the Chinese embassy and pledged that he would oversee the investigation personally.

“Pakistan stands committed to safeguarding our Chinese friends. We will leave no stone unturned to ensure their security and well-being,” Shehbaz said.

Following the incident, Sindh province’s chief minister Syed Murad Ali Shah visited the Chinese consulate in Karachi to mourn the death of the Chinese citizens. Sindh, where Karachi is located, borders the restive Balochistan province – a region that has seen a surge in separatist violence, particularly targeting Chinese nationals and infrastructure.

The BLA, a separatist group based in the oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan, has a history of targeting Chinese interests. It has ramped up its attacks on Chinese projects in recent years, including a deadly assault on the Chinese consulate in Karachi in 2018 and several suicide bombings. The group has accused Beijing of exploiting local resources in collaboration with the Pakistani government.

The attack comes just days before the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Islamabad, which is expected to host high-profile delegations and heads of government from China and other countries belonging to the regional security group.

Chinese author Can Xue is favourite to win 2024 Nobel prize in literature

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/oct/08/chinese-author-can-xue-favourite-to-win-2024-nobel-prize-in-literature-haruki-murakami-margaret-atwood

Can Xue, Haruki Murakami, Margaret Atwood, César Aira, Gerald Murnane and Thomas Pynchon are among the authors most likely to win this year’s Nobel prize in literature, according to bookies.

Chinese avant-garde author Can Xue, 71, is Ladbrokes’ favourite to win, with odds of 10/1. She was also the favourite to win last year’s prize, which was ultimately awarded to Norwegian writer Jon Fosse.

The recipient of the 2024 prize will be announced on Thursday at noon BST, and will receive 11m Swedish kronor (£811,780).

“This year’s Nobel prize race is still wide open, and while we’ve seen strong interest in Gerald Murnane and César Aira, it’s Can Xue who remains the most popular pick with punters, and continues to head the betting as a result,” said Alex Apati of Ladbrokes.

Can Xue, whose real name is Deng Xiaohua, has twice been longlisted for the international Booker prize with her novel Love in the New Millennium – translated by Annelise Finegan Wasmoen – and for her short story collection I Live in the Slums, translated by Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping.

She was born in 1953 in Changsha, Hunan province. During the Cultural Revolution, her parents were forced into manual labour in the countryside. Her formal education finished with elementary school. If she is named Nobel laureate, she will be the 18th woman to win the prize, the third Chinese winner and only the second still resident in China after Mo Yan, who received it in 2012.

Following Can Xue with 14/1 odds is Japanese writer Murakami, who has written more than a dozen novels – including Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore and 1Q84 – as well as short story collections and nonfiction.

Atwood and Pynchon are both assigned 16/1 odds. Atwood – the Canadian author of The Handmaid’s Tale and Booker-winning novels The Testaments and The Blind Assassin along with many other novels, poetry collections and works of non-fiction – has long been considered a contender for the prize. In 2017, Kazuo Ishiguro, who won that year, apologised to Atwood: “I genuinely thought she would win it very soon.”

Also with 16/1 odds are Aira, Murnane and Ersi Sotiropoulos. Other authors listed by Ladbrokes include Anne Carson (20/1), Don DeLillo (25/1), Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o (25/1), Salman Rushdie (25/1), Karl Ove Knausgård (28/1) and Han Kang (33/1).

The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded 116 times since 1901. Alongside Fosse, recent laureates include Annie Ernaux, Abdulrazak Gurnah, Louise Glück, Peter Handke and Olga Tokarczuk.

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Thailand aims to surpass pre-Covid tourist levels, even as Chinese travellers slow to return

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3281552/thailand-aims-surpass-pre-covid-tourist-levels-even-chinese-travellers-slow-return?utm_source=rss_feed

Thailand expects foreign tourist arrivals to reach 40 million next year, topping the pre-pandemic record, with authorities enlisting the help of companies including Trip.com Group Ltd. and Expedia Group Inc. to lure travellers.

Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s administration has set a target to generate 3.4 trillion baht (US$101 billion) in tourism revenue next year, according to a government a statement. Paetongtarn met with executives of Trip.com, Expedia, Agoda, Grab Holdings Ltd., Marriott International Inc. and InterContinental Hotels Group Plc among others on Monday to discuss the tourism strategies for 2025.

The Southeast Asian nation – popular for its vibrant nightlife, beaches and national parks – will soon unveil a campaign blitz to promote Thai culture, lesser-known tourist destinations and a host of must-do activities, Jirayu Houngsub, adviser to the prime minister, said in the statement.

Thailand has seen a steady recovery in foreign tourist arrivals after the industry was devastated by the Covid pandemic. About 27 million tourists have visited the country so far this year, on course to meet the government’s full-year target of 36.7 million. Arrivals from China, the biggest source of tourists to Thailand, are still only about 65 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels, official data show.

In 2019, Thailand saw record foreign arrivals – almost 40 million – which generated 1.91 trillion baht in revenue.

A tourism task force consisting of representatives from the public and private sectors will be set up to implement a strategy to promote tourism under a campaign blitz titled “Amazing Thailand Grand Tourism Year 2025,” Jirayu said.

Paetongtarn has called for increased flight connectivity and capacity to make Thailand more accessible to travellers from worldwide. The government also expects holidaymakers to make more than 205 million domestic trips next year, Jirayu said.

China hits out at EU brandy ‘threat’, signals car probe days after EV tariff vote

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3281557/china-hits-out-eu-brandy-threat-signals-car-probe-days-after-ev-tariff-vote?utm_source=rss_feed

China announced it would start to collect anti-dumping duties on European brandy imports from Friday, just days after Brussels voted to impose tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs).

In addition, China signalled it could unleash tariffs on imported cars from the European Union as a way to “protect the legitimate rights of Chinese industries and companies”, the Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) said in a statement.

It also reiterated its investigations into European pork and dairy products were ongoing.

“At the same time, China is looking into raising tariffs on imported large engine petrol-powered vehicles,” the ministry added.

For brandy imports, the security charge would be applied to imports under 200 litres (422 pints).

The ministry released a list detailing the rates each company would be expected to pay, ranging from 30.6 per cent for Martell to 38.1 per cent for Remy Martin and 39 per cent for Hennessy.

“The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has, in its initial investigation, confirmed that there is dumping in brandy imported from the European Union, posing substantial damage and threat to the local brandy industry,” the ministry said in a separate statement.

“There is a direct causal relationship between the dumping behaviour and the substantial damage and threat to the local industry,” it added, repeating an initial investigation result announced at the end of August.

The initial investigation had found that brandy from the EU was being dumped in China, although the ministry said at the time that it would “temporarily” not pursue trade actions.

It came at a time the EU had concluded China was unfairly subsidising its EV exports to Europe.

On Friday, the 27-member bloc voted to impose punitive tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, with the new duties of up to 45 per cent imposed by October 31 for five years.

Beijing’s anti-dumping investigation on European brandy was first announced in January, based on a request from the China Alcoholic Drinks Association, who said the prices had been reduced by an estimated 15.88 per cent.

In August, Mofcom said it had found European distillers had been selling brandy in China at a 30.6 to 39 per cent margin.

The Chinese investigation was launched months after the EU undertook an investigation into Chinese-made EV subsidies in October last year.

Since then, China has launched trade investigations into unfair trading practices within EU brandy, dairy and pork imports, raising concerns from European exporters.

And on Tuesday, Mofcom reiterated its determination to “protect the legitimate rights of Chinese industries and companies” by confirming the trade investigations into European pork and dairy products were ongoing.

Wine and marc-based spirit imports represent around 90 per cent of direct EU spirit exports to China in value terms, according to Spirits Europe, an industry group of European spirits exporters.

French President Emmanuel Macron publicly “thanked” President Xi Jinping for what he described as an “open attitude” regarding provisional measures on brandy during their last in person meeting in May.

French cognac makes up most of China’s brandy imports.

An estimated 800 protesters took to tractors and blocked roads in the town of Cognac in southwestern France last month to demand a delay to the EU’s EV tariffs, concerned that China would retaliate with duties on French brandy.

China should make its economy work for its youth

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3281313/china-should-make-its-economy-work-its-youth?utm_source=rss_feed

From mooncakes to hairy crabs, before and after the recent financial stimulus, consumption in China has remained lacklustre. Hotel and flight prices during the National Day holiday are lower than they were last year. Box office performance appears strong but not spectacular.

Weak consumption has plagued China’s post-Covid economy amid lingering deflation concerns. Would inflating asset prices provide a way out?

The wealth effect of a rising stock market would affect a minority of the population as there are reportedly less than 50 million stock holders in China. Property prices remain depressed from the peak. The long-term outlook is unfavourable, except for some of the larger cities.

While Hongkongers have only one day of National Day holiday, the streets of Hong Kong were filled with mainland tourists last week. Long gone were the days when they flocked here to buy luxury goods. These days, tourists congregate outside places like the old Yau Ma Tei Police Station for photo opportunities.

The changing consumption pattern of mainland tourists in Hong Kong could be seen as a sign of maturing affluence. In the past, the clientele of high-end hotels in Hong Kong were often Western tourists and business travellers while mainland tourists would economise on accommodation even as they spent big on shopping. Now, many high-end hotels in Hong Kong, particularly those near Ocean Park and Disneyland, are packed with mainland families.

In many shopping malls across China, the primary attractions have shifted to restaurants and cinemas, with supermarkets also attracting shoppers. In an era where ubiquitous online shopping offers unparalleled selection and competitive pricing, the necessity of purchasing goods in traditional bricks-and-mortar stores has significantly diminished.

When one’s wardrobes are filled, there is only so much satisfaction more things will bring. Covid restrictions brought an immediacy to the priority of experiences once they were lifted. This is seen no more clearly than among the youth segment of Chinese consumers. For the National Day holiday, culinary adventures and capturing moments in unique settings take top priority for young travellers.

Despite living in very different contexts – a potentially deflationary economy vs a group of inflation-ridden economies – China’s Gen Z members paradoxically share some striking similarities with their peers in the West. The shift in prioritising experiences over possessions, indicative of post-materialistic societies, is driven by several factors.

The experience economy has led many in Gen Z, much like millennials, to prefer spending on travel, concerts or dining out, as these experiences offer social currency, personal growth and lasting memories.

Additionally, the rise of the sharing economy and the increasing need for mobility across cities have made accessing goods more appealing than owning them. As digital natives, they value connectivity and authenticity, often sharing these experiences online. These trends suggest a broader transition towards a society that values personal development and quality of life over mere economic security.

In the US, inflation has made the cost of material goods increasingly prohibitive, nudging younger generations towards experiences as a more affordable form of luxury. Simultaneously, the gig economy and prevalent job instability have fostered a “live in the moment” culture. Such an economic landscape makes the allure of experiences, with their promise of immediate gratification and lasting memories, ever more attractive.

In China, Gen Z’s preference for experiences over possessions takes on a unique character. Decreasing prices make material goods more accessible, thus freeing up disposable income for memorable experiences. Economic uncertainty and concerns about future prospects foster a “live for today” mentality, similar to their US peers’, encouraging the pursuit of immediate gratification through experiences.

This trend is further amplified by the rapid pace of technological change, which renders physical possessions quickly outdated. Additionally, as the Chinese middle class expands, experiences that showcase status and sophistication may become increasingly valued and seen as investments in personal development and social capital.

This complex interplay of economic forces and cultural shifts shapes a generation that finds greater meaning in experiences than in material accumulation.

This phenomenon reveals a nuanced reality for Gen Z. The prioritisation of experiences represents a complex interplay of psychological, social and economic factors. Gen Z’s quest for self-actualisation through shared experiences speaks to a deeper desire for connection, personal growth and meaning in an increasingly uncertain world.

However, the constant pressure to curate an enviable life online can lead to anxiety and feelings of inadequacy, potentially undermining the very happiness and fulfilment that experiences are meant to provide.

The pivot of younger Chinese generations towards an experience-driven consumer culture among its youth presents opportunities and challenges for the nation’s long-term economic health. While the shift towards valuing experiences reflects growing affluence and aligns with global trends, it also raises concerns about future domestic consumption patterns.

In contrast to some of their parents who espoused delayed gratification, many of China’s youth choose to live for today. China’s sustained prosperity hinges on its younger generation’s willingness and ability to make significant long-term investments in assets like housing, as well as its readiness to start and nurture families.

To realign China’s youth with the country’s sustained development, policymakers must focus on implementing comprehensive measures aimed at restoring business confidence, creating rewarding job opportunities, and bolstering healthcare and social security systems.

While the recent stimulus package has provided some relief for low-income families and the unemployed, it has not fundamentally addressed the underlying issues that affect young people’s long-term outlook. China needs to provide a foundation where its youth can feel confident enough to embrace both enriching experiences and the commitments necessary to pursue the Chinese dream.

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China’s ex-justice minister Tang Yijun faces corruption charges and is expelled from party

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3281544/chinas-ex-justice-minister-tang-yijun-faces-corruption-charges-and-expelled-party?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top anti-corruption agency said on Monday that former justice minister Tang Yijun would be indicted on charges of corruption and misconduct after being investigated for taking bribes and abuse of power.

Tang is accused of helping family members secure financial deals and accepting lavish gifts and travel expenses, in violation of the Communist Party’s code of conduct, according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI).

Tang, 63, allegedly sought to benefit others in personnel appointments by accepting bribes, used his position to help family members secure business contracts, and intervened in market activities and judicial matters, the CCDI said in a statement published on its website.

He “exhibited a poor family ethos, neglecting his spouse’s conduct, and showed no regard for legal principles, treating public power as a means for personal gain,” the CCDI said.

The CCDI said Tang has been stripped of his party membership and public office, and removed from his representative role at the 20th national congress, adding that his income and proceeds gained through violations of discipline would be confiscated.

A probe found that Tang accepted benefits while using his influence to manipulate market and judicial activities. The investigation revealed that he served as a conduit for others seeking to navigate corporate hurdles, such as business operations, company listings and regulatory approvals, while unlawfully accepting substantial amounts of money, according to the CCDI.

Tang had “lost his ideals and beliefs, deviating from his original mission and resisting organisational scrutiny”, the agency said.

Tang spent nearly four decades ascending the political ranks in Zhejiang province, where Chinese President Xi Jinping was provincial party secretary for five years from 2002.

In 2016, after spending five years out of the spotlight working in a local political advisory role, Tang was appointed mayor of Ningbo and became the city’s party secretary just three months later.

He was then promoted to deputy party secretary of Zhejiang in 2017. Five months later, he became an alternate member of the Central Committee, which includes hundreds of the party’s top officials.

That same year, Tang was transferred to northeast Liaoning province as deputy party chief and in 2018, he was appointed governor of Liaoning, a position he held for two years before becoming justice minister in April 2020.

However, his career stalled after failing to secure a position on the Central Committee during the party’s 20th national congress in October 2022. It is very rare for a key Chinese minister to be left out of the top decision-making body.

From January 2023, Tang served as chairman of the Jiangxi provincial political advisory body until he faced a corruption probe in April this year.

Previous justice ministers Fu Zhenghua and Wu Yingai have also been brought down by corruption charges.

Fu, previously one of the most influential police chiefs in China, faced accusations of being affiliated with a “political faction” led by former public security vice-minister Sun Lijun. In September 2022, he was sentenced to life in prison for accepting 117 million yuan (US$16 million) in bribes and for using his authority to shield his brother from prosecution.

Wu, who served as the justice minister from 2005 to 2017, was expelled from the party just four months after stepping down, when it was revealed that a high-ranking law enforcement official had been promoted through fake credentials.

China aid agency commits emergency medical supplies to Lebanon amid worsening conflict

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3281507/china-aid-agency-commits-emergency-medical-supplies-lebanon-amid-worsening-conflict?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing will provide emergency medical supplies to Lebanon, China’s official foreign aid agency said on Tuesday, as the increasingly intense exchange of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah exacerbates the humanitarian crisis.

Li Ming, spokesperson for the China International Development Cooperation Agency, said in a statement the aid would help Lebanon carry out medical assistance and was at the request of the Lebanese government.

The statement said explosions and air strikes had “occurred in many places in Lebanon, causing a large number of casualties” as the fighting escalated recently.

A year after the Hamas attacks on Israel that triggered the war in Gaza, the Israel-Hamas conflict has expanded to several countries in the Middle East where there has been a major escalation.

Hezbollah has been launching air strikes against Israel since October last year to show solidarity with Hamas. The exchange of strikes between the two sides has ratcheted up more recently.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military said it had killed Suhail Hussein Husseini, the logistics commander of Hezbollah’s Beirut Headquarters. Hezbollah has yet to comment, but if his death is verified it would add to the series of targeted killings by Israel of top figures from Hezbollah and its ally Hamas.

Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said Husseini had played “a crucial role in weapon transfers between Iran and Hezbollah and was responsible for distributing the advanced weaponry among Hezbollah’s units” in a “precise, intelligence-based strike” in a part of Beirut.

Last week, Iran launched its biggest attacks on Israel, firing 200 ballistic missiles at Israeli targets, leaving Israel to mull its response.

Hezbollah initiated strikes on Haifa in northern Israel on Monday, leading Israel to contemplate broader military action in Lebanon. The development highlighted Lebanon as an increasing focal point of regional tension.

Also on Monday, Israel’s military continued its offensive on two fronts, launching a heavy bombardment in southern Lebanon and conducting a retaliatory strike against Hamas in southern Gaza. The IDF said an estimated 190 projectiles had been fired at Israel from Hezbollah forces in Lebanon on Monday.

The trading of fire has intensified the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon, with its public health ministry saying that conflict-related deaths have increased by more than 200 per cent to 1,699 between September 23 and October 3.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization said more than 77 on-duty health workers had been killed in Lebanon since the conflict began in October last year, and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said at least 96 primary healthcare centres and dispensaries, along with three hospitals, had been forced to shut down in Lebanon.

Last week, the Chinese government organised two rounds of evacuation for Chinese citizens living in Lebanon, allowing more than 200 Chinese and 10 foreign family members to leave Lebanon, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Late last month, Beijing issued a travel caution for Lebanon, urging citizens to avoid travelling to the country, and for those already in the area to evacuate or move to a safer region as soon as possible.

Calling the security situation in Lebanon “currently severe”, the Chinese Embassy in Lebanon said in a statement that Chinese citizens should closely watch local developments.

China scientists develop space battery that can run on Mars’ atmosphere: paper

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3281325/china-scientists-develop-space-battery-can-run-mars-atmosphere-paper?utm_source=rss_feed

Scientists in China say they have developed a lightweight, rechargeable battery for Mars exploration that could be powered by the Martian atmosphere while withstanding the planet’s extreme temperatures.

The researchers, from the University of Science and Technology of China, said the battery was capable of “direct inhalation of the Mars atmosphere as fuel” during discharge and secondary charging by external solar and nuclear energy sources.

According to the paper published by peer-reviewed journal Science Bulletin, the battery can run for more than 1,350 hours – nearly two Martian months – at zero degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit). A day on Mars is around 40 minutes longer than on Earth.

The researchers said they designed the battery so it could operate under the extreme temperature changes on Mars, where day and night can vary by up to 60 degrees.

“We have developed [the] battery for space exploration powered directly by the Mars atmosphere and evaluated the wide-temperature electrochemical performance to suit the serious temperature fluctuations on Mars,” they wrote.

“The development of Mars batteries aims to benchmark the monopolisation of secondary [lithium-ion batteries] carried in exploration devices from the 1997 American Sojourner rover to the 2021 Chinese Zhurong rover.”

Study author Xiao Xu, a postdoctoral researcher at the university in Hefei, Anhui province, southeast China, said the battery operated like a fuel cell, which converts the chemical reactions of an energy source into electricity.

“Just as a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell uses hydrogen as its fuel to generate energy, the Mars battery takes gases like carbon dioxide, oxygen and carbon monoxide from the Martian atmosphere as its ‘fuel’,” she said.

“The battery produces electrical energy on site using local resources through electrochemical or chemical reactions. This means there is no need to transport fuel to Mars, greatly reducing the weight of the battery.”

When asked about the fate of Zhurong – the Chinese solar-powered rover that is in hibernation on Mars after dust build-up limited the amount of sunlight it could receive – Xiao said solar panels would not be the only way to recharge the new battery.

“Dust build-up on solar panels may not necessarily become a limiting factor for the performance of the Mars battery,” she said.

According to the team, rovers and other exploration equipment on Mars are mainly powered by portable lithium-ion batteries as well as large-scale solar panels and nuclear batteries.

“Rechargeable [lithium-ion batteries] have been applied in almost all Mars rovers and even the first Mars helicopters, which are used in combination with nuclear batteries [for US rovers] Perseverance and Curiosity, or solar panels – for example, Zhurong,” they said.

According to Xiao, exploratory rovers on the red planet will continue to depend on multiple energy sources for their power systems. “The Mars battery does not replace any source – it aims to provide an additional option for power supply.”

Xiao said the team hoped to build on the proof-of-concept study and further develop solid-state Mars batteries, addressing the issue of electrolyte volatilisation at low pressures and supporting thermal and barometric management systems.

The work laid a foundation for complementary multi-energy systems for future space exploration, she said.

Kamala Harris adds little detail to her China policy in 60 Minutes interview

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3281470/kamala-harris-adds-little-detail-her-china-policy-60-minutes-interview?utm_source=rss_feed

US Vice-President Kamala Harris refrained from discussing her China policy in a rare solo network interview for the CBS programme “60 Minutes” that aired on Monday night, instead focusing on Ukraine and Israel.

Harris rejected the option of opening direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on ending the Ukraine war and was non-committal on including Ukraine in a possible expansion of Nato.

“Ukraine must have a say in the future of Ukraine. [As for Nato], we will deal with if and when it arrives at that point,” Harris said.

“Right now, we are supporting Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia’s unprovoked aggression,” she added, claiming that Putin “would be sitting in Kyiv right now” if former president Donald Trump was in the White House.

The Democratic candidate also refused to directly answer whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “a real close [US] ally”.

“I think, with all due respect, the better question is ‘do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people?’ And the answer to that question is yes.”

The interview notably did not touch on China-related topics, with CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker mentioning only that Harris said she was “determined that the US must win the economic competition with China for the 21st century”.

The wording is similar to the vice-president’s remarks when she accepted the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination in August. In a brief mention of China, Harris said she would work to ensure that the US, not China, “wins the competition for the 21st century.”

She repeated the phrase in her debate with Trump, the Republican candidate. In response to Trump’s claim that she intended to export US jobs to China, Harris accused him of “selling American chips to China to help them improve and modernise their military”.

Harris also noted during the debate that Trump had delivered many compliments about Chinese President Xi Jinping while he was in the White House.

Harris’ latest remarks add to the scant references to China during the Democratic presidential campaign. The vice-president has focused more on domestic issues such as abortion, immigration and rising costs for the middle class and said little about foreign policy.

Unlike President Joe Biden – who met Xi several times as Barack Obama’s vice-president before both became leaders of their respective countries – Harris only briefly spoke with the Chinese leader in November 2022 on the sidelines of the Apec summit in Bangkok.

Relations between Beijing and Washington were at a low point following then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, which prompted China to freeze lines of communication with the US.

At the time, Harris posted on Twitter that she had “greeted” Xi before the Apec leaders’ retreat and stressed the need to “maintain open lines of communication to responsibly manage the competition between our countries”.

Last year, on the eve of the Apec summit in San Francisco, she also underlined that US policy towards China was “not about decoupling, it is about de-risking”.

“It’s not about pulling out, but it is about ensuring that we are protecting American interests and that we are a leader in terms of the rules of the road, as opposed to following others’ rules,” Harris said.

Notably, neither candidate has yet spoken about Taiwan in any meaningful way, though Trump has said Taipei should “reimburse” Washington for its security spending there.

The Harris campaign has pushed for most of the Biden administration’s China policies to continue should she win election next month.

That is likely to mean maintaining the tariffs on Chinese imports initiated by Trump in 2018 as well as continuing significant support for the Chips and Science Act, signed by Biden in 2022.

The latter legislation has provided more than US$280 billion for domestic chip production and restricted Beijing’s access to cutting-edge semiconductors.

Trump was also invited to appear on the show’s election special, but cancelled his appearance.

The 60 Minutes programme is television’s longest-running prime time news show and traditionally features major-party candidates in the month before presidential elections.

CBS said Trump initially agreed to an interview but his campaign later backed out, demanding “an apology” from correspondent Lesley Stahl, who interviewed him in 2020.

On that occasion, Trump walked out of the interview halfway through, with the words: “[Joe Biden has] never been asked a question that’s hard.”

The Republican Party has also objected to potential fact-checking by CBS in the current election campaign, which the network says is standard practice for all its stories.

Malaysia eyes strengthened South China Sea defence with new naval base in Borneo

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3281496/malaysia-eyes-strengthened-south-china-sea-defence-new-naval-base-borneo?utm_source=rss_feed

A new naval base in Borneo will play a vital role in Malaysia’s ability to address growing threats in the contested South China Sea, experts say – despite the challenges posed by its ageing fleet.

The base in Bintulu, Sarawak will be strategically located just 80 nautical miles (148km) from the South Luconia Shoals – known as Beting Patinggi Ali to Malaysia. This area is claimed by Beijing as its southernmost territory but lies within Malaysia’s 200 nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.

In recent months, China has become increasingly aggressive in asserting its South China Sea claims, which overlap with those of Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Malaysia’s maritime defence, however, is hampered by a fleet that is largely past its prime. Half of the country’s 49 ships are operating beyond their serviceable lifespan, an issue that has been compounded by delays in the deliveries of new vessels.

In June, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim acknowledged that Malaysia struggles to effectively monitor its extensive maritime domain, after US allegations that the Southeast Asian nation had become a hub for sanction-busting Iranian oil shipments to China.

The new base at Bintulu would be important in boosting Malaysia’s naval capabilities, Thomas Daniel, a foreign policy and security specialist from the Institute Of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia research institute, told This Week in Asia.

“It is not just about the number of ships or … the huge operational strain on existing ships,” he said.

“Having more optimal basing facilities that reduce response times to key maritime zones is important both operationally and policy-wise.”

Malaysia’s navy currently operates from Sepanggar in Sabah, more than 215 nautical miles (398km) northeast of South Luconia Shoals.

Announced in November, the Bintulu base was selected for its strategic proximity to both the shoals and the Kasawari Gas Field. Defence Minister Mohamad Hasan stressed its significance, saying it would be “crucial to strengthen our country’s waters”.

“The growth of the country’s defence capabilities in northern Sarawak shows the government’s commitment to ensuring that the country’s coastal areas, waters, borders and airspace are always in a state of readiness,” he said at the time.

The naval facility, along with an accompanying air force base, is expected to be operational by 2030.

South China Sea tensions escalated on Friday, when Vietnam formally accused Chinese law enforcement personnel of assaulting 10 Vietnamese fishermen and seizing their catch near the contested Paracel Islands.

Meanwhile, fishermen near the Scarborough Shoal, close to the Philippines, have reported being “completely surrounded” by Chinese coastguard and militia vessels despite China’s annual four-month fishing moratorium coming to an end.

US experts have urged Malaysia to adopt a more assertive stance in defending its maritime rights, even as its trade ties with China become increasingly vital.

“Accommodating China is basically paying later with extra penalties, and frequently the penalty will come in the form of blood, sweat and tears,” warned Toshi Yoshihara, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank, who writes extensively on China’s military and maritime policy.

He said in June that these costs could manifest as economic repercussions, loss of territorial integrity, and heightened regional instability – all undermining Malaysia’s national interests and security.

Security specialist Thomas said that while “almost anything that a Southeast Asian claimant state does” could provoke a reaction from China, it would be a mistake for Malaysia to let this dictate its core interests in the South China Sea.

“If anything, having facilities that improve our response and patrol duration complements Malaysia’s long-standing approach of not stirring the pot in public but having firm positions on our core interests,” he said.

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Mainland Chinese conglomerate-owned health product chain to close all 19 Hong Kong stores

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3281497/mainland-chinese-conglomerate-owned-health-product-chain-close-all-19-hong-kong-stores?utm_source=rss_feed

A health product chain under state-owned company China Resources Group will close all 19 of its Hong Kong branches due to “external uncertainties and various operational challenges”.

CRCare wrote on social media on Tuesday that it would shut all stores in the city on November 8, urging customers to redeem products or vouchers with reward points before that day.

The company also said it would stop accepting new reward scheme members or giving out points from Tuesday.

Local retail sales have shown no signs of rebounding in recent months, prompting many companies to close down branches, including Uselect, Pricerite and Tom Lee Music, among others.

According to the latest government statistics, Hong Kong’s retail sales declined for a sixth straight month year on year in August, falling by 10.1 per cent to HK$29.2 billion (US$3.8 billion).

Authorities have attributed the retail scene’s performance to increasing outbound holiday travel, a relatively strong Hong Kong dollar and changing consumer habits, such as residents opting for cheaper goods and services across the border.

An interim report released by China Resources Pharmaceutical Group Limited in late August stated it operated 760 retail pharmacies in Hong Kong and mainland China under its CRCare and Teck Soon Hong brands, down from 809 last year.

The organisation, a subsidiary of China Resources Group, recorded a total revenue of 128 billion yuan for a six-month period ending on June 30 of this year, a 4.7 per cent increase from the same period last year.

In terms of pharmaceutical retail, which accounted for 3.9 per cent of the revenue, an uptick of 9.3 per cent year on year was recorded, bringing in 4 billion yuan.

China boy, 4, has finger amputated after dad takes him to foot spa for nail infection

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3280549/china-boy-4-has-finger-amputated-after-dad-takes-him-foot-spa-nail-infection?utm_source=rss_feed

A four-year-old boy in China had to have his finger amputated after his father took him to a foot massage shop to treat a fungal infection in his nail.

The boy, surnamed Lin, was taken by his father to the Luozhendong Foot Massage Parlour in southwestern China’s Chongqing Municipality, to treat an infection in his left index finger nail in July 2023, China Consumer News reported on September 26.

The shop claimed that it had a medicine called “nail removing cream”, which they said could work wonders for the boy’s problem.

They applied the cream on the boy’s infected finger nail, and bound it up with elastic bandage. The treatment cost 600 yuan (US$86).

Two days later, the father found his son’s finger had atrophied and turned black. He rushed him to the hospital, where doctors diagnosed gangrene.

The doctor said Lin’s left index finger tip had to be amputated to avoid further infections.

The boy was graded to have a 10th-class handicap.

His father demanded more than 200,000-yuan (US$29,000) in compensation from the shop, which rejected his claim thinking it was too much.

The father reported the matter to the local district consumer council in February.

The council discovered the “nail removing cream” was not properly licensed. It also only had sterilisation properties and was not able to cure anything.

The council also discovered the shop’s name was different from that on their business license.

It held the shop responsible for the boy’s handicap, and urged it to suspend its business, and give the boy’s family 160,000 yuan (US$23,000).

The local government reminded consumers to seek hospital treatment for health conditions.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) holds that the foot is the body’s root. As a result, many believe a foot bath and foot massage can be an effective solution to fatigue and minor illness.

Some foot massage shops have been punished for advertising TCM treatments without a license.

In May, a court in eastern China’s Zhejiang province was reported by Jiancha Daily Newspaper to have prosecuted 16 people, who scammed three million yuan (US$428,000) out of more than 10 visitors to their foot massage shop.

They sold the victims a massage cream they claimed to have a secret TCM recipe that could cure all kinds of illness in 2022.

On social media, some also said Lin’s father had been irresponsible.

“What an irresponsible father, taking his son to a foot massage shop instead of a hospital to treat his disease,” one person said on Douyin.

Indonesia bans Temu over fears Chinese shopping giant will ‘destroy’ local SMEs

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3281503/indonesia-bans-temu-over-fears-chinese-shopping-giant-will-destroy-local-smes?utm_source=rss_feed

Indonesia has banned Chinese online marketplace giant Temu to protect its micro, small and medium-sized enterprises from getting “destroyed” and prevent cheap products from flooding the country.

Temu, owned by PDD Holdings, directly connects factories in China with consumers in more than 50 countries, such as Malaysia, Thailand and the United States.

Indonesian authorities have said the platform’s business model eliminates local stakeholders like resellers and shippers in the supply chain, allowing overseas companies to keep prices low that could squeeze small traders in Indonesia.

“No, Temu cannot enter because it damages the economy, especially Indonesian micro, small and medium enterprises [SMEs]. We will not give it a chance,” Minister of Communications and Informatics Budi Arie Setiadi said last week.

Budi said Indonesia’s digital space needed to be filled with things that “make society more productive and profitable”.

“If it is detrimental, what’s the point? We will ban it. Our micro, small and medium enterprises will be destroyed if left unchecked.”

Fiki Satari, an adviser to Teten Masduki, the minister overseeing co-operatives and SMEs, said Temu’s previous applications to register the brand in Indonesia were rejected because a local firm had been using the name.

He also reiterated Budi’s concerns, saying allowing Temu to operate in Indonesia would harm domestic businesses.

In June, Teten said Temu posed a greater threat than TikTok Shop, the e-commerce arm of the popular short video app owned by Chinese technology giant ByteDance.

“What worries me is there’s another digital cross-border application, which I think will enter our market and be more disruptive than TikTok Shop,” news website Detik quoted the minister as saying.

More than 2 million Indonesians sold their wares on TikTok Shop before the government banned it last October for not complying with the law and safeguarding small enterprises.

TikTok overcame the restriction in February by completing a US$1.5 billion acquisition of Tokopedia, Indonesia’s second-biggest shopping platform, which is part of the GoTo group.

After finalising the deal, GoTo Chief Executive Officer Patrick Walujo told This Week in Asia that the company was committed to ensuring no predatory pricing, helping micro and small businesses get online for a share of digital spending, and developing local talent.

According to research firm Momentum Works, Indonesia accounted for US$52 billion in e-commerce transactions last year.

The ban in Indonesia is the latest in a string of setbacks for Temu, which has also faced a regulatory crackdown in the US.

Last month, the Biden administration announced rules to close a loophole that allowed Chinese companies like Temu to avoid tariffs by shipping goods valued under US$800 to the US.

The number of such cargoes has jumped from 140 million a decade ago to over 1 billion last year, according to the White House.

Temu had defended its operations, saying in a statement in September that its success was due to an “efficient business model that cuts out unnecessary middlemen, allowing us to pass savings directly to our customers”.

China ally Kiribati criticises Chinese ICBM test: ‘stop these acts to maintain world peace’

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3281467/china-ally-kiribati-criticises-chinese-icbm-test-stop-these-acts-maintain-world-peace?utm_source=rss_feed

The Pacific island nation of Kiribati has issued rare criticism of China over last month’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, saying the Pacific is not “isolated pockets of ocean” and it “does not welcome” Beijing’s action.

Kiribati, a Pacific Ocean neighbour of Hawaii with a vast exclusive economic zone of 3.6 million square km (1.4 million square miles) has developed close ties to Beijing in recent years, including hosting Chinese police.

China conducted a rare launch of an ICBM with a dummy warhead on September 25 that landed in the Pacific Ocean, which Beijing said was for weapons testing and training, and nations including Fiji, Australia and New Zealand have said was concerning.

Kiribati did not receive notice from China about the missile launch, the Kiribati President’s Office said in a statement on social media.

It was told by the Chinese embassy there was no need to alert Kiribati because the test was not meant to target any country in the Pacific, the statement added.

“Kiribati does not welcome China’s recent ICBM test,” the statement said. It also criticised other unnamed countries for past weapons tests.

“The high seas in the Pacific are not isolated pockets of oceans, they are part of our Blue Pacific Continent and are parts of Kiribati and therefore we appeal to all countries involved in weapon testing to stop these acts to maintain world peace and stability,” it added.

The 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum, while small in land size and population, have a vast combined maritime zone they refer to as the Blue Pacific Continent and decades ago declared the region a nuclear-free zone.

Strategic competition between China and the United States in the region has risen after Beijing struck a security pact with Solomon Islands in 2022.

Beijing, seeking to redevelop a disused US World War Two airfield in Kiribati, has become a major development partner to the atoll nation since it switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan in 2019.

Kiribati will hold a direct vote for president this month, where all four candidates are from incumbent Taneti Maamau’s Tobwaan Kiribati Party.

Opposition leader Tessie Lambourne has criticised Maamau’s closeness to China, and the absence of any opposition candidates for president. Kiribati held parliamentary elections in August.

The president’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

[Sport] Chinese stocks jump after Golden Week break

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Meet China ‘Spider-Woman’ who scales 108-metre cliff without safety gear

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3281172/meet-china-spider-woman-who-scales-108-metre-cliff-without-safety-gear?utm_source=rss_feed

A 43-year-old from the mainland, known as the “Chinese Spider-Woman”, has captivated onlookers with her remarkable ability to climb cliffs exceeding 100 metres in height without gloves or safety gear.

Luo Dengpin, hailing from Ziyun Miao and Buyei autonomous county in Guizhou province, southwestern China, is recognised as the world’s only female practitioner of the ancient Miao tradition of bare-handed rock climbing.

She skilfully ascends a 108-metre-high cliff - the equivalent of a 30-storey building - effortlessly navigating nearly vertical rock faces, earning her the nickname reminiscent of a famous cartoon superhero.

Her exceptional skill is rooted in the ancient Miao practice of cliff burials.

The Miao people, who traditionally inhabit remote and mountainous regions, believed that high-altitude burials allow the deceased to “look towards their ancestral homeland” in central China.

They also viewed boat-shaped coffins as symbols of hope for souls seeking to return home after death.

Practical reasons also played a role in these burials: interring the dead in cliffs preserved precious farmland and protected bodies from scavenging wildlife.

Over time, the Miao people have continued to hone their bare-handed climbing skills, a tradition passed down through generations.

Currently, however, Luo stands as the only female among the region’s “spider people”.

She began rock climbing at the age of 15, guided by her father.

Initially, her motivation stemmed from a desire to compete with boys and earn a living by collecting medicinal herbs and gathering bird droppings from swallows’ nests on cliffs, which served as fertiliser.

“They said this was only for boys, but I believe men and women are equal, so I learned. That is how my journey as a spider woman began,” Luo shared in a 2017 interview with the BBC.

“Before this area was developed, I climbed every day to collect swallows’ droppings. We would scale 108 metres. Foreigners were often frightened by our bare-handed climbing, but I grew accustomed to it. After doing it so many times, my hands became calloused,” she recounted in a recent interview with Shandong TV.

Mastering this technique requires not only physical strength but also significant skill; the challenging task of gathering medicinal herbs can take four to five hours.

Today, the collection of swallows’ droppings for fertiliser is no longer necessary, transforming her skills into a form of entertainment for tourists.

“Many visitors wanted to see how we gathered the herbs and paid us to demonstrate. My income isn’t high, but I take pride in being a spider woman,” Luo stated.

Luo once left her hometown in search of work but returned in 2000 to marry and start a family.

Her story has inspired many observers online in China.

“People in the past were truly capable of everything. Cliffs and steep mountains did not deter them from exploration,” remarked one commenter.

“Kudos to the brave spider woman. Women are just as capable as men, and true masters live among the people,” another added.

China’s top economic planner set to unveil a wide-ranging action plan

https://www.scmp.com/economy/policy/article/3281464/chinas-top-economic-planner-set-unveil-wide-ranging-action-plan?utm_source=rss_feed

This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by . Get faster notifications on the latest updates by .

China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), is holding a press conference on Tuesday morning.

NDRC chairman Zheng Shanjie, as well as deputy heads Liu Sushe, Zhao Chenxin, Li Chunlin and Zheng Bei, are expected to unveil a wide-ranging action plan.

Timed for the first workday after the weeklong “golden week” National Day holiday, the event follows the flurry of reforms unveiled at the end of last month.

– China’s recovery campaign continues as top planner joins stimulus surge

– How will unconventional tools unveiled by Beijing help support China’s stock markets?

– Foreign investors ‘seek shelter’ in undervalued Chinese assets, but scepticism remains

– How China’s 2024 stimulus compares with past packages, and what’s next

Chinese stocks soar as they catch up with Hong Kong after ‘golden week’ break

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3281465/chinese-stocks-soar-they-catch-hong-kong-after-golden-week-break?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese stocks soared as the market opened on Tuesday after a week-long holiday to catch up with the frenzy in Hong Kong, the world’s best-performing market this year.

The CSI 300 Index, which tracks the biggest mainland companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, opened 10.8 per cent higher, the biggest opening on record. The Shanghai Composite Index rallied 10.1 per cent while the Shenzhen Composite Index surged 12.9 per cent.

The Hang Seng rose 9.3 per cent to a 32-month high since China’s markets went on holiday on October 1. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index, which tracks 64 China-domiciled stocks including Alibaba Group Holding, Bilibili and Xpeng, had risen 10.9 per cent since the start of China’s national day holiday.

Beijing is now widely expected to keep the policy tonic going, as the country’s top economic planner National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is set to discuss a stimulus package and unveil a wide-ranging action plan in a key press conference on Tuesday morning.

Other key Asian markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 0.8 per cent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index eased 0.2 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi weakened 1 per cent.

Philippines moves to define sea routes, strengthening sovereignty against China

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3281438/philippines-moves-define-sea-routes-strengthening-sovereignty-against-china?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines is poised to approve a landmark law that designates specific sea and air routes for foreign vessels and aircraft within its archipelagic waters, directly challenging China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea.

The Philippine Archipelagic Sea Lanes (ASL) Act – and companion measure the Philippine Maritime Zones Act – were approved by Congress last month and are now just awaiting President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s signature, according to Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero.

The measures will then be submitted to the United Nations in line with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), which establishes the legal framework for nations’ maritime rights and responsibilities, Escudero told This Week in Asia.

He emphasised that the final version of the sea lanes bill does not impose penalties for violations or charge foreign vessels for using the routes. Enforcement will be handled by the Philippine coastguard, a civilian agency, “so as not to stoke feelings of war” and avoid escalating tensions with China, he said.

During a public hearing in February, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo described how the laws would strengthen Manila’s sovereign rights.

“By aligning the Maritime Zones Law, the ASL Law, the arbitral award, and Unclos, the Philippines would establish a stronger legal basis to defend and assert sovereign rights,” he said.

“This alignment would not only strengthen the country’s adherence to international law but also gain more support from the international community.”

The Philippines and China have long-standing competing claims in the South China Sea. A 2016 tribunal ruling in The Hague dismissed Beijing’s so-called nine-dash line as having no legal basis. But China has refused to accept the ruling, calling it “illegitimate”, which has led to numerous confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels.

The Philippines’ two new laws would work in tandem, according to maritime law and security expert Henry Bensurto Jnr, who took part in the 2016 arbitration.

The Maritime Zones Act delineates the country’s sea territory into five zones, with the innermost zone classified as “archipelagic waters”, said Bensurto, currently Manila’s ambassador to Turkey.

Only nation states composed of archipelagos like the Philippines or Indonesia can implement the concepts of “archipelagic waters” and “archipelagic sea lanes” under Unclos, he told This Week in Asia.

Without designated sea lanes, other nations could navigate freely and “exercise the right of way anywhere” within the Philippines’ archipelagic waters, which “creates an opportunity” for unregulated foreign activities in these waters, he said.

Chinese research vessels have previously exploited the lack of designated sea lanes to conduct surveys within the Philippines’ archipelagic waters while their transponders were turned off, Bensurto said. In April and May, for instance, the Chinese-flagged Shen Kuo was monitored by the Philippine military taking an “erratic track” and “loitering” suspiciously near northeastern Catanduanes island.

A reconnaissance plane of the Philippine Air Force photographed the vessel using “unidentified equipment, probably for scientific research or studies”, navy spokesman Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad said, adding that such “erratic behaviour” signalled the possibility of China conducting “maritime research, for whatever reason”.

The new ASL law aims to restrict such activities by confining foreign vessels and aircraft to designated archipelagic sea lanes.

The legislation specifies three initial ASLs, with the sitting Philippine president empowered to adjust this number. The first route traverses from the Philippine Sea through the Balintang Channel to the West Philippine Sea – Manila’s name for the parts of the South China Sea that it claims – while the other two paths begin in the Celebes Sea before also exiting into the West Philippine Sea.

The second ASL passes through the Sibutu Passage, Sulu Sea, Cuyo East Pass and Mindoro Strait. The third, meanwhile, traverses the Basilan Strait, Sulu Sea, Nasubata Channel and Balabac Strait.

The bill adheres to Unclos, allowing for the “right of innocent passage” for commercial vessels and warships, provided their transponders are activated. “Foreign nuclear-power ships and ships carrying inherently dangerous or noxious substances” are also allowed, but these have to “carry documents and observe precautionary measures”, according to the wording of the bill.

However, military exercises in archipelagic waters are prohibited unless covered by existing international defence agreements. Additionally, foreign marine research vessels are barred from conducting surveys “while exercising the right of archipelagic sea lanes passage”.

Three ASLs should be sufficient for now, said a government source who requested anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media, pointing out that Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, had submitted only three ASLs to the International Maritime Organization in 1996.

It remains unclear whether Marcos Jnr will sign the two bills into law before attending the Asean-China Summit in Laos, which begins on Thursday.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Daniel Espiritu confirmed on Friday last week that Marcos Jnr would “definitely” address China’s aggression in the West Philippine Sea during the meeting.

[Sport] Does China now have a permanent military base in Cambodia?

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China’s small but beautiful ‘little giants’ charged with punching above their weight

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3281352/chinas-small-beautiful-little-giants-charged-punching-above-their-weight?utm_source=rss_feed

In China’s eastern coastal city of Ningbo lies a little-known manufacturer that makes one of the world’s thinnest amorphous-nanocrystalline alloys, more commonly known as magnetic “liquid metals”.

The stand-out of the product line are soft, nano-sized magnetic materials that measure no thicker than 14 nanometres. To put that into perspective, a human hair is around 80,000nm wide.

The material has a range of diverse applications, including ultra-fast wireless charging of smartphones, powering heavy-lift drones and photovoltaic electricity generation.

The producer of the liquid metals, B Plus New Material Technology, has had the backing of the central government for years, receiving preferential loans, tax breaks and other help, since advanced new materials belong to the frontier technology and manufacturing realms prioritised by Beijing.

China is pinning high hopes on a swelling crop of privately-run, small but smart “little giants” like B Plus amid an all-out drive to move up the value chain, revitalise its sagging private economy and spur technological breakthroughs to win a full-blown tech war with the United States.

Amid the oft-mentioned pledge to ramp up support, more so-called little giants are being identified, roped in and nurtured.

Compared with “too big to fail” private enterprises, the little giant industrial champions enjoy a niche, and often, indispensable position in the global supply chain for certain specialised products.

“Private sector minnows now look like big fish since little giants assume outsized roles for the economy and tech breakthroughs. What Beijing wants now are these small but beautiful players,” said Zhu Tian, a professor of economics at Shanghai-based China Europe International Business School.

The focus on private sector little giants and industrial champions marks a shift from Beijing’s old playbook of marshalling the state sector and a few private leviathans to drive growth and a tech upgrade.

China’s ambitious “Made in China 2025” industrial policy unveiled about a decade ago to entrench its manufacturing lead and prowess is primarily undertaken by state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

The slew of programmes for tech indigenisation, ranging from home-grown commercial aircraft to advanced chips, semiconductors and artificial intelligence, also centre around state capital and a few leading tech conglomerates.

But it has not been until the recent years since the pandemic that micro-private enterprises, as well as tech and advanced manufacturing-focused small firms, have been thrust into the focus of support from authorities.

During an inspection tour in Ningbo in March 2020, President Xi Jinping spotlighted the new breed of vibrant small players that command a competitive edge in research and development (R&D), as well as market share, hailing their energy, perseverance and desire for innovation.

“By identifying and enlisting little giants and industrial champions, Beijing aims to give new impetus to the tech self-sufficiency drive while supporting the private economy,” said a Peking University scholar, who asked not to be identified as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

“Those standing to benefit are hi-tech ones, not the ones in obsolete, labour-intensive industries. Beijing sees its selection and preferential treatment as conducive to helping the private sector upgrade.”

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has, over the years, selected 12,000 little giants nationwide, whose business concentrates on new and critical materials, chip and semiconductor components, new energy and battery ingredients, pharmaceuticals and life sciences, among others.

To qualify, a company needs to achieve compound annual revenue growth of no less than 5 per cent.

Other thresholds include the number of patents awarded, domestic and overseas market shares, R&D expenditure as well as whether their products are advanced enough to replace imported equivalents.

As long as they can show strength and know-how in realms deemed as important, officially recognised little giants are assured of all-around support from central and local authorities covering funding, taxation and favourable talent acquisition policies.

In September, MIIT gazetted the sixth batch of more than 3,000 new little giants, mostly clustering in eastern economic powerhouse provinces like Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong, with Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou and Ningbo the five cities boasting the most of the new cohort.

Companies falling under the unicorn and gazelle classification are also expected to assume leading roles.

In May, China’s dwindling flock of new unicorns – start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion – caught Xi’s eye.

The president reportedly ordered a domestic capital boost, including “patient capital” – funds backed by state agencies and are oriented towards the longer term with greater risk tolerance – to quicken their rise.

Beijing is also looking to grow its gazelle stock – start-ups valued at more than US$100 million – with a Politburo meeting in July underscoring the need for more.

But while state nurturing is welcome, some little giants prefer to continue to stay small and remain under the radar to maintain their access to Western tech while avoiding being swept up by geopolitics.

“We don’t want to be another Huawei or ZTE targeted by Washington. We want to remain small and lesser known,” said a sales manager with a company in Suzhou that makes high-precision laser products.

Huawei Technologies and ZTE have become a lightning rod in recent years for bans, investigations and sanctions from the US and its allies following their meteoric rise to global prominence.

An official with the industry and information technology bureau in Kunshan, a county-level city in Suzhou, also revealed a number of small and medium-sized enterprises who qualified for MIIT recognition chose not to be shortlisted “for the sake of keeping their business ties with Taiwan and US companies intact”.

“Once you are recognised, you are made public and your Western buyers and partners may frown upon this given the geopolitical complexities,” added the Suzhou-based sales manager, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The Peking University scholar also suggested that Beijing should not make some little giant classifications public so that they could still rely on tech and talent inextricably sourced from the US, while also averting possible blowback from the West.

“Washington will not be lenient simply because little giants are private firms. The assumption is that with state backing, their ownership nature is blurred,” he added.

“Beijing should be careful when publicising detailed information about little giants.”

But there are others who could hold on to their access, highlighted by Hengli Hydraulics, a little giant in Changzhou in Jiangsu province.

At an investor conference in August, Hengli executives touted “special channels” to bypass Japan’s export controls on high-end machinery to continue to source devices, according to minutes of the meeting seen by the Post.

Hengli has also retained experienced Japanese technicians who “bring valuable experience and technology to product R&D”, the minutes showed.

But Hengli has still vowed to dovetail with national tech strategies and poach more business from Japanese and Taiwanese rivals.

Beijing’s wealth of support for little giants, though, cannot gloss over some fundamental questions, analysts said.

“With the support on offer, will the state have shares or more control? Will state capital take over patents and intellectual properties from the private sector? Will little giants only operate at the behest of the state?” asked David Zweig, a professor emeritus in the Division of Social Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

“Concerns must be addressed, or the spectre of state advancing and private sector retreating will return to haunt the Chinese economy and private entrepreneurs and Washington will have more reasons to clamp down on Chinese tech enterprises, regardless of their ownership nature.”

Qu Ke, a senior tech analyst at CCB International in Hong Kong, said ingenuity, autonomy, nimbleness and entrepreneurship represented the main attributes of little giants and industrial champions.

“They out-innovate SOEs and Western competitors with these traits. When the state discovers them, cultivates them and tries to recruit them for national strategies, the key is to preserve and uphold their autonomy and traits, their innovative DNA,” Qu said.

“Many little giants may not lack funding or loans. The government, SOEs and state capital can do so much more than just injecting money.”

Some leading state-owned conglomerates are already not only pumping in capital, but are also spreading tentacles into little giants and gazelles to integrate them, having provided the breeding ground for them to prosper.

Shenzhen-based China Merchants Group (CMG), after spending 2.5 billion yuan (US$344 million) to nurture 60 gazelles since 2020, announced a plan in August to bring the firms into the group’s ecosystem and foster partnerships between the start-ups and its subsidiaries.

Some start-up founders welcomed the move, according to the group, seeing it as an opportunity to integrate into CMG’s wide industrial and supply chains for private-state sector collaboration.

A common move would involve the transfer of new tech developed by gazelles to CMG’s logistics, retail and banking companies for trial and commercialisation.

“As one of the biggest SOEs, we are duty-bound to implement national strategies,” said CMG deputy general manager Deng Renjie at a business matching event in August.

“It also makes economic sense to form synergy between gazelles we have groomed and the many companies under the CMG umbrella. The key is to respect both sides’ independence and autonomy.”