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• Will these be the building blocks of China’s base on the moon?
• Chinese researchers put data link hardware to the doomsday test: paper
• China’s regulators chime in on charm offensive to maintain market momentum as growth stalls
• China’s 35 million ‘leftover men’ spark foreign brides idea to tackle gender imbalance
• China plans to send crewed submersible to bottom of Arctic seabed
• China can cut taxes to spur spending on the road to economic recovery, ex-central bank official says
• ‘Confident’ China should relax grip on cultural, information exchange: academic
• China thief rows boat at dawn to steal US$70,000 from company he targeted for a year
• China produces world’s most powerful hydraulic cylinder for marine pile driving
• As China’s navy docks in Bangladesh, India watches with ‘growing concern’
• International airlines cut China flights over Russian airspace ban, economic concerns
• Green and digital economies to feature in Version 3.0 of China-Asean free-trade agreement
• The teething troubles of turning China’s kindergartens into homes for the aged
• China man, 29, with 4 PhDs and several master’s degrees probed for dubious credentials

Will these be the building blocks of China’s base on the moon?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3283107/will-these-be-building-blocks-chinas-base-moon?utm_source=rss_feed

China has unveiled materials for the construction of a future lunar base that could be sourced directly from the moon and more durable than conventional concrete bricks.

In a report on Saturday, state broadcaster CCTV said the interlocking blocks, which appeared to be black and resembled basalt found on the lunar surface, each weighed about half a kilogram (1 pound).

When two blocks are connected, they form a square 3cm (1.2 inches) high and 10cm deep.

The building blocks were developed by the National Centre for Technology Innovation in Digital Construction at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

The centre was established in 2022 and has been researching ways to build on the moon.

“These bricks are created by simulating the composition of real lunar soil, followed by a sintering process,” Zhou Cheng, a professor with the centre, said in the report.

“The compressive strength of these ‘lunar regolith bricks’ is over three times that of ordinary bricks and concrete blocks, capable of withstanding over a tonne per square centimetre.”

The blocks interlock in a mortise and tenon design so they can be assembled for a lunar base without nails or glue.

According to the report, the researchers were able to make the blocks using simulated lunar soil alone, suggesting that structures could be built on the moon from in-situ dust and solar energy, minimising the need to bring building parts from Earth.

The soil was sintered into the shape through hot pressing.

“Engineers weigh the simulated lunar soil, place it in a mould, apply uniform pressure, and then heat it in a vacuum hot press at temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius [1,832 Fahrenheit],” Zhou said.

In coming months, these bricks will be transported to the Chinese space station aboard the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft to undergo exposure experiments in space. This journey will test their key performances in mechanics, thermodynamics, and radiation resistance.

The tests are crucial to understanding whether the materials can withstand the extreme temperature variations on the lunar surface, cosmic radiation, and impacts from micro-meteorites.

With temperatures exceeding 180 degrees Celsius during the day and dropping to minus 190 degrees Celsius at night, the blocks will have to show strong thermal insulation properties.

The absence of an atmosphere on the moon also means the materials will be exposed more to cosmic radiation and hits from micro-meteorites, along with high-frequency lunar quakes. Researchers will assess whether the mechanical properties of the blocks deteriorate under such conditions.

The team will send up a range of blocks, of varying design, composition and manufacture for testing.

“These five different compositions include simulations of the soil found in the mare region where Chang’e-5 landed and the highlands where Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8 are set to land. The former primarily consists of basalt, while the latter is predominantly anorthosite,” Zhou said.

“The particle composition of soil in different locations and regions is different. We aim to understand the degradation patterns of these bricks under different moulding processes in the space station environment.”

The samples will head into space and be brought back to Earth for analysis in batches, with the first expected to return by the end of 2025.

China plans to launch the Chang’e-7 mission in 2026 to conduct environmental and resource surveys at the lunar south pole.

Two years later, the Chang’e-8 mission will form a basic scientific research station at the lunar south pole together with Chang’e-7.

By 2030, China plans to have a manned lunar landing. A fully functional international lunar scientific research station will be built by 2040 to conduct space environment detection and scientific experiments.

Chinese researchers put data link hardware to the doomsday test: paper

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3282854/chinese-researchers-put-data-link-hardware-doomsday-test-paper?utm_source=rss_feed

A rigorous test to examine the ability of nuclear-proof data link communications equipment to survive a nuclear attack has been completed in China, according to engineers involved in the project.

Equipment was pushed well beyond the limits of existing military standards in the test, they said.

News of the simulation exercise comes amid a growing fear of nuclear war. In March, the UN warned that the risk of nuclear war had reached its highest point in decades.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council – the US, China, France, Russia and Britain – which possess the most nuclear weapons, have all recently conducted tests of strategic intercontinental ballistic missiles.

China’s launch of a DF-31AG missile with 12,000km (7,450-mile) range last month drew global attention because it had not publicly demonstrated this ability for more than four decades.

Beijing has pledged not to be the first to use nuclear weapons. This means China’s retaliating forces need to survive the first wave of any attack.

So engineers envisioned the scenario they believe is most likely to happen: a nuclear bomb detonating in the stratosphere, dozens of kilometres above the ground.

This attack method, known as high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP), poses no harm to people on the ground or buildings, but it can wreak havoc on electronic equipment.

The high-energy electrons generated by the nuclear explosion can infiltrate communications shelters through antennas, cables and even ventilation ducts, causing extensive damage to wires, chips and other electronic components.

While both American and Chinese military standards require HEMP-proof communications equipment to withstand an electric field as strong as 50 kilovolts per metre, Chinese engineers raised the intensity by 60 per cent to 80 kilovolts per metre during the field test to simulate the electromagnetic pulse produced by a nuclear blast.

Despite the increased severity, the equipment remained unscathed, and the data link network quickly recovered after a brief interruption.

Due to national security concerns, China has been tight-lipped about similar tests in the past.

The data link hardware was reinforced by engineers with the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), which is the main supplier of electronic warfare equipment for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

A military representative from the PLA Air Force equipment department witnessed the test. The date of the test remains classified.

In a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese academic journal Wireless Communication Technology in September, project engineer Li Zhirui and his colleagues wrote: “When gamma rays released during a nuclear explosion collide with air molecules at the speed of light, electrons in the air molecules are ejected and rapidly diffuse outwards.

“The use of such weapons by the enemy can cause extensive damage and paralysis of our electronic equipment. Therefore, studying the mechanism and protective measures against high-altitude electromagnetic pulses is crucial for enhancing the survivability of our equipment.”

The Chinese engineers have taken a number of measures to harden the data link, which plays a critical role in modern warfare.

Antennas, for instance, are designed to receive extremely weak signals. But when an electromagnetic pulse arrives, it couples with the antenna, generating a powerful induced current.

To mitigate this, Li and his colleagues modified the design of traditional antennas to direct most of the excess current into the ground, ensuring their safety even when the current intensity reaches 50 times the theoretically predicted maximum value.

What troubled them even more was “back-door intrusion” where electromagnetic pulses enter equipment cabins through gaps and holes in equipment shells, power lines, cables and chassis.

Thanks to new materials, advanced manufacturing processes and innovative designs, engineers have been able to seal these potential back doors.

The paper said that the realisation of these measures, such as special welding techniques, was a testament to China’s manufacturing and engineering capabilities.

China’s regulators chime in on charm offensive to maintain market momentum as growth stalls

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3283119/chinas-regulators-chime-charm-offensive-maintain-market-momentum-growth-stalls?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s securities regulator is going on a charm offensive to avoid the stalling in what had been the world’s biggest stock market rally of 2024, after a slower third-quarter growth pace pushed the economy further from its annual growth target of around 5 per cent.

Wu Qing, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), solicited feedback from financial specialists and media representatives during the annual Financial Street Forum, according to a readout on the watchdog agency’s website on Sunday.

Financial-market reform “is a defining characteristic of China’s modernisation, and foreign investors are an important participant and builder of China’s capital markets,” Wu said during the forum on Friday. The CSRC welcomes “voices from the market,” financial experts, scholars and the media to supervise the regulator’s work, according to the readout on Sunday.

The CRSC will deepen the connectivity between domestic and international markets, expand the channels for overseas listings, and encourage more foreign institutions to invest and operate in China, he said.

China’s benchmark stock index has risen by almost 22 per cent since the government unleashed a barrage of policy “bazookas” in late September to inject some much-needed vitality into the stalling economy. Among the measures was a swap facility for brokers, fund managers and insurers to buy stocks, and a 300-billion yuan relending facility for banks to buy the shares of publicly traded companies.

Participants of the capital markets, where the CSI 300 index had soared by as much as 20 per cent within six trading days after the new policies, should “cherish” the momentum and push for further reforms, the CSRC said.

Forum attendees responded with many suggestions: enhancing the inclusiveness and adaptability of China’s market regulations, facilitating more initial public offerings and mergers by tech companies of good quality, and attracting more long-term investments, CSRC said.

Other Chinese officials chimed in, echoing their commitment to China’s market reforms to bolster investors’ sentiment.

Li Yunze, the minister of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, urged financial institutions to support the economy. Banks should lend “discerningly, willingly, and courageously” to assume the “leading role” in offering financial support to businesses and individuals, he said.

Li’s comment followed the announcement last week of an expanded “white list” of housing projects that qualify for up to 4 trillion yuan (US$562.7 billion) in financing, up from 2.2 trillion yuan.

Financing options for the country’s debt-laden property developers will be improved, Li said, pledging to “lend to all those who are qualified … as early as possible” to stabilise the housing market.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC), whose so-called “three red lines” of lending curbs of August 2020 triggered the property industry’s downward spiral, said the central bank could consider cutting the reserve requirement ratio of commercial banks by half a percentage point in the fourth quarter to inject more liquidity into the economy. The benchmark loan prime rate could be lowered by between 0.2 and 0.25 percentage points, the central bank’s governor Pan Gongsheng said.

The central bank will also set aside 800 billion yuan for the initial phase of the swap facility announced in late September, the PBOC said on Friday.

Major commercial lenders announced on Friday morning that they would cut deposit rates for a second time this year, in another bid to ease the pressure on profit margins.

China’s 35 million ‘leftover men’ spark foreign brides idea to tackle gender imbalance

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3282574/chinas-35-million-leftover-men-spark-foreign-brides-idea-tackle-gender-imbalance?utm_source=rss_feed

A controversial suggestion by a professor from a prestigious university in China to promote international marriages as a solution for the 35 million so-called leftover men in the country has sparked debate and outrage online.

The demographic challenge stems from decades of the one-child policy, which skewed gender ratios and led to a surplus of 34.9 million men over women, according to China’s Seventh National Population Census in 2020.

A report earlier this year from Institute for China Rural Studies at Central China Normal University detailed the increasing difficulties faced by rural young men in finding spouses over the past decade.

The report identified high bride prices and a declining recognition of traditional marriage as primary reasons.

Ding Changfa, an associate professor from the School of Economics at Xiamen University has recommended facilitating international marriages and the importation of foreign brides.

He suggested men in China could consider marrying women from countries such as Russia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Pakistan, or look for spouses abroad.

“In rural China, we have approximately 34.9 million ‘leftover men’ who might face the marriage pressures of providing housing, cars, and bride price totaling between 500,000 to 600,000 yuan (US$70,000 to US$84,000).

“Last year, the average disposable income per capita in rural areas across China was just over 20,000 yuan (US$2,800). Solving this issue could involve attracting a significant number of eligible young women from overseas,” said Ding.

His remarks ignited an online backlash.

Many women argued that “importing” foreign brides was akin to human trafficking, while others raised concerns about potential language barriers leading to family conflicts.

However, many men supported the idea.

They believed that foreign brides have lower expectations as they do not demand houses, cars or high bride prices and are seen as hardworking and virtuous.

On online observer said: “Opening up international marriages is like letting Tesla enter the Chinese market. It stirred up competition, improved quality, and brought down prices for consumers.

“Similarly, international marriages allow foreign men and women to enter China’s open market and compete, each relying on their abilities and might increase the chances of marriage and boost birth rates.”

International marriages have already become common among men in China.

On Douyin, some professional matchmakers even started to offer China-Russia matchmaking services.

This taps into demographic disparities between the two countries. Russia has a surplus of women and China has a surplus of men.

Jingongzi, a finance influencer with more than 1.8 million followers on Douyin, said.

“Southeast Asia has maintained close ties with China since ancient times, and culturally, we share many similarities. For example, Vietnam still celebrates the Lunar New Year.

“Consequently, women from Southeast Asia don’t experience significant cultural shock when they come to China. Moreover, the local income in these countries is very low.

“Additionally, many Southeast Asian countries are actively promoting Mandarin to strengthen ties with us, which will eliminate communication barriers.”

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China plans to send crewed submersible to bottom of Arctic seabed

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3283103/china-plans-send-crewed-submersible-bottom-arctic-seabed?utm_source=rss_feed

China is planning to send a crewed submersible to explore the polar seabed as part of its growing ambitions in the Arctic Ocean.

The vessel has been designed to drop through a hole in the hull of the polar research vessel Tan Suo San Hao (Explorer Three), according to the developer, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s 704th Research Institute.

The developer said it had carried out a series of tests, including underwater docking and low-temperature operations, but has not disclosed many details of the vessel.

It said the country had previously been forced to rely on foreign technology but had now developed its own systems that “can be widely used in the future for polar scientific research, deep-sea oil and gas mineral resource exploration and production, seabed pipeline construction and maintenance [and] search and rescue operations”.

Polar research vessels are limited in what they can do by the presence of ice floes, so sending vessels underwater is a way round the problem, but the extreme conditions pose a considerable technological challenge.

So far only Russia has sent a crewed vessel onto the Arctic seabed – the 2007 Arktika mission – meaning China may become the second country to do so.

The institute also designed a set of equipment for the mother ship to support deep-sea research, including a 10,000-metre (32,800ft) winch system and a deployment and recovery system for the submersible.

Tan Suo San Hao was built in the southern city of Guangzhou with a core mission to use domestically made equipment for scientific exploration.

Work started in June last year and the vessel left the dock in April. It is expected to enter service and start sea trials next year.

China has described itself as a “near Arctic” power and is increasing its polar exploration fleets. It has built a number of icebreakers, the most recent of which – the Jidi – made its maiden voyage to the Arctic in August.

The country is also developing another icebreaker designed to handle ice that is more than 2 metres thick, Wu Gang, who designed the country’s first domestically produced icebreaker Xue Long 2, told state media last month.

The icebreaker will enable China to operate year-round in polar environments.

The United States has expressed concern about China’s growing Arctic presence and has been working to boost its own shipbuilding abilities.

The country’s coastguard is building a number of heavy icebreakers, and earlier this year the US, Canada and Finland announced a joint project to develop polar vessels, including icebreakers.

China can cut taxes to spur spending on the road to economic recovery, ex-central bank official says

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3283112/china-can-cut-taxes-spur-spending-road-economic-recovery-ex-central-bank-official-says?utm_source=rss_feed

China should raise the personal income tax floor and cut the tax rate for low-income groups to spur consumer spending and give the economy a lift, according to a former central bank official.

At a roundtable discussion on the weekend, Sheng Songcheng, former chief of the statistics department at the People’s Bank of China, said that with less tax to pay, consumers in these groups would have more money to spend on areas such as aged care.

“Consumption has improved, but is still unsatisfactory in terms of data,” said Sheng, now a professor with the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai.

“We should focus more on consumption and let it play a bigger role in driving economic growth.”

Sheng suggested that this could be achieved in part by increasing the minimum personal income tax threshold from 5,000 yuan (US$704) a month to 8,000 yuan. The increase would mean the government would lose out on just 30 billion yuan in tax income a year, or less than 0.2 per cent of the total – a “trivial amount”.

Cutting the income tax rate from 10 per cent to 5 per cent for earners of up to 200,000 yuan a year, and from 20 per cent to 15 per cent for people earning up to 350,000 yuan would only reduce tax income by an estimated 100 billion yuan, he added.

Sheng said consumption’s share of the Chinese economy was well below that of other countries at a similar stage of development.

“When per capita GDP was around US$10,000-15,000 in major countries like Britain, Germany, France, and Japan, consumption accounted for about 73 per cent [of the economy] on average,” he said.

“China is now in the same stage in terms of per capita GDP, but consumption is only about 55 per cent, 20 percentage points lower than those countries.”

He also called for the government to spend more on services and to earmark another 150 billion yuan to stimulate consumption in aged care, child care and housekeeping services.

“Consumer services account for just 52 per cent of household consumption, while the share in the United States is 65 per cent. There is big potential to develop,” he said

Beijing is looking to consumer spending as a major driver of China’s economic recovery, but sluggish overall economic growth, a tight job market and poor outlook for income growth have dragged on momentum.

In the July-September quarter, China reported its slowest economic growth in more than a year, with GDP growing by 4.6 per cent year on year in the period.

The country is also facing deflationary pressure, with the consumer price index staying below 1 per cent in recent months, indicating that domestic demand has yet to recover.

Both sets of data point to challenges for the country to achieve its 2024 growth target of “around 5 per cent”.

But there have been some signs of life, with retail sales, a major gauge of consumption, rising 0.39 per cent in September from August, the third-highest monthly figure this year, according to the official data.

‘Confident’ China should relax grip on cultural, information exchange: academic

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3282875/confident-china-should-relax-grip-cultural-information-exchange-academic?utm_source=rss_feed

China should cut red tape around international cultural exchanges and relax its internet controls to prevent the worsening of its information “decoupling” from the world, a leading academic said.

Wang Wen, dean and professor of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University, noted that China had become a target for criticism by Western countries as Beijing pursued a bigger say in the global narrative.

“China has solved the problems of hunger and poverty. Now it’s time to address the problem of being scolded,” he wrote in last week’s issue of Think Tank: Theory & Practice, the bimonthly journal published by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Nanjing University.

According to Wang, he has witnessed many awkward moments when Chinese scholars at overseas symposiums were asked “sensitive questions” on topics ranging from China’s leadership moves to human rights concerns in Xinjiang or Tibet.

Wang said he had attended events in more than 20 countries since China removed its pandemic curbs in 2022, and seen many scholars fail to properly address queries from overseas audiences.

Other subjects that Chinese academics find difficult to handle at these events include China’s battle against Covid-19, social governance, and cross-strait tensions with Taiwan, according to the article.

Wang suggested that these difficulties could arise because of insufficient language skills, limited knowledge of the matters raised, or that the speaker may “have some concerns”, which he did not specify.

Many Chinese scholars chose to resort to the “official narrative” to explain what was happening in the country to foreign peers, instead of providing their own perspectives as public intellectuals, he wrote.

“If American scholars only repeated the White House’s policy advocacy or remarks of the US president, [it would be impossible for] the US to take the leading position in the world’s narrative system for such a long time.”

China has tightened speech controls as it prioritises national security amid the rivalry with the US and its allies, creating a tense environment for people to speak freely especially on controversial and politically sensitive issues.

Meanwhile, at the third plenum – a key Communist Party conclave which concluded in July – the party’s elites agreed to “establish a more effective international communication system”, as well as expand cultural exchanges and cooperation to benefit China’s development.

In his article, Wang noted that Chinese academics went through lengthy scrutiny for approval from their employers to be interviewed by overseas media, go abroad for seminars, or receive visiting foreign peers.

The process “seriously hampers exchanges of views and opinions”, he wrote. “China should thoroughly simplify the approval procedures, get rid of the formalism and stop overstretching the concept of national security to facilitate international communication.”

Wang also turned his attention to the Great Firewall – China’s sophisticated internet censorship system – which he said had “semi-decoupled” Chinese academia from the world and led to slow progress in efforts to catch up in technology and social sciences.

China’s internet controls made it hard for researchers to use foreign search engines and access overseas websites. Instead, most had to rely on domestic search engines which were at least a decade behind more advanced systems, he wrote.

According to Wang, information decoupling threatens to be even more devastating for China in the age of artificial intelligence.

He argued that if Chinese content could not flow freely and merge into the databases used to feed AI models, Beijing’s narrative would be at a disadvantage in international communications.

Wang called for the gradual removal – region by region – of the Great Firewall, to stop the developing trend of “parallel worlds” from worsening as China gradually became more disconnected from the outside world.

He also suggested that China should expand its visa-free policy to visitors from more countries to improve people-to-people exchanges.

At present, foreign nationals from 54 countries – including the US, Canada, and Britain – are eligible for 72/144-hour visa-free entry if they have a valid onwards ticket to another country. There are also exemptions for cruise ship passengers.

China’s “strict disciplines, complicated procedures and prevalent formalism” were unnecessarily depressing international exchanges as well as other aspects of people’s lives, according to the article.

Wang said that during his visits to cities such as Paris, Berlin and Istanbul he had enjoyed the relaxed lifestyle, chatting with friends and reading newspapers over coffee. China should be similarly confident and loosen controls over cultural exchanges, he added.

In Wang’s own experience, he wrote that he usually enjoyed sharing information and taking part in the heated debates and brainstorming of overseas seminars. The talks were “straightforward”, he said. “No empty talks.”

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China thief rows boat at dawn to steal US$70,000 from company he targeted for a year

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3282599/china-thief-rows-boat-dawn-steal-us70000-company-he-targeted-year?utm_source=rss_feed

A meticulous thief in China rowed a boat to steal his former employer’s safe containing 500,000 yuan (US$70,000) after planning the heist for a year.

He was caught within 24 hours by the police in Hangzhou, in eastern China’s Zhejiang province, Zhejiang Legal News reported.

Officers received a property loss report from the company on October 1.

Their investigation hit an initial dead end because the company’s surveillance cameras had been sabotaged, and they could not see any suspects in roadside cameras.

Detectives then turned their attention to surveillance footage from the river bank next to the firm.

They soon discovered a suspicious man rowing a boat there the previous night.

Police also looked into current and former staff with the company because the thief seemed to be familiar with the company’s security system.

They nailed down a former employee surnamed Sheng, and caught him in his hometown in the eastern province of Jiangxi, six hours away from Hangzhou by car, less than 24 hours after they received the report.

It transpired that Sheng had been planning the crime for a year after he left the company.

He said he thought of driving other people’s car and disguising himself to escape from police investigation, but gave up the plans thinking they were not safe enough.

He noticed a sanitation boat parking ashore. He parked his car a few kilometres away from the company, walked to the boat and rowed it for three hours until reaching the company.

He sneaked into the room where backup keys were stored, cut off the surveillance cameras and stole the 50kg safe that contained 500,000 yuan from the accounting office.

Sheng admitted his crime after the police found the safe at the home of his relative.

He was caught before finding an electric welding torch he planned to use to open the safe.

Sheng faces a minimum of 10 years to life imprisonment.

“Planning for a year, caught in a day,” one person said on Douyin.

“It is not possible to steal anything in a city full of surveillance cameras,” said another.

“He should have used a submarine,” another person quipped.

In May, a thief in northeastern China’s Liaoning province stole a 50kg safe from a lottery retailer, then walked 3km pushing it before being caught.

It was so heavy that he had to rest multiple times along the way.

The police said it was “very easy” to identify him in surveillance footage.

China produces world’s most powerful hydraulic cylinder for marine pile driving

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3282949/china-produces-worlds-most-powerful-hydraulic-cylinder-marine-pile-driving?utm_source=rss_feed

China has added another important item to its technology self-reliance list: a massive cylinder for large pile-driving vessels engaged in marine infrastructure projects that has a maximum thrust of 5,000 tonnes – enough to push 1,000 adult African elephants – state media reported.

The cylinder, the first developed independently in China and the largest and most powerful of its type in the world, rolled off the assembly line in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, on Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

The development of the cylinder, which will be used to build the foundations of marine engineering projects, means China has “achieved domestic substitution of extra-large and extra-long cylinders and independent control of core technologies”, it said.

China, the world’s second-largest economy, is pursuing an all-encompassing strategy of increasing its maritime power that emphasises high-end equipment manufacturing as it seeks to switch to tech-driven growth.

Large pile-driving vessels play an essential role in building infrastructure that crosses rivers or seas and in the installation of deep-sea wind power facilities.

Measuring 28 metres (92 feet) in length and nearly 2 metres in diameter, the hydraulic cylinder is as tall as a 10-storey building, CCTV said.

Developed by state-owned giant China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), it has been designed to provide a strong “heart” for a 150-metre pile-driving vessel currently under construction, the Jiangsu-based Nanjing Morning Post reported.

Chinese manufacturers have traditionally lagged behind leading global companies in designing and making large hydraulic cylinders.

The country was previously “entirely reliant” on imports for critical components like sealing rings and corrosion-resistant material, and “mainly used foreign brands” when sourcing entire hydraulic cylinders, CCTV said.

The pile-driving vessel that would be fitted with the new cylinder is expected to be used by the end of this year during construction work for the Hangzhou Bay Cross-Sea Railway Bridge, which is set to be the world’s longest cross-sea high-speed railway bridge, it said.

Future applications of the technology, a result of teamwork by several leading companies in China’s new materials and smart manufacturing sectors, are anticipated in large offshore drilling platforms and wind power construction.

In July, an innovation consortium dedicated to marine engineering was established in Beijing. Its members include elite Chinese talent in the field, including professionals from CCCC, other major state-owned enterprises and large private companies, as well as universities with academic strengths such as Tsinghua University, according to a report by People’s Daily.

It would primarily focus on the construction and operation of marine transport infrastructure, offshore wind and solar energy construction, coastal bay protection and restoration, island reef engineering construction and ecological protection, and deep-sea pipeline installation, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspaper said.

As China’s navy docks in Bangladesh, India watches with ‘growing concern’

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3282971/chinas-navy-docks-bangladesh-india-watches-growing-concern?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese navy ships docked in Bangladesh last weekend, sending ripples through Indian Ocean geopolitics – and raising eyebrows in New Delhi.

The visit marked the first time foreign vessels had set anchor in the South Asian nation under its new interim government, which took power after the ousting of former leader Sheikh Hasina in August amid student-led protests.

China’s ambassador to Bangladesh, Yao Wen, emphasised that the port call showed relations would continue to grow regardless of recent political shifts.

Chinese naval training ship Qi Jiguang and amphibious dock landing ship Jinggangshan arrived in Chittagong on October 12 for what China’s defence ministry called a three-day goodwill visit.

The aim of the visit, which includes courtesy calls, was to deepen mutual understanding and strengthen cooperation with the Bangladesh Navy as part of efforts to build “a maritime community with a shared future”, the ministry said.

However, India views the visit “as part of a continuous Chinese build-up in Bangladesh”, said Frédéric Grare, a senior research fellow at the Australian National University’s National Security College.

“The visit marks a continuity, not a qualitative change in the nature of the relationship China intends to maintain with Dhaka,” he said. “Delhi should and is probably worried about the overall dynamic and uncomfortable with the present uncertainty.”

Grare said Beijing was eager to establish good relations with the new authorities in Dhaka, a move likely to be welcomed by the interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus.

China has stepped up its defence engagement with South Asian nations in recent months, said Viraj Solanki, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who specialises in regional defence, strategy and diplomacy.

This includes the construction of a submarine base in Bangladesh, commissioned in March last year, to house the country’s two Chinese Ming-class submarines.

“These facilities can also host Chinese research vessels, whose increasing presence in the Indian Ocean, particularly around the Maldives and Sri Lanka, is a growing concern for New Delhi,” Solanki said.

“This follows a trend of Beijing enhancing its defence and security cooperation with Dhaka,” Solanki said, adding that a Chinese naval ship had also docked in Colombo recently.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said the Chinese vessel – a triple-masted tall ship with 130 crew known as the Po Lang – was given permission to dock as it was classified as a “a training vessel and not a research craft”.

The Indian Ocean island nation earlier imposed a one-year ban on foreign research ships due to security concerns raised by India and the United States. The number of Chinese research vessels visiting Sri Lanka and the Maldives was “a growing concern for New Delhi”, Solanki said.

Bangladesh and China also held their first bilateral military training exercise this year. The Golden Friendship joint drills, held in May, were “based on United Nations peacekeeping anti-terrorism operations”, according to Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian, who said the exercises included “the rescue of hostages on buses and the clean-up of terrorist camps”.

In response to China’s increased naval activity, India has ramped up its own defence collaborations with neighbouring countries to “show itself as a reliable and effective partner”, Solanki said.

“This has increased focus on New Delhi enhancing maritime security cooperation,” he said.

Earlier this month, India and the Maldives issued a joint vision document to enhance maritime security cooperation, following talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu.

Additionally, India and Sri Lanka launched a Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in June – comprising centres in Hambantota and at the Sri Lanka Navy’s headquarters in Colombo – further solidifying their security partnership.

India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives also established the Colombo Security Conclave in 2020 to broaden their trilateral discussions on maritime cooperation, with Mauritius joining the grouping in 2022.

Bangladesh and China had signed several economic agreements just months before the political upheaval in Dhaka, said Pooja Bhatt, an associate professor at the Jindal School of International Affairs in India.

Beijing was no doubt keen to continue these engagements and revive its military ties with Bangladesh under its new interim government, she said.

Relations between India and Bangladesh hit an “all-time low” recently, according to Lailufar Yasmin, a professor of international relations at the University of Dhaka, who argues that the arrival of Chinese vessels should prompt Delhi to reassess its relationship with the new Bangladeshi government.

“India should start recognising the rationale behind the Bangladesh revolution instead of pointing fingers at external actors,” she said, referring to the recent political upheaval.

“It should also carefully consider the overwhelming support that the new regime of Bangladesh received worldwide, including in China … [and] should carefully recalibrate its relationship with Bangladesh 2.0.”

The fallout from Hasina’s ousting has strained ties between the two South Asian neighbours, amid allegations of human rights abuses such as extrajudicial killings and the mass detention of political opponents during her tenure.

She is believed to be living in India as a fugitive, with her extradition being sought by a tribunal, further complicating the bilateral relationship.

Chinese ambassador Yao’s description of Bangladesh as the “Pearl of the Bay of Bengal” highlights the country’s strategic significance in the intricate dance of power and influence that defines the region’s geopolitical landscape, Yasmin said.

“Domestic changes in Bangladesh do not necessarily diminish its strategic significance to the great powers. China’s naval diplomacy in Bangladesh is a testament to this,” she said.

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International airlines cut China flights over Russian airspace ban, economic concerns

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3282951/international-airlines-cut-china-flights-over-russian-airspace-ban-economic-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed

International airlines are scaling back China flights from this month because Chinese carriers have gained an edge by flying over Russia to reach Europe, with some analysts also saying business travel has thinned as China’s economic growth has slowed.

UK-based Virgin Atlantic plans to suspend its Shanghai-London Heathrow route after 25 years from Saturday, while British Airways will halt its Heathrow-Beijing Daxing flights on the same day, according to aviation analysts and industry media outlets.

The same sources say Sweden-based Scandinavian Airlines is set to fly its Copenhagen-Shanghai route for the last time on November 7, Qantas Airways of Australia has dropped its Sydney-Shanghai route and German carrier Lufthansa was considering last month whether to suspend its Frankfurt-Beijing route.

In the United States, Delta Air Lines has postponed plans to resume Shanghai-Los Angeles trips, Guangzhou-based aviation analyst Li Hanming said this month. A Delta spokesman said on Tuesday that the airline will resume the route in June.

Airlines traditionally make seasonal adjustments to their schedules every October and March.

The cutbacks have been partly attributed to competition from Chinese carriers, which can save two to three air hours and tens of thousands of US dollars per trip by cruising over Russian airspace that is banned to Western carriers due to the war in Ukraine.

“Chinese carriers, which use Russian airspace, offer lower fares and more choice of flights, especially from smaller Chinese cities which are not served by foreign carriers,” said Dennis Lau, consultancy services director with Hong Kong-based aviation services firm Asian Sky Group.

“US and European carriers can deploy their aircraft more effectively in other more profitable markets, such as transatlantic routes.”

Other competitors to Western airlines operating direct flights take passengers in and out of mainland China on cheaper flights with stopovers in places such as Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore, Lau added.

Some airlines, however, are undeterred. Delta, for example, said it was not planning to cut any China flights this year.

Last month, China-based Hainan Airlines launched weekly flights connecting Haikou, Hainan’s provincial capital, to Seattle via the southwestern Chinese industrial hub of Chongqing.

The airline expects passengers from China to use Seattle as a transit stop for other American cities, including Los Angeles and New York. The route marks “a step forward in helping people-to-people dialogue and commercial relations between the two countries”, Hainan Airlines said in a statement released in August.

There will be a total of 393 scheduled China-US direct flights this month, 27.3 per cent less than in October 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to data compiled by the British aviation data firm OAG.

China’s economic struggles are one of the carriers’ concerns, analysts said.

“Western airlines’ flights to and from China are very much a reflection of demand from business travel, so the softness in the Chinese economy and now this sustained slowdown in inward direct investment in China … haven’t gone away,” said David Bach, president of the International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland.

“There’s just less need or less demand for business leaders to travel to China frequently.”

China’s third-quarter gross domestic product growth slowed to 4.6 per cent from 4.7 per cent in the previous quarter, according to government data released on Friday.

China’s business travel market grew by 39.2 per cent last year and is expected to reach 2019 levels this year, the corporate travel arm of Trip.com Group said in August.

But six international chains with hotels in China reported year-on-year decreases in revenue per available room and average daily rates in the second quarter of this year. Wyndham, for example, saw revenue per available room fall 17 per cent and IHG Hotels & Resorts logged a 7 per cent decline.

“When you have reduced business travel, it’s going to hurt the airlines,” said Yan Liang, an economist at Willamette University in the US state of Oregon. “Businesses aren’t coming back to China any time soon.”

Green and digital economies to feature in Version 3.0 of China-Asean free-trade agreement

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3283026/green-and-digital-economies-feature-version-30-china-asean-free-trade-agreement?utm_source=rss_feed

China is set to sign up next year to an updated version of a bilateral free-trade agreement with Southeast Asian nations, consolidating its role in the region by enhancing trade, new energy cooperation and supply chain connectivity.

After a meeting on the sidelines of an Asean regional forum in Laos on October 10, China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations announced the “substantial conclusion” of Version 3.0 of their free-trade agreement, following nearly two years of negotiations.

The new agreement, expected to be formally signed next year, covers nine new areas, including the digital economy, green economy, supply chain connectivity, and customs facilitation.

It includes the integration of digital infrastructure and electronic payment systems, as well as trade and investment cooperation in green energy, and both sides will encourage their businesses to establish mutually applicable standards.

“We will give priority to standardisation cooperation in fields such as new energy vehicles and electronics,” China’s Ministry of Commerce said.

Beijing aims to strengthen supply chain connectivity with the 10-nation bloc to ensure the free flow of key products and jointly address disruptions.

Christopher Tang, a distinguished professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, said that because China’s direct trade with the United States has declined, and its trade with the European Union is “stagnant”, China needs to export more to Asean countries, which have a combined population of 672 million.

“China also wants to dethrone the US dollar as the international reserve currency and replace it with the Chinese yuan,” he said. “Increasing trade with Asean will help to increase the transactions conducted through the Chinese yuan.”

China views Southeast Asia as a backyard, despite disputes over territorial claims in the South China Sea with the Philippines and some other countries.

Major Chinese companies including electric vehicle maker BYD and battery maker CATL have set up or plan to establish factories in Southeast Asia, aiming for smoother, tariff-free access to US and European markets for products assembled outside China.

In Version 3.0 of the free-trade agreement, both sides have, for the first time, included sections on competition and consumer protection in their agreement and are planning to create a committee to enhance cooperation in those areas, aiming to foster a fair business environment for economic exchanges.

“This move is linked to concerns over China’s overcapacity expressed by Indonesia and Thailand,” Tang said, adding that it is a pre-emptive move to stop those concerns spreading to other Asean members.

Indonesia banned the Chinese cross-border e-commerce platform Temu this month, citing concerns that cheap imported products were harming local manufacturers.

In June, Thailand announced a tax on foreign products priced under 1,500 baht (US$45) to protect local businesses from inexpensive goods from China.

“Most Asean governments wish to explore economic opportunities with China, but they don’t want to become economically dependent or a dumping ground for Chinese goods, especially in ways that put undue pressure on their own industries,” said Chong Jia-Ian, an associate professor in political science at the National University of Singapore.

Chong said the maritime disputes in the South China Sea are unlikely to pose major challenges to relations right now, unless the Philippines – which has borne the heaviest impact – seeks concessions as the price of securing economic cooperation.

“Manila may do so at the risk of friction with other Asean members,” he said. “In this regard, some observers may also regard the FTA as a means by Beijing to isolate Manila and further split Asean.”

The teething troubles of turning China’s kindergartens into homes for the aged

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3283061/teething-troubles-turning-chinas-kindergartens-homes-aged?utm_source=rss_feed

In his 21 years of running kindergartens, Yu Bo has never had this much trouble filling places.

Previously, he did not even need to advertise. Parents crowded his office asking if they could pay a year in advance to reserve a spot. Sometimes women even came to him while pregnant.

At their business peak, he and his wife owned 11 kindergartens in Jining, in east China’s Shandong province, employed nearly 400 teachers and had more than 2,000 children on their books.

But starting in 2022, Yu noticed that the number of students started dropping.

The business had already struggled through the coronavirus outbreak as children remained at home, but even when restrictions were relaxed in 2022, the signups were not enough to fill all the classrooms. In one kindergarten, Yu only recruited one-third of previous years’ numbers.

“I’ve done some calculations. If I have fewer than 120 children in one kindergarten, that means I lose money,” he said.

The drop in enrolments at Yu’s kindergartens mirrors a broader national demographic crisis. According to official numbers, China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time in 60 years, with the country recording 9.56 million births and 10.41 million deaths. In 2023, the population fell for the second consecutive year by 2.08 million, with a record low birth rate of 6.39 births per 1,000 people, down from a rate of 6.77 in 2022.

In early 2023, after much consideration, Yu and his wife closed three kindergartens and started researching business alternatives. With over two decades behind them in the service sector, Yu knew they could not pivot to manufacturing or food processing.

But research pointed to potential in China’s ageing society, a trend that is widely seen as irreversible. Sensing this might be a huge market, Yu decided to get an early lead and test the waters in aged care activity centres. So far he has opened one and plans to add homes for the elderly to his portfolio.

But professionals in this line of business say even though the industry has been promoted by the government and China is clearly greying, the aged care sector – from residential to day care – is still in infancy, with no established models to follow, almost no official guidance and a lack of experience dealing with the needs of the elderly.

Kindergarten owner Zhuang Yanfang realised first-hand the difficulties of switching from serving the young to the old when she decided to set up a home for the elderly.

Before opening for business this month, Zhuang hired professionals to install safety equipment throughout the building, including handrails and convenient toilet seating in the bathrooms, as well as lifts, security cameras and emergency buttons. Classrooms were turned into bedrooms, yards were redecorated with wooden floors.

In a video Zhuang sent to the Post, the two-storey-tall Runnian Home has been repainted and decorated with plants. The old classrooms were turned into an activity room with mahjong tables, a nurse’s station, dining halls and a calligraphy corner. The yard in front of the building has been fitted out with timber floors and chairs, where residents can sit and enjoy afternoon tea.

Zhuang was one of the first people to open a kindergarten in Jinhua, Zhejiang province in the 1990s. After operating it for 25 years, she felt too attached to let go, but it was quite clear that the centre would not turn a profit in its existing form.

“During a business meeting, I learned that a district in the city only registered one newborn in the entire month of May in 2023, which shocked me,” she said.

She visited several senior homes in Zhejiang and neighbouring Shanghai this year and found many elderly were willing to move into high-end centres, because their own homes were not comfortable for older people or their children did not have time to take care of them.

Zhuang decided that managing an elderly home was similar to managing a kindergarten, in that staff needed to deliver services to meet people’s needs.

“For the children, we focused on abilities that help them develop, but for the elderly, we need to provide a quality life, so they can live happily,” she said.

Instead of sitting at home alone watching television, older people could choose to come to a seniors’ home to sing, to play chess or take calligraphy lessons, she said.

When Yu did his research, he realised that the biggest needs of older people related to health. He bought a slew of equipment, including acupuncture sets, sleep monitoring bracelets and two-way pagers. He also asked his teachers to go through training and become certified in elderly care.

For a fee, the elderly can come to his centre to have massages and other health-related activities, to eat at a community cafeteria, and to take part in group activities including singing contests and gymnastics class.

It is an idea that has government backing.

The central government has urged communities and individuals to provide more services to the elderly, a sector known as the “silver economy”. The State Council, China’s cabinet, has identified a greater need for people trained in elder care as well as more community centres and services for the elderly, including catering and housekeeping.

Shanghai’s education commission also said this month that it would work with the civil affairs bureau to evaluate kindergartens, residential communities as well as people’s needs to see what spaces can be used for the elderly.

In the capital Beijing, the government has committed to train a total of 25,000 professionals in elderly care by 2025.

But despite the government’s attention, people in the line of business say there is not enough policy support or a precedents to deliver these services.

Yu said when he talked to government officials, he found that there was no department in charge of overseeing the type of centre he planned to open. There was also no government funding or advice to support his business.

“The elderly often question us, too. They wonder whether we’ll get shut down after they paid their membership fee,” he said.

Beibei, a new graduate in elderly care, is also wondering about the financial future of the industry.

She said it was easy for students to find jobs in the industry but the pay was too low. As a salesperson at a senior home in Guangzhou, she earns about 3,000 yuan (US$421) a month, well below the city’s average of 13,193 yuan.

Previously, she was employed as a caretaker at another seniors’ home, a job that paid a little more but quite tiring, she said. She also had to deal with endless paperwork recording her interactions with the elderly, so that the centre could pass evaluations and receive more government funding.

In Zhejiang, Zhuang from Runnian Home, is gradually trying to improve her services with feedback, from whether to have soup for dinner, to what classes to add to the curriculum.

One of her priorities now is to add psychological counselling to the list of offerings for the elderly, to help address some of the clients’ emotional needs.

No matter how immature the industry is at the moment, one thing is for sure, as China’s society ages, the need for elderly care will only increase, according to He Yafu, an independent demographer.

Public-run facilities will not be able to meet all the demand, and those who care for elderly parents at home will have a heavy burden.

“More families are looking to society for support and resources when it comes to elderly care,” he said.

Yu is hopeful that – even without government funding or advice – his centre will come to fruition in the next two years to ease some of that social burden.

“We are ‘crossing the river by feeling the stones’ at the moment,” he said. “But I think our general direction is correct, so we can definitely hang in there.”

China man, 29, with 4 PhDs and several master’s degrees probed for dubious credentials

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3282554/china-man-29-4-phds-and-several-masters-degrees-probed-dubious-credentials?utm_source=rss_feed

A young Chinese man has astonished mainland social media with his remarkable academic accomplishments, which include two postdoctoral degrees, four PhDs, four master’s degrees, and more than 20 memberships in academic organisations.

Zhao Zijian, 29, sparked intense public debate after the Inner Mongolian National Culture and Art Research Institute announced his appointment as a researcher and shared his incredible academic credentials.

Zhao stated that he earned doctoral degrees in performing arts, psychology, education, and biblical studies. He specifically mentioned two institutions where he completed his doctoral studies: a “Catholic university” in South Korea and Lyceum of the Philippines University, a private school.

He also claimed to hold multiple master’s degrees in communications, Buddhist studies, and mindfulness studies from the University of Hong Kong, Baptist University, and both the University of Zaragoza and Miguel de Cervantes European University in Spain.

In addition to his degrees, Zhao has 22 memberships in various academic societies spanning diverse fields such as economics and medicine, and he has published 24 “high-level” academic articles, aggregating an impact factor of “28+” - a metric indicating how frequently the articles were cited in a given year.

Many people questioned Zhao’s academic credentials as being “against common sense”, since most PhDs typically take at least four years to complete.

The institute stated that it had suspended its collaboration with Zhao and launched an investigation into his academic qualifications.

On October 12, Yin Fujun, the head of the institute, informed China Newsweek that no “obvious counterfeiting” was found. He confirmed that all of Zhao’s four master’s degrees passed official verification from the Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE).

However, only one of Zhao’s PhDs had passed verification, while one was still in the process, and Yin mentioned that Zhao “did not plan to verify the other two”.

Yin noted that Zhao met their requirements for the researcher position and expressed regret for the trouble caused to him.

Zhao has not addressed the ongoing controversy.

Online commentators raised concerns about the legitimacy of his academic credentials.

It has come to light that some of his degrees were obtained online, and Miguel de Cervantes European University is not listed on the official verification roster.

The CSCSE had also designated the Lyceum of the Philippines University’s Batangas Campus, where Zhao’s psychology department operates, as one of the 13 lower-ranked overseas institutions that require rigorous verification as of July this year.

Many of the 22 academic memberships he claimed were public or student memberships, which can be obtained with a membership fee.

“What is the point of having so many titles without making actual contributions to academic research?” questioned one online observer.

China has been intensifying its efforts to crack down on academic short cuts that some individuals have used to advance their careers in academia.

In August last year, a government-affiliated research organisation on university information and Renmin University of China co-published a directory that categorises overseas universities and their social sciences programmes as a guide to assess education quality.

In 2022, a university head in southern China’s Hunan province was dismissed after the institution spent over 18 million yuan (US$2.5 million) sending 23 educators to Adamson University in the Philippines to obtain doctoral degrees in just 28 months.

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