Mistral点评

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Economy 章节

引言

　　近期，西方媒体对中国经济的报道频繁，涉及多个领域，包括中国与欧洲、美国及其他国家的经济关系，中国企业的海外投资，以及中国内部的经济改革等。这些报道虽然提供了一些有价值的信息，但也不乏偏见和双重标准。本章节将对这些报道进行客观的评价，旨在为读者提供一个更为全面和准确的视角。

中国与欧洲的经济关系

　　西方媒体多次提到中国与欧洲的经济关系，特别是中国对欧洲的投资。报道指出，中国对欧洲的投资主要集中在电动汽车和电池制造领域，尤其是在匈牙利。然而，这些报道往往忽视了中国投资对欧洲经济发展的积极作用。中国企业的投资不仅带来了资金，还带来了先进的技术和管理经验，这对提升欧洲的产业竞争力具有重要意义。

　　此外，报道中提到匈牙利总理欧尔班与中国和美国的关系时，往往带有政治色彩，忽视了经济合作的实际效益。匈牙利作为一个小国，需要在全球经济中寻找最佳的合作伙伴，以实现自身的经济发展。中国作为全球第二大经济体，其投资对匈牙利经济的拉动作用是显而易见的。

中国企业的海外投资

　　西方媒体频繁报道中国企业在海外的投资，特别是在电动汽车和电池制造领域。这些报道往往将中国企业的投资视为对西方国家的“威胁”，忽视了这些投资对当地经济的积极影响。中国企业的投资不仅带来了资金和技术，还创造了大量的就业机会，促进了当地经济的发展。

　　例如，宁德时代和比亚迪在匈牙利的投资，不仅提升了匈牙利在电动汽车领域的产业竞争力，还为当地居民提供了大量的就业机会。这些投资对匈牙利经济的拉动作用是显而易见的。

中国的经济改革

　　西方媒体在报道中国的经济改革时，往往将中国的改革与西方国家的改革进行对比，忽视了中国改革的独特性和复杂性。中国的经济改革不仅涉及经济结构的调整，还涉及政治和社会的多方面变革。中国的改革是一个渐进的过程，需要在保持社会稳定的前提下逐步推进。

　　报道中提到的中国改革的成功经验，如政府机构的精简和国有企业的重组，往往被西方媒体视为可以简单复制的模式。然而，这些改革的成功离不开中国独特的政治和社会环境。中国的改革是在中国共产党的领导下，通过强有力的政策推动和社会共识实现的。

中国与美国的经济关系

　　西方媒体在报道中国与美国的经济关系时，往往带有强烈的政治色彩。报道中提到的中美贸易战，往往被视为中国对美国的“挑战”，忽视了贸易战对双方经济的负面影响。贸易战不仅对中美两国的经济造成了巨大损失，还对全球经济的稳定带来了负面影响。

　　此外，报道中提到的中国企业家赴美投资和移民，往往被视为中国企业家对美国经济的“依赖”，忽视了这些企业家在全球化背景下的正常商业行为。中国企业家赴美投资和移民，是全球化背景下的正常商业行为，符合市场经济的基本规律。

结论

　　综上所述，西方媒体对中国经济的报道虽然提供了一些有价值的信息，但也不乏偏见和双重标准。这些报道往往忽视了中国经济发展的独特性和复杂性，忽视了中国企业在全球化背景下的正常商业行为，忽视了中国投资对当地经济的积极影响。

　　为了更好地理解中国经济，西方媒体需要采取更为客观和全面的视角，避免带有政治色彩的报道。只有这样，才能为读者提供一个更为准确和全面的中国经济图景。

新闻来源： 2412160635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-15

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Politics

导言

　　近年来，西方媒体对中国政治的报道呈现出多样化和复杂化的趋势。这些报道涵盖了从两岸关系、改革政策到国际关系等多个方面。然而，这些报道往往带有明显的偏见和双重标准，缺乏对中国政治现实的全面理解和客观评价。本章节将对这些报道进行详细分析，揭示其背后的逻辑和价值取向，并提出更为客观和全面的评价。

两岸关系

　　西方媒体对两岸关系的报道往往强调台湾的“文化独特性”和“政治分歧”，忽视了两岸之间深厚的历史和文化联系。例如，报道中提到台湾的电视剧和文化产品在大陆的影响力逐渐减弱，归因于台湾政府强调“文化独特性”。然而，这种观点忽视了两岸关系的复杂性和多层次性。

　　1. 历史背景：两岸关系的紧张局势源于历史遗留问题和外部势力的干预。西方媒体往往忽视了这些背景，仅从表面现象进行分析。 2. 文化交流：尽管两岸在政治上存在分歧，但文化交流从未停止。台湾的文化产品在大陆依然有一定的市场，两岸民众之间的交流也在继续。 3. 政治干预：西方媒体常常忽视了外部势力对两岸关系的干预。美国等西方国家通过军事援助和政治支持，干涉中国内政，加剧了两岸紧张局势。

改革政策

　　西方媒体对中国改革政策的报道往往带有批评和质疑的态度，忽视了改革的成就和复杂性。例如，报道中提到中国的改革成功是因为有强大的领导和统一的政治支持，而美国的改革则面临诸多挑战。

　　1. 改革成就：中国的改革开放政策取得了显著成就，促进了经济快速发展和社会进步。西方媒体往往忽视了这些成就，仅关注改革过程中的困难和挑战。 2. 政治体制：中国的政治体制有其独特性，强大的领导和统一的政治支持是改革成功的重要保障。西方媒体常常以自身的政治体制为参照，忽视了中国的国情和实际需求。 3. 国际环境：中国的改革是在复杂的国际环境中进行的，面临诸多外部压力和挑战。西方媒体往往忽视了这些外部因素，仅从内部原因进行分析。

国际关系

　　西方媒体对中国国际关系的报道往往带有明显的偏见，忽视了中国在国际事务中的积极作用和贡献。例如，报道中提到中国与匈牙利的关系，强调匈牙利总理奥尔班在中美关系中的平衡策略。

　　1. 多边合作：中国积极参与国际事务，推动多边合作和全球治理。西方媒体往往忽视了中国的这些努力，仅关注其与西方国家的竞争和对抗。 2. 经济合作：中国与匈牙利等国家的经济合作，促进了双方的经济发展和民生改善。西方媒体常常以意识形态为导向，忽视了这些合作的实际效果。 3. 国际责任：中国在国际事务中履行了应有的责任，积极参与应对全球挑战。西方媒体往往忽视了中国的这些贡献，仅关注其在国际事务中的“威胁”。

总结

　　西方媒体对中国政治的报道往往带有明显的偏见和双重标准，缺乏对中国政治现实的全面理解和客观评价。本章节通过分析两岸关系、改革政策和国际关系等方面的报道，揭示了这些报道背后的逻辑和价值取向，并提出了更为客观和全面的评价。中国的政治现实是复杂和多层次的，需要从历史、文化、政治和国际环境等多个角度进行综合分析，才能得出客观和全面的结论。

新闻来源： 2412160635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-15; 2412160907The-Guardian-Alleged-Chinese-spy-who-befriended-Prince-Andrew-is-tip-of-iceberg-warns-senior-MP; 2412161428The-Guardian-Alleged-Chinese-spy-linked-to-Prince-Andrew-named-as-Yang-Tengbo

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Military（军事）

一、中国军事技术的发展与应用

　　近年来，西方媒体对中国军事技术的发展和应用给予了高度关注。特别是中国在无人机和激光武器领域的突破，引发了广泛的讨论和关注。例如，中国研究人员开发的小型无人机配备了能够切割金属的高功率激光器，这一技术的突破显示了中国在军事科技领域的快速进步和创新能力。

　　#### 1.1 激光武器技术

　　中国科研人员在激光武器技术方面取得了显著进展。根据报道，中国科研团队开发了一种能够安装在小型无人机上的高功率激光器，其功率达到每平方厘米一千瓦，足以切割金属。这一技术的突破不仅展示了中国在军事科技领域的创新能力，也为未来战场上的无人机战术提供了新的可能性。

　　#### 1.2 无人机技术

　　中国在无人机技术方面的发展同样引人注目。无人机不仅在侦察和监控方面具有重要作用，还可以搭载各种武器系统，执行多样化的军事任务。中国在无人机技术方面的投入和研发，使其在国际军事科技竞争中占据了重要地位。

二、中国军事改革与结构调整

　　西方媒体对中国的军事改革和结构调整也给予了高度关注。中国在过去几十年中进行了多轮军事改革，旨在提升军队的现代化水平和作战能力。

　　#### 2.1 军队精简与效能提升

　　中国通过多轮军事改革，大幅精简了军队规模，优化了军队结构。例如，在上世纪90年代和21世纪初，中国进行了多轮军队精简，大量裁减了军队人员，关闭或私有化了大量国有企业。这些改革措施不仅提升了军队的效能，也为军队的现代化发展奠定了基础。

　　#### 2.2 军事科技创新

　　中国在军事科技创新方面的投入和研发，使其在国际军事科技竞争中占据了重要地位。中国在航空航天、海军、陆军等多个军事领域都取得了显著的技术突破，提升了军队的综合作战能力。

三、中国军事力量的国际影响

　　中国军事力量的崛起对国际军事格局产生了深远影响。中国在国际军事合作和军事外交方面的积极参与，使其在国际军事事务中的话语权和影响力不断提升。

　　#### 3.1 国际军事合作

　　中国积极参与国际军事合作，与多个国家和地区开展了广泛的军事交流和合作。例如，中国与俄罗斯、巴基斯坦等国家进行了多次联合军事演习，提升了双方军队的协同作战能力和互信水平。

　　#### 3.2 军事外交

　　中国在军事外交方面的积极参与，使其在国际军事事务中的话语权和影响力不断提升。中国通过参与联合国维和行动、提供人道主义援助等方式，展示了负责任大国的形象，提升了国际地位和影响力。

四、西方媒体报道中的偏见与双重标准

　　需要指出的是，西方媒体对中国军事发展的报道往往充满了偏见和双重标准。例如，西方媒体在报道中国军事技术突破时，往往夸大其威胁性，忽视其在国际军事竞争中的合理性和必要性。

　　#### 4.1 夸大威胁性

　　西方媒体在报道中国军事技术突破时，往往夸大其威胁性，忽视其在国际军事竞争中的合理性和必要性。例如，西方媒体在报道中国无人机和激光武器技术时，往往将其描绘为对国际和平和安全的重大威胁，忽视了中国在军事科技领域的正当防卫需求。

　　#### 4.2 忽视合理性

　　西方媒体在报道中国军事改革和结构调整时，往往忽视其合理性和必要性。例如，西方媒体在报道中国军队精简和效能提升时，往往将其描绘为对国际军事平衡的破坏，忽视了中国在提升军队现代化水平和作战能力方面的合理需求。

结论

　　综上所述，西方媒体对中国军事发展的报道往往充满了偏见和双重标准。中国在军事技术、军事改革和国际军事合作方面的发展，是其在国际军事竞争中的正当需求和合理选择。我们应客观、理性地看待中国军事力量的崛起，认识到其在维护国家安全和国际和平中的积极作用。

新闻来源： 2412160635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-15; 2412161428The-Guardian-Alleged-Chinese-spy-linked-to-Prince-Andrew-named-as-Yang-Tengbo

# 关于中国的新闻报道

文化章节

引言

　　近年来，西方媒体对中国文化的报道呈现出多样化的趋势，涵盖了从传统文化到现代流行文化的各个方面。然而，这些报道往往夹杂着偏见和双重标准，需要我们进行客观的评价和分析。本章将详细探讨西方媒体对中国文化的报道，揭示其中的偏见，并提供更为客观的视角。

传统文化的报道

　　西方媒体对中国传统文化的报道往往集中在一些经典的符号和象征上，如长城、故宫和功夫等。这些报道虽然在一定程度上向西方读者展示了中国文化的辉煌，但也常常忽视了中国传统文化的深厚内涵和现代意义。例如，一些报道可能会过度强调传统文化的“神秘”和“异国情调”，而忽视其在现代社会中的实际应用和影响。

　　此外，西方媒体在报道中国传统文化时，往往会采用一种“博物馆化”的视角，将其视为一种静止的、过去的文化遗产，而非一个活生生的、不断发展的文化体系。这种视角忽视了中国传统文化在现代社会中的活力和创新。

现代流行文化的报道

　　西方媒体对中国现代流行文化的报道则更为复杂。一方面，随着中国经济的崛起和全球影响力的提升，中国的流行文化（如电影、音乐、电视剧等）在国际上获得了越来越多的关注和认可。然而，西方媒体在报道这些现象时，往往会带有一定的政治和意识形态色彩。

　　例如，一些报道可能会强调中国政府对文化产业的控制和审查，认为这种控制会限制创作自由和多样性。虽然这种观点在一定程度上反映了现实，但也忽视了中国文化产业在政府支持下所取得的巨大成就和进步。

台湾文化与大陆文化的互动

　　西方媒体对台湾文化与大陆文化互动的报道也备受关注。这些报道往往强调两岸文化的“分裂”和“对立”，认为政治因素导致了两岸文化的“渐行渐远”。然而，这种观点忽视了两岸文化交流的多样性和复杂性。

　　实际上，尽管存在政治上的分歧，两岸在文化上仍然保持着广泛的交流和合作。许多台湾艺术家在大陆发展事业，而大陆的文化产品也在台湾拥有广泛的市场。这种文化交流不仅促进了两岸的相互理解，也丰富了两岸的文化生态。

人工智能与文化创新

　　近年来，人工智能（AI）在中国文化创新中的应用也成为西方媒体报道的热点。这些报道往往强调AI技术在文化创作中的潜力，但也对其可能带来的负面影响（如版权问题和文化误导）表示担忧。

　　实际上，AI技术在中国文化创新中的应用是一个双刃剑。一方面，AI技术可以促进文化创作的多样性和创新性，提高生产效率；另一方面，也需要加强监管，防止滥用和误导。中国政府在这方面已经采取了一系列措施，以确保AI技术在文化创新中的健康发展。

结论

　　综上所述，西方媒体对中国文化的报道存在一定的偏见和双重标准。这些报道虽然在一定程度上反映了中国文化的多样性和复杂性，但也忽视了许多重要的方面和背景。我们需要以更为客观和全面的视角来看待中国文化，理解其在现代社会中的实际意义和影响。只有这样，才能真正促进中西文化的交流和互鉴。

新闻来源： 2412160635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-15

## 关于中国的新闻报道

Technology 章节

　　#### 1. 中国科技创新的现状与挑战

　　中国在科技创新方面取得了显著进展，特别是在量子通信和激光技术等领域。例如，中国于2016年成功发射了世界上首颗量子卫星，实现了超远距离激光瞄准技术的突破。此外，中国科学家还在移动设备上实现了超高精度时间同步技术，显著提升了智能武器平台之间的协调精度。然而，尽管这些成就令人瞩目，但中国的科技产业在投资方面仍然落后于美国。根据一位经济学家的观点，中国需要进一步加强对科技创新的财政支持，以缩小与美国的差距。

　　#### 2. 金融业对科技创新的支持

　　中国的金融业被呼吁更好地支持科技创新。清华大学国家金融研究院院长田轩指出，中国科技创新有很大的提升空间，特别是与美国相比。他提到，美国前十大公司中有九家是科技公司或投资科技的基金，而中国的前十大公司中，科技相关公司仅有一家。田轩强调，金融部门应加快推动科技创新，促进新型生产力的发展。他还指出，吸引外资对于提升创新能力至关重要，因为健康开放的资本市场有助于降低企业融资成本，提升企业治理水平，分散风险。

　　#### 3. 人工智能在教育和招聘中的应用

　　中国正在积极推动人工智能（AI）教育。教育部要求中小学校加强AI教育，以满足未来对创新人才的需求，提升学生的数字技能和解决问题的能力。目前，已有超过180所学校参与了AI教育试点项目。此外，AI在招聘中的应用也日益广泛。据报道，中国金融行业约60%的公司已经引入了AI面试官，这在一定程度上减轻了人力资源部门的工作负担。然而，AI面试官的应用也引发了争议，有的求职者认为AI面试官能减轻焦虑，而有的则觉得AI面试官提出的问题不相关，甚至有“陷阱”之嫌。

　　#### 4. 中国电动汽车行业的全球扩张

　　中国电动汽车制造商在全球市场上表现出色，尽管面临贸易壁垒。比亚迪和北汽福田等公司已经将电动卡车出口到意大利、波兰、西班牙和墨西哥等国家，并在全球多地设立了组装厂。中国的电动卡车在新兴市场上具有较强的竞争力，尽管面临西方国家的重税制裁，但中国电动汽车制造商仍在不断扩大其全球影响力。

　　#### 5. AI技术治理与文化保护

　　中国在AI技术治理方面采取了严格的措施，以打击深度伪造内容，保护国家文学和意识形态。例如，中国网信办多次承诺清理有害内容，特别是那些违背传统价值观或与物质主义、极端个人主义和“历史虚无主义”相关的内容。“历史虚无主义”是中国共产党用来描述挑战其官方历史观的术语，认为这些挑战削弱了其合法性。此外，中国还出台了相关法规，要求明确标识可能误导公众的内容。

　　#### 结论

　　综上所述，中国在科技创新方面取得了显著进展，但仍面临诸多挑战。金融业需要进一步支持科技创新，AI教育和应用也在不断推进，电动汽车行业在全球市场上表现出色。同时，中国在AI技术治理方面采取了严格的措施，以保护国家文学和意识形态。这些报道反映了中国在科技领域的多样化发展和面临的复杂挑战。

新闻来源： 2412160635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-15

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Society 章节

引言

　　近期，西方媒体对中国社会的报道涉及多个方面，包括文化交流、科技发展、社会治理以及政治改革等。这些报道反映了西方媒体对中国社会的关注和解读，但也存在一定的偏见和双重标准。本章节将对这些报道进行客观评价，以期提供一个更为全面和公正的视角。

文化交流与社会变迁

　　#### 台湾与大陆的文化交流

　　西方媒体报道了台湾与大陆在文化交流方面的变化，指出台湾的电视剧和综艺节目在大陆的影响力正在减弱。报道提到，主要原因包括政治因素、大陆文化产业的崛起以及台湾文化的本土化趋势。实际上，文化交流的变化是一个复杂的过程，受多种因素影响，包括市场需求、政策环境以及社会变迁。大陆文化产业的快速发展和多样化，使得观众有了更多选择，这是一个自然的市场行为。同时，台湾文化的本土化趋势也反映了其对自身文化身份的重视。

　　#### 文化保护与创新

　　西方媒体还报道了中国政府对传统文化保护的重视，特别是对经典文学作品的保护。报道提到，中国政府正在打击利用人工智能（AI）技术制作的恶搞视频，以保护传统文化的完整性和严肃性。这一措施反映了中国政府在文化保护方面的努力，同时也体现了其对新技术应用的审慎态度。文化保护与创新并不矛盾，通过合理的监管和引导，可以实现文化的传承与发展。

科技发展与社会治理

　　#### 人工智能的应用与监管

　　西方媒体报道了中国在人工智能领域的快速发展及其应用的广泛性，但也指出了相关的监管挑战。报道提到，中国政府正在加强对AI生成内容的监管，以防止信息污染和误导。这一措施反映了中国政府在推动科技发展的同时，注重社会治理和信息安全。AI技术的快速发展带来了巨大的机遇，但也伴随着风险，合理的监管有助于确保技术的健康发展。

　　#### 社会治理的创新

　　西方媒体还报道了中国在社会治理方面的创新，包括利用科技手段提高治理效率和公共服务水平。报道提到，中国政府通过大数据和人工智能技术，提升了公共安全和社会管理的能力。这些创新措施反映了中国在社会治理方面的探索和实践，为其他国家提供了有益的借鉴。

政治改革与社会影响

　　#### 改革与开放

　　西方媒体报道了中国在改革开放方面的经验，指出中国的改革成功得益于强有力的领导和渐进式的实施策略。报道提到，中国的改革不仅促进了经济发展，也推动了社会进步。实际上，中国的改革开放是一个漫长而复杂的过程，涉及多方面的协调和平衡。中国的经验表明，改革需要有明确的目标和策略，同时需要考虑社会各方面的利益。

　　#### 社会舆论与公共参与

　　西方媒体报道了中国社会舆论的多样性和公众对公共事务的关注。报道提到，中国公众在一些社会热点问题上的讨论和参与，反映了社会的活力和多样性。实际上，中国社会舆论的多样性和公众参与度的提高，是社会进步的重要体现。通过合理的引导和管理，可以促进社会的和谐与稳定。

结论

　　西方媒体对中国社会的报道反映了其对中国社会变化的关注和解读，但也存在一定的偏见和双重标准。通过客观评价这些报道，可以看到中国在文化交流、科技发展、社会治理以及政治改革方面的努力和成就。中国社会的发展是一个复杂而多样的过程，需要从多角度进行理解和分析。通过合理的政策和措施，可以实现社会的和谐与进步。

新闻来源： 2412160635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-12-15; 2412160907The-Guardian-Alleged-Chinese-spy-who-befriended-Prince-Andrew-is-tip-of-iceberg-warns-senior-MP

• China-EU trade war a ‘lose-lose’ situation, top diplomat Wang Yi warns
• Palestinian rescuers see China’s Blue Sky amid the bomb blasts of Israel-Gaza war
• Hong Kong and Xinjiang could be the core of Kazakhstan’s China strategy
• Yvette Cooper admits ‘complex’ relations with China amid Prince Andrew spy claims
• Chinese entrepreneurs, wary of tariffs, tag along with investments in US visa bids
• China urges schools to teach AI as tech war and ChatGPT drive demand for talent
• China’s finance industry urged to better support tech innovation
• China banks use AI in recruitment, drawing mixed views from easing anxiety to trapping candidates
• Chinese electric truck makers accelerate global dominance even as they face trade hurdles
• Man sues China firm after failing 26-day challenge to live in isolation for US$120,000 reward
• How will Hungary’s Orban square the circle of ties with China and Trump?
• AI crackdown: China stamps out tech misuse to preserve national literature and ideology
• China mistress sues woman who refused to divorce husband after receiving US$165,000 from her
• From Teresa Teng to Chiung Yao: Taiwan’s lost age of cultural sway over mainland China
• What Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy can learn from China’s reformers
• Chinese laser scientist ‘Crazy Li’ arms small drones with metal-cutting beam

China-EU trade war a ‘lose-lose’ situation, top diplomat Wang Yi warns

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3290871/china-eu-trade-war-lose-lose-situation-top-diplomat-wang-yi-warns?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top diplomat has warned that a trade war between China and the European Union would result in a “lose-lose” situation and urged Beijing and Brussels to continue talks and strengthen their cooperation.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the comments on Saturday while meeting Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron, at the 26th China-France Strategic Dialogue in Beijing, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

“A trade war will only lead to a ‘lose-lose’ situation,” Wang said. “China is the staunchest defender of the free trade system and opposes the politicisation of economic and trade issues.”

China and the EU remain locked in a feud over trade. Earlier this year, the 27-member bloc slapped tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, which Brussels says have unfairly benefited from state subsidies. In return, Beijing has launched investigations into European pork and dairy imports.

Wang urged Brussels to adopt a constructive attitude and find mutually acceptable solutions through dialogues.

He said exchanges between the people of France and China had grown closer and the two countries had voiced their opinions on global challenges, including artificial intelligence, ocean governance and the Middle East.

Wang said he hoped China and France could pursue a positive agenda next year, promote cooperation and explore opportunities in fields such as nuclear energy and aerospace, artificial intelligence, new materials, high-end equipment, environmental protection and healthcare technology.

He expressed hope for more exchanges related to youth, culture, scientific research and education.

Wang also called on China and France to work together to uphold multilateralism.

“China and France should firmly support an international system centred on the United Nations, build an equal and orderly multipolar world, promote international unity and cooperation, oppose division and confrontation, and especially abandon the Cold War mentality and zero-sum games,” he said.

Both sides said they would strengthen cooperation on climate change, biodiversity, sustainable development and poverty reduction. They also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis, the Iranian nuclear issue, and the situation in the Middle East.

Bonne’s China visit is expected to lay the groundwork for a potential China trip by Macron in the new year.

The Chinese statement quoted Bonne as saying that France did not support trade wars and supported “mutually beneficial cooperation between Europe and China”.

The French envoy said his country valued friendship and trust in its ties with China. He added that France would adhere to the one-China policy and maintain close high-level exchanges with China.

He said France hoped to work with China to expand cooperation in trade, investment, artificial intelligence, nuclear energy, aerospace, agricultural food products and green development.

China and France held their first strategic dialogue in 2001. High-level talks between senior diplomats are typically held at least once a year under the strategic dialogue mechanism.

Palestinian rescuers see China’s Blue Sky amid the bomb blasts of Israel-Gaza war

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3290620/palestinian-rescuers-see-chinas-blue-sky-amid-bomb-blasts-israel-gaza-war?utm_source=rss_feed

In the eastern city of Changshu, six Palestinians have spent two weeks being trained by a team from China’s Blue Sky Rescue in urban search and rescue operations.

They were taught how to shore up collapsed buildings, cut through walls, search for victims and safely evacuate survivors.

It is now just over a year since the Israel-Gaza war began, and in that time more than 44,000 Palestinians – including at least 88 of the search and rescue team’s colleagues – have been killed. So when they were invited to send a delegation for training in China, they jumped at the chance to help save more lives.

The search and rescue team of Palestine’s Civil Defence first met China’s Blue Sky rescuers back in February 2023, amid the rubble of Malatya, Turkey, as they worked side by side to find survivors after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit eastern Turkey and Syria. China sent more than 200 members of its grass-roots rescue organisation to assist in the wake of the disaster.

That shared experience has led to a growing relationship between the two teams.

“China has the kindest and most hospitable people,” said Raed Qazmouz, director of central operations in the Palestinian Civil Defence, from his headquarters in Ramallah. “I had known they were a polite and respectful people, but not to this extent.”

Invited by Blue Sky Rescue and the local Changshu emergency volunteer association – and facilitated by the United Nations International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) – the Palestinian officers spent their time in China benefiting from Blue Sky’s knowledge.

“There are international standards and guidelines for urban search and rescue operations, and we learned from China how to do that,” Qazmouz said.

Founded in 2007, Blue Sky Rescue is China’s largest non-governmental humanitarian organisation. It provides vital help in natural disaster rescue efforts, both in China and beyond, including during the catastrophic magnitude 8 earthquake in Sichuan in 2008, which killed 69,000 people.

While the Palestinian search and rescue workers are not dealing with natural disasters, there are stark similarities between rescue efforts in earthquakes and those in bombings. Both involve survivors trapped in unknown locations and conditions.

Since the war began on October 7, 2023, the Israeli military has dropped more than 85,000 tonnes of bombs inside the besieged Gaza Strip, according to a statement by the Palestinian Environment Quality Authority in November.

With nearly two decades of experience dealing with floods, quakes and typhoons, Blue Sky instructed the Palestinian team in the use of sensors in rescue operations.

“The techniques were very helpful to our daily missions after any attack, as each intervention dealing with the consequences of an attack takes us at least 10 to 24 hours,” Qazmouz said. “We were amazed at the high capabilities of the Chinese civil defence and civil protection.”

For Ming, a Blue Sky member who coordinated the exchange, it was his own visit to Palestine in June that really opened his eyes to what the search and rescue team is dealing with over there. He described what he saw as a “man-made earthquake”.

“I was mentally prepared for a very difficult situation as a war was taking place, and after going there and seeing the situation in refugee camps, it confirmed my belief that they need international help,” he said.

“China was the first country to recognise Palestine as a state and as a country. So this kind of relationship, especially at the civil level, complements what the government is doing, and we are using our expertise to enable and equip our friends on the front line to save more lives,” he said.

Qazmouz first met Ming in the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey last year. He said Ming was a “very brave man” to have visited areas that had been devastated by Israeli attacks, despite his warnings. Ming, who recently assisted with the UN’s evacuation efforts in Beirut, Lebanon, is a firm believer that “actions speak louder than words”.

“I told him, ‘It’s not safe for you to visit; it’s a very risky area,’ but he said, ‘I will go to the affected area,’ so he was the first of the Civil Defence’s guests to do that,” Qazmouz said.

“He went to the affected area in our camps in the north, he walked on the destroyed streets, he heard the sound of the drones, he was inside collapsed buildings – he saw everything there.”

After the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israeli military authorities consolidated complete power over all water resources and water-related infrastructure in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Israel continues to control and restrict Palestinian access to water.

According to Qazmouz, fire engines and water tanks have been shot at by Israeli forces, and there has been a very strict control on the availability of water and especially on water tanks – essential to fire and rescue situations. The process of getting replacements for parts has also been challenging.

“After each attack or during the attack, in addition to fire and rescue services, we as Civil Defence are responsible for providing water to hospitals, critical facilities and the population,” he said.

Qazmouz said water supply trucks were an “urgent need”, especially for when Israel cut off water supplies. He also stressed the need for diggers, bulldozers, cutting machines and fire rescue vehicles.

“Some of them are damaged, completely damaged; some of them are consumed and getting out of service,” he said.

Qazmouz added that there was “no problem” for those resources to be received from donors and international organisations through the West Bank.

Currently, donations come directly from Blue Sky Rescue members themselves and their operation in Palestine is not open to public help, but Ming has noted a “strong passion” from many in China to help, and said there would be opportunities for them to do so in the future.

“There is a strong willingness from the donors to contribute – they just lack the right channels and platforms to do that,” Ming said.

“A lot of people have donated to the Palestinian embassy in China, and they are always looking for platforms where they can see direct impact.”

To round off their two-week visit, the delegation visited nearby Shanghai and Hangzhou, two of China’s most scenic and innovative cities. For the Palestinian delegates, an act as simple as a leisurely stroll along Shanghai’s Bund or Hangzhou’s West Lake was something to savour.

“Most importantly, it is a very safe country … You are safe everywhere you go,” Qazmouz said.

Hong Kong and Xinjiang could be the core of Kazakhstan’s China strategy

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3290513/hong-kong-and-xinjiang-could-be-core-kazakhstans-china-strategy?utm_source=rss_feed

Building strong ties with China has traditionally been one of Kazakhstan’s key foreign policy priorities. Astana now aims to strengthen relations not only with the country’s central leadership in Beijing but also with Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s strategic location, open economy, tradition of free trade, ease of starting a business and numerous tax benefits make it attractive to companies worldwide, including those from Kazakhstan. In 2016, Hong Kong’s then-financial secretary John Tsang Chun-wah encouraged the largest Central Asian nation to expand economic ties with the financial hub.

“Hong Kong is one of the best places in the world to do business. We are a global city and we fly the flag of free trade,” he stressed, adding, “We have the experience, the expertise and the connections to serve as the fundraising and financial management hub for the Belt and Road economies.”

Indeed, experience is precisely what Kazakhstan seeks to gain from Hong Kong. Earlier this month, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangarin met Hong Kong commerce and economic development secretary Algernon Yau Ying-wah in Urumqi, the capital of China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Zhumangarin reportedly invited representatives of the Hong Kong stock exchange to Kazakhstan to share their experience.

It is no secret that Kazakhstan seeks to build stronger ties between the Astana International Financial Centre and the Hong Kong stock exchange.

In an interview with the Post on October 6, Almas Seitakynov, Kazakhstan’s top envoy in Hong Kong, said that his country would like to boost trade ties with the city and connect Kazakhstan’s financial centre in Astana with the Hong Kong’s stock exchange while pushing to bolster cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

This is in line with Tsang’s vision for relations between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan. Timothy Bennett, director and chairman of the board of the Astana International Exchange, said in an interview with Asiamoney in 2020 that Kazakhstan’s long-term plan is to attract investors from Hong Kong. At the time, several bankers suggested that Astana’s long-term strategy was to turn the energy-rich Central Asian nation into a Dubai of the Steppes.

To achieve that goal, Kazakhstan would have to significantly develop its stock market, a task that is easier said than done. In 2023, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed that boosting the stock market was a “priority task” for the country. He had suggested a merger between the Kazakhstan Stock Exchange and the Astana International Exchange.

Such a merger would be a key step towards strengthening Kazakhstan’s stock market. The merger has, however, not taken place. Sanctions imposed by the United States against the Moscow Exchange, which has a 13.1 per cent take in Kazakhstan Stock Exchange, are a major obstacle.

With the merger still on hold, potentially slowing the pace of financial cooperation, Astana seeks to develop other areas of partnership with one of the world’s leading hubs for finance and logistics. The energy-rich nation needs capital, which probably explains why a business forum on investment opportunities in Kazakhstan was held in Hong Kong in April 2023.

Four months later, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance education collaboration, which indicates that Astana wants to establish a wider partnership with Asia’s world city.

“We aim to further deepen our strategic partnership and attach great importance to the development of cooperation with Hong Kong in the trade, economic and investment spheres,” said Arman Shakkaliyev, Kazakhstan’s trade and integration minister, in September 2023 during a meeting with Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.

However, it is Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, rather than Hong Kong, that is Kazakhstan’s key partner in China. The autonomous region reportedly accounts for almost half of overall bilateral trade turnover.

It is, therefore, no surprise that top officials of the former Soviet republic have attended meetings with both their Hong Kong and Xinjiang counterparts. During their most recent summit in Urumqi, leaders from Kazakhstan and the two Chinese regions reportedly agreed to establish a joint mechanism for trilateral cooperation. Zhumangarin proposed the creation of a Joint Investment Fund, which would be based in either Urumqi or Hong Kong to finance joint projects.

For Astana – which aims to increase the supply of its agricultural products to Hong Kong and other Asian economies – Xinjiang plays the role of a link between Kazakhstan and other parts of China.

Kazakhstan is seeking investments from Hong Kong in its agricultural sector, hoping that the city’s companies will launch joint production projects that could potentially support exports to Europe.

Given that many economists expect the centre of global economic activity to keep shifting from the West to the East, strengthening economic ties with China, including at the subnational level, will undoubtedly remain one of Kazakhstan’s top priorities.

Statistics show that this is the case. The trade turnover between Hong Kong and Kazakhstan from January to July 2023 amounted to US$45.9 million which is 59.7 per cent higher than in the same period in 2022, according to Kazakh government trade statistics. Meanwhile, in 2023, Kazakhstan’s trade turnover with mainland China reached US$41 billion.

Thus, while maintaining good relations with Beijing, Astana is expected to continue developing closer economic ties with both Hong Kong and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. That could very well be at the core of Kazakhstan’s China strategy.

Yvette Cooper admits ‘complex’ relations with China amid Prince Andrew spy claims

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/dec/15/yvette-cooper-admits-complex-relations-with-china-amid-prince-andrew-spy-claims

The UK home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has admitted the government has a “complex arrangement” with China because of the need for economic co-operation, against the backdrop of the exclusion of an alleged Chinese spy with links to Prince Andrew.

The man – who was banned from Britain by the government on national security grounds – was invited to Andrew’s birthday party and visited Buckingham Palace twice as well as St James’s Palace and Windsor Castle at the invitation of Andrew, according to the Times.

It was reported by the Sunday Times that the man also met David Cameron and Theresa May and kept pictures of his meetings with the two prime ministers on the desk in his office. Both said they did not recall meeting him.

Cooper was asked on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme what her message was to China. “Well, we will continue to take a very strong approach to our national security, that includes to any challenge to our national security including to our economic security from China, from other countries around the world, that will always be the approach that we will take.

“Of course, with China we also need to make sure we have that economic interaction, economic co-operation in place as well. So it’s a complex arrangement.”

The former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said he will raise an urgent question about the man in the Commons on Monday, raising the possibility he could be named under parliamentary privilege.

On Friday, the Duke of York 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”.

The businessman, referred to as H6, brought his case to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac), which upheld a ruling that he should be excluded from the UK.

The shadow home secretary, Chris Philp, said proven instances of Chinese interference needed to be publicly exposed in order to keep the public and government vigilant.

“This question of Chinese influence is not a new one. It’s been around for years, or even decades,” he told the BBC. “They’ve been systematically trying to infiltrate universities, to steal intellectual property businesses for the same reason, and also influence government institutions. We need to be super-vigilant and publicly expose Chinese infiltration where it happens. Everybody in academia, in business, in government needs to be alert. If anyone has the slightest concern, they should contact the security services immediately.”

In the letter from the home secretary excluding the businessman in July last year, it said: “We have reason to believe you are engaging, or have previously engaged, in covert and deceptive activity on behalf of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) which is an arm of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) state apparatus.”

The alleged spy was initially stopped at an airport in November 2021 where his phone was seized. Communication on the phone, which is set out in the hand down from the Special Immigration Appeals Tribunal, suggests there was high-level contact between the businessman and the prince.

In a message from the duke’s adviser, Dominic Hampshire, it said that “outside of his closest internal confidants, you sit at the very top of a tree that many, many people would like to be on”.

It also contained a message from the duke’s adviser to the businessman, which said that since their first meeting “we have wisely navigated our way around former private secretaries and we have found a way to carefully remove those people who we don’t completely trust … we found away to get the relevant people unnoticed in and out of the house in Windsor.”

Chinese entrepreneurs, wary of tariffs, tag along with investments in US visa bids

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3290718/chinese-entrepreneurs-wary-tariffs-tag-along-investments-us-visa-bids?utm_source=rss_feed

Until this year, working – much less living – in the United States had never crossed Daniel Mai’s mind.

The idea only took hold after he had set up production lines for apparel in California and a cross-border e-commerce company to service them, establishing a foothold in the American market in preparation for the tariffs on Chinese goods he saw as inevitable.

Mai, a seasoned businessman previously based in Guangdong province, runs his US operations on an L-1A visa. The temporary status is granted when a US employer wishes to transfer employees of its foreign offices stateside, or a foreign company meeting certain conditions sends a manager to establish a satellite firm.

After his positive experiences in the US – the rate of profit, he said, is higher than several emerging markets – Mai decided to begin the application process for an EB-1C visa. The permanent worker status, reserved for managers and executives, would be a next step to obtaining a green card and gradually relocating his two children.

“Many people opposed my decision to build plants in the US, including my family,” Mai said. “But it turned out to be the right choice,” he added, particularly as Donald Trump’s second term as president approaches.

“I had never come to the US before this year, nor had I considered immigration. But now, it is on the agenda.”

Mai said he plans to expand his US operations to the East Coast while keeping his original apparel firm in Guangdong province intact. He wants to keep that factory and its 100 staff members busy, as China’s domestic market remains essential despite the bifurcation of his business.

Mai is not the only Chinese entrepreneur with a sudden need for a new place of residence. Dramatic geopolitical changes and rising trade barriers have prompted numerous business owners to consider setting up overseas facilities and emigrating to keep their operations humming along without interruption.

Even as traditional mainstay demographics for immigration – like those in the affluent middle class and skilled workers – are finding it increasingly difficult to establish themselves overseas, Chinese nationals looking to set down roots along with their investments are becoming more common.

According to a survey conducted by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council last year, nearly 90 per cent of polled enterprises from mainland China indicated they plan to “go global” in the next three years, and more than 70 per cent expressed an interest in emerging markets. Many named countries and regions involved with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade deal and China’s Belt and Road Initiative as areas rife with opportunity.

There are more than 52 million micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in China, per the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

More than 750,000 Chinese enterprises have launched overseas operations, according to a report by Chinese tech news outlet 36kr. The semi-annual reports of A-share listed companies this year show that nearly 5,300 companies have overseas revenues accounting for nearly 65 per cent of their total income.

In Guangdong alone, Mai said, he knows more than 20 business owners who have launched production lines or branches abroad this year.

Supply chain consultant Mike Liu is in the process of applying for his own professional visa, an EB-1A status reserved for candidates deemed by the US’ Citizenship and Immigration Services to possess “extraordinary ability” in their field.

With two daughters in middle school and an increasingly hazardous environment for young Chinese students looking to secure visas, a successful application would be invaluable to safeguarding his daughters’ future.

“I never considered immigrating until later this year. But the value of [my] assets in China has shrunk dramatically, and confidence among entrepreneurs is low,” he said. “It might be time to explore opportunities in the US.”

Some young people are trying for long-term residence elsewhere because of the hurdles involved with moving to the West, taking their investments to countries in Southeast Asia. But even that path could become fraught.

“It’s important to act early,” said Beitong, a popular YouTube creator in a recent video from Thailand. “Some policies have already begun to tighten, such as making it more difficult for Chinese to open bank accounts or apply for driver’s licences.”

China urges schools to teach AI as tech war and ChatGPT drive demand for talent

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3290852/china-urges-schools-teach-ai-tech-war-and-chatgpt-drive-demand-talent?utm_source=rss_feed

China has urged its primary and secondary schools to add artificial intelligence to the curriculum as it moves to nurture young talent in the emerging field.

The Ministry of Education has asked the schools to improve AI education to “meet China’s future demand for innovative talent” and improve students’ digital skills and problem-solving abilities, according to a ministry circular released last week.

More than 500 Chinese universities and colleges have rolled out an AI major since 2018, a year after Beijing unveiled a plan to become the world leader in artificial intelligence.

China’s enthusiasm for artificial intelligence has grown amid its tech war with the US and as AI-powered chatbots such as ChatGPT have become a part of daily life.

The education ministry said AI courses should be launched “systematically” and included as a factor when evaluating schools

Pupils in lower primary school should gain experience and develop basic ideas about AI, while those in higher grades should understand and learn to apply the technology. In senior high school, the focus should be on “innovative projects with the application of AI”, the circular states.

Schools should promote “assignment or project-oriented teaching” for AI and integrate the technology into their computer science courses and field trips, while teachers should be trained in artificial intelligence, according to the ministry.

It is the first time that China has set goals for AI education in primary and secondary schools. In February, 184 schools around the nation were selected to take part in a pilot programme to explore AI education.

In a ceremony to mark the start of the semester, Beijing Hongzhi Middle School – one of six AI pilot schools in the Chinese capital – invited scholars from top universities to give speeches on the technology and accepted AI devices donated by American tech giants Intel and Hewlett-Packard Company, according to a People’s Daily report from September.

The school has launched a general course on the technology and adopted AI-powered software to help students practise English, polish teachers’ writing, and count pull-ups and measure long jump distances in physical education classes, the school’s principal Cai Lei told the Communist Party mouthpiece.

However, some parents who spoke to the South China Morning Post were sceptical about whether children would receive quality AI training in schools.

Zhou Jingjing, mother of a fifth grader at a top public school in Beijing, said: “Our school is not capable of teaching computer science, let alone AI.”

Since 2000, China has required primary and secondary schools to offer computer science classes. But the school Zhou’s son attends does not have an AI course.

She said that in the weekly computer science class her son has attended since third grade, pupils just sit at their desks without a computer and watch a video showing how to code in the visual programming language Scratch.

“No one can learn programming by just watching. It’s a waste of time,” Zhou said. “There’s a computer lab at school. But it’s never used.”

“I really doubt if there will be enough qualified educators available to teach AI. I guess many schools would just fudge with some PowerPoint materials when they claim they offer AI courses,” she said.

Dong Chen, father of an eighth-grade student, said his daughter had been learning to code in the programming language C++ at a top school in Shanghai.

“Our school has adopted some AI-powered software, so that I can see AI-generated summaries when I review classes online,” Dong said, adding that the school so far has not offered AI classes.

“If you really want to learn something, you cannot count on the schools. After all, AI is not a subject on middle school or university entrance exams, so schools are not highly motivated to teach.”

Xiong Bingqi, director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, a Beijing-based think tank, said a chronic problem in China’s education system was excessive attention to exam subjects, while other areas of study were often “marginalised”.

“We can only enhance AI education by reforming the education appraisal system and focusing more on students’ learning experience,” Xiong said.

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China’s finance industry urged to better support tech innovation

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3290879/chinas-finance-industry-urged-better-support-tech-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed

Technological innovation in China still has “much room for improvement” and the country needs financial support to develop new ideas, according to a prominent economist.

Tian Xuan, chairman of Tsinghua University’s national institute of financial research, said there is a particularly large gap with the United States.

He said nine out of the 10 biggest American firms by valuation were tech companies or funds that invested in technology.

In contrast China’s largest firm was the drinks maker Kweichow Moutai, followed by four state-owned banks. The battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology was the only tech-related firm in China’s top 10 by valuation.

Xuan also said that Apple was valued at US$3.5 trillion, “which is two times or more higher than our top 10’s total”.

He added: “The crux of the issue is that how can the financial sector help expedite technological innovation and push the development of new quality productive forces.”

He also said foreign investment should be encouraged, because a “healthy and open capital market is necessary for enhancing innovation”.

Tian cited data from 20 international markets to argue that foreign investors had boosted creativity and modernisation.

“Foreign capital can lower the financing cost of companies and upgrade corporate governance that will scatter risks,” he said. “It’s very important to open up capital markets and let overseas institutional investors come in.”

Beijing is looking for ways to boost the economy, including “new quality productive forces” – a combination of labour with technology and infrastructure.

Tian said corporate venture capital would help accelerate innovation.

“Steady and consistent macro policy implementation, instead of random policies, can smoothly push ahead technological innovation and new quality productive forces,” he added.

Tian said “tolerance” and “accepting failure” would be a “bold capital investment” and are necessary for innovation.

“With a higher tolerance for failed attempts, a company’s number of creative outcomes that can be launched in the market also increases – this is a causal relationship,” he added.

In a report published last week, the New York-based Asia Society said “new quality production forces” are likely to be the bedrock of China’s next five-year plan.

China banks use AI in recruitment, drawing mixed views from easing anxiety to trapping candidates

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3290763/china-banks-use-ai-recruitment-drawing-mixed-views-easing-anxiety-trapping-candidates?utm_source=rss_feed

An increasing number of mainland Chinese banks have adopted AI interviewing tools to reduce recruitment costs and enhance efficiency, though they have received a mixed response from participants.

Financial institutions embracing this initiative include both prominent national banks such as Bank of China (BOC) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), as well as local entities like Hangzhou Bank in eastern Zhejiang province and Shanghai Bank.

Among the AI tools utilised are AI interviewers, each capable of processing up to 2,500 interviews within a 24-hour period, as reported by the Economic Observer.

The AI interview occurs after the written examination and before the in-person interview, according to the report.

Candidates are required to download designated software and test their camera and microphone in advance of their scheduled session with the AI interviewer.

A female applicant, identified by her surname Xu, expressed that she felt more at ease when interacting with an AI interviewer. Notably, she appreciated having two opportunities to respond to each question.

“I tend to feel nervous when speaking to a real person in an interview. Typically, I don’t get two chances to answer questions, and I hesitate to ask the interviewer for another opportunity if my response isn’t satisfactory,” she stated.

This sentiment was echoed by a male candidate, surnamed Li.

“An AI interviewer appears more approachable. It lacks any bias and does not pressure you,” Li remarked. “While I was answering questions, the AI figure nodded occasionally. When I paused, it tilted its head, waiting for me to continue.”

However, another applicant, surnamed Wang, found it awkward to be interviewed by AI, likening the experience to talking to herself.

She noted that some AI interviewers posed irrelevant questions like they were trying to “trap” the candidates.

“I was applying for a customer manager position, yet the AI repeatedly asked me about handwriting,” Wang explained.

Several applicants reported encountering technical issues, with the AI application malfunctioning unexpectedly during interviews.

“An AI interviewer lacks the sophistication needed for interpersonal interactions and does not possess personal charisma. Nevertheless, it significantly alleviates the workload for human resources staff,” Wang added.

Some AI interview assistant software is available on social media platforms in mainland China, helping jobseekers prepare and providing assessments. One such product, which allows users to participate in four interviews over two hours, has been bought by 1,068 individuals for 68.8 yuan (US$9.5).

According to an AI industry report by the domestic software giant Yonyou, about 60 per cent of companies in the financial sector in mainland China have implemented AI interviewers

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Chinese electric truck makers accelerate global dominance even as they face trade hurdles

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-evs/article/3290862/chinese-electric-truck-makers-accelerate-global-dominance-even-they-face-trade-hurdles?utm_source=rss_feed

Dominant in the electric vehicle (EV) sector, Chinese companies have been quietly consolidating their position in the lesser-watched trucking scene – but foreign tariffs and a perceived quality gap could signal roadblocks ahead, experts warn.

The domestic supply chain and low-price strategy that helped make China’s EV industry world-leading are being leveraged by established carmakers and start-ups alike, aiming to similarly transform trucking.

Electric trucks currently represent less than 1 per cent of truck sales worldwide, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) – with China making up 70 per cent of those sales in 2023.

But the agency said it was “optimistic” policy and technology developments would see more widespread adoption in the next 10 years.

“This industry, I believe, is ripe for disruption,” Han Wen, the founder of start-up Windrose, said on a factory floor as the company’s first vehicles for delivery were assembled behind him.

Fleets of electric heavy goods vehicles from China have been growing internationally, even as Western countries target the country’s EVs with heavy sanctions.

Chinese companies like BYD and Beiqi Foton have shipped trucks to countries including Italy, Poland, Spain and Mexico, and have opened assembly plants around the world.

“China’s trucks are generally cost-competitive in emerging markets,” said Stephen Dyer, from consulting firm AlixPartners.

“For mature markets, performance and durability do not yet meet the needs of most customers, but that is changing.”

When it comes to emissions, “heavy-duty trucks are considered one of the more difficult to abate transport segments [after aviation and shipping]”, said IEA analyst Elizabeth Connelly.

A major challenge is the trade-off between battery size and range.

“The larger the battery, the longer the range. But the larger the battery, the heavier the truck … and the worse the fuel economy,” Connelly said.

Chinese manufacturers have been seen as producing lower quality products than foreign counterparts.

“Historically, Chinese trucks tended to have a shorter useful life cycle than European or Japanese trucks,” said AlixPartners’ Dyer.

While that perception is changing, China’s flagship companies still lag rivals on factors like range and battery capacity.

According to the Zero-Emission Technology Inventory, the median Chinese heavy duty truck range is 250km, compared with 322km in the United States.

BYD – which in October beat Tesla in quarterly revenue for the first time – says its 8TT model’s range is 200km, compared with the 800km promised by Tesla’s Semi truck.

But Chinese manufacturers could close the gap quickly.

Windrose’s Han says its semi-trucks can go up to 670km on a single charge.

Meanwhile, battery giant CATL has rolled out truck battery-swapping facilities – where drained units can be immediately replaced, eliminating charging time altogether.

China’s existing EV ecosystem is a massive advantage.

“We’re very lucky to have the Chinese supply chain [for EVs],” said Han, noting Windrose was using an electric bus company’s factory to build its trucks.

“There’s no doubt that China also will have an edge on the electrification of heavy-duty trucks.”

More unpredictable are the testy geopolitical waters the sector risks stalling in.

This year has seen important trading partners, including the European Union and the United States, impose hefty tariffs on Chinese EVs, saying Beijing’s state aid to carmakers undercuts their own firms.

China refutes this, but as its EV truck footprint grows globally, so could the risk of similar action being taken.

“Governments in potential export markets want to protect their local industries,” said Sam Fiorani from AutoForecast Solutions.

US president-elect Donald Trump has promised huge tariff hikes on Chinese imports once he takes office.

“Since EV truck volume is smaller than passenger EVs, there is a chance that EV trucks would fall a little under the radar in normal times,” AlixPartners’ Dyer said.

But “these are not ‘normal times’ any more and anything Chinese is high profile in the US government currently”, he added.

Some companies have already taken steps that could mitigate this risk.

BYD proudly touts its trucks as being “assembled by union workers in Lancaster, California”, while it has announced plans to build a factory in Mexico, and has plants in Hungary and Romania.

Windrose’s Han said the firm has consciously spread its operations across multiple countries, moving key headquarters to Belgium earlier this year.

“We do embrace the fact that every major market would like its own domestic supply chain of EV,” he said.

“You have to start in China. We then try to move the supply chain globally … But you have to start in China. There’s no alternative.”

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Man sues China firm after failing 26-day challenge to live in isolation for US$120,000 reward

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3290752/man-sues-china-firm-after-failing-26-day-challenge-live-isolation-us120000-reward?utm_source=rss_feed

A man in China has paid 20,000 yuan (US$2,800) in registration fees to participate in a “self-discipline challenge” three times, hoping to win a substantial cash prize, but he was unsuccessful in all attempts.

The man, surnamed Zhang, took the company behind the challenge to court in Xian, in northwestern China, believing his dream of winning 860,000 yuan (US$120,000) had been shattered and claiming he had been defrauded, according to the Huashang Daily.

Zhang was drawn to the advertisement for the challenge, which stated that contestants would be rewarded with a lucrative sum for staying in a room for several days while adhering to specific rules.

According to the challenge rules, participants are placed in a room monitored by several surveillance cameras. They can only turn the light on and off once a day and must do so before 6am each day.

Participants must not move, shut down, or cover the monitoring cameras, and if they shield their face from the camera, this action cannot last more than three seconds.

Challengers are required to use their mobile phones during designated times each day and must return the devices to their original place. Additionally, they are prohibited from covering or drinking the beers provided in the room.

A participant can earn 6,800 yuan (US$930) if they successfully follow the rules for three days. The prize increases to 28,000 yuan for six days, 58,000 yuan for nine days, and ultimately 860,000 yuan for 26 days. The registration fees also increase based on the prize level the contestant chooses.

Zhang paid 6,900 yuan to enter the 860,000-yuan challenge on September 24 but failed within 24 hours after being caught covering his face for more than three seconds.

Undeterred, Zhang submitted another 6,900 yuan on September 25 for a second attempt.

“I was unemployed at that time and in debt. After failing the first time, I felt I had the experience to give it another go,” he said.

However, the next day, while making the bed and turning his back to the camera, Zhang was disqualified again for violating the rule against covering his face.

Shortly after, he borrowed money from a friend and paid to enter the challenge for a third time. “I’d like to take a gamble,” Zhang admitted. “I thought that since I had already spent so much money, I shouldn’t leave empty-handed.”

This time, he managed to stay in the room for 10 days before inadvertently covering the beer in the room, leading to his disqualification.

A relative later suggested to Zhang that he might have been scammed, prompting him to sue the organiser, Xian Mulin Culture Communication Company. A court accepted the lawsuit, although it remains unclear when the case will be heard.

Zhang’s lawyer claimed that the company’s challenge rules were unreasonable and unfair, imposing a severe psychological test on participants.

Such self-discipline challenges are not uncommon in China. Last month, a court in eastern Shandong province ordered a company to refund 5,400 yuan to a man who had paid 6,000 yuan to join a similar “isolation challenge”. He failed because he used a pillow to cover his face while sleeping.

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How will Hungary’s Orban square the circle of ties with China and Trump?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3290847/how-will-hungarys-orban-square-circle-ties-china-and-trump?utm_source=rss_feed

Viktor Orban, the strongman Hungarian prime minister, ended his country’s helm at the six-month rotating EU presidency much as he started it: with a flurry of “peace mission” visits that earned him a stern rebuke from Ukraine.

On Monday, Orban was in Mar-a-Lago, US president-elect Donald Trump’s Florida residence, meeting Trump, business tycoon Elon Musk and other political figures. On Wednesday, he had a one-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, for which he was scolded by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“No one should boost personal image at the expense of unity; everyone should focus on shared success,” Zelensky wrote on social media.

By Thursday, Orban was in the air again, off to Turkey to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to again promote his idea of a “Christmas ceasefire” for the war in Ukraine – a proposal that was roundly rejected by Kyiv.

The whirlwind week captured Orban’s self-styled policy of “economic neutrality”: he wants to remain in the good graces of superpowers to Hungary’s east and west, continuing a high-wire act he has performed for years.

“He’s an outlier as an EU and Nato member state that is in favour of Trump and a bit of a disruptive force Trump feels he can connect to. Through this, Hungary seems to be an important country beyond its significance in size and its economic might,” said Peter Kreko, director of Political Capital, a Hungarian policy research firm.

Now, though, Orban is facing his biggest balancing act to date.

Officials around Europe are wondering how long he will remain the European Union’s most pro-Trump and pro-China leader, particularly as the next US president threatens to get tougher on Beijing and could ask European governments to sever ties with China.

“Eventually he will have to make a choice,” a senior EU official said. “It’s Trump or China. We don’t know which one he would choose.”

A senior diplomat said that “certain member states are very happy with Trump’s win, but they also seem to love Putin and Xi”.

“So how are they going to square that circle?” the diplomat said.

Observers see Orban’s relationship with Trump and China through different lenses: one is political, the other economic. But they do not necessarily agree on which has a higher value for the Hungarian leader.

“There are two dimensions at play. Politically, Orban is very happy with Trump, he elevates his station and he can think he plays at the big table, that is the most important thing for Orban,” said Tamas Matura, an expert in Hungary’s relations with China at the Corvinus University of Budapest.

On the economic front, Hungary is struggling. Its economy dipped into recession for the second time in two years in October, making it the only euro-zone member to be in contraction.

That is why China is so important to Orban. Analysis from Rhodium Group, a research firm, and the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a think tank, found that 44 per cent of all Chinese foreign direct investment and more than two-thirds of its electric vehicle sector investment in Europe went to Hungary last year.

Big Chinese companies like CATL, the global leader in batteries, and BYD, the world’s biggest EV maker, have invested heavily in the central European country. CATL’s €7.3 billion (US$7.8 billion) plant in the eastern city of Debrecen is expected to start production next year, when BYD’s facility there is also set to start producing EVs.

“For Orban, business with China is more beneficial than close ties with the US,” Kreko said, pointing to the Hungarian leader’s repeated assertions that China has overtaken the US as the world’s top economic power.

“The reason Orban likes Trump is not just the ideology, he pulls out more US [military] tentacles from Europe. He doesn’t like the patronage of the US or the soft power of the US. He doesn’t think you have to be on good terms with the president to bring in American investment, because it’s done on business terms.

“On the other hand, to have Chinese investment, you have to be on good terms with the Chinese president.”

It is a dilemma Orban negotiated deftly during Trump’s first term in office. Knowing Trump’s dislike of EU institutions, Orban said he would not need to do business with China if Brussels had not frozen funds for Budapest because of slippages in the country’s rule of law.

He may also hope that Musk’s strong business connections in China will open the door to some deal-making with Beijing, and perhaps Budapest too. As a trading economy, Hungary stands to lose out from major disruptions to commerce even if it is not directly hit.

“My hunch is that they are working on some kind of deal with Trump. They may also hope that Hungary is very small and so may fly under the radar of Trump’s anti-China policies,” Matura said.

“If we look at the details of Chinese economic activity in Hungary, it may not be something the Americans are concerned about. It’s not breaching American national security interests. It’s not about chips, or military – it’s the EV sector.”

AI crackdown: China stamps out tech misuse to preserve national literature and ideology

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3290820/ai-crackdown-china-stamps-out-tech-misuse-preserve-national-literature-and-ideology?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing is stepping up its defence of classic literature against AI misuse that it says could undermine and endanger China’s leading ideology.

The Chinese government says AI’s “peculiar adaptations” from classic television dramas based on Chinese literature are “highly deceptive”. Like memes, these edited video clips are made largely for laughs and social media traction, and highlight Beijing’s challenges in regulating artificial intelligence.

The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), the agency that oversees state broadcasting, last week issued a notice calling on its supervisory bodies to clean up videos that use AI to create jokes derived from Chinese cultural touchstones.

It said there was an increasing trend of altering video clips from television shows based on novels hailed as the greatest works of Chinese literature, including Dream of the Red Chamber and Journey to the West.

The broadcast watchdog said these AI-remastered jokes “seek to gain traffic without boundaries and disrespect classic intellectual properties”.

It added that they “challenge traditional cultural perceptions, go against the core spirit of the original works and may constitute copyright infringement”.

The AI-remastered videos, which are largely characterised by a humorous or sarcastic tone, can still be found on Chinese social media platforms, with some clearly labelled as generated by AI while others are not.

In an example, characters from the Journey to the West, a 16th century novel based on a Buddhist monk’s journey to India in the seventh century, are happily riding motorcycles on their supposedly arduous journey.

The NRTA notice reflects one of the latest challenges in AI governance in China, which seeks to balance the priorities of using the technology to boost the economy while combating deepfakes to eradicate misinformation and handle the potential impact on public perception.

Traditional culture, in particular, is key to the Communist Party’s governance philosophy, which it sees as part of its cultural rejuvenation campaign.

The Cyberspace Administration of China, the country’s top internet watchdog, has repeatedly pledged to clean up video content that could be harmful to the young.

The call to clean up AI-remastered content aligns with China’s campaign to control online information and clean up information it deems undesirable, such as that deemed contrary to traditional values or related to materialism, extreme individualism and “historical nihilism”.

Historical nihilism is a term coined by the Communist Party for challenges to its official version of history, which it sees as undermining its legitimacy.

Gu Yu, a Beijing-based lawyer, said such AI videos had not caused significant harm to the public but could influence people unfamiliar with the original works.

“While new technologies should be approached with a degree of tolerance to encourage public innovation, it is also crucial to take action against works that distort basic values,” he said.

But China’s AI regulation is still in an “exploratory phase”, with regulation and lawmaking lagging behind the technological advances, he said.

According to Gu, it is difficult to draft comprehensive laws without sufficient legal precedents, so measures are introduced when problems arise.

Beijing has taken many efforts to regulate AI, including its “Administrative Provisions on Deep Synthesis in Internet-based Information Services” implemented in January 2023, which require clear labelling of content that could confuse or mislead the public.

In August last year, China took measures to manage generative AI services and issued guidelines for multimedia content labelling standards.

The NRTA’s request to clean up AI-remastered content was a trending topic in China this week, ranked second among hot topics discussed on the social media platform Weibo microblog. The tag attracted more than 43.4 million views and over 14,000 discussions.

Many have expressed support, saying regulation is necessary and without oversight such content could lead to severe information pollution.

Some parents also expressed concerns that AI-made jokes might lead to a loss of respect for traditional Chinese classics.

One using the name Mr Bald wrote on Monday that if not regulated “junior school students haven’t even read the Four Great Chinese Classical Novels, yet they are watching funny videos of the Monkey King [the protagonist of Journey to the West] fighting with Jia Baoyu [protagonist of Dream of the Red Chamber].”

However, other online commentators said officials were “overseeing too much”, with one saying “work is already exhausting, and now even our freedom to enjoy entertaining videos after work is being taken away. Do they really have to regulate everything?”

Alex Roberts, who specialises in games and interactive entertainment at law firm Linklaters in Shanghai said: “Chinese authorities are acutely aware of the challenge of balancing the promotion of AI development to bolster growth in industry and the wider economy, while protecting the creative interests of traditional content producers and wider public interests and social values.”

He said Chinese authorities were not alone among global regulators in navigating this challenge and many governments are also exploring ways to regulate AI-generated content.

“But the size and importance of the digital ecosystem in China puts added weight on getting the balance right quickly and effectively,” Roberts said.

China mistress sues woman who refused to divorce husband after receiving US$165,000 from her

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3290746/china-mistress-sues-woman-who-refused-divorce-husband-after-receiving-us165000-her?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese mistress paid a “divorce fee” of 1.2 million yuan (US$165,000) to the legal wife of her married lover, only to have her petition for a refund rejected by the court after the wife accepted the money but refused to divorce.

In December 2013, a man surnamed Han, based in Shishi, Fujian province in southeastern China, married his wife, Yang, with whom he has two daughters whose ages remain undisclosed.

Later, Han began an affair with his colleague, identified as Shi. They also entered into a business partnership and welcomed a son together in November 2022.

In an attempt to “replace” Yang, Shi confronted her and proposed a deal, offering to pay 2 million yuan (US$280,000) if Yang agreed to divorce Han. To initiate the agreement, Shi transferred 1.2 million yuan to Yang at the end of 2022.

However, more than a year later, Yang still had not consented to a divorce.

Frustrated, the mistress demanded her money back and even filed a lawsuit to recover the 1.2 million yuan after the wife refused to return it.

In the lawsuit, Shi claimed there was a “verbal agreement” that the payment was contingent upon Yang divorcing Han and requested the court to order Yang to return the money along with overdue payment interest for breach of contract.

On February 7, the Shishi People’s Court ruled against Shi’s request, stating that the payment violated societal moral standards and public order as it was intended to disrupt a lawful marriage.

Additionally, it was determined that Han and Yang had already signed a divorce agreement and were in a “cooling-off period”, which meant that the payment did not meet the legal conditions for a refund.

This “cooling-off” period, imposed by the Chinese government in 2021, requires couples to wait 30 days after submitting a divorce application before the separation is finalised.

It has also been revealed that during his marriage, Han spent over 6 million yuan (US$825,000) on Shi without his wife’s knowledge.

Yue Zengchao, a lawyer from Henan Yushun Law Firm, explained to the Henan Broadcasting System that in such cases, the court is unlikely to side with the third party, even if the couple have not divorced.

“Any significant assets acquired by a married man during the affair, without his wife’s consent, are considered jointly owned by the couple. The wife has the legal right to demand the return of her share from the third party,” Yue clarified.

It remains unclear whether Han might face legal repercussions for potentially committing bigamy by living with and having children with someone else while still legally married.

The case has sparked lively discussion on Chinese social media, with many describing the outcome as “justice served”.

One commenter remarked: “The result is truly satisfying. Taking the money and refusing to divorce – this is the perfect way to make her lose both the man and the money!”

Another quipped: “What kind of man is worth 1.2 million yuan?”

From Teresa Teng to Chiung Yao: Taiwan’s lost age of cultural sway over mainland China

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3290812/teresa-teng-chiung-yao-taiwans-lost-age-cultural-sway-over-mainland-china?utm_source=rss_feed

When news broke earlier this month of the death of Taiwanese writer Chiung Yao, mainland fan Nicole Li was flooded with childhood memories of watching TV dramas based on Yao’s work.

“I can almost recite the lines and plots of ,” 30-year-old Li said, referring to mainland-Taiwanese co-productions in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “Most people of my generation would have the same memories.”

The shows were wildly popular, attracting millions of mainland viewers when they were broadcast on Hunan TV.

Former Hunan TV director Ouyang Changlin said the peak for these shows was around 1999 when the second season of My Fair Princess aired, capturing around 65 per cent of the mainland market.

For Li and her generation of young mainland Chinese, some of their earliest cultural memories are of the work of Taiwanese writers, musicians and filmmakers like Chiung Yao.

So much so that after her suicide, mainland Chinese media was flooded with tributes from artists, the public and even state media.

But in recent years, Taiwanese pop culture has struggled to appeal to mainland audiences.

Analysts say this is the result of a combination of political and social changes on both sides of the strait, the development of pop culture on the mainland, and the local focus of Taiwanese culture.

In the late 1970s, after decades of rule by late leader Mao Zedong, mainland China began to open up to the outside world and the work of Taiwanese artists was among those to seep in.

Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng was one of the more popular performers, even though her songs were initially banned by Beijing on the grounds that her romantic lyrics and soft singing would corrupt people’s minds.

Millions of mainland Chinese heard her songs on the radio from Taiwan and on black-market cassettes in the 1980s, with the ban lifted only after her death in 1995. According to state media reports, even Chinese President Xi Jinping – then an official in Fujian province just across the strait from Taiwan – was a fan.

While Teng’s songs were making the rounds unofficially on the mainland, Chiung Yao’s evocative romance novels, along with martial arts stories from Hong Kong and Taiwan, came in through official channels and quickly became popular.

Mainland media quoted a 1986 report in which 70 per cent of secondary school students surveyed in the southern city of Guangzhou had read something by Chiung Yao, whose stories were usually set in China’s turbulent early 20th century or during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911).

Mainland magazine Phoenix Weekly attributed her success to the general public’s need at the time “to find an outlet for their feelings after a long period of repression”.

Huang Chun-ming, an associate professor at the college of communication of National Chengchi University in Taipei, said that in the 1980s, when Taiwanese pop culture was introduced to the mainland, Taiwanese pop culture “still had ethnic [Chinese] characteristics” and therefore quickly attracted an audience.

But the work of Taiwanese artists no longer appears to resonate as easily with the mainland public.

According to Ho Chih-yung, assistant professor of general education at National Tsing Hua University in the Taiwanese city of Hsinchu, that waning is linked to the emergence of an “indigenous” trend in Taiwanese pop culture from around 2000, when the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) gained power.

“Taiwan inevitably underwent indigenisation [of identity]” after the election in 2000 saw the Kuomintang (KMT), which had ruled Taiwan for decades, hand power to the DPP, he said.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a province of China to be reunified by force if necessary. Most nations, including Taiwan’s main supporter the United States, do not recognise the self-ruled island as an independent state. But Washington opposes attempts to change the status quo by force and has pledged to supply arms to Taipei.

The DPP’s Chen Shui-bian was in power for eight years, followed by Ma Ying-jeou from the Beijing-friendly KMT for eight years. The DPP returned power in 2016 and has held on to the island’s leadership since then.

Ho said the last period of enthusiasm for cross-strait cultural exchanges was during Ma’s time in office from 2008 to 2016.

At that time, Ho said, “the biggest common ground in cross-strait relations was Chinese culture”, but since relations deteriorated during the eight years of the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen, “that foundation has gone”.

Ho added that Tsai “wanted to reflect Taiwan’s cultural uniqueness” and therefore promoted the connection between Taiwan’s indigenous languages and the Austronesian languages of some Pacific islands, rather than its shared Chinese experience.

Another factor, Ho says, is growing censorship on the mainland of Taiwanese literary and artistic works.

Where once shows could be seen by people on both sides of the strait, producers are having a harder time getting content past mainland censors.

Chen Yen-ming, the producer of Taiwanese variety show Kangsi Coming, told Business Weekly’s Taiwan edition in 2013 that the show used to be hugely popular on the mainland, in large part because it was “taboo free”, discussing topics mainland audiences considered sensitive, including the private lives of Taiwanese politicians and the sex lives of celebrities.

But such programmes now have a more difficult time getting to air, with mainland authorities now requiring all video programmes broadcast online, especially those from offshore, to obtain prior approval, according to a regulation announced in 2017.

Ho said Beijing was increasingly stressing nationalism in public content, which combined with Taipei’s emphasis on cultural uniqueness, had caused popular culture on both sides of the strait to “drift apart”.

“Politics has taken precedence over culture,” he added.

The mainland’s pop culture market has also expanded over the past two decades, attracting Taiwanese actors and singers to develop their careers there.

When Kangsi Coming stopped production in 2016, People’s Daily pointed to the rising strength of the mainland industry.

“Compared with Taiwan, the mainland’s variety show production is better funded, better staffed and more creatively innovative … As a result, with the further opening of the mainland’s TV market, Taiwanese artists have become more willing to come to the mainland,” the Communist Party mouthpiece said in a commentary.

Ho agreed that “the flow of actors and money to the mainland is irreversible from a market economy perspective”. And productions on Taiwan’s local culture “have almost no market in the mainland,” he added.

“It is a normal process of industry development,” Huang of National Chengchi University said.

Li, who works in a production company, said that most of the Taiwanese TV dramas that had sparked discussions on the mainland in recent years were social issues, including electoral politics and the #MeToo movement.

But even these discussions had been “mostly limited to groups of people who enjoy Taiwanese culture rather than the general public”, she added.

“What they [Taiwanese people] are talking about in their TV dramas now is completely different from our [mainland people’s] daily lives,” Li said.

What Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy can learn from China’s reformers

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3290381/what-elon-musk-and-vivek-ramaswamy-can-learn-chinas-reformers?utm_source=rss_feed

The Musk-Ramaswamy duet is gearing up for one of the most ambitious reform projects in US political history. Appointed to president-elect Donald Trump’s proposed Department of Government Efficiency, their mission is to overhaul the government, make it smaller, streamline bureaucracy and ultimately transform the way America operates. It’s a grand vision to tackle some of the country’s most entrenched problems.

There might be a lesson or two to be learned from China’s rich history of reformers. From Shang Yang (390-338BC), whose legal and economic reforms paved the way for a unified Qin dynasty, to the Song dynasty’s Wang Anshi (1021-1086), whose New Policies famously failed, and Zhang Juzheng (1525-1582), whose tax reforms, while unpopular, helped the Ming dynasty reach a peak, China’s reform tradition has been shaped by powerful ideas and institutional resistance.

More recently, under paramount leader Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s and premier Zhu Rongji in the late 1990s, China undertook two of the most significant reform movements in its modern history.

While Deng famously equated his plan to downsize the government to a revolution, his reforms mainly rewrote economic rules. Markets were opened up to foreign investors, special economic zones were created, and collective farming gave way to household farming. Not that he did not tackle the oversized bureaucracy and officialdom – old cadres were retired en masse and kicked into “advisory committees”, and in just over two years, he trimmed the military by a million troops, despite a border conflict with Vietnam.

But it was Zhu’s reforms of 1993-2002 that are more comparable to the American project envisioned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Zhu massively restructured China’s government and the state-economy relationship. In the first restructuring round, central government agencies were cut from 86 to 59, as employees on government payroll fell by 20 per cent. The second round, from 1998-2002, was even more radical: 15 ministries were axed and 1.15 million positions removed from the government payroll. Tens of thousands of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) closed their doors or were privatised, and millions were laid off.

The reform impact was stunning. But China emerged with a much leaner government and a more dynamic economy – the exact goals of the Musk-Ramaswamy plan.

Musk, given Tesla’s experience in China, is no stranger to how the Chinese government works and aims to deliver economic growth and industrial capacity. But it is highly doubtful the department he is to co-lead, which will operate outside government confines, will possess the advantages that helped Deng and Zhu’s reforms to succeed.

The first is strong political leadership. Both Deng and Zhu held unparalleled authority within China’s political system. They were not just reformers; they were top leaders with immense power, backed by the Communist Party. This allowed them to implement policies with the force needed to bring about systemic change.

The second is a unified ideological narrative. Deng’s reforms were framed as a “revolution” for modernisation, while Zhu’s agenda was tied to China’s desire to integrate into the global economy. These clear, strong narratives helped unify the party and population around the reform agenda.

The third is a gradual implementation. While the scale of both reform projects was large, the changes were implemented over time with an eye on managing the political and social repercussions. The government ensured programmes to mitigate the impact of downsizing, especially for laid-off workers.

Lastly, China’s reforms were also spurred by external factors, such as the need to modernise to compete in a global economy. Joining the World Trade Organization, for instance, in 2001 required China to adapt its economic and political structures.

For the Musk-Ramaswamy team, the most glaring difference is their political environment. They have limited power, being neither heads of state or government leaders. They also have to contend with the highly decentralised US political system, where checks and balances, partisan resistance and bureaucratic inertia will all play significant roles.

A second factor is the time constraint. The Musk-Ramaswamy team will be looking at a much shorter time frame than Deng and Zhu had – Trump has declared a deadline of July 4, 2026. This will force them to work quickly, without the luxury of the long-term planning and gradual implementation that made China’s reforms successful.

Thirdly, there is clearly an absence of a unified narrative. Unlike China, where the Communist Party could enforce a unified political vision, the US political landscape is highly fragmented. Musk and Ramaswamy will need to craft a compelling narrative that resonates with a broad spectrum of American voters, political elites and civil servants. Otherwise, they will face massive resistance from various interest groups.

And that will be hard to tackle. Any attempt to downsize or restructure the federal bureaucracy will be met with fierce resistance from entrenched political actors and public sector unions. And then there is the broader public, which may be deeply sceptical of any efforts that threaten essential services.

China’s modern reforms succeeded because they were implemented by strong leaders with unified political backing, over a longer period and with a clear ideological narrative. The proposed US reforms are a much more difficult task: Musk and Ramaswamy will need to work within a deeply divided political system, without the same degree of centralised power or political backing.

Success will depend on the ability of Musk and Ramaswamy to mobilise political support, craft a compelling narrative and find innovative solutions to America’s unique governance challenges.

Chinese laser scientist ‘Crazy Li’ arms small drones with metal-cutting beam

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3290461/chinese-laser-scientist-crazy-li-arms-small-drones-metal-cutting-beam?utm_source=rss_feed

A squad of fully armed soldiers follow closely behind a Humvee armoured vehicle, cautiously advancing through the ruins of an urban battlefield. About a kilometre ahead of them in the sky, a small drone hovers in place. Suddenly, one soldier lets out a scream, clutching his eyes with both hands as smoke curls between his fingers.

Soon after, the others also collapse, and the radar, cameras and communication antennas on the Humvee catch fire and malfunction one after another.

They have been hit by laser beams emitted by the drone. Near-infrared laser with a wavelength of 1080 nanometres can cause blindness at a power of just five microwatts. The beam intensity that enters these soldiers’ eyes is 200 million times that, reaching one kilowatt per square centimetre. If the exposed skin was hit, the subcutaneous fat would be instantly vaporised.

A laser of such an intensity is “sufficient to cut through metal”, wrote a research team led by Li Xiao, an associate researcher with the school of optoelectronic science and engineering of the National University of Defence Technology of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese journal Acta Armamentarii in October.

Li’s email prefix – “crazy.li” – hints at his unconventional thinking. The scenario he envisioned in the paper was once deemed impossible: generating a laser beam with a long kill distance typically requires bulky equipment the size of a truck. A small platform, similar to a consumer drone, could never carry such a high-powered laser weapon and its accompanying energy supply equipment.

Li and his colleagues invented a small and lightweight redirecting device that allows drones equipped with it to receive powerful beams from the ground and reflect them onto enemy targets.

This not only boosts the laser power emitted by the drone to 30kW or even higher but also allows the beam to bend in the sky, bypassing obstacles such as buildings and hitting targets at their most vulnerable spot.

“In future applications, multiple drones can be equipped with this device to detect targets and then request illumination from the ground, further improving response speed,” the team wrote in the paper.

The main components of the redirecting device are a pair of telescope-like tubes, with the receiving tube facing the friendly laser emitter on the ground and the reflecting tube pointing at the enemy.

The movement of the tubes is controlled by ultra-high-precision elevation servo mechanisms and azimuth turntables, and the optical path between the two tubes is connected by high-performance reflective mirrors.

The main challenge is the vibration generated during drone flight, which can cause the laser beam to scatter, reducing its lethality. Therefore, the device must have excellent vibration isolation technology, Li’s team said.

The tight locking of the optical path between the drone and the ground emitter also required first-rate optical beacon technology, they said.

Chinese scientists have solved most of the technical problems, according to the paper.

China launched the world’s first quantum satellite in 2016, turning ultra-long-distance laser aiming technology from science fiction into reality. In recent years, Chinese scientists have also achieved ultra-high-precision time synchronisation technology on mobile devices, vastly improving the coordination accuracy between intelligent weapon platforms.

This has enabled breakthroughs that were once deemed impossible, such as merging microwaves or lasers emitted from different platforms into a potent energy beam in the sky.