• Is China-Russia cooperation in the Arctic a double-edged sword for Beijing?
• Economics tipped to headline China, South Korea and Japan foreign ministers’ talks
• Chinese military holds training drills near Myanmar border after convoy fire
• China engineers complete largest solar farm on Earth in UAE ahead of Cop28
• ‘Devalued product’: China mother plunges into depression over feeling inferior about unmarried 30-something daughter, sparks online debate
• China’s PLA starts live-fire drills with Myanmar in border security test as junta-rebel clashes escalate
• A year on from the white-paper protests, China looks much different | China
• Drone tech gives China an edge in Middle East arms sales, but Israel-Gaza war brings risks: analysts
• Australia and Philippines begin joint patrols in South China Sea as regional tensions rise
• Hong Kong police to recruit 137 city students from mainland Chinese universities following year-long talent attraction drive
• 4,100-year-old mass grave in China reveals secrets of country’s largest Neolithic headhunting massacre
• How CDL’s China expansion during Covid-19 led to a ‘shock’ split within Singapore tycoon Kwek Leng Beng’s family
• EU-China Summit: the trust deficit threatening trade and diplomacy
• South China Sea: Philippines, Australia start joint patrols amid Beijing tensions
• China says it has achieved a miraculously low-crime society | China
• China’s enormous surveillance state is still growing | China
• ‘Baby teacher’: China girl, 5, teaches family what she learned at kindergarten with after-dinner exercise routines, delights mainland social media
• China’s aerospace information industry is soaring, but financing needed to reach new heights
• Chinese Premier Li Qiang picked to head finance commission as Xi Jinping continues to delegate duties
• WHO: Nothing Unusual in China Respiratory Outbreak

Is China-Russia cooperation in the Arctic a double-edged sword for Beijing?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3242807/china-russia-cooperation-arctic-double-edged-sword-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

The Arctic Ocean – sandwiched between North America, Europe and Asia – was one of the most mysterious front lines in the great power rivalry of the Cold War, where Soviet and US submarines shadowed each other beneath the ice.

Decades later, deteriorating relations between Russia and the West – exacerbated by the war in Ukraine – have ignited fears that the frozen region could once again become an arena for geopolitical contest.

During the Cold War, the Arctic offered the shortest flight paths for intercontinental missiles and nuclear-armed bombers between the then Soviet Union and the Nato allies.

Now the rapid shrinking of the region’s ice caps is also offering new sea lanes and access to precious resources, fuelling concerns that the Arctic could emerge as one of the most strategically valuable maritime routes in the world.

And China – which has been expanding its economic, scientific, cultural and diplomatic engagement with several Arctic countries in recent years – is facing a growing risk of being caught in the crossfire, observers say.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin attended last month’s Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing, he invited global investment in Russia’s Arctic region.

‘Highly complementary’: China, Russia lay out plans for regional integration

Days later, at the Arctic Circle Assembly – an annual gathering of governments, indigenous organisations and academics – in Reykjavik, Nato Admiral Rob Bauer took a swipe at the growing alignment in the region between Russia and China.

“The increasing competition and militarisation in the Arctic region, especially by Russia and China, is worrying,” said Bauer, an adviser to the Nato secretary general and the North Atlantic Council, the bloc’s principal political decision-making body.

“The melting ice in the Arctic allows for new sea routes that make sailing easier for larger vessels and shorten the time it takes to navigate.

“Nato does not consider China as a threat, but as a challenge. We must take into account that Beijing does not have transparent intentions in the Arctic while concurrently developing its strategic relation to Russia.”

The Russia-controlled North Sea Route could become ice-free as early as the summer of 2035, according to some predictions, cutting shipping times by 30 to 40 per cent compared with the Suez Canal.

China reveals ‘Polar Silk Road’ ambition in Arctic policy white paper

But more importantly, it would allow the Russian navy to travel freely between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Zhao Long, senior research fellow with the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies’ Russian and Central Asian studies centre, said the region was likely to become “a frontier in the strategic and security rivalry between Russia and the West”.

“Meanwhile, China’s cooperation with Russia in the Arctic would become a casualty of this antagonism and it is likely to be targeted more often in the future,” he said.

According to Zhao, a push by the West for major Arctic states Finland and Sweden to join Nato will deepen the acrimony between Moscow and the West, “triggering some contagion effects”.

Western sanctions and distrust draw China, Russia closer in the Arctic

The Russian invasion of Ukraine jolted multilateral cooperation in the region when seven of the eight members of the Arctic Council – the High North’s primary intergovernmental body – announced a boycott against Russia.

Marc Lanteigne, an associate professor at the University of Tromso in Norway, said “2023 is definitely not 2018, when China published its Arctic White Paper” and that Beijing had to “walk a fine line” in the “more difficult diplomatic atmosphere”.

The White Paper – greeted with suspicion, including from Russia, five years ago – envisioned a “Polar Silk Road” to complement Beijing’s belt and road infrastructure plan.

“The movement towards securitising the Arctic has only accelerated since the invasion of Ukraine and Nato’s responses, and so Beijing has to … maintain strong northern cooperation with Russia, but also find ways of being active in other parts of the Arctic, despite the more difficult diplomatic atmosphere,” Lanteigne said.

As its invasion of Ukraine entered its second year, Moscow appeared to be shifting its stance on international cooperation in the Arctic, where 53 per cent of the coastline belongs to Russia.

In February, an amendment to Moscow’s strategic policy for the region to 2035 removed reference to “strengthening good neighbourly relations with the Arctic states” in favour of developing bilateral relations with foreign states.

One month later, the Kremlin named the Arctic as a priority region for the first time, in its first foreign policy concept statement since 2016. Development of the Northern Sea Route was also listed as a key national objective.

And in April, Russia announced plans to develop an international Arctic science station in Norway’s Svalbard islands, in cooperation with China and the other members of Brics – an association of leading emerging markets – Brazil, India and South Africa.

What next for China’s Polar Silk Road as Putin’s war sparks Arctic freeze?

It was a sharp change in direction for Russia, which previously preferred to keep Arctic affairs within the Arctic countries, and an opportunity for China, with its ambitions to become a powerful player in the region.

“On the other hand, this could also increase the political and commercial risks to Chinese companies. So I think it is a double-edged sword [for China],” according to Zhao in Shanghai.

Xu Qingchao, an associate professor with the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the power game between Russia and the West in the Arctic was not new.

Beijing would not be taking sides and would continue its cooperation with the other Arctic states, in line with China’s interests in the region, she said.

“China’s Arctic strategy was, is, and will be based upon this premise. The strategy may be influenced by various factors, but fundamentally, it is rooted in China’s national interests.”

But Xu shares Zhao’s view that the change to the status quo in the Arctic region in the past two years could be a double-edged sword for China.

“China may be burdened by this dichotomy, being seen by the West as siding with Russia, which in turn may intentionally reduce or curb cooperation with China over the Arctic,” she said.

“But on the other hand, China is more likely to be accepted by Russia, which may be keen to see more robust cooperation with China in the Arctic.”

Warm Russian ties are key to China’s Arctic aspirations: report

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, China – which has refused to join the West’s economic sanctions – has steadily intensified its activities in the region, pouring tens of billions of dollars into infrastructure projects above the Arctic Circle.

China is also buying Russian oil and gas, some of which is being shipped through the Northern Sea Route, and Chinese naval vessels have been joining their Russian counterparts in regular sailings off Alaska since 2021.

In April this year – just a month after China’s President Xi Jinping visited Moscow – the two countries signed an agreement to work together in maritime law enforcement.

Chinese investment in the Arctic was back on the agenda soon after Beijing lifted its Covid-19 border controls.

China and Russia sign deal on maritime law enforcement

In May, senior officials from the Arctic region of Russia were among a high-level delegation to Beijing and Shanghai, led by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

Chinese business leaders have also travelled to Russia’s Arctic region, including the resource-rich Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the most sparsely populated part of the Russian Federation.

In September, senior executives of Shandong Port Group, a state-owned enterprise, visited Murmansk, widely known as the capital of the Arctic region and the starting point for the Northern Sea Route.

The city’s governor Andrei Chibis, who hosted the executives, said they expressed interest in the route as well as ship building investments in the Kola Peninsula, according to a report by Norwegian news portal The Barents Observer.

Russia’s Arctic ambassador Nikolay Korchunov told reporters in Moscow earlier this month that the two governments were in talks over a number of projects “of economic and scientific importance to both countries”.

These included a cooperation deal with China’s Harbin Engineering University on the Snowflake International Arctic Station, a year-round renewable energy-powered research facility, he said.

Next month, the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is expected to host the China-Nordic Arctic Cooperation Symposium, for the first time since 2019, in a sign that China intends to continue cooperating with the other Arctic states.

According to Lanteigne, while China and Russia hold the same view that Nato represents an obstacle to their Arctic strategies, the region is unlikely to become a focus in the rivalries between the US, China and Russia.

“Yet there is the strong possibility of spillover, given the ongoing opening up of the Arctic Ocean to economic activities,” he said.

In Shanghai, Zhao said China was unlikely to hold back its business and scientific cooperation with Russia in the Arctic, but it may face increasing risks, such as “fluctuating returns and market trade-offs as a result of potential sanctions”.

“In the long run, China’s cooperation with Russia in the Arctic will not change but at the same time, Russia [is stepping] up its opening-up in the Arctic, and that would provide more opportunities for China, in scientific research, environment and ecology, shipping, energy and tourism.”

Economics tipped to headline China, South Korea and Japan foreign ministers’ talks

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3242823/economics-tipped-headline-china-south-korea-and-japan-foreign-ministers-talks?utm_source=rss_feed

China confirmed on Saturday that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet his counterparts from Japan and South Korea for the first talks of their kind in four years.

The trilateral meeting in the South Korean city of Busan on Sunday comes as Tokyo and Seoul increasingly side with the United States in its rivalry with China.

Analysts said the talks indicated a “positive diplomatic momentum” in the countries’ efforts to manage tensions but a dramatic improvement in relations was unlikely given the distrust between them and pressures from Washington.

They expected the three foreign ministers to discuss ways to strengthen trade and economic cooperation, with North Korea likely also on the agenda.

Dylan Loh, assistant professor of foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said the three-way exchange was particularly significant, coming soon after the meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden.

The two heads of state met in San Francisco last week for the first time in about a year, pledging to resume military-to-military communications in a sign of improved ties.

“That this [trilateral] summit follows after the Xi-Biden meeting is noteworthy as both Japan and South Korea are US allies so I think there is some positive diplomatic and political momentum,” Loh said.

Japan and South Korea have in recent years sought closer security ties with the US as concerns over China’s growing regional influence swell, a move that Beijing has warned will increase tensions in the region.

The three countries held annual summits from 2008 until 2019 to foster regional cooperation but the meetings were suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the South Korean foreign ministry, the ministers planned to trade opinions “extensively on the direction of [the] development of trilateral cooperation” and regional and international situations. It said bilateral meetings would take place on the sidelines of the event.

Wang Yiwei, an international relations professor at Renmin University in Beijing, suggested that the improvement in US-China relations would have an “immediate effect” on China’s ties with Japan and South Korea.

He expected the leaders to push for further economic integration, particularly in the digital economy, where all three Asian nations are leaders.

One option, he said, would be to accelerate talks for a long-delayed free-trade agreement between the region’s three largest economies, a process that began in 2013.

Wang noted that as the world moved towards “global regionalisation”, with economies split into regional blocs, it was natural and beneficial for China, Japan and South Korea to build stronger economic ties.

“China must seize the strategic opportunity of the easing of Sino-US relations and actively promote cooperation with Japan and South Korea,” he said.

Yongwook Ryu, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said economics was the main factor driving the resumption of the trilateral talks.

“All three economies have been struggling, and the situation is likely to worsen in 2024. Hence they have a common interest in promoting bilateral trade,” he said.

Ryu said the meeting was also related to the shift in Washington’s China policy from decoupling to de-risking. Both Japan and South Korea would search for ways to boost trade with China within the parameters of the de-risking policy.

Yet, despite the countries’ shared interest in trade, strategic considerations would undergird Tokyo and Seoul’s interactions with Beijing as they were “critical allies” of the US and played a key role in Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy, he added.

China, Ryu suggested, would seek cooperation in the technology sector from its two neighbours. But at the same time, Beijing would “try to drive a wedge between Japan and South Korea on the one hand and the US by arguing that the US’ China policy would hurt [their] interests”.

“I remain doubtful, however, how much diplomatic relations between the three countries could improve, given the deep-rooted mutual distrust and the constraints imposed on Japan and South Korea due to the US-China strategic rivalry.”

Loh, from Nanyang Technological University, said North Korea would likely feature on the agenda, especially with Pyongyang’s announcement this week that it had launched its first spy satellite into orbit.

While the resumption of the high-level talks between the three countries was a positive step, Renmin University’s Wang warned that restoring ties could be a long way to go.

He noted that leaders in Tokyo and Seoul could face pressures from Washington, saying they had been “coerced to integrate” with the US.

The situation in the Korean peninsula and the Taiwan Strait would also affect ties between the three countries, he said.

“Once there is an issue [in those areas], the cooperation between China, Japan and South Korea will be affected,” he said.

Chinese military holds training drills near Myanmar border after convoy fire

https://reuters.com/article/china-myanmar/chinese-military-holds-training-drills-near-myanmar-border-after-convoy-fire-idUSKBN32K00T

China's military will begin "combat training activities" from Saturday on its side of the border with Myanmar, it said on social media, a day after a convoy of trucks carrying goods into the neighbouring Southeast Asian nation went up in flames.

The incident, which Myanmar state media called an insurgent attack, came amid insecurity concerns in China, whose envoy met top officials in Myanmar's capital for talks on border stability after recent signs of rare strain in their ties.

The training aims to "test the rapid maneuverability, border sealing and fire strike capabilities of theatre troops," the Southern Theatre Command, one of five in China's People's Liberation Army, said on the WeChat messaging app.

The brief statement gave no details of timing or numbers of troops.

Myanmar was told of the drills, military junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said, adding that they aimed to "maintain stability and peace" near the border, and did not undermine China's policy of non-interference in Myanmar's internal affairs.

"The military tie between China and Myanmar is firm and collaboration between both armies is friendly and building up," he said in his post on state-run social media.

Friday's fire in the town of Muse came as Myanmar's military has lost control of several towns and military outposts in the northeast and elsewhere as it battles the biggest co-ordinated offensive it has faced since seizing power in a 2021 coup.

The surge in fighting has displaced more than 2 million people in Myanmar, the United Nations says.

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China engineers complete largest solar farm on Earth in UAE ahead of Cop28

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3242801/china-engineers-complete-largest-solar-farm-earth-uae-ahead-cop28?utm_source=rss_feed

The world’s largest single-site solar power plant – a flagship project under China’s Belt and Road Initiative – has been completed in the United Arab Emirates, ahead of the UN climate change conference Cop28 in Dubai later this month.

The two-gigawatt Al Dhafra Solar Photovoltaic Project covers 20 sq km (12.4 square miles) of desert outside Abu Dhabi and can power about 200,000 households, according to main contractor China National Machinery Industry Corporation.

The company said the plant was expected to help Abu Dhabi reduce carbon emissions by 2.4 million tonnes each year – the equivalent of taking more than half a million cars off the road – and take the proportion of clean energy to over 13 per cent of the emirate’s overall consumption.

By mid-November, the solar farm had already produced 3.6 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity ahead of its official inauguration last Thursday.

“As the UAE prepares to host Cop28, this pioneering project reflects the country’s ongoing commitment to raising its share of clean energy, reducing its carbon emissions and supporting the global efforts on climate action,” said Abu Dhabi’s deputy ruler, Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sheikh Hazza also expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the contractor’s “high standard, high quality work”, the company said on its official WeChat account.

COP28: China serious about clean energy, says US climate envoy John Kerry

The plant consists of 4 million solar panels that can capture sunlight on both sides, according to the company, which was responsible for its design, civil engineering, equipment supply, installation and commissioning. It will also provide two years of operation and maintenance.

According to Chinese media reports, the three-year construction contract was signed in October 2020 – with the project team battling the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent supply-chain constraints to complete the project on time.

“China used the most cutting-edge solar panel components and the latest design and construction concepts to build this plant,” the project’s on-site manager, Che Mingan, told the official newspaper of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

“From the photovoltaic modules to tracking brackets and cleaning robots, the project embraced Chinese products and Chinese technologies,” said Che, who has worked with more than 5,000 colleagues from 19 countries in Abu Dhabi’s desert since 2020.

According to Che, the Al Dhafra plant has been operating at full capacity since April. “It will be crucial for the UAE to achieve its carbon neutrality goal by 2050, and promote regional energy transformation and sustainable development,” he said.

The newspaper report said the Abu Dhabi project was the latest example of how China was helping countries in belt-and-road areas to achieve their clean energy ambitions.

China has fostered green development partnerships with more than 30 countries under the belt and road infrastructure programme, according to the report.

These have included the Karachi nuclear power plant’s K-2 and K-3 phases – built by China National Nuclear Corporation with its home-grown, third-generation nuclear power technology.

The report said the Karachi plant generated nearly 20 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity to meet the annual needs of 2 million people in Pakistan.

‘Devalued product’: China mother plunges into depression over feeling inferior about unmarried 30-something daughter, sparks online debate

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3242203/devalued-product-china-mother-plunges-depression-over-feeling-inferior-about-unmarried-30-something?utm_source=rss_feed

A doctor in China has told how a mother he treated struggled with depression because her only daughter – in her 30s – was not yet married, renewing a discussion on social media about the intense pressure young people face to tie the knot.

The doctor, Gao Panyue, from Jiangsu province in eastern China, told Jiangsu Television that she diagnosed the 59-year-old woman, surnamed Zhao, with depression because she was worrying too much about her daughter’s lack of marriage prospects.

Gao said Zhao felt inferior to others and thought her community was gossiping about her because her daughter was still single.

The mother had been consistently fighting with her daughter about getting married and typically cried when she failed to convince her introverted child to find a partner.

Gao said the mother’s condition had improved after she received hospital treatment.

Zhao’s predicament has reignited an online debate about the pressure to get married that many young Chinese receive from their parents.

“A typical form of Chinese depression is that a parent worries over their daughters being single, not having a second child, or even being childless,” one person said on Weibo.

“I feel suffocated just watching this report,” said another woman.

“My father has a similar condition, he blames me being single for his insomnia,” said a third.

The marriage rate in China hit a record low last year, with only 6.83 million couples getting married. It marked the ninth straight year of annual decline from 13.47 million marriages in 2013.

The last time the number of couples getting married was so low was in 1979 when 6.37 million couples registered for marriage.

On the Chinese Instagram-like platform, Xiaohongshu, one woman said that she preferred to remain single if she could not find true love because “marriage is like icing on the cake, but the individual needs to be delicious first.”

Her attitude reflected a growing phenomenon among younger generations who attach more importance to their independence and personal development.

For them, getting married is not the “final settlement” or “safe harbour” that their parents typically believe it to be.

In 2021, a young woman was diagnosed with depression because of the pressure she faced from her family to get married.

The woman, in her 30s, suffered from severe depression after her father called her a “devalued product” because she was single, a doctor from Hangzhou Shulan Hospital told local media outlet Tianmu News.

China’s PLA starts live-fire drills with Myanmar in border security test as junta-rebel clashes escalate

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3242819/chinas-pla-starts-live-fire-drills-myanmar-border-security-test-junta-rebel-clashes-escalate?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese military has begun live-fire drills with Myanmar in a border security move as violence escalates between the Southeast Asian country’s ruling junta and armed rebel groups.

The “real combat training”, taking place on the Chinese side of the border, aims to test the “rapid mobilising, border sealing, and fire strike [capabilities]” of the People’s Liberation Army, its Southern Theatre Command said.

“[Our] troops are always prepared to respond to various unexpected situations and are determined to safeguard [China’s] national sovereignty, border stability, and the safety of people’s lives and property,” a spokesman was quoted as saying on the command’s official WeChat social media account.

The brief post did not offer details on how long the drills would last, their exact location or the number of troops involved.

The rare joint exercises come amid fears of China’s border security being threatened as a coordinated offensive by northern rebel groups has the Myanmese junta facing its toughest challenge since seizing power in a military coup in 2021.

China demands border security guarantee from Myanmar as rebels gain ground

The last time China carried out a live-fire military exercise at the Myanmar border was in March 2017, weeks after at least 30 people were killed in an attack by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) rebel group in Laukkai, capital of the restive Kokang region in northern Shan state.

The drills also come two days after a convoy of trucks carrying goods from China went up in flames at a bilateral trade terminal in Shan, which borders China’s southwestern Yunnan province.

In a statement on Friday, the Myanmese information ministry said 120 trucks carrying household, consumer goods and building materials had been destroyed in the “terrorist act” carried out by rebel groups on Thursday morning.

Armed resistance groups including the Kokang-based MNDAA used drones to drop bombs on the non-military target, the ministry said.

The MNDAA is part of the “Three Brotherhood Alliance” in Shan state with two other rebel groups that has taken control of many places in northern Myanmar.

The ministry statement did not offer details on any casualties.

The Post has reached out to the Chinese embassy in Myanmar for comment.

China has urged Myanmar to guarantee safety and stability at the border, with the junta continuing to lose ground since the armed conflict with the rebel groups broke out on October 27.

Why China is taking great pains – but not sides – in Myanmar’s conflict

Beijing was highly concerned about the worsening situation, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said last week, while calling for an end to the fighting as soon as possible.

Her remarks came after the Three Brotherhood Alliance hailed “significant wins” in recent weeks.

The Chinese embassy has also warned citizens against travelling to troubled areas.

Resource-rich Myanmar offers many strategic and business opportunities for China, which has pushed on with its Belt and Road Initiative there, including the development of a cross-border economic corridor, despite international sanctions on the junta. Myanmar’s unsettled domestic situation, however, has been a constant worry.

A year on from the white-paper protests, China looks much different | China

https://www.economist.com/china/2023/11/23/a-participant-considers-the-impact-of-the-white-paper-protests

It was a year ago this month that China experienced the biggest wave of unrest since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Thousands of people, mostly students and youngsters, gathered in cities across China to show their displeasure with the government’s exceptionally harsh covid-19 controls. The public was fed up with the constant testing, the brutal lockdowns and the restrictions on movement. Some of the demonstrators chanted slogans. A few called for Xi Jinping, China’s leader, to step down. Many held up blank pieces of paper, a wry critique of China’s stifling censorship regime. The events thus became know as the “white-paper protests”.

They were effective—or appeared to be. Within weeks the government abruptly changed course, ending its “zero-covid” policy. It may have been an accumulation of pressure, not least economic, that forced the government’s hand. Chinese officials would never acknowledge the demonstrations as a turning point, lest they encourage more like them. But reports suggest that the country’s leaders did have the protesters in mind, along with other considerations, when they began lifting restrictions in early December of last year.

One person who is sure that the demonstrations had an effect is Huang Yicheng. The 26-year-old student joined a protest in Shanghai. He points to the government’s haphazard dismantling of zero-covid infrastructure and its failure to stockpile basic fever medication as evidence that, until last November, it had not been planning to change its policy. Regardless, the authorities have shown little mercy to the protesters. Using facial-recognition technology and mobile-phone data they identified, interrogated and arrested some of them.

Mr Huang himself was detained, along with others, on the night of the protest in Shanghai. He managed to exploit a moment of chaos to escape the bus where he was being held. Earlier this year he made his way to Germany, where he is attending university. But he remains worried about his parents back in Shanghai. They have been harassed and threatened by the police, he says. Security officials told his mother that he could face seven to ten years in prison if he were to return to China.

Little wonder then that Mr Huang is not optimistic about China’s near-term future. He laments its lack of freedoms and the government’s crackdown on civil society. The pandemic, he says, was a kind of a test for the country. In the first two years China passed, controlling the virus better than most countries. But in 2022 it failed in a way that, he argues, revealed the flaws in a one-party system where Mr Xi reigns supreme.

Over the longer term, though, Mr Huang is more optimistic. “Even the desert has a little bit of grass,” he says. “China is a desert and the white-paper movement is that little piece of grass.” He believes that in 20 or 30 years people will come to understand its importance. ■

Subscribers can sign up to Drum Tower, our new weekly newsletter, to understand what the world makes of China—and what China makes of the world.

Drone tech gives China an edge in Middle East arms sales, but Israel-Gaza war brings risks: analysts

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3242630/drone-tech-gives-china-edge-middle-east-arms-sales-israel-gaza-war-brings-risks-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s advanced drone technology could be a stepping stone for its defence industry’s outreach to the Middle East, analysts say, while also warning of hurdles ahead as the region becomes increasingly unstable following the Israel-Gaza war.

More than 30 Chinese commercial and defence contractors showcased their products at last week’s Dubai Airshow. These included their latest aerial vehicles and weapons systems, with arms producers focusing on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) technology.

State-owned China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation displayed its AR-2000 uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) internationally for the first time during the November 13-17 event.

Although the vehicle’s specifications remain confidential, the drone is known to have completed its maiden flight earlier this year. And despite it still being in the testing phase, the Chinese military has already placed an order for the UAS, according to Defence News.

The version displayed in the air show is said to be developed for ship-based operations, featuring short, folding wings and a large surveillance radar pod mounted under the nose. A VIP event before the air show opened to the public reportedly featured a vehicle armed with short-range guided missiles.

Chinese-made drones have built-in tech to prevent attacks on China: source

It comes as China increases its global defence industry foothold, including in the Middle East, with drones as a major export.

President Xi Jinping has pledged that China will “continue integrated development of the military through mechanisation, informatisation, and the application of smart technologies”.

“We will … speed up the development of unmanned, intelligent combat capabilities, and promote coordinated development and application of network information systems,” Xi, also leader of China’s ruling Communist Party, told its 20th congress last year.

According to a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) arms transfer database, China has exported more than 280 combat UAVs in the past decade.

At least eight countries from the Middle East to North Africa and South Asia have been the major buyers of Chinese drones such as the Wing-Loong I and II, and the CH-3 and CH-4.

They include Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Pakistan.

Pakistan, in particular, is the top client for Chinese arms contractors. The SIPRI report suggests that it accounted for more than 54 per cent of China’s total weapons exports between 2018 and 2022.

Algeria, Egypt and Iraq have also reportedly bought or plan to buy China’s CH-5 advanced UAV, manufactured by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It is known to be the world’s largest strike-capable drone – with 60-hour endurance and a 1,000kg (2,204lbs) payload.

Kostas Tigkos, head of mission systems and intelligence at global military intelligence company Janes, said while the US was still the leading weapons supplier in the region, China had had considerable success in entering the Middle East and North Africa markets, with increasing sales of advanced UAVs.

“The US remains the largest supplier of defence articles across the region in both numbers of deals and value, especially in areas such as combat and mission aircraft, air and missile defence, combat vehicles and C4I [command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence systems],” Tigkos said.

“However, as countries in the region are diversifying their import sources and developing local manufacturing capability, competition to traditional US [primacy] will impact the overall market outlook.”

Timothy Heath, a senior international defence researcher at US-based think tank Rand Corporation, said drones had proved extremely valuable on the modern battlefield. This had been seen in the Russia-Ukraine war, and Chinese UAVs could be valuable to Middle Eastern countries for their flexibility in carrying out a broad range of missions at relatively low cost, he said.

“Chinese drones are among the most sophisticated in the world and probably only slightly behind US military drones, which are generally not available for sale,” Heath said. “Given their proven value on the battlefield, the combination of high quality and lower cost make Chinese drones very attractive for militaries in the region.”

Advanced drones have been playing a more crucial role in the Middle East as the region contends with security uncertainties amid the Israel-Gaza war, which followed a deadly raid on Israeli border towns by Palestinian militant group Hamas on October 7.

Hamas launched drone strikes on two Israeli military bases in southern Israel last month, while Israel’s drone strikes in southern Lebanon on Tuesday reportedly killed four Hamas members.

The United States, Israel’s top ally, believes Iran is a major sponsor for multiple Islamist militant groups supplying them with training and weapons, including combat drones developed from parts imported from China and elsewhere.

In September, the US Department of Treasury imposed sanctions on Iranian, Chinese, Russian, and Turkish companies and individuals for their connections with Iran’s UAV development.

James Lewis, a senior vice-president and director of the strategic technologies programme at the Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said drones were a key element of future wars, and China’s dominance in the civil drone market with companies such as DJI also gave it an edge in the military UAV market.

“The most advanced drones come from the US, but they are large, expensive and too regulated. The drones being used in war are usually smaller and expendable,” Lewis said.

“Drones for the commercial market are weaponised and … China’s lead in the commercial drone market gives it an advantage. The thing to watch is what drones use [artificial intelligence] for guidance – they are on the market and are preferred.”

Tigkos said while China was likely to find opportunities to supply military equipment or systems in the Middle East, it would face more challenges in broader systems integration requirements, as Western weapons systems are widespread across the region.

“With increasing US restrictions on export of certain advanced defence systems, countries are turning to European, Turkish, Chinese, South Korean and as well as local suppliers to develop and deploy systems as part of their modernisation plans,” Tigkos said.

“However, despite that diversification, Chinese systems remain harder to integrate with Western/Nato-origin systems.”

Heath warned that China’s focus on drones in its arms sales was likely to only help to expand its relatively low-cost weapons systems exports. Its smaller share in supplying “high-end sophisticated weapons and equipment”, such as advanced aircraft and integrated missile defence systems, where the US was the largest stakeholder, could potentially pose a challenge, he said.

How smart weaponry and tech catch-up alter China’s ‘assassin’s mace’ tactic

“The US has warned Middle Eastern countries that their access to advanced US weapons systems such as integrated air defence could be in danger if they integrate too many Chinese weapons and equipment into their militaries,” Heath added.

Beijing must be also careful with developing defence ties in the region, so as not to upset the country’s major energy suppliers including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Heath said.

Both neighbours have a difficult relationship with Iran, for instance, and vie with it for regional influence.

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Australia and Philippines begin joint patrols in South China Sea as regional tensions rise

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/25/australia-and-philippines-begin-joint-patrols-in-south-china-sea-as-regional-tensions-rise

Australia and the Philippines have begun joint sea and air patrols in the South China Sea as Pacific nations warily eye an increasingly assertive China.

The three-day exercises follow discussions earlier this year on joint patrols to underscore what the countries say is their commitment to closer cooperation and a rules-based order in the region.

It also comes days after Manila took similar steps with the US, concluding patrols that started in waters near Taiwan.

Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, said the inaugural patrols represent the practical implementation of the strategic partnership signed between the two nations in September.

“Australia and the Philippines are firmly committed to a peaceful, secure and prosperous region, where sovereignty and agreed rules and norms are respected,” he said on Saturday in a joint statement with the Philippine national defence secretary, Gilberto C Teodoro Jr.

“The first maritime cooperative activity between the Australian Defence Force and Armed Forces of the Philippines demonstrates this important commitment.”

The Philippine defence department spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said the patrols would be carried out in the West Philippine Sea, Manila’s term for waters in the South China Sea that fall within its exclusive economic zone.

The Philippine military said two of its navy vessels and five surveillance aircraft would participate.

Australia said it would send the frigate HMAS Toowoomba and P8-A maritime surveillance aircraft.

The Philippine president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, hailed the exercises as maintaining a rules-based international order.

“This inaugural Maritime Cooperative Activity and those that may follow are a practical manifestation of the growing and deepening strategic and defense partnership between our countries,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3tn of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis.

The Philippines is ramping up efforts to counter what it describes as China’s “aggressive activities” in the South China Sea, which has also become a flashpoint for Chinese and US tensions around naval operations.

China has accused the Philippines of enlisting “foreign forces” to patrol the South China Sea. Manila insists the maritime activities are within its rights.

Earlier this year, prime minister Anthony Albanese vowed to take Australia’s relationship with the Philippines to the next level, after the two nations signed closer defence and security ties.

Hong Kong police to recruit 137 city students from mainland Chinese universities following year-long talent attraction drive

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3242809/hong-kong-police-recruit-137-city-students-mainland-chinese-universities-following-year-long-talent?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong’s police commissioner has said 137 students from the city in their final year at mainland Chinese universities have been accepted into the force following a recruitment drive targeting young residents living across the border.

Police chief Raymond Siu Chak-yee on Saturday said the force had received 686 applications from Hong Kong students on the mainland since the university-targeted exercise was launched in November last year.

“Our recruitment strategy will be continuously reviewed in the hope that we can be more effective in recruiting outstanding people to join the force,” Siu said after attending a police passing-out ceremony.

Hong Kong police ease recruitment criteria to boost flagging interest

The initiative is one of the measures to reverse flagging interest in joining the force, allowing eligible young people to attend talks and file applications during special recruitment events held by Hong Kong police in mainland cities.

The acceptance rate of about 20 per cent in the mainland university recruitment drive is higher than that of local efforts to attract personnel.

In the year ending March 31, the force gained 554 new recruits after receiving 4,606 applications for rank and file positions, an acceptance rate of 12 per cent.

Siu said police had received significantly more applications this year, with a decision to relax weight, height and language requirements in May paying off.

Hong Kong police adopt ‘proactive recruitment strategies’ to address challenges

“We are very encouraged to see that since May this year, the number of people applying for police constable roles has increased by 64.5 per cent compared with the same period last year, and the number of applications for inspector has increased by 59.5 per cent,” he said.

The force also adjusted its fitness test in September for candidates hoping to join its ranks.

Siu said police presence would be ramped up at polling stations during the coming district council election on December 10, with at least two officers deployed at each voting site.

He added that patrols would increase at “strategic locations” on the day, and plain clothes officers would keep an eye on “suspicious people”, with quick response units on standby.

4,100-year-old mass grave in China reveals secrets of country’s largest Neolithic headhunting massacre

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3242059/4100-year-old-mass-grave-china-reveals-secrets-countrys-largest-neolithic-headhunting-massacre?utm_source=rss_feed

A 4,100-year-old mass grave discovered in northeast China has shed light on the largest known headhunting massacre of the country’s Neolithic period, according to a study into the remains published in September.

In a dark twist, scientists discovered that all of the victims in the village of Honghe in Heilongjiang province were women and children, which they said indicated the “cruelty of ancient warfare”.

“In historic and prehistoric times, headhunting was a violent act and often an organised and coherent form of interpersonal conflict or violence during warfare and conflict,” Qian Wang, an author of the study and professor at Texas A&M University in the US told the Post.

“Heads of enemy tribes or groups were sought after for a specific ritual meaning, that is, to conquer and/or possess the soul and energy of the enemies,” he said.

Archaeologists first discovered the site in the 1990s and it has been excavated six times since then.

The digs unearthed 43 individuals who fell victim to multiple headhunting events, including 32 individuals who were probably killed in a single massacre, which would be the largest known headhunting event in Neolithic China.

Scientists are confident that the victims were decapitated because, apart from missing heads – the cervical vertebrae bones contained cut marks consistent with rough hacking using a sharp object.

They believe the headhunting was carried out using bond-handled weapons with sharpened stones attached to the top and that the head was cut off from the front.

While it is impossible to know the exact details of the battle, scientists have recreated what they believe is the most likely unfolding of events based on the fact that the massacre targeted women and children.

The Honghe were probably a fishing, hunting and farming people. They were also perhaps hostile to certain neighbouring tribes, often fighting over resources.

It is probable that the Honghe people attacked other villages and beheaded their inhabitants.

They were likely navigating deep interpersonal conflicts between the neighbouring tribes, and one day, a group of attackers decided to wait for the men to leave Honghe and attack the village when it was only populated with women and children.

They killed most, if not all, of the people left behind. Then, the heads would have been removed and taken as trophies.

“When the survivors gathered back, and male tribe members returned, they moved the corpses to two houses for a simple burial and then abandoned the settlement,” said Wang.

Archaeologists also found four skulls in a separate pit that did not have an accompanying body, and Wang said it is possible they were trophies from previous battles that the attackers had taken with them to Honghe.

While no major Neolithic headless burials had been found in China until the recent mass graves, there were two similar sites discovered in the Lake Baikal area in eastern Siberia.

Those tribes had a culture similar to the hunting and fishing one of the Honghe.

Decapitation has played an important role throughout Chinese history.

During the Shang dynasty (1600-1046 BC), an increase in decapitations resulted in the human head transforming into a valued object, creating a belief that a headless soul was less likely to seek retaliation in the afterlife, according to a study published in Cambridge University Press.

The beheading was a component of death in ancient China’s tradition of Five Punishments, or the consequences for people who violated community laws.

How CDL’s China expansion during Covid-19 led to a ‘shock’ split within Singapore tycoon Kwek Leng Beng’s family

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3242776/how-cdls-china-expansion-during-covid-19-led-shock-split-within-singapore-tycoon-kwek-leng-bengs?utm_source=rss_feed

While CDL chairman Kwek Leng Beng had skipped through crises repeatedly with an unshakeable confidence that became a hallmark of his legend in the business world, he would find the triple whammy of the Covid-19, a partner’s meltdown and family problems a challenge almost too much to bear.

His Waterloo moment began when his son Sherman Kwek tried to expand CDL China. He found the pace much slower than expected. The group was growing at an average of a project a year. “We were late to enter the China market and only set up CDL China in 2010,” he said.

“We were growing very slowly there and my belief has always been that if you can’t achieve scale in a particular market segment or geography, then you will never be a major player or build any economies of scale. Without scale, even hiring people is immensely challenging. Nobody really knew CDL in China.”

Malaysia lures Singapore’s expats as Chinese-built Forest City homes ‘sit empty’

In 2018, he found a way to catapult CDL China to among the top developers in the country by taking a stake in Chinese developer Sincere Property Group, which was ranked among the top 100 real estate players.

From only three cities, CDL would suddenly be in 20 cities, with a pipeline of development projects in mostly Tier 1 and 2 cities. Sincere had a development land bank of 9.2 million square metres (99 million square feet) in gross floor area across 64 development projects spanning 18 cities in mainland China.

Kwek shared his son’s vision and idea. “It was Sherman’s desire to get this platform so that we can extend in China,” he said. He was introduced to Sincere founder and leader Wu Xu, and came away impressed.

He recalled: “Sherman and I met him and he brought us about Shanghai. We saw the way he operated, his best connections, his business acumen. We were impressed. Put it this way, I knew that what we would do with him would be very impressive.”

Like grandfather, like father, like son, the Kweks saw in Sincere a short cut to scale and success in China property. Similar to the CDL deal of 1969, the Copthorne acquisition in 1995 and the Regal buy of 1999, Sincere would be the latest in a string of bulk buys that would push Hong Leong Group and the Kweks into the next stratosphere.

Both Kwek Leng Beng and Sherman Kwek even used the same phrase repeatedly to describe these landmark purchases: “With a stroke of a pen, we could …”

In May 2019, CDL said it was taking a 24 per cent stake in Sincere for 5.5 billion yuan, or S$1.1 billion (US$820 million) then. It was CDL’s single largest investment in China to date.

Sherman Kwek said at the media briefing: “This transforms our company especially in China, where it was very painful for us for the last seven to eight years to buy one project at a time … Now we can seriously bulk up on scale and grow with our partner with the necessary expertise on the ground.”

At the same time, CDL announced that Sherman Kwek was appointed to the board as an executive director, joining his father and his uncle Kwek Leng Peck.

It was going swimmingly for the young Kwek. “Being a Top 100 developer in China, Sincere would have been our key platform of growth there and I had plans to eventually rename it as CDL China,” he said.

“It would have turned us into a powerhouse in China, just like we are in Singapore. I was buying a platform with a sizeable land bank and a big team, and not just a bunch of assets. This is similar to how our group took over CDL when it was still loss-making. Obviously, the key difference is that Sincere was carrying a heavy debt load and needed to be deleveraged and restructured.”

China property crisis will need more than ‘simple policy’ solutions: experts

As CDL conducted due diligence into Sincere, the Singaporeans discovered that the Chinese firm was in a worse financial state than they had expected. Like most developers in China, Sincere was heavily leveraged. Its net gearing was already at 200 per cent in May 2019, and as China walked into the Covid-19 crisis in early 2020, Sincere got more desperate. Its debt load was S$6 billion.

Instead of being frightened off, Sherman Kwek saw an opportunity. He wanted to wrest control of Sincere at a better price than what was agreed in 2019. The 2019 deal was not completed as Sincere had not satisfied certain conditions. “I felt that we could save it and turn it around, then China would be one of our biggest markets,” he said.

He put forth a package for CDL to acquire 51.01 per cent, more than double the 2019 deal, at a cheaper price of 4.39 billion yuan. It also included a call option that CDL could exercise to buy an additional 9 per cent interest in the firm for 770 million yuan – the same valuation. Together, CDL would then hold a 60.01 per cent stake in the firm for a total of 5.16 billion yuan.

In early 2020, this proposal was put to the CDL board for approval. The cracks became evident during the meeting – about three hours long, shared Sherman Kwek – when various concerned directors debated the issue vigorously. In the eight-person board, with Sherman Kwek choosing to abstain because he had proposed the project, it came down to a narrow vote in favour of acquiring Sincere.

In April 2020, the announcement was made. In a statement to the Singapore Exchange, CDL made clear it was taking advantage of a distressed sale, saying: “Given the adverse impact of the Covid-19 crisis and the global uncertainty, CDL has taken the opportunity to negotiate new terms for its investment into Sincere Property, which are significantly improved over the terms announced last year.”

Sherman Kwek said it was a “game-changing investment” and that he was very optimistic about the tie-up between CDL and Sincere. “1+1 can be bigger than 2,” he said.

But analysts quickly wondered aloud if CDL was “throwing good money after bad” since the deal was delayed and Sincere’s steep valuation discount.

China’s property crisis also hitting Southeast Asia, regional body says

Meanwhile, the pandemic had begun to ravage global economies, with CDL’s hospitality business severely impacted as borders closed and tourism all but evaporated in a manner the world had not seen in generations. In Singapore, the government announced a “circuit breaker” to effectively send the entire country into a lockdown in the same month. Sherman Kwek had delivered his remarks via a virtual conference.

To make matters worse, CDL was dealt an unforeseen blow by the Chinese authorities. In August 2020, China’s financial regulators introduced measures to rein in the highly-indebted developers – the likes of Sincere. In a move widely referred to as the “three red lines”, restrictions to cap borrowings by developers were further tightened, effectively making it near impossible for Sincere to turn around its fortunes unless there was a massive injection of funds.

By then, there was almost no chance of CDL putting in more money, director Philip Yeo said. “Without the three lines, we could have meandered through,” he said. “It reached the point when it was not possible to save Sincere.” The CDL board began to waver, with the thin majority about to give way.

Trouble was also brewing behind closed doors within the Kwek clan, whose Hong Leong Group holds a controlling stake in CDL. Several were not in favour of the Sincere deal and wanted to cut their losses, which amounted to S$1.8 billion including investments and loans made to Sincere.

Letters were sent to both Kwek Leng Beng and Sherman Kwek, demanding that the Sincere deal not go through. To force the issue, CDL director Kwek Leng Peck surprised his cousin and nephew by resigning from the board in October 2020.

While relations between them had been strained for months, neither executive chairman Kwek nor CEO Sherman Kwek expected him to quit a position he had held for more than three decades. “We didn’t know he was resigning and it came as a shock to everyone,” Sherman Kwek said.

It did not help that Kwek Leng Peck put in writing that he was leaving because he did not agree with the board on the group’s investment in Sincere and its management of its hotel business. This was not a friendly exit. It was hostile.

As expected, it grabbed media attention immediately. The Business Times in Singapore called it “one of the most stunning” developments in CDL’s history. Bloomberg said it was “a rare moment of public discord” in the Kwek family, a dynasty which the Bloomberg Billionaires Index ranked as worth US$16.5 billion in 2020.

Cecilia Kwek, the wife of Kwek Leng Beng and mother of Sherman Kwek, did not mince her words in her first public comments on the incident. “It hurt my husband, it hurt my elder son, it hurt me. It was a big letdown,” she said. “They did not hold our hands.”

Strictly Business: The Kwek Leng Beng Story, written by Singaporean author and journalist Peh Shing Huei, is available at major bookstores across Asia and online at .

EU-China Summit: the trust deficit threatening trade and diplomacy

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3242768/eu-china-summit-trust-deficit-threatening-trade-and-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed

Two weeks out from a crucial summit in Beijing, frustration is mounting in Brussels that China is not taking EU concerns on trade and geopolitics seriously.

Trade tensions are threatening to bubble over, as the bloc considers action against Chinese subsidies of electric vehicles, wind turbines, medical technology and solar equipment.

European Union leaders rail against overcapacity in the Chinese economy which they fear will be exported to Europe, while rumours swirl around the use of the new foreign subsidies regulation to stymie Chinese battery giant CATL’s massive investments in Hungary. And serious concerns persist about China’s close ties to Russia.

At the same time, a series of Chinese-backed events in the city promoted closer partnership, without addressing the many concerns held in EU institutions.

The exasperation came to the surface on Thursday at another event hosted by Chinese diplomats to toast 20 years of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with the EU.

A glossy magazine was printed for the occasion, filled with long articles about how the two sides needed to get along, and touting ground for collaboration.

But officials clashed over subsidies and Beijing’s alleged use of economic coercion against Lithuania over Taiwan, suggesting the EU-China Summit could be a bruising affair.

EU lawmakers demand answers on Chinese links to bloc’s response to belt and road

EU officials were riled as a series of Beijing-backed speakers dismissed any idea that the two sides were rivals, and laid the blame for all bilateral tensions at the door of the United States.

“After 20 years of comprehensive strategic partnership, in our eyes, in Chinese eyes, we are closer to each other, but maybe not to the case for the Europeans, because you see us as systemic rivals all of a sudden,” veteran Chinese diplomat Ma Keqing said at a Friends of Europe forum.

“Actually, we were different, many, many years ago, and who have been different for the whole process of our relations. And now, suddenly we have become systemic rivals … so I would like to say that we should have more dialogue and more mutual trust.”

The tone of the event prompted one senior EU official to interject from the audience.

“Dialogue is necessary, but it is not enough. We need also to see that the results of those discussions materialise in tangible rebalancing of the relationship,” said Eva Valle Lagares, the EU’s top trade official for China.

“Trust is not built with actions such as blocking all trade with Lithuania. Trust is not built by broadly formulated export controls on key materials that are essential for the green transition, that are formulated in a very broad manner with very non-clear security justifications.”

Earlier at the event, Chinese ambassador to the EU Fu Cong had made a rare explicit admission that Beijing had officially punished Lithuania for hosting a controversially named Taiwanese diplomatic office in Vilnius. China’s countermeasures ranged from downgrading its embassy in Vilnius to blockading trade.

“This concerns one of the fundamental principles of Chinese foreign policy, which is the one-China policy. So if a country actually harms that basic principle, we will take responsive actions, I think that is understood,” Fu said.

Asked by the Post whether China was open to normalising ties with Lithuania, Fu said he was not “privy to the diplomatic negotiations”.

The EU and China are embroiled in a World Trade Organization dispute over what Brussels says was an overnight Chinese embargo on all Lithuanian exports. Beijing has claimed, in defence, that its importers simply do not want to buy goods from countries that disrespect Chinese sovereignty.

Fu also clashed with top EU trade officials over subsidies. He dismissed EU concerns that China was exporting the overcapacity in its manufacturing sector, a charge angled by officials, businesses and economists.

“Chinese companies selling cars in Europe does not by itself signify overcapacity … if finding an overseas market can be interpreted as overcapacity domestically, what are the European companies doing in the Chinese market?” Fu said.

“For instance, Mercedes have been selling cars to China for decades. So are you saying that there is an overcapacity on their part? They are selling cars because they have overcapacity domestically? I don’t think that logic stands.”

The remarks drew an annoyed response from Maria Martin-Prat, the deputy director general for trade and one-time lead negotiator with China, who just a few years ago had the task of defending the now-collapsed investment deal with Beijing in public.

“We need to talk but also need to acknowledge realities,” she said, adding that it was not “difficult” to show where the problem was.

“We don’t have a problem with anyone selling goods in our market. The European market is a very open market, which should not be taken for granted. When we have a problem is when there are practices that distort the level playing field.”

The exchanges suggest little common ground has been found during recent months of extensive diplomatic exchanges, during which eight EU commissioners travelled to Beijing.

EU sources privately admit there will be few tangible outcomes from the summit on December 7 and 8 in the Chinese capital. here are concerns that it may be another “dialogue of the deaf”, the term used by Brussels’ top diplomat Josep Borrell to describe last year’s edition. Three sources said that as with the previous two summits, there would be no joint statement in Beijing next month.

The date for the summit was set quite late, and the political capital needed to negotiate a statement would not match anything that could be achieved, one of the sources said. A second said that any official document would just gather dust in a cupboard afterwards, so it was seen as a waste of time.

A third diplomatic source said the statement was never discussed, and suggested that holding the summit was a “deliverable” in itself. “When you have a summit with Canada or Australia you’re expecting a list [of outcomes] as long as your arm, but nobody expects that here.”

Attendees of the events noted that the two sides were talking at cross purposes, with the EU “bringing hard evidence” and specific concerns only to be met with “Chinese generalities and pleasant rhetoric”.

“I suspect it’s exactly how the summit is going to go, too,” one non-EU diplomat said.

Sari Arho Havrén, a RUSI associate fellow based in Brussels specialising in China’s foreign relations, said: “It was like driving on two opposing lanes, China repeating their talking points over and over again, the EU calling their bluff.

“The audience – Europeans – have awakened to the reality and it’s increasingly hard for the Chinese party to keep convincing them otherwise.”

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South China Sea: Philippines, Australia start joint patrols amid Beijing tensions

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3242802/south-china-sea-philippines-australia-start-joint-patrols-amid-beijing-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines and Australia began their first joint sea and air patrols in the South China Sea on Saturday, days after Manila took similar steps with the US as Pacific nations warily eye an increasingly assertive China.

The three-day exercises, announced by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr on social media, follow discussions by the Philippines and Australia early this year on joint patrols to underscore what they say is their commitment to a rules-based order.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce, including parts claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis.

The Philippines is ramping up efforts to counter what it describes as China’s “aggressive activities” in the South China Sea, which has also become a flashpoint for Chinese and US tensions around naval operations.

Philippine military races for sea change amid China’s rising maritime threat

“Australia and the Philippines are firmly committed to peaceful, secure and prosperous region, where sovereignty and agreed rules and norms are respected,” Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said in a joint statement posted by Marcos.

“The first joint patrol between the Australian Defence Force and the Armed Forces of the Philippines demonstrates this commitment,” Marles said.

The patrols will be carried out in the West Philippine Sea, said Philippine Department of National Defence spokesperson Arsenio Andolong, using Manila’s term for waters in the South China Sea that fall within its exclusive economic zone.

The Philippine military said two of its navy vessels and five surveillance aircraft would participate, while Australia would send the frigate Toowoomba and P8-A maritime surveillance aircraft.

“This inaugural Maritime Cooperative Activity and those that may follow are a practical manifestation of the growing and deepening strategic and defence partnership between our countries,” Marcos said on X, the platform formerly called Twitter.

The Philippines and the United States concluded three-day joint sea and air patrols on Thursday, starting in waters near Taiwan, a democratically governed island that China claims as its own, and ending in the West Philippine Sea.

China has accused the Philippines of enlisting “foreign forces” to patrol the South China Sea and stirring up trouble. Manila insists the maritime activities are within its rights.

China says it has achieved a miraculously low-crime society | China

https://www.economist.com/china/2023/11/23/china-says-it-has-achieved-a-miraculously-low-crime-society

ON SEPTEMBER 22nd, in the north-eastern city of Yanji, a police officer discovered that his pistol had gone missing. Lucky for him, the Chinese police control the world’s largest network of surveillance cameras. Video footage showed that the gun had been stolen at a vegetable market. The thief’s movements were traced to a rural county some 500km away. Dozens of officers were sent to arrest him. Within 24 hours of the theft the gun was recovered, according to state media.

Such fearsome efficiency, say Chinese officials, has helped their country become one of the safest in the world. The recorded homicide rate per 100,000 people in China is about a tenth of the global average. Only 6,522 people were murdered in 2021, according to the state, down about 80% from two decades ago. During that same period, robberies fell by 97% and assaults by 40%.

Many of the same issues pertain to less serious crimes. China’s police have neither the resources nor the incentives to deal with them. Officers are poorly paid, overworked and relatively few in number. (China has about 142 police per 100,000 people, by one estimate, compared with 251 in England and Wales.) Because they are assessed on what proportion of recorded crimes they solve, Chinese police often sweep tricky cases under the rug. A study published in 2021 by Liu Yuchen, a political scientist now at Peking University, found that officers regularly ignored street fights, petty burglaries and even robberies. They also tended to disregard crimes committed against migrant workers.

In some cases economic pressure is the reason cases are overlooked. Mr Liu witnessed a fight between workers from two highway construction companies. Bricks were thrown, tools were swung. Five people had to go to hospital. The police saw it all, but the official in charge kept things out of the courts. He wanted construction to continue, because “all nearby counties have new highways now except us.”

Apart from simply ignoring them, there are several ways to keep cases off the books. Neighbourhood committees, which are run by the party, occasionally manage disputes. Their job is to snuff out trouble before it reaches higher levels of the bureaucracy. Sometimes victims are encouraged to informally seek compensation from perpetrators.

People who report domestic violence are usually directed to mediation bodies run by the All-China Women’s Federation, a state-backed organisation. That rarely leads to justice. The party is more interested in keeping families together for the sake of social stability. Abusers may get scolded, but formal punishment is uncommon. Judges are known to reject divorce requests even when violence is involved (divorced men are viewed by the state as potential troublemakers). The system discourages abuse victims from coming forward.

It is no secret that the state covers up crimes. In a case last year, a mother of eight was found chained to an outhouse in Jiangsu province. Video footage of the woman went viral. Local officials responded to the public’s outrage with a series of statements that amounted to “nothing to see here”. Eventually they were forced to admit that the mentally-ill victim had been sold into marriage and was unlawfully imprisoned. Three people, including the woman’s husband, were arrested. In a collection of speeches published in October, Xi Jinping, China’s leader, conceded that human trafficking is still a serious problem.

Another is fraud. This is one of the few areas where the official data are not so rosy. In the past two decades the number of fraud cases has spiked, such that over a third of the crimes committed in China now fall into that category. Online and telephone fraud are the most common. This type of activity can’t be detected by CCTV cameras. Some of it is carried out by Chinese nationals abroad, often in South-East Asia. In recent years the authorities have persuaded hundreds of thousands of suspects to return to China, according to state media. Police have threatened suspects’ families in order to convince them to co-operate with investigations.

Knowing what crimes are rising and falling would enable police to better combat them. But even the government seems to have only a fuzzy sense of what is happening. “I had thought that the police stations actually had accurate data that was different from the reported data,” says Suzanne Scoggins, a criminologist at Clark University in Massachusetts. She interviewed officers in cities across China. “Several of my best sources told me that simply wasn’t the case,” she says.

That fits with an unusually critical article published in 2019 by the Shandong Police College in eastern China. The author of the piece complained that the country’s crime statistics were “not detailed enough to reflect the true picture”. This made it difficult to run big data analyses that might help the police deploy resources better or come up with tactics and strategies.

For the party, it may be enough that the public feels safe. The crimes it cares most about are those of a political nature. People who criticise the government or accuse officials of malfeasance can be locked up for “picking quarrels and causing trouble”. That vague offence is also used to criminalise peaceful demonstrations.

Such activity is never ignored. A year ago, when a group of young people gathered by a river in Beijing to protest against the government’s harsh “zero-covid” controls, hundreds of officers, including the chief of police, came out to shoo them away. The authorities then used surveillance tools to track down and punish some of those involved. It is a shame such effort and resources are not devoted to non-political crimes. ■

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China’s enormous surveillance state is still growing | China

https://www.economist.com/china/2023/11/23/chinas-enormous-surveillance-state-is-still-growing

The sleepy county of Kaijiang, on the eastern fringes of Sichuan province, is hardly a hotbed of unrest. The authorities there seem intent on keeping it that way. They are hoping to upgrade the county’s portion of China’s “Skynet” surveillance system. According to a procurement notice from August, officials in Kaijiang want cameras that “support detection of more than 60 faces simultaneously”. The local system should be fast enough to analyse up to 100 faces per second and have the capacity to store up to 1.8bn images (Kaijiang has a population of 410,000). There must be “no blind spots”, says the document.

Officials argue that such measures protect the public. China’s abundance of CCTV cameras, many equipped with facial-recognition technology, “leave criminals with nowhere to hide”, boasts the People’s Daily, a Communist Party mouthpiece. Chinese people report feeling safe from violent crime, so there is merit to these claims. But the cameras also protect the party. Dissidents and demonstrators can be tracked as easily as burglars. Step out of line and the government will probably know.

Measuring the size and growth of China’s surveillance state is hard, owing to the government’s secrecy, but analysts are trying. A team led by Martin Beraja of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology collected 3m public-sector procurement contracts issued between 2013 and 2019. Using their data, we tallied up the number of surveillance cameras bought by the authorities in 139 cities. Data are missing for some important places, such as the regions of Tibet and Xinjiang, where CCTV cameras are ubiquitous. That helps explain why there were only 8.5m surveillance cameras in the contracts. The People’s Daily, in 2017, said Skynet had 20m cameras. Others have put the number in the hundreds of millions.

The government, meanwhile, is pushing ahead. On top of cameras, it has deployed phone-tracking devices and is collecting voice prints from the public. If support for such intrusiveness has dimmed, the state will have little trouble finding those who speak out against it. ■

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‘Baby teacher’: China girl, 5, teaches family what she learned at kindergarten with after-dinner exercise routines, delights mainland social media

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3242193/baby-teacher-china-girl-5-teaches-family-what-she-learned-kindergarten-after-dinner-exercise?utm_source=rss_feed

A five-year-old girl in China who impersonated her kindergarten teacher at home to let her family know about what she had learned at school has warmed the hearts of many on mainland social media.

The unidentified girl, from Shandong province in eastern China, was having a family dinner when she decided to recreate her school lessons.

She taught her family how to do aerobics and distribute fruit, Weilai News reported.

A clip shows her standing before her family while asking them to join her “in my class”. Not only does she give an aerobics demonstration, but she also hands out bananas.

“Be quiet. Be quiet,” the girl says in the video, while clasping her hands.

When the family did not take her seriously, the girl turned serious, forcing her entire family to be silent.

When she began the aerobics by stretching out her arms, all the members of her family followed suit.

“Arms closed, please,” the girl tells her family.

“My teacher, you also did not close your arms properly,” one of her family members says to her.

The girl pauses, looks at the family member, then continues with her class.

“Teacher, when will you finish the class? My parents are picking me up soon,” another family member joked.

The girl stopped the aerobics and stepped forward to explain what came next.

“I will be handing out fruit soon,” she says.

She takes a banana out of a plastic bag, and gives it to her father, repeating the process for the rest of her family.

“You all are well-behaved children,” the girl concludes.

“Yes, we are,” another family member answers.

The sweet scene unfolded during the family gathering to celebrate the maternal grandmother’s birthday. When the dinner finished, the girl asked her family to participate in the class, receiving their full support.

“It’s important because it can help her process the knowledge she learned at kindergarten, and it helps with parent-child bonding,” the grandmother told Weilai News.

The story went viral and brought much joy to mainland social media.

“The girl is so cute,” said one online observer.

“I agree, and she is so full of love,” said another.

Stories involving adorable children with their families regularly go viral online in China.

In August, a three-year-old girl in northeastern China became popular after she offered to help her tofu-selling grandfather at his stall by bowing to customers and saying: “Come back again next time”.

While in February, a little girl in northern China earned money by collecting scrap material for recycling to help her parents buy a new car.

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China’s aerospace information industry is soaring, but financing needed to reach new heights

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3242748/chinas-aerospace-information-industry-soaring-financing-needed-reach-new-heights?utm_source=rss_feed

China has ramped up efforts to develop an aerospace information industry as Beijing aims to steer economic growth toward a tech-heavy path and gain a stronger footing amid its space technology rivalry with the United States.

But more private capital and entrepreneurship are needed as a catalyst to boost the industry, analysts said.

Listed as one of the eight frontier areas in the 14th five-year plan for 2021-25, the aerospace information industry infuses data captured in space with ground-based big data analytics to cater to a wide range of applications, including transport, energy, communications and the military.

The industrial chain spans satellites, data application services, artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning to support the processing of huge amounts of data captured by satellites in space.

‘Important milestone’: China’s GPS-like BeiDou navigation system hits new height

On Monday at a forum in the southwest municipality of Chongqing, a group of companies, research agencies and space associations announced they would set up a joint industrial association to boost the development of the industrial chain.

An investment fund cluster of 100 billion yuan (US$14 billion) was also launched to support key infrastructure and industrial giants, the local government-backed Chongqing Daily said.

The new association also vowed to focus its resources on nurturing a group of leading private firms, while also raising the commercial loan limit for high-quality companies to 10 million yuan (US$1.4 million).

Over 400 companies had registered as commercial space firms by the end of last year, and the scale of China’s aerospace information industry is expected to reach 44.69 billion yuan (US$6.3 billion) in 2025, up from 29.3 billion yuan in 2021, according to research by China Fortune Securities in August.

Globally, the aerospace information industry took a 73 per cent share of the global commercial space market, which reached around US$384 billion in 2022, the report said.

“China’s space industry overall is still at an early stage of development, but with rapid growth potential,” the report said.

Olivier Contant, the executive director of the International Academy of Astronautics, told the forum that the size of the aerospace information industry is expected to reach US$1 trillion, according to the Chongqing Daily.

He also called for greater international cooperation to help the technology reach new heights, support start-ups and help integration into the industrial ecosystem.

China has launched 59 satellites as part of its BeiDou navigation system, which is Beijing’s answer to the US’ Global Positioning System.

It has also started to build a 5G satellite network to challenge Elon Musk’s Starlink and the Eutelsat OneWeb system developed by the United Kingdom.

“The rapid development and deployment of these technologies by China are raising concerns in Washington about potential shifts in global technological leadership and the implications for military applications,” said Pravin Pradeep, an industry analyst focused on aerospace and defence at US-based business consulting firm Frost & Sullivan.

China is making fast progress in the aerospace information sector, Pradeep added, but it still faces uncertainty with its ground stations and associated infrastructure as it lacks the extensive network of highly capable debris tracking and global monitoring stations operated by the US.

“The United States currently holds a significant lead in the aerospace industry, a key factor in this lead is the clear distinction between public and private sectors in the US, which contrasts with the less defined separation in China,” Pradeep added.

He said that China’s space programme tends to lean more towards strategic purposes, rather than commercial ventures, which gives private companies fewer opportunities to foster innovation and flexibility, while in the US, the sector is heavily influenced by economic factors.

Bridging the gap with the US would require Beijing to foster entrepreneurship, analysts said.

“China’s aerospace information industry has a crowded upstream and a disproportionate downstream growth, this has become a huge challenge to its commercialisation,” Wang Yihan, vice-president of the Chinese Society of Astronautics, told Monday’s meeting, according to the Chongqing Daily.

A research paper on China’s space industry by Qian Jiwei at the National University of Singapore in 2020 also said Beijing’s lack of support for its private sector was influencing its space race with the US.

State-owned enterprises are considered national champions, creating a conflict of interest in policies encouraging the involvement of the private sector and efforts to support leading firms, including in the aerospace information industry, Qian said.

“China’s private aerospace companies generally have weak financing capabilities. The financing channels are limited to only a few types of venture capitals which could rarely secure the financial backing of banks,” she said.

Another hurdle China needs to face involves the escalating tech sanctions from the US, which pose threats to this industry’s ground equipment that relies heavily on AI chips, Pradeep added.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang picked to head finance commission as Xi Jinping continues to delegate duties

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3242772/chinese-premier-li-qiang-picked-head-finance-commission-xi-jinping-continues-delegate-duties?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s new role as the head of the Central Finance Commission, the top planner for the country’s financial system, has made him the first official to head a top party organisation that would typically be chaired by President Xi Jinping.

The pick surprised many and appeared to be a continuation of a trend over the past year of Xi delegating more responsibilities to his chosen deputies since he began his third term as party leader last fall.

Analysts said the reasons for Li’s appointment might be to better coordinate among different ministries and because Xi was considering making shifts in the overall policy direction amid the economic downturn.

Li’s role was confirmed on Monday, when he was mentioned as the chair of a meeting of the new commission in a report by state news agency Xinhua.

The CFC was set up in March to oversee the country’s banking, insurance and securities assets and to establish the Central Financial Work Commission, which serves as its general office.

The who, what and how of China’s new financial watchdog

A mainland-based political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Li’s appointment as head of the CFC was unexpected, considering Communist Party practices over the past decade.

Since becoming top leader, Xi has transferred more decision-making power from government bodies to party organs. A number of leading groups and commissions headed by Xi were set up in his first term, covering key areas including national security, cybersecurity and systemic reform.

In 2018, all party leading groups led by Xi were upgraded to commissions. New commissions have continued to be set up – all headed by Xi – including one on law and order and another one on auditing.

Xi has presided over meetings of top-level commissions to give instructions on policy points and goals. In May, for example, he chaired a meeting of the National Security Commission, a body he proposed in 2013.

Earlier this year, Xi chaired two meetings of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission (CFEAC), which is tasked with a comprehensive portfolio covering all major economic policies.

Xi is the chair of both the National Security Commission and CFEAC while Li serves as their deputy head.

The scholar said one of the reasons Li was made head of the financial commission might be that Xi was considering some overall adjustments in policymaking as Beijing sought to shore up the economy and improve relations with Washington.

In his decade as China’s second-ranked official, former premier Li Keqiang never headed any top party groups. In January 2020, he was made head of a party group on Covid-19 prevention, but that group was soon nudged aside as Xi took centre stage in Beijing’s response to the pandemic.

The scholar said Xi might also want Li Qiang to shoulder more responsibility while financial work was difficult to manage and noted that it was possible that Li’s role was announced internally before or during the central financial work conference in late October.

“There are signs that Xi is delegating some power, and is making important adjustments on both domestic and foreign policies,” the scholar said, adding that after the 20th party congress in October of last year, some hardline official narratives about foreign relations and private capital had softened.

Since being named premier in March, Li has represented Xi at international conferences, such as the G20 meeting in New Delhi in September – the first time the president was absent from the meeting since taking office.

Xi also did not attend the Boao Forum for Asia in late March despite his presence in previous years. Instead, Li presided over the conference, known as “Asia’s Davos”, and gave an opening speech.

Nis Grünberg, lead analyst at Berlin-based think tank the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics), said it was “too early” to draw conclusions about Xi’s willingness to delegate power and the impact of Li’s new leadership. He added that the coming third plenum might offer more signals.

It also remains to be seen “how much independence or meaningful coordination” the finance commission will actually have, Grünberg said, noting that Xi was still at the helm of the CFEAC – the most powerful decision-making body on economic affairs and public finance.

Li’s appointment to head the new commission was not “by default”, he said, and one of the reasons behind it might be the premier’s power to speak to state regulatory bodies, which could help the new commission to coordinate better among ministries and financial institutions.

But Grünberg warned against overestimating how much Li’s leadership would do for China’s financial situation, noting that the country’s challenges aren’t something a single leader or commission could fix.

China’s banking system, especially the country’s small regional banks, have suffered amid a prolonged property slump and rising local government debts, despite Beijing’s declaration that “preventing and resolving financial risks” was one of its primary missions last year during the tone-setting annual central economic work conference in December of last year.

“The problems that China has require more structural and long-term solutions,” he said, but officials, “including Xi Jinping, apparently have not been able or willing to address them in a structural way”.

WHO: Nothing Unusual in China Respiratory Outbreak

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/who-nothing-unusual-in-china-respiratory-outbreak/7368744.html

China called for caution on Friday as an increase in respiratory illness hit its schools and hospitals. And the World Health Organization (WHO), which has asked the Chinese government for disease data, said no unusual or new diseases had been found.

China is dealing with an increase of respiratory illnesses as it enters its first full winter season since it lifted strict COVID-19 restrictions in December. Cases among children appear to be especially high in northern areas like Beijing and Liaoning where there are long hospital waits.

The State Council said influenza would increase this winter and spring. It said pneumonia would continue to be high in some areas in the future. It also warned of the risk of a rise in COVID-19 infections.

"All localities should strengthen information reporting on infectious diseases to ensure information is reported in a timely and accurate manner," the State Council said in a statement.

The situation gained attention this week after the WHO asked China for more information about the increase in infections. The organization noted a report by the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) on undiagnosed pneumonia in children.

Both China and the WHO have faced questions about their reporting on the earliest COVID-19 cases that first appeared in Wuhan in late 2019.

On Thursday, the WHO said China had answered its request for information. The data China provided suggested the cases were connected to the lifting of COVID restrictions along with the spread of known diseases like pneumonia. Both COVID-19 and SARS, another viral disease caused by coronavirus, were first reported as unusual kinds of pneumonia.

This month, Chinese officials began issuing health advisories and warning the public of long waits at crowded hospitals. But officials have not put in place restrictions like the ones during the COVID pandemic, such as face coverings or closing schools.

Paul Hunter is a professor of medicine at Britain's University of East Anglia. He doubted the wave of infections was caused by a new disease.

“If it was (a new disease), I would expect to see many more infections in adults,” he said in a statement. “The few infections reported in adults suggest existing immunity from a prior exposure.”

Francois Balloux is with University College London. He said China was probably experiencing an increase of childhood infections because this was the first winter since lockdown restrictions were lifted. The lockdowns likely reduced children's immunity to common illnesses, Balloux said.

Parents in Shanghai on Friday said they were not overly concerned about the increase of sickness. While they said it appeared to be more severe, they expected it to pass.

"Colds happen all over the world," said Emily Wu outside a children's hospital. "I hope that people will not be biased because of the pandemic ... but look at this from a scientific perspective."

I’m Dan Novak.

 

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting by Reuters and The Associated Press.

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Words in This Story

diagnose — v. to recognize an illness by examining someone

immunity — n. the power to keep yourself from being affected by a disease

transparent — adj. able to be seen through

biased — adj. having or showing a bias : having or showing an unfair tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others

perspective — n. a way of thinking about and understanding something

 

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