Mistral点评

• Noodles and wine are the secret ingredients for a strange new twist in China’s doping saga
• US bars more food and metal imports over alleged forced labour in China’s Xinjiang
• China plans to have national data infrastructure in place by 2029
• Ancient Chinese proved the Pythagorean theorem in 17 characters: mathematician
• China plans ‘mind-boggling’ geoscience survey to hunt for natural resources
• China hits jackpot with discovery of ‘massive’ gold reserves in Hunan
• China court annuls marriage as wife conceals mental illness, uterus-removal surgery
• Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong set for first China trip since stepping down as prime minister
• China urges ‘positive dialogue’ with US as Trump’s threatened tariffs loom large
• How China should tackle Trump challenge, Beijing’s space launch goal: SCMP daily catch-up
• South China Sea: US troop aid may reassure Philippines but will prod China, analysts say
• [Sport] Cop29: US out, China in - the future of climate talks?
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• Facing tough economy, China cracks down on police abuse of power targeting businesses
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• ‘Promising’ steps to HIV vaccine, Trump tariffs threaten Chinese profits: 5 biotech stories
• Sharp EU-China differences over trade, Ukraine war leave little room to mend frayed ties
• China unveils rock-catching spacecraft, ‘Jay Chou of fitness world’: SCMP’s 7 highlights
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Noodles and wine are the secret ingredients for a strange new twist in China’s doping saga

https://apnews.com/article/doping-china-noodles-wada-2f463f8a50ac3b7e70e1991451941bc1ALTERNATIVE CROP FILE - Customers eat noodles at the Wing Wah Noodle Shop in Hong Kong, on July 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

2024-11-22T17:42:57Z

It looked like a recipe for disaster. So, when his country’s swimmers were being accused of doping earlier this year, one Chinese official cooked up something fast. He blamed it on contaminated noodles.

In fact, he argued, it could have been a culinary conspiracy concocted by criminals, whose actions led to the cooking wine used to prepare the noodles being laced with a banned heart drug that found its way into an athlete’s system.

This theory was spelled out to international anti-doping officials during a meeting and, after weeks of wrangling, finally made it into the thousands of pages of data handed over to the lawyer who investigated the case involving 23 Chinese swimmers who had tested positive for that same drug.

The attorney, appointed by the World Anti-Doping Agency, refused to consider that scenario as he sifted through the evidence. In spelling out his reasoning, lawyer Eric Cottier paid heed to the half-baked nature of the theory.

“The Investigator considers this scenario, which he has described in the conditional tense, to be possible, no less, no more,” Cottier wrote.

Even without the contaminated-noodles theory, Cottier found problems with the way WADA and the Chinese handled the case but ultimately determined WADA had acted reasonably in not appealing China’s conclusion that its athletes had been inadvertently contaminated.

Critics of the way the China case was handled can’t help but wonder if a wider exploration of the noodle theory, details of which were discovered by The Associated Press via notes and emails from after the meeting where it was delivered, might have lent a different flavor to Cottier’s conclusions.

“There are more story twists to the ways the Chinese explain the TMZ case than a James Bond movie,” said Rob Koehler, the director general of the advocacy group Global Athlete. “And all of it is complete fiction.”

Something in the kitchen was contaminated

In April, reporting from the New York Times and the German broadcaster ARD revealed that the 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for the banned heart medication trimetazidine, also known as TMZ.

China’s anti-doping agency determined the athletes had been contaminated, and so, did not sanction them. WADA accepted that explanation, did not press the case further, and China was never made to deliver a public notice about the “no-fault findings,” as is often seen in similar cases.

The stock explanation for the contamination was that traces of TMZ were found in the kitchen of a hotel where the swimmers were staying. In his 58-page report, Cottier relayed some suspicions about the feasibility of that chain of events — noting that WADA’s chief scientist “saw no other solution than to accept it, even if he continued to have doubts about the reality of contamination as described by the Chinese authorities.”

But without evidence to support pursuing the case, and with the chance of winning an appeal at almost nil, Cottier determined WADA’s “decision not to appeal appears indisputably reasonable.”

But how did the drugs get into the kitchen?

A mystery remained: How did those traces of TMZ get into the kitchen?

Shortly after the doping positives were revealed, the Institute of National Anti-Doping Organizations held a meeting on April 30 where it heard from the leader of China’s agency, Li Zhiquan.

Li’s presentation was mostly filled with the same talking points that have been delivered throughout the saga — that the positive tests resulted from contamination from the kitchen. But he expanded on one way the kitchen might have become contaminated, harkening to another case in China involving a low-level TMZ positive.

A pharmaceutical factory, he explained, had used industrial alcohol in the distillation process for producing TMZ. The industrial alcohol laced with the drug “then entered the market through illegal channels,” he said.

The alcohol “was re-used by the perpetrators to process and produce cooking wine, which is an important seasoning used locally to make beef noodles,” Li said. “The contaminated beef noodles were consumed by that athlete, resulting in an extremely low concentration of TMZ in the positive sample.

“The wrongdoers involved have been brought to justice.”

New information sent to WADA ... eventually

This new information raised eyebrows among the anti-doping leaders listening to Li’s report. So much so that over the next month, several emails ensued to make sure the details about the noodles and wine made their way to WADA lawyers, who could then pass it onto Cottier.

Eventually, Li did pass on the information to WADA general counsel Ross Wenzel and, just to be sure, one of the anti-doping leaders forwarded it, as well, according to the emails seen by the AP.

All this came with Li’s request that the noodles story be kept confidential.

Turns out, it made it into Cottier’s report, though he took the information with a grain of salt.

“Indeed, giving it more attention would have required it to be documented, then scientifically verified and validated,” he wrote.

Neither Wenzel nor officials at the Chinese anti-doping agency returned messages from AP asking about the noodles conspiracy and the other athlete who Li suggested had been contaminated by them.

Meanwhile, 11 of the swimmers who originally tested positive competed at the Paris Games earlier this year in a meet held under the cloud of the Chinese doping case.

Though WADA considers the case closed, Koehler and others point to situations like this as one of many reasons that an investigation by someone other than Cottier, who was hired by WADA, is still needed.

“It gives the appearance that people are just making things up as they go along on this, and hoping the story just goes away,” Koehler said. “Which clearly it has not.”

___

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

US bars more food and metal imports over alleged forced labour in China’s Xinjiang

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3287811/us-bars-more-food-and-metal-imports-over-alleged-forced-labour-chinas-xinjiang?utm_source=rss_feed

The US has banned food, metals and other imports from about 30 more Chinese companies over alleged forced labour involving the Uygurs, according to a government notice posted online on Friday.

The new restrictions, covering a range of products from tomato paste and walnuts to gold and iron ore, are part of the federal government’s effort to prevent goods made with forced labour from entering the United States, the Federal Register posting said.

The companies were added to the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act Entity List, which restricts the import of goods tied to what the US describes as China’s human rights abuses and ongoing genocide in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

US authorities say Chinese authorities have established internment camps for Uygurs and other religious and ethnic minority groups in China’s western Xinjiang region. Beijing has denied any abuses.

The latest additions bring the total number of companies on the list to more than 100 since the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act was signed into law in December 2021.

Twenty-three of the newly added companies are in the agricultural sector. Others mine, smelt and process metallic materials including copper, lithium, beryllium, nickel, manganese and gold.

“Today’s enforcement actions make it clear – the United States will not tolerate forced labour in the goods entering our markets,” Robert Silvers, US Homeland Security under secretary for policy, said in a statement.

“We urge companies to take responsibility, know their supply chains, and act ethically.”

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China plans to have national data infrastructure in place by 2029

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3287780/china-plans-have-national-data-infrastructure-place-2029?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s data agency has announced an ambitious plan to develop a national digital infrastructure by 2029 to manage data as a key resource.

According to draft guidelines released by the National Data Administration on Friday, the growth of the digital economy has increased demand for “better data circulation, usage and value extraction”, highlighting the need for an active government role and a functional market.

The document states that the aim is to create a national data infrastructure that balances efficiency with equity, accommodates the unique characteristics of data elements, and harnesses the value and utility of data.

Put together by the NDA, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the guidelines are open for public feedback until December 1.

It comes amid growing global competition in technology and digital infrastructure, especially between China and the United States, where concerns about national security have intensified.

The NDA in April said it would speed up construction of an integrated computing power network with a deadline of 2025 to scale up capacity by half. China is second only to the US in terms of aggregated processing power.

Zeng Liaoyuan, an associate professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, said data infrastructure was “crucial for enhancing China’s competitiveness in the rapidly changing digital landscape”.

According to the guidelines, the plan is to simplify data-sharing processes while ensuring national security. They say it aims to promote transparency and accountability in how data is managed, encouraging responsible information sharing among various sectors and organisations. The NDA is also seeking to improve the quality of data to meet national standards, contributing to China’s digital economy goals.

Zeng said a standardisation protocol for data handling was urgent to “facilitate interoperability across departments and sectors”. Previously, China’s data governance has relied on multiple government entities, leading to inefficiencies and increased vulnerability.

The infrastructure will be developed in three phases by 2029, according to the guidelines.

From 2024 to 2026, the focus will be on testing technology routes in key industries to establish foundational standards for data management, including “unified standards for directory identification, identity registration, and interface requirements”.

From 2027 to 2028, the goal will be to create a comprehensive framework that enables large-scale data sharing and cooperation among major cities.

By 2029, a unified national data infrastructure should be in place to improve data circulation, efficiency of data use, and public services.

Zeng said that gradual implementation would be needed because different regions had their own approaches to data management.

“This approach allows for experimentation and learning from mistakes,” he said. “As different regions gather experience and success stories, these can be shared to enhance practices across the country.”

Zeng noted there were regional disparities in data practices across China, pointing to initiatives like the “Eastern Data, Western Computing” project.

The megaproject is also mentioned in the NDA document as an example to address imbalances in digital resources between the more developed eastern regions of China and the resource-rich west. Launched in 2022, it will connect computing centres across the country to create a powerful, centralised capacity and is expected to be operational by next year.

In terms of capabilities, the national data infrastructure will include components for data collection, aggregation, transmission, processing, sharing, usage, management and security. Once completed it could be applied in industries from manufacturing and agriculture to digital finance, healthcare and green initiatives.

Data security is a significant focus of the framework. The guidelines stress the importance of establishing a secure environment for data sharing, particularly sensitive information that could affect national security.

The proposed system will include features such as real-time risk detection and alerts for cybersecurity threats.

“There is also a built-in defence against security threats from back doors and vulnerabilities in chips, software, hardware and protocols,” the document states.

Zeng said improving data security was essential in the context of technological competition, particularly with the US. “Robust data security measures that comply with legal and ethical standards are vital for unlocking the full value of data,” he said.

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Ancient Chinese proved the Pythagorean theorem in 17 characters: mathematician

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3286686/ancient-chinese-proved-pythagorean-theorem-17-characters-mathematician?utm_source=rss_feed

Hundreds of years before a Greek scholar outlined his proof of the Pythagorean theorem, ancient Chinese scholars proved it using just 17 characters, a renowned Chinese mathematician highlighted in a recent lecture.

Zhou Xiangyu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and former director of its Institute of Mathematics, delivered the lecture at the National Science Communication Centre last Friday, where he spoke about China’s rich mathematical heritage.

“Ancient Chinese mathematics is a treasure trove, concise in language yet profound in meaning. Many more insights await discovery,” Zhou told Science and Technology Daily on Sunday.

He believes ancient Chinese books contain theories that significantly influenced modern mathematics and contributed to Chinese language and culture. Among these theories, the proof of the Pythagorean theorem is particularly fascinating.

The theorem defines the relationship between the three sides of a right-angled triangle, stating that the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

In Western history, the earliest written proof appears in Elements by Euclid, a Greek mathematician in the 4th century BC.

But through his research, Zhou found that a complete definition and proof of the theorem existed as early as the Western Zhou dynasty in China (around 1000BC).

This proof appears in the opening of The Mathematical Classic of Zhou, known as the Zhoubi Suanjing, in a dialogue between Zhou Gong, who was a foundational figure in Confucianism, and Shang Gao, a mathematician from the Western Zhou period.

In it, Zhou Gong asks Shang Gao: “The sky cannot be climbed step by step, nor can the Earth be measured by a ruler – so how can we measure the size of heaven and Earth?”

In response, Shang Gao suggests using mathematical methods to abstract and summarise things, taking the Pythagorean theorem as an example, offering both the definition and proof.

The original text contains just 17 characters: “Ji fang zhi, wai ban qi yi ju, huan er gong pan, de cheng san si wu,” which roughly means: “Draw a square around them, halve one rectangle side, rotate it all around, and you get three, four and five.”

Zhou Xiangyu noted in the interview that he spent several years studying historical documents and reflecting on the meaning of each character. He eventually realised that “ji” meant “all” or “entire” – shedding light on its use in this context.

In 2022, Zhou published a paper in Acta Mathematica Sinica outlining two interpretations of this phrase.

The first interpretation uses three squares for each triangle side, dividing the second largest square in half, then rotating the resulting shapes to create a windmill-like pattern. Using a technique of rearranging areas, the theorem can be proved visually.

The second approach follows the same steps initially, but changes the orientation of the triangle during rotation, which makes the final calculation of area more intuitive.

Both interpretations demonstrate that ancient Chinese mathematical thought already integrated algebra with geometry. Remarkably concise, the classical Chinese proof uses just 17 characters, compared to about 10 lines of geometric formulas in Euclid’s explanation.

To Zhou, these characters provide a rigorous scientific explanation, challenging the misconception that Chinese mathematics lacked theoretical proofs.

“Shang Gao’s proof of the Pythagorean theorem is a scientific fact that deserves recognition,” Zhou told Science and Technology Daily. “Even when examined through the lens of modern mathematics, his proof holds up.”

An earlier article by Qu Anjing, history of science professor at Northwestern University in Xian, also argued that Shang Gao indeed proved the Pythagorean theorem.

He pointed out that in about the 3rd century, mathematician Zhao Shuang wrote an extensive commentary on The Mathematical Classic of Zhou and added an illustration confirming the theorem, which has since become widely known.

This illustration, widely admired for its elegance, inspired the emblem of the Institute of Mathematics and Systems Science at CAS and was used as the emblem for the 24th International Congress of Mathematicians held in Beijing in 2002.

Zhou was mentored by a student of the legendary mathematician Hua Luogeng. Outside his professional work, Zhou studies the history of mathematics and has given many public lectures.

Hua Luogeng said, “Mathematics should be studied both broadly and deeply,” a view Zhou Xiangyu strongly agrees with.

“In studying mathematics, we should pay attention to the origins and development of mathematical concepts and methods, the roots and foundations, the source and flow.”

China plans ‘mind-boggling’ geoscience survey to hunt for natural resources

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3287680/china-plans-mind-boggling-geoscience-survey-hunt-natural-resources?utm_source=rss_feed

China will start a six-year nationwide geoscience survey in early 2025 aiming to find natural resources to support the country’s quest for self-reliance.

The research initiative – called SinoProbe II – is being conducted at a cost of US$1 billion, aiming to create a subterranean map of the country, according to a report on the Science magazine website on Monday.

Thousands of researchers from a number of institutions will work together on the project, overseen by the China Geological Survey, and they are expected to drill to record-setting depths for the study.

Its focus is to help the country reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels and ores like iron and aluminium, according to the report.

“We need to firmly grasp resource security,” Dong Shuwen, a geologist with Nanjing University who came up with the SinoProbe project, was quoted as saying.

He said China’s shallower natural resources – those located within 500 metres (1,640ft) of the surface – were “almost depleted”.

The survey could also facilitate the study of fundamental science questions including India’s slow-motion collision with Eurasia and the rise of the Tibetan Plateau, according to the report.

It follows the SinoProbe I survey launched more than a decade ago that led to the discovery of strategic mineral reserves such as uranium, used in nuclear power plants and weapons.

The latest initiative was previewed at an international symposium on deep-Earth exploration in Beijing last month.

Larry Brown, a geophysicist from Cornell University, said the scope of SinoProbe II was “mind-boggling”. “I can’t think of any kind of geoscience it doesn’t cover, except atmospheric sciences,” he was quoted as saying.

The researchers are expected to chart ore formations and fossil fuel basins as deep as 3km (1.9 miles), as well as develop extraction technologies.

That could bring “immediate returns” on investment, Mian Liu, a geophysicist with the University of Missouri, was quoted as saying.

Beijing has been pushing for China to become technologically self-reliant and to ensure energy security, calling for “breakthroughs” in minerals exploration and to increase reserves and production.

Green technologies could benefit from SinoProbe II as researchers hunt for the critical minerals needed for solar panels, wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries, the report said.

Critical minerals are found in a variety of ore deposits and are considered vital to economic and national security. They are also vulnerable to supply disruption.

Over the last year, Beijing has tightened its grip on critical mineral shipments including antimony, gallium, germanium and graphite, raising concerns in industries such as semiconductors, electric vehicles and defence, which rely heavily on the materials.

Deep-Earth exploration can help reveal the structure, activity processes and dynamic mechanisms of the lithosphere – the solid, outermost layer of the Earth – and opens up new opportunities for deep-mineral exploration, the Beijing Institute of Space Science and Technology Information said in a paper published on Wednesday.

The US has been conducting a similar mineral survey known as the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative – an effort to identify geological formations across the country that could contain critical minerals using aircraft, radar and land surveys.

Deep-Earth exploration and studies have also been conducted in Australia, Europe and Russia.

China has also been expanding exploration and development of deep geothermal energy – a stable, reliable and green low-carbon renewable energy source – as the world’s second-largest economy tries to phase out fossil fuels and transition to renewable energy.

While the country has abundant geothermal resources most have been directly extracted from shallow and medium depths, and researchers are trying to find ways to more effectively use deep geothermal resources to improve energy security.

The latest survey will build on work done in SinoProbe I to create a clear image of the Earth’s crust near the surface.

In that study, researchers placed geophones and seismometers in over a dozen provinces, set off explosions at the surface and recorded the seismic waves that bounced back from underground rock layers, which helped them understand what lies beneath the surface.

This seismic study will be carried out on a much larger scale for SinoProbe II, with researchers expected to collect some 20,000km of seismic profiles, according to the Science report.

It said thousands of seismometers would also be used to detect earthquakes and explore the deeper structure down to the Earth’s core.

A similar US project called EarthScope mapped North America’s subsurface over 20 years, at a cost of US$200 million, with the seismometers 70km apart. That compares to the SinoProbe II project, where sensors will be just 35km apart to achieve higher resolution.

From 2027, SinoProbe II will also involve ultra-deep drilling, with a plan to drill more than 10km deep and the technology eventually refined so that depths of 13-15km are possible.

That would be a record depth, beating the 12.2km Kola Superdeep Borehole drilled by the Soviet Union last century on the Kola Peninsula, near the Russian border with Norway.

China in March passed the 10km mark on a superdeep borehole for scientific exploration, an ongoing project in the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Dong from Nanjing University said Tibet was one place where the superdeep borehole could be drilled and sediment cores “could offer a record of the whole process of formation of the Tibetan Plateau”, according to the Science report.

China hits jackpot with discovery of ‘massive’ gold reserves in Hunan

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3287729/china-hits-jackpot-discovery-massive-gold-reserves-hunan?utm_source=rss_feed

China has discovered a “massive” new goldfield containing reserves worth tens of billions of dollars in the central province of Hunan, as it steps up efforts to boost domestic reserves of strategic minerals.

Geologists identified more than 40 new gold veins located less than 2,000 metres (6,560 feet) underground at the Wangu gold mine in Pingjiang county, bringing the total gold resources in the mine’s core area to 300.2 tonnes, the Hunan Provincial Geological Institute said in an online statement on Thursday.

The new find is classified as a “massive” reserve, with its more than 1,000 tonnes of gold deposits estimated to be worth about 600 billion yuan (US$82.8 billion) based on current market prices, it said.

Liu Yongjun, the institute’s vice-president, said the discovery was a major achievement for China’s mineral exploration strategy.

The statement also claimed that the find was “significant in helping safeguard the country’s resource security”.

The Wangu goldfield is one of China’s most important gold-mining hubs. Since 2020, provincial authorities have invested more than 100 million yuan on mineral exploration in the area.

Demand for gold in China has surged over the past couple of years, as consumers and retail investors boosted their gold holdings in reaction to domestic and global economic uncertainty.

However, the rush to buy up gold has recently started to wane, after China’s central bank suspended its gold purchases in May and the dollar strengthened against the yuan following Donald Trump’s election victory.

The price of gold has fallen to a near-two-month low, and retail gold jewellery prices have also declined. Gold jewellery from popular Chinese chains such as Chow Tai Fook and Chow Sang Sang were selling for about 720 yuan (US$99) per gram this week, down from 820 yuan at the beginning of the month.

China has stepped up investment in mineral resources exploration in recent years, with a 2021-25 development plan calling for greater efforts to bolster domestic mineral reserves and production.

Last year, the country’s exploration investment rose 8 per cent, year on year, reaching 110.5 billion yuan, which helped boost reserves of strategic resources including oil, natural gas, rare earths and gold.

In September, 4.96 million tonnes of rare earths were discovered in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, a remote part of the southwestern province of Sichuan.

A few months earlier, 43.2 tonnes of gold reserves were found in the northwestern province of Qinghai.

And in May 2023, the Xiling gold mine in the eastern province of Shandong confirmed it had identified an additional 200 tonnes of gold reserves, raising its total reserves to 580 tonnes.

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China court annuls marriage as wife conceals mental illness, uterus-removal surgery

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3287368/china-court-annuls-marriage-wife-conceals-mental-illness-uterus-removal-surgery?utm_source=rss_feed

A court in China has annulled a marriage at the request of a man who discovered that his wife had concealed her mental health history and her hysterectomy record before their marriage.

The case was heard by the Jiaxian County People’s Court in central China’s Henan province last month, as reported by Star Video.

According to the verdict, the man, identified by the surname Zhou, met a woman seven years his senior through a matchmaker in September last year.

He paid her a bride price of 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) on October 8 when they became engaged. On October 30, he gave her an additional 40,000 yuan, and the couple registered their marriage with the civil affairs authority on the same day.

They held a wedding ceremony in November. However, Zhou soon noticed that his wife’s mental state appeared to be abnormal.

He later discovered that she had been diagnosed with schizophrenia before their marriage. He was also taken aback to learn that she and her family had concealed the fact that she had undergone a hysterectomy.

Zhou subsequently filed a lawsuit seeking to annul the marriage due to her concealment of significant health issues. The woman did not contest his request.

The court ruled in favour of Zhou, stating that individuals have a responsibility to disclose their true physical condition, particularly when it involves major health concerns, before entering into marriage.

It remains unclear whether the 50,000 yuan bride price was returned to Zhou.

Unlike divorce proceedings, when a marriage is annulled by a court, the individual’s marital status in the government’s resident registration system reverts to “single” rather than being marked as “divorced”.

Zhou’s experience has ignited a heated discussion on social media.

One observer noted: “They married after knowing each other for less than two months. It’s clear that the man was looking for a reproductive partner but ended up marrying a woman without a womb. What a poor man!”

Another commenter remarked: “Isn’t the woman guilty of deception? Why hasn’t she faced any consequences?”

Cases where one spouse conceals significant health issues from the other are not uncommon in mainland China.

Last month, a court in Sichuan, southwestern China, granted a woman’s request to annul her marriage after her husband failed to disclose that he had HIV.

They had married the previous year without undergoing a premarital examination, as the woman believed they had known each other for years. The man’s health issue only came to her attention nine months after their marriage when she unexpectedly found Aids treatment drugs in his bag. Fortunately, the woman has not contracted HIV.

Singapore’s Lee Hsien Loong set for first China trip since stepping down as prime minister

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3287771/singapores-lee-hsien-loong-set-first-china-trip-stepping-down-prime-minister?utm_source=rss_feed

Former Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong will pay a six-day visit to China starting on Sunday, the Chinese foreign ministry has announced.

Lee, now a senior minister, is one of China’s most frequently visiting foreign leaders – having made more than 10 trips as prime minister in the two decades from 2004.

He most recently visited in March last year, when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.

This will be Lee’s first visit since stepping down as prime minister in May, when he passed the baton to Lawrence Wong – his deputy in the ruling People’s Action Party.

At a global forum in Singapore last month, Lee said that it would be “very unwise to write off China” despite the slow economic recovery troubling Beijing, while emphasising that both the United States and China were in “danger of underestimating one another”.

China and Singapore, which upgraded relations to an “all-round high-quality future-oriented partnership” last year, will mark 35 years of diplomatic relations in 2025.

Lee’s visit is at the invitation of China and he will stay until November 29, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Friday.

It will be the latest in a series of high-level bilateral exchanges in recent months.

Last Friday, Xi and Wong held talks in Lima, Peru, on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meetings. China would “maintain close high-level exchanges [with Singapore], adhere to the principles of openness and mutual trust, and respect each other’s core interests”, Xi said.

According to the Singaporean foreign ministry, the two leaders “also discussed regional and international developments, including the importance of upholding the rules-based multilateral trading system, and developments in the Taiwan Strait”.

On November 11, Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang met Wong during a visit to Singapore which saw Ding co-chair the 20th Joint Council for Bilateral Cooperation.

Ding told Wong that China was willing to maintain communication with Singapore “on major international and regional strategic issues and jointly safeguard economic globalisation”, while Wong said Singapore was willing to play a “constructive role” in developing Beijing’s relations with Asean.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Singaporean counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan have met twice this year, including during Balakrishnan’s visit to Beijing in September.

Beijing has sought to strengthen economic and trade ties with Southeast Asian countries, despite territorial disputes with some Asean members in the South China Sea triggering maritime clashes, including several encounters with Philippine vessels this year.

Singapore, a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has called for a diplomatic solution to the disputes.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Suzhou Industrial Park, one of China’s most successful industrial parks and one of its most important cooperation projects with Singapore.

Lee’s father, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, was the initial advocate of the project.

On Thursday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced new measures to support the development of the park, including expanding cooperation with Singapore.

China has been Singapore’s largest trading partner since 2013, with bilateral trade totalling US$108.39 billion last year, according to data from both countries.

In February, the two countries launched a 30-day mutual visa-free entry scheme for their nationals.

China urges ‘positive dialogue’ with US as Trump’s threatened tariffs loom large

https://www.scmp.com/economy/policy/article/3287728/china-urges-positive-dialogue-us-trumps-threatened-tariffs-loom-large?utm_source=rss_feed

While pledging to “firmly safeguard” China’s interests, the nation’s chief international trade representative on Friday expressed Beijing’s willingness to engage in “positive dialogue” with Washington to bolster cooperation and manage differences.

The comments by vice-minister of commerce Wang Shouwen, who participated in trade talks with the United States over the past seven years, came as worries loom large of a trade-war resurgence between the world’s two largest economies, with president-elect Donald Trump gearing up for his second term after signalling a hard line on China.

“The stable, healthy and sustainable development of the China-US relations benefits people from both countries and is also what the international community hopes for,” Wang said during a multi-ministerial media briefing in Beijing on Friday.

Additionally, Wang noted that China was “capable of mitigating and withstanding the impact of external shocks”, and he pointed to “great resilience, potential and momentum” in the nation’s economy.

“History shows that imposing tariffs on China has not resolved the trade-deficit issues of the country imposing them,” he said. “On the contrary, [tariffs] have raised the prices of imported products … which inevitably leads to higher consumer prices and increased costs for users, resulting in rising prices and inflation.”

Trump vowed during his successful re-election campaign that he would impose tariffs of up to 60 per cent on all imports from China, which has long been one of the US’ largest trading partners.

Wang was among the officials who spoke at the briefing and discussed a nine-point document that was issued on Thursday and is intended to “promote the stable growth of foreign trade and consolidate and enhance the trend of a positive economic recovery”.

Other officials were from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, People’s Bank of China and General Administration of Customs.

Exports have been one of the country’s main economic bright spots amid sluggish domestic demand and a prolonged property crisis. Exports beat expectations in October, hitting a 27-month high by rising 12.7 per cent, year on year, to US$309 billion.

Among the measures revealed on Thursday, commerce authorities said help would be given to enterprises to “actively respond to unreasonable foreign trade restrictions” and that “a good external environment for exports” would be cultivated. Some analysts deemed this a response by Beijing to heightened global trade tensions and increased barriers.

The measures also included expanding export credit insurance coverage and more financing support to enterprises involved in international trade, while also calling for strengthening cross-border e-commerce, which the ministry described as a “new momentum” of trade.

In the first three quarters of this year, the value of China’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports grew by 11.5 per cent to 1.88 trillion yuan (US$259.4 billion), accounting for nearly 6 per cent of the country’s total trade, officials said.

Wang pledged more training to help businesses enhance their compliance capabilities, stressing that most of the nation’s 120,000 e-commerce exporters are small businesses and that they could face challenges surrounding customs clearances, taxation, product quality, and intellectual property issues.

The government will also strengthen the supply-demand connection in cross-border e-commerce and encourage the sector to develop local specialised industrial clusters, he added.

Since Trump’s re-election, the Chinese yuan has fallen sharply against the US dollar, with the People’s Bank of China setting the midpoint rate at 7.194 per US dollar on Friday, after slashing the rate earlier this month to its lowest level in 14 months.

“Our basic judgment is that the yuan’s exchange rate will remain broadly stable at a reasonable and balanced level,” said Liu Ye, who is in charge of the central bank’s International Department.

She cited the country’s stable balance of payments, resilient foreign-exchange market and recent policy package, which “have notably improved market expectations and further consolidated economic momentum”.

“Due to factors such as the divergent economic trends of various countries, changes in geopolitical dynamics and fluctuations in international financial markets, the yuan’s exchange rate may fluctuate in the future,” she said.

She added that the PBOC would maintain the yuan’s exchange-rate flexibility while strengthening the management of expectations, including by preventing one-sided and self-reinforced market expectations surrounding the yuan, and by guarding against the risk of excessive exchange-rate adjustments

How China should tackle Trump challenge, Beijing’s space launch goal: SCMP daily catch-up

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Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China and Economy stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

Beijing’s relations with Washington have arrived at a new crossroads as Donald Trump’s “America first” approach dominates preparations for his second presidential term, a former senior Chinese official said, while adding that the challenges could also present opportunities.

Washington should aim to avoid a full-scale nuclear war if Beijing takes military action against Taiwan, experts say, but they disagree on how to achieve that goal, according to a US think tank report.

Localities in China are subsidising the use of pain relief treatments during childbirth – a practice patients often shy away from due to high costs – in one of many trial policies authorities are implementing to reverse a pronounced decline in fertility rates.

NGO founder Ma Jun explains how mapping initiative helps hold authorities and companies accountable for carbon emissions and cover-ups.

China is running out of time to meet its ambitious goal for space launches in 2024, with nearly half of the planned missions yet to take place.

China has added Japan to its visa-free entry scheme, allowing Japanese visitors to stay for up to 30 days without an entry permit, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday.

China’s air force will hold a contest next month aimed at finding a “low-cost” drone, a rare public event that could lead to procurement deals for competition winners, as the aerial vehicles play increasingly crucial roles in modern warfare.

South China Sea: US troop aid may reassure Philippines but will prod China, analysts say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3287763/south-china-sea-us-troop-aid-may-reassure-philippines-will-prod-china-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed

The deployment of American troops to aid the Philippines in the South China Sea may be a nod to Washington’s commitment to Manila, and might fend off further assertions from China in the disputed waterway, according to analysts.

But they said the move would also harden perceptions in China that the United States was “deeply” involved in the territorial disputes between the two neighbours, and warned there might be harsh response from Beijing.

On Tuesday while in the Philippines, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin revealed US troops had been deployed to Task Force Ayungin, a reference to the Philippines’ name for the contested Second Thomas Shoal.

Philippine media quoted a US embassy spokesman as saying the task force improved US-Philippine “coordination and interoperability” by allowing US forces to support Philippine military activities in the South China Sea.

“This initiative aligns with multiple lines of cooperation between US and Philippine forces … in addition to our long-standing shared efforts to address regional challenges, foster stability and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” he said.

Manila has overlapping claims with Beijing in the vast South China Sea, with clashes between the two neighbouring countries largely occurring near the Second Thomas Shoal where a retired Philippine warship is grounded.

According to local media, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said the American troops would “provide technical assistance through the information-sharing group” within the Command and Control Fusion Centre in the Western Command.

The deployment, it added, would improve Manila’s ability in “maritime domain awareness” to “aid in planning and implementing programmes and activities to protect our interests” in the South China Sea.

The Philippines has said the US task force only offered support – in the form of intelligence and surveillance – and did not directly take part in its resupply missions to BRP Sierra Madre, the retired warship, but analysts suggested that China’s leadership could see it in a different light.

Zheng Zhihua, a research associate professor specialising in maritime affairs at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said China would find the development “quite nerve-racking” as the task force represented a “deep degree” of US involvement in the territorial disputes.

He said a “relatively strong” reaction should be expected from Beijing given the Chinese government had repeatedly said Washington should not intervene in South China Sea disputes.

Zheng said the revelation about the American task force meant the US was likely to be more engaged in the drawn-out maritime conflicts in the region, even suggesting that Washington would “be the first to take part in the command and planning of Philippine maritime activities”.

“From China’s perspective, this opponent may be more difficult to deal with because of the involvement and intelligence support of the US military,” he said.

Ding Duo, deputy director of the Centre for Oceans Law and Policy at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Hainan, said the presence of a special task force showed that Washington and Manila had long cooperated on resupply operations to Second Thomas Shoal.

“This includes not only intelligence and information support to the Philippines but also assistance with maritime tactics and mission command,” he said.

While the deployment was revealed by the US defence chief this week, it is not known when the task force was set up.

Ding said the deployment allowed the US to directly observe the operational and activity patterns of the Chinese coastguard, providing intelligence support for its battlefield analysis and preparation.

“Such support emboldens the Philippines and is not conducive to China and the Philippines managing their differences,” Ding said. “The US involvement has also squeezed the political space for internal coordination and decision-making within the Philippines.”

Chen Xiangmiao, an assistant research fellow at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in China, suggested the American task force could be providing intelligence, command support and training for Philippine operations in the South China Sea.

He said it was also possible that American troops could be on Philippine ships and involved in front-line action “using a covert or concealed identity to participate in Philippine maritime operations” in future.

He said the US could “only intervene [in South China Sea disputes] in a covert manner and so it took the form of a task force”.

But Don McLain Gill, a lecturer at De La Salle University in Manila, said the revelation should not be considered controversial. He said it was normal to have such a task force, particularly because the US and the Philippines were “robust treaty allies with shared regional goals”.

“The operations taking place in the Ayungin Shoal, such as the resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre, are Philippine-led and Philippine-owned. Thus, this must not be sensationalised beyond its actual function,” he said.

Carl Thayer, professor emeritus of politics at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said new information about Task Force Ayungin showed Washington’s commitment to help the Philippines maintain their presence on Second Thomas Shoal.

Amid heated clashes between Manila and Beijing in the past year, Washington maintained it would defend its long-time Southeast Asian ally from any attack in the South China Sea.

Thayer said Austin’s trip to the Philippines this week – and his visit to the Command and Control Fusion Centre in Palawan – enhanced the credibility of the US-Philippine alliance, with the defence chief stressing Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to Manila.

He noted that the Philippines had declined an earlier American offer to escort Philippine vessels on their resupply missions following an incident involving Chinese and Philippine vessels in June, and that the task force was a “halfway step” in support of the Philippines.

“Their presence on Palawan will deter China from taking action against this logistics hub,” Thayer said.

He said the developments were well timed, coming just before US president-elect Donald Trump takes office. Thayer said the announcement of the task force was “likely to give China pause not to make matters worse”.

On the timing of the revelation, Chen suggested the Biden administration needed to “consolidate [its] achievements” and tell international society that the task force could remain in place even after a change in government in the US.

“The main reason is that the power will [change] in the United States soon, and there may be some variables in the cooperation between the United States and the Philippines,” Chen said, although he believed a second Trump term would not change Washington’s South China Sea policy much.

Zheng added that with the leadership changes looming, such a public announcement of the task force by the US would “act as reassurance” for Manila.

“I think this is an important reason why Austin is visiting the Philippines, especially now. At this critical moment when the US government is changing, the United States needs to make such a gesture to reassure the Filipinos and American allies around the world. It may have such an effect.”

Additional reporting Orange Wang

[Sport] Cop29: US out, China in - the future of climate talks?

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Philippines’ strict visa rules disrupt Chinese businesses and local economy

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3287707/philippines-strict-visa-rules-disrupt-chinese-businesses-and-local-economy?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese community in the Philippines is grappling with the effects of Manila’s strict new visa restrictions, a policy designed to combat immigration fraud and other illegal activities but which are also impacting legitimate businesses.

Observers say the government’s crackdown has inadvertently ensnared Chinese traders with long-standing ties to the country, creating hurdles for law-abiding entrepreneurs and affecting sectors vital to the local economy.

Wilson Lee Flores, a political-economic analyst and honorary chairman of the Anvil Business Club in Manila, said that several Chinese-Filipino businessmen are struggling to secure visas for their factory and shop workers from the Philippine Embassy in Beijing.

“All visa applicants from China coming to the Philippines are having a hard time. No approvals … no quota … nothing,” Flores told This Week in Asia.

I mentioned to my friend, the Philippine ambassador in Beijing, that my friend owns a noodle factory and has a technician ready, but the new machine from China can’t be operated without him, the situation is “very bad for both countries”, Flores said.

In May, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs tightened visa policies to address fraudulent applications that have caused illegal entries and overstays. This includes closer scrutiny of applications from high-risk countries and better collaboration with immigration authorities to verify supporting documents.

The new measure came after the National Security Council last month dispatched a team to investigate Tuguegarao, capital of Cagayan – on the northern tip of Luzon island facing Taiwan – where some 4,600 Chinese nationals were enrolled in private universities.

The policy was also a response to investigations into offshore gaming operations, predominantly run by Chinese nationals, which were linked to criminal activities such as human trafficking and financial scams. In July, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jnr banned these operations to curb their associated crimes and mitigate national security risks.

Dr Antonio Avila, political economist and vice-president of Political Economic Elemental Researchers and Strategists think tank, told This Week in Asia that the policy has negatively affected legitimate Chinese traders with long-standing business relationships.

These traders play a crucial role in the local economy, particularly in wholesale, retail, and importing goods like electronics and machinery, Avila said, adding that while the policy aims to tackle illegal immigration and national security, it unintentionally creates a hostile environment for law-abiding Chinese entrepreneurs.

“Outright denials impede legitimate traders’ ability to manage supply chains and maintain business continuity. Due to reduced trading activity, regions dependent on Chinese trade, such as Binondo in Manila, suffer economic slowdowns,” he said.

Avila cited that these stricter controls might deter new investors, slowing economic growth and competitiveness in industries reliant on Chinese goods and capital.

“The challenge lies in balancing security measures with ensuring that legitimate economic partnerships remain unaffected,” he explained.

Currently, China has competing claims in the South China Sea, not only with the Philippines but also with Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam.

Recently, Beijing has been accused of using aggressive tactics against Philippine ships, including firing water cannons and using high-intensity lasers, in a bid to assert its territorial claims in the disputed waters.

In 2016, an arbitration tribunal in The Hague ruled in favour of the Philippines’ territorial claims, stating China’s broad claims over the waters had no legal basis. However, Beijing has consistently rejected and denounced this ruling as illegitimate.

Avila said the rising tensions in the West Philippine Sea are undeniably a catalyst for increased Sinophobia, as the central government’s visa policies may partially reflect public pressure to limit China’s influence in the country, extending beyond security concerns into socio-economic dynamics.

The West Philippine Sea is Manila’s name for the part of the South China Sea within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Avila said China’s assertive actions in the disputed waters have intensified Filipino nationalism, making Chinese nationals more susceptible to scrutiny and stereotyping.

“Sinophobia, if left unchecked, risks alienating legitimate Chinese stakeholders who contribute positively to the Philippine economy and society,” he said.

If the Philippines persists with its strict visa policy without protections for legitimate traders, Avila warned that it may drive Chinese businesses to other Asean nations with better policies and cause Chinese investors to see the Philippines as unwelcoming, negatively impacting foreign direct investment.

Reynard Hing, president of Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, a non-government organisation promoting the contributions of Filipino-Chinese communities, expressed a similar sentiment, describing the current situation as resembling a form of Sinophobia.

“The timing is bad. We have the case of Alice Guo, the Pogos, and then the West Philippine Sea issue. Having a blanket of negative perception against China and its people is unavoidable, especially on social media,” he told This Week in Asia.

Hing said that Jaime Cruz, the Philippine ambassador in Beijing, claimed there is no policy limiting the issuance of visas to Chinese nationals.

“One common complaint we hear are technicians who maintain the machines of businessmen that can’t get inside the country. There are also schools that want to hire Chinese teachers but can’t go here,” Hing said.

Asked whether Manila’s strict policy will result in potential economic sanctions from Beijing, Hing said it is unlikely for now.

“The Chinese are even asking for more bananas from the Philippines. There are ready buyers,” he said.

In 2012, China imposed tighter controls over banana imports from the Philippines after the Southeast Asian nation took Beijing to the international court alleging that Chinese naval vessels obstructed Manila’s entry to the Scarborough Shoal.

Facing tough economy, China cracks down on police abuse of power targeting businesses

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3287664/facing-tough-economy-china-cracks-down-police-abuse-power-targeting-businesses?utm_source=rss_feed

A report by prosecutors in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang has shed light on how entrepreneurs and private businesses can fall prey to the abuse of power by police.

The report highlights a case dating back to May of last year, when two officials from the public security bureau of an unnamed province began extorting money from entrepreneurs in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, Zhejiang’s provincial prosecutor’s office revealed on Wednesday.

“Profit-driven law enforcement and judicial practices seriously harm the property rights of enterprises and the legitimate interests of entrepreneurs, severely pollute the law enforcement environment, affect judicial fairness, undermine the authority of the rule of law, and damage the business environment,” the agency said.

The case came to light amid a nationwide campaign, launched in February by China’s top prosecutor, to strengthen legal protections for private companies as Beijing tries to boost growth in the face of economic headwinds.

According to the report, a police officer surnamed Yang and an auxiliary police officer surnamed Zhan donned police uniforms, carried police gear including handcuffs and body cameras, and travelled to other provinces to seek financial gain under the pretence of helping entrepreneurs with legal issues.

On June 11, Yang and Zhan used information they obtained from a police database to deceive an entrepreneur named Shen into leaving his home in Wujiang city, Jiangsu and going with them to an unknown location, claiming it was necessary for an investigation.

Yang hinted that he could help Shen with his legal troubles and requested financial compensation. Sensing danger, Shen escaped the vehicle they were in by jumping from it. He promptly contacted the local police in Zhejiang’s Deqing county under Huzhou city.

Initially, the police investigated Yang and Zhan for “fraud by impersonation”, but complications arose due to their status as law enforcement officers.

According to China’s criminal code, “fraud by impersonation” means pretending to be a government official to deceive others. This crime typically involves non-officials impersonating officials, or one type of official impersonating another.

But since Yang and Zhan were police officers acting under their real identities, their actions did not meet the definition.

The case was at a standstill until the Deqing county prosecutor’s office intervened to suggest that the two officers be charged with abuse of power.

The higher-level prosecutor’s office in Huzhou city carried out a thorough investigation, confirmed their roles as law enforcement officers, and collected evidence of their unauthorised access to the police database to acquire personal information about Shen.

Yang and Zhan were eventually charged with abuse of power and sentenced to eight and seven months in prison, respectively. Neither has appealed.

On Wednesday, Zhejiang prosecutors stressed the importance of reinforcing the integrity of law enforcement and judicial processes to ensure a fair and trustworthy environment for businesses.

Zhejiang is not the only province where such incidents have occurred.

From February to December of this year, prosecutors across the country have been ordered to address issues such as corruption within enterprises, illegal law enforcement, and cross-regional exploitation by judicial authorities that could harm private businesses.

According to an August report by China’s top prosecutor, in the first half of the year, 62,000 people were prosecuted for crimes that undermine the market economy – a 36.5 per cent year-on-year increase.

The prosecutor’s office analysed over 1,300 possible cases of profit-driven law enforcement, identifying 24 cases requiring further investigation.

According to the report, the office found “serious violations” including unlawful cross-regional arrests, use of excessive coercive measures resulting in death, and attempts to seal, seize and freeze property that exceeded the authority and scope of the law enforcement officers involved.

“[Tackling] these cases aims to prevent losses of state assets and also protect the legal rights of private enterprises, showing fair legal protection for all business entities,” said Zhang Jianzhong, an official with the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the top prosecutor.

On Thursday, Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily published a report on the initiative, highlighting prominent cases as examples to “foster a law-based business environment that promotes high-quality economic and social development”.

China adds Japan to visa-free scheme for short-stay visitors

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3287700/china-revive-visa-free-scheme-short-stay-visitors-japan?utm_source=rss_feed

China will restart its unilateral visa-free arrangement for short-term Japanese visitors, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday.

Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said the policy would apply from November 30 to the end of next year, and visitors would be able to stay for up to 30 days without a visa.

Japan was among nine countries added to the list of visa-free travellers, taking the total to 38.

The others announced on Friday are Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Malta, Estonia, Latvia.

China first unveiled the visa-free policy last year, allowing travellers from major European powers including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain to remain in the country for up to 15 days.

Visitors from participating countries were allowed to enter for 15 days for tourism, to visit relatives and friends, and for business and transit purposes.

The policy was set to expire at the end of this year but Lin’s announcement on Friday means the scheme has been extended for another year.

More to follow ...

‘Promising’ steps to HIV vaccine, Trump tariffs threaten Chinese profits: 5 biotech stories

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“We may be on the brink of a breakthrough,” the company advisory board chairman said as the biotech start-up reported promising results from clinical trials. The vaccine, designed to be administered after infection, could offer a potential cure for HIV, the virus that causes Aids.

Chinese biotech firms are facing a double whammy of US funding restrictions and tariffs after Trump proposed import duties of 60 to 100 per cent on Chinese goods. Efforts to expand high-value product sales within China and alternative overseas markets outside the US may mitigate the impact.

China’s pharmaceutical industry is booming, with 113 innovative drugs approved since its 14th five-year plan began in 2021, exceeding the previous five-year plan by nearly three times. This surge in innovation has driven the market scale to US$13.8 billion, making China a global leader in drug development.

China’s leading virologist Shi, best known for her work with the Wuhan Institute for Virology, has developed a revolutionary approach to create custom coronavirus receptors. The work paves the way for new treatments and research into difficult-to-culture viruses and infectious diseases.

The two Chinese pharmaceutical firms have signed new overseas partnerships, leveraging AI and quantum physics to drive innovation and growth. Showcasing China’s tech prowess in drug development, Fosun Group’s Shanghai Henlius Biotech and XtalPi, formerly known as QuantumPharm, are tapping into new growth markets.

Part of this article was produced with the assistance of generative AI.

Sharp EU-China differences over trade, Ukraine war leave little room to mend frayed ties

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3287615/sharp-eu-china-differences-over-trade-ukraine-war-leave-little-room-mend-frayed-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

Two months before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, some speculate that the European Union and China could patch up their frayed ties in a bid to avoid a multi-front trade war.

In Brussels, however, officials believe they are a million miles from a detente: the sides continue to clash on issues from trade and geopolitics to hard security and China’s ties with Russia. Instead, the grievances are piling up.

In the latest flare-up, a Chinese cargo ship, the Yi Peng 3, has been detained by the Danish coastguard for two days in the Kattegat, a maritime strait off the Nordic country’s coast.

Swedish authorities suspect the bulk carrier was involved in the destruction of two crucial underwater telecoms cables linking Finland to Germany and Sweden to Lithuania, intersecting in the Baltic Sea.

The incident closely mirrors a case last year whereby a Chinese-owned ship cut through a Baltic gas pipeline. In August, the Post exclusively reported that Beijing had admitted the Newnew Polar Bear ship accidentally destroyed the infrastructure during a storm.

“If I had a nickel for every time a Chinese ship was dragging its anchor on the bottom of the Baltic Sea in the vicinity of important cables, I would have two nickels, which isn’t much, but it’s weird that it happened twice,” said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.

In addition, the EU is increasingly concerned by intelligence showing that a drone factory in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region is making armed craft for the Russian military.

“We are convinced,” said one EU official, adding that member states were moving “slowly but surely” on a matter that the bloc has long considered a “red line” in its relations with Beijing.

On trade, the European Commission will launch a World Trade Organization case against Chinese tariffs on EU brandy exports in the coming days, according to three official sources.

Several EU officials, meanwhile, said reports in Chinese state media about a “technical consensus” in their electric-vehicle dispute should be taken “with a pinch of salt”.

While minor progress has been made on the margins, the two sides are still bickering over some of the most fundamental elements of a deal that could remove some tariffs on Chinese-made EVs. This includes how they would calculate a minimum import price that could be swapped in for duties.

These myriad differences came to the fore at an event in the Belgian capital on Thursday, where speakers from the two sides were ostensibly talking about the same matters, but could well have been commenting from parallel universes.

China’s ambassador to the EU, Cai Run, said in a keynote address that “we work closely at the UN, G20 and other platforms, and maintain communication on major international and regional issues including the Ukraine crisis”.

Painting a rosy picture of bilateral ties, Cai told the forum that the sides should be “partners, not rivals” and that there are “no fundamental conflicts of interest” between them.

In response, during a subsequent address, the EU’s ambassador to the EU, Jorge Toledo, said: “I will be a little bit less optimistic than my friend Cai Run”.

“Unfortunately, the dominant feature of the relationship is now more about competition and systemic rivalry than it has been in the last 50 years.”

“We are rivals. How can anybody say we are partners when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine? I don’t think the Chinese government grasps how existential this unprovoked invasion is for the EU,” Toledo said.

Toledo then addressed some claims from Chinese commentators that Russian President Vladimir Putin was provoked into launching an invasion in February 2022.

“We cannot accept concepts like legitimate security concerns [of Russia],” said Toledo. “We cannot accept reasoning by which the expansion of Nato created this, that there are legitimate security concerns. That can’t justify this aggression.”

The pattern continued throughout the Europe-China forum, an event co-organised by the Chinese mission to the EU to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties next year.

Successive Chinese speakers called for the rejuvenation of an EU-China investment deal, signed in 2020 but stalled before it could be ratified in a dispute over tit-for-tat sanctions linked to human-rights allegations in Xinjiang.

The sides should scramble to ratify the pact before Trump’s return on January 20, said Victor Gao of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing-based think tank.

“I’m afraid that when Donald Trump becomes [US] president, he and his team may do whatever they can to prevent China and EU [from discussing the EU-China investment deal],” Gao said.

The remarks prompted a senior EU trade official in attendance to respond.

“Those sanctions are still in place. Moreover, a lot has happened since,” said Eva Valle Lagares, the head of the East Asia unit in the EU’s trade department.

“We have seen the position China is taking on Russia,” she continued, implying that the investment deal could not be ratified until China removed its sanctions on EU lawmakers, think tanks and diplomats.

After various Chinese speakers called for the bilateral trust deficit to be bridged, Valle Lagares remarked: “Trust needs to be built with more than just words. Dialogue will continue, but it has to deliver.”

Further differences of opinion aired at the event laid bare the two sides’ diametrically opposed positions on Ukraine.

“I know in the past three years, the European economy has been affected by the Ukraine crisis, but it is clear that this war was caused by Nato’s unlimited eastward expansion,” said Wang Wen of Renmin University in Beijing.

Tang Heng, an ambassador currently without a portfolio in China’s foreign ministry, was more conciliatory.

“Everything has causes. The expansion of Nato should not be justification for war,” Tang said, before adding that “absolute security may push one side” to an insecure position.

Those remarks led Tomáš Petříček, a former Czech foreign minister, to suggest geopolitics would continue to narrow the space for repairing EU-China ties.

“It’s difficult to talk about climate change with a partnership who supports” Russia, said Petříček, noting that the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent war had led to a surge in carbon emissions.

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China unveils rock-catching spacecraft, ‘Jay Chou of fitness world’: SCMP’s 7 highlights

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3287535/china-unveils-rock-catching-spacecraft-jay-chou-fitness-world-scmps-7-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

The 45 opposition figures found guilty of subversion for their roles in a plot to overthrow the government have learned their fates.

European Union foreign ministers have warned China that there will be “consequences” if it is proven to be producing military-grade drones to be used in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

China is another step closer to bringing the first pieces of the red planet back to Earth with the development of a lightweight device to capture Martian rock samples in orbit.

Dubbed the “Jay Chou of the fitness world” due to his resemblance to the Taiwanese singer-songwriter and actor, Jordan Yeoh is a super-fit influencer with over 14 million followers on social media.

India has overtaken China as the top source for international students in the US for the first time in about 15 years, according to new data released on Monday.

Former media boss and opposition activist Jimmy Lai Chee-ying took to the witness stand for the first time on Wednesday in his high-profile national security trial, admitting he had donated money to local and overseas groups but denying that he used those connections to manipulate foreign policies on Hong Kong and mainland China.

Chinese milk tea chain Chagee is facing the ire of Malaysians after the company urged customers to remove posts of a TikTok video appearing to show staff tampering with a lucky draw to win luxury handbags and top-end electronic products for themselves.

Citigroup CEO Fraser meets Chinese vice-premier, Shanghai mayor as Beijing touts reforms

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3287662/citigroup-ceo-fraser-meets-chinese-vice-premier-shanghai-mayor-beijing-touts-reforms?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng met Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser in Beijing on Thursday, underscoring efforts to open up the nation’s financial markets and attract foreign capital amid geopolitical tensions and a slowing economy.

He, the country’s top finance official, told Fraser that the country is “deepening the reform of its financial system and continuing to expand the high-level, two-way opening up of its financial sector.”

China welcomes more foreign financial institutions and capital to invest in Chinese businesses and to “jointly participate in the development of the country’s financial markets while sharing in the opportunities brought by its growth,” he added.

Fraser said Citigroup is optimistic about China’s economy and the outlook of its financial markets, adding that the Wall Street bank will “further its participation in the market to help promote US-China economic ties and trade, while safeguarding the healthy development of the global economy.”

The outlook for US-China ties remains fraught with uncertainty following the re-election of Donald Trump to the White House. The incoming US president, who started a trade war with Beijing in his first term, has warned of tariffs of as much as 60 per cent on exports from China.

China is also looking to kick-start its economy, having launched a series of measures in late September to prop up the property sector and markets that have been languishing. However, the policies have fallen short of investor expectations, dampening the prospects for a sustained economic recovery.

Before visiting the Chinese capital, Fraser travelled to Shanghai on Wednesday to meet Mayor Gong Zheng. She pledged that Citigroup would remain “a staunch supporter of China’s financial market reforms” and “provide greater support for Chinese companies expanding overseas.”

Fraser’s high-profile meetings with top Chinese officials took place the same week as the Global Financial Leaders’ Investment Summit in Hong Kong. The three-day event saw the biggest-ever participation by mainland officials and banks since the summit started two years ago.

Vice-Premier He, Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, and Zhu Hexin, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, were among the high-profile participants from the mainland.

At the summit, Wu pledged to steadily open up the commodities and futures market to global capital, while enhancing the “stability, transparency and predictability of our policies.”

Wu’s comments also echoed remarks by Chinese central bank chief Pan Gongsheng, who told foreign financial institutions at an earlier meeting this month that China will continue to promote the opening up of the financial services sector and better connect with overseas financial markets.

UBS this month slashed its outlook for China’s growth next year to 4 per cent, citing downside risks including US tariff hikes, more aggressive decoupling measures, as well as the unpredictability of the property market sentiment in China.

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Man in China fired for napping at desk after working late, sues firm, awarded US$48,000

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3287350/man-china-fired-napping-desk-after-working-late-sues-firm-awarded-us48000?utm_source=rss_feed

A man in China who was fired for taking a one-hour nap after working late the previous day won his case and was awarded 350,000 yuan (US$48,000) in compensation, sparking lively discussions among Chinese netizens.

The man, identified as Zhang, whose age remains undisclosed, worked as a department manager at a chemical company in Taixing, Jiangsu province in southeastern China. He dedicated two decades of service to the company.

Earlier this year, Zhang was dismissed after company surveillance cameras captured him napping at his desk following a work-related drive that extended until midnight the night before.

Two weeks after the incident, the company’s HR department released a report stating that Zhang had been “caught sleeping at work due to exhaustion”, a document that Zhang signed.

According to a WeChat conversation record circulated online, an HR staff member inquired: “Manager Zhang, how long did you nap that day?” to which he responded: “About an hour or so.”

Subsequently, after consulting the labour union, the company issued a formal dismissal notice to Zhang, citing a serious violation of company regulations.

“Comrade Zhang, you joined the company in 2004 and signed an open-ended employment contract. However, your behaviour of sleeping on the job is a serious breach of the company’s zero-tolerance discipline policy. Consequently, with the union’s approval, the company has decided to terminate your employment, ending all labour relations between you and the company,” the notice stated.

Believing the dismissal was unjust, Zhang promptly filed a lawsuit against the company.

In evaluating the case, the court recognised that while employers have the right to terminate contracts for violations of regulations, such terminations must adhere to specific conditions, including causing significant loss.

“Sleeping on the job was a first-time offence and did not result in serious harm to the company,” explained Ju Qi, a judge at the Taixing People’s Court.

Furthermore, given Zhang’s 20-year tenure at the company, characterised by outstanding performance, promotions, and salary increases, it was determined that terminating him over a single infraction was excessive and unreasonable.

Ultimately, the court ruled in favour of Zhang, ordering the company to compensate him with 350,000 yuan.

The case ignited passionate discussions on mainland social media.

One online viewer commented: “Napping at work is indeed wrong, but the company’s actions were too harsh. If minor mistakes can lead to dismissal, it makes firing employees far too easy.”

Many expressed their envy, saying: “What kind of luck is this? Waking up to find 350,000 yuan deposited in your bank account!”

While a third remarked: “Confirmed: this is a legitimate court ruling.”

China’s a long way from reaching this year’s space launch target

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3287632/chinas-long-way-reaching-years-space-launch-target?utm_source=rss_feed

China is running out of time to meet its ambitious goal for space launches in 2024, with nearly half of the planned missions yet to take place.

The country’s space authorities had set a target of 100 launches this year but only 56 of those had been completed by mid-November, according to data from space activity trackers in and outside China.

In contrast, Texas-based SpaceX had already reached its 100th Falcon 9 flight of the year by October, a historic milestone for the company’s workhorse reusable rocket.

Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and space historian at Harvard University, said rocket reusability – particularly the repeated use of Falcon 9’s first stages – was a major factor in the United States’ lead over China in space launches.

A Beijing-based rocket engineer, speaking on condition of anonymity, expressed little surprise at China falling short of its target. “It was never possible to complete that many [launches] in the first place,” he said.

The engineer previously worked for a state-owned space launch vehicle manufacturer and is now part of team developing a reusable rocket at a major space company.

He said China’s commercial space sector was struggling with insufficient funding, a shortage of talent and limited government support.

“Given the launch accident earlier this year, many of us expect the approval process for subsequent launches to become even stricter,” he added.

In June, a test rocket developed by Space Pioneer unexpectedly launched, crashed and exploded during a static-fire test on the outskirts of Gongyi county, Henan province, in central China.

Although no casualties were reported, the incident was widely regarded as a significant safety failure within China’s space industry, potentially leading to stricter regulations for the private sector.

Meanwhile, China’s space launches remain heavily dominated by state-owned rocket developers. Of the 100 targeted launches for this year, about 30 were planned as commercial missions, with the remainder relying on state-owned Long March rockets.

It is unclear which Long March launches have been postponed or cancelled this year, as China typically provides only an overview of planned activities rather than detailed launch schedules.

With up to 15 more missions anticipated before the end of December, the country still has a chance to break its record of 67 launch attempts in a single calendar year, set in 2023.

The coming missions include the debut flight of the Long March-12, a medium-lift launch vehicle capable of delivering 10 tonnes to low-Earth orbit and 6 tonnes to a 700km sun-synchronous orbit. The launch will take place from a new commercial launch pad at the Wenchang space port on Hainan Island in southern China.

Private rocket launch attempts are also planned by start-ups including Galactic Energy, CAS Space and Orienspace, as well as LandSpace, whose Zhuque-2 became the world’s first methane-liquid oxygen rocket to reach orbit in 2023.

China cabby stunned when passenger confessed ‘I killed a person’, he helps capture suspect

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3287397/china-cabby-stunned-when-passenger-confessed-i-killed-person-he-helps-capture-suspect?utm_source=rss_feed

A taxi driver in central China played a crucial role in helping police apprehend a murder suspect who confessed to having “killed a person” after boarding the vehicle.

His quick thinking and composure garnered praise from both law enforcement and online observers.

The cab driver, surnamed Yin, from Wuhan in Hubei province, picked up a man in his 20s who hailed a taxi on the roadside on November 14.

The passenger requested a ride covering 1,100km to Weifang in eastern Shandong province and agreed to a fare of 4,500 yuan (US$620). He prepaid 4,000 yuan and promised to pay the remainder upon arrival.

As per company policy for long-distance trips, Yin picked up another driver, surnamed Xia, to assist with the journey. After travelling 300km, the passenger urged them to hurry.

When Xia reminded the passenger about the need to drive safely, Yin recalled the man lowering his voice and saying: “I killed a person. I need to hurry back home to say goodbye to my family.”

Xia dismissed it as a joke, but Yin grew suspicious, noting the man’s worried expression and the fact that he was wearing a mask.

At that moment, Yin received a phone call from the police in Jingmen, another city in Hubei. They informed him that the passenger was a murder suspect and that they were tracking him and the taxi. The police asked Yin to cooperate and stall the suspect.

Yin quickly composed himself, pretending the call was random. He then suggested they stop at a charging station to charge the car, subtly signalling Xia to remain calm.

The police arrived while the car was “charging” and arrested the suspect.

On November 17, police travelled from Jingmen to Wuhan to present two pennant banners to Yin and Xia, along with a reward of 1,000 yuan (US$140) each for their bravery.

Social media users were astonished by the unusual encounter.

One commenter on Weibo remarked: “I thought it was a made-up story; I cannot believe it actually happened.”

Another praised the drivers’ extraordinary bravery, stating: “I would have ditched my car if I were them.”

A third user expressed admiration for the police’s ability to track down the taxi driver’s mobile number.

China is known for its extensive video surveillance network, Tianwang, or Skynet, which comprises more than 600 million cameras monitoring the entire nation.

US must avoid ‘uncontrollable escalation’ into nuclear war with China and Russia, report says

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3287536/us-must-avoid-uncontrollable-escalation-nuclear-war-china-and-russia-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed

Washington should aim to avoid a full-scale nuclear war if Beijing takes military action against Taiwan, experts say, but they disagree on how to achieve that goal, according to a US think tank report.

The report presents the responses of five academics to “strategic deterrence failure” scenarios involving nuclear strikes against US allies by Beijing and Moscow in the Indo-Pacific and Europe as they try to take Taiwan and Ukraine by military means.

It was released by the Project on Nuclear Issues at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies on Monday.

All of the authors agreed on the importance of avoiding a full-scale nuclear war if deterrence fails, but they disagreed on other strategic objectives.

Melanie Sisson, a fellow in the foreign policy programme’s Strobe Talbott Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology at the Brookings Institution, identified only two US strategic objectives – preventing a general nuclear war and further nuclear detonations in any location.

Ankit Panda, Stanton senior fellow in the nuclear policy programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also wrote that “no objective should be greater” for Washington than securing the survival of the country from the “prospect of uncontrollable escalation into a general nuclear war”.

Christopher Ford, professor of international relations and strategic studies at Missouri State University, and Rebecca Davis Gibbons, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Southern Maine, both identified a range of secondary strategic objectives, along with avoiding nuclear war as the primary US goal.

The objectives included denying the adversary a victory on the battlefield, denying the adversary any advantage specifically from having used nuclear weaponry, and maintaining alliance relationships.

Gregory Weaver, principal of consulting firm Strategy to Plans, listed four strategic objectives in avoiding nuclear war – restoring the territorial status quo ante, nuclear deterrence, avoiding general nuclear war, and denying the adversary any benefit from nuclear use.

The authors also differed in their positions on the importance and feasibility of assuring allies in the scenario of nuclear use by Beijing and Moscow.

Panda wrote that the American president would be likely to prioritise protecting the US homeland above all. He said Washington would face “insurmountable” assurance and credibility challenges following nuclear use by Beijing or Moscow and it was “highly likely that following strategic deterrence failure, allied perceptions of the credibility of the United States would suffer drastically”.

In contrast, Ford, Gibbons and Weaver argued that assuring allies should be “one of the primary strategic objectives” for the US.

The authors agreed on the need for a military response in the event of Beijing and Moscow carrying out nuclear strikes against US allies in future conflicts over Taiwan and Ukraine.

Panda, Ford and Gibbons supported conventional responses to any nuclear use, such as non-nuclear strikes against Chinese and Russian forces that were directly responsible for nuclear strikes against US partners and allies, or preparation to do so as a deterrent.

Weaver proposed a nuclear response, arguing that conventional retaliation could encourage further escalation from Beijing and Moscow.

Sisson, meanwhile, suggested that the defence of Ukraine and Taiwan should be a primary US war aim, and that avoiding further nuclear use should be the first US objective. Her proposed response was for the US and its allies to cease offensive military operations to avoid further escalation and rely on non-kinetic options.

Based on insights from the authors, the CSIS report suggested three principles for intra-war deterrence in the scenarios – regional deterrence, restoring assurance, and pre-crisis planning and decisions.

For regional deterrence, the report said the US would need a “diverse and flexible toolkit” that included regional nuclear capabilities, and that it was important for Washington to have “a breadth of nuclear response options”.

“These and other points make a case for the United States to improve its regional deterrence posture through increased regional capabilities and flexible options in order to prepare for a proportionate nuclear response in a limited-use scenario,” according to the report.

“US policymakers should strive to diversify US nuclear forces through investments in new regional capabilities so that the president will have a broader range of credible options, particularly if an adversary threatens limited nuclear attacks.”

With a strategic deterrence failure possibly causing a crisis of confidence among US allies, the report also noted the importance of assuring those allies – who would join the conflict against mainland China and Russia – through means such as an engagement plan on potential battlefield nuclear use.

It also said intra-war deterrence would “largely depend on pre-crisis decisions and planning … taken with adversaries, allies, domestic audiences and wider international ones”.

The report comes amid increasing nuclear tensions in Europe and the Indo-Pacific.

On Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved changes to the country’s nuclear doctrine, lowering the threshold for nuclear use against a conventional attack on Russia by any nation supported by a nuclear power, following Washington’s decision on Monday to allow Ukraine to fire long-range US missiles into Russia. Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In September, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army conducted a launch test of its DF-31AG intercontinental ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads – its first such test in more than four decades – sending the ICBM into the Pacific Ocean near French Polynesia.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to bring the self-ruled island under its control. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington opposes any attempt to bring the island under Beijing’s control by force and is committed to arming it for defence.

Uber said to eye US$10 million stake in IPO of China’s Pony AI amid self-driving boom

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3287626/uber-said-eye-us10-million-stake-ipo-chinas-pony-ai-amid-self-driving-boom?utm_source=rss_feed

Uber Technologies plans to invest in Pony AI’s US initial public offering (IPO), which is expected to be priced next week after being upsized by the autonomous driving firm, people familiar with the matter said.

San Francisco-based Uber is seeking to buy more than US$10 million of shares in Pony AI’s IPO, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. The company may consider using Pony AI technology in a partnership outside the US, one of the people said.

Uber also invested in last month’s US IPO of China’s WeRide, people with knowledge of the matter said. It has a robotaxi service agreement in Abu Dhabi with the developer of autonomous driving technology.

Deliberations are ongoing and the size of a potential investment in Pony AI has not been finalised, they said. Representatives for Uber and WeRide declined to comment. Pony AI did not respond to a request for comment.

Uber has tied up with several other automated driving tech firms recently, including robotaxi operator Waymo and an undisclosed investment in Wayve Technologies.

Pony AI’s IPO was initially expected to be priced on November 21, but that has been pushed back as the Chinese company addresses regulator questions, the people said. It has also been increased to 20 million American depository shares from 15 million planned previously, potentially raising US$260 million, terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News show. The price range is US$11 to US$13 per share.

Founded in 2016, Pony AI develops and operates self-driving fleets in the US and China. Its vehicles include trucks and robotaxis. It has permits to provide fare-charging, fully driverless taxi services in Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

Beijing Automotive Group and Guangzhou Automobile Group are among other companies that have indicated interest in taking part in Pony AI’s IPO.

China Eases Pressure on Private Teaching Companies

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/china-eases-pressure-on-private-teaching-companies/7846893.html

China is quietly easing regulations on private education companies as the government aims to support a slowing economy.

Government officials have not announced a policy change. But news reports say policymakers are now permitting the tutoring industry to grow. Industry experts say the new efforts aim to support job creation.

Reuters News Agency recently spoke with people in the industry, parents in China and others. Here is what Reuters reported:

Starting in 2021, the government prohibited for-profit tutoring in main school subjects such as math and English. The reported aim was to reduce financial pressure on families. It was also meant to create equal educational chances for both rich and poor families and to eliminate poor quality tutoring services.

The policy was known as the “double reduction.”

The crackdown cost the industry billions of dollars. It affected companies like New Oriental Education & Technology Group and TAL Education Group. It also led to tens of thousands of job losses.

Before the policy change, China's for-profit tutoring industry was valued at about $100 billion. The three biggest companies employed over 170,000 people.

During the crackdown, the industry did not disappear as parents continued to seek tutoring services for their children. Many Chinese parents consider after-school tutoring services as a way for their children to gain an advantage in China’s competitive education system.

Michelle Lee is a parent based in southern China. Lee spends about $420 a month on after-school classes for her son and daughter. These classes include mathematics tutoring and online lessons in English. She told Reuters that in recent months tutoring schools had been operating more openly.

After the government crackdown in 2021, the number of tutoring centers and the number of teachers employed by them fell. The industry is now coming back as policies ease.

The research company Plenum China said that active licenses for for-profit tutoring centers rose 11.4 percent between January and June.

Liu Xiya is a delegate to China's legislature and president of an education group based in the southwestern city of Chongqing. Liu told local media at a press conference in March that the government was dealing with problems in education policy.

Lynn Song is an economist at ING. He said China was unlikely to admit that the crackdown "was a little too forceful" but that regulations would be loosened. He said, "The overall policy environment has changed from restrictive to supportive as the main goal now is stabilization.”

A changing environment

Two business leaders who deal with government regulations at large tutoring companies recently spoke with Reuters. They said government moves to ease the crackdown had sped up in recent months.

They noted a decision in August by the State Council, China's cabinet, to include education services in a 20-point plan to increase spending. This policy goal comes as more than 11 million university graduates entered China's employment market. It also appeared to increase the stock value of publicly traded education companies.

The decision in August followed guidelines from China's education ministry in February. These guidelines explained what kinds of after-school tutoring would now be permitted. Last year, the ministry published online a list of companies approved to provide tutoring in subjects that were not considered basic, or core subjects.

To get around the rules, tutoring centers would often rename classes. For example, math classes were commonly called “logical thinking” classes.

A woman who ran an English tutoring school in the eastern province of Zhejiang said she laid off 60 percent of her workers following the crackdown. Lisa did not want to give her full name to Reuters. But she said the school continued to teach science-related courses in English, without calling them English classes.

Also, one-on-one tutoring did very well during the crackdown. Parents who could afford it paid for tutors to come to their homes. Some parents said this increases an academic gap, where students from rich families do better in school than poor families.

That worries parents like Yang Zengdong, a Shanghai-based mother of two. She said the policy presented families with the hard choice: either pay up to $112 per class for a private tutor or spend hours each day teaching the children themselves.

She said that if this continues, "…the academic gap between rich people and everyone else will get worse.”

Yang said, "That wasn't what the policy was meant to do, but that's the reality, so of course it needs to change."

I’m Anna Matteo. And I’m Mario Ritter Jr.

 

Casey Hall, Laurie Chen reported from Beijing, with additional reporting by Ellen Zhang from Shanghai for Reuters News Agency. Anna Matteo adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

tutoring –n. for a student to receive additional teacher from a qualified person in addition to their normal schooling usually to help them with a subject they are having difficulty with

prohibited –adj. something that is not permitted or is barred by law

eliminate –v. to remove, take a way or end

crackdown –n. a government campaign against something aiming to change behavior or stop an activity or movement

advantage –n. something that helps a person or group in a situation where they are being judged competitively

license –n. an official document giving a person or group permission to do business, operate equipment or do some activity that is overseen by a local or national government

stabilization –n. the process of limiting changes and bringing things to a normal state

afford –v. to be able to pay for or endure something

academic gap –n. an imbalance that exists in something related to schooling

 

We want to hear from you. In the Comments section, you can also practice using any of the expressions from the story. Our comment policy is here.

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Starbucks seeks ‘strategic partnership’ to find a perk in China amid brewing price war

https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3287574/starbucks-seeks-strategic-partnership-find-perk-china-amid-brewing-price-war?utm_source=rss_feed

The world’s largest coffee chain is seeking help in China to perk up its flatlining sales, as it finds its high-priced lattes and esoteric brews are increasingly out of step with changing consumption patterns and slowing growth in the world’s second largest economy.

Starbucks is “working to find the best path to growth, which includes exploring strategic partnerships”, according to a statement from the Seattle-based company, amid talks that it is looking to sell a stake to a partner.

Its sales in China, once the company’s fastest growing market, have shrunk faster than anywhere else, in a drastic turn for the company that established pricey designer coffees as status symbols with its first Beijing outlet 25 years ago. Same-store sales shrank by 14 per cent in the fiscal fourth quarter that ended in September, a faster pace of contraction than Starbucks’ worldwide decline of 9 per cent.

“All indications show me the competitive environment is extreme, the macro environment is tough, and we need to figure out how we grow in the market now and into the future”, Starbucks CEO Brian Nicol said during his quarterly earnings call.

With a nagging property slump, employment uncertainties and tepid economic growth, consumer spending has been sluggish in China, as consumers downgrade their purchases of everything from dining out to electronics and fashion.

In such a business environment, the 27 yuan (US$3.70) that Starbucks charges for a 12-ounce (0.3-litre) “tall” Americano coffee seems extravagant compared with 23 yuan at Tims, and Luckin Coffee’s 11.9 yuan for a similar sized brew. Luckin, the Xiamen-based chain that eschews seating areas and ample seats for smartphone orders and takeaway kiosks, operated more outlets than Starbucks in 2022.

Competition is coming from lower-priced coffee purveyors as well as a plethora of businesses selling fruit-infused tea and juices.

Cotti Coffee, an upstart that was founded in 2022 by two former top Luckin employees, sells coffee for a uniform price of 9.90 yuan for brews of all sizes. The Beijing-based chain quickly established 10,000 outlets in 28 markets around the world since its founding.

It later raised prices to reduce its cash burn, but its flat charge has become the new normal in China and many competitors have gone headlong into the price war.

The race to the bottom is forcing a rethink at Starbucks, which operated 7,596 stores in China at the end of September.

“We continue to explore strategic partnerships that could help us grow in the long-term”, Starbucks said in a statement. “Brian is spending time to better understand our operations as well as the macro and competitive challenges in China.”

China unveils plan to guide exporters through tempestuous trade waters

https://www.scmp.com/economy/policy/article/3287577/china-unveils-plan-guide-exporters-through-tempestuous-trade-waters?utm_source=rss_feed

China has announced it will aid its export sector with policies to cope with external trade barriers – restrictions that are likely to be cemented further by the incoming Donald Trump administration – including direct guidance to aid the country’s exporters through a turbulent trade climate.

In a notice issued on Thursday, the Ministry of Commerce said it will help enterprises “actively respond to unreasonable foreign trade restrictions” and “create a good external environment for exports”.

The nine-point document, which enumerated measures intended to “promote the stable growth of foreign trade and consolidate and enhance the trend of positive economic recovery,” also includes an expansion of export credit insurance coverage and more financing support to enterprises involved in international trade.

Regions of the country, particularly those with an outsize share of cross-border trade, were encouraged to do their part. “All localities must intensify efforts to promote policy implementation, and major foreign trade provinces must take the lead and better play their roles,” the ministry said.

Overseas settlements and the basic stability of the yuan exchange rate were also mentioned, both major nodes of interest as China stakes out a larger share for its currency in international payments to match its proportion of global trade.

The ministry also called for the strengthening of cross-border e-commerce, which it said has become a bright spot in the country’s economy.

Zhang Zhiwei, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said the initiative shows promise as global trade tensions are expected to heighten in the coming years.

“The recently introduced measures are not only a response to renewed US tariffs but also to growing tariffs and non-tariff barriers worldwide, which require Chinese exporters to enhance their ability to handle future trade disputes and investigations in a more proactive manner,” he said.

“For instance, Europe’s recent anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles mandates that Chinese exporters provide detailed responses and actively participate in the process. Failure to engage or respond adequately could lead to unfavourable assumptions, resulting in stricter measures and increased risks for their exports.”

The ministry said China will also expand its exports of speciality agricultural products and other commodities, while supporting imports of crucial equipment and energy resources.

It added the visa-free entry mechanism would be expanded in an “orderly manner” to further facilitate personnel exchanges.

Wang Shouwen, vice-minister of commerce and a frequent representative for China at international trade negotiations, is scheduled to brief the media on Friday morning regarding the new measures, along with officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, People’s Bank of China and the General Administration of Customs.

The world’s second-largest economy is facing a number of external challenges as it attempts to consolidate sustainable growth.

US president-elect Trump said during his successful re-election campaign he would impose a 60 per cent tariff on all Chinese imports.

A Beijing-based professor in public administration who declined to be identified said that while most of the measures were not new, they do indicate the ministry is examining ways to mitigate the looming threat of a renewed or intensified trade war after Trump takes office in January.

“These measures, especially helping Chinese exporters fight trade barriers, can be key areas of work,” he said.

Additional reporting by Sylvia Ma and Frank Chen

China’s new Ukraine envoy Ma Shengkun ‘full of confidence’ about deeper ties

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3287576/chinas-new-ukraine-envoy-ma-shengkun-full-confidence-about-deeper-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s new ambassador to Kyiv has voiced “full confidence” in deeper bilateral ties, as the Ukraine war escalates and US support to the former Soviet state becomes uncertain under Donald Trump.

Ma Shengkun, former deputy director general of the Chinese foreign ministry’s arms control department, assumed his post on Wednesday, according to the embassy.

He replaces Fan Xianrong, who held the role since February 2020.

China and Ukraine established diplomatic ties in 1992, a year after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In a written statement delivered upon his arrival, Ma hailed the past three decades as a time when “political mutual trust [had] been continuously strengthened, pragmatic cooperation yielded fruitful results, and cultural exchanges [were] active and vibrant”.

“China and Ukraine are traditional friendly partners … and I am full of confidence in the prospects for the deepened development of bilateral relations,” the embassy quoted him as saying.

Ma takes up his role as Trump’s imminent return to the White House sparks anxieties about US commitments to its Western allies, including Ukraine.

Trump, who claims to share a close rapport with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly claimed that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine in 2022 if he had still been in the White House.

In his campaign speeches, the US president-elect also said that he would settle the war in a single day – though he did not say how. He has also threatened to withdraw US support for Ukraine.

China has consistently positioned itself as a peacemaker and presented itself as neutral in the conflict, which began with the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukraine, and several other European nations, have been urging China to use its influence with Russia to help end the hostilities.

But Beijing has also faced criticism from the West over its close ties with “priority partner” Moscow and reluctance to publicly condemn the invasion of Ukraine.

In a major escalation, Ukraine on Tuesday reportedly fired US-made long-range missiles across the border for the first time. On Thursday, Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched an intercontinental ballistic missile overnight, targeting the city of Dnipro.

Ma acknowledged the challenges ahead with a saying in Chinese – “the journey may be long, but with action, the destination will be reached; the task may be difficult, but with effort, it will surely be accomplished”.

“I am deeply aware that I carry the expectations of the governments and peoples of both countries,” Ma wrote. “I am entrusted with the important responsibility of advancing China-Ukraine relations”.

Ma graduated from China Foreign Affairs University, which is affiliated to the foreign ministry.

He held various posts at the ministry before taking over the arms control role, including at the international organisations department and at China’s permanent missions to the United Nations in Geneva and Vienna.

The department of arms control is responsible for policy development on issues including disarmament, non-proliferation, export control and global and regional security. It also organises negotiations on relevant international treaties and agreements.

In his note, Ma added that he would “persevere in being a guardian of the friendship, a facilitator of exchanges, and a promoter of cooperation” between China and Ukraine.

“I look forward to extensive engagement, open communication, building mutual trust and resolving doubts, and exploring cooperation with the Ukrainian government and people from all walks of life.”

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Southeast Asia acknowledges China’s influence, but South China Sea tensions sow distrust – study

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3287581/southeast-asia-acknowledges-chinas-influence-south-china-sea-tensions-sow-distrust-study?utm_source=rss_feed

An overwhelming majority of Southeast Asian elites prefer the Asean bloc to lead the region, especially as issues such as China’s assertive actions in South China Sea tensions strain relations with Beijing, according to a new study.

The findings come from the study, “Elite Perceptions of a China-Led Regional Order in Southeast Asia” by National University of Singapore political science professors Selina Ho and Terence Lee. The study surveyed nearly 600 politicians, business leaders, diplomats, bureaucrats, and experts from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam as “they are directly responsible for formulating their countries’ foreign policy.”

Respondents said that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was the most influential entity in the region, followed by China and then the United States, indicating that Chinese influence is “substantial, even if it is not pre-eminent at present” amid apparent efforts by Beijing to sway the hierarchical order of Southeast Asia.

Although China has repeatedly reassured its neighbours that it does not seek to dominate the region, its rhetoric and behaviour reflect two intrinsic motivations, “to blunt US influence and ensure that the region aligns with its core interests, and to establish a regional identity that is distinct from the West’s,” the study notes.

“If China cannot convince its closest neighbours that it is fit to lead the region, it will face an even greater challenge in garnering support to lead globally,” Ho and Lee added.

An overwhelming 80 per cent of respondents said they identified the most with Asean, with China following distantly at 10 per cent, and the US at 5 per cent.

Yet 70 per cent also believed their countries’ policymakers were close to China, except the Philippines, where more than half said their policymakers were not.

Culturally, nearly two-thirds said their country was closer to China than the United States, which the authors said was “not surprising” given the region’s ethnic Chinese population and cultural ties to China.

Most Southeast Asian elites said that liberal democratic values such as human rights, freedom of expression, and democracy were more relevant to their country’s governance than China’s political values such as hierarchy and centralised authority, with fewer than 10 per cent saying that Beijing’s political values were relevant.

Ho told This Week in Asia that the survey’s findings showcased these countries’ aspirations for an Asean-led regional order.

“They do not concede to the idea of a China-led order … so even though Southeast Asian countries enjoy strong economic ties with China, the elites surveyed prefer diversity and have sought to engage multiple parties – they prefer that no one single country dominates,” Ho said.

According to the study, Southeast Asian countries welcome all major powers to the region, as they view their presence as critical to “providing a counterweight to Chinese dominance”.

Observers said this reflected the region’s “pragmatic attitude” toward strengthening economic ties with China, but they warned that this may lead to an acceptance of China’s values.

Hanh Nguyen, a research fellow at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies and a doctoral researcher at the Australian National University, said poorly managed ties “might lead to a slippery slope where Southeast Asian states might one day find themselves implicitly accepting China’s norms.”

Geopolitical analyst Matteo Piasentini said that China remains an important economic partner for the region and there was “general awareness of the risks of excessive entanglement with China, given the power asymmetry between these states and Beijing.”

“Once again, the risk is a de facto loss of independence – something these states deeply value,” Piasentini told This Week in Asia.

Piasentini added that although China does not explicitly state its intention to lead the region, it is perceived as creating a “sphere of influence” that countries are expected to accept along with its benefits.

“Maintaining economic ties with China while forging other partnerships, particularly in security, acts as a form of insurance against these risks,” he said.

Chester Cabalza, president of the Manila-based think tank International Development and Security Cooperation, highlighted increased trade efforts through Beijing’s Belt Road Initiative and “continuously luring” Asean countries to groups such as Brics to “sharpen [China’s] economic stencil in the region.”

Cabalza added that although Beijing has deployed “divisive and polarising” tactics in the region, “China’s successful economic integration [is slowly changing] Asean’s attitude in favour of them.”

He also noted that China’s dissuasive politics and “unappealing, conservative socialist norms” may conflict with rules-based, democratic values of major elites in the region’s major countries.

However, “Beijing will continue to reach for its dream … and achieve the pinnacle of strategic acceptance by slowly altering the pecking order of their power competition with the US in Asean,” he added

Observers agreed that China’s “lack of restraint” in handling South China Sea disputes has also sowed distrust among Southeast Asian countries, with Ho calling tensions the “bugbear” in Southeast Asia-China relations.

Nguyen said that defiance towards Beijing will depend on each country’s strength, its ties with China, and the influence of external powers.

The South China Sea remains a “red line” for the region, Piasentini said, adding that “friendly relationships with neighbours and the assertion of sovereignty are both state interests, but I argue that the latter always takes precedence.”

However, observers agreed that the region faces its own challenges in achieving Asean centrality, due to differing perspectives among the 10 countries on issues like maritime disputes and the Myanmar situation.

“Asean history is replete with differences – both bilateral and multilateral,” Ho told This Week in Asia.

Nguyen said that a pro-Asean view was not surprising given the region’s “unprecedented era of uncertainty and both China and the US are showing that they are not that reliable as great powers.”

“However, Asean’s performance in reality leaves much to be desired, and this is something Asean members need to work on,” she said.

Piasentini added that Southeast Asian states prioritise independence, shaped by their colonial histories, and are reluctant to have “another foreign power dictating their destiny.”

Yet issues such as the lack of consensus and coordination regarding a code of conduct (COC) with China in the South China Sea remain barriers to achieving this centrality, he said.

“These negotiations have been stalled for over 20 years, and despite officials’ annual declarations, a COC will never be adopted unanimously if it requires giving up sovereign maritime rights for Southeast Asian littoral states. This represents a significant failure for an organisation whose ‘centrality’ mainly rests on prestige,” he said.

However, Asean countries have managed to keep the organisation intact, despite their differences and achieved peace, stability, and economic growth, Ho argued.

“I am confident that Asean states can navigate these challenges and continue to play a central role in the region,” she said.

Meanwhile, Cabalza said that hedging and de-risking would help Asean countries prevail in the evolving power rivalry between China and the US, when Trump is sworn in next year.

He said: “Major middle powers of Asean will converge together to mitigate the power rivalry and elevate their own version of Asean centrality.”

Chinese supercomputer tops global computing efficiency list as race on for AI dominance

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3287561/chinese-supercomputer-tops-global-computing-efficiency-list-amid-race-ai-dominance?utm_source=rss_feed

A supercomputer built by Chinese military scientists has again come out on top in an international test of artificial intelligence computing efficiency.

Tianhe, developed by the National University of Defence Technology, is ranked at the top of the latest list of the world’s most power-efficient big data processing systems released this month, marking its second win since 2021.

According to the international supercomputer rating platform, the Green Graph500 list collects performance-per-watt metrics for running large graphs to compare the energy consumption of the fastest supercomputers for data-intensive problems.

The new version of China’s home-grown supercomputer Tianhe Exa-node Prototype achieved 6,320 MTEPS/W, placing it at the top of the big data category of the Green Graph500 ranking.

The performance metric – measured in million traversed edges per second per watt – assesses a computer’s ability to communicate information internally.

It outperformed a previous Tianhe Exa-node Prototype, which achieved 4,385 MTEPS/W and was ranked first-runner-up, and Eniad, a supercomputer developed by the University of Pennsylvania that ranked third with 2,057 MTEPS/W.

Graph analysis is an emerging area of AI computing and seeks to find links between graph structures, making it an important tool for studying complex networks, patterns and structured data.

For example, it could analyse a relationship map on social media or transaction histories between a series of accounts.

Graph500 said energy-aware big data computing was necessary, as energy consumption was expected to become a limiting factor.

It added that data-intensive or “big data” computing was becoming increasingly vital in high-performance computing workloads and data centres.

Meng Xiangfei, the chief scientist at the National Supercomputer Centre in Tianjin which houses Tianhe, said the top ranking indicated that the supercomputer had achieved international breakthroughs in handling complex data analysis, state news agency Xinhua reported.

He said it would also provide key support for developing new-generation intelligent technologies.

Tianhe had helped the centre achieve significant results in research fields such as numerical simulation technology, materials computation and environmental meteorology, the centre said in a post on Chinese social media platform WeChat.

It said the system had also made big breakthroughs in industrial fields, such as superintelligent integration, large generative models and supercomputing internet.

China’s second-richest man blasts Pinduoduo for hurting brands with cutthroat pricing

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3287591/chinas-second-richest-man-blasts-pinduoduo-hurting-brands-cutthroat-pricing?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s second-richest man has lobbed a rare public attack on Pinduoduo, a bargain e-commerce site, alleging that the platform’s pricing system is hurting the industry.

Zhong Shanshan – the 69-year-old founder and chairman of China’s largest packaged drinks company, Nongfu Spring, and the country’s second-richest person, according to Hurun Research’s latest rankings – lashed out at the Shanghai-based shopping app for exacerbating an industry-wide price war.

“The internet platforms have brought down the prices, in particular the pricing system of Pinduoduo – they are a huge harm for Chinese brands and Chinese industries,” Zhong said in a public speech on Wednesday. His speech was widely reported by Chinese media, including the Chinese internet portal Sina.com.

Pinduoduo did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Thursday.

Pinduoduo was founded by billionaire Colin Huang Zheng in 2015. It is known for its cut-to-the-bone deals in China, serving as the blueprint for Temu, which shares the owner PDD Holdings. Its aggressive pricing strategy has helped it quickly gain market share over the past few years.

As China’s economy has slowed and consumer spending has weakened, Pinduoduo’s ascension contributed to a fierce price war among the country’s largest e-commerce players, putting pressure on merchant profits.

However, it is rare for business owners to publicly speak out against Pinduoduo, which has more than 700 million monthly active users in China.

Zhong made the remarks during a speech in southeastern Jiangxi province. The billionaire entrepreneur also recently demanded an apology from China’s richest man, ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, for what he perceived as the role that TikTok’s Chinese sibling Douyin has played in “spreading rumours and misinformation”.

Zhong’s criticism of Pinduoduo came months after Beijing stepped in and asked platforms to steer clear of the brutal price war.

In July, China’s Politburo released a statement that included a line condemning “involution”, a term used to describe shrinking opportunities in a highly competitive environment. State media later indicated that the message was partly meant as a criticism of the heightened competition among e-commerce platforms.

Since then, platform operators have modified their operations to prevent a race to the bottom in price and quality. In a move seen as a response to this criticism, Pinduoduo started ejecting sellers of counterfeit products in September.

In an earnings call that month, PDD’s executive director and co-CEO Zhao Jiazhen said that the company is willing to sacrifice short-term profits for long-term health.

“We will strongly support merchants with product and technology innovation capabilities and will significantly reduce transaction fees,” Zhao said at the time.

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China’s No 2 foundry to make legacy chips for Europe’s STM, serving mainland auto market

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3287555/chinas-no-2-foundry-make-legacy-chips-europes-stm-serving-mainland-auto-market?utm_source=rss_feed

European chip giant STMicroelectronics (STM) said it will outsource the fabrication of automotive semiconductors to China’s second-largest foundry, in a deal that strengthens China’s role in the legacy chip sector.

STM chief executive Jean-Marc Chery said at the company’s annual investor day in Paris on Wednesday that the firm will use Hua Hong Semiconductor to make 40-nanometre auto chips for the mainland Chinese market starting next year, as part of a strategy to manage the risks of supply chain disruptions.

“We acknowledge that the market we serve is becoming increasingly complex [and that] we face competition from the rise of Chinese car makers, which is fast reshaping market dynamics,” Chery said, adding that it was crucial for STM to stay relevant in the world’s largest auto market via its localisation strategies.

“Through the partnership with the Hua Hong Group, ST will be able to respond more quickly to the needs of the Chinese market and capitalise on opportunities in fast-growing areas such as electric vehicles,” Chery said.

The remarks from one of Europe’s largest car chipmakers come as geopolitics have upended the global semiconductor supply chain, with the US, European Union, China, Japan and South Korea all investing huge amounts to strengthen their capacity in semiconductor manufacturing amid fears of disruptions.

The move signifies the importance of China’s EV market and the country’s progress in legacy chipmaking, amid Beijing’s tech self-sufficiency efforts to overcome Washington’s export restrictions aimed at keeping US core tech out of the hands of the Chinese military.

The US sanctions are intended to hinder China’s efforts to leapfrog into leading-edge chip manufacturing at the 5-nanometre node and below, crucial for smartphone chips and graphics processing units.

However, China’s legacy chipmaking capacity is expanding, with the country’s global share of mature capacity expected to reach 39 per cent by 2027, up from 31 per cent in 2023, according to consultancy TrendForce.

STM, which also works with the world’s largest contract chip foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, last year inked a deal with Chinese light-emitting diode maker Sanan Optoelectronics to build a 200-millimetre silicon carbide wafer fab in China’s southwest metropolis of Chongqing. The facility, expected to begin production in the fourth quarter of 2025, will support growing demand in China for car electrification.

STM also has a so-called back-end manufacturing facility in Shenzhen for testing, assembly and packaging of chips, and an application centre in Shanghai, according to slides shown during the investor conference.

Hua Hong, which specialises in legacy chips, has seen its revenue from automobile and industrial applications rise steadily from 2021 to 2023. In the third quarter, this segment accounted for 23.5 per cent of its total revenue, while 63 per cent came from consumer electronics, according to data from Visible Alpha, an investment research unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Both Hua Hong and its much larger crosstown rival Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp have benefited from growing demand for foundry services from Chinese fabless chipmakers, which have sprouted up since 2021. Hua Hong generated 82.5 per cent of its revenue from mainland China, followed by 8.9 per cent from the US and 3.1 per cent from Europe, Visible Alpha data showed.

However, its 40-nm node process only started “pilot production” in the first half and has yet to generate any revenue, the company said in its 2024 first-half report.

China’s ‘who gets what’ debate, Beijing slams US over Gaza: SCMP daily catch-up

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3287586/chinas-who-gets-what-debate-beijing-slams-us-over-gaza-scmp-daily-catch?utm_source=rss_feed

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China and economy stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

After casino hub Macau unveiled fresh cash handouts of 10,000 patacas (US$1,247) to each of its permanent residents to boost consumption, debates over how mainland China should effectively stimulate domestic spending have reignited, with no clear resolution in sight.

China has lashed out at the US for vetoing the latest UN ceasefire effort for Gaza, accusing Washington of bringing global governance to an “all-time low”.

Scholars say it is time to shed Cold War concepts imported from the West and develop a distinctly Chinese nuclear strategy.

The ambassador’s arrival in Kyiv coincides with a major escalation in the Ukraine war and with US support uncertain under incoming president Donald Trump.

Several towns in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang are searching for a wild tiger – and warning residents – after the large feline injured a villager.

The US must prepare for a potential conflict with China by raising its defence spending to more than three per cent of GDP, a bipartisan group of lawmakers heard on Wednesday.

A scientist who predicted China’s electric car boom a decade ago says the country’s EV battery industry could expand more than sevenfold, despite existing overcapacity.

China races to stockpile US chips before Trump ramps up sanctions

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3287571/china-races-stockpile-us-chips-trump-ramps-sanctions?utm_source=rss_feed

China is accelerating its efforts to stockpile microchips from the United States, as it looks to hedge against a potential wave of sanctions from the incoming administration of president-elect Donald Trump.

Beijing’s appetite for US semiconductors has surged in recent months, with purchases reaching US$1.11 billion in October – a 60 per cent increase compared with the same period last year, according to customs data released on Wednesday.

Over the first 10 months of the year, China imported US$9.61 billion of microchips from the US, up 42.5 per cent year on year. Since June, China’s monthly chip purchases from the world’s largest economy have consistently surpassed US$1 billion.

“China has been increasing the imports of chips and chipmaking machinery in anticipation of the potentially heightened US chip sanctions,” said Liang Yan, a professor of economics at Willamette University in the US state of Oregon.

Of the nine categories of microchip imported from the US, China has been focusing primarily on buying up CPU-based processors and controllers, as well as chips designed for storage and signal amplification.

China continues to face challenges in developing more advanced chips. According to a Bloomberg report published on Tuesday, tech giant Huawei Technologies is still relying on the outdated 7-nanometre architecture for its next two Ascend processors, as US technology restrictions prevent the company from accessing more advanced lithography machines.

This year, President Xi Jinping has emphasised the need for China to develop “new productive forces” – calling for technological breakthroughs in strategic emerging industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), which can help the country promote economic growth, upgrade its industrial chain, and shield itself from global economic and geopolitical pressures.

However, Trump’s recent election victory has heightened anxiety among Chinese tech companies, as the incoming president aggressively targeted Chinese firms with sanctions during his first term in office.

“Trump no doubt will impose tech restrictions, but it is unclear at this point whether it will be a more selective and targeted approach or more broad-based sanctions,” Liang said.

“What is certain about Trump is that he will deny China access to cutting-edge chips and chipmaking machinery, but there is uncertainty about the mature chips,” she added.

According to Liang, Trump has pledged to convince chip manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to move production to the US. But if US chip production were to expand, he would face pressure to ensure that chip demand remained high.

That in turn could complicate Trump’s efforts to strengthen sanctions on China, given that the country accounted for about one-third of global semiconductor demand, Liang said.

“Without China’s demand, it is difficult for chip production to be profitable and sustainable,” she said. “Trump will have to weigh these two factors, and it is hard to predict at this point which way he would go.”

In June, Trump declared, “We must confront China, which is the main threat to [the US AI industry],” during an interview with the American social media personality Logan Paul on the Impaulsive podcast. “We have to be at the forefront [of AI],” he added.

The Biden administration has also made significant efforts to restrict China’s access to cutting-edge semiconductor technologies. In October 2022, it introduced a sweeping ban on exports of chips used for AI models and dual-use technologies to China.

The scope of that ban was expanded in October 2023 and again in September this year to encompass additional semiconductors, including high-performance gaming chips and lower-tier data centre chips.

Computing power and AI, driven by advanced chips, have become a crucial battleground for competition between the two superpowers, with both striving to dominate the production of chips with a node size of less than 10nm.

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Can Donald Trump, avid TikTok user and China critic, save the platform from a US ban?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3287606/can-donald-trump-avid-tiktok-user-and-china-critic-save-platform-us-ban?utm_source=rss_feed

“Today is the day – get out and vote,” Donald Trump urged in a November 5 message on TikTok, a highly popular social-media platform whose controversial impending ban lays bare an underlying Sino-American tension since the Republican’s first presidency.

Although Trump has yet to post on his personal TikTok account since winning election, he turned to the video app during his campaign to engage young Americans. Nearly 30 per cent of TikTok’s 170 million US-based users are between 25 and 34 years old.

“I am gonna save TikTok,” Trump promised in a June post that got more than 8 million likes. Currently the president-elect has more than 14 million followers on the platform.

In the two months between now and US Inauguration Day and amid substantial unease in Washington about data security, a question looms: can Trump indeed save TikTok?

Trump, both as a 2024 presidential candidate and during his first administration, took pride in being tough on China, threatening in his successful campaign this year to impose hefty tariffs on mainland imports.

Whatever direction Trump pursues on TikTok could offer a glimpse into his broader approach towards Beijing. The path is far from straightforward.

In April, President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation requiring TikTok, owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, to either secure a non-Chinese buyer by January 19, 2025, or face removal from stateside app stores and web-hosting services.

The legislation passed, largely driven by national-security concerns that US users’ data could be shared with Beijing. TikTok officials have repeatedly denied this would happen.

Trump, who in 2020 signed an executive order to remove TikTok from US app stores and force ByteDance to divest within 90 days – only for the order to be struck down by a federal court – suddenly reversed course this year and declared he opposed the ban.

He contends that TikTok offers competition in social media. Trump in the past has criticised Meta Platforms-owned Facebook and Instagram for suspending him for two years following the deadly Capitol Hill riot of January 6, 2021.

Legal experts in Washington describe Trump’s options on TikTok as limited and say any effort to strike down the ban could unleash struggles within his inner circle.

Many Republicans have been vocal in opposing TikTok, including his cabinet picks Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem and Mike Waltz.

However, Trump has also surrounded himself with business-minded advisers like billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, who has extensive investments in China.

Ultimately an effort to change the TikTok law could come down to the US Congress, experts say, leading to a loyalty test in the Republican-controlled chambers should Trump make good on his pledge to rescue the platform.

Some have suggested that if Trump were to help TikTok, his political opponents could accuse him of being soft on China. Others say he could use the social-media giant as a bargaining tool with Beijing or force it to strike a deal with a US investor of his choice.

Meanwhile, some key developments in TikTok’s fate are due to transpire in the run-up to Trump’s swearing-in on January 20.

By December 6, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit is expected to issue a ruling in a lawsuit filed by TikTok and two additional petitioners challenging the US government’s sell-or-be-banned law as a violation of free-speech rights.

An unfavourable verdict for TikTok could result in the case reaching the Supreme Court, although the platform’s prospects look bleak there, according to legal experts.

Jacob Huebert, a lawyer for one of the petitioners, said “it’s possible that the DC Circuit will issue a decision on or before December 6 as the parties have requested”.

The concerns underlying the new law’s passage have surfaced in the lawsuit.

During a September 16 hearing, TikTok’s lead lawyer, Andrew Pincus, said the record made clear that the company’s content “curation occurs in the United States”, but acknowledged under questioning that some of it was also happening in China.

In response, US Justice Department lawyer Daniel Tenny argued user data could be used to influence intelligence activities and that the US did not want China controlling the platform’s output.

Sri Srinivasan, head of the three-judge panel hearing the case, said TikTok remained “subject to Chinese control”.

Huebert said if the DC Circuit were to rule against TikTok, his client, BasedPolitics, a non-profit group promoting free markets and individual liberties, would “immediately” seek review from the US Supreme Court.

“The court will have time to consider the case if it wants to,” added Huebert, referring to America’s highest court. “And we expect that it will want to because this case is so important.”

Mark Jia of Georgetown Law School said if TikTok lost its case it might “prefer to seek some kind of emergency relief from” the court, occasioning a scenario that would “at least put the issues in front of the justices’ attention on a shorter time frame”.

“If, as I suspect, the justices are not interested in the case, probably because most of them agree with the DC Circuit’s holding, they will deny relief and that will be the end of the matter in the courts,” added Jia, a former US Supreme Court law clerk.

James Lewis of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, also believed that “TikTok will likely lose its lawsuit, even if it goes to the Supreme Court” due to national-security implications arising from the case.

Without further legal recourse in the US court system, TikTok would have to find a new buyer in accordance with the recent law, else the ban would take effect on January 19 and its app would be removed from Apple and Google app stores.

TikTok has repeatedly said it has no plans to sell and is focused on overturning the ban.

While potential buyers like former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and real-estate mogul Frank McCourt have expressed interest, it is unclear if talks are under way.

And even if a sale happened, experts have warned the Chinese government could block the transfer of TikTok’s core technologies to a foreign entity.

Paul Triolo of the Washington-based advisory firm Albright Stonebridge Group said there was “zero chance that the Chinese government would approve transfer of the AI algorithm via some type of divestiture deal”.

Enter Trump, the self-styled deal-maker returning to the White House.

Trump cannot rescue TikTok on his own, but could grant an extension of its divestiture deadline by up to 90 days, according to Alan Morrison, also of Georgetown Law, if the company showed it was taking steps away from its parent firm’s Chinese ownership.

After that 90-day period, Morrison said, Trump “may require Congress to change the law”.

Jia said Trump’s selection of “prominent China hawks” Rubio for secretary of state and Waltz for national security adviser – both of whom have publicly backed the TikTok divestiture law – could influence his stance.

“They may yet change their principal’s mind,” he added.

Still, Trump’s circle of advisers includes Musk and Tulsi Gabbard, whom he has chosen as director of national intelligence. In 2019, Gabbard, a non-interventionist and former US congresswoman, urged Trump to end the “destructive trade war with China”.

The question of how Trump decides on TikTok could come down to “whether business community backchanneling and other voices in the administration will win out over the hawkish members of his national-security team”, Jia observed.

Citing the president-elect’s transactional tendencies in foreign policy, the scholar said Trump could see TikTok as a “bargaining chip … to be paired along with the threat of high tariffs, as part of an effort to extract other economic concessions from China”.

Lewis of CSIS predicted the most likely outcome would see the new administration extend the sell-by deadline while “encouraging ByteDance to divest its American operations and become a passive owner” along the lines of Project Texas.

Project Texas is TikTok’s billion-dollar restructuring strategy to separate its operation from ByteDance and store US data in the American tech firm Oracle’s cloud computing to work around the ban. Trump in 2020 approved a TikTok sale to Oracle and Walmart.

Some Biden officials opposed the mitigation strategy, said Triolo, noting: “With these officials gone, a face-saving solution … would be to scuttle the Justice Department efforts in litigating the issue and instead push for the Project Texas solution.”

US media have also reported that Jeff Yass, an American businessman and ByteDance shareholder, has been in contact with Trump and his family as well as TikTok.

“The Yass connection is important and appears to be part of the Trump calculus around TikTok,” said Triolo, who added there did not seem to be “any clear path” to try and work out a divestiture arrangement that could satisfy everyone.

While orchestrating a possible deal, Trump could direct the US attorney general not to enforce the divestiture law.

That said, the presence of China hawks and readiness of Democrats to pounce on a perceived softness towards Beijing would give Trump limited scope to help TikTok, Lewis said.

Another prominent hawk is Jacob Helberg, who served on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission and is regarded as the TikTok bill’s “architect”. Helberg is expected to take a senior advisory role in the Trump administration.

“He and others would need to persuade Trump that TikTok indeed does pose some type of national-security threat,” said Triolo of Helberg, “even though the US government has failed to provide any compelling evidence to this effect and has only pointed to the potential for the application to be exploited by the Chinese government.”

4 steps China can take to weather Trump’s tariffs

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3287238/4-steps-china-can-take-weather-trumps-tariffs?utm_source=rss_feed

The United States is gradually closing its doors by reducing its trade with China. However, Chinese President Xi Jinping stressed in his speech at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru, that China would “open its door even wider to the world”.

This declaration suggests a proactive strategy is under way to counteract US protectionist measures. To offset the potential loss in exports to the US, China needs to take immediate steps to become more self-sufficient and diversify its trading partners beyond the West.

Even before Donald Trump returns to the White House as president in January 2025, the writing is on the wall that the trade war against China will escalate further. While it’s unclear what Trump’s next set of trade policies will be, he promised on the campaign trail to impose tariffs of 60 per cent or more on Chinese imports.

It is highly probable that the threat of more tariffs on Chinese imports will be realised due to bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. John Moolenaar – chairman of the US House of Representatives’ select committee on China – introduced the Restoring Trade Fairness Act earlier this month. This bill would end China’s permanent normal trade relations status. Revoking China’s PNTR status would increase tariffs, upending a decades-long period of free trade that has shaped the global economy.

The Republican Party will soon have control of not only the White House but also the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senator Marco Rubio is likely to be confirmed as the next US secretary of state. He has advocated ending normal trade relations with China.

To sustain economic growth, China has various tools at its disposal. First, China can keep up its efforts to enhance agricultural productivity, reduce waste and diversify crops to achieve self-sufficiency in feeding its population. To deal with the decline in arable land and agricultural water resources, China can leverage drone technology that would help farmers produce more using less land and water.

For example, drones made by DJI have sophisticated technology that allows farmers to collect and analyse data on crop health across different locations, making farming more efficient, precise and sustainable. Drones are also equipped with advanced spraying systems that can ensure the precise application of fertilisers and pesticides, reducing waste and improving crop health.

Second, while China imports rice from other countries in Asia to make up a shortfall, it can also incentivise farmers to grow grains such as sorghum, pearl millet and finger millet, which are drought-tolerant and nutritious. Growing millets could help address declines in arable land and water supply and would yield more harvests per year than rice due to the shorter growing cycle. While getting Chinese people to include more millet in their diet might be challenging, education and promotion campaigns can help spread awareness.

Third, when it comes to technology, China is making good progress in reducing its dependence on US chips and software. For example, Huawei Technologies has developed the 7-nanometre Kirin 9010 processor, which is comparable to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon.

Due to political pressure exerted by the US, the Netherlands has barred Dutch chipmaking equipment company ASML from exporting its deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography machines to China. Despite this setback, Shanghai-headquartered Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation managed to produce 7-nanometre chips.

Fourth, China can leverage its investments in ports around the world and its trade relationship with partners in the Brics grouping to expand trade with Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. In response to the Trump tariffs that began in 2018, China announced tariffs of up to 25 per cent on over US$100 billion worth of US products, targeting soybeans, beef, pork, wheat, corn and sorghum.

In 2023, China’s agriculture imports from the US declined to US$34 billion, down from US$43 billion in 2022. However, trade between China and Latin America has increased significantly in recent years. China has boosted its imports of fruit, grain, meat and other products from Latin American countries, while also exporting Huawei Technologies’ hardware and BYD’s electric vehicles.

China is also focusing on investing in Latin America. To circumvent the high tariffs imposed on direct imports from China, Chinese manufacturers have established factories in Mexico to take advantage of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement by shipping components, producing the goods in Mexico and then exporting them to the US. This strategy has helped Mexico become the US’ leading source of imports.

Elsewhere in Latin America, BYD is building an industrial estate that is expected to produce hybrid and electric vehicles in Brazil. Once finished, the estate could accommodate more than 4,000 workers. In Chile, China’s Tsingshan Holding Group is investing US$233 million to set up a plant that will produce lithium iron phosphate, an essential material for making batteries for electric vehicles. The plant is expected to create 668 jobs.

As the West seeks to reduce trade with China, Xi is looking for ways to increase trade links between China and Latin America. Xi recently took part in the inauguration of a massive port in Chancay, Peru. He also made a state visit to Brazil amid the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro.

By knocking on new doors, China can foster stronger economic cooperation with Latin America, Brics members and other countries in the Global South. In doing so, China can continue to grow and adapt to future challenges.

Trump, Cop29 and why Chinese eco-warrior Ma Jun sees green shoots of hope

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3287575/trump-cop29-and-why-chinese-eco-warrior-ma-jun-sees-green-shoots-hope?utm_source=rss_feed

Ma Jun is the director and founder of the Beijing-based NGO, the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), which leads a campaign for China’s environmental transparency through initiatives such as the . Ma was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2006 and worked for the South China Morning Post from 1993 to 2000. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click .

It is another setback to global climate governance because international cooperation is so important and the United States is the second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases after China.

Different countries have to submit their new nationally determined contributions (NDCs) to the United Nations by February. [NDCs are greenhouse reduction plans by individual countries under the Paris Agreement.] We can expect the US to withdraw from the Paris Agreement again. Whether it will submit NDCs before the second Trump presidency is still unclear, but even if it does the delivery cannot be assured. Also, since the United States is a highly influential leader in many multilateral governance mechanisms, its withdrawal may also affect the integration of global climate initiatives in those mechanisms.

The cooperation between China and the United States at the national and federal levels, and the earlier agreements reached by the two countries such as that reached during the Sunnylands summit last year, may also be affected.

That means China-US cooperation at the subnational level or among the private sectors, like the cooperation between California and China, and the cooperation to promote green and low carbon supply chains by US and Chinese companies, will become more important.

People are worried when they talk about president-elect Trump because he has long cast doubt on the science behind climate change. But the participants are still actively finding their ways to promote global climate governance because there is a sense of urgency and there is a willingness among participants even though the US may withdraw. I have seen more positive than pessimistic sentiment.

In the China pavilion, there are many visitors from different countries, and most people look upbeat in their mood.

The situation is different from eight years ago when Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement for the first time. At that time it was more pessimistic and people thought it could undermine global climate actions.

The difference is because more people are aware that low carbon transformation may bring green economic growth. Take China as an example, even though the real estate industries have lost their steam, the massive growth of renewable energy-related industries, such as solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and their batteries, as well as high-speed trains have contributed to 40 per cent of the GDP growth in China.

People increasingly see that green transformation represents the future and if the United States goes back to fossil fuel, such as oil and gas, and petrol vehicles, that would mean the United States is relinquishing its leadership in the renewable energy industry and it may lose its edge in these areas. I don’t think it benefits the US in the long run.

I think it is still possible to reach some sort of agreement and build a framework because there is willingness to help developing countries to respond to climate change and cope with losses.

However, it is very difficult to reach an ambitious agreement and to deliver the goals because in the last cycle developed countries committed to mobilise US$100 billion annually in climate finance by 2020. But the target was only met in 2022.

This time the goal is very high and there are more difficulties and complex issues involved, as well as the vested interests from many parties and countries. We have to be aware of the complexity.

China has disclosed for the first time at Cop29 that it has provided and mobilised over 177 billion yuan (US$24.5 billion) in project funding to support other developing countries address climate change since 2016. China can be expected to continue to provide and expand its financial support to developing countries and vulnerable countries.

It also supports negotiation on the new mechanism in this Cop called quantified goals on climate finance, but it stresses the importance of sticking with the principle of the common but differentiated responsibilities of developed and developing countries.

China set the target for carbon peak and neutrality and it is pushing closer to the peak goal. This will be the major contribution that China can make, if China can reach the target and bend the curve faster.

China is fully determined to achieve its carbon peak before 2030, and China has been making enormous efforts to expand renewable energy capacity.

Most observers think that China will be able to achieve peak carbon emissions despite challenges in transition. Now the question is about how much faster, how much more quickly can China achieve that.

There are many different forecasts. It’s complicated because it depends on a whole variety of different factors and a major part of that is closely linked with not just the energy transition, but the economic status, and particularly [in] energy intensive sectors there are some uncertainties.

For example, the real estate market is not in very good shape at this moment. But there are policies created to try to boost the market. So it’s still hard to make a forecast. That’s why I think the 15th five-year-plan is crucial.

We are getting close to the end of the 14th five-year -plan. In the 15th five-year-plan, we are getting closer to the carbon peak deadline. So it is very important to set clearer targets and try to get more quantifiable, not just on the energy intensity and carbon intensity targets but also on the absolute emission volume target.

And then the targets should be drilled down to region by region and sector by sector. I think having a target based on massive monitoring and measuring is one of the reasons China was able to achieve air pollution control rapidly.

China is making a policy to push for major corporations to adopt ESG [environmental, social and governance] policies.

At this moment, China has expressed willingness to align with the ISSB [International Sustainability Standards Board] standard on ESG disclosure by some of the major listed companies. The stock market has also created rules to require some of the leading companies to make those ESG disclosures.

We [at IPE] have been working on the green supply chain for more than 10 years, and in October we published our new annual green supply chain index report based on the assessment of some 780 global and local companies.

We find an increasing number of them have created policies on biodiversity conservation, which is quite positive. But in the meantime, many companies lack the tools to truly implement [them] in their supply chain management.

It is a challenge not just in China, but globally. The big companies and financial institutions find it challenging to try to implement a biodiversity policy through their value chain, because it’s far more complicated and there’s much less information and data available.

We happen to be tracking some of the innovative solutions developed in China over the past 10 years. China has been working on the so-called red line zones and function zone mechanism.

[Under this mechanism], China’s territory has been divided into 44,000 different zones based on the baseline research and with different functions, priorities and even a list of industrial sectors allowed or prohibited to be invested in different zones.

And we put them on a digital map and created a service. Now, some of the major banks have already tapped into that. So I hope that all this eventually will contribute to the global solutions to help integrate biodiversity conservation into the supply chain and finance activities.

My time at SCMP afforded me [the chance] to travel to different parts of China. I was struck by the environmental damage – particularly water pollution, shortages and ecosystem destruction – and put it into the book China’s Water Crisis in 1999.

Years of research made me understand how hard it is to control pollution. With decades of weak enforcement, the cost of violations used to be much lower than the cost of compliance. Many companies chose to cut corners as it made them more competitive in the market. Behind the weak enforcement is often the intervention by governors or mayors directed by a development view that puts GDP growth ahead of environmental protection.

I shared with many NGO colleagues the importance of involving the public extensively to address issues of such a magnitude and complexity. But I came to believe through my research that the prerequisite for any in-depth and meaningful participation is access to information.

In 2006, I founded IPE, an organisation focused on environmental transparency and stakeholder participation. The first project we did was to develop a China Water Pollution Map, the predecessor of the Blue Map database.

China has served as the largest factory of the world for decades. But the waste got dumped in our backyard, contaminating the water, air, soil and coastal seas.

To address the pollution impact of the global supply chain, IPE launched the Green Choice Initiative with 20 local NGOs in 2007 and then began to engage with large multinationals, particularly those that made open commitments, not only on responsible sourcing.

Yet when we first tried to engage with them, many in China did not know who was polluting, so they would buy from the cheapest. But I told them I had a map that could help them figure out who is polluting and who’s not; who’s a bad emitter and who’s not.

And so, through the records compiled and the on-site investigations with our partners, we came up with investigative reports on supply chain impacts that were picked up by the media in China and abroad. One by one these brands started comparing a list of suppliers with our list of violators and identified those with compliance issues and urged them to change the behaviour or lose the contracts.

Today, progress in environmental monitoring and information disclosure has enabled platforms like the IPE’s Blue Map to track the performance of 16 million companies operating in China. Using the Dynamic Environmental Performance Assessment (DEPA) tool, millions of corporations are graded using a colour-coded system and visualised on electronic maps.

Such granular and dynamic data becomes a unique resource for more efficient green supply chain and responsible investment management.

Some of the largest multinationals – and, increasingly, local companies – have incorporated the use of Blue Map data into their sourcing standards. With digital solutions that allow managers to receive push notifications in their inboxes or on their mobile phones, tens of thousands of suppliers have been motivated to address their violations and/or measure and disclose their emissions.

The data is also used extensively in green finance. In the past three years, major banks in China, including some of the largest state-owned banks, tapped into the Blue Map data on 2.6 million corporations as part of their green banking due diligence.

There are tighter regulatory requirements issues such as social media, data security and cooperation with foreign NGOs. As an organisation that focuses on data and participation and tries to address regional and global environmental and climate challenges, we must carefully review and follow the new rules.

We continue to find space for NGOs to work on environmental protection – an issue [backed by broad] social consensus. But we need to pivot to adapt to changing contexts. When we were set up 18 years ago, with weak enforcement, we in some way played the role of an independent watchdog.

Today the situation has changed dramatically, with the government enforcement being much tightened and emitters motivated to improve performance. We are trying to tap into the big data we compiled to develop cost-efficient digital solutions.

In the meantime, the global urgency to deal with climate change, biodiversity losses and new pollutants – including plastics – create emerging demand from NGOs working in China and the Global South.

To extend the data infrastructure from environment to climate, we have launched the Blue Map for Zero Carbon, collecting regional carbon and energy data and corporate-level carbon emission data.

The landmark regulations by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) put 83,000 large emitters on the list with requirements to disclose a broad range of environmental data, including carbon data by some key enterprises.

In response to Chinese government requirements of ESG reporting and emerging global reporting schemes such as [the ISSB], three stock exchanges – Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing – officially released “Guidelines on Sustainability Reporting of Listed Companies (trial)” in April 2024, a move hailed by many as a “defining moment”.

However, there still remains a significant gap in China, and arguably in most parts of the world, in current disclosure standards for non-listed enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, that generate Scope 3 carbon emissions that need to be addressed.

Encouragingly, the gap has aroused attention by the regulators, and IPE is assisting institutions in charge [of] formulating general guidelines for corporate carbon disclosure.

We believe that solid environmental and carbon data will enable dynamic performance assessments that are key to create accountability and incentives.

Since the signing of the Paris Agreement, we have extended our supply chain assessments to climate actions. After China made its carbon peak and neutrality commitment, we further upgraded the index into the Corporate Climate Action Index and expanded the coverage to 742 brands and 880 listed companies.

We are trying to help extend our data infrastructure from the environment to climate, plastic and biodiversity.

[We are working] to build environmental data infrastructure, and based on that, to create data-driven assessment, to create corporate accountability and add incentives – market-based incentives.

And last, but not least, our work has also got more attention from overseas.

We have NGO partners, or even government agencies from Southeast Asia and South Asia that approach us and want to learn about how China tries to deal with air and water pollution and manage the supply chain.

And we have an NGO from Africa expressing their interest in building the African version of the Blue Map to track the portfolio of international mineral mining and all these activities going on there.

I think there’s a real opportunity for us to try to contribute to a more regional or even global impact environment and climate data infrastructure that will help the Global South tackle this new round of relocation, redistribution manufacturing, and to cope with their own rising challenges, like air pollution.

Every now and then we still encounter pushback from companies as the violation and penalty fine records we have presented have topped 3.2 million.

But in comparison, those early years were much tougher, with so much pressure coming from some powerful companies and their local contacts. At certain points, we were not quite sure whether we could continue our operation the next day.

In hindsight, some of the decisions we made, such as to start with official monitoring data and to develop a path towards a solution for the violators, helped us navigate through some tough waters.

The very fact that the data disclosure and applications by the Blue Map and others help bring the stakeholders together and rally against pollution boosts confidence in further expansion of environmental transparency.

Yes. Let me give you an example about how one major province began to collaborate with us.

When we first launched our Blue Map app, there were many companies in China that exceeded emissions standards. Among them, many were from Shandong province, one of the largest industrial bases in China.

One day, we got a call for a meeting with the head of the Shandong EPB, the provincial environmental protection bureau. As I took the train, I felt a little nervous as we put many “red dot” factories on our map in the province. I thought I would again be pressured to remove some of the information from our app, as it had happened before.

But this official opened his remarks by saying: “Look, there are 100 million people in our province, and we burn 400 million tonnes of coal. Now I’m asked to clean up the PM2.5, and I don’t think I can deliver without the understanding and support of the people.”

He said the Blue Map app could actually be of help because it’s based on science and monitoring data. Eventually the provincial, municipal and county agencies in Shandong all set up Weibo accounts – those are Twitter-like accounts, before Twitter was changed to X.

Through these accounts, they can follow and track each petition and complaints posted by our Blue Map users and then urge major emitters to change behaviour.

In one of these cases, a listed steel plant used to breach the emission standards repeatedly. But the reports filed by our app users and NGOs got the environmental agency in Jinan, the provincial capital, to weigh in and require this company to clean up.

Eventually, the steel plant spent more than US$1 billion to make a deep cut in its air emissions. Efforts like this contributed to the significant improvement of air quality – not only in the city but the vast airshed.

Yes. From 2014, thousands upon thousands of factories, power plants and waste water treatment facilities were required to give people the monitoring data every hour or every two hours – the first of its kind in the world. Each province set up a platform to carry out disclosures.

To help people access and interpret the monitoring data, we launched the Blue Map app, compiling data from nearly 30 platforms and locating major emitters on the digital map one by one, with the help from local NGO partners and app users.

We visualised the monitoring data, and when those who violated the emission standards would turn red on our map, many residents chose to share it on social media, tagging in official social media accounts, making them so-called micro-reporting.

It helped change the dynamic in some key regions. Thousands of the largest coal power, steel, cement and chemical and petrochemical companies, many of them state-owned enterprises, bowed to the public pressure and openly addressed violations for the first time.

Wuzhen Summit: China creates AI advisory body, with Alibaba Cloud founder as chief expert

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3287593/wuzhen-summit-china-creates-ai-advisory-body-alibaba-cloud-founder-chief-expert?utm_source=rss_feed

China has created a new specialist committee on artificial intelligence (AI), as part of the country’s vision for the development and governance of the technology, amid simmering tensions between Beijing and Washington.

The AI Experts Committee will help spearhead efforts to promote the country’s perspective on how the fast-growing technology should be governed, according to a statement released by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) at this year’s four-day World Internet Conference, also known as the Wuzhen Summit, which concludes this Friday.

Alibaba Cloud founder Wang Jian was named as chief expert of the committee. Alibaba Cloud leads AI research and development under e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, owner of the South China Morning Post.

CAC director Zhuang Rongwen on Wednesday said the committee aims to foster international cooperation on AI. The new body is made up of about 170 AI specialists, including British computer scientist Wendy Hall, Vienna University of Technology professor of computer science Schahram Dustdar and Chinese-American scientist Zhang Ya-qin, who serves as Dean of the Institute for AI Industry Research at Tsinghua University.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices and other US businesses also have delegates in the committee, according to the CAC.

Establishing the AI Experts Committee underscores the urgency for China to take a more active role in shaping the technology’s global development – similar to its efforts in setting international standards for next-generation mobile networks based on 4G and 5G systems – even as the US government continues to impose stifling trade restrictions on the mainland.

The CAC-organised internet conference – held annually in the town of Wuzhen in eastern Zhejiang province since 2014 – has focused this week on AI, as Beijing seeks a greater role in the global governance of the technology.

Some of the panel discussions at the Wuzhen Summit covered topics such as “responsible AI development and applications”, “AI innovation and governance” and “AI empowering new productive forces”.

Eddie Wu Yongming, chief executive of Hangzhou-based Alibaba, on Thursday said at the summit that AI is now in the process of forming a “superintelligent body” that would help all enterprises improve their productivity.

“In the long run, the greatest value of AI is not just to create one or two super apps on mobile phones, but to promote productivity changes in all walks of life,” Wu said.

Xiaomi founder, chairman and chief executive Lei Jun, meanwhile, highlighted at the summit how the company has adopted AI across its business segments, including its emerging electric-vehicle business.

On Wednesday, Lei said Xiaomi is set to launch at the end of this year a new intelligent-driving application based on its own large language model – the technology underpinning generative AI services like ChatGPT. He said this initiative reflects the firm’s “All in AI” strategy.

Ant Group chairman and chief executive Eric Jing Xiandong on the same day said AI is expected to open up an era of large-scale personalisation in the services sector, while asserting that humans must take responsibility in managing the risks involved in the technology.

“We hope to make AI as convenient as scanning code for payment in everyone’s life,” Jing said.

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Chinese biotech firms brace for profit hit from Trump tariffs, US funding bill

https://www.scmp.com/news/china-future-tech/biomedicine/article/3287492/chinese-biotech-firms-brace-profit-hit-trump-tariffs-us-funding-bill?utm_source=rss_feed

The US profits of Chinese biotech firms, including makers of medical devices, are under threat from the incoming Trump administration’s plans to increase tariffs on Chinese products, as well as a bill that would limit government-funded sourcing of Chinese research and manufacturing services, according to analysts.

However, Chinese companies’ efforts to expand product development and sales of high-value products in China and other overseas markets would cushion the blow, they said.

President-elect Donald Trump has proposed import duties of 60 to 100 per cent on Chinese goods.

“Service providers and [device] manufacturers are likely to be hit the hardest,” said Yurou Zheng, a Morningstar equity analyst. “Many Chinese medical-device makers have been already prioritising emerging markets for global expansion … partially because the US market is already very competitive and mature.”

Chinese medical-device makers active in the US, the world’s largest market for such products, have been subject to a 25 per cent tariff since July 2018 when the previous Trump administration and Beijing were embroiled in a tit-for-tat trade war. The Biden administration kept the tariff in place.

Rising manufacturing costs have also affected Chinese device makers, pushing them to move up the value chain quickly to maintain competitiveness, said Grace Wang, a Shanghai-based partner of L.E.K. Consulting who focuses on the medical-technology sector.

“Given rising labour costs, it is difficult for China to maintain strong growth on the basis of being a low-cost manufacturing centre,” she said. “Chinese companies have in recent years consciously raised their research and development investments to pivot towards innovation, and one key advantage is their fast decision-making.”

Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics, China’s largest medical-device supplier, is an example. It has maintained momentum in the US thanks to a strategy change, it said.

“By continuously expanding high-end customers and increasing their revenue contribution, the profitability of Mindray’s US business has steadily improved over the past few years, making the US one of Mindray’s most profitable markets globally,” the Shenzhen-listed firm said during an online investors’ roadshow in July.

Mindray said its direct sales team now covers more than 80 per cent of the so-called integrated delivery network in the US, comprising healthcare providers and payers.

To manage tariff risks, the company is rapidly expanding overseas production with 10 new facilities, including one in Mexico that is expected to be operational by the end of this year.

The US will contribute around 6 per cent of Mindray’s revenues this year, said Cui Cui, head of healthcare research in Asia, excluding Japan, and Australia with Jefferies. This compares with around 10 per cent in 2018, according to a Founders Securities report.

“We don’t see the US market as a key growth driver for Mindray, which is actively exploring in-vitro-diagnostics export opportunities to the European Union and emerging markets, with manageable impact from a Trump presidency,” Cui said.

Damage from higher US tariffs could be offset by domestic import-substitution and equipment-upgrade initiatives as part of economic stimulus policies from Beijing, she added.

As Mindray’s domestic sales grew last year, the proportion of total revenue from overseas sales fell to 38.8 per cent from 45 per cent in 2018. The company’s products are sold in more than 190 countries and regions.

In the drug development and manufacturing business, impending US legislation that aims to ban government-funded programmes from contracting with Chinese biotech firms casts a long shadow over service providers.

In September, the US House passed the Democrat-initiated Biosecure Act, aimed at reducing US reliance on Chinese development and manufacturing services to cut the risk of American health data going to Beijing. The act needs to clear the US Senate before it can be signed into law by the president.

It targets five Chinese firms – BGI Group, Complete Genomics, MGI, Wuxi AppTec and Wuxi Biologics – and sets out an inter-agency process for identifying more. Opposition from the US biotech industry resulted in an extension of the deadline for halting existing contracts to January 2032.

Wuxi Biologics said it does not collect human genomic data in any of its businesses around the world and will not pose a security risk to the US, which contributed 58 per cent of its revenue in the first half.

The law is likely to pass the Senate, but the scope is unlikely to expand beyond federally funded projects and health-insurance coverage, Cui said, citing better relations with US pharmaceutical firms among the incoming Republican Senate majority.

“Trump’s businessman nature could result in more flexibility in business-oriented decisions,” she said, adding that the competitiveness of Chinese contractors can deliver cost savings of 30 to 60 per cent to US biopharmaceutical firms.

Chinese province makes labour pain relief pledge to ease childbirth jitters

https://www.scmp.com/economy/policy/article/3287579/chinese-province-makes-labour-pain-relief-pledge-ease-childbirth-jitters?utm_source=rss_feed

Localities in China are subsidising the use of pain relief treatments during childbirth – a practice patients often shy away from due to high costs – in one of many trial policies authorities are implementing to reverse a pronounced decline in fertility rates.

Hainan, the country’s island province in the far south, has pledged to include labour pain relief in government medical insurance plans to reduce the costs of childbearing and help ease anxieties over the birthing process.

The move, announced as part of a broader plan on Wednesday, is one approach to implementing China’s strategy for building a “birth-friendly society”.

A commentary in the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party, also called on officials to lighten the burdens of potential parents.

“Reduce the costs of childbirth, childcare and education, so that more people dare to and are willing to have children,” it said, urging more sophisticated policies to be rolled out at the local level. “Maintaining a reasonable fertility level and a balanced population structure are of great significance to the sustainable economic and social development and long-term stability.”

Traditionally, pain relief during natural childbirth has been avoided over concerns related to side effects, and if used the entire cost is frequently borne by patients.

Less than a third of Chinese women were provided with pain relief during childbirth in 2022, said anaesthetist Mi Weidong during an event for the Global Day Against Pain that year. Mi led a team instructed by the country’s National Health Commission to research childbirth pain relief.

To support new parents, the Hainan government also said it would include assisted reproductive technologies in the state health insurance system, raise reimbursement standards for prenatal check-ups and prioritise multi-child families in its housing policies.

The initiative aligns with a central government directive issued in October, which stated leaders of local governments should “take charge and bear direct responsibility” when it comes to incentivising births.

In recent years, China has reported record low birth rates, prompting concerns over the long-term effects a declining population will have on the country’s economy.

Its birth rate fell to 6.39 per 1,000 people in 2023, the lowest since 1949 according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The number of newborns dropped to 9.02 million, less than half the 2016 figure and marking a seventh consecutive year of decline.

“Describing the current demographic situation as a collapse in birth rates is no exaggeration,” demographers from the Beijing-based Yuwa Population Research Institute wrote in their 2024 China Fertility Cost Report.

Liang Jianzhang, who co-authored the report based on data from the recently published 2023 China Statistical Yearbook, partly attributed the low fertility rate to the high cost of child rearing. His research estimated an average 680,000 yuan (US$93,871) in expenses per child from birth to university graduation.

Per the institute’s report, the average cost of raising a child for 18 years in China is 538,000 yuan – 6.3 times the country’s per-capita GDP. In comparison, the figure is 4.26 in Japan, 4.11 in the United States, and 2.24 in France.

Giving birth can also negatively impact women’s earnings, the researchers noted, citing data which showed an individual child can reduce a Chinese woman’s wages by 12 per cent to 17 per cent.