Mistral点评

### 关于中国的新闻报道

　　#### 经济章节

　　##### 引言

　　近期，西方媒体对中国经济的报道频繁，涉及多个方面，包括贸易政策、私人部门支持、货币政策以及国际关系等。这些报道反映了西方媒体对中国经济发展的关注和解读。然而，由于西方媒体在报道中国时往往带有偏见和双重标准，对这些报道进行客观评价十分必要。

　　##### 贸易政策与国际关系

　　1. 美国与中国的贸易关系： 美国作为相对封闭的经济体，其商品贸易占经济产出的比例较低，因此在贸易紧张局势加剧时，美国资产相对于欧洲和中国资产表现较好。然而，中国和欧洲经济需要应对出口下降带来的增长拖累以及更高的地缘政治风险溢价。西方媒体往往忽视了中国在贸易政策上的灵活性和应对能力，特别是在提升国内需求和减少对外部冲击敏感性方面的努力。

　　2. 中国与其他国家的贸易关系： 西方媒体报道中国正努力加强与其他国家的贸易关系，以应对与美国和欧盟的紧张关系。这一策略被认为是中国构建“战略平衡”的手段。然而，这种报道往往忽视了中国在国际贸易中的多元化战略，以及其在全球南方国家和亚洲邻国中的经济影响力。

　　##### 私人部门支持

　　1. 私人企业的支持： 西方媒体报道了中国对私人企业的支持政策，特别是在经济放缓的背景下。胡德平等人呼吁更多政策支持私人企业，认为制度和包容性是富国和穷国的关键分界线。然而，西方媒体往往忽视了中国在支持私人企业方面的实际措施，如设立专门部门和制定法律保障私人企业的发展。

　　2. 制度改革： 西方媒体对中国制度改革的报道往往带有偏见，认为中国的制度改革不足以应对经济挑战。然而，中国政府已经采取了一系列措施，包括放宽融资政策、扩大财政赤字和推动消费增长，以应对经济下行压力。

　　##### 货币政策

　　1. 人民币政策： 西方媒体报道了中国在货币政策上的调整，特别是在应对美元走强和贸易争端的背景下。中国政府允许人民币适度贬值，以应对外部压力。然而，西方媒体往往忽视了中国在维持人民币稳定方面的努力，以及其在货币政策上的灵活性。

　　2. 财政政策： 西方媒体报道了中国在财政政策上的调整，包括扩大财政赤字和增加国债发行。这些措施旨在提振国内需求，应对经济下行压力。然而，西方媒体往往忽视了中国在财政政策上的实际效果，以及其在推动经济增长方面的努力。

　　##### 国际影响

　　1. 特朗普政府的影响： 西方媒体报道了特朗普政府的贸易政策对中国和欧洲的影响，认为特朗普的“美国优先”政策可能成为中国和欧洲经济改革的催化剂。然而，西方媒体往往忽视了中国在应对贸易争端方面的能力，以及其在推动国内需求增长方面的努力。

　　2. 国际合作： 西方媒体报道了中国在国际合作方面的努力，特别是在“一带一路”倡议下的合作。然而，西方媒体往往忽视了中国在国际合作中的实际成果，以及其在推动全球经济增长方面的贡献。

　　##### 结论

　　综上所述，西方媒体对中国经济的报道往往带有偏见和双重标准，忽视了中国在贸易政策、私人部门支持、货币政策和国际合作方面的实际措施和成果。客观评价这些报道，有助于更全面地理解中国经济的发展和应对挑战的能力。

新闻来源： 2412140635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-13

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Politics

一、中美关系与政策动向

　　近期，西方媒体对中美关系的报道较为密集，特别是在美国新一届政府即将上台的背景下，关于中美政策动向的报道尤为引人关注。部分媒体报道称，共和党可能会推迟一些较为激进的立法，以待明年在控制国会两院和总统职位后再推进。这一策略反映了共和党在政策制定上的战略考量，意在通过更有利的政治环境来推动其政策目标。

二、中美间的网络安全与情报活动

　　西方媒体频繁报道中国与美国之间的网络安全问题，特别是关于中国对美国电信系统的渗透活动。报道称，中国与美国政府高层人物相关的数据被窃取，这一事件被形容为美国历史上最严重的黑客攻击。尽管这些报道反映了网络安全领域的严峻形势，但也需要注意的是，类似的指控往往带有一定的政治色彩，可能被用于加剧两国间的紧张关系。

三、中国对外政策与影响力

　　西方媒体还关注中国在国际事务中的影响力。报道称，中国驻法国大使的言论引发了争议，被认为是中国外交政策中“狼战士”风格的体现。尽管中国官方对此进行了澄清，但此事件仍然引发了对中国外交政策的广泛讨论。此外，报道还提到中国在全球经济和科技领域的影响力，特别是在半导体和电池技术方面的进展。

四、中国内部政策与改革

　　关于中国内部政策的报道也较为频繁。部分媒体报道了中国在反间谍法修订方面的争议，反映了中国在维护国家安全方面的努力。此外，报道还提到中国在经济政策方面的调整，特别是在面对全球经济不确定性时，中国政府如何通过政策调整来应对挑战。

五、中国与其他国家的关系

　　西方媒体还报道了中国与其他国家的关系，特别是与欧洲国家的关系。报道称，中国驻法国大使的言论引发了欧洲多国的不满，反映了中欧关系中的复杂性和敏感性。此外，报道还提到中国在国际事务中的角色，特别是在乌克兰问题上的斡旋努力。

六、结论与展望

　　综合来看，西方媒体对中国政治新闻的报道往往带有一定的偏见和双重标准，这在一定程度上反映了中美关系的复杂性和敏感性。尽管这些报道在一定程度上反映了中国在国际事务中的重要性，但也需要注意的是，这些报道往往带有政治色彩，可能被用于服务于特定的政治目的。因此，在解读这些报道时，需要保持客观和理性的态度，综合考虑多方面的因素，以便更全面地了解中国的政治动向和国际关系。

新闻来源： 2412140635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-13; 2412140214The-Guardian-Democrats-and-Republicans-condemn-espionage-driven-Chinese-hack; 2412141242The-Guardian-Prince-Andrew-invited-alleged-Chinese-spy-to-Buckingham-Palace

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Military

一、中国空军采用传统气功强化飞行员体能

　　近期，中国空军顶尖飞行员在辽宁省兴城的温泉池中集体练习一种名为“八段锦”的气功，以增强核心肌肉群和提升整体体能。这些飞行员年龄在23至48岁之间，多数来自中国最具竞争力的航母舰载机中队。气功作为一种传统的中国健身方法，被认为能够通过调节体内气息来增强肌肉发育。科学数据分析显示，这种非传统的训练方法取得了“显著效果”，参与气功训练的飞行员其核心肌肉群厚度平均增加了15%。

　　中国人民解放军（PLA）的精英飞行员驾驶着世界上最先进和复杂的隐形战斗机，训练强度极高，包括与无人机合作等复杂场景。面对未来高科技空战的需求，他们的日常训练强度已超过美国同行，对体能提出了前所未有的挑战。气功强调气的和谐流动，最终达到天、地、人三者之间的平衡状态，这种古老的练习方法在现代军事训练中展现出其独特的价值。

二、美国国防授权法案涉华内容

　　美国众议院通过了2025财政年度的国防授权法案（NDAA），该法案包含大量涉华条款，预计将在年底前成为法律。NDAA是一项“必须通过”的法案，因为其通过是确保美国军方人员按时领取薪酬和福利的必要条件。因此，许多与国防无直接关系的内容也常常被纳入其中。

　　今年的NDAA包含多项针对中国的采购限制，如禁止使用或采购由中国制造的激光导航技术（lidar）。该技术在军事和民用领域都有应用，被认为是中国争夺技术优势的重要环节。此外，NDAA还禁止向美国军方出售或提供中国大蒜，理由是农业安全和反垄断担忧。

　　法案还授权在美国印太司令部内或附近的军事设施建立“先进制造设施”，以支持潜艇、造船和其他国防活动的工业基础。NDAA还委托进行多项涉华研究，这些研究通常对未来立法至关重要。例如，法案要求对上海航运交易所进行调查，该交易所被认为对美国船运公司不利，可能受到中国政府操控。

三、中国警方推进高科技巡逻装备

　　中国警方在推进高科技巡逻装备方面取得了新进展。浙江省温州市警方近期开始使用球形机器人进行巡逻。这种机器人被设计为能够在被近距离攻击后仍然保持运行，并能在人群和极端环境中自由移动。球形机器人配备了扬声器、网枪和催泪瓦斯喷射器，以提高巡逻效率和应对危机的能力。

　　中国公安部和工业和信息化部发布通知，征集“警用机器人典型应用场景”，旨在提升警务工作的智能化水平。例如，四川省成都市警方使用机器人在商业区预防群体暴力事件。这些举措是中国推动“新质量生产力”，通过高科技创新提升警务能力的最新体现。

四、韩国总统尹锡悦引发中韩外交摩擦

　　韩国总统尹锡悦在宣布戒严后发表讲话，指责中国间谍活动威胁国家安全，引发中方强烈不满。尹锡悦称，其戒严决定是为了应对反对党阻挠防止中国间谍活动的立法。中国外交部发言人毛宁对此表示“深感意外”，称尹锡悦的言论“极具误导性”。

　　韩国现行法律规定，只有为“敌国”工作的间谍活动才会受到惩罚，而中国并未被列为敌国，这使得韩国在处理涉中间谍案件时面临法律困境。尹锡悦的言论引发韩国国内政治动荡，反对党指责其“煽动极右翼暴力”。此事件反映了中韩关系在安全问题上的复杂性和敏感性。

五、结语

　　西方媒体对中国军事相关新闻的报道往往充满偏见和双重标准，但从中可以看出中国在军事训练、科技创新和国际关系方面的多样化努力。中国正在通过传统与现代相结合的方式，提升军事力量和国际影响力。同时，中国也面临来自国际社会的多方压力和挑战，需要在复杂的国际环境中寻找平衡点。

新闻来源： 2412140635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-13

### 关于中国的新闻报道：Culture 章节

　　#### 引言

　　在全球化背景下，中国的文化传承与创新备受国际社会关注。然而，西方媒体对中国文化的报道往往带有偏见和双重标准，这使得我们在阅读和分析这些报道时需要保持客观和批判的态度。本章节将对近期西方媒体关于中国文化的报道进行详细评价，揭示其中的偏见和误解，并提供客观的分析。

　　#### 1. 古代文化遗产

　　##### 1.1 酒文化的起源

　　近期，国际学术界发现了距今约10,000年的中国酒文化遗存，这一发现引起了广泛关注。然而，西方媒体在报道这一发现时，往往将其描述为“意外”或“偶然”，忽略了中国酒文化的深厚历史背景。实际上，中国的酒文化可以追溯到新石器时代，早在商周时期，酒已经成为祭祀和礼仪中的重要组成部分。西方媒体的这种报道方式，忽视了中国文化的连续性和系统性，容易误导读者。

　　##### 1.2 石狮子文化

　　西方媒体报道了中国民间在喜庆场合用红布覆盖石狮子的习俗，并将其描述为“迷信”或“落后”。这种报道方式忽视了这一习俗背后的文化和历史意义。石狮子在中国传统文化中象征着守护和吉祥，用红布覆盖石狮子是为了驱邪避灾，体现了中国人对生活的美好期盼。西方媒体的这种报道方式，反映了其对中国文化的不理解和偏见。

　　#### 2. 现代文化发展

　　##### 2.1 时尚品牌的国际化

　　西方媒体报道了中国时尚品牌Urban Revivo在国际市场的扩张，但在报道中往往将其描述为“模仿”西方品牌的成功案例。这种报道方式忽视了中国品牌在设计、生产和市场营销方面的独特创新。Urban Revivo在国际市场的成功，不仅仅是因为其时尚设计，更是因为其对中国文化的理解和融入。西方媒体的这种报道方式，反映了其对中国品牌创新能力的低估。

　　##### 2.2 文化交流与教育

　　西方媒体报道了中美之间的教育交流项目，但在报道中往往将其描述为“宣传工具”或“政治手段”。这种报道方式忽视了文化交流在促进相互理解和合作方面的积极作用。中美之间的教育交流项目，不仅有助于中美两国青年增进了解，更有助于两国在科技、经济等领域的合作。西方媒体的这种报道方式，反映了其对中美关系的偏见和误解。

　　#### 3. 社会文化现象

　　##### 3.1 安乐死议题

　　西方媒体报道了中国社会关于安乐死的讨论，并将其描述为“文化冲突”或“道德困境”。这种报道方式忽视了中国社会在面对老龄化问题时的复杂性和多样性。安乐死在中国的讨论，不仅涉及个人自主权和家庭伦理，更涉及社会资源的合理配置和人文关怀。西方媒体的这种报道方式，反映了其对中国社会问题的简单化和片面化。

　　##### 3.2 网络文化现象

　　西方媒体报道了中国网络文化现象，如明星效应和社交媒体的影响力，但在报道中往往将其描述为“虚荣”或“浮躁”。这种报道方式忽视了中国网络文化的多样性和创造力。中国的网络文化，不仅反映了年轻一代的价值观和生活方式，更反映了中国社会的快速变迁和创新能力。西方媒体的这种报道方式，反映了其对中国网络文化的不理解和偏见。

　　#### 结论

　　西方媒体对中国文化的报道往往带有偏见和双重标准，忽视了中国文化的深厚历史背景和现代创新能力。在阅读和分析这些报道时，我们需要保持客观和批判的态度，深入了解中国文化的本质和内涵。通过客观的分析和批判，我们可以更好地理解中国文化的多样性和复杂性，促进国际社会对中国文化的理解和认同。

新闻来源： 2412140635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-13; 2412141242The-Guardian-Prince-Andrew-invited-alleged-Chinese-spy-to-Buckingham-Palace

### 关于中国的新闻报道

　　#### Technology 章节

　　##### 1. 引言 近年来，中国在科技领域取得了显著进展，特别是在人工智能、半导体、机器人技术等方面。然而，西方媒体对中国科技发展的报道往往带有偏见和双重标准。本章节将对西方媒体关于中国科技新闻的报道进行客观评价，揭示其中的偏见，并提供更为全面和客观的分析。

　　##### 2. 警务机器人 西方媒体报道了中国警方使用球形机器人进行巡逻的新闻。报道中提及这些机器人具备抗打击能力，能够在人群和极端环境中自由移动，并配备有扬声器、网枪和催泪瓦斯喷射器。这些机器人的目的是提高巡逻效率和应对突发事件的能力。

　　评价： 中国警方使用先进技术提高工作效率和应对能力是全球警务现代化的一种趋势。西方媒体往往将此类技术描绘成具有威胁性，而忽略了其在提高公共安全和应对突发事件中的积极作用。这种报道方式反映了对中国科技进步的恐惧和不信任。

　　##### 3. 半导体技术 西方媒体频繁报道美国对中国半导体行业的制裁，并指出中国在半导体设计和制造方面面临严重挑战。报道中提及中国需要通过创新来突破技术瓶颈，以避免在全球市场中落后。

　　评价： 美国对中国半导体行业的制裁确实给中国带来了挑战，但这也促使中国加快自主创新的步伐。中国在半导体领域的投资和研发力度不断加大，努力实现技术自主。西方媒体往往忽略中国在技术创新方面的努力和成就，而过分强调制裁带来的负面影响。

　　##### 4. 激光雷达技术 西方媒体报道了中国在激光雷达（lidar）技术方面的进展，并指出这些技术在军事和民用领域都有广泛应用。报道中提及中国的Hesai集团是全球主要的lidar供应商之一，但同时也指出这些技术可能被用于间谍活动和破坏。

　　评价： 激光雷达技术在自动驾驶、智能交通和国防等领域有广泛应用。中国在这一领域的技术进步是全球科技发展的一部分。西方媒体对中国lidar技术的报道往往带有安全担忧，但这种担忧在很大程度上是基于对中国意图的预设偏见。

　　##### 5. 酒制作技术的起源 西方媒体报道了中国科学家在酒制作技术起源方面的研究成果，揭示了中国在古代酒制作技术方面的重要地位。报道中提及这些研究为理解东亚酿酒历史提供了新的视角。

　　评价： 中国在古代酒制作技术方面的研究不仅具有重要的历史和文化价值，还为全球酿酒技术的发展提供了新的参考。西方媒体对这一研究的报道相对客观，但在整体科技报道中，这类积极的科研成果往往被淹没在负面报道中。

　　##### 6. 结论 西方媒体对中国科技新闻的报道往往带有偏见和双重标准。这种报道方式不仅歪曲了中国科技进步的事实，还加剧了全球对中国科技发展的误解和不信任。为了更全面和客观地理解中国的科技发展，有必要跳出偏见的框架，从多角度和多层次进行分析。

　　中国在科技领域的进步是全球科技发展的一部分，应当得到公正和客观的评价。通过更为全面和深入的报道，可以更好地促进全球科技合作与交流，推动科技进步和人类社会的发展。

新闻来源： 2412140635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-13

### 关于中国的新闻报道：Society章节

　　#### 引言

　　近年来，西方媒体对中国社会的报道呈现出多样化的趋势，涵盖了从人口老龄化到经济政策的各个方面。然而，这些报道往往带有明显的偏见和双重标准，缺乏对中国复杂社会背景的深入理解。为了更客观地评价这些报道，本章节将对西方媒体关于中国社会的报道进行详细分析，旨在揭示其中的偏见和不足，并提供更为全面和客观的视角。

　　#### 一、人口老龄化与养老问题

　　西方媒体常常关注中国的人口老龄化问题，指出中国将在2050年面临约40%的人口年龄在60岁及以上。这一问题确实是中国社会面临的重要挑战，但西方媒体往往忽视了中国政府和社会在应对这一问题上所做的努力。

　　1. 政府政策：中国政府已经出台了一系列政策，旨在应对人口老龄化问题。例如，全国人大常委会通过了《中华人民共和国老年人权益保障法》，旨在保障老年人的合法权益。此外，政府还在加大对养老服务业的投入，鼓励社会资本进入养老服务领域。

　　2. 社会支持：尽管传统的家庭养老模式面临挑战，但中国社会正在逐步形成多元化的养老模式。社区养老、机构养老和居家养老相结合，为老年人提供了更多选择。

　　#### 二、经济政策与私营企业

　　西方媒体对中国经济政策的报道往往集中在政府对私营企业的支持上。尽管这些报道部分反映了现实，但往往忽视了中国经济政策的复杂性和多样性。

　　1. 私营企业的地位：中国政府近年来不断强调私营企业在国家经济发展中的重要地位。例如，习近平总书记在多个场合强调“两个毫不动摇”，即坚持公有制为主体、多种所有制经济共同发展，坚持按劳分配为主体、多种分配方式并存。

　　2. 政策支持：中国政府出台了一系列政策，旨在支持私营企业的发展。例如，《关于促进中小企业健康发展的意见》、《关于进一步减轻小微企业税负的通知》等政策文件，都明确了对私营企业的支持力度。

　　#### 三、文化与社会价值观

　　西方媒体在报道中国社会时，往往忽视了中国传统文化和价值观的深远影响。以下是对这一问题的详细分析：

　　1. 孝道与家庭责任：中国社会强调孝道和家庭责任，这在一定程度上影响了对养老问题的解决方案。尽管现代社会中家庭结构发生了变化，但孝道仍然是中国社会的重要价值观。

　　2. 社会变迁：随着社会的发展，中国社会在价值观上也发生了变化。年轻一代更加注重个人权利和自我实现，这在一定程度上影响了传统的家庭养老模式。

　　#### 四、科技与社会发展

　　西方媒体对中国科技发展的报道往往集中在其对社会的影响上。尽管这些报道部分反映了现实，但往往忽视了科技发展对中国社会的积极影响。

　　1. 数字经济：中国在数字经济领域取得了显著进展，电子商务、移动支付等领域的发展极大地提升了人们的生活质量。例如，阿里巴巴、腾讯等科技巨头在推动数字经济发展方面发挥了重要作用。

　　2. 社会治理：科技的发展也在一定程度上提升了社会治理的效率。例如，智慧城市建设、大数据分析等技术的应用，极大地提升了城市管理的效率。

　　#### 结论

　　综上所述，西方媒体对中国社会的报道往往带有明显的偏见和双重标准，缺乏对中国复杂社会背景的深入理解。为了更客观地评价中国社会，需要全面考虑中国政府和社会在应对各种挑战上所做的努力，并认识到中国传统文化和价值观的深远影响。只有这样，才能形成更为全面和客观的视角。

新闻来源： 2412140635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-13; 2412141242The-Guardian-Prince-Andrew-invited-alleged-Chinese-spy-to-Buckingham-Palace

• Prince Andrew ‘invited alleged Chinese spy to Buckingham Palace’
• What’s stopping human-like machine intelligence? Chinese AI experts weigh in
• Reporter’s note: How a mall in Mexico became a flashpoint in US-China rivalry
• ‘I want to live’: death of China cancer fighter, worked to finance own education, saddens many
• China’s annual growth on track to hit target of around 5%, senior official suggests
• Australian gemstone used in China’s hypersonic weapons could be security risk: study
• China dad jailed for killing baby daughter by throwing her from flat during fight with wife
• Chinese surveillance firm Hikvision ends Xinjiang government contracts ahead of Trump 2.0
• Malaysia police retrieve missing Chinese tourist’s body from Sabah diving spot
• Yellen warns ‘wary’ Chinese banks that US sanctions are still a real risk
• China’s Xi Jinping to make 3-day visit to Macau from Wednesday
• Democrats and Republicans condemn espionage-driven Chinese hack
• China aims to heal wounds of industrial ‘involution’ as officials vow to stem bloodletting
• China sells ultra-powerful laser cutter to unnamed US buyer in industry first
• South Korean businesses based in China eye Trump tariffs nervously
• Prince Andrew says he ‘ceased all contact’ with alleged Chinese spy after government advice
• How my Malaysian Chinese education is paying off
• Why mainland China’s ‘second navy’ is becoming increasingly active around Taiwan
• Mainland China’s Taiwan military presence
• UK’s Prince Andrew says he’s ‘ceased all contact’ with alleged Chinese spy
• Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent execs among Big Tech members on new China AI standards committee

Prince Andrew ‘invited alleged Chinese spy to Buckingham Palace’

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/14/prince-andrew-invited-alleged-chinese-spy-to-buckingham-palace

A businessman accused of being a Chinese spy was invited to Buckingham Palace and other royal residences by the Duke of York, it has been reported.

The man – who was banned from Britain by the government on national security grounds – visited Buckingham Palace twice, and also entered St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle at the invitation of Andrew, the Times reported.

On Friday, the duke said he had “ceased all contact” with the businessman when concerns were first raised about him. A statement from his office said Andrew met the individual through “official channels”, with “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”.

Last March, the businessman, only known as H6, brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after the then home secretary, Suella Braverman, said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.

Judges were told that in a briefing for the home secretary in July 2023, officials claimed H6 had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials “that could be leveraged for political interference purposes”.

Rana Mitter, the ST Lee professor of US-Asia relations at the Harvard Kennedy School and an expert in Chinese politics, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that part of the Chinese spying strategy is to look for people who might be “influential over time” but are “in a bit of a doldrums”.

He said the situation involving the Duke of York and H6 is “not so much about spying in the sense of trying to find out secrets, it’s about trying to influence”.

“Getting to know the elites of countries like Britain is a useful task, not for immediate knowledge but maybe for long-term development of links in society. It seems that’s what has been going on here,” Mitter said.

“One of the things that quite often will happen is looking out for who may be influential over time, but perhaps is in a bit of a down spot, a bit of a doldrums.

“One of the best examples from a generation ago would have been President Richard Nixon – after he had to resign in disgrace over Watergate he was frequently invited to China.”

Several newspapers have reported that the king has been briefed about his brother’s links to the alleged spy.

The revelations come after the royal family reportedly took further steps over the summer to distance themselves from the disgraced duke, with the king said to have axed his £1m annual “living allowance” and the security Charles had been privately funding for Andrew’s home.

Andrew Lownie, who is writing a biography of the duke and Sarah, Duchess of York, said the latest news involving the king’s younger brother would impact the wider family and the “future of the monarchy” as he called for greater transparency around the the royals’ finances.

He said: “The real scandals surrounding him are financial more than sexual.

“Given he cannot police his own activities and understand where the moral boundaries lie, it is time for proper scrutiny of his finances and a public register of royal interests.

“Judging from online comments to newspaper articles, this episode is highly damaging for the whole of the royal family, whose finances and business activities should now be more transparent.

Senior Tories including Braverman have called for H6 to lose his anonymity, as a “deterrent to others taking part in similar activities”.

Speaking from Italy on Saturday, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “Our security and intelligence agencies are continually vigilant for any threat to UK national security, whether that be around foreign influence, whether it be around espionage, whether it be around any security threat.

“We won’t hesitate to take action wherever any challenge arises.”

Asked whether the anonymity of H6 should be lifted, she said: “We always respect the decisions of the courts and also don’t comment on individual cases.”

Buckingham Palace and the Duke of York’s office have been approached for comment.

What’s stopping human-like machine intelligence? Chinese AI experts weigh in

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3290809/whats-stopping-human-machine-intelligence-chinese-ai-experts-weigh?utm_source=rss_feed

China still has a long way to go to develop its own human-like self-learning software known as artificial general intelligence (AGI), two leading industry figures told an AI forum in Shanghai on Friday.

Addressing the Pujiang AI Conference, Qiao Yu, lead scientist at the Shanghai AI Laboratory, the event’s organiser, said there were technical challenges on the path to AGI, with room for innovation in model architecture, data and learning algorithms.

One of the barriers is creating multimodal large models, systems that can process a range of information such as text and video, laying a foundation for AGI.

“[I] hope that multimodal large models can achieve breakthroughs in strong generalisation capabilities, just as language models did,” he said, adding that he anticipated advances through “scaling laws”, where a model’s performance improves as its size and training data increase.

He also said the balance between AI performance and safety was key to driving a sustainable and healthy development of artificial intelligence.

Zhang Xiangyu, chief scientist at Shanghai-based AI start-up StepFun, agreed that there was a long way to go before AGI could be realised, saying the future would require smarter goal-oriented approaches and transparency.

“The industry should steer clear of blindly following trends and use white box [learning] models to guide practical applications to avoid wasting resources,” he said.

White box AI is transparent about how it behaves, processes data and comes to a conclusion.

“We hope that the ‘scaling law’ will help tackle existing challenges and create a proportional relationship between intelligence levels and model scales, driving the development of more intelligent AI systems,” he said.

StepFun, founded last year by a former vice-president at Microsoft, said in April that it was betting on scaling laws to increase its AI strength, adding that computing power, systems, data and algorithms were the cores to this pursuit.

Computer scientist Andrew Yao Chi-Chih also told the conference that China had fostered AI talent at the undergraduate level and its next step was to enable young specialists in the field to carry out independent research.

Yao, dean of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences and the college of AI at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said the AI institute had been recruiting quality local experts whose expertise and innovation were on par with counterparts from abroad.

“We may have reached a turning point,” said Yao, who joined Tsinghua from Princeton University in 2004.

“Over the past few years, it has seemed that while our country has achieved a world-class level in undergraduate education, we have still fallen short in training doctoral students. But we have now started to see results and it will further improve in the future.

“The next step is to equip young scientists who have just begun their independent research with abilities equivalent to those of postdoctoral researchers abroad. We should work hard on training quality postdoctoral candidates.”

Reporter’s note: How a mall in Mexico became a flashpoint in US-China rivalry

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3290717/reporters-note-how-mall-mexico-became-flashpoint-us-china-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed

At last month’s China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing, I met a businessman who worked for years at a Chinese-language newspaper in Mexico City – and as I'd recently spent some time reporting in Mexico's capital, we had plenty to talk about.

The topic of conversation quickly turned to a controversial Chinese-funded megastore: Plaza Izazaga 89, or Mexico Mart, located in the centre of the city. It had been ordered to close temporarily by local authorities twice this year.

“It will be shut down again,” he said, confidently.

“How can you be sure?” I asked.

It didn't take long to find out. The very next day the mall was shuttered once again, and in far more visible fashion: a raid on the direct instruction of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

At a press briefing following the closure – and the seizure of 262,334 pieces of counterfeit goods worth 7.5 million pesos (US$371,795) – the country’s economic secretary Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon said the government was protecting domestic industries and eradicating “illicit practices that affect the public and the national economy.” Similar operations will be carried out across the nation, he added.

It feels surreal to see the leaders of a country personally mandate the closure of a shopping centre. Phoney products are an annoyance, certainly, but not a matter of life and death.

Though the Mexican government framed the operation as a domestic issue and denied it was specifically targeting Chinese products, it’s hard to ignore the broader context: the Latin American country is facing rising pressure from the United States, especially president-elect Donald Trump, to curtail its economic ties with Beijing.

I first became aware of the 16-storey shopping complex in March, when I was reporting for a series of stories about Chinese overseas investment. It was a great surprise to come across a building in the heart of Mexico that wouldn't be out of place on any Chinese street.

The products – keychains, toys and the like – were mostly imports. The signage was bilingual, and most tenants were ethnically Chinese. It was hard to imagine what locals thought about a place like this, practically plucked from halfway across the world, in their own backyard.

The Chinese nickname for the centre is “Yiwu Mall”, a reference to the city in eastern Zhejiang province that is home to the world’s largest small commodities market. The name stuck despite the fact the designer and operator of the mall, Lin Yun, is actually from Fujian, another coastal province.

Back then, there was little sense of crisis among the operator and the tenants. The bubble was still growing: even during my short three-hour visit, newcomers looking for space to rent were a common sight.

Lin had described Mexico as the site of a new gold rush on Chinese social media, attracting a wave of Chinese expatriates. Some were part of the diaspora in Europe or other Latin American countries, others came directly from the homeland.

I asked the retailers whether they were worried about a potential backlash in Mexican society, as they could be perceived as competitors to local businesses. They said there had been protests targeting Chinese-run stores in other cities in the past year, but they were not really concerned.

They trusted the quality and price of their products would be enough to win over consumers. Their only concern was for their profit margins as more people relocated as they had.

As far as US pressure was concerned, they did not believe themselves vulnerable. The Chinese manufacturers who set up factories in the north of the country for easy access to the US border, they thought, were at greater risk of disruption.

Lin, who came to Mexico in 2019, was proud of what he had achieved in five years. The neighbourhood – which had nary a trace of Chinese culture upon his arrival – had effectively become a new Chinatown, with three more markets cut from the same cloth as Izazaga 89. He had proclaimed it a shining example of “China speed”.

But just days after my initial visit, business had ground to a halt. Mexican media reported local authorities shut the complex down in response to complaints about potential smuggling and the sale of imported goods without payment of the necessary taxes. It reopened the next day - but it was the beginning of the end.

It was closed a second time in July, after local media accused store owners of tax evasion, ignoring safety hazards and squeezing out local businesses. The incident put the city’s Chinese community on high alert for hostile sentiment among locals. Even as the mall was permitted to reopen more than a month later, the unease lingered. Lin removed the Chinese signs from all the malls he operated.

Now, Izazaga 89’s time as “Yiwu Mall” might be at an end. Lin talked about the possibility of early termination for the lease agreement with the building’s owner – a contract originally set to last more than 20 years – on his social media account last week, though some tenants hope for further negotiation with the Mexican government.

On Thursday, Mexican authorities took off the paper signs reading “CLAUSURADO” – “closed” – covering the market’s main entrance, though tenants said it was still unclear whether it would reopen again.

But it is clear the old business model is no longer workable in the country, at least not as it was in the past.

A regional head of a Chinese phone brand operating in Mexico told me prices for Chinese phones there were among the highest in the world – not because Chinese proprietors charge Mexicans more, but because of the wide margins enforced by the country’s retail monopoly.

As sellers at Izazaga 89 skipped these middleman and went direct to consumers with their products, it is not hard to imagine why the centre would become a target.

Putting aside political pressure from Mexico’s northern neighbour, it is also true that no country wants cheaper and better products flooding in from overseas, especially if they have their own manufacturing infrastructure. Chinese companies have thus shifted their models, setting up factories in other countries rather than shipping items directly.

This is similar to what Japan did decades ago. But the scale of this wave has complicated matters: compliance difficulties, cultural differences and political risks have all served to undermine trust. In hindsight, leaving a piece of the pie for the locals would have been a wise move.

For the Chinese tenants of “Yiwu Mall” and their employees – 3,000 in all – it is unclear where they will go next, or even whether they can get their stores back.

Beijing’s embassy in Mexico did intervene to negotiate with Mexican authorities, allowing store owners a few days to extract their inventory from the complex.

It took a great deal of effort to get those goods out. It might be downright impossible to get them back in.

---

‘I want to live’: death of China cancer fighter, worked to finance own education, saddens many

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3290734/i-want-live-death-china-cancer-fighter-worked-finance-own-education-saddens-many?utm_source=rss_feed

Many on social media are mourning the death of a 25-year-old Chinese woman who tenaciously fought terminal cancer until it ultimately took her life.

Lu Wenna, an auxiliary police officer in southwestern China’s Yunnan province, passed away on December 6 from a rare form of cancer known as rhabdomyosarcoma, a type of soft tissue sarcoma.

Since her diagnosis in May last year, she had been responding positively to treatment and documenting her journey on her Douyin account, @bunana, where she had amassed 32,000 followers.

Despite her deteriorating physical condition, Lu inspired many with her passion for life.

In one video shortly before her death, she stated: “I want to live.”

In another video from November, she expressed gratitude to her online supporters: “Yunnan is warm in winter. There is sunshine, my mum’s love, my sister, and your company. I am satisfied.”

Lu faced significant challenges in her life. Her parents divorced and formed new families during her secondary school years, forcing her to grow up quickly and support herself.

Since secondary school, she had worked part-time to finance her studies, taking on various jobs as a salesperson, waitress, street vendor, and flier distributor.

Her hard work paid off when she was admitted to a local military school, and after graduation, she fulfilled her childhood dream of becoming a police officer.

However, what she described as “the happiest time of her life” as a policewoman lasted only a year before she experienced sudden vision loss and postnasal drip with blood.

She lamented that her dream was “shattered” by the diagnosis of this fatal disease.

“I am only 24. I don’t want to surrender to fate,” she said.

Determined, Lu soon gathered her strength and actively pursued chemotherapy, enduring significant weight and hair loss in the process. Her mother came to care for her during this difficult time.

When she felt better, she visited Dianchi Lake in Kunming, Yunnan, to feed seagulls and travelled to Beijing to witness the flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square.

Lu shared her experiences and treatment updates online, offering tips to others with similar conditions.

She expressed sadness when looking at her old photos, saying: “I can never go back to those days,” but added: “I love every day that I live.”

When an online observer asked why she continued treatment despite the pain, she replied: “I have hopes for miracles.”

After her passing, many expressed their grief and paid tribute to her on her account.

“Rest in peace. Salute to the brave cancer fighter,” one user wrote.

“I am sorry to learn about you in this way. I am deeply moved by your strong spirit. Thank you for the warmth you shared with us, and I wish you happiness in Heaven,” another commented.

---

China’s annual growth on track to hit target of around 5%, senior official suggests

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3290806/chinas-annual-growth-track-hit-target-around-5-senior-official-suggests?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s economic growth this year will be about 5 per cent, a high-level official said on Saturday, suggesting that the country is hitting its annual target.

The world’s second largest economy is going to achieve major goals for 2024 and contribute to nearly 30 per cent of global growth, Han Wenxiu, deputy director of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission’s general office, told an economic forum in Beijing.

Describing employment and prices as stable, Han said China’s foreign exchange reserves – the world’s largest – are expected to remain above US$3.2 trillion, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Earlier this year the country’s annual growth target was set at “around 5 per cent” and policymakers have unveiled a series of stimulus measures in recent months in an effort to hit the target and revive the slowing economy.

It is the first comment about China’s economic prospects from a top official following the two-day Central Economic Work Conference last week, where planners looked back at 2024 and mapped out strategies for the new year.

Economic planners pledged to seek a sustainable growth rate through a number of policy changes including a higher fiscal deficit ceiling, more treasury bonds and cuts to interest rates and the reserve requirement ratio.

The new policy proposals “carry significant weight”, and specific plans will be unveiled during the annual parliamentary session in March, Han said.

He noted “a major shift” from previous years, including a more active fiscal policy and a shift from the “prudent” monetary policy that had been in place since 2009 to a “moderately loose” one.

On Friday the national financial work conference saw officials pledging to follow the new monetary policy with the aim of expanding domestic demand and transforming the economy.

Han also said that although growth had been weak in the second and third quarters, there had been positive developments in recent months, including in the real estate market.

Since October, both transaction volumes and prices have shown encouraging signals. Additionally, local government debt and risks from small and medium-sized financial institutions are being effectively alleviated and managed, he said.

This progress is attributed to a series of stimulus measures introduced since late September, which Han said had “successfully boosted social confidence and led to a clear economic rebound”.

He also stressed that China needs to focus on boosting domestic demand, especially consumption, as this should be its primary growth driver in the future amid rising external uncertainty.

The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planner, also met on Friday to set the economic agenda for the coming year, pledging to develop a “tangible workload as soon as possible” and introduce private capital into major projects, as more money is expected to be injected into the economy.

At the same time, it vowed to strengthen the private sector and push for the introduction of a law to promote the private economy “as early as possible”.

A draft law was published in October and lawmakers are currently reviewing public responses to that.

Australian gemstone used in China’s hypersonic weapons could be security risk: study

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3290437/australian-gemstone-used-chinas-hypersonic-weapons-could-be-security-risk-study?utm_source=rss_feed

Zircon from Australia could become fiercely contested by China and the United States, a geologist who works with the Chinese military has warned.

While zircon is commonly valued as a gemstone, inside, it contains the metal zirconium.

The metal can withstand very high temperatures, enabling ceramics, for example, to be heated to above 3,000 degrees Celsius (5,432 degrees Fahrenheit) and providing indispensable protection for hypersonic aircraft.

China has the world’s largest demand for zirconium, but its reserves only account for 0.7 per cent of the global total. The US, another major consumer of zirconium, also has few reserves.

The country with the world’s largest reserves of zirconium is Australia, with over 74 per cent of the global total, according to data from the US Geological Survey.

“Global demand for zirconium resources is continuously growing due to their enormous potential in military applications,” a research team, led by senior engineer Kong Fanjin with the China Geological Survey, wrote in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese journal Geological Reviews on November 29.

“Their unique high melting point, high density and excellent corrosion resistance provide important support for the development of new military technologies.

“Especially materials like zirconium diboride, thanks to their stability in extreme high-temperature environments, are widely used in the thermal protection systems of hypersonic aircraft and spacecraft. As a major importer and consumer of zirconium resources, China is facing severe challenges to its resource security.

“Amid the intensifying competition for global strategic resources, how to rationally allocate zirconium ore resources has become a key issue for safeguarding national security and promoting military technological progress.”

Kong is also a member of the big data and decision-making laboratory at the National University of Defence Technology of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Changsha, Hunan, which provides support and services to the Chinese military and government through rigorous analysis.

China’s hypersonic weapons are entering a period of explosive growth. At the China Airshow held in November, Chinese companies showcased for the first time hypersonic missiles available for sale to other countries.

These weapons can fly long distances at speeds exceeding five times the speed of sound, and can change direction, making them extremely difficult to fend off. An increasing number of countries and organisations, including Russia, North Korea, Iran and even the Houthi rebels in Yemen, are using such weapons to challenge the air defence systems of the US and its allies.

It is not just hypersonic weapons that benefit from this resource – China’s other hi-tech industries were also in urgent need of zirconium, Kong said.

China’s nuclear power generation capacity is growing at a rate of seven to eight new reactors per year, and a significant amount of zirconium is required for the control rods and shielding materials in these reactors. In the future, solid-state lithium batteries for high-performance, long-range electric vehicles may also require large quantities of this metal.

Kong noted that most of the zirconium ore imported by China is used to strengthen toilets and decorative ceramics. He predicts that the usage of zirconium in these inexpensive products will decline to meet the demands of the military and hi-tech industries.

With the competition over global zirconium resources then potentially heating up, Kong has suggested the Chinese government should start preparing for this contest as early as possible.

While Australia holds the largest reserves of zirconium, it is not the only potential supplier. South Africa and Indonesia – which are both members of the Brics bloc, an affiliation of emerging economies which includes China – also produce zirconium ore.

Sourcing zirconium from Australia could see bumps in the road. Australia is an ally of the US. On November 19, Canberra announced that it would accelerate cooperation with the US and Britain in developing hypersonic weapons to enhance its offensive and defensive capabilities.

However, China is also Australia’s largest trading partner, and the huge profits from selling ores to China play a crucial role in maintaining Australia’s high standard of living.

Although the US has been slower in the field of hypersonic technology, it recently successfully test-fired a hypersonic missile launched from a bomber. The Pentagon plans to use this weapon to attack China’s aircraft carriers and coastal cities in potential future military conflicts.

According to a survey conducted by the US Congress last year, thermal protection technologies and materials are currently the greatest challenges faced by the US hypersonic weapon programme.

China dad jailed for killing baby daughter by throwing her from flat during fight with wife

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3290646/china-dad-jailed-killing-baby-daughter-throwing-her-flat-during-fight-wife?utm_source=rss_feed

A man in China was sentenced to four years in prison after he accidentally threw his six-month-old daughter out of their flat window, resulting in her death and sending shock waves through the community.

A court in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region of Western China recently sentenced the father, surnamed Zhao, for manslaughter, as reported by the Chinese media outlet Hongxing News on December 8.

Reports indicate that Zhao had consumed some wine during dinner while dining out with his wife and daughter, and returned home intoxicated.

His wife, surnamed Huang, left their crying daughter with Zhao while she attended to some housework. Zhao, resting on the sofa, ignored the baby’s cries, prompting Huang to express her frustration over his carelessness.

As the couple began to argue, Zhao held the baby in his arms and approached the window of their sixth-floor flat.

According to the report, while attempting to rock her back and forth to comfort her amid the argument with Huang, he accidentally threw her out of the window due to being “drunk and emotionally charged”, stating that “his hands got slippery”.

Huang immediately rushed downstairs to find her daughter, who was in a coma at the time.

Zhao drove her to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of death was identified as severe brain injury and traumatic shock resulting from multiple organ damage.

The hospital alerted the police after Huang accused Zhao of throwing the baby out of the window.

The prosecutor initially charged Zhao with murder; however, Zhao maintained that it was an accident.

Huang testified that Zhao drank almost every day but had been caring towards their daughter, purchasing high-quality milk powder and other necessities. He even bought her a toy on the day she died.

The court ultimately determined that Zhao was guilty of manslaughter rather than murder, concluding that he lacked a motive to kill and had made genuine efforts to save her life, even risking drink-driving to take her to the hospital after the incident.

He was sentenced to four years in prison for his negligence that led to his daughter’s death.

This case has reignited discussions regarding the legal consequences that Chinese parents should face for carelessly causing their children’s injuries or deaths.

In 2021, a three-year-old girl died after her forgetful parents left her in their car for five hours.

Last year, a father left his four-year-old daughter alone by the seaside to retrieve his phone from the car. Tragically, she was swept into the sea, and her body was found two weeks later.

In both instances, the parents were not held legally accountable for negligence.

Lawyer Zhang Xinnian from Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm noted that this is often attributed to the traditional cultural belief that legal punishment is too harsh for parents already suffering the pain of losing a child.

However, many legal experts and social media users argue that parents should face consequences for negligence leading to their children’s deaths, as children are not their parents’ property.

Chinese surveillance firm Hikvision ends Xinjiang government contracts ahead of Trump 2.0

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3290801/chinese-surveillance-firm-hikvision-ends-xinjiang-government-contracts-ahead-trump-20?utm_source=rss_feed

US-sanctioned Chinese surveillance giant Hikvision has terminated five contracts with local government authorities in Xinjiang, as it braces for the second term of US president-elect Donald Trump, who first put Hikvision on a trade blacklist in 2019.

Hikvision ended the contracts for its public security projects in the far-western region of China, where local subsidiaries signed the deals with municipal governments in the region in 2017, the state-owned surveillance equipment maker said in a statement on Friday.

The projects have been completed since 2018 and entered a maintenance phase, according to Hikvision. The five local subsidiaries will continue to work on clearing debts and receivables, but will no longer engage in other business activities, the company added.

The five Hikvision subsidiaries – Luopu Haishi Dingxin Electronic Technology, Moyu Haishi Electronic Technology, Pishan Haishi Yongan Electronic Technology, Urumqi Haishi Xinan Electronic Technology, and Yutian Haishi Meitian Electronic Technology – were added in March last year to the so-called Entity List managed by a bureau under the US Department of Commerce.

The US Bureau of Industry and Security alleged the companies were involved in “human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-technology surveillance against the Uygur people and members of other Muslim minority groups in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region”.

That came after the first Trump administration blacklisted Hikvision in 2019, also for the Chinese government’s use of its products in Xinjiang, requiring American firms to obtain a licence before shipping items to the surveillance camera maker.

Hikvision did not explain why it was now terminating the contracts. The company is among Chinese tech firms that have been caught in the crosshairs of the US in an escalating tech war with China.

The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden earlier this month announced new restrictions targeting China’s semiconductor industry, which included adding 140 Chinese chip-related organisations to the Entity List and curbing China-bound shipments of chipmaking tools and high bandwidth memory chips.

Hikvision was founded in Hangzhou in 2001 and went public in Shenzhen nine years later. It now operates 80 branch offices outside mainland China and offers services in more than 150 countries and regions, according to its 2023 annual report.

The company booked 8.1 billion yuan (US$1.1 billion) in profit in the first three quarters of this year, an 8.4 per cent year on year drop, according to its latest earnings report. It attributed the decline to weak domestic demand, tight government funding sources and insufficient corporate investment confidence.

Malaysia police retrieve missing Chinese tourist’s body from Sabah diving spot

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3290792/malaysia-police-retrieve-missing-chinese-tourists-body-sabah-diving-spot?utm_source=rss_feed

The body of a 31-year-old male Chinese tourist was discovered underwater by Malaysian marine police near Sabah state’s renowned diving spot off Mabul Island, Semporna.

He was found fully clothed in a light-coloured T-shirt, shorts, shoes and a grey backpack.

The victim, identified as Zhang Cao from China’s Henan, was believed to have been a solo traveller.

Semporna district police chief Mohd Sabri Zainol said the tourist was last seen near Mabul Island.

“We received a report at 11.33am on Friday regarding a missing male Chinese tourist in the waters near Mabul Island.

“Acting on this information, the Semporna Marine Police team, with assistance from divers from nearby resorts, conducted a search and found the body at a depth of 17m,” he said.

Police also found a mobile phone and a few passport-sized photos in the bag.

Police have opened an investigation and classified the case as a sudden death.

“We urge anyone who has a missing family member or relevant information to contact us immediately. A postmortem will be conducted within 48 hours if no next of kin comes forward to claim the body,” Mohd Sabri said in a statement.

Those with information are encouraged to contact the investigating officer, Mohd Ali Amat, at 013-212 0852, the Semporna police station at 089-782 020, or any nearby police station.

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Yellen warns ‘wary’ Chinese banks that US sanctions are still a real risk

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3290793/yellen-warns-wary-chinese-banks-us-sanctions-are-still-real-risk?utm_source=rss_feed

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Friday that the US was looking at further sanctions on “dark fleet” tankers and would not rule out sanctions on Chinese banks as it seeks to reduce Russia’s oil revenue and access to foreign supplies to fuel its war in Ukraine.

Yellen said the US and its allies also could consider lowering their US$60-per-barrel oil price cap on Russian oil, which prohibits Western insurance and maritime services on cargoes above that level.

The Treasury had already sanctioned individual tankers and their owners for operating above the price cap and could do more in this area, Yellen added, suggesting additional measures in the five weeks before she leaves office.

“There are a number of possibilities here. We don’t preview sanctions, but we’re always looking at oil revenues and if we can find ways to further impair Russian oil revenues, that would, I think, strengthen Ukraine’s hand. That remains on our list,” Yellen said.

Earlier this week, Yellen said softness in the oil market presented an opportunity for more sanctions. Benchmark Brent crude traded at US$74.50 per barrel on Friday, down from US$85.57 when the US$60 cap was set in December 2022. President Joe Biden’s administration has been racing to shore up support for Ukraine before president-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20, given the Republican leader’s frequent complaints about the cost of US support for Ukraine.

US Treasury officials continue to have conversations with their Chinese counterparts on efforts to detect financial institution activity that could be aiding transactions related to Russia’s war effort. Yellen said these discussions had been aided by efforts to rebuild US-China economic and financial communications over the past two years.

“I absolutely would not rule out the possibility we would sanction an individual bank if we had the necessary level of ... evidence to be able to put sanctions on,” she said.

“But we also do have a channel where we’ve been able to discuss specific concerns, and sometimes that could be adequate as well.”

She said warnings to larger Chinese banks had been successful, making them “very wary” of sanctions that would cut them off from US dollar-based transactions. In an executive order about a year ago, Biden gave Treasury the authority to levy secondary sanctions on financial institutions that facilitate war-related transactions.

As Russia’s economy becomes more dominated by military production, it is becoming harder to distinguish between strictly commercial and war-related deals.

“Authorities in China recognise that our use of these sanctions would be a serious threat with very adverse consequences,” Yellen said. “They want to trade with Russia, but they do not want their banks sanctioned.”

Yellen said the final meeting of the US-China Financial Working Group would take place next week in the northeast Chinese city of Tianjin, but sanctions would not likely be a major feature. Instead, it will focus on financial stability issues, including “tabletop” exercises on how to deal with potential financial crises.

Yellen said it was important for the Trump administration to have open channels of communications with China, adding: “I think you can’t just have leader-to-leader meetings. The relationship has to be developed at a senior official staff level, and we’ve worked constructively on a lot of things.”

While the dialogue has not changed China’s state-led, export-driven economic model, it has allowed the US to explain actions like application of steep tariffs on electric vehicles.

Asked about a Reuters report this week that Beijing is considering weakening its yuan currency to counteract Trump’s tariff plans, Yellen said China in recent years had been doing “the exact opposite”, pushing up the yuan’s value against the dollar. That assessment was detailed in Treasury’s most recent semi-annual currency report, which found no manipulation by major US trading partners.

She declined to comment on Beijing’s specific currency plans, but said the US Treasury has tools to react strongly to address currency manipulation.

Hedge fund executive Scott Bessent is expected to oversee the Treasury’s next currency report, which is due in April.

“I’m not going to be here, but my guess is that Treasury will continue to push back if it thought that there was currency manipulation,” Yellen said.

Peter Navarro, who is Trump’s designated White House trade adviser, also told Reuters earlier on Friday that Trump’s Treasury Department would not look “fondly” on any attempts by US trading partners to manipulate their currencies.

China’s Xi Jinping to make 3-day visit to Macau from Wednesday

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3290787/chinas-xi-jinping-make-3-day-visit-macau-wednesday?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Macau from Wednesday to Friday next week to attend ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the former Portuguese colony’s return to Chinese rule.

State news agency Xinhua announced on Saturday that Xi would inaugurate on Friday Macau’s new administration led by Sam Ho-fai and inspect the city during his three-day trip.

The casino city elected former top judge Sam, 62, as its sixth chief executive in October with 394 votes from the 400-strong Election Committee. Sam was the only candidate.

He will be sworn in by Xi on December 20, replacing former leader Ho Iat-shing, who announced he would not run for re-election due to health concerns.

Sam will be the city’s first leader who was born and raised in mainland China, while sharing no business background with his lifetime career with the judiciary.

After Xinhua’s announcement, Sam vowed that the new government would forge ahead in solidarity, uphold integrity and promote reform.

“[We will] continuously open up new prospects for the practice of ‘one country, two systems’ with Macau characteristics, and promote Macau’s prosperous and stable development,” he said.

Xi will also inaugurate 10 top officials picked by Sam on the same day, including Secretary for Administration and Justice Cheong Weng-chon and Secretary for Security Wong Sio-chak from the previous administration.

Macau’s GDP reached MOP$379.5 billion (US$47 billion) in 2023, with around 38.8 per cent coming from its gaming sector.

Xi’s last visit to Macau was to inaugurate Ho and his cabinet five years ago.

Ho on Saturday sent a warm welcome to Xi and expressed gratitude to the central government for its support of Macau.

He added that the city had been actively seizing the opportunities from the national development, deepening moderate economic diversification, strengthening the functions of “one centre, one platform and one base” and contributing to China’s modernisation.

Ho was referring to Macau’s ambition to build itself into a world centre of tourism and leisure, a trading platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries and a cultural exchange between East and West to bolster the city’s moderate economic diversification and sustainable growth.

Ho also noted the city would further promote the construction of the Hengqin Guangdong-Macau Shenzhen Integration Zone, a 106 sq km area established in 2021 under joint provincial-city leadership and the Greater Bay Area, which Beijing draws Macau with Hong Kong and nine Guangdong cities to become a new economic powerhouse.

Democrats and Republicans condemn espionage-driven Chinese hack

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/13/democrats-republicans-condemn-salt-typhoon-hack

Democrats and Republicans have come together in a rare moment of unity to condemn an espionage-driven Chinese infiltration of the US telecommunications system that has been called the worst hack in American history.

Carried out by a group called Salt Typhoon that is believed to be linked to China’s communist regime, it has resulted in the infiltration of dozens of US telecoms companies and the data of senior political figures – including the president-elect, Donald Trump; the incoming vice-president, JD Vance; and Kamala Harris, the defeated Democratic presidential candidate – being stolen.

The US intelligence community believes the hack is ongoing and constitutes a grave national security threat.

The breach – which saw the hackers penetrate the system of major US telecoms giants, including Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and roughly 80 other companies and internet providers – has potentially given the hackers access to the texts, emails and personal details of tens of millions of people.

However, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) say the infiltration is targeted at certain high-level figures in a highly sophisticated espionage operation.

“We have identified that [Chinese government]-affiliated actors have compromised networks at multiple telecommunications companies to enable the theft of customer call records data, the compromise of private communications of a limited number of individuals who are primarily involved in government or political activity, and the copying of certain information that was subject to US law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders,” the agencies said in a joint statement last month.

The hack was first discovered last spring but only became public in late October, less than a fortnight before the presidential election, after being reported by the New York Times, which disclosed that hackers had targeted phones used by Trump and Vance.

Officials believe the infiltration is motivated by spying and information gathering rather than a precursor to an attack on infrastructure.

About 150 targeted victims, most of them in the Washington region, have been identified by the FBI. Officials believe information procured could then be used to target others.

Mark Warner, the outgoing Democratic chair of the Senate intelligence committee, told the Washington Post that the infiltration was the “worst telecom hack in our nation’s history – by far”, adding: “The American people need to know.

“This is an ongoing effort by China to infiltrate telecom systems around the world, to exfiltrate huge amounts of data.”

So far, however, the issue has gained little public traction, being overshadowed by last month’s election and Trump’s efforts to name members of his nascent administration following his victory.

It has elicited several meetings on Capitol Hill as Congress members and senators come to terms with yet another security breach in a year that has seen two failed assassination attempts against Trump and an apparently successful hack of his campaign by Iran, which was also engaged in a separate plot to kill him, according to security officials.

Senators from both main parties were briefed about the scale of the problem by the FBI, CISA and Federal Communications Commission officials this month in a closed-door session that triggered expressions of anger.

“The extent and depth and breadth of Chinese hacking is absolutely mind-boggling – that we would permit as much as has happened in just the last year is terrifying,” said Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic senator for Connecticut.

Florida senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state and a noted hawk on China, said: “It’s the most disturbing and widespread incursion into our telecommunications systems in the history of the world, not just the country, because of how massive our telecommunications systems is. This is as bad as it gets.”

His fellow Florida Republican, Rick Scott, blamed the agencies for failing to prevent the hack. “There’s no accountability in anybody sitting up there,” he told reporters. “They have not told us why they didn’t catch it, what they’ve done to prevent it.”

Josh Hawley, a GOP senator for Missouri, called the hack “breathtaking”.

“I think the American people need to know the extent of the breach here. I think they will be shocked at the extent of it,” he said. “I think they need to know about their text messages, their voicemail, their phone calls. It’s very bad, it’s very, very bad, and it is ongoing.”

While the hack has yet to capture the popular imagination, news of its scale is certain to further complicate America’s tangled relationship with China, which Trump has threatened with tariffs while also signalling a wish for warmer ties with a highly unusual invitation to its president, Xi Jinping, to attend next month’s presidential inauguration.

Brendan Carr, Trump’s nominee as head of the Federal Communications Commission, has pledged to work “with national security agencies through the transition and next year in an effort to root out the threat and secure our networks”.

“Cybersecurity is going to be an incredibly important issue,” he told the Washington Post. “National security is going to be a top priority.”

China aims to heal wounds of industrial ‘involution’ as officials vow to stem bloodletting

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3290715/china-aims-heal-wounds-industrial-involution-officials-vow-stem-bloodletting?utm_source=rss_feed

Amid increased complaints from private sectors over dwindling profit margins and overflowing inventories, China’s top leaders have pledged stronger actions to combat industrial overcapacity and vicious competition in the year to come.

Beijing will “comprehensively rectify ‘neijuan-style’ competition”, through regulating the behaviour of local governments and enterprises, the country’s leaders vowed at the two-day central economic work conference that wrapped up on Thursday.

The term , has become tantamount in China to an unsustainable state of intense internal competition that leads to diminishing returns and stagnation, which could further curtail long-term investment and technological innovation.

The green energy sector, which has been a bright spot in the country’s economy over the past few years and is concentrated among private firms, has borne the brunt. In the solar supply chain, for example, product prices and industrial-output value have kept falling this year, along with the rapid expansion of manufacturing capacity, application scenarios and export volumes.

China’s local governments have been the main force behind the industrial policies that have spurred the rapid growth of China’s new-energy sector, offering comprehensive support such as cheap land and low-priced-power purchase agreements, which encourage the construction of more factories to the degree that they become excessive.

The average prices of solar products have fallen by 60 to 80 per cent compared with their high point in 2023, and one-third of the listed solar manufacturers have suffered net profit losses this year, with leading companies bleeding the most, according to Wang Bohua, honorary chairman of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association.

“Now the industry is generally losing blood, without any profits, and gross profit margins are extremely low,” said Cao Renxian, president of Sungrow, a major photovoltaics company in China, at the association’s annual conference earlier this month. “So, what resources and funds do you use to innovate?”

Meanwhile, a prolonged price war in the country’s auto sector may also continue or even further escalate.

Last month, a letter from Chinese electric car giant BYD, asking its suppliers to cut their product prices by 10 per cent starting from January, triggered backlash in the industry.

Beijing already acknowledged that “overcapacity in certain industries” was one of the major economic challenges to tackle this year, at its central economic work conference in 2023. In July, at a Politburo meeting, the top leadership agreed to prevent “‘neijuan-style’ vicious competition”, asking for the industry’s “self-discipline”.

Compared with the wording in July, “comprehensively rectify” pointed to more systematic government actions on the supply side, according to a note from GF Securities on Friday.

Analysts from Huaxi Securities said Beijing’s new stance on neijuan is also relevant to its long-term reform targets like constructing a unified national market, as well as the fiscal and tax reforms, which were singled out at the third plenum in July.

“By decentralising consumption tax collection authority and cancelling investment promotion incentives, local governments can be prompted to shift from focusing on investment and production to focusing on consumption,” they said.

China sells ultra-powerful laser cutter to unnamed US buyer in industry first

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3290652/china-sells-ultra-powerful-laser-cutter-unnamed-us-buyer-industry-first?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s hi-tech manufacturing sector has achieved a milestone in its foray into international markets, with a Zhejiang-based company exporting an ultra-high-powered laser cutting system to the United States.

Penta Laser, a joint venture between Chutian Laser Group and an Italian company, shipped a 60kW laser cutter – believed to be a first for the American structural steel industry – to an unnamed client, before new Chinese export controls came into effect.

According to the official WeChat account of the Chinese Journal of Lasers, the cutting-edge machine left the company’s factory in Shandong province on November 24. On December 1, China introduced new control measures on laser exports.

In its social media post on Thursday, the journal said the US client was a multinational corporation established in 1903, renowned for its “leading role in the global steel structure sector”.

The machine is capable of slicing 20mm-thick carbon steel (about two-thirds of an inch) at speeds of 11-12 metres (36-39ft) per minute, according to the report. It remains unclear whether the laser cutter or its related technology is subject to the Chinese ban.

Penta Laser, which has its headquarters in Wenzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, unveiled the world’s first 60kW laser cutter in March 2023, according to the company website.

While a 20kW cutter achieves cutting speeds of about 3.5 metres (11.5ft) per minute, the 60kW system operates at four times that speed, with unparalleled efficiency and precision, the company said.

The 60kW machine boasts a massive cutting area of 3 x 13 metres, a precision of 0.03mm, and automated loading and unloading capabilities. It also supports bevel cutting, making it adaptable for complex manufacturing needs.

Penta Laser CEO Wu Rangda said when it was launched that “the development of laser cutting machines has essentially reached its optimal power at 60kW, as this level fully replaces plasma and flame cutting”.

“Further increasing laser power would no longer enhance cutting efficiency or capability significantly. Instead, it would drive up costs for users and lead to higher energy consumption,” he said.

The company ranks among the top laser equipment manufacturers in China, introducing innovations such as the world’s first 12kW, 15kW, and 20kW laser cutters since 2017.

Laser cutting is a precise and versatile process that uses a concentrated beam to cut, shape, or engrave materials such as metal, plastic, or glass.

Its advantages – accuracy, minimal waste, and reduced processing time – make it indispensable in industries like construction, shipbuilding, aerospace, and heavy manufacturing.

The laser cutting industry, traditionally dominated by US companies such as Coherent and IPG Photonics, is undergoing significant changes as Chinese manufacturers gain ground by leveraging advancements in fibre laser technology.

According to the laser journal’s report on its WeChat account, Penta Laser has been expanding its export reach this year into Britain, Japan, and the Netherlands, among other markets.

“These achievements underscore the growing presence of China’s high-end manufacturing equipment in the global market and its potential to reshape the industry,” it said.

South Korean businesses based in China eye Trump tariffs nervously

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3290700/south-korean-businesses-based-china-eye-trump-tariffs-nervously?utm_source=rss_feed

As US president-elect Donald Trump threatens to increase tariffs on imports from China, small foreign businesses operating factories in the country are deeply concerned about the potential fallout.

Many see no easy way out because relocating operations or restructuring supply chains remain costly and complex challenges.

Among them is a medium-sized South Korean make-up brush manufacturer that has operated a factory in northern China since 1997 and exports its products around the world. It worries that Trump’s threatened tariffs might see most buyers shift their sourcing out of China or ask it to share the tariff costs or reduce product prices accordingly.

Offshoring is not a viable option either, said director Miyun Byun, who asked that the name of the company not be disclosed due to concerns about the sensitivity of the situation.

“If we were to relocate to another country, we would likely struggle to establish stable operations before the end of President Trump’s term,” she said.

Like many other labour-intensive industries, the global make-up brush supply chain has become highly concentrated in China over a number of decades, particularly in Cangzhou, a city in Hebei province that has become a major producer of make-up brushes.

Some companies in similar industries have expanded to countries including Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar, but Byun said no make-up brush manufacturers have made such moves and the challenges in doing so remain significant.

Political instability, a lack of infrastructure and broken supply chains – no raw materials or facilities – create very difficult conditions in low-income countries in South and Southeast Asia, despite their low labour costs, Byun said.

With labour costs in high-income nations excessively high, China remains the dominant country for cosmetic brush manufacturing, and “it will be not easy for any of our competitors to move production out of China under the current circumstances”, she added.

Small foreign players operating in China could feel as if they are swimming against the tide, said Arthur Kroeber, founding partner of Gavekal Dragonomics, a China-focused economic research firm.

“If you’re big, you can handle the compliance and the trade war stuff, you can move things around, but I don’t think there is a good solution for the smaller players other than that they just have to hunker down or they just have to go figure out how to operate in Vietnam,” Kroeber said.

Smaller and mid-sized American companies operating China might have channels such as trade associations that could lobby the White House if there are unforeseen repercussions in the United States, he said, but “if they’re non-American companies, good luck, because Trump does not care about them”.

“Chinese companies have been aggressively relocating because they know they need to internationalise as it’s going to be harder for them to export out of China,” Kroeber said. “They’re going like crazy in Southeast Asia, Latin America and Mexico, and they are big enough that they can say this is part of a long-term stretch.

“[The small foreign companies] just have to follow the lead of the Chinese companies and say ‘this is coming, we have to just roll with the tide’.”

Park Kihwan, who runs a small South Korean company that sources clothing materials from China, said his business could be affected if Trump’s tariffs extend to raw materials and lead to increased costs, and if the tariffs apply to countries trading with China, that would also present challenges to end sellers like himself. He also asked that the name of his company not be disclosed.

Many of Park’s peers have been relocating from China to countries such as Vietnam, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

But he said that “the reality is that technological advancements have followed a progression from Japan to South Korea and then to China, where the infrastructure has only recently matured”.

“Moving operations to third countries like Myanmar still requires time,” Park said. “With advanced technologies just beginning to take root in China, … Southeast Asian countries are not yet ready to replicate these capabilities.”

Political instability in countries such as Myanmar or Bangladesh also made introducing new technologies risky.

“Some businesses are moving to third countries due to pressures from the US, and there are certainly restrictions influenced by the US,” Park said. “However, with the current unpredictability, the only viable strategy is to adapt and respond when the situation unfolds.

“For now, it is not feasible to abandon China, which remains one of the few stable markets.”

Prince Andrew says he ‘ceased all contact’ with alleged Chinese spy after government advice

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/dec/14/prince-andrew-says-he-ceased-all-contact-with-alleged-chinese-spy-after-government-advice

The Duke of York has said he “ceased all contact” with the businessman accused of being a Chinese spy after receiving advice from the government.

Prince Andrew met the individual through “official channels” with “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”, a statement from his office said.

The businessman – described as a “close confidante” of Andrew – lost an appeal over a decision to bar him from entering the UK on national security grounds.

The man, known only as H6, brought a case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then-home secretary, Suella Braverman, said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.

Judges were told that in a briefing for the home secretary in July 2023, officials claimed H6 had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials “that could be leveraged for political interference purposes”.

They also said that H6 had downplayed his relationship with the Chinese state, which combined with his relationship with Andrew, represented a threat to national security.

“The Duke of York followed advice from His Majesty’s Government and ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised,” the statement said.

“The Duke met the individual through official channels with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed.

“He is unable to comment further on matters relating to national security.”

How my Malaysian Chinese education is paying off

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3290487/how-my-malaysian-chinese-education-paying?utm_source=rss_feed

Michelle Yeoh understood enough Cantonese when it mattered. Even though the name “Sing Lung” didn’t immediately ring a bell, she still accepted her first on-screen gig in 1980s Hong Kong – a commercial with, as it turned out, Jackie Chan – which would lead ultimately to her international film career.

Michael Wong was a Chinese-educated choirboy who went on to crack the Mandopop market in 1990s Taiwan and win acclaim as a balladeer in the wider Chinese-speaking world.

Like Yeoh and Wong before me, I grew up in Ipoh, a Chinese-dominated city in Malaysia. For my generation, a wide exposure to Chinese culture and a decades-long emphasis on Chinese-medium education are paying off in a bigger way than I could have imagined, with the transformation of mainland China into an economic and technological power.

Around Ipoh, ethnic Chinese children have often grown up between languages. At home, my parents spoke Cantonese, and we lapped up TVB dramas and Cantopop songs from Hong Kong. But when I went to school, I learned to read and write simplified Chinese – not the traditional script that is used in Hong Kong – and all subjects at the primary-school level were taught in Mandarin. At the public secondary school I attended, the medium of instruction switched to Malay, the national language, but Chinese and English were compulsory subjects.

That is how I came to have a perfect command of Mandarin, and to consider it more of a mother tongue than Cantonese. It’s also natural that many of my schoolmates would be tuned in to the latest Mandopop hits from Taiwan, by singers like Jay Chou and Jolin Tsai. At the time, Taiwanese idol dramas and variety shows were common entertainment options, in the absence of strong alternatives from mainland China.

Many Malaysian Chinese had been drawn to Taiwan for the longest time, whether as a tourist, student or expat destination, due to a unique combination of “pull” and “push” factors. On the one hand, Taiwan offers scholarships to overseas Chinese students; on the other hand, Malaysia continues to give the Malay majority preferential access to resources from higher education to housing under the bumiputra or “sons of the soil” policy, in the name of tackling inequality.

I was often told by the older generation that this is the price our community had to pay for being allowed to develop the most comprehensive education track in Chinese outside China – more than 1,200 Chinese vernacular primary schools, and around 150 government or independent Chinese high schools instead of assimilating.

But despite the focus on Chinese-medium education, mainland China wasn’t on the radar of my generation of students, outside of history books. It wasn’t on the news much. Early in the 2000s, I had to hear from a handful of relatives and friends who had visited about what an exciting place it was and how it was constantly improving.

This shiny new China only became highly visible during the Beijing 2008 Olympics, shortly before I graduated from secondary school. Amid intense international media coverage of China’s modernisation drive in the run-up to the sporting event, the Bird’s Nest and Water Cube stadiums were soon the coolest buildings in the region. The country also grew in my peers’ estimation when it achieved its best Olympic results ever, taking more gold medals than the United States.

While China now had our attention, we weren’t completely sold on it until the 2010s, when it not only became the world’s second largest economy but also started producing regionally successful television programmes. More of my friends and relatives started travelling to the country for business, pleasure or to visit their ancestral homes. I, too, jumped on this bandwagon in 2016, hoping to explore a hitherto unfamiliar part of my heritage; it had also been my childhood dream to go on an adventure discovering the ancient Silk Road for myself.

My first stop in China was Beijing. To see the Chinese capital’s modern prosperity up close was to believe it. From Beijing, I then travelled all the way west to the China-Pakistan border. Traversing the country, I noticed how Han Chinese culture varied by region; I also saw a wealth of ethnic minority cultures, not to mention sprawling landscapes along the Great Wall and the Gobi Desert. The sights were mesmerising, and it was an intellectually rewarding journey.

Culture-wise, I must admit that a northern Chinese city like Beijing felt a little strange to someone with southern Chinese roots. The rolled-tongue Beijing pronunciation of Mandarin took getting used to, as did the northern Chinese preference for noodles and buns, over rice.

I still remember how surprised a food vendor was, when I asked in Mandarin for a fork and a spoon to eat with. In China, all meals can be attacked with chopsticks, whereas Malaysian Chinese like me are accustomed to eating rice off plates, with forks and spoons, and using chopsticks to pick up noodles.

Differences aside, it was a fruitful experience observing the vastness and diversity of mainland China, and an eye-opener after years of connecting to Chinese culture mostly through Taiwan.

While I proudly carry a Malaysian passport, my knowledge of Chinese has proved to be a vital, invisible passport to China, whether to delve into Chinese civilisation, soak up contemporary Chinese culture or seize new opportunities. More broadly, I wouldn’t be able to do this without the benefit of the education I received in a multilingual society like Malaysia. For that, I’m grateful to be a Malaysian Chinese.

Why mainland China’s ‘second navy’ is becoming increasingly active around Taiwan

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3290730/why-mainland-chinas-second-navy-becoming-increasingly-active-around-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed

In the final instalment of a three-part series examining mainland China’s increasing military presence around Taiwan, Hayley Wong explores the role the coastguard is playing in ramping up the pressure on Taipei and what it might do in the event of an all-out assault.

Most of the international attention China’s coastguard has attracted in recent months has focused on its role in the South China Sea, but the force also plays a major role in pressurising Taiwan.

The coastguard is central to Beijing’s grey-zone tactics – which are designed to intensify the pressure on the island while falling short of full-blown warfare – and has been carrying out regular patrols around Taiwan in the hope this is less likely to trigger a strong response than the use of the navy would.

This increased presence follows an incident in February when two mainland fishermen died after their boat capsized during a chase by Taiwan’s coastguard near the mainland coast.

Beijing has said these patrols are intended to “maintain operational order in sea areas and safeguard fishermen’s lives and property”.

At the same time, coastguards have played a greater role in People’s Liberation Army activities in the Taiwan Strait and many analysts say they are likely to play a major role in any military operations targeting the island.

The China Coast Guard’s [CCG] combat readiness is at “a low to medium level”, according to Lyle Goldstein, director of the China Initiative at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

Song Zhongping, a former PLA instructor, said the coastguard would act as a “second navy” during wartime, and had been coordinating its patrols with the navy.

The country had been relying on the coastguard to “preserve its maritime rights” through routine law enforcement, and “when needed, it will be followed up by the naval force”, he said.

Taiwan’s coastguard has said that this year its mainland counterpart has been spotted around outlying islands controlled by Taipei dozens of times, compared with only a handful of incidents last year, with Beijing vowing to “further strengthen” its operations in the area.

Although Taiwanese authorities do not regularly report mainland coastguard activities near the main island of Taiwan, Collin Koh, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said it was possible the force would regularise such activities after 17 coastguard vessels, including its largest ship, took part in an exercise with the PLA in October.

He said that while the PLA’s regular forces designated a specific area and time frame for exercises, the coastguard was “much freer to move about anywhere to carry out what they call law enforcement activities”, he said.

“The use of the coastguard, in that sense, will appear to be what I see as a more long-term strategy, because if military exercises are conducted too often, it may cause upheavals, especially and cause undue alarm and response from the international community,” Koh said.

While there have been instances of the mainland coastguard intercepting Taiwanese fishing vessels, their patrols have generally avoided confrontation with the island’s coastguard.

“So far, we have not yet seen the Chinese coastguard responding in ways that you will find in the case of the Philippines and China. The Chinese were still maintaining some sort of escalation control in that sense,” Koh said.

“One of the reasons being that in the case of Taiwan, it might have been a little bit too sensitive.”

Koh said that despite the regular clashes with the Philippine coastguard this year in disputed areas of the South China Sea, Taiwan was a bigger issue both for the political elite in Beijing and for average mainland citizens and Beijing did not want to provoke a “stronger response from the Taiwanese”.

Beijing considers Taiwan as part of its territory that must be reunified with the mainland and has not renounced the use of force to do so.

Beijing has also described reunification as part of its project of “national rejuvenation”, which is to be achieved by 2049.

Most countries – including the island’s main international partner, the United States – do not recognise Taiwan as an independent country. But Washington is opposed to any attempts to seize the island by force and is legally committed to providing it with weapons to defend itself.

In the second half of the year, the mainland coastguard has reportedly been operating more flexibly in the Taiwan Strait. Rather than sending a fleet of ships to follow a set route, ships have been operating individually or in pairs in different areas.

Increasing numbers of coastguard ships have also crossed the de facto median line between mainland China and Taiwan since July, according to a report published by The Jamestown Foundation, a US think tank.

Its analysis was based on data from the ships’ Automatic Identification Systems, an open-source ship tracking system which is “often activated” when the ships cross the line – possibly as a way of sending a message to the international community.

Pressure on Taiwan’s self-declared territorial waters continued even after an agreement to return to the bodies of the two fishermen who died near Quemoy earlier in the year and pay compensation to their families.

Two weeks after the deal, the Fujian Maritime Safety Administration and mainland China’s East China Sea rescue bureau conducted a 30-hour-long drill that involved the navy, coastguard, law enforcement and civil forces in the Taiwan Strait.

Another landmark coordinated operation was Joint Sword-2024B, a blockade drill carried out in October that tested the PLA’s joint operations ability and included at least 17 coastguard vessels.

The drill has “has significant implications for China’s ability to quarantine or blockade Taiwan, as law enforcement would be crucial” for either action, according to Brian Hart, the deputy director of the China Power Project at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

“It is difficult to assess exactly how well the CCG and PLA are operating jointly, but there are signs of increasing coordination.”

Goldstein, from Brown University, said the coastguard would also have a “big role” in any attempt to take control of the island, including an amphibious assault.

He said that other countries had used coastguards in similar military operations, citing the example of the US in the second world war.

“Historically, coastguards were very involved during wartime, doing some of the most dangerous missions and having a big impact,” he said.

“China knows, and I believe they have equipped their coastguard cutters with the ability to transition over to [a] kind of wartime status [and carry] important weaponry, especially against submarines.”

China has rapidly expanded the CCG in the past decade and it now has some of the biggest and most heavily armed coastguard vessels in the world.

Its fleet includes former navy ships, including more than 20 Type 056 corvettes and two Type 072 landing ships. It also has the world’s largest cutters, which have helicopter take-off and landing facilities as well as guns.

The China Coast Guard was formed in 2013 from four maritime administrative agencies, and was placed under the command of the People’s Armed Police, the PLA’s paramilitary force, in 2018.

Goldstein, who said the coastguard forces that existed before the 2013 reform had been unarmed, believes the CCG is likely to play “an important role” in any armed campaign against Taiwan.

As well as carrying important equipment such as sonar systems, “they could seed minefields, carry troops back and forth, help salvage damaged ships, pick up pilots in the water … But more or less what your coastguard is doing is really backstopping the navy, and they’re effectively come under the command of the navy,” he said.

Mainland China’s Taiwan military presence

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/series/3290771/mainland-chinas-taiwan-military-presence?utm_source=rss_feed

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UK’s Prince Andrew says he’s ‘ceased all contact’ with alleged Chinese spy

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3290772/uks-prince-andrew-says-hes-ceased-all-contact-alleged-chinese-spy?utm_source=rss_feed

Britain’s Prince Andrew says he had “ceased all contact” with a businessman accused of being a Chinese spy when concerns were first raised about him.

The statement comes the same day a former UK minister on Friday called it “extremely embarrassing” that a suspected Chinese agent had become a confidante of the disgraced royal.

Andrew met the individual through “official channels” with “nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed”, a statement from his office said on Friday.

The businessman – known only as H6 – has lost an appeal over a decision to bar him from entering the UK on national security grounds.

He brought a case to the UK’s Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) after then-home secretary Suella Braverman said he should be excluded from the UK in March 2023.

H6 was described as a “close confidante” of Andrew, also known as the Duke of York.

Judges were told that in a briefing for the home secretary in July 2023, officials claimed H6 had been in a position to generate relationships between prominent UK figures and senior Chinese officials “that could be leveraged for political interference purposes”.

They also said that H6 had downplayed his relationship with the Chinese state, which combined with his relationship with Andrew represented a threat to national security.

A statement from Andrew’s office said: “The Duke of York followed advice from His Majesty’s Government and ceased all contact with the individual after concerns were raised.

“The Duke met the individual through official channels with nothing of a sensitive nature ever discussed.

“He is unable to comment further on matters relating to national security.”

At a hearing in July, the specialist tribunal heard that the businessman was told by an adviser to Andrew that he could act on the duke’s behalf when dealing with potential investors in China, and that H6 had been invited to Andrew’s birthday party in 2020.

A letter referencing the birthday party from the adviser, Dominic Hampshire, was discovered on H6’s devices when he was stopped at a port in November 2021.

In a ruling on Thursday, Justice Bourne, Judge Stephen Smith and Stewart Eldon dismissed the challenge.

News about H6 dominated UK newspaper front pages on Friday, the latest humiliation for a prince whose reputation is already in tatters over his ties to accused sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Asked whether Andrew’s advisers should have been more alert to the danger, former minister of state for security Tom Tugendhat told the BBC that “it’s not quite as black and white as it may first appear – but it’s certainly extremely embarrassing”.

Andrew withdrew from frontline royal duties in late 2019 after public outrage over a BBC television interview in which he defended his friendship with Epstein.

The former Royal Navy helicopter pilot, 64, in February 2022 settled a US civil case brought by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed he sexually assaulted her when she was 17.

Andrew’s mother, the late Queen Elizabeth, stripped him of his honorary military titles and patronages soon afterwards, effectively shutting him out of royal life.

Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse

Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent execs among Big Tech members on new China AI standards committee

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3290745/baidu-alibaba-tencent-executives-among-big-tech-members-new-china-ai-standards-committee?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Friday announced the establishment of an “artificial intelligence (AI) standardisation technology committee” that includes executives from tech giants Baidu, Alibaba Group Holding, Tencent Holdings and Huawei Technologies.

The committee will be responsible for “making and revising” standards for different AI vertical markets, including assessment and testing, data sets, large language models (LLMs), and application development management, according to a statement dated November 22 and published on Friday.

The 41-member committee includes Baidu AI technology ecosystem general manager Ma Yanjun, Alibaba’s Judy Zhu Hongru, vice-president of the cloud unit’s standardisation operations, Tencent vice-president Jiang Jie who oversees its AI Lab, and Huawei’s director of the standardisation department You Fang.

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

The committee has also recruited experts from AI giant SenseTime, voice recognition leader iFlyTek, Alibaba fintech affiliate Ant Group, chip designer Moore Threads and carmaker Changan Automobile.

Professionals and intellectuals from state-owned telecommunications carriers China Unicom, China Telecom and China Mobile, as well as from Peking University and Tsinghua University, also make up the committee.

The formation of the AI standard committee marks a major milestone after MIIT, together with three other government agencies, announced in July plans to establish at least 50 sets of AI standards by 2026.

It is part of a more ambitious three-year plan revealed in May to spearhead the nation’s work on setting AI standards and strengthening national computing power.

In August, the Beijing municipal government launched an AI Standardisation Academy, with the goal of establishing rules and standards for AI products and their applications in the robotics industry.

China and its domestic companies have been actively pushing for AI standards in the global community as well.

In September, Ant, Tencent and Baidu teamed up with US tech giants Microsoft, Google, and Meta Platforms to devise the world’s first international standard covering LLM security for supply chains.

Two earlier generative AI standards, the “Generative AI Application Security Testing and Validation Standard” and the “Large Language Model Security Testing Method”, were published in April as a joint effort between Ant, Baidu and Tencent on the Chinese side and OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia in the US.

In July, a resolution led by China to create a “free, open, inclusive and non-discriminatory” business environment among wealthy and developing nations for AI development was unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

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