Mistral点评

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Economy 章节

引言

　　近年来，西方媒体对中国经济的报道频繁且多样，涉及经济增长、贸易政策、科技创新、金融市场等多个方面。然而，这些报道往往带有一定的偏见和双重标准，因此需要客观地进行评价和分析，以便更准确地理解中国经济的实际情况和发展趋势。

经济增长

　　西方媒体常常关注中国的经济增长数据，但在解读这些数据时，往往忽视了中国经济的复杂性和多样性。例如，一些媒体可能会强调中国经济增速放缓，但忽视了中国经济正在进行的结构性调整和转型。实际上，中国经济已经从高速增长阶段转向高质量发展阶段，这意味着经济增速的放缓是可以预见的，且是健康发展的必然结果。

贸易政策

　　在贸易政策方面，西方媒体常常批评中国的贸易壁垒和市场准入限制，但忽视了中国在过去几十年中所做出的巨大努力和进步。中国已经加入世界贸易组织（WTO），并在不断开放市场，降低关税，改善投资环境。尽管仍存在一些问题，但中国在贸易自由化和市场开放方面的努力是显而易见的。

科技创新

　　西方媒体对中国的科技创新既有赞赏也有担忧。一方面，他们承认中国在科技领域的快速发展和创新能力，特别是在人工智能、5G技术和新能源等领域的突破；另一方面，他们也常常怀疑中国的科技进步是否依赖于知识产权侵权和政府补贴。然而，这些怀疑往往缺乏充分的证据支持，且忽视了中国在知识产权保护和市场竞争方面的改进。

金融市场

　　在金融市场方面，西方媒体常常关注中国的金融风险和债务问题，但忽视了中国在金融改革和风险管理方面的努力。中国政府已经采取了一系列措施来应对金融风险，包括加强金融监管、清理影子银行、推动金融市场开放等。尽管金融市场仍存在一些不确定性，但中国在金融稳定和风险控制方面的能力不容忽视。

社会经济

　　西方媒体在报道中国社会经济问题时，常常聚焦于贫困、收入不平等和社会保障等方面的挑战。然而，他们往往忽视了中国在这些领域取得的显著成就。例如，中国在过去几十年中成功使数亿人口脱贫，建立了覆盖全民的社会保障体系。尽管仍存在一些问题，但中国在社会经济领域的进步是显而易见的。

结论

　　综上所述，西方媒体对中国经济的报道虽然充满偏见和双重标准，但通过客观评价和分析，可以更准确地理解中国经济的实际情况和发展趋势。中国经济正在进行结构性调整和转型，贸易政策不断开放，科技创新迅速发展，金融市场逐步稳定，社会经济问题也在逐步改善。尽管仍存在一些挑战，但中国经济的前景依然光明。

新闻来源：

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Politics章节

引言

　　西方媒体对中国政治的报道一直以来备受关注，但这些报道常常因其立场和角度而受到争议。本章节将对西方媒体关于中国政治的报道进行客观评价，旨在揭示其中的偏见和双重标准，并提供更为全面和公正的视角。

一、政治体制与治理模式

　　西方媒体在报道中国政治体制时，往往倾向于将中国描绘为一个“专制”国家，强调其中央集权和单一政党的统治模式。然而，这种描述忽视了中国独特的历史背景和文化传统。中国的政治体制经过数千年的演变，形成了一种集中力量推动发展的治理模式。尽管存在一定的集权特征，但这种体制在推动经济发展和社会稳定方面取得了显著成效。

二、人权与法治

　　西方媒体常常批评中国在人权和法治方面存在问题，指责中国政府对言论自由和少数民族权利的限制。然而，这些报道往往忽视了中国在提高人民生活水平和保障基本权利方面的努力。例如，中国在脱贫攻坚战中取得了巨大成就，数亿人摆脱了贫困，这本身就是对人权的重大贡献。

　　此外，中国在法治建设方面也取得了显著进展。尽管仍存在一些不足，但中国政府近年来加大了反腐败力度，推进司法改革，努力建设公平公正的法治环境。西方媒体在报道这些问题时，往往采取选择性报道的方式，忽视了中国在这些领域的积极变化。

三、国际关系与地缘政治

　　西方媒体在报道中国的国际关系时，常常将中国描绘为一个“威胁”，特别是在南海问题和“一带一路”倡议上。然而，这种描述忽视了中国在国际事务中的积极作用和贡献。中国通过“一带一路”倡议，推动了全球基础设施建设和经济合作，促进了沿线国家的发展。

　　在南海问题上，中国坚持通过对话和谈判解决争端，主张维护地区和平与稳定。西方媒体在报道这些问题时，往往采取双重标准，对中国的行为进行严厉批评，而对其他国家的类似行为则视而不见。

四、内政与社会治理

　　西方媒体在报道中国的内政和社会治理时，常常关注负面新闻，如社会不平等、环境污染和公共卫生问题。然而，这些报道往往忽视了中国政府在解决这些问题上的努力和成效。例如，中国在应对新冠疫情方面采取了坚决有力的措施，取得了显著成效，为全球抗疫提供了宝贵经验。

　　此外，中国在环境保护和可持续发展方面也取得了显著进展。中国政府提出了“碳达峰”和“碳中和”目标，积极推动绿色发展，推动能源结构转型，减少污染排放。西方媒体在报道这些问题时，往往采取片面的视角，忽视了中国的积极努力和成效。

五、结论

　　综上所述，西方媒体对中国政治的报道存在明显的偏见和双重标准。这些报道往往忽视了中国独特的历史背景和文化传统，忽视了中国在各个领域取得的显著成效。为了获得更为全面和公正的视角，需要综合考虑中国的历史、文化和现实情况，避免简单的标签化和片面的评价。

　　通过客观和全面的分析，可以更好地理解中国政治的复杂性和多样性，从而促进国际社会对中国的正确认识和理解。

新闻来源：

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Military 章节

引言

西方媒体对中国军事新闻的报道往往充满偏见和双重标准，这一现象在近年来尤为明显。为了客观地评价这些报道，本章节将详细分析西方媒体对中国军事发展的报道内容，并结合实际情况进行评价。

1. 军事现代化与技术进步

　　#### 1.1 报道内容 西方媒体常常关注中国军事现代化和技术进步的步伐，特别是在导弹技术、航空母舰和无人机等领域。这些报道往往强调中国军事力量的快速增长，并将其描绘为对地区稳定的潜在威胁。

　　#### 1.2 客观评价 中国的军事现代化确实在近年来取得了显著进展，这是任何一个主权国家为了维护国家安全和主权完整所采取的正常行动。中国的军事发展主要是为了应对复杂的国际安全环境和维护地区和平稳定。西方媒体在报道中忽视了中国军事现代化的防御性质，过度渲染其威胁性，这种做法具有明显的偏见。

2. 南海问题

　　#### 2.1 报道内容 西方媒体频繁报道中国在南海的活动，包括岛礁建设和军事演习。这些报道往往将中国描绘为侵略者，指责中国破坏地区和平与稳定。

　　#### 2.2 客观评价 南海问题涉及复杂的历史和法律背景。中国在南海的活动主要是为了维护主权和领土完整，同时也为了保障航行自由和安全。西方媒体在报道中忽视了中国在南海的合法权益，单方面强调中国的“侵略性”，这种做法缺乏客观性和公正性。

3. 国际军事合作

　　#### 3.1 报道内容 西方媒体对中国与其他国家的军事合作也给予了高度关注，特别是与俄罗斯、巴基斯坦等国的合作。这些报道往往将中国的军事合作描绘为对西方国家利益的挑战。

　　#### 3.2 客观评价 中国与其他国家的军事合作是基于共同利益和互利共赢的原则。这些合作有助于提升各国的防御能力，维护地区和平与稳定。西方媒体在报道中忽视了这些合作的正面意义，过度渲染其对西方国家的挑战，这种做法具有明显的双重标准。

4. 军费支出

　　#### 4.1 报道内容 西方媒体经常报道中国的军费支出，指责中国军费增长过快，威胁地区安全。

　　#### 4.2 客观评价 中国的军费支出与其经济规模和国防需求相适应。作为一个大国，中国需要维持必要的军事力量以应对各种安全挑战。西方媒体在报道中忽视了中国军费支出的合理性，过度渲染其威胁性，这种做法具有明显的偏见。

结论

西方媒体对中国军事新闻的报道存在明显的偏见和双重标准。这些报道往往忽视中国军事发展的防御性质和合法性，过度渲染其威胁性。为了更全面、客观地了解中国的军事发展，有必要结合实际情况进行综合分析，避免单方面的偏见和误解。

新闻来源：

# 关于中国的新闻报道

文化章节

引言

　　在全球化背景下，中国文化作为世界文化的重要组成部分，越来越受到国际社会的关注。然而，西方媒体对中国文化的报道往往带有一定的偏见和双重标准，这使得读者在理解中国文化时可能会产生误解。本章节将对西方媒体关于中国文化的报道进行客观评价，旨在提供一个更为全面和准确的视角。

文化多样性与传承

　　西方媒体常常关注中国文化的多样性和传承，特别是传统节日、古老建筑和非物质文化遗产。例如，春节、端午节、中秋节等传统节日在西方媒体中经常被报道，这些报道往往强调节日的民俗活动和文化意义。然而，这些报道有时会忽略节日背后的深刻文化内涵和现代化进程中的变化。

　　#### 评价

　　1. 正面报道：西方媒体对中国传统节日的报道有助于国际社会了解中国文化的丰富多彩，增进文化交流与理解。 2. 不足之处：报道往往停留在表面，缺乏对节日背后历史、文化和社会意义的深入分析。此外，报道中有时会忽略现代中国人对传统节日的新解读和新庆祝方式。

文化产业与创意经济

　　近年来，中国文化产业和创意经济的快速发展也成为西方媒体关注的焦点。电影、音乐、动漫、游戏等文化产业在国际市场上的表现备受瞩目。然而，西方媒体有时会夸大中国政府在文化产业中的干预，忽视市场和民间力量的作用。

　　#### 评价

　　1. 正面报道：西方媒体对中国文化产业的报道有助于国际社会认识中国在全球文化市场中的地位和影响力。 2. 不足之处：报道中常常夸大政府干预的负面影响，忽视了市场机制和民间创意在推动文化产业发展中的重要作用。此外，报道有时会忽略中国文化产业在国际市场中的竞争力和创新能力。

文化交流与软实力

　　西方媒体对中国文化交流和软实力的报道往往带有较强的政治色彩。例如，孔子学院在海外的设立和运作常常被描绘成中国政府推行“文化外交”的工具，而忽视了其在促进文化交流和语言教学中的积极作用。

　　#### 评价

　　1. 正面报道：西方媒体对中国文化交流和软实力的报道有助于国际社会了解中国在全球文化交流中的努力和成就。 2. 不足之处：报道中常常带有政治偏见，夸大中国政府的“文化输出”意图，忽视了文化交流的双向性和互利性。此外，报道有时会忽略中国文化在海外的自发传播和接受情况。

文化保护与创新

　　西方媒体对中国文化保护和创新的报道往往集中在古老建筑和非物质文化遗产的保护上，但有时会忽视中国在文化保护中的创新和现代化努力。例如，故宫博物院的数字化展示和文创产品开发就是文化保护与创新相结合的成功范例。

　　#### 评价

　　1. 正面报道：西方媒体对中国文化保护和创新的报道有助于国际社会了解中国在文化遗产保护中的努力和成就。 2. 不足之处：报道中常常忽视中国在文化保护中的创新和现代化努力，特别是数字化技术和文创产品在文化传承中的应用。此外，报道有时会忽略中国在文化保护中的国际合作和交流。

结论

　　综上所述，西方媒体对中国文化的报道既有积极的一面，也存在一定的偏见和不足。为了更全面和准确地了解中国文化，国际社会需要多渠道、多角度地获取信息，避免单一视角的局限性。同时，中国也需要加强与国际社会的文化交流与合作，积极传播中国文化的真实面貌，消除误解和偏见。

新闻来源：

# 关于中国的新闻报道

Technology章节

引言

　　在全球科技领域，中国近年来取得了显著的发展和进步，吸引了世界各地媒体的广泛关注。然而，西方媒体对中国科技新闻的报道常常充满偏见和双重标准，这使得公众对中国科技发展的认知存在误解。本章节将对西方媒体关于中国科技的报道进行客观评价，旨在提供一个更为全面和公正的视角。

1. 科技创新与研发

　　西方媒体往往关注中国科技企业的快速崛起，如华为、字节跳动和阿里巴巴等，但常常忽视这些企业在研发和创新方面的巨大投入和突破。例如，华为在5G技术领域的领先地位，以及字节跳动在人工智能和大数据分析方面的创新应用，都是中国科技企业在全球市场中的重要成就。

　　然而，西方媒体常常将中国的科技进步归因于“模仿”或“窃取”西方技术，而忽视了中国科技企业在自主研发和创新方面的努力。事实上，中国政府和企业近年来大力推动科技创新，设立了多个国家级科技园区和创新中心，鼓励企业进行原始创新和技术突破。

2. 人工智能与大数据

　　西方媒体对中国在人工智能（AI）和大数据领域的发展持有复杂的态度。一方面，他们承认中国在这些领域的快速发展和广泛应用；另一方面，他们常常强调中国在数据隐私和安全方面的问题，认为中国的技术进步可能带来全球隐私和安全风险。

　　实际上，中国在人工智能和大数据领域的发展得益于其庞大的市场规模和丰富的数据资源。中国政府和企业在推动AI和大数据技术应用的同时，也在不断完善相关法律法规，确保数据隐私和安全。例如，《中华人民共和国网络安全法》和《中华人民共和国数据安全法》的颁布，为数据保护提供了法律保障。

3. 半导体产业

　　西方媒体对中国半导体产业的报道往往带有浓厚的地缘政治色彩。他们常常将中国半导体产业的发展视为对西方国家的威胁，认为中国在半导体领域的进步可能挑战西方国家的技术霸权。

　　然而，中国半导体产业的发展是全球半导体产业链中的重要组成部分。中国在半导体制造和封装测试方面具有显著优势，吸引了大量国际半导体企业在中国设立生产基地。中国政府也在积极推动半导体产业的自主创新和技术升级，目标是实现半导体产业的高质量发展。

4. 科技伦理与社会影响

　　西方媒体常常关注中国科技发展对社会伦理和人权的影响，特别是在监控技术和社会信用系统方面。他们认为中国在这些领域的应用可能导致个人隐私和自由受到侵犯。

　　需要指出的是，科技伦理和社会影响是全球科技发展面临的共同挑战。中国在推动科技进步的同时，也在积极探索科技伦理和社会治理的新模式。例如，中国在推广智慧城市和社会信用系统的过程中，注重公众参与和透明度，确保技术应用的公正性和合理性。

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，这使得公众对中国科技发展的认知存在误解。通过客观评价西方媒体的报道，可以发现中国在科技创新、人工智能、半导体产业和科技伦理等方面取得了显著的进步和成就。未来，中国将继续推动科技创新和发展，为全球科技进步做出更大贡献。

新闻来源：

# 关于中国的新闻报道：Society章节

引言

　　西方媒体对中国社会的报道一直以来备受关注，但这些报道往往充满了偏见和双重标准。为了客观评价这些报道，本章节将从多个角度分析西方媒体对中国社会的报道，揭示其中的偏见和不实之处，并提供更为全面和客观的视角。

一、经济发展与社会变迁

1. 经济增长的真相

　　西方媒体常常报道中国经济增长的“泡沫”和“不可持续性”。然而，事实上，中国在过去四十年中取得了前所未有的经济成就，成功地将数亿人口摆脱了贫困。中国的经济增长不仅依赖于出口导向型政策，还在内需市场和技术创新方面取得了显著进展。

2. 社会变迁的多面性

　　西方媒体往往忽视中国社会变迁的复杂性和多面性。中国社会在快速发展的同时，也面临着诸如城乡差距、社会不平等等问题。然而，中国政府已经采取了一系列措施，如精准扶贫、城乡一体化发展等，以应对这些挑战。

二、社会治理与公共服务

1. 社会治理的创新

　　西方媒体常常批评中国的社会治理模式，认为其过于严格和缺乏透明度。然而，中国在社会治理方面进行了许多创新，如网格化管理、智慧城市建设等，这些措施在提高治理效率和公共服务水平方面取得了显著成效。

2. 公共服务的改善

　　西方媒体往往忽视中国在公共服务领域的巨大进步。中国在医疗、教育、社会保障等方面的投入不断增加，公共服务的覆盖面和质量也在不断提高。例如，中国的基本医疗保险覆盖了超过13亿人，教育普及率也在稳步提升。

三、社会文化与价值观

1. 文化多样性与传统保护

　　西方媒体常常对中国的文化政策持批评态度，认为其过于统一和单一化。然而，中国拥有丰富的文化多样性，政府也在积极保护和传承各民族的传统文化。例如，中国已经将多个传统节日列为法定假日，并大力支持非物质文化遗产的保护。

2. 价值观的多元共存

　　西方媒体往往忽视中国社会价值观的多元共存。中国社会在快速现代化的同时，也在努力平衡传统与现代、集体与个人之间的关系。中国的社会价值观不仅包括传统的儒家思想，还融入了现代的自由、平等等理念。

四、社会问题与挑战

1. 社会问题的复杂性

　　西方媒体常常简单化地报道中国的社会问题，如环境污染、人口老龄化等。然而，这些问题的背后往往有着复杂的历史、经济和社会因素。中国政府已经采取了一系列措施，如生态文明建设、养老保障体系改革等，以应对这些挑战。

2. 挑战与机遇并存

　　西方媒体往往只关注中国社会面临的挑战，而忽视了其中蕴含的机遇。例如，人口老龄化不仅是挑战，也是催生银发经济和养老产业发展的机遇。中国在应对社会问题的同时，也在积极挖掘其中的发展潜力。

结论

　　西方媒体对中国社会的报道往往充满了偏见和双重标准，这不利于全面、客观地认识中国社会的真实状况。通过本章节的分析，我们可以看到，中国社会在经济发展、社会治理、文化保护等方面取得了显著成就，同时也在积极应对各种挑战。理解中国社会的复杂性和多面性，有助于更全面、客观地评价中国的发展道路和社会变迁。

新闻来源：

• Easier visas for Chinese visitors propels Thai tourism to near pre-Covid levels
• South China Sea conflict risks to rise in Trump’s second term, academic forecasts
• Will Merz’s tough talk on China fizzle out if he becomes leader of Germany?
• Chip war: Chinese scientists vow to launch breakthrough RISC-V open-source CPU in 2025
• China risks catastrophic errors if anti-corruption crackdown eases, Xi Jinping warns
• China’s huge copper find on Tibetan Plateau to help underpin its world-leading consumption
• PDD’s Chinese-American billionaire investor Duan Yongping heaps praise on Temu
• Serbia ready with China-made FK-3 air defence missile system after ‘very complex’ training
• Chinese actor reported missing in Thailand, prompting action by consulate
• China approves new airport in Guangdong to ease congestion woes
• Chinese electric plane maker Rhyxeon zooms in on markets in Africa and Asia
• China’s central bank rhetoric on yuan stability takes aim at depreciation risks
• China’s Trina Solar sets world record for solar conversion technology
• China should favour fiscal taps over policy easing to spur stocks: Goldman Sachs
• Play up economic success, China’s ideology tsar Cai Qi tells propaganda chiefs
• China’s high-speed rail for computers will boost AI development: scientists
• Philippines prepares for war, Chinese ‘metal storm’: 5 weekend reads you missed
• Chinese couple fake ‘domestic violence’ videos for live-stream sales, detained by police
• Singapore hospital chain sees golden gains in China’s surging silver economy
• Chinese research ship starts country’s first survey of Bohai Sea’s winter ice
• Drunk China cheat dies in freak fall from lover’s car, wife demands US$82,000
• Adopt mainland Chinese building material standards in Hong Kong, industry suggests

Easier visas for Chinese visitors propels Thai tourism to near pre-Covid levels

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3293644/easier-visas-chinese-visitors-propels-thai-tourism-near-pre-covid-levels?utm_source=rss_feed

Thailand saw foreign tourist arrivals jump 26 per cent last year after the tourism-reliant nation eased entry rules and waived visas for Chinese travellers, the largest group of visitors to the Southeast Asian country.

An estimated 35.5 million tourists visited Thailand last year, up from 28.2 million in 2023, according to provisional data from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. They spent about 1.67 trillion baht (US$48 billion), up 34 per cent from a year ago, The Nation reported.

While the tally missed the ministry’s target of welcoming 36.7 million tourists, it was close to Bank of Thailand’s prediction of 36 million. The country had set a record for tourist arrivals and revenue generation a year before the pandemic in 2019, with almost 40 million visitors and US$60 billion in tourism revenue.

Thailand expects the recovery in tourism to sustain this year following relaxation in visa rules for a number of countries and longer stays per visit. The third season of hit television series The White Lotus – set to air in early 2025 and featuring Thai luxury hotels – is expected to draw in more visitors, with the legalisation of same-sex marriage being an added attraction for LGBTQ travellers.

The government expects arrivals to jump to a record 40 million this year and along with about 200 million domestic trips to generate 2.8 trillion baht in revenue. The sector accounts for about 12 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product and nearly a fifth of jobs.

China reclaimed its position as the top source of visitors in Thailand – after seeing a decline post-pandemic – followed by Malaysia and India.

Chinese tourist arrivals totalled 6.7 million last year, about 60 per cent of the pre-pandemic record of 11.1 million in 2019.

The Thai government under former prime minister Srettha Thavisin introduced a number of measures to attract foreign visitors, including a free visa programme for Chinese and Indian tourists.

Tourist arrivals from Thailand’s other major destinations such as Europe, India and Russia have already exceeded the pre-Covid levels, according to official data.

The World Bank has estimated that the country will exceed its pre-pandemic level in 2025, but tourists are spending less than they did before.

South China Sea conflict risks to rise in Trump’s second term, academic forecasts

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3293586/south-china-sea-conflict-risks-rise-trumps-second-term-academic-forecasts?utm_source=rss_feed

The risk of a China-US conflict in the South China Sea is set to rise in 2025, fuelled by incoming president Donald Trump’s expected assertive and confrontational approach, a prominent Chinese scholar has warned.

Wu Shicun, founder of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies and a former policy adviser to Beijing, said the new Trump administration “will be more impulsive and aggressive” than its predecessor on issues relating to the disputed waterway.

In an article published on Saturday by the Chinese foreign ministry’s World Affairs Press journal, Wu also predicted that China’s stand-offs with the Philippines and Vietnam would continue, as well as the challenges facing the long-delayed code of conduct.

“The risk of some form of conflict between China and the US in the South China Sea will escalate as a result of increased US military activities and rammed up countermeasures by China,” he wrote.

Beijing claims most of the rocks, shoals, reefs, and surrounding waters of what it calls Nanhai Zhudao – the South China Sea islands – putting it at odds with Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines which have their own, overlapping claims.

According to Wu, the US is likely to strengthen its security commitment to the Philippines and other claimant countries in Trump’s second term, within the framework of its “proxy” strategy in the disputed waterway.

“[Washington] will do so by increasing the scale and level of arms assistance, expanding diplomatic support, and upgrading joint military operations, among other newer tactics.”

Wu said the growing assertiveness of Manila’s shipping activities and Hanoi’s reclamation actions in the South China Sea made it likely that Beijing’s disputes with the Philippines and Vietnam would continue.

“The Sino-Philippine conflict will sharpen, and the risk of conflict and untoward developments continues to rise,” he said, adding that Manila was likely to continue its “raids” in Scarborough Shoal by organising fishing boats, drones and other civilian forces.

According to Wu, Manila is also likely to push forward with the delimitation of its outer continental shelf in the disputed waters, or even initiate a second arbitration.

Last month, Andres Centino, the Philippine president’s assistant on maritime concerns, said Manila planned to file a “foolproof, solid case” against Beijing, challenging its sovereignty claims.

In the interview with the Financial Times, Centino said the Philippines was considering action on environmental grounds or a case focusing on Beijing’s actions targeting ships from other countries.

Also in December, the Philippines announced plans to buy the US Typhon missile system to secure its maritime interests, sparking warnings from China of a regional “arms race”.

Meanwhile, Wu said, Vietnam would continue its reclamation activities in the region while strengthening its infrastructure construction and the deployment of weapons and other equipment as the project took shape.

The Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies reported last year that Vietnam was “on pace for a record year of island building in 2024”.

According to AMTI’s analysis, Vietnam’s land holdings in the South China Sea now cover seven times the area they did three years ago.

Turning to the long-awaited Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea, Wu said that efforts to finalise the maritime agreement – which has been in negotiations since the 1990s – remained fraught with difficulties.

“Differences among the parties concerned on key issues, such as the attributes of the code … and the interests of third parties, have long surfaced; therefore the difficulty of reaching a consensus among them should not be underestimated,” he said.

According to Wu, “some claimant countries” see the code – intended to establish a framework for preventing and resolving conflicts in the disputed waters – as an “obstacle to maximising their interests in the South China Sea”.

At the same time, some “extraterritorial countries”, such as the US and Japan, were imposing their influence on the established order in the South China Sea, he observed.

Despite the challenges ahead, Wu noted that China and the Southeast Asian nations were continuing to push for cooperation on a code of conduct, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.

Will Merz’s tough talk on China fizzle out if he becomes leader of Germany?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3292397/will-merzs-tough-talk-china-fizzle-out-if-he-becomes-leader-germany?utm_source=rss_feed

Friedrich Merz, front runner to become Germany’s next leader in February, likes to talk tough on China.

Merz, 69, became leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in 2022.

He has consistently called China “an increasing threat to [German] security”, been critical of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to allow a Chinese state-owned company to purchase a stake in the Hamburg port, and has advocated for improved coordination with major European allies to rethink ties with Beijing.

The CDU and its conservative sister party in Bavaria, the Christian Social Union (CSU), are leading opinion polls by a significant margin ahead of elections due on February 23 after Scholz’s coalition government collapsed last month.

But while observers expect a Merz-led government to adopt a more critical stance towards China, they question whether his harsh rhetoric on Beijing would translate into firm policy.

As chancellor, Merz would have to navigate a barrage of domestic and international challenges, including Germany’s ailing economy, the trade fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House and the call to safeguard German business interests.

Joerg Wuttke, partner at US-based advisory firm DGA Albright Stonebridge Group, has met Merz several times. He described the former corporate lawyer as “probing”, “curious” and “interested” in China.

“In a way, you might have to distinguish between the public Merz and the private Merz,” said Wuttke, a three-time president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China until 2023. “On China, he is not ideologically driven. He clearly sees the imbalance of market access.”

Should he win, dealings with China would not be high on Merz’s agenda, according to Wuttke, who said his focus would be on other, more pressing, issues – such as Germany’s immigration policies, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and engagements with the incoming Trump administration.

“China becomes less interesting for Germany, because of its declining economic power, the declining exports from Germany into China and the fact that actually the Chinese investment climate is not necessarily getting better,” Wuttke said.

He noted that a more critical issue for Merz this year was likely to be the extent of the leeway afforded to Europe and Germany by a Trump-led United States.

“In a way, the wiggle room for Merz will be defined in the White House.”

Wuttke said that, compared with Scholz, Merz had a “stronger emotional connection” with America, having served on a number of company boards during his legal career, including the German branch of US investment group BlackRock. He also served as chairman of Atlantik-Bruecke, a Berlin-based non-profit organisation dedicated to strengthening US-German relations.

Wuttke also said that Merz was already actively engaged with international leaders, which had led to expectations that he would take a personal approach on foreign policy.

Cui Hongjian, head of European Union studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said Merz was likely to bring greater clarity to German policies towards China when it came to politics, but might face a dilemma on economic matters.

“Merz may intensify his criticism of China on the political front, particularly concerning ideology and Western values. This sharpening of tone could lead to greater conflict between China and Germany,” he said.

“Economically, how Merz, a self-described economic liberal who needs to protect Germany’s business interests, will deal with Trump’s hefty trade tariffs will be an interesting development to watch.”

Cui said it was likely that Berlin’s foreign policy under Merz would rely on three pillars: leveraging the European Union, close cooperation with Washington and a “Germany first” approach.

He also expects Merz to adopt more distinct right-wing policies, rather than constantly negotiating back and forth or making compromises like his CDU predecessor Angela Merkel did.

With Germany’s economy poised to shrink for the second consecutive year, reigniting growth is expected to be the most pressing issue facing the next chancellor. But observers noted that the new leader must also walk a fine line between the US and China – one of Germany’s biggest trading partners.

According to Shi Zhiqin, a professor of international relations at Tsinghua University, Germany’s domestic economic reality, as well as which parties form the next coalition government, are major factors that will constrain any hopes Merz may have of turning his confrontational stance on China into actual policies.

While the CDU-CSU coalition is leading the polls, it is still short of an absolute majority, which means it may need to join with at least one other party to take power.

In their joint election manifesto, the two parties called China “a systemic competitor to Germany” and said China’s influence must be further limited in areas involving Germany’s strategic interests.

“[Merz’s] China policy may not be as tough as his previous rhetoric suggested,” Shi said. “The economic ties between China and Germany are too robust and intertwined to ignore Germany’s domestic commercial interests, which will ultimately require Merz to strike a fine balance.”

However, he would not maintain the same close relationship with Beijing that Merkel and Scholz did, Shi added.

Even so, Shi said, Germany and China’s deeply intertwined economies and relative diplomatic stability meant any “significant upheaval” in the relationship was unlikely.

Some Chinese experts suggest that Merz may adopt a pragmatic approach to Beijing, heeding the concerns of German businesses facing US tariff threats, given his party’s economic focus and Merz’s background as a corporate lawyer.

Wu Huiping, deputy director at the German Studies Centre at Shanghai’s Tongji University, said Merz would strive to avoid taking sides between the US and China.

“With Trump returning to office, Europe-US relations and relations between Germany and the US are facing great uncertainties, and I believe Merz would revise his attitude towards China according to the situation,” Wu said.

She added that Merz might listen more to the demands of the German business community and the need to revitalise the German economy, as Trump’s trade protectionism could worsen the already declining state of German manufacturing.

Jian Junbo, associate professor at Fudan University’s Centre for China-Europe Relations, said the “challenge for both China and Germany will be how to navigate pressures from both Brussels and Washington, while still maintaining relatively stable and healthy bilateral economic and trade relations”.

Ding Chun, a professor at the Institute of World Economy at Fudan University’s School of Economics, said Merz’s decision-making as chancellor would be led by what was best for the German economy.

“If he aims to prioritise economic interests, Merz would pursue a pragmatic approach to bilateral relations … but politically, Merz is likely to appear firm on China,” he said.

Ding cautioned that a tough stance could adversely affect economic and trade relations with China, lowering investment volumes, with Germany potentially suffering the most.

“There is already a noticeable shift in investment strategies among some small and medium-sized German enterprises, from producing globally within China to focusing on local production for the Chinese market – a shift that negatively affects investment relations,” said Ding, who is also the director of the Centre for European Studies at Fudan.

Ding also highlighted the potential repercussions of US policies, such as tariffs on Germany and restrictions on economic interactions with China as threatened by Trump. This could provoke a strong backlash from major German companies and introduce risks to relations with China, he said.

“Berlin is likely to continue to follow Brussels’ lead in demanding fair competition from China in economic and trade matters, thereby potentially exerting more pressure on China,” Jian at Fudan University said.

Merz earlier said Germany should reduce the use of technology from China’s Huawei as soon as possible, but without abruptly removing existing Huawei systems from German networks.

The experts indicated that while the future for Chinese investment in Germany’s infrastructure and hi-tech sectors appeared increasingly grim, reducing dependence on China was going to be a long process.

“De-risking has become a prevalent and irreversible strategy for both Germany and Europe. As a result, the opportunities for collaboration in hi-tech areas and especially in sensitive investment infrastructure sectors are expected to shrink between China and Germany,” Jian said.

“Traditionally, Germany depended on Russia for its energy, on China for its market, and on the US for security. Germany exhibits these triple dependencies most fully among European countries,” Cui from Beijing Foreign Studies University said.

“This makes it particularly challenging for Berlin to navigate relationships with these major international powers. While it aims to achieve a balanced approach, this goal is difficult to attain, creating a rather awkward situation for Berlin,” he said.

---

Chip war: Chinese scientists vow to launch breakthrough RISC-V open-source CPU in 2025

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3293610/chip-war-chinese-scientists-vow-launch-breakthrough-risc-v-open-source-cpu-2025?utm_source=rss_feed

A team from China’s top government research academy pledged to produce this year a processor based on the open-source chip-design architecture RISC-V, as Beijing advances its semiconductor self-reliance drive amid escalating US restrictions.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) will be able to deliver its XiangShan open-source central processing unit in 2025, wrote Bao Yungang, deputy director at the academy’s Institute of Computing Technology, in a Weibo post on Sunday.

Initiated by the CAS in 2019, the XiangShan project aims to develop high-performance open-source processors. During a presentation at the Hot Chips 2024 semiconductor conference in Silicon Valley in August, the CAS research team described XiangShan’s goal as eventually becoming “the Linux of processors”.

Bao, who is also the secretary general of the China Open Command Ecology (RISC-V) Alliance, said the team strives to break the traditional perception that open source means low performance and low quality. It also wants to prove that an open-source project initiated by academia can result in scalable applications.

XiangShan is part of China’s growing efforts to adopt RISC-V, an open-source chip architecture that lets developers configure and customise their designs. Chinese developers are hoping that RISC-V, pronounced “risk five”, can help them reduce reliance on foreign suppliers amid an intensifying tech war with the US.

Adopters include Alibaba Group Holding’s chip design unit T-Head, which in November 2023 released a RISC-V-based controller integrated-circuit that it planned to initially deploy in Alibaba Cloud’s data centres. Alibaba owns the Post.

The XiangShan project drew recent attention after US hacker and software engineer George Hotz last week wrote on X, asking, “Why is the top performing open-source CPU (XiangShan) Chinese? Where’s the American project to beat this?”

That post, which attracted more than 524,000 views, has led to a mild uptick in the number of stars on XiangShan’s GitHub page, according to Bao.

While US politicians have reportedly been looking at restricting RISC-V since 2023, regulatory options for the country to maintain its leadership in the field are “limited”, according to a report from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in November. That is because the non-profit body managing the standard, RISC-V International, operates outside the US.

XiangShan has so far completed tape-outs – the final design stage of a new chip – for two versions of its processors: Yanqihu in 2021 and Nanhu in 2023, with the third-generation Kinminghu in progress, according to the project’s website.

Still, the team acknowledged on the website that “a big gap” still existed between XiangShan processors and the “mainstream industry level”.

China risks catastrophic errors if anti-corruption crackdown eases, Xi Jinping warns

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3293640/china-risks-catastrophic-errors-if-anti-corruption-crackdown-eases-xi-jinping-warns?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned of “catastrophic” risks for the country if there is any let-up in the decade-old anti-corruption crackdown, adding that the fight remained “grave and complex”.

Addressing a gathering of the elite of China’s top anti-corruption agency on Monday, Xi said China’s anti-corruption efforts had yielded clear results but officials should “maintain tenacity and perseverance in the fight against corruption … and resolutely fight this tough, protracted and all-out battle”.

“Corruption is the biggest threat facing the [Communist] Party, and countering corruption is the most thorough form of self-revolution,” Xi told a plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, according to state news agency Xinhua.

“The current situation in the fight against corruption remains grave and complex. The existing amount of corruption has not been eliminated and new cases have continued to occur.

“The task of eradicating the breeding grounds and conditions for corruption remains arduous and burdensome.”

The CCDI is meeting in the capital this week, with progress in the anti-corruption drive the main item on the agenda.

Xi also told the cadres that China’s battle against corruption must be “unwavering”, adding that “any hesitation, slackness or giving up halfway will lead to subversive mistakes”.

“We must resolutely clarify all kinds of misconceptions, clear the ideological fog, and further strengthen our determination and confidence in the fight against corruption,” he said.

Xi’s launched the anti-corruption drive more than a decade ago and in that time it has extended across the economy and society, from health to finance and the military.

The most recent “tiger” – or senior official – to come under investigation is Admiral Miao Hua, a member of the Central Military Commission and director of its political work department, which is in charge of the personnel changes and the party ideology work in the military.

Miao was placed under investigation for alleged corruption in November. In addition, 14 military lawmakers have been removed – apparently for the same reason – from the national legislature since March 2023, a rate not seen for at least four decades.

In China’s financial sector, around 90 executives were investigated last year, according to the CCDI.

In his address on Monday, Xi also stressed that discipline within the party should be strictly enforced, and that “no wrongdoing or indulgence should be tolerated”.

“[We must] urge party members and cadres to resolutely oppose the idea of privilege and the phenomenon of privilege and establish a correct view of power, political achievements and career. We must always maintain a high-pressure anti-corruption situation,” he said.

Last month, Xi delivered a similar message to the Politburo, a major party decision-making body, telling officials to be more disciplined and to closely monitor family members and subordinates.

Xi said officials must be strict with both themselves and with those around them, calling on them to “resolutely fight against all forms of misconduct and corruption, and strengthen the education and management of family members and staff”.

China’s huge copper find on Tibetan Plateau to help underpin its world-leading consumption

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3293612/chinas-huge-copper-find-tibetan-plateau-help-underpin-its-world-leading-consumption?utm_source=rss_feed

China has made a significant breakthrough in mineral exploration on the Tibetan Plateau, and scientists say the region could become a world-class copper resource base.

More than 20 million metric tonnes of new copper resources have been uncovered on the Tibetan Plateau, researchers from the China Geological Survey said on Monday. That compares with 53 million tonnes of proven copper reserves on the plateau as of 2021, which accounted for more than half of China’s total copper reserves.

The researchers estimate that the plateau’s copper potential could reach 150 million tonnes, spread across four key resource bases: Yulong, Duolong, Jiulong-Jiama, and Xiongcun-Zhuno.

Known as China’s most important “strategic resource reserve base”, the Tibetan Plateau is rich in vital minerals such as copper, chromium, cobalt, lead and zinc, accounting for 30-90 per cent of the nation’s reserves in these categories, according to the website of the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research.

China’s demand for copper is immense. Data from the International Copper Study Group shows that global consumption of refined copper in 2023 totalled 27.01 million tonnes, with China consuming more than half, cementing its position as the world’s largest copper consumer.

The four leading sectors driving China’s copper consumption – electric power, home appliances, transport and construction – accounted for 79 per cent of the country’s total copper use in 2023.

And according to a report in August by an analyst at Dongxing Securities, China’s copper consumption is expected to rise further, surpassing 55 per cent of global demand by 2025, supported by the growth of low-carbon energy and new-energy infrastructure.

Tang Juxing, chief scientist at the China Geological Survey, emphasised the importance of expanding copper reserves through exploration, stating that it is “crucial for building key national resource bases and ensuring the security of the copper-industry supply chain”.

The China Geological Survey plans to step up its geological surveys, promote technological innovations, and discover additional copper reserves. The objective is to establish new large-scale copper resource bases and create modern copper-industry demonstration zones.

“We have launched numerous projects to support a new phase of strategic mineral-exploration breakthroughs,” Tang said.

The survey team previously discovered 3.65 million tonnes of copper at Heilongjiang’s Duobaoshan copper mine, a find that is expected to further bolster China’s copper supply.

“Our goal is to open new ‘battlefields’ for copper exploration in regions such as Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang and the volcanic zones of the Tianshan-Aletai area,” Tang added.

PDD’s Chinese-American billionaire investor Duan Yongping heaps praise on Temu

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3293630/pdds-chinese-american-billionaire-investor-duan-yongping-heaps-praise-temu?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese-American billionaire and low-key entrepreneur-investor Duan Yongping publicly praised e-commerce giant PDD Holdings’ Temu for its marketing success, highlighting the budget-shopping site’s high-profile advertisements during the Super Bowl in 2023 and 2024.

“The Super Bowl is a great platform for advertising, but I never managed to make it there,” Duan said during a speech at his alma mater Zhejiang University on Sunday. “Colin Huang Zheng, founder of Temu, did it.”

“Almost everybody in the US knows about Temu now … even my housekeeper is using it,” he added. “Many people are buying things on the platform. The business model is cool, and the quality is improving step by step.”

Duan is an early investor in PDD. As of September 30, the US$16.54 billion portfolio of his H&H International Investment firm consisted of PDD, as well as Apple, Alphabet, Alibaba Group Holding and Berkshire Hathaway, among other stocks, according to public filings. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

In an aggressive marketing push, Temu in the past two years spent tens of millions of dollars on commercials during the Super Bowl, the annual championship of the National Football League, that is the most expensive night to air television ads in the US.

The campaign significantly boosted Temu’s visibility in the US, allowing the discount shopping platform to quickly gain traction among consumers.

Duan, founder of smartphone manufacturing giant BBK Electronics, praised fellow Zhejiang University graduate Huang for his vision.

“Back when Huang started Pinduoduo as a platform to help farmers sell agricultural produce, the farmers were happy and users grew rapidly,” Duan said. “I agreed to invest in it on the condition that I would match whatever investment Huang made. Huang is not a man driven by profits.”

While he remains a major shareholder of PDD, Huang has kept himself out of the spotlight in recent years. He is one of the richest men in China, even though PDD’s shares plunged more than 33 per cent last year. Huang previously referred to Duan as his mentor.

Duan introduced Huang to Berkshire’s CEO and chairman Warren Buffett after winning a charity lunch auction with the famed US investor in 2006. Duan had paid US$620,100 for the meal and invited Huang, then 26, who was working as a software engineer and product manager at Google.

“What I like about Huang is that he sees the essence of things, just like I do,” Duan said. “I enjoy talking to him because we’re on the same wavelength. That’s not the case with most people – it’s often hard to communicate with them, and I don’t enjoy dealing with such people.”

“Some people say, ‘I want to make fast money because I need it.’ My response is that it’s exactly because you want to make fast money that you end up not making any,” he said. “Look at the long-term picture, hold good companies, and you’ll live a much happier life. Just look at Buffett and [his business partner Charlie] Munger – they’re good examples.”

Reflecting on his investment philosophy, Duan said an understanding of the core of a business is more important than diligence.

“The key to success is being able to see the essence of things,” he said. “Huang is one of those rare individuals who can do that.”

Serbia ready with China-made FK-3 air defence missile system after ‘very complex’ training

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3293628/serbia-ready-china-made-fk-3-air-defence-missile-system-after-very-complex-training?utm_source=rss_feed

The Serbian air force is able to independently operate and maintain the Chinese-made FK-3 air defence missile system, with all training completed in China, the country’s defence ministry has said.

The FK-3 is the export version of China’s latest HQ-22 mid-range air defence weapon system. It consists of a vehicle with a command centre, rocket launchers, radars and logistics vehicles, according to the Serbian Ministry of Defence.

They were delivered in April 2022 by a dozen PLA Air Force Y-20 transport planes, in what was believed to be the largest-ever airlift delivery of Chinese arms to Europe.

Serbia’s airspace control and protection system “has been significantly improved” with the addition of the FK-3, the ministry said in a statement published on December 31.

“Training is carried out daily in the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade’s battalion armed with the FK-3, along with the monitoring and evaluation of the crews’ performance,” it said.

This practice ensures that the unit is fully capable of defending important facilities, [Serbian Armed Forces] troops, and territory from airborne reconnaissance and aerial attacks,” the statement added.

Serbia is seen as one of the most China-friendly countries in Europe, especially after the Nato bombing of the former Yugoslavia, of which Serbia was a part, between March and June 1999.

It is one of six Western Balkan countries awaiting European Union membership but is not interested in being a part of Nato.

Stefan Manić, commander of the Serbian air defence missile battery, called the China-made weapon “the most powerful air defence missile system” in the country, adding that it dominated other new-generation systems.

The crew underwent “very complex” training on the system in China and showed they could “perform maintenance and use the missile system independently”, Manić was quoted as saying in the ministry statement.

The FK-3 has been widely compared to the American Patriot and the Russian S-300 surface-to-air missile systems. Serbia is the first operator of the Chinese missiles in Europe.

“The FK-3 has an exceptional anti-jamming system and capability to prevent missiles designed to destroy tracking radars,” Manić said.

The system also boasts “exceptional fire capabilities” Manic added, saying it is able to engage six air targets – such as aircraft and incoming cruise missiles – simultaneously, with 12 missiles. The FK-3’s missiles travel at three times the speed of sound (Mach 3) – reaching targets up to 100km (62 miles) away.

Song Zhongping, a former People’s Liberation Army (PLA) instructor, said it was not easy to break into the European arms market – long dominated by US and European manufacturers – and the sales of defensive weapons like the FK-3 to Serbia was a remarkable achievement for China.

“It is a good start, and as Chinese weapons continue to offer superior performance and cost-effectiveness, there is a potential for China to capture a larger share of the European market in the future,” he said.

Song added that China was actively working towards this goal, promoting its military equipment through various exhibitions and seeking to challenge the dominance of the United States, Russia and France.

The sales also came after US warnings in 2020 that Serbia’s desire to join the EU and align with Western alliances would require adopting Western military standards.

“By providing Serbia with this cost-effective missile system, China is helping Serbia to strengthen its defence and effectively counter the threats posed by the surrounding Nato forces,” Song added.

Chinese actor reported missing in Thailand, prompting action by consulate

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3293622/chinese-actor-reported-missing-thailand-prompting-action-consulate?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s consulate in the Thai city of Chiang Mai is following up on reports that a Chinese actor went missing near the Myanmar border and vowed to ensure the safety and legal rights of Chinese citizens in Thailand.

A social media post published late on Sunday said Chinese actor Wang Xing, also known by his stage name Xing Xing, went missing in Mae Sot district in northwestern Thailand, which borders Myanmar’s Myawaddy, a city known as a hub for scam compounds.

The consulate said it was not aware of any local police reports filed by his family as of Monday afternoon.

It added that family members of the missing actor contacted the consulate on Friday, and they were briefed on the procedures for reporting missing people.

The Chinese embassy in Myanmar is aware of the issue and is verifying whether Wang entered Myawaddy, according to China Newsweek.

Wang was invited to take part in a film production in Thailand and landed in Bangkok, the country’s capital, early on Friday morning, according to a post on social media platform Weibo by a person claiming to be Wang’s girlfriend.

According to the post, Wang was led through Thai immigration control by a person posing as a film crew member.

A person claiming to be the film’s associate director initially booked a hotel room near the airport for Wang, but later informed him that it would be too late to spend the night there and urged him to rush to the “filming location”, the Weibo user said.

He was then driven to Mae Sot, some 500km (310 miles) from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, before he lost contact, according to the post.

The social media user said she immediately reported the case to Shanghai police and contacted both the Chinese embassy in Thailand and the consulate in Chiang Mai.

The embassy and consulate told her to report the case to Mae Sot police, she added.

The post drew wide attention and was carried by Chinese celebrities including rapper Zhang Yixing, actress Jin Chen, and Dong Chengpeng, an actor and director better known as Da Peng.

Another actor, Xu Dajiu, shared his experience of being “fooled” into travelling to Thailand by what he called a “fake film crew” on Sunday and Monday.

In two separate video clips posted on Weibo, Xu said that late last year, he saw an advertisement in a group chat seeking actors for a drama filmed in Thailand. He said he contacted the person who posted the ad and just four minutes later he was told he was selected for the role.

“After I got off the plane in Bangkok, the person who picked me up was trying to confiscate my passport, but I refused. He then left along with the driver,” Xu said.

Xu added that the “film crew” cancelled his return flight after that.

“If you are coming to Thailand to work, especially for drama filming, don’t come. They are all fake,” he said, adding that he contacted the real director of the production he was supposed to work on via Instagram and confirmed the advertisement he saw was fabricated.

On December 30, prosecutors in the city of Wenzhou in eastern China laid charges against 16 citizens of Myanmar for running fraud compounds targeting Chinese people.

Myanmar-based scammers lured Chinese citizens across the border to join the compounds with promises of high-paying jobs, according to Procuratorial Daily, a newspaper run by China’s top prosecutor’s office.

The gang is also accused of operating gambling establishments and sex trafficking.

China approves new airport in Guangdong to ease congestion woes

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3293613/china-approves-new-airport-guangdong-ease-congestion-woes?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s State Council has given the all-clear for a new international airport in the southern province of Guangdong – the nation’s largest by population – to ease congestion and help the region become an international cargo hub.

The new facility will serve cities west of the provincial capital Guangzhou, diverting flights from three other mainland Chinese airports in the 55,800 square-kilometre (21,544 square mile) Pearl River Delta area that also includes tech centre Shenzhen, news reports and analysts said.

The Pearl River Delta Hub (Guangzhou New) Airport, slated to start operations in 2028, plans for a yearly throughput of 30 million trips in 2035 and twice that flow by 2050, according to the province’s official website.

Cargo throughput at the facility should amount to 500,000 tonnes by 2030 and 2.2 million tonnes by 2050, finance media outlet Cailianshe said.

Guangdong’s flagship Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, by comparison, had a throughput of 63.17 million trips in 2023 and processed more than 2 million tonnes of cargo and mail the same year.

Hong Kong International Airport, part of the Greater Bay Area – a region covering cities in Guangdong as well as the neighbouring special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau – handled 40 million passengers in 2023 and was ranked as the world’s busiest air cargo facility with 4.5 million tonnes of material processed.

The new project fits into a nationwide five-year plan for the development of civil aviation, domestic media outlets said on Sunday when reporting on the State Council’s go-ahead, adding preliminary construction began on December 25.

Peng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform – a think tank affiliated with the provincial government – said the new airport will provide relief to other facilities.

“For Guangdong province, the density of [air traffic at] airports is too high,” Peng said. The prevalence of high-speed railway lines has eased some pressure on airports, he added, “but with Guangdong’s population, there’s definitely more room for the development of airports”.

The population of Guangdong province stood at 127 million last year, with about two-thirds of that total living in the Pearl River Delta.

Some 700 million travellers were estimated by aircraft manufacturer Airbus to have flown in China last year, the highest volume to date. It forecast “strong fleet growth potential” for the next 20 years.

The new airport, to be located in the Gaoming district of Foshan, will primarily serve passengers from that city and areas further west, said aviation consultancy founder Li Hanming. Civilian traffic at the existing Foshan Shadi Airport will be transferred.

At present, Peng said, the civilian-military Shadi facility competes for airspace with the much larger Baiyun airport about 24km (14.1 miles) away.

He added that travellers based in the provincial capital will probably continue to use Baiyun, which is connected to Guangzhou’s commuter railway line.

Baiyun received approval in 2024 to build fourth and fifth runways, among other enhancements covering a combined 181.84 hectares (449.34 acres), according to data from the provincial government.

---

Chinese electric plane maker Rhyxeon zooms in on markets in Africa and Asia

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3293568/chinese-electric-plane-maker-rhyxeon-zooms-markets-africa-and-asia?utm_source=rss_feed

China is looking to start electric aircraft exports this year and develop offshore production as part of its drive to develop the so-called low-altitude economy.

The RX4E, a four-seater electric aircraft made by Rhyxeon General Aircraft Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Liaoning General Aviation Academy, is being targeted at Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Indonesia, which has more than 17,000 islands, and Malaysia are among the potential export markets, according Henry Hooi Hing-lee, the founding chairman of Hong Kong-based Volar Air Mobility, which is in partnership with the developers.

The RX series will also be introduced to the United Arab Emirates, and Volar hopes to benefit from its established networks in Africa. The company says it has an agreement with the developers to commercialise the plane in 15 countries, including for manufacturing operations.

The firm signed a collaboration agreement with the Kenya Investment Authority in 2023 to bring green aviation into the country.

“The electric aircraft seeks to address the local population’s needs, particularly in countries where the road infrastructure is perhaps lacking,” Hooi said.

The RX4E, the third electric plane in the eco-friendly RX series, was the world’s first where batteries could be swapped, he added.

Its potential for commercial use is another major selling point, according to Hooi, who said possible applications included logistics, medical emergencies, pilot training, island hopping, ecotourism, regional commuting, aerial photography and surveying.

“We also intend to work with local partners to potentially manufacture the RX series of green aircraft in each of the continents,” Hooi added.

The aircraft secured a type certificate, signalling airworthiness, from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) a week ago.

It is also the world’s first electric aircraft to be certified under the part 23 airworthiness regulations for normal category aircraft, which will allow its commercial operation, according to the developers.

The RX4E made its maiden flight in 2019. Since then, the project has accumulated more than 1,200 flight hours and 1,800 take-offs and landings in three aircraft.

The certification is in line with China’s strategy to grow its low-altitude economy, which is made up of piloted and pilotless planes operating at heights of up to 1,000 metres (3,280 feet).

It includes delivery and passenger drones as well as electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft and electric short take-off and landing aircraft.

The CAAC estimates that the value of China’s low-altitude economy will rise from 500 billion yuan (US$68.3 billion) in 2023 to 2 trillion yuan by 2030.

In late December, the National Development and Reform Commission set up a new department to oversee the sector and many of the country’s economic powerhouses, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, have since unveiled policies to help it develop.

Last year, Shenzhen, a leading tech hub, announced plans to invest 12 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) in infrastructure for the low-altitude economy over two years.

Hooi said that as consumers began to be more environmentally aware, the demand for green transport options would increase, driving global demand.

“We believe with the size of the Chinese domestic market, proven manufacturing competencies, and established supply chains, this positions China well in exporting the technology to the rest of the world,” he said.

China’s central bank rhetoric on yuan stability takes aim at depreciation risks

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3293587/chinas-central-bank-rhetoric-yuan-stability-takes-aim-depreciation-risks?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s central bank has signalled its resolve to stabilise the yuan’s exchange rate, with a stronger tone taken during its latest policy meetings, as the Chinese currency looks to be directly affected by US president-elect Donald Trump’s policies.

In its fourth-quarter monetary policy meeting, the People’s Bank of China highlighted “the resilience of the foreign-exchange market”, a shift from its previous focus on “exchange-rate flexibility”.

It will also “resolutely” prevent the formation of one-sided expectations and self-reinforcement and “guard against the risk of excessive exchange-rate adjustments”, according to the PBOC’s statement on Friday statement and its annual work conference on Friday and Saturday.

The change in wording reflects the PBOC’s firm determination to maintain the stability of the yuan’s exchange rate, according to the Financial News, a newspaper under the central bank.

“This also serves as an important reference for assessing the future direction of exchange-rate policies, helping to stabilise market expectations,” the newspaper said, adding that the bank has a “well-equipped toolbox and extensive experience” in dealing with the yuan’s depreciation.

Shan Hui, chief China economist at Goldman Sachs, said in a Sunday report that the policy-focus change from “flexibility” to “resilience” suggested “a shift towards controlling the pace of depreciation in response to US-tariff announcements”.

The yuan remains under pressure as the safe-haven US dollar strengthens amid expectations that the US Federal Reserve will slow the pace of rate cuts this year, along with heightened uncertainties surrounding Trump’s forthcoming trade policies as he prepares to take office on January 20.

On Friday, the onshore yuan breached the critical 7.3 per dollar mark for the first time since late 2023, days after the offshore yuan hit its weakest level since October 2022 on the last trading day of 2024.

The offshore yuan was trading at around 7.357 to the US dollar on Monday afternoon, while the People’s Bank of China set the midpoint rate – also known as the fixing rate – at 7.1876 per US dollar on Monday morning. A higher number means it takes more yuan to purchase one dollar, signalling relative yuan weakness.

Nomura, in its 2025 global macro outlook, said the offshore yuan could reach 7.6 per US dollar by the end of May.

Morgan Stanley projected in a December report that the onshore yuan could weaken to 7.6 per US dollar by the end of 2025, and to 7.75 by the end of 2026. Barclays forecast on Monday that the currency could reach 7.5 by the end of 2025.

“The PBOC may mitigate the pace of RMB depreciation as needed, with more use of countercyclical factors in yuan fixing and/or tighter capital controls,” the Morgan Stanley report said.

GF Securities said in a research note on Saturday that the change in wording reflected the PBOC’s response to market concerns over exchange-rate stability and signalled a clear policy stance to stabilise the yuan.

“Under the ‘domestic-oriented’ policy framework, the primary driver of exchange-rate pricing is growth expectations,” the note added.

“Ensuring exchange-rate stability requires more proactive and countercyclical monetary policy adjustments.”

The PBOC’s Friday readout also revised its phrasing from “improve the accuracy of monetary policy adjustments” to “enhance the forward-looking, targeted and effective nature of monetary policy”, which GF Securities analysts interpreted as a stronger emphasis on overall policy volume, within the dual focus on both the quantity and structure of monetary policy.

Meanwhile, the government statement also introduced a reference to “guiding financial institutions to increase credit issuance”, indicating a shift towards credit expansion, according to GF Securities analysts.

“For 2024, the priority will be smoothing the credit cycle, optimising existing credit, and preventing excessive leverage, with a structural focus on credit quality,” the note added. “In 2025, the focus will shift to ensuring stable growth in total credit volume.”

China’s Trina Solar sets world record for solar conversion technology

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3293609/chinas-trina-solar-sets-world-record-solar-conversion-technology?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s Trina Solar has set a new world record for the conversion efficiency of a certain type of solar module, the company said in a statement on Monday.

In laboratory tests, Trina’s large surface area n-type fully passivated heterojunction (HJT) modules showed an efficiency of 25.44 per cent, according to the results certified by the Fraunhofer CalLab in Germany, a solar research body.

Passivation is a technology that covers defects on the surface of a solar cell, while cell efficiency refers to the percentage of solar energy hitting a device that is converted into usable electricity. Increasing cell efficiency can help reduce the size needed for solar installations as well as cutting costs.

Professor Martin Green at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, whose lab held the solar cell efficiency record for decades, said the result showed the potential of HJT solar technology, one of several contending to become the predominant next-generation technology for the sector.

“In the long run it’s all about efficiency, so even if some sequences are at the moment more costly than others, what tends to happen is that as the industry gets itself into a new technology the cost comes down quite quickly,” Green said.

Trina’s chairman and CEO Gao Jifan said the company will continue to increase its research and development in passivated solar technology to maintain its technology leadership.

HJT remains a relatively small percentage of the market, estimated by solar consultancy InfoLink to make up 7 per cent of high-efficiency solar cell capacity in 2024, 8 per cent in 2025 and 9 per cent in 2026. TopCON, or tunnel activated passive contact, cells are expected to make up the bulk of the market over the next five years.

In addition to representing a record for HJT technology, the results are a new milestone for the photoelectric conversion efficiency of single-crystalline silicon solar cell modules, Trina said.

China should favour fiscal taps over policy easing to spur stocks: Goldman Sachs

https://www.scmp.com/business/markets/article/3293603/goldman-sachs-china-should-favour-fiscal-taps-over-policy-easing-spur-stocks?utm_source=rss_feed

China should learn from history and rely more on fiscal measures than rate cuts to spur stock market gains, according to Goldman Sachs, which raised its target for Chinese equities in November.

Fiscal policy, including government expenditures and demand-side measures, has historically had a stronger impact on Chinese equity returns than monetary easing, according to a report by the US investment bank.

The trend has held true since 2016, the bank said, citing correlations between policies like the reopening measures after the Covid-19 pandemic and stimulus packages that spurred stock rallies.

Since late September, China has introduced a slew of measures to boost the sluggish economy, including lowering thresholds for property purchases, swapping local government debt and subsidising consumption. These triggered a stock market rally, with the CSI 300 Index of the largest onshore stocks jumping 21 per cent in September – the biggest monthly gain in almost a decade.

The MSCI China Index of 581 onshore and offshore Chinese stocks surged to 76 from 58 in early October and edged back to about 63 on Monday.

“Much of the market volatility in the past few months can be attributed to investor expectation changes regarding the timing, scale and specificity of the anticipated fiscal stimulus announcements in various policy meetings,” said the report, released on Monday.

The report drew a parallel to Japan’s prolonged economic downturn from 1989 to 2003, which is often compared with China’s current economic struggles. The Tokyo Stock Price Index, or Topix, lost 73 per cent during that period, but there were two significant bounces, one triggered by fiscal stimulus in 1992 and one by political reform in 1993.

Goldman Sachs raised its MSCI China Index forecast for the end of 2025 to 75 in November from 66 in September when China started to announce the stimulus measures. The “policy put” has put a floor on the market. The bank predicted more government spending in 2025 to support property destocking and local government debt swaps, among others.

Chinese stocks could offer opportunities this year despite low valuations and geopolitical uncertainties, the report said. Chinese equities, driven largely by domestic factors with limited sensitivity to global events, offer diversification benefits in a world where risky assets often move in sync.

In contrast to Goldman’s bullish view, UBS Global Wealth Management cut its forecast for Chinese stocks in November amid threats of additional US tariffs and what it saw as weaker-than-expected stimulus.

Beijing also announced more direct support to the stock market in 2024. In late September, the People’s Bank of China introduced unprecedented measures including a 500 billion yuan (US$68 billion) swap facility and a 300 billion yuan relending programme for stock buy-backs.

The so-called national team of state funds bought around 740 billion yuan worth of A shares in 2024, the most since 2015, primarily during the first three quarters when the market was at historical lows, the report said. These purchases have increased the team’s total equity holdings to 4.6 trillion yuan, or 5.4 per cent of the total A-share market capitalisation as of mid-2024.

Goldman estimated that listed Chinese companies returned a record amount of cash – 3 trillion yuan – to shareholders through dividends and buy-backs in 2024, after Beijing announced new measures in April to boost investor confidence and stabilise financial markets. The measures require listed companies to improve shareholder returns, in addition to strengthening supervision and enhancing investor protection.

Play up economic success, China’s ideology tsar Cai Qi tells propaganda chiefs

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3293499/play-economic-success-chinas-ideology-tsar-cai-qi-tells-propaganda-chiefs?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s ideology tsar has asked the nation’s propaganda officials to step up promotion of China’s economic achievements – just weeks after a number of analysts criticised the country’s performance.

“[Officials] should adhere to the correct orientation of public opinion, strengthen economic promotion and management of expectations, improve the ability to respond to public opinion, and create a united and progressive mainstream public opinion,” Cai Qi told a conference attended by the country’s propaganda chiefs on Friday and Saturday.

Cai, who ranks fifth in the ruling Communist Party hierarchy, is a member of the powerful Politburo Standing Committee and director of the party’s general office, making him President Xi Jinping’s chief of staff.

Cai is responsible for China’s ideology, culture and internet regulation.

According to a report by state news agency Xinhua on Saturday night, Cai also reminded officials of their general mission to “consolidate and strengthen mainstream ideological opinion, promote socialist core values, deepen reform of the cultural system and mechanisms, and build a more effective international communication system”.

Xinhua added that Li Shulei, head of the party’s central propaganda department, had given work orders to his subordinates based on Cai’s instructions.

Cai requests come as Beijing struggles to ignite its sluggish economy.

The leadership has repeatedly said the country will meet its 5 per cent growth target for 2024, a message Xi drove home in his New Year’s address on Tuesday.

Xi acknowledged that the economy was facing “challenges” and “difficulties” but said it would overcome them to meet the target.

To that end, Beijing has unveiled a series of stimulus measures since September, with more expected in 2025, to boost consumption, revive the property market, restore business confidence and tackle demographic challenges.

Censors have previously silenced some economists critical of China’s economic performance.

The social media account of Chinese economist and internet celebrity Ren Zeping has been offline since at least December 24, with a notice saying “this user is currently banned for violating relevant laws and regulations”.

Ren’s last Weibo post, which has since been removed, quoted an ancient Chinese emperor’s edict apologising to the public for livelihood difficulties.

Ren has been banned several times before for commenting on economic issues.

Two other outspoken Chinese economists, Gao Shanwen and Fu Peng, have been silenced after making pessimistic comments about the economic outlook in November and December.

Internet users also can no longer follow Gao and Fu, chief economists at separate securities firms.

In December, China’s securities regulator asked securities firms to tighten their management of public comments by professionals, especially chief economists, “so as not to publish comments that contradict central government policies”.

---

China’s high-speed rail for computers will boost AI development: scientists

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3293547/chinas-high-speed-rail-computers-will-boost-ai-development-scientists?utm_source=rss_feed

China has announced the completion of its cutting-edge computer network, expected to boost development of artificial intelligence while offering fast, reliable and high-capacity data services across the country.

Industry experts likened the internet service – realised through China Environment for Network Innovations (CENI), a national research facility connecting the country’s largest cities – to a “high-speed rail for computers”.

The network’s completion was announced on Thursday at a scientific conference in Nanjing, provincial capital of Jiangsu in eastern China and headquarters of Zijin Mountain Laboratory, which led the collaborative effort.

According to Xinhua Daily, the CENI service is based on an innovative network architecture that combines the strengths of optical communication technology and deterministic networking to deliver fast, reliable and high-capacity data services.

By integrating the high-speed transmission capabilities of optical communications with the low latency and high reliability of deterministic networks, CENI enables efficient and stable data transfer, it said.

“CENI has achieved zero packet loss, with delay jitter under 20 microseconds, even under full network load, spanning 13 provinces, 13,000km (8,080 miles), and handling 10,000 deterministic services,” said Liu Yunjie, Zijin Mountain Laboratory’s chief scientist and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

According to Liu, the network service is set to support industrial internet applications and AI model training, as well as assist China’s “Eastern Data, Western Computing” strategy.

This initiative aims to build large data centres in the country’s west, where there is abundant renewable energy, that will store and process data generated in the more populated eastern regions.

Tao Gaofeng, deputy general manager of Jiangsu Future Network Group, likened the service to high-speed rail, enhancing the precision and distance of data transmission, according to an article published on Friday in Science and Technology Daily.

“It can transmit data over 2,000km (1,240 miles) without losing any packets or needing electrical relays. It ensures accurate and on-time delivery, even during network congestion or cyberattacks,” he said.

According to the Xinhua Daily report, the CENI backbone optical cable has so far reached 34,000km (21,100 miles), with more than 10,000km (6,210 miles) of new cables still to come.

Thursday’s conference also heard about a 400G bandwidth large-scale network based on CENI, boasting computational power of 100,000 petaflops – where one petaflop is equal to performing 1000 trillion calculations per second.

The first phase of the network infrastructure covers nine cities including Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guiyang – key nodes in China’s big data and computing power strategy, the conference heard.

The network can also be used for industrial control systems or government networks. In one demonstration, experts showed they were able to send commands to an automated vehicle in a factory 500km (311 miles) away, with delays of less than 20 microseconds and a location accuracy within a few centimetres.

Liu noted that, in addition to zero packet loss and low latency, the CENI network offers significant advantages in terms of construction costs and operational efficiency, compared with traditional solutions.

“CENI can reduce costs by over 60 per cent to reach the same performance. It features high efficiency, high reliability, low cost, and low energy consumption, positioning it at the forefront of international standards,” he said.

According to Liu, the next step will involve connecting 100 universities and leading enterprises to the CENI network, providing low-cost access to its computational power.

Philippines prepares for war, Chinese ‘metal storm’: 5 weekend reads you missed

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3293538/philippines-prepares-war-chinese-metal-storm-5-weekend-reads-you-missed?utm_source=rss_feed

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

Chinese couple fake ‘domestic violence’ videos for live-stream sales, detained by police

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3292748/chinese-couple-fake-domestic-violence-videos-live-stream-sales-detained-police?utm_source=rss_feed

A couple in southwestern China has been detained for making sad-fishing videos about domestic violence on the wife in order to boost online traffic.

Police in Kunming, Yunnan province, placed the husband, surnamed Cai, and his wife surnamed Li under five-day administrative detention after they fabricated videos and caused a negative impact on society, reported the mainland news outlet The Paper.

Cai confessed to the police that he was jealous of online celebrities who made huge profits from live-streaming.

In the hope of attracting attention online, he and his wife scripted and performed self-directed short dramas in the videos.

One of their most viral clips showed Li, who was portrayed as being fed up with Cai’s domestic violence, escaped from home but was soon caught by him and restrained in a small room.

In the video, the woman was seen sitting in a corner of a shabby house, sobbing. Covered with a dirty quilt, the woman asked her husband for food, but her request was rejected.

Cai said he concocted the controversial clips to get more followers.

The couple’s account could not be found on a leading short video platform and it is not clear how many fans they had accumulated before it was shut down.

Since the fake videos went viral on the mainland internet, the Ministry of Public Security listed the task of cracking down on online rumors and cleaning the online environment as a priority for 2024.

In April, the authorities said that police around the country had made more than 1,500 arrests and solved 10,000 cases since the launch of the campaign targeting online rumors.

In September, police in northeastern Liaoning province in detained four people for 10 days for forging videos about the miserable family background of one of the group.

Their social media account gained more than one million followers in a short time before they began selling goods via live streams.

A plethora of accounts were banned for concocting or circulating false information.

A prominent case involved an online celebrity with the alias Thurman Maoyibei who made up a story that she found some textbooks left by a Chinese boy named Qin Lang in a public toilet in Paris.

After the video went viral on mainland social media, the blogger said in another video that she had contacted the boy’s family and returned the textbooks to him.

The series of videos that attracted widespreas attention in the country later turned out to be completely fake. The woman’s account was permanently banned after she apologised.

“These online influencers are using any means to attract traffic, ignoring moral standards,” said one online observer of the latest case.

Another person took a similar view: “It is awful to do sad-fishing videos. As a result, those people who are really poor find it hard to receive help from the public because many people do not trust others.”

---

Singapore hospital chain sees golden gains in China’s surging silver economy

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3293534/singapore-hospital-chain-sees-golden-gains-chinas-surging-silver-economy?utm_source=rss_feed

The task of providing elderly care for the growing number of ageing Chinese baby boomers may be a headache for Beijing, but a Singaporean hospital operator sees it as an evergreen opportunity.

With more than 400 million Chinese set to enter their 60s over the coming decade, Singapore-based Perennial Holdings Pte. is betting on sound returns for investors able to meet the demand for premium care and services for this group, who were born in the country’s tumultuous 1960s but fortunate enough to reap the benefits of its stellar economic rise in the past few decades.

“When people have a certain level of income, they are used to a certain level of medical treatment. It cannot be totally catered for by the government,” Perennial’s chairman and chief executive officer Pua Seck Guan said in an interview.

With the world’s second-largest economy slowing and its one-child policy having contributed to a low birth rate for decades, China faces an unprecedented challenge in caring for its swelling ranks of senior citizens. Beijing has estimated that only 3 per cent of retirees will check into nursing homes or other types of senior-care facilities, with the rest likely spending their twilight years at home or depending on local communities to care for them.

The government has called on the private sector to expand all things related to elderly care, ranging from the manufacture of diapers and wheelchairs to nursing homes and tailored entertainment options, key elements of the so-called “silver economy” that state media says could reach US$4.2 trillion.

Meeting the needs of the wealthiest Chinese pensioners in a country of 1.4 billion will spawn a substantial market, Pua said. “The pie is so big that I don’t think at this stage you are talking about competing. There’s so much room to grow.”

Perennial now operates two developments that integrate hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and other amenities in China, in the northern city of Tianjin and southwestern leisure and tourism capital Chengdu. In the Tianjin project, they also have elderly homes and assisted-living flats, and in Xi’an, they plan to add such senior-care facilities to an existing development.

These homes cost anywhere between 7,000 to 20,000 yuan (US$960 to US$2,740) per month, including meals and skilled nursing care. By comparison, some state-backed nursing homes in China cost less than 5,000 yuan per month but can have waiting lists decades long for the cheaper and more popular ones.

The company also has several more such projects under construction in major cities across China, with a total investment in the medical care and senior care business reaching 31 billion yuan.

Some Japanese and American senior home operators have also entered China over the past decade. Fortress Investment Group teamed up with Chinese conglomerate Fosun International Ltd. to operate several senior-living communities across major Chinese cities. Chinese insurance companies including Taikang Life Insurance Co. and property developers such as Sino-Ocean Group Holding Ltd. have also built upscale senior compounds to attract well-off retirees.

Beijing in September also removed barriers for foreign investments in its massive healthcare industry, including allowing overseas investors to run hospitals without a Chinese partner. Perennial’s 1 billion-yuan general hospital within walking distance of its Tianjin residential development will become the first such wholly foreign-owned healthcare facility when it opens in the first quarter of this year.

“We are very excited about the healthcare and elder-care industry because of China’s ageing population.” Pua said. “It’s a huge market, and the industry is only at the nascent stage.”

Chinese research ship starts country’s first survey of Bohai Sea’s winter ice

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3293482/chinese-research-ship-starts-countrys-first-survey-bohai-seas-winter-ice?utm_source=rss_feed

China is sending an icebreaking research vessel to the Bohai Sea’s ice zone to explore how rapid changes affect weather and climate.

The expedition, which started on Saturday and is led by Sun Yat-sen University, is the country’s first winter survey of the gulf off northern China to cover the development and melting of its winter ice.

Science and Technology Daily said on Saturday that as well as the studying the environmental and ecological impact of changes to sea ice, the expedition would test research equipment in a near-polar environment.

Forecasts from the Polar Research Centre at Sun Yat-sen University predict that ice in the Arctic Ocean is rapidly melting and, without intervention, the Arctic could experience a “summer without ice” in just five years.

This threatens the stability of the Arctic climate and could alter wind and ocean current patterns, potentially triggering more extreme weather events worldwide.

“The research team [will focus] on the thermal and dynamic impacts of the atmosphere and ocean on the formation and melting processes of Bohai Sea ice,” the project leader, Cheng Xiao, told Science and Technology Daily.

“We will also investigate the mechanisms by which these processes affect the aquatic environment, build a Bohai Sea ice ecological dynamics model, and explore the potential seasonal impacts of sea ice on the Bohai Sea ecosystem.”

A team of 45 researchers from 12 universities and research institutions will take part in the mission, including experts in oceanography and satellite remote sensing.

“The lack of data from the Bohai Sea’s ice-covered winter zone has made it difficult to understand changes in the underwater environment and biogeochemical processes,” Chen Xianyao, chief scientist of the mission and a professor at Ocean University of China, told the newspaper.

“This voyage is the first winter survey of the Bohai Sea ice zone and will greatly help fill the data gap.”

The mission’s ship, Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, also known as SYU Polar, is the only icebreaker owned by a Chinese university and was bought from abroad by private entrepreneurs and donated to the university.

The university has made a series of upgrades to the ship, which was built in Canada in the 1980s, fitting it with equipment to carry out atmospheric data collection, geophysical surveys and seawater sampling to depths of up to 6,000 metres (19,700ft).

It is also equipped with deep-sea submersibles that can explore to depths of more than 10,000 metres.

The ship recently completed a two-month trip that saw it becoming the third Chinese research vessel to operate in the Arctic Ocean’s central ice zone.

Drunk China cheat dies in freak fall from lover’s car, wife demands US$82,000

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3292733/drunk-china-cheat-dies-freak-fall-lovers-car-wife-demands-us82000?utm_source=rss_feed

The wife of a drunk man in China who was killed when he was thrown out of his lover’s car in an accident has failed in a legal bid to land 600,000 yuan (US$82,000) in compensation.

The man, surnamed Wang, from eastern China’s Jiangsu province, met his lover, surnamed Liu, in 2022 and started an extramarital affair.

On a night in July 2023, a drunk Wang fell out of Liu’s BMW car while Liu was driving, according to a report in the mainland media outlet Hongxing News on December 24.

Liu immediately stopped the car, checked Wang’s condition and called an ambulance. Wang was rushed to the hospital, and declared dead from brain injuries 24 hours later.

A police investigation revealed that the lovers were talking about splitting up before the accident.

Liu first told Wang she wanted to break up, and was rejected. On the night he died, Wang messaged Liu asking her to return the bracelet and SIM card he had bought her.

He went to her place and smashed up her car, and then asked her to drive him and have a late supper together.

As they left the restaurant at midnight, Wang asked Liu to give him a ride as he was drunk.

Wang did not fasten his seatbelt, and fell out of the car.

The police did not hold Wang responsible for the accident, although they did not clarify the reason for Wang falling from the vehicle.

Some online observers speculated that it was because the car’s door was not closed properly.

Wang’s wife, children and parents demanded compensation from Liu several times, before taking her to court and asking for 600,000 yuan in compensation.

The court did not support her request, and only ordered Liu to pay compensation of 65,000 yuan (US$8,900).

The court said Liu “did not have serious negligence or major responsibility in the case, although she did not perform a more appropriate duty of care”.

The presiding judge said they often take the loss of victims’ relatives into consideration in decisions related to accidents that cause death or serious injuries, but they need to make fair judgements based on facts and laws.

“The moral of the story told is that you should not have extramarital affairs,” said one online observer.

“That is quite a serious punishment for the husband and his lover,” another said.

---

Adopt mainland Chinese building material standards in Hong Kong, industry suggests

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3293511/adopt-mainland-building-material-standards-hong-kong-industry-suggests?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong could adopt mainland Chinese standards for construction materials, rather than use European benchmarks, to help reduce building costs that are the highest in Asia, industry leaders have said.

Godfrey Leung King-kwok, executive director of the Hong Kong Construction Association, said on Sunday the requirement to follow British and European Union standards for most local construction projects had driven up material costs due to increased transport fees for items mainly sourced from overseas.

“Using standards from China could help reduce costs,” he said.

The International Construction Cost Index showed Hong Kong ranked ninth globally in 2024. The city was among the top three most expensive in the world from 2016 to 2020.

Last year’s ranking, which was compiled by consultancy firm Arcadis, also found the city had the most expensive construction costs in Asia.

Leung explained that even if builders were approved to use mainland-standard materials for a project, they currently needed to apply again to use the same items for another project. But such measures did not apply to materials that met British or European standards, he added.

“The mainland standard is of satisfactory quality, and the main point is how to execute it,” he said.

Leung said the city government was looking at how mainland standards could be made comparable with British and European ones.

He suggested that authorities consider implementing random sampling of mainland materials to ensure quality control.

Association president Eddie Lam Kin-wing said the industry body was studying the issue and its preliminary report was expected to be published next month, adding authorities could take reference from the document.

The Development Bureau told the Post it was conducting a study to devise measures to bring down the costs.

The bureau earlier noted that construction costs could generally be divided into four categories: labour, which accounted for about 30 to 40 per cent of the total; material and equipment; machinery; and risk premiums.

In an interview with the Post, John Batten, global cities director at Arcadis, said that Hong Kong had traditionally peer-reviewed itself or consulted European Union and British standards, with such materials linked to a supply chain that was far away and tended to incur premiums.

Batten, whose company has acted as a consultant for local projects such as the M+ art museum and several public housing estates, said that being more accommodating when it came to mainland standards could help to reduce some costs.

“This is a good thing because the supply chain in mainland China is typically at a lower price point than European standards,” he said.

Batten said materials from the mainland were of comparable standards with those from elsewhere.

He also touched on the topic of advanced and competitive procurement, citing the practice of pitting suppliers against one another and creating a more competitive environment as ways of achieving lower price points and reducing costs.

“These can all help to improve the cost efficiency. Yet it will take time,” he said, adding that purchasing materials at a greater volume could help to realise cost benefits.

In a study released last September, the bureau identified factors that had contributed to the city’s high construction costs: labour costs; contract risk premiums on construction materials and equipment; design standards and requirements; and costs arising from the approval process and those dependent on a project’s complexity.

An earlier government report recommended optimising the industry’s project procurement model to reduce risk premiums, reviewing design standards and requirements to enhance cost-effectiveness, adopting advanced technologies and construction methods, and streamlining the approval process for materials.

The bureau said it would implement the relevant measures in a timely manner.

Leung of the association said another reason for high construction costs was the limited application of Building Information Modelling (BIM).

BIM refers to the process of generating three-dimensional, digital representations of buildings to provide accessible information for the architecture, engineering and construction industries.

He explained that the method aimed to foster collaboration between stakeholders throughout a project’s life cycle, from design to on and off-site operations.

“Hong Kong is set to adopt BIM comprehensively by 2029, while Singapore is significantly ahead in its implementation,” he said.

Leung said BIM could improve project delivery, cost efficiency, design quality and construction site management.

Traditional methods relied heavily on paperwork, which was more time-consuming, he added.