• Russia’s Gazprom says gas flow to China set new daily record
• China and North Korea pledge stronger cooperation in rare talks as Beijing shores up ties with neighbours
• China tests diplomatic prowess in Ethiopia as it rebuilds after Tigray war
• First encounters: Chinese archaeologists discover link between pentagram and sound on 2,300-year-old bamboo records
• Blood supplies running low across China as cold weather and surge in respiratory illnesses take toll
• Britain’s National Grid drops China-backed supplier over cybersecurity fears
• Is Beijing warming to South China Sea code of conduct?
• China gives Zimbabwe military equipment worth US$28 million to boost security and modernise defence forces
• China company sets up monthly bonus and staff must run at least 50km to qualify in the belief firm can only thrive if ‘employees are healthy’
• Japan and ASEAN bolster ties at summit focused on security, economy amid China tensions
• South China Sea: Philippines wants to start energy exploration projects in waterway, says Marcos Jnr
• China urges Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together to ‘avoid miscalculation’ as diplomats meet on restoration of ties
• Lost lover: woman appears on China TV searching for father of child, 8, but does not know his name, number or address, shocking viewers
• In Cambodia’s ‘underground’ crypto economy, Tether becomes coin of choice for Chinese-linked activities
• Japan companies in Thailand should make quick decisions amid Chinese rise, says PM Srettha
• Amid US tech war, is China stuck in a middle-technology trap? Is it time to open its doors wider?
• ‘Toy swordsman’: security guard at China hospital attaches small toys to uniform to amuse child patients, saying he is happy when ‘kids are smiling’
• Why did Chinese provincial civilian officials appear in military uniform?

Russia’s Gazprom says gas flow to China set new daily record

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3245399/russias-gazprom-says-gas-flow-china-set-new-daily-record?utm_source=rss_feed

Russia’s Gazprom PJSC said on Sunday it set a new daily record for gas deliveries to China on the previous day, underscoring the importance of its giant neighbour after it all but lost the European market over the war in Ukraine.

While it did not disclose the volume of gas sent to China, Gazprom said last week it is working to ramp up supplies to Beijing via the Power of Siberia pipeline. An addendum to the gas supply contract with China’s CNPC allowed the Russian state-owned company to increase flows from mid-November.

Russian LNG revenue to double thanks to Asian buyers, despite Ukraine crisis

Officials from the companies also discussed potential gas supplies via the planned Power of Siberia 2 pipeline via Mongolia at a meeting in Beijing on Thursday.

Russia expects an agreement between Gazprom and CNPC on a contract to supply gas through Power of Siberia 2 will be reached as soon as possible, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Sunday, according to the Interfax news service.

Russia’s Energy Ministry estimated in September that gas exports to China would be 22 bcm this year, rising to 30 bcm in 2024.

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China and North Korea pledge stronger cooperation in rare talks as Beijing shores up ties with neighbours

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3245367/china-and-north-korea-pledge-stronger-cooperation-rare-talks-beijing-shores-ties-neighbours?utm_source=rss_feed

China and North Korea pledged to deepen cooperation as senior officials met for rare talks last week amid broader efforts by Beijing to shore up relations with its neighbours to counter external risks.

According to China’s foreign ministry, foreign vice-minister Sun Weidong met his North Korean counterpart Pak Myong-ho in Beijing on Friday, with the parties agreeing to strengthen “strategic communication and coordination”.

“The two sides agreed to take the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and [North Korea] next year as an opportunity to deepen the friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries,” the ministry said in a brief statement.

North Korean state news agency KCNA said the two sides discussed boosting “strategic cooperation between the two countries in the future”.

Pak’s trip to Beijing was one of only a few by high-level North Korean officials to China since Pyongyang shut its borders in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. It also marked a post-pandemic resumption of engagement between North Korea and its neighbours.

Citing KCNA, Seoul-based news agency Yonhap reported that the last visit to China by a high-ranking North Korean official was in August 2019 by Kim Su-gil, then director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army. Kim held talks with his Chinese counterpart Miao Hua during his trip.

Chinese and Russian warplanes enter South Korean air defence zone

The talks come as China makes relations with neighbouring countries a priority to help counter external threats.

The official Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily reported on Sunday that during a stop in southern China on the way back from Vietnam last week, President Xi Jinping highlighted the need for cooperation with neighbours and to “better coordinate the domestic and international situations”.

Noting the “increasingly complex, severe and uncertain” external environment, the report said Xi’s trips to Hanoi and the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region were important to creating positive conditions for China’s development.

“Today’s China is not only China’s China but also Asia’s China and the world’s China. The greater the perspective, vision and ambition, the greater the space and potential for development,” it said.

Chong Ja Ian, professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said the seniority of the officials at the Beijing meeting and the discussion of strategic coordination suggested that China and North Korea were looking to demonstrate cooperation.

“Given that the meeting comes after an uptick in North Korean nuclear weapons and missile developments, Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia, and joint Russian and Chinese bomber patrols, [the meeting] indicates that China can continue to put pressure on the US and US allies in Asia,” Chong said.

The North Korean leader travelled to Russia for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in September, a visit that sparked Western concerns about a potential arms deal.

Last month, Russian and Chinese warplanes conducted joint aerial patrols over the Sea of Japan – also known as the East Sea. The patrols, which Beijing said were “routine”, were viewed as indicative of China’s close defence ties with Russia.

US presses China on North Korea’s weapons supplies to Russia

The Friday meeting between Chinese and North Korean officials also came amid heightened concerns over Pyongyang’s nuclear activity.

Yonhap reported on Saturday that the US and South Korea had plans to draw up joint guidelines on nuclear defence by the middle of next year and establish an integrated system to deter North Korea’s nuclear weapons.

A day earlier Kim Tae-hyo, South Korea’s deputy national security adviser, warned that North Korea might test an intercontinental ballistic missile this month.

Chong said these developments suggested that both China and North Korea “may wish to take a more robust stance” towards the US and its allies.

“Beijing’s actions could also be read as a response to enhancements in security cooperation among the US, South Korea, and Japan, as well as South Korea and Japan’s own efforts to enhance their respective militaries,” he added.

Chong suggested that the meeting in Beijing would likely draw attention from Washington and Seoul, particularly as the talks involved senior officials.

He said he expected the US and its regional allies to watch to see whether the meeting would be followed by increased military activity by Pyongyang or coordinated activity among North Korea, China, and Russia.

China tests diplomatic prowess in Ethiopia as it rebuilds after Tigray war

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3245376/china-tests-diplomatic-prowess-ethiopia-it-rebuilds-after-tigray-war?utm_source=rss_feed

China sent a senior diplomat to Ethiopia to meet central government and regional leaders as they worked to ensure full implementation of the Pretoria peace deal that ended the deadly Tigray war, giving Beijing a chance to test its crisis diplomacy skills.

Xue Bing, who was appointed China’s special envoy for the Horn of Africa in 2022 to help broker peace in the region, returned to Addis Ababa this week for talks with Demeke Mekonnen, Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs.

Xue visited Tigray, where he met the region’s interim president Getachew Reda and his cabinet members.

He also travelled to the Afar region, where he held talks with Afar Regional State President Awol Arba and other leaders.

China pledges food, funds to key Horn of Africa partner Ethiopia

Tigray and Afar were the regions most affected by the Tigray war, which broke out in November 2020 when Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) forces attacked the Northern Command headquarters of the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF), as well as a number of other bases in Tigray.

At the meeting in Addis Ababa, Demeke assured the Chinese envoy that the Ethiopian government was determined to fully implement the Pretoria peace agreement. Demeke said he appreciated China’s continued development aid to Ethiopia and its constructive role in addressing security, development and governance challenges in Africa.

Xue emphasised Ethiopia’s role in maintaining peace and development in the Horn of Africa.

While details of the discussions in Tigray and Afar were not made public, Tigray Television reported on Tuesday that Xue’s team was expected to discuss the possibility of resuming construction on Giba Dam. The water project on the outskirts of the Tigray region’s capital Mekelle had stalled because of the war.

Xue’s trip came after Chinese ambassador to Ethiopia Zhao Zhiyuan led a delegation of Chinese diplomats and business leaders in June to discuss implementing the Pretoria peace accord and post-conflict reconstruction.

On Thursday, Wu Peng, the Chinese foreign ministry’s director general of African affairs, confirmed Xue’s meetings in Addis Ababa, Tigray and Afar.

“China remains committed to supporting the Ethiopia peace process and post-conflict reconstruction,” Wu posted on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

China has been a key supporter of Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government in the face of pressure from Western countries over alleged human rights violations committed by Ethiopian forces in Tigray.

During the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in October, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised Abiy that China would “support and participate in Ethiopia’s post-war reconstruction and economic revitalisation”.

China has its first overseas military base as well as vast investments in the Horn of Africa – home to Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. The region has been torn by civil wars, Islamist insurgencies and military coups.

Last year, China proposed a peace initiative to help Horn of Africa countries tackle the triple challenges of security, development and governance.

As special envoy, Xue hosted the first Horn of Africa peace conference in Addis Ababa in June of last year and offered to mediate “for the peaceful settlement of disputes based on the will of countries in this region”.

Will China take a front seat to resolve conflicts in the Horn of Africa?

While meeting Demeke in Addis Ababa on Monday, Xue underscored the need to hold a second conference.

Lukas Fiala, coordinator of China Foresight at LSE Ideas, a London School of Economics think tank, said Ethiopia’s political stability was important to Beijing as the country was a long-standing diplomatic partner and a major destination for Chinese investment in the region.

“Not only is China interested in protecting its economic investments, but the close relationship with Addis Ababa has quickly made Ethiopia a litmus test for China’s crisis diplomacy and approach to insecurity abroad,” Fiala said.

Fiala said while China generally promoted a statist approach to security, supporting central governments over non-state actors or rebel groups, “Beijing realises that lasting stability in Ethiopia can only emerge from a political solution that is accepted by both the central government and the northern Tigray region”.

“It is worth remembering that TPLF was in the driver’s seat before Abiy Ahmed became prime minister. Given that this was when Ethiopia’s and China’s economic relationship strengthened considerably, China has at the very least a historical connection to the TPLF,” Fiala added.

He said while China was not the main actor in the African Union-led peace process, positive economic signalling from Beijing could support the ongoing efforts to facilitate lasting stability in Ethiopia.

Fiala added that the key question was whether promises of further investment would materialise in time without simultaneously increasing Ethiopia’s debt burden.

“Lasting debt relief would be another influential tool Beijing could use to support Ethiopia’s economic recovery,” he said.

On the sidelines of the Brics summit in August, Xi promised to suspend Ethiopia’s payments on debt maturing in 2023 and 2024 as part of the common framework for debt restructuring.

Between 2000 and 2022, China pledged US$14.1 billion in loans to Ethiopia, according to data from Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre. Beijing funded the building of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, as well as the Addis Ababa light rail.

Seifudein Adem, a global affairs professor at Doshi­sha University in Japan, said China realised Ethiopia’s “immense potential” and wanted the country to move quickly to end its conflicts and ensure that Ethiopians could “enjoy the fruits of peace and prosperity”.

He said Beijing’s involvement in the peace process would help it learn about the dynamics of conflict management, conflict resolution and peacemaking.

“As a rising global power, China seeks to enhance its experience in these areas. The experience thus gained will prove helpful for her in other parts of Africa and elsewhere. In this sense, the process is as important for China as the outcome,” Adem said.

He added that the Horn of Africa is an ideal place for gaining this experience, as it is home to old and new states, interstate conflicts and internal conflicts, conflicts over resources and conflicts over identity.

The Horn of Africa is also a geostrategic magnet for major global powers, which is perhaps why Xue was appointed special envoy for the region the first place, Aden said.

Chinese envoy to Horn of Africa rejects foreign intervention

According to David Shinn, a professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington and former US ambassador to Addis Ababa, Chinese companies were engaged in several construction and manufacturing projects in the Tigray region valued at over US$4 billion before the conflict broke out. Beijing had to evacuate personnel associated with those projects.

“Presumably, it would like to resume those activities,” he said, adding that China had also been a major source of loans for Ethiopia, although they had declined significantly in recent years.

“China consistently called for an end to the fighting in Ethiopia and encouraged dialogue but otherwise played a minor role in the peace process.”

Shinn said much of the reconstruction funding would have to come from Ethiopia’s own resources.

“Ethiopians created this tragedy and the international community expects them to take the lead in recovering from it,” he said.

“To the extent the international community contributes to the effort, it will have to be largely in the form of aid and not loans that add to Ethiopia’s already extensive external debt.”

First encounters: Chinese archaeologists discover link between pentagram and sound on 2,300-year-old bamboo records

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3245019/first-encounters-chinese-archaeologists-discover-link-between-pentagram-and-sound-2300-year-old?utm_source=rss_feed

Arguably the most memorable feature of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi masterpiece, is the recurring tune of five musical notes. In the film, the aliens use this to communicate with the humans, and the tones are shown with five hand gestures.

But now, an archaeology team from Tsinghua University in Beijing has revealed something astonishing: ancient Chinese musicians and philosophers had these five tones recorded thousands of years ago. And when written, they formed a pentagram.

This discovery, based on bamboo records, is the first to directly link the pentagram with sound.

The pentagram, or five-pointed star, is a mysterious symbol which has profound philosophical and religious significance to a number of different civilisations around the world. From around 300–150BC, it served as the symbol of Jerusalem. Today, many national flags feature pentagram designs, including China.

Archaeological studies have discovered pentagram patterns on Sumerian pottery in the ancient city of Ur in Mesopotamia dating from around 3000BC. In the same period, about 5,000 years ago, the earliest known pentagram graphic also appeared in China.

In 2019, for example, a depiction of a regular pentagram on the bottom of a ceramic plate was found by archaeologists in Tomb 204 at the Liangzhu archaeological site in the Yangtze River region. The Liangzhu culture was the earliest root of the Chinese civilisation.

There are different theories as to the origin of the pentagram symbol. Some academics think ancient Chinese artisans drew inspiration from the shapes of flowers in nature, while others believe it may be connected to ancient observations of the trajectory of Venus.

The pentagram’s meaning has also varied – and sometimes contradicted itself – across different cultures and time periods.

For instance, the pentagram was used in ancient times as a Christian symbol for the five senses, or of the five wounds of Christ. For modern occultists, its major use is a protective charm against evil forces. Meanwhile in Western culture, it is often seen as a symbol of Satanism.

But now, this latest Chinese archaeological discovery has given the ancient symbol a new meaning – associating it with melody.

In 2008, Tsinghua University acquired around 2,500 precious Warring States bamboo slips – Chinese texts written on strips of bamboo. The Warring States period, roughly from 475-221BC, came just before the first unified empire in Chinese history, the Qin dynasty.

Since 2010, Tsinghua University has unveiled research results annually from the bamboo slips, and on December 10, they released the findings from the 13th batch, comprising five bamboo books. It is the first time the research has involved music-related literature in the Warring States texts.

One of the musical texts, titled “Wu Yin Tu” (Diagram of the Five Tones), is made up of 35 long bamboo strips. When placed together, a pentagram-shaped pattern emerges at the centre of the layout.

Following each point of the pentagram are characters representing the names of the five musical scales, arranged in a line extending in five directions.

The pentagram pattern represents a mathematical method for establishing musical scales called the threefold loss-gain method, according to Jia Lianxiang, associate professor at the Research and Conservation Centre for Unearthed Texts at Tsinghua University.

The pitch of musical notes is determined by their wavelength.

“Although the ancient Chinese did not understand the physics of mechanical waves, they derived principles entirely consistent with modern sound theory from the practice of string and wind instruments. This is closely related to the relatively advanced mathematics of that time,” Jia said.

A well-versed artist in one of China’s oldest musical instruments and classical Chinese music theory, Kong Yufeng, said that he wasn’t surprised when he saw the pentagram pattern unveiled by Tsinghua University.

When asked how the discovery made him feel, Kong said: “Imagine that for a person who uses chopsticks every day, what his or her reactions would be when shown ivory chopsticks unearthed from the Warring States period for the first time.”

How Xi’s nod to ancient Chinese ruins reinforces Beijing’s historical narrative

He said, the threefold loss-gain method was actually recorded in a prior Warring States period – the Spring and Autumn Period – in the Guanzi ancient text, and was practised even earlier than that.

But as far as he knows, the representation of this method in the form of a pentagram is a first.

“The five characters on this pentagram correspond to the Chinese traditional five basic elements, or “Wu Xing”, that is, metal, wood, water, fire and earth,” Kong said, adding that it is a musical theory that is unique to China.

However, the music methodology about scales is universal. Musical scales with five notes per octave, known as pentatonic scales, were developed independently by many ancient civilisations and are still used in various musical styles to this day.

“It is amazing to see the strong mathematical and scientific thinking of ancient Chinese behind the music theory,” Huang Dekuan, director of the university’s Research and Conservation Centre for Unearthed Texts, said in an interview with the mainland official outlet China Science Daily.

Blood supplies running low across China as cold weather and surge in respiratory illnesses take toll

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3245382/blood-supplies-running-low-across-china-cold-weather-and-surge-respiratory-illnesses-take-toll?utm_source=rss_feed

China is facing a shortage of blood – a problem blamed on the current spike in respiratory illness, the cold snap and a fall in the number of donors.

Local authorities and blood centres in several of the biggest provinces, including Henan, Shandong, Fujian, Hubei and Shanxi, have warned of a sharp drop in the number of donations and appealed for people to contribute.

According to state-controlled news outlet ThePaper.cn, blood stocks in Xinxiang, a city in Henan province, were running so low that they threatened the supply for operations and other hospital needs.

The city’s publicity department and local Red Cross Society issued an urgent appeal on Friday, saying demand was surging but fewer people were donating because it was winter.

Yuncheng, a city in the central province of Shanxi, issued a similar appeal for donors, saying donations had fallen dramatically after temperatures “dropped off a cliff” while respiratory illnesses surged.

“The number of people choosing to have surgery has greatly increased ... and clinical blood consumption has been running at a high level, resulting in severe difficulties and challenges in meeting the blood demand,” the centre told ThePaper.

China relies on voluntary donors for blood supplies and had a similar shortage crisis a year ago when Covid-19 cases soared following an abrupt end to most pandemic controls. That prompted the authorities to relax the guidelines on giving blood.

Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and a professor at the school of diplomacy and international relations at Seton Hall University, said China’s blood capacity was always “seasonal”.

“When the temperature starts to drop in autumn and winter, the number of people on the streets decreases, causing blood donor numbers to decline,” Huang said.

“Meanwhile, China rules that people with a cold, flu, or a sore throat are ineligible to donate blood. Therefore, a lot of infected people during the flu season may not meet the conditions to donate blood.”

Huang added that there were also suspicions about whether donating blood would lower immunity, making healthy people hesitate to donate. “These reasons are similar to those behind the blood shortage during the Covid-19 era,” he said.

The latest calls for blood donors were met with scepticism on social media, with many raising doubts about the fairness of the voluntary blood donation system.

“People would be more willing to give were it is not so difficult for those voluntary donors and their families to use blood,” one user commented on Weibo.

Northern China on alert for snow onslaught and record low temperatures

Another user said cadres and party members should take the lead in giving blood.

They also pointed to recent reports that a young woman from Shanghai who had been injured in a car crash in Tibet in October was allegedly given preferential treatment.

The authorities have been forced to deny claims that local state employees – including police officers and firefighters – were forced to give blood for the woman, saying those people had volunteered to help.

But the official story has not won over everybody. As one Weibo user put it: “One should give blood selflessly when there is a need. But when we need something, our demand is often dismissed as unreasonable.”

Britain’s National Grid drops China-backed supplier over cybersecurity fears

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3245381/britains-national-grid-drops-china-backed-supplier-over-cybersecurity-fears?utm_source=rss_feed

Britain’s National Grid has started removing components supplied by a unit of China-backed Nari Technology’s from the electricity transmission network over cybersecurity fears, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The decision came in April after the utility sought advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of the nation’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ, the newspaper quoted a Whitehall official as saying.

National Grid declined to comment citing “confidential contractual matters”. “We take the security of our infrastructure very seriously, and have effective controls in place to protect our employees and critical assets to ensure we can continue to reliably, safely and securely transmit electricity,” it said in a statement.

The FT said an employee at the Nari subsidiary NR Electric UK had said the company no longer had access to sites where the components were installed and that National Grid did not disclose a reason for terminating the contracts.

It quoted another person it did not name as saying the decision was based on NR Electric UK components that help control and balance the grid and minimise the risk of blackouts.

UK’s investment minister: Britain ‘not closed’ to Chinese money

It was unclear whether the components remained in the electricity transmission network, the report said.

NR Electric UK, GCHQ and the Chinese embassy in London did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.

Britain’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said that it did not comment on the individual business decisions taken by private organisations. “As a government department we work closely with the private sector to safeguard our national security,” it said in a statement.

Is Beijing warming to South China Sea code of conduct?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3245375/beijing-warming-south-china-sea-code-conduct?utm_source=rss_feed

One of the world’s lengthiest diplomatic sagas – the decades-long marathon between Beijing and Asean to agree a code of conduct in the South China Sea – is back in the spotlight, with a recent surge in tensions in the disputed waters.

China, which has been accused of dragging its feet for about a quarter of a century, has taken a number of recent opportunities to show its support for an early resolution to the regional debate.

But diplomatic sources noted that while China is now proactively seeking a conclusion to negotiations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is in no rush, showing more interest in aiming for a meaningful result than a quick one.

The switch in sentiment comes amid growing geopolitical tensions between Beijing and Washington, which has thrown its support behind the Philippines and other Asean members with territorial claims in the South China Sea.

China’s recent push for an agreement may also not be enough to overcome chronic differences between Beijing and its neighbours on many crucial aspects of a maritime code of conduct in the contested waters, observers said.

Beijing, Asean to start on third reading of South China Sea code of conduct

Less than a month after China and the 10 Asean member states agreed to start on the third reading of the single draft negotiating text, the Philippines unveiled a proposal for a separate pact in November.

Dissatisfied with the “rather slow” progress of the talks, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said the Philippines had approached Vietnam, Malaysia and others to discuss their own rules and regulations in the contested waters.

While none of the parties has confirmed the timetable for the third reading of the draft text, they are said to be aiming to complete negotiations before Autumn 2026, according to an Associated Press report in July.

The report quoted an anonymous Southeast Asian diplomat who said the date was agreed during the Asean foreign ministers’ conference in Jakarta, attended by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

“There are still three years to go, but it is fraught with difficulties [to sign a deal],” said Song Zhongping, a former instructor with the People’s Liberation Army.

The main obstacles include potential interference from outside the region, the diverse views among some of the regional countries, as well as changing international politics, Song said.

China and Asean take another step towards South China Sea code of conduct

If the code’s gestation is approaching its final phase – and the consensus reached five years ago was for at least three readings of the draft – it is also likely to be the most difficult.

According to diplomatic sources with knowledge of the discussions, the first two rounds of talks covered only the least controversial parts of the proposal, and did not touch on the most contentious issues.

The sources described Marcos’s proposal for a separate regional code excluding China as self-defeating.

Manila risks Beijing’s wrath with ‘non-starter’ South China Sea mini pact plan

Hu Bo, director of the South China Sea Probing Initiative (SCSPI), said the talks for the code’s third reading are likely to be “very difficult and very complex” with each clause requiring unanimous agreement from all 11 countries.

“The negotiation of the code has indeed taken a very long time, but it is understandable,” he said.

A draft framework leaked six years ago describes the envisioned agreement as “a set of norms to guide the conduct of parties and promote maritime cooperation in the South China Sea” but it is “not an instrument to settle territorial disputes or maritime delimitation issues”.

Beijing and other claimants have been in contention since the 1970s over who controls hundreds of land features, as well as fishing and exploration rights, in the waterway that carries one-third of global shipping, as well as vast mineral, oil and gas resources.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the islands and rock features, as well as their adjacent waters, indicated by its “nine-dash line” and backed by history, it says.

The Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taipei also claim some of these land features and waters, which sit within the 3.5 million sq km (2.17 million square miles) waterway.

For years, Beijing exhibited a passive, even grudging stance towards Asean’s push for a code of conduct, which has been seen as a way to limit China’s actions in the South China Sea.

Even after talks restarted a decade ago, China’s commitment to establishing a code of conduct was perceived as a way to buy time, particularly for its land reclamations – estimated to cover at least 12 sq km (7.5 miles) – on its seven occupied features in the Spratly Islands.

Fortified South China Sea islands help project Beijing’s power: experts

Beijing’s turnaround may be due in part to a perception that the extensive project in the Spratlys has strengthened its position at the negotiating table, according to observers.

Another incentive for China to step up progress on the code of conduct could be to reduce the regional influence of the US, which has increased its military presence and security interactions with allies in the waterway under its Indo-Pacific strategy.

The journey to a code of conduct began in 1992, when Asean issued its Declaration on the South China Sea, the bloc’s first statement on the maritime disputes.

China and the Philippines agreed on several principles for a code of conduct in August 1995, after a stand-off between the two countries over Mischief Reef. Three months later, Manila also reached a consensus with Hanoi on nine basic principles.

Asean officially endorsed the idea of a code of conduct in 1996 and vowed to promote efforts to establish it in 1998. A year later, Beijing agreed to negotiations with the bloc to develop a code.

But unbridgeable differences between Beijing and other claimants – as well as divergences within Asean over the content, status and scope of the proposed rules – put paid to a binding agreement.

The compromise non-binding Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC) signed in November 2002 said all parties agreed to work towards the “eventual attainment” of a code of conduct.

Nearly nine years of stalling followed – with Beijing showing clear resistance to the Asean negotiations, insisting instead on bilateral dealings with other claimants – until guidelines for implementing the DOC were agreed in 2011, in Bali, Indonesia.

Calls grow in Philippines for UN to intervene in South China Sea dispute

In 2013, Beijing and Asean revived formal consultations on the code, eight months after the Philippines – under the administration of former president Benigno Aquino III – initiated proceedings against China’s claims in The Hague’s Permanent Court.

It would take until 2017 for the 11 countries to adopt a bare-bones framework for the code – one year after The Hague concluded China’s “nine-dash line” violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Beijing rejects the decision.

Building on the framework, China and Asean agreed in 2018 on the single draft negotiating text – which has not been made public – and a road map of three readings, which China proposed to complete by 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic delayed completion of the second reading until this year, when China and the Asean member states also agreed on guidelines to accelerate negotiations.

Li Qiang vows ‘practical’ cooperation with Asean in bid to reassure neighbours

“The third reading … means that the negotiations have formally entered the ‘deep water’ zone,” according to Hu Xin, assistant research fellow of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies.

In a note published on October 30, Hu said that contradictions and divergences among all parties were about to surface.

Glaring areas of disagreement that are expected to test the third round of discussions include the document’s undefined legal status, geopolitical scope, disputed settlement mechanism, criteria of self-restraint and the role of third parties.

While a legally binding code of conduct appears to be Asean’s long-standing goal, China has shown a reluctance to embrace the same stance. Beijing has repeatedly said it wants an enhanced and upgraded version of the 2002 declaration.

China has also said it supports an “effective and substantive” code that is in line with international law, including UNCLOS.

According to Hu Bo from SCSPI, China is open on the issue of the code’s legal status. “Whether it is binding or not depends on how the terms look,” he said, noting that a binding code would regulate all signatories, not just Beijing.

When it comes to the explicit geopolitical scope of the code, both the DOC and 2018 draft text avoided specifics to get around the different positions of many countries involved in the disputes.

‘We choose to engage’: Asean chief calls to dial down US-China tensions

Carl Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at the University of New South Wales in Australia, wrote in 2018 that Malaysia and Singapore had wanted the code’s geographic scope defined in the draft text.

Vietnam proposed that it should apply “to all disputed features and overlapping maritime areas claimed under … UNCLOS”, while Indonesia suggested that “the parties are committed to respect the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the coastal states as provided for in … UNCLOS,” he wrote.

Another bone of contention is whether the code will include a dispute settlement mechanism – pushed by several countries, including the Philippines and Vietnam, but treated with apparent caution by Beijing, without explicitly opposing it.

China’s preference has been to address maritime disputes directly with the countries concerned rather than through international judicial bodies or compulsory arbitration. Beijing emphasises the code’s precautionary role to “control” disputes.

Xi calls on coastguard to enforce law, defend China’s territorial sovereignty

All parties agreed in the 2002 DOC to exercise “self-restraint” – a notion introduced by Vietnam that was viewed as a means of freezing the status quo of island occupation and avoiding escalatory actions.

But subsequent negotiations revealed the claimants’ differing understandings of the term, most notably in China, The Philippines and Vietnam’s controversial reclamation and construction activities on controlled features in the Spratly Islands.

China has also upped the ante, with an instruction from President Xi Jinping on November 29 to the coastguard fleet to enforce China’s laws and “resolutely defend” its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights.

China’s coastguard, the world’s largest, has been at the centre of recent clashes between Beijing and Manila over the disputed Second Thomas Shoal – known as Renai Reef in China and Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines.

Analysts at consultancy Trivium China said that “an aggressive coastguard makes consensus on a South China Sea code of conduct increasingly unlikely”, in a note on December 4. “It will also push rival claimants to strengthen ties with the US.”

The code’s negotiators also have differing positions on the involvement of third parties like the US in the South China Sea.

In his 2018 note, Thayer included leaked details from the single draft negotiating text, containing a Beijing proposal for the code of conduct to ban joint military drills in the South China Sea with countries from outside the region without approval.

Thayer also wrote that China proposed a ban on cooperation in the marine economy with companies from “outside the region”.

China accuses US of threatening peace after warship passes disputed reef

Asean has been China’s largest trading partner since 2020, as well as a focus of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. But the South China Sea disputes remain a risky rift to be healed between the two economies, highlighting the code’s necessity.

The final document is also seen as a way to help China to recover from any reputational damage from the 2016 arbitration ruling.

Zhang Mingliang, a Jinan University professor who specialises in South China Sea studies, said he was not optimistic that an agreement on the code would be reached, because the differences were “too big”.

Even if a text is eventually agreed, the level of respect from all parties towards it was likely to be “very low”, due to deeper mutual mistrust stemming from further protracted negotiations, he said.

SCSPI’s Hu Bo said that a challenge for the negotiations was that some claimants, such as Manila and Hanoi had “a lot of thoughts”.

“The negotiation process for the [code of conduct] is not [solely] up to China,” he said.

China gives Zimbabwe military equipment worth US$28 million to boost security and modernise defence forces

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3245374/china-gives-zimbabwe-military-equipment-worth-us28-million-boost-security-and-modernise-defence?utm_source=rss_feed

China has donated military equipment worth 200 million yuan (US$28 million) to Zimbabwe to bolster the country’s security operations and help modernise its armed forces.

The equipment includes armoured vehicles, personnel carriers, ambulances, motorised water purifiers, patrol boats, minibuses, sniper rifles, machine guns and hand pistols.

While receiving the donation at an army barracks near the capital Harare on Wednesday, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa expressed “gratitude” to China for its generosity and the “ongoing relationship” between the two countries.

“This is a result of the unparalleled strategic partnership that exists between Zimbabwe and China,” said Mnangagwa, who in August won a second and final term.

Mnangagwa said the equipment “will go a long way towards consolidating our ongoing quest to modernise the [Zimbabwe Defence Forces]”.

China’s growing influence in Africa extends to arms sales, report says

China has become a key ally of Zimbabwe, especially since the US and other Western countries imposed sanctions on Harare over human rights violations and the seizure of land from white farmers while former leader Robert Mugabe was in power. Many Western countries, including the US, have maintained an arms embargo against the country because of its poor record on human rights.

China is the main financier of Zimbabwe’s infrastructure projects such as hydroelectric dams, airports and roads. Chinese companies have pumped billions of dollars into Zimbabwe’s mining industry, especially in the mining and processing of lithium, an essential mineral used to make rechargeable batteries for electronic devices, electric vehicles and other clean technology.

“Over the last 23 years, the socio-economic growth, development and prosperity of our country has been weighed down by the albatross of the Western-imposed illegal sanctions. Throughout this period, China has been a true and reliable ally. We are forever thankful,” Mnangagwa said at the event.

Zhou Ding, Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe described the African country as “a great friend” while handing over the donation. Zhou said the militaries of the two countries would continue to strengthen their cooperation.

Chinese military officers are in Zimbabwe to conduct training on the handling of the equipment.

Beijing sees Zimbabwe as a key strategic ­location in southern Africa to spread its influence, and Harare has consistently supported China in international forums.

Zimbabwe is among the longest-standing African recipients of security force assistance from China.

China provided arms and training to guerillas of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army during the armed struggle that toppled the country’s white minority government in 1980.

Mnangagwa, who took over from Mugabe following a coup d’etat in 2017, was among those trained by Beijing.

China’s security force assistance has included donations, typically of military equipment and training, aimed at improving the capacity of forces in recipient countries, according to a study last year by Peace Research Institute Oslo.

China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation funded the purchase of a jet trainer worth US$150 million in 2006, while a US$104 million loan from China Exim Bank funded the building of the National Defence College on the outskirts of Harare in 2011, according to the Chinese Loans to Africa Database at Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre.

Chinese weapons giant Norinco expands operations in West Africa

Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics and international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said Zimbabwe already had the means, including armaments, to silence opposition within the country.

Chan said the Chinese donation mostly consisted of light tactical skirmishing equipment for border wars – not all of it useful for a landlocked country, such as the patrol boats.

“Zimbabwe’s only real water border is Lake Kariba, and its neighbour on the other side, Zambia, poses no military threat,” Chan said. “This is a goodwill gesture from China, probably excess equipment it no longer needs.”

He noted that the motorised water purifiers might have a beneficial non-military use in helping to alleviate a cholera outbreak caused by impure water.

Chipo Dendere, assistant professor of political science in Africana studies at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, questioned the need for the military aid.

“Zimbabwe is not a country at war and none of our neighbours are at war – with the exception of [the Democratic Republic of the Congo], but we are not helping there,” she said.

“The government is only at war with its people and the opposition,” Dendere said. She said China had gifted the government weapons to use against vulnerable people, and what Zimbabwe needed instead was medical or agriculture equipment.

“That technology, if shared with African countries, could save lives – as would technology for healthcare,” Dendere said.

“These gifts are not free either, as China has also been given a lot of access to Zimbabwe’s natural resources.”

According to Emmanuel Matambo, research director at the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, the transition from Mugabe’s government to that of Mnangagwa was expected to improve Zimbabwe’s fortunes, but it has proved to be “a chimera” and has not diminished Western censure of the country.

As a result, “assistance from China, in any form, is a tonic that Zimbabwe appreciates”, Matambo said.

“The same was the case with the help that China gave to Zimbabwe at the height of Covid-19. Mnangagwa continues to rail against what he argues are Western sanctions that put Zimbabwe in dire straits and under unfair duress.”

He said China’s military donations to Africa had been modest until recently, while Russia had been a more involved player on the continent by providing arms, military instructors and mercenaries.

Is China making a play for Gulf of Guinea by giving patrol boat to Sierra Leone?

But with the increase in maritime crime in countries such as Nigeria, and Russia’s preoccupation with its own security engagements in the war with Ukraine, “China seems to have stepped into the breach”, Matambo said.

In 2022, Beijing supplied a 46-metre (151-foot) patrol boat to Nigeria to aid that country’s effort to stem escalating maritime crime, including piracy, kidnappings and armed robbery at sea, especially in the Gulf of Guinea.

According to a 2022 study by the Peace Research Institute Oslo, China has provided nearly all African countries with millions of dollars’ worth of security force assistance as Beijing seeks to strengthen relations with the continent and protect its economic interests.

It said China had provided military assistance to 47 African countries over the past two decades, with Zimbabwe and Angola the top recipients of military arms and training. Beijing has also aided the African Union Mission in Somalia and the Economic Community of West African States Standby Force.

China company sets up monthly bonus and staff must run at least 50km to qualify in the belief firm can only thrive if ‘employees are healthy’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3244718/china-company-sets-monthly-bonus-and-staff-must-run-least-50km-qualify-belief-firm-can-only-thrive?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese company has controversially replaced its year-end bonus with a new rewards system for employees aimed at motivating them to keep fit and healthy.

The Dongpo Paper company in Guangdong province recently cancelled its traditional annual performance-based bonus in favour of a monthly one that depends on the amount of exercise undertaken by individuals.

The new policy means an employee will enjoy a full monthly bonus if they run 50km a month; 60 per cent for running 40km, and 30 per cent for 30km. Meanwhile, those who run 100km a month will receive an extra 30 per cent.

The scheme also takes into account mountain hiking and speed walking, which could account for 60 and 30 per cent respectively of the total exercise required.

The distance is calculated by apps on the employees’ phones.

As news of the company’s innovative policy went viral on Chinese social media, the company’s boss, Lin Zhiyong, explained the value of such a scheme for employers: “A company can last long when its employees are healthy”.

According to the firm’s official WeChat account, Lin practises what he preaches, having reached the summit of Mount Everest twice.

He said he has spent the last three years encouraging his employees to enjoy sports and fitness as he does.

The company has been keeping track of its employees’ exercise output, and Lin said: “Basically, all of them qualify to get the full amount of bonus”.

An employee said the new bonus scheme is “killing two birds with one stone” as “we can get both health and money.”

Another employee with top exercise performance, Zhou Jian, had been running 90km every month, and said it helped him reduce his blood sugar.

Views on the policy were divided among the online community.

“I need a company like this to help me keep fit,” said one person.

“The intention of the company’s policy is good but it should take into consideration any existing conditions or health issues among its employees,” said another.

“The company should add an extra bonus to the employees who do exercise, instead of using the existing bonus as a bargaining chip,” said a third.

Similarly, in 2019, the canteen of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication encouraged its students to work out by giving a free share of crayfish to those who walked more than 10,000 steps a day, and half price for those who walked over 5,000 steps a day. The campaign received an enthusiastic response from students.

Japan and ASEAN bolster ties at summit focused on security, economy amid China tensions

https://apnews.com/article/japan-asean-summit-maritime-security-china-8ff28376dc10f9a5f95b93c4c7c7c7dcJapan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, greets Indonesia's President Joko Widodo upon arrival for the opening session of ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit Meeting at the Hotel Okura Tokyo in Tokyo Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023. (Kazuhiro Nogi/Pool Photo via AP)

2023-12-17T01:10:01Z

TOKYO (AP) — Leaders from Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, at a special summit on Sunday marking their 50th anniversary of friendship, adopted a joint vision that emphasizes security and economic cooperation while respecting the rule of law amid growing tensions with China in regional seas.

Ties between Japan and ASEAN used to be largely based on Japanese assistance to the developing economies, in part due to lingering bitterness over Japan’s wartime actions. But in recent years the ties have focused more on security amid China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, while Japan’s postwar pacifist stance and trust-building efforts have fostered friendlier relations.

The leaders, in a joint statement, called for strengthening their “mutually beneficial” partnership and working together for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. They also called to pursue greater prosperity for the region and to promote people exchanges among the younger generations, Kishida told a joint news conference with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, this year’s ASEAN chair.

“We affirm the shared view to promote a rules-based Indo-Pacific region that is free and open (and) embraces key principles such as ASEAN’s unity and centrality, inclusiveness (and) transparency,” according to the joint statement.

The leaders stressed “respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, settlement of differences or disputes by peaceful means and renunciation of the threat or use of force,” but without identifying China.

The leaders adopted an implementation plan for 130 projects. Japan called to step up cooperation in security and defense, while reinforcing support for efforts in climate change and investment, including in the region’s automotive industry, he said.

“As divisions and confrontations deepen and the world faces compounded crises, Japan will tackle the issues together with ASEAN, which is the linchpin of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific,’” Kishida said. “Based on our mutual trust, we will tackle new issues, and contribute to peace and prosperity of the region in order to create a world where people can benefit while their dignity is respected.”

Japan adopted a new security strategy last year and has been rapidly building up its military and expanding its military partnerships to better counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

On Saturday, on the sidelines of the Dec. 16-18 summit, Kishida held a series of bilateral talks as Japan seeks to step up bilateral security ties with ASEAN countries.

Kishida and his Malaysian counterpart, Anwar Ibrahim, signed a 400 million yen ($2.8 million) deal to bolster Malaysia’s maritime security capability. It is a new Japanese official security assistance program specifically for militaries of friendly nations to help strengthen their law enforcement and security capabilities.

The assistance includes provisions of rescue boats and other equipment to help improve the military capability of Malaysia, which sits at a crucial location on sea lanes connecting the Indian Ocean and East Asia and serves a vital role in warning and surveillance operations for the entire region.

Separately on Saturday, Kishida signed a deal with Widodo, offering a grant of up to 9.05 billion yen ($63.7 million) to fund Indonesia’s maritime security capability advancement plan and includes a Japanese-built large-scale maritime patrol boat.

In November, Japan announced a provision of coastal surveillance radars to the Philippine navy, and the two sides also agreed to start talks for a key defense pact called the Reciprocal Access Agreement designed to smooth their troops’ entry into each other’s territory for joint military exercises.

Later that month, Japan and Vietnam agreed to elevate the status of their relationship to a top-level comprehensive strategic partnership, under which they will discuss details of a possible deal to broaden their defense cooperation.

But ASEAN countries are not in lockstep in their stance toward China, with which many have strong ties and are reluctant to choose sides. Japanese officials say they are mindful of the situation and not trying to get them to choose sides.

Japan also hopes to push forward energy cooperation with ASEAN leaders at a summit for the Asian Zero Emission Community initiative planned for Monday, when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is expected to join online.

South China Sea: Philippines wants to start energy exploration projects in waterway, says Marcos Jnr

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3245365/south-china-sea-philippines-wants-start-energy-exploration-projects-waterway-says-marcos-jnr?utm_source=rss_feed

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said his country is working to resolve “exploration issues” in the South China Sea so it could start new energy exploration projects in the resource-rich waterway to meet his nation’s energy needs.

Marcos Jnr, in an interview with Japanese media on Saturday, said tensions in the South China Sea have “increased rather than diminished” in recent months, warning that a “more assertive China” posed a “real challenge” to its Asian neighbours.

The Philippines and China have resumed discussions about jointly exploring oil and gas resources in the South China Sea, where the two nations have sparred for decades over sovereign rights to develop natural resources in the strategic waterway.

But “very little progress” has been made with regard to the talks, Marcos said, according to a press release from his office as he attends a Tokyo summit of Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“We are still at a deadlock right now,” Marcos Jnr said as he emphasised his country’s right to exploit energy reserves in the West Philippines Sea at a time the Philippines wants to reduce its reliance on fossil fuel and coal, and transition to liquefied natural gas.

Manila refers to the portion of the South China Sea that is within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) as the West Philippine Sea.

Efforts to find a legally viable way to cooperate on energy exploration have stalled repeatedly, with the previous administration abandoning talks in June last year, citing constitutional constraints and issues of sovereignty.

Philippines ‘undeterred’ by South China Sea ‘provocations’, Marcos Jnr says

A week ago, Manila and Beijing traded accusations over a collision of their vessels near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea as tensions over claims in the vital waterway escalate.

In addition to the Philippines, Asean members Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei claim parts of the South China Sea disputed by China, which claims almost all of the sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion (HK$23.4 trillion) of annual ship-borne commerce.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis, a ruling the United States supports but Beijing rejects.

“I’m afraid we’ll have to be able to say that tensions have increased rather than diminished for the past months or the past years,” Marcos Jnr said as he underlined the need to resolve issues peacefully.

The challenge that China posed required “new solutions”, said Marcos Jnr, who has vowed to defend his country’s rights in the South China Sea after the collision, which Manila has described as a “serious escalation”.

China urges Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together to ‘avoid miscalculation’ as diplomats meet on restoration of ties

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3245358/china-urges-iran-and-saudi-arabia-work-together-avoid-miscalculation-diplomats-meet-restoration-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for deeper cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Iran to “avoid miscalculation” as diplomats from the Middle Eastern states met in the Chinese capital for the first time since a Beijing-brokered deal to normalise relations between the two.

During the talks with Saudi deputy foreign minister Waleed Elkhereiji and his Iranian counterpart Ali Bagheri Kani on Friday, Wang also renewed Beijing’s call for “an immediate ceasefire” in the Israel-Gaza war.

“China has always stood by Arab and Muslim countries and supported the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. The most urgent task is to promote a ceasefire in Gaza, to stop the war, to promote humanitarian assistance, and to resume the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Wang as saying.

China’s Wang Yi urges coordination with Iran in call to discuss Israel-Gaza war

The meeting was the first of the China-Saudi Arabia-Iran joint committee, a dialogue mechanism to support Riyadh and Tehran’s normalisation process.

“It is hoped that the two sides will continue to enhance mutual trust through dialogue and consultation, and achieve a lasting and comprehensive good-neighbourly friendship,” Wang said.

Under former foreign minister Qin Gang’s watch in April, Saudi Arabia and Iran announced the normalisation of diplomatic relations seven years after they were severed. The agreement was brokered by China and was widely seen as a sign of Beijing’s ambition to influence the region beyond economics.

Riyadh-owned Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said China expressed its readiness to continue playing a constructive role and its support for the Saudi and Iranian sides to strengthen ties.

SPA also reported that the talks covered the reopening of the two countries’ embassies and mutual visits by their foreign ministers.

The two countries exchanged ambassadors in September. Riyadh and Tehran have officially invited each other’s leaders to visit, with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi having accepted an invitation from Saudi Arabia.

According to Xinhua, Wang said Saudi Arabia and Iran should strengthen trade, security, personal exchanges and negotiations to avoid “miscalculation”.

The two countries should also “eliminate external interference” from their relationship, he said in a pointed reference to the United States, a long-time ally of Saudi Arabia but Iran’s rival.

“The Middle East can no longer become a geopolitical arena for the global powers, and the fate of the Middle East should be in the hands of the peoples of the countries of the region,” Wang was quoted as saying.

“I believe that Saudi Arabia and Iran are fully capable of removing external interference promptly and pushing the reconciliation process forward to maintain long-term peace and stability in the region.”

China and Iran vow to work together for peace amid Israel-Gaza war

Riyadh and Washington have reportedly reached the last mile of a normalisation deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia in exchange for a defence treaty, but the agreement has been on hold since the Gaza war erupted.

Iran is believed to be a key military and financial backer of Hamas, but it has denied any involvement in the group’s sudden assault on Israel on October 7.

On Monday, Iran’s state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian warned Wang that the Gaza conflict had “already expanded” in the region.

Lost lover: woman appears on China TV searching for father of child, 8, but does not know his name, number or address, shocking viewers

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3245031/lost-lover-woman-appears-china-tv-searching-father-child-8-does-not-know-his-name-number-or-address?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese woman went on national television asking for help with finding the father of her eight-year-old daughter, but she had forgotten his name and number, shocking many online.

The woman from southwestern China’s Chongqing municipality, surnamed Feng, appeared on a TV programme that helps people search for missing relatives or friends, in a bid to find the man by whom she became pregnant nine years ago.

Feng said she met the man at a gym where she worked for a week, during a time when she was getting over a relationship she had just ended. They dated for a week but broke up after a quarrel.

It was not until months later that she realised she was pregnant. She chose not to contact the man because she says he had a “bad attitude” and decided not to have an abortion because of the effect it might have on her body.

Feng described her romance with the man as “absurd”. She had hoped to have a serious relationship with him despite her concerns that the relationship was moving faster than she was comfortable with.

She added that because their break up was also so swift, the entire liaison soon felt “unreal”.

She explained that her reasons behind the search for him all these years later stem from the realisation that her daughter deserves the opportunity to meet her father.

However, she could not recall the man’s name and she had not saved his phone number. The only information she could remember was that the man’s address on his identity card back then was in Chongqing, and that a friend of his used to own an ice-cream shop.

Feng added that she is sure her daughter is this man’s because her life was “relatively simple”.

Video clips of the show attracted millions of views on the social media platform Douyin and many expressed shock and disbelief.

“Is it the plot of some cheesy soap opera?” A person on Weibo asked.

However, the father saw the programme and called Feng immediately. She said they were now discussing how to deal with the situation and the child’s future.

This is not the first time mainland social media has been shocked by unconventional relationships.

In October, there was a remarkable engagement party in northern China’s Tianjin province.

The couple, both named Wang Zekun, met at university and were initially drawn to each other because of their shared name. After dating for seven years, they decided to get engaged, which excited their relatives.

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In Cambodia’s ‘underground’ crypto economy, Tether becomes coin of choice for Chinese-linked activities

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3245224/cambodias-underground-crypto-economy-tether-becomes-coin-choice-chinese-linked-activities?utm_source=rss_feed

In pockets of Phnom Penh frequented by Chinese expatriates, the scrolling neon signs at 24-hour currency exchanges offer to trade yuan for Tether, the cryptocurrency of choice for moving money in and out of China, gambling and cashing out the gains of Southeast Asia’s cyber scams.

Like all cryptocurrencies, Tether (or USDT) – a so-called stablecoin because its value is tied to the US dollar – is officially banned for trade in Cambodia.

Yet security experts say it has fast become an integral part of the country’s shadow economy; with a low fee and no restrictions to move, hide and launder money at speed.

While currency exchanges in Phnom Penh also offer legitimate trading and a daily workaround to China’s onerous currency controls for the city’s Chinese community, Tether’s role in Cambodia’s vast dark economy is now falling under increasing scrutiny.

Playing dirty: China faces off with increasingly sophisticated money launderers

In November, the US Department of Justice seized nearly US$9 million in assets it traced to more than 70 victims of online scams, after conducting an investigation of crypto wallets with Tether Holdings, the company behind USDT, and the crypto trading platform OKX. Tether said it froze an additional US$225 million tied to ‘pig butchering’ cyber scams in Southeast Asia.

The US government and Tether did not specify where they traced the assets to, or who might be holding the receiving cryptocurrency wallets. However, Southeast Asia has become the epicentre of money laundering from online gaming and cyber scams, in particular Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

“The relative novelty and complexity of cryptocurrencies make them a fertile ground for scams and Ponzi schemes, targeting less informed investors,” said cybersecurity expert Ngo Minh Hieu, who works for the Vietnamese government’s National Cyber Security Centre and other independent start-ups.

Tether Holdings’ backers claim that the cryptocurrency it issues is tied to US Treasury Bills – though critics have questioned whether it really holds sufficient assets to back everything it mints.

Even those running Phnom Penh’s ecosystem of bricks-and-mortar crypto exchanges and online USDT exchanges admit they are running a parallel financial service in the developing economy.

“We are an underground bank,” one exchange owner told This Week in Asia, answering in Chinese. “The questions you ask might link to customer privacy, so please understand that we cannot talk to you.”

English-speaking Filipinos tricked into Chinese scam jobs: whistle-blowers

In between the restaurants, clothing shops and barbers targeting Chinese expats, a half-dozen neon signs hawk exchange rates in Chinese of about 7 yuan per USDT. Some shop operators sit behind glass counters, others in marble-walled rooms decorated with chandeliers and grand vases, insignia of the wealth on offer.

But even at the front end of sales, there are warnings over Cambodia’s cryptocurrency boom.

“A lot of people lose money on their phone, you have to be careful,” one staff member said.

Expert Ngo Minh Hieu says there is no absolute security in the hurly-burly of the crypto world.

“Hacking of cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets is also a significant risk,” he said.

It is impossible to know the scale of Tether’s reach into Cambodia’s economy. But globally, around 84 billion USDT is in circulation.

Banks, exchanges and platforms are flourishing, their promises of smooth, reliable digital solutions to money flow problems readily advertised through social media and encrypted channels.

One Cambodia-registered financial platform, Huione Pay, has a branch which looks like any other bank, except the tellers discuss USDT exchange options with customers. But its main activities occur online.

Huione hosts a network of interlinking Telegram channels, with dozens of “exchange groups” offering different assets for sale.

Analysis of Huione’s publicly available USDT exchange activities provides a window into how Tether enables transactions in Cambodia.

Some Chinese-language chats ask for “pure white assets” indicating money from a legitimate source, while others do not ask for such provenance.

Some offer products and services, such as selling mobile SIM cards from different countries, while others advertise “first-hand data on overseas Chinese in Europe, America, Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea”.

From love scams to fake jobs, Asia-Pacific is new ‘ground zero’ for cybercrime

Though it is hard to confirm from such vague advertisements, both of the services on offer are crucial tools for scam operators, who dole out dozens of SIM cards to workers so that they can disguise identities and provide contact information to potential marks.

Other conversations appear to be in code: discussions about “cars” appearing to mean bank cards that can be used to receive money from fraud victims, while the letter “u” indicates USDT, the currency accepted in most of the deposits and transactions in the dark trade.

One of the cryptocurrency trade groups advertised by Huione offers online investigation services coveing criminal background checks, company records and bank statements, and at one point the advert addresses a potential customer base: “[We] welcome the scamming compound to come and ask for information.”

Bank officials did not answer This Week in Asia’s repeated requests for further details on their activities.

Tether’s wider allure to Southeast Asia’s crime groups is beyond dispute, security experts say.

“In a sense, the perfect operating conditions for criminals have been created in border areas and special economic zones of the region,” said Jeremey Douglas, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s regional representative. He explained that cryptocurrency – particularly USDT traded on the TRON exchange platform – was heavily used by cyber criminals and the region’s governments were not able to keep up.

“The capacity of criminal groups running online gaming, scams, money-laundering operations and underground banks is far more advanced than most enforcement agencies in Southeast Asia,” Douglas added.

On December 8, the US, British and Canadian governments sanctioned 14 individuals and businesses linked to online scam operations and human trafficking in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

The list includes Cambodian-registered businesses ZhengHeng Group Co Ltd, Heng He Casino, KB Hotel, Pacific Real Estate Management Co and Golden Sun Sky Co Ltd; Cambodian tycoon Hum Sovanny; as well as She Zhijiang and Dong Lecheng, both Chinese nationals who have naturalised via Cambodia’s passport-for-purchase programme.

Cambodia’s national bank has embraced blockchain, the digital ledger technology that enables cryptocurrency, to enable QR payments and transfers across registered banks.

But cryptocurrencies have been banned in the country since 2017.

Meas Soksensan, the spokesman for Cambodia’s Economy and Finance Ministry, said he hadn’t been informed about the US-driven Tether investigation, and the National Bank of Cambodia could not be reached for comment.

Cryptocurrency proliferates in Cambodia’s scores of casinos, the physical emporiums dedicated mainly to Chinese, or Chinese diaspora, customers evading gambling bans at home – as well as an untold number of online gambling sites operating from the Southeast Asian nation.

Cambodia’s multibillion-dollar cyber scam industry billowed out from the same casinos in the capital, Sihanoukville and areas bordering neighbouring Vietnam, Laos and Thailand.

In a September report on casinos and cyber fraud in Southeast Asia, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime reported that cryptocurrency increasingly appears to be used in illicit financial flows, and estimated that between US$7.5 billion and US$12.5 billion in illegal money is moving through a Southeast Asian country that it did not name.

Cambodia banned its burgeoning online gambling business in 2020, yet sites are still readily available.

Ben Lee, managing partner for the regional gaming consultancy IGamiX Management and Consulting, said cryptocurrencies are embedded in the casino industry because of the simplicity of cross-border transfers.

“I think most governments in Asia … are unprepared for this development,” he said, adding that casinos cared more about revenue than the nature of the money passing through their establishments.

Tether appears to be the cryptocurrency of choice for online gambling businesses catering to Chinese markets, said Jonny Ferrari, a colourful US entrepreneur who’s worked in Cambodia’s casino industry since 2015, explaining it lets criminals rinse their money via multiple shell companies.

“Nobody has the ability to track it back that far,” he said.

Japan companies in Thailand should make quick decisions amid Chinese rise, says PM Srettha

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3245355/japan-companies-thailand-should-make-quick-decisions-amid-chinese-rise-says-pm-srettha?utm_source=rss_feed

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said on Saturday that Japanese companies in Thailand should make quick decisions in their business operations amid an increasing market share by Chinese companies.

Srettha, who is visiting Tokyo for a summit between Japan and Association of Southeast Asian Nations members slated for Sunday, met executives of several Japanese carmakers here on Friday and agreed in principle about tax incentives to help them produce more electric vehicles in Thailand, he said in an exclusive interview with Kyodo.

The carmakers included Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Isuzu and Suzuki, said Srettha, the businessman-turned-politician.

“You are not alone in the world of course. While the others are making quick decisions,” Japanese companies need to make certain adaptations, Srettha said. Chinese carmakers have seen their share in the Thai EV market reach almost 80 per cent of late, according to a local bank research.

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“Thailand will continue to be a base for automobile exports,” he said, adding he hoped Japanese carmakers, which have been manufacturing cars in Thailand for more than 60 years, would continue to contribute to the Thai economy.

Thailand has been engaging in free trade negotiations with the European Union and Britain, to whom Thailand is exporting Japanese cars made in the Southeast Asian country, said Srettha, who is focusing on boosting the Thai economy, which is still on a recovery path after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Srettha is on his first visit to Japan since taking office on September 5.

He will hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Sunday on the sidelines of the special summit to commemorate the 50th anniversary of friendship and cooperation between Japan and Asean.

Amid US tech war, is China stuck in a middle-technology trap? Is it time to open its doors wider?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3245242/amid-us-tech-war-china-stuck-middle-technology-trap-it-time-open-its-doors-wider?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top science academy has warned of a potential “middle-technology trap”, with the leading analyst who published the concept calling for the country to “open its doors” to avoid becoming stuck at a key stage needed to fuel sustainable economic growth through innovation.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences report in early December came at a delicate time when the United States has stepped up technology curbs, while Chinese manufacturers are finding it increasingly difficult to move up value chains.

“The countries that develop later usually have difficulties in industrial upgrading and transitioning to high-income countries because they lack original technological advances after technology importation, imitation, absorption, and tracking,” the report said.

The “middle-technology trap” describes a scenario in which developing countries benefit from industrial transfers due to their low-cost advantages, but face long-term economic stagnation when the advantages diminish, and local firms struggle to catch up with the core technologies retained by developed nations.

The idea was first brought forward by Zheng Yongnian, a prominent political scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and his research team in March, but it has now become a concern for Beijing following a recent tone-setting meeting.

In its statement following the central economic work conference this week, China’s top leaders pledged to mobilise a variety of resources to break technological containment, prioritise tech innovation to improve the resiliency and security of key manufacturing chains and identify future areas of growth, including commercial space flights, biotechnology and artificial intelligence.

“It is necessary to promote industrial innovation through scientific and technological innovation, especially subversive and cutting-edge technologies, to spawn new industries, new models and new momentum,” the statement said.

The “middle-technology trap” concept comes amid the escalating tech war with the US, diversification of the global supply chain and China’s efforts to gain an upper hand in the global tech race to create new economic growth points.

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According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences report, China’s manufacturing added value accounted for nearly 30 per cent globally, close to the combined total of the United States, Japan, Germany, South Korea and India.

Its spending on research and development, meanwhile, ranked second after the US, while China’s technological strength remains in the third tier globally.

“China’s manufacturing sector is still in the downstream of the global value chain, and it faces a risk of being hamstrung at the low and mid-end by developed countries such as the United States, Germany and Japan,” the report warned.

And in addition to increased spending to tackle the choke points, such as semiconductors, the world’s second-largest economy also needs to embrace a more open policy and sweeping reforms to achieve technological upgrades, Zheng at the Chinese University of Hong Kong said.

In a report in July, Zheng said China needs a wider open-door policy, or even to unilaterally open up to the rest of the world even amid decoupling.

“China needs to open its doors to attract international talent, and if it is not capable of attracting European and American scientists, it should at least try to attract scientists from Russia, Eastern Europe, India and other developing countries,” he wrote.

Zheng also said Beijing should open up its national industrial experimental laboratories to more private enterprises.

He added that China should also reform the enterprise system so that state-owned firms and large private companies can share resources to expand the supply and industrial chains.

‘Toy swordsman’: security guard at China hospital attaches small toys to uniform to amuse child patients, saying he is happy when ‘kids are smiling’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3244637/toy-swordsman-security-guard-china-hospital-attaches-small-toys-uniform-amuse-child-patients-saying?utm_source=rss_feed

A security guard at a children’s hospital has been nicknamed the “toy swordsman” because he amuses young patients with an arsenal of cute toys attached to his uniform to ease their nervousness about seeing the doctor.

Yu Jingjing, 38, who works at Dalian Children’s Hospital in Liaoning province in northeastern China, is famous among other security guards because he collects small stuffed toys and hangs them from the back of his uniform, the People’s Daily reported.

Yu said he first attached stuffed toys on his work clothes when he found some small toys young patients had lost or left behind.

“I thought the toys on my uniform were striking so that the children and their parents would easily find their lost toys when they revisited the hospital,” Yu was quoted as saying.

Yu, who initially identified himself as a “walking lost and found office” for toys, unexpectedly found that many of the children would gather around him to play with the toys.

It was so effective that even crying children would calm down when they saw him. Yu said he would sometimes give the toys to the patients as gifts.

Yu will occasionally buy new toys with his own money, and his colleagues will clean lost toys and give them to him for his costume.

He is now affectionately called the “toy swordsman” who wears a “toy cloak” because his costume represents a stockpile of happiness for the children.

“I am also a father. It makes me happy to help a kid stop crying,” said Yu. “Although I can not cure them, I try to ease their pain in my own way.”

Yu’s teenage son discovered his father’s toy cloak last month when he went to the hospital to treat a cold.

“My son asked me why I hung toys on my uniform. I told him it was to cheer up the ‘younger brothers and sisters’ who were scared about their physical checkups and worried about receiving an injection. He instantly said he was willing to donate some toys,” Yu said.

Yu’s efforts to bring joy to children have earned significant praise online.

“I salute this security guard,” said one internet observer.

Another person said: “He uses his ordinary job to provide warmth to the world.”

Stories of kind-hearted adults helping children often trend online and move internet users.

Recently, dozens of elderly women in a residential community in eastern Zhejiang province started a “shared grandma” scheme to provide care and companionship to children during the day when their parents are at work.

Why did Chinese provincial civilian officials appear in military uniform?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3245042/why-did-chinese-provincial-civilian-officials-appear-military-uniform?utm_source=rss_feed

Dozens of Chinese civilian officials made a rare public appearance in military uniforms at provincial defence events recently in an effort to drum up support for the armed forces and promote military-civilian integration.

Although such military reviews are regular events, one former cadre said the aim of such appearances was to keep people alert to security threats and warn civilian officials not to let their guard down.

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Earlier this month, Wang Xiaohui, Communist Party secretary of Sichuan, and a handful of his subordinates appeared in camouflage uniforms displaying no marks of rank or other insignia to inspect People’s Liberation Army troops at a provincial “defence day” event at a base in the capital Chengdu.

They changed into the uniforms following a provincial military affairs meeting, where Wang urged civilian officials to continue to help the military and strengthen national defence education, according to a report on Sichuan’s official broadcaster’s primetime bulletin.

He also said he hoped troops stationed in the province – which has been hit by a string of earthquakes in the past two decades, including one that killed more than 60,000 people in 2008 – would continue their role of helping with disaster relief and rescue operations.

The meeting also heard from the Sichuan military region’s political commissar Tian Xiaowei about the building of national defence reserve forces in the province.

In recent months provincial party mouthpieces have reported on similar events, including another “defence day” in Gansu and meetings in Guangdong and Guizhou to review military mobilisation and military-civilian integration.

Deng Yuwen, a former deputy editor of Study Times, official newspaper of the Central Party School where cadres are trained, said the recent appearances of civilian officials in military uniforms were intended to remind society that China should not let its guard down.

“It is a constant reminder to all the non-military officials about the security threats China is facing and to get their buy-ins for annual military recruitment and the training of China’s militias,” said Deng, who is now an independent researcher at the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy in the United States.

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In China’s party-state system, provincial party secretaries, such as Wang, are usually named as first secretary of the provincial military region’s party committee – a role with no decision-making powers because, as civilians, they are not allowed to command any troops, including armed police units.

In the case of disaster relief or riot control, they have to escalate the request to the highest command level, the Central Military Commission. Meanwhile, they are expected to play a support role to the local military in areas such as recruitment and support for veterans and serving troops.

The political commissars of the provincial military region, such as Sichuan’s Tian, also sit on the local party’s standing committee as an observer.

This arrangement, which dates back to the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, is designed to improve communications between military and civilian officials and help mobilise forces in case of emergency.

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The PLA has about 2 million soldiers, making China the country with the largest number of active soldiers in the world. It also has 8 million militiamen serving as a wartime reserve.

Under Xi Jinping’s 2016 military reforms, the command of regular PLA troops was transferred to five command theatres, while provincial military regions remain responsible for co-ordinating recruitment, militia training and military-civilian integration.

Past records show that the provincial or municipal party committees hold military affairs meetings every six months, while county-level meetings are held every quarter.

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