• China unveils space war-gaming system for military operations and training
• Expulsion of foreign student from China fans equal treatment call
• ‘It’s warmer in the fridge’: cold snap freezes China, bringing snow, accidents and school closures
• Organisers of ultramarathon in which 21 runners died jailed in China
• Japan, Asean summit to advance ‘security cooperation’ amid growing South China Sea tension
• ‘Have no choice’: China woman desperately searches for birth parents of adopted daughter with leukaemia for bone marrow
• Myanmar grapples with China’s ire amid rising anti-junta offensive
• Boy in China steals gold bars worth US$790,000, buys luxury car, rewards accomplice who is sued by mother to recover money
• Hongkongers gather at Victoria Harbour as mainland China’s home-grown C919 passenger jet soars above city
• Silicon Valley-US military ties key to beating China: top Pentagon official
• Chinese president stops over in Guangxi on Asean tech and ethnic unity mission
• Absent Chinese tourists weigh on Asia-Pacific airlines’ recovery as regional travel rebound stumbles
• China’s private firms stuck between a rock and a hard place with Beijing’s support measures ‘mere lip service’
• Race organisers of deadly 2021 ultramarathon in northwestern China sentenced to jail
• Chinese, Russian buyers eye Thailand condos as tourists return to Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket
• Chinese land ownership in US down 2 per cent in 2022 amid heightened national security concerns
• Xi Jinping is relying more on his lieutenants to forge ties with China’s political elites

China unveils space war-gaming system for military operations and training

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3245148/china-unveils-space-war-gaming-system-military-operations-and-training?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese military scientists have unveiled a space war-gaming system that was previously shrouded in secrecy.

With a “user-friendly” design, the system has the power to simulate and foresee the intricate process of space combat, according to its developers.

It was not just a tool for China’s military operations, but also for shaping and sharpening the finest space warriors and commanders on a large scale, they said.

Developed by the National University of Defence Technology in Changsha, the system has already proved its worth in a covert space mission, the team led by associate professor Zhang Jin wrote in a paper published in domestic journal National Defence Technology in October.

It also played a pivotal role in selecting and moulding the space warfare elite earlier this year. From September, more than 400 military cadets formed more than 70 teams for a fierce, two-month competition. Many participants agreed that these mock space skirmishes not only got them combat-ready but also gave them a first-hand taste of wielding weapons they had only read about in textbooks or technical documents.

“We were all thrilled,” one trainee said in Zhang’s paper.

The official stance of the Chinese government aligns with that of most countries worldwide, which is a firm opposition to any form of space warfare.

On October 31, China and Russia joined together to submit a resolution to the United Nations, pledging not to be the first to wield space weapons and pushing for measures to quash the threat of an arms race beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

While the resolution attracted overwhelming support, there were opponents, with Washington and its cohorts voicing the loudest disapproval.

Zhang’s team paints a dire picture of what a space war would mean for the world. A conflict in space would affect all the infrastructure that orbits Earth plus the ground systems that support them, including rocket launch pads and large radar stations.

Planes would be blinded, ships would be lost at sea, there would be mayhem in cities and remote communities would be cut off from the world. Services that we take for granted in day-to-day life, such as weather forecasts or live international sports broadcasts, could be disrupted.

“Actions taken directly against satellites are seen by some as tantamount to igniting a nuclear war,” the team wrote in the paper.

Amid the chaos happening down on Earth, space would become littered with debris from the conflict. Hurtling through the void with destructive velocity, those fragments could then collide, leading to an explosion of debris in the near-Earth orbit. This would pose a threat not only to still-operational facilities in space but also to humanity itself, potentially trapping us forever within our planet’s bounds.

The Chinese government has pointed an accusing finger at the United States, the nation that first established a space force, labelling it the instigator and primary driver of the ongoing space military race. The Chinese military, on the other hand, claims its own preparations for space warfare are a mere counter to the moves by the US and its allies.

The space war game developed by Zhang’s team is fundamentally different from any war-gaming system previously used by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

One of the most notable features of the system is that it can make the Earth transparent in the operation interface, meaning users in the eastern hemisphere can clearly observe situations in the western hemisphere in real time.

In the conventional realm of war-gaming, military units typically assault neighbouring enemy targets, with even the longest-range missiles confined by their specific limits. However, in space warfare, a satellite can circle the Earth multiple times in a short period. Tactics that once proved effective in traditional warfare might be futile or even detrimental in space, according to Zhang’s team.

Chinese scientific study challenges concept for ‘rods from God’ weapon

In space, the slightest changes can wield immense influence in a war. For instance, in traditional conflicts, the marshalling of troops banks heavily on a commander’s intuition and ability to gauge the horizontal distance between friend and foe. But in space, another layer is added – the altitude of orbits. It is a mere addition from a geometrical perspective, but one that massively magnifies the intricacies of war, the researchers said.

Also, as the movement of objects in space can often surpass the grasp of human minds, the military may need to rely more heavily on machines to guide decisions and carry out commands. This places huge demands on the architects and creators of war-gaming systems. The swiftness and precision of these systems not only impact the quality of daily drills but could well determine the outcome of an epic space battle, they said.

The researchers also listed a number of challenges they encountered during the development of the space war-gaming system. War in space, they said, offered no real battles as examples. Despite cold war tensions and recent close calls between China and the US in orbit, no true fight has broken out. This, they noted, was a test for all scientists.

They also wrote of the struggle to secure weapon data. Space weapons are closely guarded secrets, and any misstep in this data could send military strategy astray.

Then there was the matter of the user interface. How to show commanders with no aerospace background the intricacies of war in space consumed much of their time.

Meanwhile, to ensure the system would run smoothly even in the most challenging moments of war, researchers had to consider computational complexity while making sure the calculations could be performed on a mobile military computer.

To achieve this, the scientists employed parallel computing technologies typically used only in supercomputers, improving computational efficiency and enabling inferior military-grade CPUs to produce simulation results within a short time frame.

Zhang’s team cautioned that the war game was still young, and extensive functional expansions and performance optimisations would be necessary in the future to meet the PLA’s demands for addressing growing space threats.

The US military has also used war-gaming systems to help train soldiers and develop strategies. Its army’s Space Wargaming Analysis Tool – SWAT – extends into the realm of space weaponry, yet its essence remains tethered to the Earth, bound by maps of terrain and tactics.

Meanwhile, the Space Delta 10 unit of the US Space Force is responsible for developing and practically applying the most advanced space war-gaming system, though details have not been disclosed.

Chinese officials labelled Elon Musk’s SpaceX as an “unprecedented challenge”. The company has launched thousands of Starlink satellites into space and plans to continue launching tens of thousands more in the coming years.

Chinese military researchers have openly stated that as a result of their use in the Russia-Ukraine war, Starlink satellites and the launch sites of SpaceX would be targeted by China’s hypersonic weapons, as these satellites could potentially be used to collide with high-value Chinese assets, such as military satellites and space stations.

The Chinese military is actively developing a new generation of anti-satellite weapons, including high-power microwave emission devices and laser guns. Additionally, the Chinese government plans to launch nearly 13,000 low-Earth orbit internet satellites equipped with military payloads to establish a counter-deterrent against the US.

Some military experts see this as a reflection of the increasingly fierce military competition in the space domain, with countries seeking to protect their space assets while diminishing their adversaries’ space capabilities.

They said the international community needed to engage in deeper discussions and negotiations on regulations and restrictions for space activities to ensure the safe and sustainable use of space.

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Expulsion of foreign student from China fans equal treatment call

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3245330/expulsion-foreign-student-china-fans-equal-treatment-call?utm_source=rss_feed

The expulsion of an international student from China has revived concerns about preferences for foreigners, with a major state-affiliated news source calling for equal treatment.

In an editorial on Friday, Shanghai-based digital newspaper The Paper applauded the authorities’ decision to expel a Liberian student from the Liuzhou Vocational and Technical College in southern China for not attending over 60 hours of classes since October 20.

The student’s residence permit was cancelled over the unexplained absences from the college in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

“The management requirements for Chinese students should be applied equally to foreign students – earning credits, abiding by school discipline, being ethical – none of [these virtues] should be missing,” the editorial said.

It added that the value of Chinese-issued diplomas had to be protected by ensuring that all students were earning them the same way.

Number of Americans studying in mainland China falls sharply

According to the college’s regulations, students who have been absent for more than 60 class hours can face a range of punishment, from probation to expulsion.

The editorial said the college’s move had received “unanimous praise” online and showed China’s attitude towards strictly regulating international students.

“When you come to China to study, you must abide by Chinese laws and regulations [and] study hard,” it said. “Do not abuse the Chinese people’s sincerity, let alone expect any ‘preferential treatment [over Chinese nationals]’.”

The editorial applauded the immigration and education authorities’ joint handling of the case, saying it sent a “strong signal for stricter management of international students and entry-exit management” that was conducive to establishing a clear direction for “equal management”.

It also underlined Ministry of Education guidelines issued in 2019, demanding higher education institutions “strictly implement the attendance system for international students in China, clarify the attendance qualification standards” and provide relevant information to education and immigration authorities.

Survey of 30 years of Chinese students in US reflects pressures, satisfaction

International students are an important part of China’s international outreach efforts. From 2009 to 2018, the number of international students more than doubled to nearly 500,000, according to official data.

No official data is available for student numbers since 2019, but the total is believed to have fallen dramatically as China closed its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Preferential treatment for international students has long been a hot-button issue in the country, with critics raising various accusations, from access to reserved facilities to leniency for misbehaviour.

“We have seen that some international students do not cherish the opportunity to study in China, and even regard the Chinese people’s friendliness as their ‘privilege’, leading to very unpleasant social implications,” the editorial said, referring to a 2019 incident in which an international student in Fuzhou, Fujian province, illegally rode an electric vehicle and “violently pushed” a traffic police officer.

Sentiment flared again in 2019 when Shandong University, a top-tier college in eastern China, came under criticism for its intercultural buddy programme that paired foreign students with Chinese students of the opposite sex.

The scheme was introduced in 2016 to encourage students to “learn culturally and academically” from each other.

In a notice issued in 2018 and circulated online the next year, the university said the programme had paired 141 Chinese students with 47 foreign students, from countries including Pakistan, Kenya, Yemen and Nepal. Most of the buddies were of the opposite sex.

The university later apologised, saying: “We deeply regret the negative influence of this … We failed to do a proper job and included ‘making foreign acquaintances of the opposite sex’ as an option in the programme application.”

In another call for equal treatment, Zhou Xiaoping, a member of China’s top advisory body, proposed in March that foreigners working and studying in China should first pass a Chinese-language exam similar to the English proficiency tests that overseas universities require of international students.

‘It’s warmer in the fridge’: cold snap freezes China, bringing snow, accidents and school closures

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3245326/its-warmer-fridge-cold-snap-freezes-china-bringing-snow-accidents-and-school-closures?utm_source=rss_feed

A cold snap has brought low temperatures to most of China, causing schools and roads to close in several provinces and interrupting rail services.

President Xi Jinping gave instructions on improving precautionary measures for the freezing weather, asking local governments to ensure the safety of roads as well as heating and power systems and to prepare for possible disasters, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.

China’s National Meteorological Centre on Saturday issued its first yellow alert for low temperatures this year – the least severe in China’s two-level warning system for cold weather.

Northern China on alert for snow onslaught and record low temperatures

From Saturday morning to Sunday morning, temperatures are forecast to drop by 6 to 10 degrees Celsius (10.8 to 18 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the northeastern provinces of Liaoning and Jilin as well the southern province of Guizhou and other areas south of the Yangtze River, the centre said, adding that temperatures in some regions could plunge by more than 12 degrees Celsius.

It said daily low or average temperatures in some parts of northern China would approach or break records for the same period.

The centre advised authorities to handle icy roads and frozen crops and to manage heating systems.

Road and other accidents were reported in northern China, where the cold snap first hit from Wednesday, and schools in several areas, including Beijing and Henan, remained closed on Friday.

On Friday, a power line failure in the central province of Shanxi led to a county-wide blackout.

Authorities in Liaocheng city in the eastern Shandong province have prepared nearly 300,000 tents, cotton clothes and quilts as relief supplies for those affected by the low temperatures.

The Beijing Daily said temperatures in the city could drop below minus 14 degrees Celsius, with highs around minus 5 degrees Celsius from Saturday to Thursday.

Some trains in and out of Beijing were suspended on Saturday.

A total of 515 people were sent to hospitals after train carriages detached on a busy commuter line in the Chinese capital on Thursday evening.

Beijing authorities said on Friday that an initial investigation into the incident found that the train had come to an emergency stop after “a signal was downgraded”, but the sloping terrain caused the carriages to slip on the icy rails and collide. The city’s Changping line, where the accident occurred, resumed service on Saturday.

State broadcaster CCTV said that as of 6am on Saturday, 308 sections of road across the country had been closed because of snow and icy roads, with 201 highways fully closed.

Authorities in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei province bordering Beijing, announced that buses and subways would be free for half a month from Saturday.

Areas south of the Yangtze River, which have seen less snowfall in recent years, were also affected by the cold snap. Some cities, including Wuhan and Nanjing, saw their first snow of the winter.

Online news outlet The Paper reported on Saturday that 387 electrical repair companies in Shanghai were on standby to help residents whose air conditioner heating mode had failed.

Police in the eastern metropolis launched an operation to rescue homeless people.

China on alert for extreme winter weather as El Nino adds to global warming mix

The eastern coastal province of Zhejiang issued an emergency notice on Friday, advising residents to spend less time outdoors over the weekend. The province’s 128 shipping routes have been suspended due to the cold wave.

In the southern province of Guangdong, 29 passenger ferry routes were also suspended.

Qinghai, a northwestern province near Tibet, also launched a cold wave emergency plan.

According to the meteorological centre, the snow in northern China was forecast to ease from Friday, but rain, snow and lower temperatures are expected across central, eastern and southern China.

Residents are advised to dress warmly and reduce outdoor activities, it said.

“I am waiting for the cold snap in a T-shirt and shorts,” a social media user said of the sudden temperature drop in the southern province of Guangdong.

“I’m in the northeast and it’s warmer in the fridge than outside, ” another joked.

Another Weibo user said, “No matter what warnings you are giving, I just want to go out and see the snow!”

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Organisers of ultramarathon in which 21 runners died jailed in China

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/organisers-ultramarathon-gansu-21-runners-died-jailed-china

Organisers of a 2021 ultramarathon in north-west China during which 21 runners died in extreme weather conditions have been sentenced to years in prison for their roles, state media reported.

Five individuals involved in planning the ill-fated event were given jail terms ranging from three to five-and-a-half years by a court in Baiyin, a city in Gansu, the province where the deaths occurred, the state news agency Xinhua reported late on Friday.

In May 2021, the 100km (62-mile) cross-country mountain race turned deadly as freezing rain, high winds and hail hit the competitors.

The five defendants were convicted for “organising a large-scale event that led to a significant safety incident”, said Xinhua.

In the provincial capital, Lanzhou, an official was sentenced to four years and 10 months for “dereliction of duty and bribery”, and another to three and a half years for “dereliction of duty” alone, Xinhua added.

Long-distance running and other extreme sports have been booming in China in recent years, as the government promotes exercise for all ages, though slipshod organisation has repeatedly caused problems.

The 2021 deaths raised questions over why organisers apparently ignored the incoming extreme weather and led to renewed calls for tighter laws surrounding sporting events.

After the deaths, Beijing’s sport ministry announced that events without national safety standards would be suspended, including mountain trail running, wingsuit flying and ultra-long distance running.

Japan, Asean summit to advance ‘security cooperation’ amid growing South China Sea tension

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3245319/japan-asean-summit-advance-security-cooperation-amid-growing-south-china-sea-tension?utm_source=rss_feed

Southeast Asian and Japanese leaders will agree to boost “maritime security cooperation”, according to a draft statement seen by AFP from a summit that kicked off on Saturday against the backdrop of growing tensions in the South China Sea.

China claims almost the entire waterway, a vital trade corridor, and its increasingly aggressive behaviour in disputed areas has riled nations across the region as well as Washington.

Close US ally Japan, which also has competing territorial claims with China, is upping its military spending and has already boosted security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, including with South Korea and Australia.

‘Clearly a concern’: Japan’s hardening China stance sparks regional unease

According to the draft of the weekend summit’s final statement, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will commit to “(strengthen) security cooperation, including maritime security cooperation”.

Japan on Wednesday expressed “serious concern” about “dangerous actions” after the latest tense confrontation between Philippine and Chinese vessels at flashpoint reefs that included a collision and Chinese ships shooting water cannon.

Tokyo added that it “concurs with the Philippines’ long-standing objections to unlawful maritime claims, militarisation, coercive activities and threat or use of force in the South China Sea”.

Japan last month agreed to help the Philippines – whose President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr was due in Tokyo – buy coastguard vessels and to supply a radar system, and the two are discussing allowing troop deployments on each other’s soil.

Is Philippines’ alliance building to counter China a ‘major naval war’ risk?

With Malaysia, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Saturday that he had agreed with Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim to deepen strategic ties and provide 400 million yen (US$2.8 million) for “warning and surveillance” equipment.

Kishida said with the world “at a historical turning point, Japan places great importance on promoting cooperation with Asean, including Malaysia, to maintain and strengthen a free and open international order based on the rule of law and to ensure a world where human dignity is protected”.

Malaysia, along with the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan, have overlapping claims in the South China Sea.

In September, militaries from Asean nations held their first-ever joint exercises, although host Indonesia insisted they were non-combat drills, focusing on areas such as disaster relief and maritime patrols.

Asked about the Asean summit, China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Beijing “believed that any cooperation should be conducive to advancing mutual trust among regional countries and promoting common development”.

“We hope that relevant countries can truly do things conducive to regional peace and stability. At the same time, any cooperation should not target third parties,” spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

Japan is also expected to use the summit to push energy cooperation, with a meeting of its Asian Zero Emission Community initiative scheduled for Monday that will be attended virtually by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, officials said.

Tokyo is boosting its renewables sector but has also come under fire from environmental groups for providing large-scale public financing for fossil fuel projects around Asia.

Japan has also been seeking to push the export of tech aimed at reducing emissions by coal plants, such as co-firing with ammonia and carbon capture. But critics say these methods are unproven and expensive.

“This push to lock in fossil fuel-based energy across the continent is delaying the transition from fossil fuels to renewables,” the Climate Action Network said this month.

Ammonia “fails to meaningfully reduce emissions, jeopardises the decarbonisation of Japan’s energy and any possibility of phasing out fossil fuels”, it said.

Asean’s 10 member states are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. The summit marks 50 years of ties with Japan.

While Myanmar is a member, the leaders of its junta have been banned from the bloc’s high-level meetings since failing to implement an agreed five-point peace plan following the 2021 coup in which they took power.

‘Have no choice’: China woman desperately searches for birth parents of adopted daughter with leukaemia for bone marrow

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3244625/have-no-choice-china-woman-desperately-searches-birth-parents-adopted-daughter-leukaemia-bone-marrow?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese couple raised an abandoned girl for 21 years and later sought out her biological parents after the young woman was diagnosed with leukaemia in an effort to find a bone marrow transplant, deeply moving many on mainland social media.

The woman, Min Guofei, found a baby left at the entrance of a building in Fujian province in southeastern China in 2002, according to The Paper.

Min, who had been married for five years at that point but did not have children, brought the newborn home, and she and her husband raised the child as devoted parents and named her Wu Cailing.

Every year, the family celebrates the day Min found Wu as her birthday.

Wu was later admitted to Suzhou University of Science and Technology to study Japanese, becoming the first university student in the family.

However, the year 2023 brought misfortune to the family.

In June, Min’s husband suffered a severe leg ulcer due to his diabetes, resulting in five surgeries and the eventual amputation of his lower left leg to save his life.

Then three months later, shortly after returning to school, Wu was diagnosed with leukaemia following the discovery of a series of symptoms, such as fever and blood spotting.

The family was informed they would need to find a bone marrow match so doctors could perform a stem cell transplant, which prompted them to begin searching for Wu’s biological parents.

“I have no choice but to start looking for her biological parents,” said Min, crying.

Min then requested help from a friend who lived near where she had originally found Wu. The friend posted an advertisement, hoping the biological parents still lived in the community.

Remarkably, Wu’s biological parents saw the notice and contacted Min, saying: “If the DNA test confirms she is our daughter, we will definitely try to save her.”

It turned out that Wu’s biological parents had seven children including Wu, with the first six being girls. The youngest was a boy.

“We were under a lot of pressure to have a son, but we could not afford to raise so many children. So, we reluctantly abandoned four of our daughters,” said Wu’s biological mother, Huang Yaliu.

Wu’s biological father even knelt in front of Wu to apologise when he saw her in the hospital.

However, Wu refused to address them as “mum and dad”, saying she did not hate them but held no affection towards them.

Unfortunately, the birth parents could not be tested because of their age as they were considered too old to donate while some of her siblings, who were tested, were not a match.

Thankfully, the China Marrow Donor Programme was able to locate a man from Tianjin municipality in northern China who was a match.

People online wished Wu the best of luck in her battle against cancer after the promising turn for her health.

One commented: “Wu’s adoptive parents are full of kindness. I wish her a speedy recovery!”

Another added: “This is such a kind-hearted family. May they find happiness forever!”

Myanmar grapples with China’s ire amid rising anti-junta offensive

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3245278/myanmar-grapples-chinas-ire-amid-rising-anti-junta-offensive?utm_source=rss_feed

Generals from Myanmar’s junta held peace talks in June near the border with China with representatives of three powerful ethnic armies. They sat across a wide table covered with blue cloth and decorated with elaborate bouquets.

But the rebels were playing a double-game. Secretly, the ethnic armies – collectively called the Three Brotherhood Alliance – had already laid the groundwork for Operation 1027, a major offensive launched in October that has become the most significant threat to the regime since it seized power in a 2021 coup.

“We were already preparing for the operation when we met them,” said Kyaw Naing, a spokesman for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a largely ethnic-Chinese group that is part of the rebel coalition. Reuters interviewed a dozen resistance officials with knowledge of the operation, as well as analysts and other people familiar with the matter. Some spoke on condition of anonymity because the offensive is ongoing.

They disclosed previously unreported elements of the planning, including details of the formation of a unified battlefield brigade and the extent of China’s impatience toward the junta, which some analysts believe emboldened the militias.

Operation 1027, named after the date it began in late October, has delivered nationwide victories for the alliance and other groups fighting the military, which unseated Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian-led government in February 2021.

The junta cracked down on protests after the coup, sparking a grass roots rebellion and reigniting conflict with some ethnic armies. The military, known as the Tatmadaw, has ruled Myanmar for five of the past six decades, and its soldiers are feared for their brutality and scorched earth tactics. The army says tough measures are required to fight groups it considers “terrorists”.

Asean could be ‘caught off guard’ if the Myanmar junta were to collapse

Two members of the Three Brotherhood Alliance together with five other armed groups formed the new Brigade 611 in early 2022, four rebel officials told Reuters. The formation’s strength numbers in the “thousands”, one of them said.

It was a display of unprecedented cooperation among outfits that come from different parts of Myanmar, speak different languages and traditionally have had different priorities, according to a November report from the US Institute of Peace (USIP), a Washington-based think-tank focused on conflict prevention and resolution.

The operation came amid rising anger in Beijing with the junta over rampant crime on the border, which created conditions that supported the blitzkrieg, according to two analysts. China, a key junta ally that also has close relations with some ethnic Chinese militias in the borderlands, has been riled by Myanmar’s inability to shut down online scam centres along the frontier that have become a scourge across Southeast Asia.

Myanmar scam networks evade Chinese crackdown as battle along border continues

As of October, more than 20,000 people, mainly Chinese, were being held in over 100 compounds in northern Myanmar, where the workers – many of them trafficked – defraud strangers over the internet, according to a USIP estimate.

The centres have become a major public security challenge for China and Chinese officials delivered an ultimatum in Beijing this September to their Myanmar counterparts: eliminate the compounds or China would do so, according to a person briefed on their meeting.

Numerous scam centres were caught up in the recent fighting, allowing many foreign nationals who had been trapped to flee. Myanmar’s junta, as well as China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Public Security, did not return requests for comment.

In a November 29 speech, junta leader General Min Aung Hlaing said the fighting near the border originated from long-standing issues and the military was focused on combating insurgents “for peace and stability in the region.”

The regime has since held China-facilitated talks with the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a junta spokesman said on December 11 without providing further details. Beijing said it supports such talks, while the alliance said on Wednesday it remains determined to defeat the “dictatorship”.

A senior Chinese diplomat said in November that Beijing does not interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, but urged Myanmar to protect Chinese residents and personnel, and to cooperate in ensuring stability along the border.

Operation 1027 began in northern Shan State, abutting the border with China, where troops led by the Three Brotherhood Alliance – which comprises MNDAA, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Arakan Army (AA) – said they captured around 150 military outposts, five towns and four border gates within a month.

Independent analysts consider those figures reliable and the junta, which has not addressed specifics about battlefield defeats, has acknowledged some loss of control.

Among the rebel forces was the multi-ethnic Brigade 611, said MNDAA’s Kyaw Naing. The formation includes troops from entities supported by the parallel civilian government as well as fighters from the AA, one of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic armed forces, and the Bamar People’s Liberation Army (BPLA), a newer militia drawn mostly from the country’s majority Bamar people, officials from those groups confirmed.

Photos of Brigade 611 posted by an MNDAA-affiliated outlet in January show hundreds of troops in battle fatigues gathering for a graduation ceremony. Officials watched from a marquee, under a red banner with Burmese script and Chinese characters.

Some Brigade 611 troops drilled in using drones ahead of the operation, Lin Lin said.

Is it the beginning of the end for Myanmar’s junta?

Rebel ground troops often launch attacks following drone strikes, a tactic that has “become a game changer” for them, said Khun Bedu, leader of the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force, which now controls parts of the frontier with Thailand and also contributed to Brigade 611.

The closer coordination means the rebels have risen “up everywhere and the junta doesn’t have enough military forces to handle them”, said Zhu Jiangming, a security counsel at the Asian Development Bank who has written about the border situation.

Rebels aided by “foreign drone experts” used over 25,000 drone-dropped bombs during the offensive, forcing some military posts to be abandoned due to “excessive strength” of resistance fighters, Min Aung Hlaing said last month.

The Three Brotherhood Alliance did not respond to a request for comment on whether they used foreign experts.

Despite these setbacks, the Myanmar military – one of the largest in Southeast Asia – has sizeable resources and a “determination to prevail at all costs”, said Richard Horsey, a senior adviser at the non-profit International Crisis Group.

Anti-junta operations have since rapidly expanded to other parts of Myanmar, with battles in the central region of Sagaing as well as in states near India and Bangladesh. In several areas, rebel groups are supported by the People’s Defence Forces (PDF), a movement backed by the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) that includes representatives of Suu Kyi’s administration.

The NUG claims control over parts of the country and has worked on diplomatically isolating the junta. Suu Kyi remains in detention in the capital, Naypyidaw.

In Mandalay, a major city that is the gateway to the northern territories, the local PDF is tasked with stalling military reinforcements to the frontline, its spokesman said. The NUG supports over 300 PDF units under its command using money raised by taxation, bond sales and other methods, Finance Minister Tin Tun Naing said.

Armed Myanmar ethnic minority alliance captures China-Myanmar border crossing

Chinese frustration had been steadily growing this year as the scam centres in northern Myanmar continued to operate despite Beijing’s diplomacy, according to state media and online government posts. China’s Ministry of Public Security heavily promoted social media posts on the arrests of alleged Myanmar scammers, gathering millions of views.

The Xinhua state news agency said the scam centres, many operated in enclaves run by junta-aligned forces, “seriously infringed on the property, security and legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese people”. This summer, No More Bets, a Chinese film about a couple from the country trafficked to a scam centre in an unnamed Southeast Asian country, grossed nearly US$530 million domestically.

In recent months, Beijing raised the issue in multiple bilateral meetings, according to two people briefed on the talks and Chinese state media.

China exerts some influence over rebel groups, especially the ethnically Chinese, but does not control them, analysts say. Scot Marciel, a former US ambassador to Myanmar, said the ethnic armed groups were not acting as Beijing’s direct proxies in carrying out Operation 1027, “but the Chinese weren’t troubled that they did it – at least the initial attacks on the scam centres”.

Zhu, the Chinese security counsel, said China was friendly with both the junta and the resistance.

If two friends fight, he said: “I have no choice but to not help either side. But if anyone hurts China’s core interest, I will help its opponent.”

Boy in China steals gold bars worth US$790,000, buys luxury car, rewards accomplice who is sued by mother to recover money

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3244368/boy-china-steals-gold-bars-worth-us790000-buys-luxury-car-rewards-accomplice-who-sued-mother-recover?utm_source=rss_feed

The story of a woman who sued a friend of her teenage son to get back a gift of 210,000 yuan (US$30,000) that her boy gave to him for helping to steal gold bars worth 5.65 million yuan (US$790,000) has gone viral on mainland social media.

Surnamed Liu, from Hubei province in central China, the woman decided to take legal action against the friend, surnamed Lv, not only to recoup losses but also to teach him a lesson.

A local court supported Liu’s request and ordered Lv to return the 210,000 yuan that her son, nicknamed Xiaozhang, gave to him, Star Video reported.

The motive for and details of the theft are not clear, but Xiaozhang had a plan.

Early last year when his parents were not at home, he asked Lv to join him in carrying out the heist which involved breaking into a password-protected safe box. It is also not known how he got the secret code to open the box.

On seeing a pile of gold bars inside – weighing a total of 15.5kg – Xiaozhang was overcome with excitement and the only thing on his mind was selling them.

The pair quickly sold the loot for 5.65 million yuan. The identity of the buyer is unknown.

As soon as Xiaozhang got the money, he frittered it away on luxury items including a Lamborghini sports car. He also gave Lv 210,000 yuan as a gift for helping him execute the theft.

Xiaozhang’ short-lived luxury lifestyle came to an end when his mother discovered the safe box was empty.

Angry and shocked, Liu called the police who were able to return the sports car to its owner. However, Lv only promised to return 50,000 of the 210,000 yuan he received from Xiaozhang.

At this point, Liu went to court to recoup the full amount of the gift.

The story has sparked a heated discussion on mainland social media.

One person said: “Oh my god, the son is the black sheep of the family.”

“Does the teenage son escape punishment?” Asked another.

Stories about young delinquents often make headlines in China.

In January 2019, a 13-year-old boy in southwestern China was arrested for beating his parents to death with a hammer after his mother refused to give him money to go to an internet cafe.

In December 2018, a 12-year-old boy from central China stabbed his mother to death because she beat him with a leather belt after catching him smoking.

Hongkongers gather at Victoria Harbour as mainland China’s home-grown C919 passenger jet soars above city

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3245307/hongkongers-gather-victoria-harbour-mainland-chinas-home-grown-c919-passenger-jet-soars-above-city?utm_source=rss_feed

Hundreds of Hongkongers gathered at Victoria Harbour to see one of the new passenger jets made in mainland China fly over the city on Saturday morning, with enthusiasts hailing the aircraft as a fresh start for the country’s aviation industry.

The narrowbody C919 plane took off just before 10.30am from Hong Kong International Airport and made two passes over the harbour for excited onlookers, despite the cloudy weather.

Crowds gathered at the Tsim Sha Tsui promenade, with teenagers and retirees alike eagerly snapping pictures, cameras and long lenses in hand, as the aircraft soared in the sky above.

Among the plane spotters was 13-year-old secondary school student Carson Chan, who left his home in Tin Shui Wai at 7am and hoped to take some good pictures of the plane armed with his camera and tripod.

“It’s a very rare chance to see the C919 fly here in Hong Kong, so I came here to take advantage of the opportunity,” he said.

“I get to see it with my own eyes and use my own camera to take photos. I feel very honoured and happy.”

Other enthusiasts included 73-year-old King Choi, who also brought along a camera and a telephoto lens.

“I thought the aircraft was really solid, it also didn’t make much noise either,” he said.

“This is the first time that a Chinese-made [passenger] aircraft has performed or flown through the skies of Hong Kong, after all. It is really beautiful.”

Over at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park, a large group of about 100 people, including some elderly and parents with children, as well as a couple of tourists from the mainland lined up to see the spectacle.

“I’ve never seen a [Chinese] plane fly so low and I’m quite old, so I might not be able to see it again,” said 77-year-old Ng Go-bun.

The retiree said that as a Chinese person, he wanted to see the home-grown plane up close, adding that it was a good way to spend a morning.

A businessman who only gave his surname, Wong, applauded as the jet flew over.

“As a Hongkonger, I feel quite proud [to see the plane fly],” he said.

“I feel the plane can compete with European or American ones. This feels like a new start for Chinese aviation, which has been lagging.”

Mainland China’s home-grown jets to make inaugural flight to Hong Kong next week

Wong added that if he had the opportunity, he would like to be a passenger on the plane for one of its flights.

Aside from aviation fans queuing at the water’s edge – making up most of the visitors to the spot – it was business as usual at the park. Groups had gathered to play football, enjoy yoga, go for a jog or take a morning walk.

Among them was Thomas Boudoux, who is in his 40s and works for a French company. The French national, who has lived in the city for 10 years, said he came to the park most weekends with his young son.

“I had no idea [about the plane],” he said. “There’s a playground nearby that we go to on the weekend. But now that I know I think I’ll stay to look.”

Residents and tourists were able to admire the home-grown aircraft up close at both sides of the harbour, including the Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront and promenades in Kwun Tong, Quarry Bay, West Kowloon and the Central and Western district.

Authorities put in place a temporary restricted flying zone in and around Victoria Harbour to restrict activities such as flying drones, kites and tethered balloons.

The jet made two passes over the harbour from west to east, at a height of about 1,500 feet and 1,000 feet respectively.

After the flyover, representatives from Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), the jet’s manufacturer, will talk to 200 young Hongkongers at the Civil Aviation Department’s headquarters in the afternoon.

Hong Kong ‘marks milestone’ with arrival of passenger jets made in mainland China

The C919 is China’s first domestically developed narrowbody passenger jet and was designed to compete with the Boeing 737 jet and the Airbus A320 family of single-aisle aircraft. It can carry between 158 and 192 passengers, intended for use on medium-haul destinations with a range of 5,555km (3,452 miles).

Another aircraft, the ARJ21, is the company’s first narrowbody regional jet aircraft powered by a turbofan engine. Debuting in 2016 and entering into international service in 2022, the aircraft has a range of 3,700km and can accommodate 78 to 97 passengers.

Both passenger jets made in the mainland arrived in Hong Kong on Wednesday, marking what city leader John Lee Ka-chiu called a milestone in the country’s aerospace manufacturing and a demonstration of Beijing’s support for the local aviation industry.

The two aircraft are scheduled to fly back to Shanghai on Sunday.

Additional reporting by Lilian Cheng

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Silicon Valley-US military ties key to beating China: top Pentagon official

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3245306/silicon-valley-us-military-ties-key-beating-china-top-pentagon-official?utm_source=rss_feed

The Pentagon’s No 2 official went to California this week to explore how to harness Silicon Valley’s innovation mindset as America’s military seeks to compete with China. The tech wizards she met with said the Defence Department must change its bureaucratic ways if it wants to succeed.

“The military keeps talking about their want and need for greater manufacturing capability, but they aren’t placing orders,” Blake Resnick, the 23-year-old multimillionaire and founder of BRINC Drones Inc., said in an interview after he and other industry leaders met with Deputy Defence Secretary Kathleen Hicks.

“This part drives me freaking crazy about this whole situation,” Resnick said. “Why in the world would I go and spend tens, hundreds of millions of dollars building factories to produce nothing?”

It’s a problem that Hicks and her predecessors have tried to answer for years, so far with limited success. One issue is the way the Pentagon spends money. In an interview on Wednesday after touring start-ups in Palo Alto, Hicks acknowledged that the department’s two-year appropriations cycle is challenging for start-ups, which move on shorter fundraising timelines.

It’s among impediments Hicks will have to address as she and her Pentagon colleagues push their new “Replicator” initiative, which aims to spur mass production of low-cost drones for the military.

‘I wouldn’t say I’m optimistic’ about state of China relations: US ambassador

“We know the market moved past us in the US probably 10 years ago,” she said of the drone sector after meeting with Resnick and other leaders. “We know we have to bring incentives to the table.”

Hicks’ visit is part of a multi-year Pentagon push to make tech-sector innovations available to the US military. It’s an effort that officials say is crucial to the US’s ability to compete with China.

“There’s a real opportunity here for us to make the most of this comparative advantage that we think the US has on innovation,” Hicks said, adding that military ties with tech companies are stronger than five years ago.

The difficulties are compounded by the culture gap between the Pentagon, with its warrens of windowless hallways, and the glass-walled meeting rooms of Silicon Valley.

At drone-manufacturer Skydio Inc., Hicks watched a presentation about the firm’s defence contracts on a screen next to a “thankfulness tree.” Military aides in formal service dress heard from engineers wearing T-shirts and flip-flops.

Those differences echo through the procurement process, Hicks said, describing “cultural and structural problems” such as contract officers who tech companies view as “too risk-averse.”

Traditional defence contractors, by contrast, are packed with former Pentagon employees, providing a familiarity that is absent in military interactions with the outsize personalities – and the often more creative thinking – of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.

In California, Hicks saw a live feed of an autonomous military truck navigating a snow-covered dirt track in Idaho; watched the CEO of a commercial satellite company perform an AI-empowered search for Chinese nuclear sites in the desert; and viewed an F-16 flight simulator built with commercial technology at 1/100th the cost of its military equivalent.

“We saw some incredible innovations,” Hicks said after her tour of start-ups in Palo Alto. “But if we can’t get those innovations into the hands of the warfighter as a general rule, that is a big problem for us.”

Hicks said strong contracts can help protect US taxpayers from the “individual proclivities of an investor-owner.”

US planned to launch secret spacecraft a day ahead of China. SpaceX delayed it

Still, entrepreneurs’ political views can be more difficult to navigate.

Elon Musk, whose company Space X has won numerous Pentagon contracts, tends to generate storms of controversy, most recently after endorsing an antisemitic post on X, his social media platform. He later apologised but told advertisers boycotting the service to “go f – k yourself.”

“We want to ensure that we’re working with folks who put the best values of America forward,” Hicks said when asked about Musk’s posts. “We’re about defending our values as a country so we want to make sure we’re working with people who represent those values.”

Chinese president stops over in Guangxi on Asean tech and ethnic unity mission

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3245276/chinese-president-stops-over-guangxi-asean-tech-and-ethnic-unity-mission?utm_source=rss_feed

Returning from Vietnam, China’s president used a stopover in southern China to assess progress on IT links with Asean countries and call for more efforts to strengthen ethnic unity.

Xi Jinping highlighted the two priorities during a two-day inspection tour of Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, starting on Thursday morning.

In a meeting on Friday with leading Guangxi officials, Xi urged them to build the region into an important strategic hinterland of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

He urged them to help build a China-Asean community with a shared future, deepen and expand cooperation with Asean countries in commerce, labour, industry, science and technology and education.

Xi, who is also China’s top military commander, met senior People’s Liberation Army officials stationed in Nanning on Friday morning.

A day earlier, Xi visited the China-Asean Information Harbour in the city to inspect digitisation developments in economic and trade cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), state news agency Xinhua reported.

The Chinese government set up the information harbour in 2015, aiming to become a digital gateway to its Asean neighbours through application of technology such as big data and telecommunications, and training of Asean personnel.

According to the company, it has around 1,000 employees and its main business areas include “industrial internet”, digitalisation of government and enterprises, and cloud communication services.

Vietnam, which borders Guangxi, is an Asean member and Xi was returning from a two-day trip to Hanoi where the two countries agreed to step up cooperation and build a community with a “shared future”.

The deal includes greater cooperation on security matters and possible Chinese investment in Vietnam’s rail links and security, telecoms and digital infrastructure.

It is the second time Xi has made a stopover inspection after an overseas trip. On the way back from South Africa in late August, Xi stopped in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, calling on officials to preserve “hard-won social stability” in the sensitive region.

A Peking University political researcher said that by making such stopovers, Xi was trying to impart urgency into Chinese officialdom.

“By immediately following up on the things agreed in his Vietnam visit, he wants to show a sense of urgency, telling Communist Party officials not to be slack, not to waste time, and not to have a laid-back attitude, especially as China’s economy is experiencing a sharp downturn,” the researcher said, declining to be named.

According to Xinhua, Xi also visited the Panlong community in Nanning’s Liangqing district, where residents from the Zhuang, Yao and Mulao ethnic minorities sang a folk song to Xi.

According to the city government, the community’s residents include more than 8,000 people from 15 ethnic groups.

Guangxi has the country’s biggest population of ethnic minorities, with 19 million people among the non-Han Chinese residents.

The region is the poster child for ethnic harmony because economic and cultural ties mean there has been less tension between the groups, compared with places such as Xinjiang and Tibet which also have large non-Han communities.

Ethnic harmony has been one of Xi’s priorities. In October, he called for “comprehensive efforts” to promote standard spoken and written Chinese and the use of unified state-compiled textbooks to forge a strong sense of community and inter-ethnic unity.

On Thursday afternoon, he also inspected a sugar cane plantation in the city of Laibin, learned about the development of the sugar industry, Xinhua said.

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Absent Chinese tourists weigh on Asia-Pacific airlines’ recovery as regional travel rebound stumbles

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3245254/absent-chinese-tourists-weigh-asia-pacific-airlines-recovery-regional-travel-rebound-stumbles?utm_source=rss_feed

On a chilly December morning in Geneva, Willie Walsh, the aviation world’s pugnacious champion, delivered some warm news on a global recovery in flying, predicting a bumper 2024 for airlines.

But in the fair-weather world of travel, the Asia-Pacific region, once the fastest-growing aviation market globally, is now lagging behind.

Volatile oil prices and limited airline capacity have been pushing up fares across the region, as the much-touted post-pandemic “revenge travel” trend is muted by cost-of-living crises that have downsized the holiday plans of tens of millions of people, and an economic crunch in China that has ripped away thousands of international seats.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which Walsh heads, predicts that the Asia-Pacific region will return to pre-pandemic travel levels next year with a net profit margin of 0.5 per cent.

By comparison, airlines in Europe, North America and the Middle East are all forecast to post profit margins of 3.3 per cent or greater next year. Those in Latin America and Africa are expected to make losses.

The key piece of the puzzle for many airlines in Asia is whether Chinese tourists feel they have enough money to travel overseas. International travel demand to and from mainland China is still 40 per cent below 2019 levels, with a cascade effect across the region’s tourism hotspots.

Chinese tourists opt to stay home, denting Southeast Asia’s economic recovery

With inflation and interest rates expected to stay high, keeping growth sluggish, the Asia-Pacific also has to deal with the “wild card” of geopolitics, warns Shukor Yusof, founder of Malaysia-based aviation advisory firm Endau Analytics.

“I don’t want to be a party pooper, but I do think it’s going to be a very challenging year as we go on,” he said, citing rising interest rates, the ongoing war in Ukraine and currency issues in the Asia-Pacific.

Analysts say currency fluctuations risk denting the profits of airlines, which draw much of their income via foreign exchange. Carriers also need to translate cash flows into different currencies, but in Asia many of these are hurting from a strong US dollar.

This year started well and got better for global air travel, which has largely managed to shake off the dual blows of a pandemic that grounded global air travel and a Russian invasion of Ukraine that sent oil prices skywards, crushing consumer spending power.

Taken together, the airline industry is expected to post profits of US$23.3 billion this year, the IATA said, more than double what the trade body had forecast for the year in June.

“The recovery gained significant momentum as we went through the year. We were surprised by the early opening in China,” Walsh told reporters at IATA headquarters in Geneva.

“Most of the industry is cautiously optimistic towards the end of 2023 and looks forward to 2024.”

Among Asian carriers, the Singapore Airlines Group, which includes budget arm Scoot, has recovered the fastest. Strong travel demand helped the group to post a record interim net profit of S$1.44 billion (US$1.07 billion) for the six months to September-end, compared with S$927 million in the same period last year.

The group says it expects passenger capacity to reach about 92 per cent of pre-pandemic levels on average in December, as it aims to restore passenger capacity back to 2019 levels in the coming financial year.

Western airlines are also being hampered by a decline in their Asia business.

British Airways’ overall capacity for the year was 90 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. In a statement on its third-quarter results, the airline’s parent company International Airlines Group said “the remaining capacity shortfall to 2019 is principally attributable to the pace of capacity restoration in the Asia-Pacific region”.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific expects first annual profit in 4 years

It has resumed services to Shanghai and Beijing, flies to Hong Kong twice daily and now has 11 flights per week to Tokyo, increasing to two per day from March.

Though airlines’ route networks are recovering, what has yet to return to full health is travel demand, with consumers worried over the surging cost of living – and an uncertain future – becoming more frugal and less spontaneous.

Travel for work can be essential, as was the case for Yi Li Dawson, director of marketing and communications at Dorsett Hospitality International, who said reconnecting with staff in person after Hong Kong had reopened to the world in January was vital to her business – despite the airfares being much higher than in 2019.

Holidays are a different matter, however, with more of a focus on getting the best deals. The 31-year-old said she had already planned and booked all her leisure travel for next year. A trip to Bali over Easter, for example, was switched to Phuket in Thailand due to air fares being nearly US$400 cheaper.

“We are still planning to travel. But I think we are having to be a lot more cost conscious,” she said.

For many Asian carriers, China’s slower-than-expected travel rebound has inhibited their full recovery, leaving tourist hotspots from Phuket to Bali short of the high-season tourist surge they had pinned their hopes on to rescue the year.

China is the second largest airline market in the world, after North America, accounting for 9 per cent of all international air passenger demand before the Covid-19 pandemic – and 24 per cent of the Asia-Pacific’s international demand, making it the region’s primary source of tourists.

The IATA has said it expects international demand to and from China to recover next year, but analysts have warned that the mainland’s embattled property sector, a weakened yuan, high youth unemployment and febrile geopolitics may well drag on demand.

Subhas Menon, president of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, said that all Asian carriers were waiting for China’s international demand to grow.

“I think macroeconomic factors affecting China also affect air travel [across Asia],” he said last month in Singapore.

“The property market, which was really making a lot of Chinese affluent, that’s gone bust … as well as cost of living issues. Inflation is also affecting the Chinese market. There’s unemployment, especially youth unemployment, [which] is very high in China.”

Leslie Thng, CEO of Scoot, added that the way Chinese tourists travelled had changed in the wake of the pandemic, with smaller groups and more solo travellers, which had affected how the airline marketed to mainland China.

“The team is working on how to engage the Chinese consumer in a different way instead of the traditional groups, but now doing more B2C [business to consumer], doing more small groups, doing more engagement, to entice them to travel to this part of the world,” he said.

Thailand is among the countries that had banked on a resurgence of Chinese tourists, yet its airlines are already pivoting away from an over-reliance on mainland China, with nearly 1.6 million fewer visitors from the country now expected by year’s end than was initially forecast.

“We cannot wait for China. We have to survive,” Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri told This Week in Asia last month at a meeting of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, explaining his carrier’s pivot to Europe where demand is higher.

Thai Airways reported a group net profit of 1.54 billion baht (US$43.3 million) for the July-September quarter, rebounding from a loss of 4.79 billion baht during the same period last year.

It filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 and originally aimed to complete its restructuring in 2025, but is now on track to do so in late 2024.

“My priority next year is to control the costs. The market is still uncertain. There are so many factors and the only thing we can do is control our costs, the cost strategy,” Chai said.

Japan has seen an influx of foreign visitors post-pandemic, many attracted by the weak yen - which is also the reason many Japanese are opting to stay home, Japan Airlines Executive Vice-President Shinichiro Shimizu told This Week in Asia.

Other Asian airlines have looked to India to fill the void left by Chinese travellers. Vietnam’s low-cost carrier VietJet Air, for example, has ramped up flights to the South Asian nation from four Vietnamese hubs.

Endau Analytics’ Yusof said more Indians were expected to travel to Southeast Asia and beyond next year, but he was not confident they would replace the purchasing power of Chinese tourists.

“If you look at the network, if you look at airlines in India versus the major airlines in China, the Chinese carriers have been more structured and organised in terms of providing that impetus for tourism in and out of China,” he said.

Still, India’s vast travel market is surging and its airlines are in a bullish mood.

Air India is taking delivery of a new aircraft every six days and will continue to do so until the end of next year, according to its CEO Campbell Wilson. India’s largest conglomerate Tata Group retook control of the flagship carrier in 2022.

India is already the third-largest travel market in the world but Wilson said there was a huge opportunity to grow further, it was just a matter of “seizing it”.

“There’s 37 million people in the diaspora and we don’t serve them particularly well, we haven’t served them particularly well. That’s going to change,” he said.

Airlines also face a welter of issues along their supply chains, from getting spare parts to repairing aircraft and maintaining a supply of pilots.

Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific is on a major recruitment drive. But the airline’s pilot union has warned that it may take up to four years of hiring, training and retaining to get numbers back up to the 3,885 pilots recorded just before the pandemic.

Cathay has 2,532 pilots on its books as of this month, according to the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association.

Herman Tse, senior aviation analyst at Cirium Ascend consultancy, said for Hong Kong to regain its aviation hub status, rebuilding its international network and overcoming labour shortages was key.

“How quickly Cathay can build their capacity will affect the recovery of the Hong Kong aviation industry,” he said.

John Grant, a senior analyst at global travel data provider OAG, said the supply chain issue remains the industry’s biggest challenge, including in Asia, and will linger on into 2025.

Business travel also remained 25 to 30 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, he said, but there had been a growth in leisure travel by wealthier fliers.

“Is the growth in the leisure market, and particularly the premium leisure market, able to compensate for that loss of corporate travel? I think to a degree it is,” he said.

“It’s not going to be 100 per cent replacement but there is a growing group of people who are prepared to pay premium economy type fares and see a bit of service differentiation.”

Why Southeast Asian nations make a ‘concerted effort’ to court Indian tourists

Rough economic tides ahead look set to continue shaping the travel choices of Asia’s consumers, with many either booking their trips months in advance or waiting until the last minute hoping to see a drop in price before departure.

Hong Kong-based Dominique Backhouse, managing director of public relations agency Companion Communications, reduced the number of business trips she went on this year due to high air fares and the lack of direct routes to some destinations such as Sri Lankan capital Colombo.

And like millions of others, nowadays she has to plan her leisure travel further in advance than before.

“It used to be ‘let’s go to Phuket next weekend’,” she said of her holidays with husband Hamish. “Now it is December and we are booking to visit Korea next April.”

China’s private firms stuck between a rock and a hard place with Beijing’s support measures ‘mere lip service’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3245212/chinas-private-firms-stuck-between-rock-and-hard-place-beijings-support-measures-mere-lip-service?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s private firms are still finding themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place, with their confidence sapped due to a hostile business environment and a bleak outlook, despite scores of government supportive measures, according to a survey from an independent enterprise research institute.

Of the businesses surveyed by Beijing Dacheng, 85 per cent said China’s private sector was in a difficult situation, while only 22.5 per cent reported plans to increase investment in the next two years, according to the results published on Tuesday.

The survey, which collected results from 40 private entrepreneurs in November, is a rare insight into the dire predicament of China’s private sector as Beijing’s 31-point action plan has failed to reverse market expectations.

The package plan, released in July, was seen as Beijing’s strongest message ever to shore up sentiment and provide a favourable environment to China’s private sector, with a focus on economic growth, jobs and technological innovation.

But 70 per cent of the surveyed firms said the business environment in China remained unchanged or had even deteriorated after the plan was released.

“These measures have not been effectively put into place, and remained mere lip service,” the survey said.

During the tone-setting central economic work conference this week, China vowed to “promote the development and growth of private enterprises, put into place a batch of measures related to market access, resource acquisition, fair law enforcement and rights protection,” according to a statement released by the official Xinhua News Agency following the tone-setting meeting.

Of the 40 surveyed firms by Beijing Dacheng, 25 said their revenues had dropped this year or remained at the same level compared to last year, while only eight reported a growth of more than 10 per cent.

For economy to flourish, China must ‘spell out, ram home’ private sector’s role

“Some entrepreneurs believe that private enterprises lack a sense of security and suggest that a number of unjust cases should be rectified, and concrete actions be taken to boost confidence and trust among private entrepreneurs,” the survey said.

The firms also added that certain government departments delay payments to private enterprises, leading to severe breaches of contract, while their lack of common sense and excessive control hinder the development of the sector.

The private economy contributes more than half of China’s tax revenues, more than 60 per cent of its gross domestic product and more than 80 per cent of its urban employment, but the sector has struggled to recover this year.

Private investment declined by 0.5 per cent in the first 11 months of the year, compared to a year earlier, in sharp contrast to investments among state-owned enterprises, which rose by 6.5 per cent during the same period.

The volatile relationship between China and the United States looms as the biggest uncertainty haunting the business outlook, the survey said.

The sense of insecurity stemming from China’s legal environment, a lack of integrity and spirit of contract in certain government departments, as well as inadequate government support and encouragement for private enterprises, were also listed.

Strict differentiation of private and public companies should be abolished to circumvent discrimination, Liu Shijin, former deputy director of the Development Research Centre of the State Council, said on Monday according to state media.

“Categorising enterprises based on the ownership of capital to determine their nature has increasingly distanced itself from the actual market and business conditions,” Liu said.

“It is crucial to place entrepreneurial talent and spirit at the forefront in order to enhance vitality, competitiveness and innovation capabilities of enterprises.

“There is a need for corresponding adjustments in enterprise classification, moving away from the distinction between state-owned and private enterprises, and instead categorising them based on factors such as size, technology and employment characteristics.”

In September, a private economy development bureau was created under the National Development and Reform Commission to shoulder the responsibility of coordinating a raft of new support policies.

And in November, a 25-point policy package was announced by eight financial regulators and business chambers to help private businesses obtain more and easier funding.

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Race organisers of deadly 2021 ultramarathon in northwestern China sentenced to jail

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3245296/race-organisers-deadly-2021-ultramarathon-northwestern-china-sentenced-jail?utm_source=rss_feed

The organisers of an ultramarathon staged in northwestern China two years ago in which 21 runners died have been sentenced to prison terms ranging between 3 and 5 ½ years, local courts announced on Friday.

In the judgment rendered on China’s worst-ever accident involving outdoor sports, five employees from two companies that organised the race were found guilty by a court in the city of Baiyin in Gansu province for “causing [a] serious security incident in a large-scale mass event”.

Also on Friday, a separate court in Lanzhou, Gansu’s capital city, convicted two government officials of negligence.

Ding Keya, chief administrator of the national park where the deaths took place, was also charged with taking bribes and sentenced to 4 years and 10 months in prison in addition to a fine. His deputy, Luo Wentao, received a sentence of 3 ½ years.

The tragedy happened the morning of May 22, 2021, when a storm suddenly hit Jingtai county in Gansu.

A sudden drop in temperature, coupled with gales, hail and freezing rain, caught the 172 participants of the 100km (62-mile) race unprepared after they had set off from Yellow River Stone Forest, a national park.

Many of the runners were dressed only in shorts and running tops, leaving them trapped in freezing temperatures in the remote mountainous area.

When search-and-rescue efforts ended the next day, 21 runners were found dead. Of the 151 who were rescued, eight suffered minor injuries. And some of the country’s top cross-country runners were among the casualties.

Does distance running cause hip and knee injuries? No, new research shows

Later five employees of the companies that organised the race, Gansu Shengjing Sports Culture Development and Shanghai Saike Information Technology, were arrested: Wang Yaoxiang, Wu Shiyuan, Zhang Xiaoyan, Zhang Zhengji and Zheng Shirong.

Ding and Luo, the park officials, were detained for investigation.

An official Gansu provincial government report released a month after the tragedy found the race organisers had “organised, managed and operated the event poorly” and “bore direct responsibility for the incident”.

The investigators found they had failed to take effective precautions even after authorities warned of bad weather before the race and that they did not make available windproof and warmth-preserving gear required for high-altitude races.

Should ultra runners do speed sessions?

In addition, the report stated no supply or medical-aid posts had been set up in the race’s most difficult and dangerous high-altitude sections. Furthermore, staffers were unable to seek help during moments of crisis due to inadequate telecommunications.

The investigators concluded that the organisers had “failed to make special emergency plans and security measures in accordance with relevant regulations, and their emergency rescue forces were seriously ill-prepared”.

Local officials also came under criticism in the official report, which blamed them for poor preparations and supervision.

In all, 27 local officials received disciplinary punishment over the tragedy, including a Chinese Communist Party secretary, Baiyin’s mayor and Jingtai county leaders.

Chinese, Russian buyers eye Thailand condos as tourists return to Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3245280/chinese-russian-buyers-eye-thailand-condos-tourists-return-bangkok-pattaya-and-phuket?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese and Russians have topped the list of foreign buyers of condominiums in Thailand this year, with sales surging in tourist hotspots like Bangkok, Pattaya and Phuket.

A total of 10,703 units worth 52.3 billion baht (US$1.5 billion) were sold in the nine months through September from a year earlier, according to the Real Estate Information Center. That’s a 38 per cent jump from a year ago, the centre, managed by state-owned Government Housing Bank, said.

Chinese buyers snapped up 4,991 units, or almost 47 per cent of the total transactions, valued at 24.7 billion baht, the centre said, citing property registration data.

China tourists inject US$4 billion into Thailand after visa waivers

Russians ranked a distant second at 962 units, followed by US and Taiwanese buyers in the third and fourth spots, respectively.

Almost 42 per cent of the condos were sold in Chonburi province, that is home to a number of beaches and industrial estates. Bangkok, Thailand’s capital city and a gateway for millions of tourists, accounted for 37.5 per cent of flat sales to foreigners, the centre said.

“Thai condominiums are still in demand among foreign buyers,” Wichai Wiratkaphan, acting director at the information centre, said in a statement.

“The purchase is for both investment and as a second home in Thailand.”

Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is counting on tourism to drive the nation’s economic growth, with the sector accounting for about 12 per cent of gross domestic product and nearly a fifth of jobs.

He has temporarily waived visas for travellers from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, India and Taiwan, and ordered airlines to add more routes while streamlining airport operations to reduce waiting times for visitors.

The visa waivers may further fuel demand for Thai condos, Wachai said, adding that foreign ownership was way below the legal limit set by authorities. The forecast for an increase in tourist arrivals next year will drive demand, he said.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand expects a further recovery to 35 million visitors next year, including 8.2 million from China. That’s still below the record foreign tourist arrival of almost 40 million in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

Chinese land ownership in US down 2 per cent in 2022 amid heightened national security concerns

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3245303/chinese-land-ownership-us-down-2-cent-2022-amid-heightened-national-security-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed

The amount of American land held by Chinese buyers declined in 2022, according to new data from the US Department of Agriculture, during a time when policymakers’ concerns about such ownership are running high.

Chinese land ownership in the US fell by 2 per cent, from about 357,000 acres in 2021 to 349,442 acres, and comprised just shy of 1 per cent of all foreign-held American land.

The report this week comes as some lawmakers have raised the alarm domestically over Chinese land ownership, citing national security concerns. Legislatures in several states have introduced measures to restrict Chinese land ownership.

In October, for instance, the Arkansas attorney general ordered a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned enterprise ChemChina to sell its holdings in the state.

And in a first, the annual USDA report containing the data on foreign land holdings featured a short section on Chinese investment.

“Even though Chinese filings are less than 1 per cent of foreign-held agricultural land acres in the US, there is considerable interest in this topic,” the report stated.

The largest China-owned landowners were identified as pork producer Murphy Brown LLC, also known as Smithfield Foods, and wind-energy developer Brazos Highland Properties.

Between them, the two companies owned about 200,000 acres of American land.

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Most of the foreign-held land in the US was owned by nationals hailing from North American and European countries, according to the report.

Canadian investors owned the most American land of any foreign group, at 14.2 million acres or 32 per cent of foreign-held acres.

Investors from the Netherlands, meanwhile, held 12 per cent of foreign-owned land, with Italy, Britain and Germany accounting for 6, 6 and 5 per cent, respectively.

In addition to publishing the new data, the USDA on Friday issued a request for public input on how foreign filers report purchases of American land. The idea is to gain a fuller and more accurate picture of foreign land holdings.

The actual amount of land owned by China could be higher than the nearly 350,000 acres reported, the report stated, because in cases where multiple parties invested in land holdings only the primary investor’s information was recorded.

If the primary investor’s country of origin could not be determined, the filing was recorded as held by “no predominant country”, it added.

For this reason, “the acreage associated with China – or any other country discussed in this report – should be interpreted as a minimum”.

At a time of high bilateral tensions with Beijing, Washington lawmakers have voiced concerns over Chinese nationals and companies buying up American land.

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And some have criticised the USDA for what they view as its insufficient capacity to track the holdings.

“We have heard some real concerns that foreign ownership may be undercounted and that the American government lacks the proper oversight tools to see the whole picture,” said Democratic senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee, at a congressional hearing in September.

“As foreign entities continue their acquisitions of US food and agriculture assets, American farmers and families deserve to know that these transactions receive proper scrutiny.”

Legislation introduced in January by Republican senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota would empower the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US to restrict a purchase from “countries of concern”, including China, unless the president chose to allow it.

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Similar language was later tacked on to the National Defense Authorisation Act for 2024, the yearly must-pass Pentagon budget that Congress passed on Thursday.

Scrutiny in Washington over Chinese land holdings in the US ramped up after Chinese agribusiness giant Fufeng announced in November 2021 its intention to invest in a corn mill project near Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Despite potential economic benefits, some opposed Fufeng’s affiliation with China and the proposed facility’s proximity to a US Air Force base. The city council of Grand Forks eventually voted to scrap the development.

Concerns about Chinese intelligence efforts on American territory also intensified after a Chinese spy balloon flew over much of the continental US in February, including above nuclear-missile silos.

Xi Jinping is relying more on his lieutenants to forge ties with China’s political elites

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3245270/xi-jinping-relying-more-his-lieutenants-forge-ties-chinas-political-elites?utm_source=rss_feed

Among those at the very top of Chinese politics, President Xi Jinping has a smaller share of direct links with members of the Central Committee than he did five years ago, an analysis by the South China Morning Post has found.

That means he must rely more on his lieutenants on the all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee to forge ties with the political elites of the ruling Communist Party.

The findings are based on an iterative databank the Post has compiled since the 20th party congress last year.

The databank includes a relationship network to show how each of the seven top political leaders is connected to the party’s 20th Central Committee – the pool from which they were drawn. It also shows where they crossed paths based on their official work history.

Collectively, the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee, including Xi, have more links with the 376 full and alternate members of the decision-making Central Committee than previously – a clear indicator of the concentration of power within the party.

But direct associations with Xi – widely regarded as the most powerful Chinese leader in decades – have dropped in percentage terms from five years ago.

The Post tally shows 49 new Central Committee members have direct links with Xi through either work or education, making up 22 per cent of the total connections with Politburo Standing Committee members. That is down from 32 per cent in 2018, when Xi had 42 direct links.

Xi does, however, retain the widest network of direct connections of all the Politburo Standing Committee members.

China’s leaders prioritise economic stability and investor confidence for 2024

His percentage fall is due to an overall expansion in direct links – the seven Politburo Standing Committee members are now directly associated with 226 of the 376 Central Committee members – up from 131 five years ago, a jump of more than 70 per cent.

The Central Committee is the nerve centre of Chinese politics and its decisions chart the course for the country and the party’s 98 million members.

A new Politburo Standing Committee was unveiled in October last year. Of the new members, Premier Li Qiang, Xi’s chief of staff Cai Qi and party disciplinary chief Li Xi have significantly wider personal networks within the Central Committee than their predecessors – each accounting for about 20 per cent of the direct links. Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang has 15 connections.

All members of the current Politburo Standing Committee – the apex of political power in China – have strong links with Xi. But their predecessors, such as the late former premier Li Keqiang and retired leader Wang Yang, were seen as politically more autonomous from the president.

Zhao Leji, who heads the legislature, and Wang Huning, the party’s ideology chief, were on the previous Politburo Standing Committee and have stayed on for another five-year term. Their personal networks within the Central Committee have seen moderate growth from five years ago – Zhao’s direct links went from 12 to 21, while Wang’s have increased from seven to 15.

This means that while Xi now commands more support from the Politburo Standing Committee, his personal bonds with the Central Committee members are less direct than before. He is relying more on his deputies to build rapport with those in power at the lower level.

One reason for this is that many of the political elites known to Xi personally are reaching or have passed the official retirement age, according to a Peking University researcher.

“Xi has selectively extended the retirement age for some key positions, such as for Taiwan affairs chief Song Tao, and Hong Kong and Macau affairs chief Xia Baolong. But these are exceptions, and they did have to step down from the Central Committee,” said the political scientist, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

“It is not surprising that Xi has increasingly relied on his most trusted and younger allies to recommend people to fill the key positions.”

Premier Li Qiang, for instance, has direct links with 39 people on the Central Committee or above, including Xi and fellow Politburo Standing Committee member Cai. Most of those connections are from Li Qiang’s time in Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces and Shanghai, from the 1980s to 2022.

That makes him better connected at the top than his predecessor Li Keqiang, who died suddenly in October. Li Keqiang had direct links with 24 members of the previous Central Committee.

Cai, Xi’s chief of staff, has 42 direct connections, while disciplinary chief Li Xi has 46, making him the second-best connected Politburo Standing Committee member after Xi.

“Li Qiang, Cai Qi and Li Xi had all been transferred to many regional jobs before being promoted to the Politburo Standing Committee, so it’s natural that more Central Committee members have crossed paths with them,” the researcher said.

Li Qiang’s roles include a stint as chief of staff to Xi when he was the party boss of Zhejiang province nearly two decades ago. Li Qiang was promoted to governor of Zhejiang soon after Xi became the top party leader in 2012, and he went on to become party secretary of Jiangsu, followed by Shanghai.

Cai has also served under Xi in regional and government roles in Fujian, Zhejiang and Beijing.

Li Xi – who is from Liangdang county in Gansu, where Xi’s father Xi Zhongxun launched a communist uprising in 1932 – worked in the province before he was transferred to Xi’s home province of Shaanxi. He went on to leadership roles in Shanghai, and in Liaoning and Guangdong provinces.

Ding has spent most of his career in Shanghai, including as Xi’s top aide before he became head of the General Office of the party’s Central Committee.

John P. Burns, an emeritus professor of politics at the University of Hong Kong, said despite the dominant presence of people associated with Xi on the Central Committee, politics within China’s top echelon was “dynamic”.

“Even though Xi has installed his own people [at the top] each of them brought their own subordinates with career ambitions. This is what gives politics at the top a level of instability.”