• Hong Kong to spend HK$15 billion on fresh water from mainland China over next three years
• US House panel targeting Chinese influence makes its mark, to mixed reviews
• China sanctions a US research firm and 2 individuals over reports on human rights abuses in Xinjiang
• Chinese families of Malaysian flight MH370 victims urge new search after experts say plane could be found ‘within days’
• Malaysia reboots flagging ‘second home’ golden visa scheme with eye on Chinese expats
• Souring UK-China relations mean my path to politics has been a lonely one
• Taiwan election hopeful William Lai says KMT’s embrace of ‘one China’ is dividing island
• China ups Asean trade, investment push with new high-speed railway link connecting to Vietnam border
• Hong Kong urged to open up primary school enrolments to more mainland Chinese pupils amid record-low births
• Import-reliant China makes rubber extraction innovation amid rising demand from car industry
• Happy loser: China woman whose ‘OK to be a loser’ video went viral last year remains unshaken in belief ditches well-paid job to be free again
• Emergency scramble brings crippled China communications satellite under control
• Hong Kong woman died after car tried to overtake another in Christmas Day traffic accident in mainland China
• Chinese company faces criticism for ‘jokingly’ asking women staff to apply makeup for work to ‘motivate’ team
• ‘Revolutionary’ design: Chinese scientists invent the most powerful detonation engine for hypersonic flight
• Hong Kong tourism officials too ‘passive’ in efforts to attract mainland Chinese visitors, former city leader CY Leung says
• Indonesian workers protest at Chinese-funded nickel plant after 18 killed in explosion
• Why hasn’t China joined US-led naval force against Houthi rebel attacks in Red Sea?
• ‘Mickey ears’ popularity soars among China pet owners despite concerns over painful, risky cosmetic procedures inflicted on beloved fur babies
• China turns spotlight on digital economy in quest for ‘common prosperity’ under President Xi Jinping
• Chinese chess champion stripped of title after defecating in hotel bathtub
• State-owned China Resources teams up with Hong Kong’s New World to develop US$1.3 billion Northern Metropolis residential project
• Zambia Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo resigns amid outcry over Chinese business dealings
• China Proposes More Rules for Online Gaming

Hong Kong to spend HK$15 billion on fresh water from mainland China over next three years

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3246433/hong-kong-spend-hk15-billion-fresh-water-mainland-china-over-next-three-years?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong will need to spend HK$15 billion (US$1.9 billion) over the next three years to buy fresh water from mainland China under a new deal which includes an annual 2.39 per cent price rise, the highest rate since 2018.

The Development Bureau revealed on Wednesday that the three-year contract between Hong Kong and the mainland authorities for water from the Dongjiang River in Guangdong province will run from January 1 until the end of 2026.

Water prices will be increased by 2.39 per cent a year from 2024 to 2026, upped from the 1.33 per cent a year used between 2021 and 2023.

The annual rate of increase was 0.3 per cent between 2018 and 2020.

A government spokesman said the new rate took into account changes in the price indices of Guangdong and Hong Kong and the exchange rate for renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho on Wednesday signed the new agreement with Wang Lixin, the director general of the Water Resources Department of Guangdong province, in Guangzhou.

“We are very grateful for the nation’s support for Hong Kong,” Lin said. “The continuous supply of Dongjiang water since the 1960s has helped Hong Kong to solve the long-term problem of water shortage.”

“Dongjiang water currently makes up about 70 to 80 per cent of fresh water consumption in Hong Kong, meeting the needs of people’s livelihood and social development.”

The rest of Hong Kong’s supply of fresh water comes from rainfall.

Dongjiang water comes from the Taiyuan Pumping Station in Dongguan city, which is discharged into the Shenzhen Reservoir before it is piped to Hong Kong.

Flooding, road subsidence from burst water pipe disrupt traffic on Hong Kong Island

Hong Kong reached a new water supply deal with mainland Chinese authorities in 2020, which allowed the city to pay only for the actual amount supplied until 2029.

Major features such as water quantity, quality and prices are reviewed and adjusted every three years.

It was agreed in 2020 that the annual supply ceiling of 820 million cubic metres (216 billion gallons) of Dongjiang water would be retained and that water prices would rise by 1.33 per cent annually between 2021 and 2023.

But in 2021 the actual price remained the same as 2020’s amid the pandemic.

Hong Kong is committed to also buying a maximum of 820 million cubic metres of Dongjiang water a year between 2024 and 2026.

The figure is close to the city’s actual consumption of 810 million cubic metres in 2022 and 811 million cubic metres the year before.

Hong Kong to pay only for water supplied under new Guangdong deal

Based on the commitment, the annual ceiling water prices are adjusted to HK$5.13 billion, HK$5.25 billion and HK$5.38 billion respectively.

The new annual increase rate of 2.39 per cent is the highest since the three years between 2018 and 2020 where the rate of 0.3 per cent was adopted.

The rate ranged from 6.36 per cent to 6.65 per cent from 2015 to 2017.

The annual ceiling water prices from 2021 to 2023 were HK$4.88 billion, HK$4.95 billion and HK$5.01 billion respectively.

The Hong Kong authorities said the new agreement also specified that Guangdong will ensure the quality of the water supplied was compliant with Type II waters in the Environmental Quality Standards for Surface Water, which is “the highest national standard for surface water applicable to human consumption”.

The Development Bureau will also organise a series of events designed to teach the public about the history of Dongjiang water in Hong Kong in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first supply deal.

US House panel targeting Chinese influence makes its mark, to mixed reviews

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3246397/us-house-panel-targeting-chinese-influence-makes-its-mark-mixed-reviews?utm_source=rss_feed

It’s a year old, still finding its feet and making a lot of noise.

As the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party approaches its anniversary on January 10, reviews are decidedly mixed. Some have condemned the panel, questioning its accomplishments and ability to follow through, while others have offered grudging respect or full-throated praise.

One thing is certain. The committee is making its mark and, given dismal relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, is likely to be an enduring Washington fixture in some form.

Led by Representative Mike Gallagher, 39, a Republican China hawk from Wisconsin, the committee has been bold, singular and confrontational on issues related to its avowed adversary.

“The CCP is laser focused on its vision for the future,” Gallagher said at the committee’s first hearing in February. “We may call this a strategic competition. But it’s not a polite tennis match. This is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century, and the most fundamental freedoms are at stake.”

Gallagher, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer who served two tours in Iraq, has rebutted critics who accuse him of fanning tensions.

“Some, who fail to learn from decades of CCP behaviour, have been wringing their hands wondering if we’re being too provocative,” Gallagher said, referencing a quote by former president Ronald Reagan comparing totalitarianism to a crocodile. “We’re merely feeding the crocodile that will eventually eat us. We must not be intimidated.”

Critics say the committee, led by Gallagher and Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, 50, an Asian-American from Illinois and the committee’s lead Democrat, irresponsibly stokes fears of a US-China war, has a simplistic, zero-sum view and fuels anti-Asian hate. Supporters, including Republican hardliners, counter that it is waking the US up to dangers that threaten to undermine America’s global position.

China’s bid to hold sway over US policy poses ‘threat of our lifetime’

“We commend Chairman Gallagher and ranking member Krishnamoorthi for continuing their bipartisan work to highlight the threat that the CCP poses to US economic and national security,” said Michael Stumo, chief executive of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a group that lobbies on behalf of domestic producers.

Others, including those who helped forge early ties, say the committee epitomises a Washington where blaming China is often reflexive.

“Mike Gallagher is a demagogue, single-issue guy trying to ride China to notoriety,” said Charles Freeman, a retired diplomat who served as translator during president Richard Nixon’s 1972 trip to Beijing. “We have a lot of problems and domestically none of these really involve China except that they’re focused on China as a scapegoat. And China’s a great scapegoat, basically pretty incompetent at explaining itself.”

Among the panel’s long list of priorities are sending more weapons to Taiwan; showcasing Chinese human rights abuses; fighting economic coercion; and calling out the likes of Sequoia Capital, Apple and Disney for their dependence on China, failure to defend US values and potential forced labour use in supply chains.

While Gallagher stops short of advocating a full decoupling of two-way trade, which exceeded US$750 billion in 2022, many of his ideas would significantly alter global economics if enacted.

“It seems to me that the committee isn’t actually pushing the policy forward,” said Richard Boucher, a fellow at Brown University’s Watson Institute and a former US consul general in Hong Kong. “They’re merely reflecting the growing US consensus that China’s rise is a domestic and international challenge to US leadership.”

Formally named the US House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, the body has responded to concerns that it fuels anti-Asian prejudice.

“We have no quarrel with the Chinese people or people of Chinese origin. That’s why we should never engage in anti-Chinese or anti-Asian stereotyping or prejudice,” said Krishnamoorthi. “We do not want a war with the PRC – not a cold war, not a hot war. We don’t want a clash of civilisations. But we seek a durable peace, and that is why we have to deter aggression.”

US House panel vows to hold China accountable for targeting activists abroad

Gallagher, tapped to head the committee after the 2022 midterm elections, has a Princeton undergraduate degree, double master’s degrees in intelligence and security studies and a Georgetown PhD in Cold War history. While his career mostly focused on the Middle East, he was heavily influenced in Iraq by Matt Pottinger, who was a deputy national security adviser and China-policy architect during Donald Trump’s administration.

The committee has excelled in using communication tools and strategies, even by the standard of Washington’s media circus – issuing a torrent of press releases, jumping on China-related developments and using backdrops and eye-catching issues to spread its message beyond the capital.

Hearings in New York and Silicon Valley sought to pressure companies and financial institutions into shunning “profits over national security”; in Iowa, it highlighted Chinese theft of agricultural intellectual property; in Wisconsin, it showcased dumping allegations; and a closed overseas Chinese police outpost was used to warn of complacency.

“If you are sympathetic to them, you could justifiably say this is raising China issues for the American public,” said Jeffrey Moon, head of China Moon Strategies and a former National Security Council official. “If you are not sympathetic … you could interpret this as a platform for Gallagher personally.”

The committee’s high-decibel loudspeaker contrasts with its limited power. As a select committee, it cannot introduce legislation, which gives it rein to think big but also means its recommendations are not always realistic politically.

Its call to revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations status – a system of global trade practices – and restrict outbound investment to China were non-starters amid strong US corporate opposition.

And while the panel’s members can bring recommendations to other committees with legislative authority – Representative John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, introduced legislation prohibiting CCP-linked companies from earning green energy tax credits – the 118th “do-nothing” Congress has been so busy bickering that passing much of anything has been a challenge.

Despite introducing 724 bills, the Republican-led House passed just 27 into law this year, the fewest since the 1980s.

US investors should be told of China exposure risks, advisory panel says

Other committees also jealously guard their turf.

“The current US House is struggling to just do the basics like pass appropriations bills and keep the American government functioning,” said Kevin Nealer, a partner at the Scowcroft Group, a Washington advisory firm, and a former Senate trade policy adviser. “And the committees with legislative responsibility for aspects of US-China relations, like Ways and Means, won’t cede their jurisdiction to a non-legislative group of members.”

Other paths to influence include adding riders or amendments that piggyback on successful legislation. But here too, its bid to include outbound investment language in the annual defence bill fell short.

Where the commission stands out, however, is with its ability to name and shame. Unlike the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, both created in 2000, it has subpoena power to compel witnesses into the hot seat.

“It allows the committee more intrusive scrutiny of businesses’ ties to China than other existing China-related agencies,” said Dominic Chiu, senior analyst with the Eurasia Group. “Many US businesses have privately expressed discomfort about the reputational risks of being spotlighted in a report or summoned.”

Companies are not the only ones wary of its gaze. “The administration has also been very careful about its China policy not to be on their radar,” concerned it will be deemed too accommodating of Beijing, said Yun Sun, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Stimson Centre, adding that the committee is something of a self-appointed watchdog.

“They’re watching players or entities that have anything to do with China,” she said. “On the other hand, they’re a congressional committee, and oversight or congressional supervision is the role of the Congress … They’re doing what they’re supposed to do.”

Another distinguishing feature is the bipartisanship among its 24 members in an era of deep polarisation. There is little evidence of division, a tone set by Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi, who work well together.

“It’s a bipartisan effort in an era of extreme partisanship, so that alone is something,” said Raymond Kuo, director of the Rand Corporation’s Taiwan Policy Initiative. “It’s a concrete sign how much the legislative branch takes China seriously.”

It also underscores the hardline consensus towards China.

US House China panel holds inaugural hearing aimed at prime-time audience

“It’s the one bipartisan issue these days in Congress other than a pay raise,” said a Republican lobbyist in Washington. “But the China issue you can talk about in public. The pay raise you can’t.”

The committee, formed with a two-year mandate after Republicans won a House majority in 2022, initially struggled to gain traction. One applicant for a staff job reported not being asked about knowledge of China or related qualifications, according to a source, only whether the jobseeker was tough on Beijing. “That says a lot about the committee,” the source said. “It’s very political. Of course it’s political – but it’s especially political.”

Predictably, Beijing has little love for Gallagher or his colleagues.

“The committee you mentioned is obsessed with attacking and smearing China. It is biased and hostile and has no rationality to speak of,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. “What they have said fully shows that some in the US are attempting to politicise and weaponise trade and tech issues between China and the US. We firmly oppose this.”

Some say the committee’s greatest contribution may be a fairly comprehensive outline of the issues and concerns that define the US-China relationship, summed up in a December 12 report.

While the administration of President Joe Biden came into office pledging a detailed China policy review, critics say this never materialised, while its Indo-Pacific and China strategies were short on specifics.

“They’ve created a checklist, listed thematically in a useful and logical way,” said Moon. “Gallagher, what he’s done, he’s gotten into the details that the China review should have gotten into, and did it in a bipartisan way. That’s the most significant thing they did.”

A source close to the committee countered that it has methodically hired China experts, spent considerable time understanding the Chinese system, has worked with standing committees to further legislation and has looked in some detail at investing in and reinvigorating the American economy to compete economically with China.

“They’ve probably used effectively the limited tools they have,” said Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “Gallagher himself has become quite a figure, a voice of criticism about China that certainly is having influence in some places and among some people. But I still find generally everything in that committee is instinctively anti-China.”

China sanctions a US research firm and 2 individuals over reports on human rights abuses in Xinjiang

https://apnews.com/article/china-us-xinjiang-human-rights-sanctions-c61afd3492e384a4ff702b4ee4ba0e80FILE - Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning gestures during a press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, on July 26, 2023. China says it is banning a United States research company and two analysts who have reported extensively on claims of human rights abuses committed against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups native to the country’s far northwestern region of Xinjiang. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

2023-12-27T09:04:15Z

BEIJING (AP) — China says it is banning a United States research company and two analysts who have reported extensively on claims of human rights abuses committed against Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups native to the country’s far northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was quoted as announcing late Tuesday night that Los Angeles-based research and data analytics firm Kharon, its director of investigations, Edmund Xu, and Nicole Morgret, a human rights analyst affiliated with the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, would be barred from traveling to China. Also, any assets or property they have in China will be frozen and organizations and individuals in China are prohibited from making transactions or otherwise cooperating with them.

In a statement on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, Mao said the sanctions against the company, Xu and Morgret were retaliation for a yearly U.S. government report on human rights in Xinjiang. Uyghurs and other natives of the region share religious, linguistic and cultural links with the scattered peoples of Central Asia and have long resented the Chinese Communist Party’s heavy-handed control and attempts to assimilate them with the majority Han ethnic group.

In a paper published in June 2022, Morgret wrote, “The Chinese government is undertaking a concerted drive to industrialize the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), which has led an increasing number of corporations to establish manufacturing operations there. This centrally-controlled industrial policy is a key tool in the government’s efforts to forcibly assimilate Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples through the institution of a coerced labor regime.”

Such reports draw from a wide range of sources, including independent media, non-governmental organizations and groups that may receive commercial and governmental grants or other outside funding.

China has long denied such allegations, saying the large-scale network of prison-like facilities through which passed hundreds of thousands of Muslim citizens were intended only to rid them of violent, extremist tendencies and teach them job skills. Former inmates describe harsh conditions imposed without legal process and demands that they denounce their culture and sing the praises of President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party daily.

China says the camps are all now closed, but many of their former inmates have reportedly been given lengthy prison sentences elsewhere. Access to the region by journalists, diplomats and others is tightly controlled, as is movement outside the region by Uyghurs, Kazaks and other Muslim minorities.

“By issuing the report, the United States once again spread false stories on Xinjiang and illegally sanctioned Chinese officials and companies citing so-called human rights issues,” Mao was quoted as saying.

“If the United States refuses to change course, China will not flinch and will respond in kind,” Mao was quoted as telling reporters at an earlier news briefing.

The U.S. has slapped visa bans and a wide range of other sanctions on dozens of officials from China and the semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, including the country’s former defense minister, who disappeared under circumstances China has yet to explain. China’s foreign minister also was replaced this year with no word on his fate, fueling speculation that party leader and head of state for life Xi is carrying out a purge of officials suspected of collaborating with foreign governments or simply showing insufficient loyalty to China’s most authoritarian leader since Mao Zedong.

Hong Kong’s government has cracked down heavily on freedom of speech and democracy since China imposed a sweeping national security law in response to massive anti-government protests in 2019.

Neither Xu or Morgret could immediately be reached for comment, and it wasn’t clear what degree of connection, if any, they had with the U.S. government.

Chinese families of Malaysian flight MH370 victims urge new search after experts say plane could be found ‘within days’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3246418/chinese-families-malaysian-flight-mh370-victims-urge-new-search-after-experts-say-plane-could-be?utm_source=rss_feed

Relatives of Chinese passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 refreshed their call to resume the search for the aircraft after two French experts claimed renewed efforts could find the plane “within days”.

Earlier this week, aerospace expert Jean-Luc Marchand and pilot Patrick Blelly said the mystery of the missing plane could be solved in a matter of days if there was a new search, based on their research.

The pair said the plane’s transponder was turned off and that the U-turn it took away from the flight path could not have been carried out by autopilot.

Experts claim missing MH370 flight could be found in ‘days’ with new search

Jiang Hui, whose mother Jiang Cuiyun was on the flight, told the Post that searching for the missing plane had always been the family’s “core pursuit”.

“There are now new technologies that can pinpoint new positions. I think they are all worth a try,” he said.

But Song Chunjie, a relative of another victim, said it was useless for individual experts to call for a search.

“Launching a new search should be led by the Malaysian government, because it would cost a lot of money and they need to hire a professional rescue and search team,” he said.

Song said he believed in the professionalism of Ocean Infinity, a US-based marine robotics company that embarked on a three-month search for the Boeing 777-200ER jet in 2018. He added that professional equipment and experience was needed for the search “and the rest is nonsense”.

On the evening of March 8, 2014, the Malaysia Airlines jet with 239 people on board – including more than 150 Chinese nationals – left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing then vanished from radar screens about two hours after its departure.

Massive search operations involving several countries were conducted in the southern Indian Ocean, but neither the plane nor its wreckage was found.

But the families have never given up hope and the pursuit of the truth.

Last month, a Beijing court heard claims for compensation for relatives of more than 40 missing passengers against Malaysia Airlines, its insurer, Boeing and the manufacturer of the plane’s engine.

Their demands include compensation, an apology, psychological help as well as a fund to continue the search.

Jiang said he had not yet heard any results from the case and would check with the court again after the holidays.

“Our slogan for the 10th anniversary is still ‘reboot the search’,” he said.

For nearly a decade, Jiang has helped organise families on the social media platform WeChat, talked to the media and pushed for progress in finding the plane. He has even visited search teams in Australia and travelled to Mauritius, Madagascar and Réunion to look for debris.

He has studied plane crashes and mechanical failures, sharing his knowledge on social media and reaching out to the relatives of crash victims.

When China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 crashed in southern China in March 2022, Jiang called for transparency and counselling for the families via Weibo.

Malaysia reboots flagging ‘second home’ golden visa scheme with eye on Chinese expats

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3246396/malaysia-reboots-flagging-second-home-golden-visa-scheme-eye-chinese-expats?utm_source=rss_feed

Malaysia’s move to slash the amount needed to qualify for its second home programme to US$100,000 deposited in the bank has raised hopes of a surge of interest from potential expatriates, including from China.

But experts warn the government must offer clear and consistent rules to lure serious numbers of applicants, after years of vacillating between appealing only to Asia’s rich and trying to attract its middle classes who need a cheaper point of entry.

Applications for the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme have plunged by as much as 90 per cent since a 2021 policy shift that limited the scheme to foreigners with at least 2.5 million ringgit (US$539,000) in fixed deposits and liquid assets combined, and a monthly income of 40,000 ringgit (US$8,600).

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

To address the tail-off, the government revamped the deal earlier this month, saying it will open entry to the MM2H to foreigners with a minimum fixed deposit of just 500,000 ringgit.

Industry participants think that is sure to catch the eye of prospective participants from China.

“It definitely will revive their interest,” said Anthony Liew, president of the MM2H Consultants Association.

Liew, whose clients are predominantly from mainland China, said fewer than 400 families a year made the cut after the 2021 revision to the entry rules, compared to 5,610 families in 2018.

The lower threshold would be especially appealing to prospective Chinese participants, Liew said, as they have difficulty meeting higher requirements due to strict annual capital transfer limits imposed by the Chinese government.

It was not immediately clear if the government plans to also drop the monthly income threshold, or allow work from Malaysia.

Nearly 16,000 Chinese nationals signed up for the programme between 2002 – when the scheme was launched – and 2019, according to data from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture. They accounted for one-third of the more than 48,000 applications approved over the same period.

Malaysia netted at least 40 billion ringgit (US$8.6 billion) in total revenue from the MM2H programme before it was suspended for a year in 2020 during the pandemic according to industry estimates, including fees, fixed deposits and investments such as house purchases.

The latest tweak to MM2H will set three tiers of entry, offering increasingly attractive packages to participants based on how much they can afford.

Platinum tier applicants will need to place 5 million ringgit in fixed deposits, but have the option to gain permanent residency. The threshold for gold tier is 2 million ringgit in fixed deposits, offering 15-year residency, while silver tier applicants get a 5-year residency for 500,000 ringgit in fixed deposits.

The relaxed eligibility may help attract skilled foreign workers, entrepreneurs and investors who are sorely needed to help the country break out of the middle-income trap, said Yeah Kim Leng, an economics professor at Malaysia’s Sunway University.

Yeah said the expected rise in the number of MM2H applicants is also expected to make up for the lower fixed-deposit amount.

“More importantly, the larger base is estimated to have a greater multiplier effect on the economy through increased investment, consumption and entrepreneurship activities,” he told This Week in Asia.

China and Singapore agree to let each other’s citizens travel visa-free

But experts caution that simply lowering the threshold for entry may not be enough, with the government yet to provide clear details on whether participants will still need to meet the 40,000 ringgit monthly income condition.

“On the face of it, this seems like an improvement, but we will know more when it is actually launched and all the details are known,” said Andy Davison, the chief executive of Kuala Lumpur-based The Expat Group.

“So far, no date has been announced for implementation.”

At the same time, the government needs to work on creating a predictable policy environment, where it is easy to do business to win over prospective participants of the MM2H, Yeah from Sunway University said.

“There are quick returns from increased tourism, but the magnitude depends on the take-up and attractiveness of the programme relative to regional competitors,” Yeah said.

Vincent Fong, founder of the MM2H Club, a consulting agency for the scheme in Hong Kong, said, “The ministry’s feedback is that everything should be ironed out in January, I believe that the first quarter of 2024 is a good estimate of when this programme can be launched.”

Fong also cautioned about future tighter requirements for the visa in the future.

“As with all golden visa programmes, the requirements may get more stringent over time. It is very likely after the one-year special edition is over, the requirements will tighten again.”

Souring UK-China relations mean my path to politics has been a lonely one

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3246385/souring-uk-china-relations-mean-my-path-politics-has-been-lonely-one?utm_source=rss_feed

Participation in British politics is a major concern for the Chinese community. Until relations between Britain and China turned sour, the first generation of mainland immigrants took a keen interest in Chinese participation in UK elections as the newest immigrant group in the Chinese community. They regarded any success, whether in a regional or general election, as a source of pride.

I witnessed this at its height, when I reported on British Chinese participation in the 2015 and 2017 general elections for the BBC Chinese network. This was well received by the Chinese immigrant community.

It has been my dream to take part in elections, but I always believed I was not strong enough, thinking voters would discriminate against my looks and accent. This misunderstanding was shattered in March, when I was encouraged by the Chinese Liberal Democrats to join the party and quickly became a candidate in district council elections in May.

However, my entry into politics has not been welcomed by the mainland Chinese community. My path to politics has been a lonely one as the immigrant community from China has alienated me, rather than caring about me.

A good friend, whom I have known for more than a decade, told me that if we met, it would be best not to post photos of our meeting on social media because she has good relations with the Chinese government, and that it would be unwise for me to stand in the UK general election. I was surprised by her words as she, like me, has lived in the UK for 19 years. We didn’t end up meeting and have not been in touch since.

Why aren’t there more Chinese in British politics?

Since the deterioration of Sino-British relations accelerated in 2020, we first-generation immigrants from China have had to choose where we stand. We can be pro-China, silent or pro-British.

There are two main reasons for being pro-China. First, whether in school, society or the media, we have been enveloped in Chinese patriotism throughout our upbringing. Similar to religions that teach believers to give their hearts to God, Chinese patriotic teaching tells mainlanders to be loyal to the Chinese government.

Even if we emigrate to the UK, our loyalty to China should never change. Such an expression of allegiance would be collectively appreciated in the mainland Chinese community. Second, many mainland immigrants derive their economic resources from the Chinese market, including the friend I no longer see.

For the silent group, they understand the difference between democracy and dictatorship, but fear controls them. Are we British Chinese, or China Chinese with British passports?

I was born in China but have a British passport, which means I am not allowed to hold a Chinese passport any more. However, I will be treated as a “Chinese citizen” if Beijing decides I am harmful to China’s national security because of my criticism of the country, which is a common fear for Chinese immigrants like me. Our family members in China might also be implicated, such as by losing their jobs or being interrogated by police.

Therefore, this group of mainlanders lives in the UK according to China’s unspoken rules. They dare not speak out to protect the safety of their Chinese family members.

I am in the pro-British minority. I consider myself British Chinese, not China Chinese as the pro-China people insist, and I have managed to escape the prison of fear by daring to uphold liberal values and criticise China.

However, I have paid a high price. Not only did I have to give up visiting my mother in China in case I was arrested, my candidature received no help from the mainland Chinese community and I was lonely.

There is no obvious reason for immigrants to have stopped caring about or be afraid of mainlanders who stand for election. Perhaps they are just so used to the unspoken rules of interpreting national policies and drawing their own security red lines in mainland China.

Frustrated by the Liberal Democrats’ lack of strong economic policies, I recently switched to the Labour Party. I will continue to stand for election, and I will continue to be lonely.

Taiwan election hopeful William Lai says KMT’s embrace of ‘one China’ is dividing island

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3246417/taiwan-election-hopeful-william-lai-says-kmts-embrace-one-china-dividing-island?utm_source=rss_feed

Taiwan’s presidential front runner William Lai Ching-te has claimed his Kuomintang rival’s embrace of the Communist Party and “one China” is dividing the self-ruled island.

Lai, vice-president and candidate for the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party in next month’s election, made the remarks in a televised pitch to voters on Wednesday.

He suggested that a victory for his KMT rival Hou Yu-ih, the mayor of New Taipei City, could spell disaster for Taiwan.

“The KMT’s deadly embrace of the one-China shrine has not only created an identity divide in our country but also affected our national unity,” Lai said of the main opposition party, which is seen as Beijing-friendly.

He said the KMT used to be anti-communist but senior figures in the party such as chairman Eric Chu Li-luan and former president Ma Ying-jeou – known for his efforts to engage Beijing – were now trying to placate mainland China.

“First, instead of countering the communists, they now befriend the communists. Second, while claiming they will safeguard the Republic of China [ROC] they at the same time oppose arms purchases and even boycott indigenisation of our national defence,” Lai said, using the official name for Taiwan.

The KMT – which once controlled mainland China as the government of the ROC – was defeated in a civil war with the Communist Party in 1949 and fled to Taiwan where it set up an interim government.

It had vowed to one day retake mainland China but gave that up in the 1970s following the death of leader Chiang Kai-shek. His son and successor, Chiang Ching-kuo, then shifted the focus to building up Taiwan.

The KMT supports the one-China principle – an understanding between Beijing and Taipei that there is only “one China” but that each side has its own interpretation of what that means. But the ruling DPP refuses to accept the principle, and as a result relations with Beijing – which sees the island as part of its territory – have deteriorated under Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s current president.

Lai said the KMT ignored the fact that Chinese President Xi Jinping no longer accepted the existence of the ROC and that Xi had vowed to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control.

He also said the KMT was trying to scare voters by suggesting they had a choice between “war or peace” – that a DPP victory would mean war with Beijing, while a KMT win would bring peace to the island.

Beijing blames Taiwan trade moves on ruling party’s independence stance

Lai described his main rival as a political “outsider” and said all of Hou’s policies and views during the campaign had come from the KMT and its leaders, including Ma and Chu.

“A victory for Hou would mean the return of the one-China force and corruption, which absolutely would undermine the future of Taiwan,” Lai said, referring to corruption in the KMT when it was in power.

Lai’s remarks came after Hou called on him – during the first televised policy debate last week – to renounce his and the DPP’s pro-independence stand.

Responding to Lai’s claims on Wednesday, Hou said there was nothing wrong with promoting the peaceful development of cross-strait ties.

“I have said that the ROC constitution is the sacred mountain for safeguarding cross-strait [peace],” Hou said, adding that the Taiwan independence advocated by Lai would make peace impossible to achieve.

Beijing has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control and has warned that any attempt at independence would lead to an attack.

Marking 130 years since the birth of People’s Republic of China founder Mao Zedong on Tuesday, Xi called cross-strait unification an “overall trend, a righteous cause, and the common aspiration of the people”.

Washington – Taipei’s informal ally and biggest arms supplier – has asked Beijing to stop interfering in Taiwan’s presidential election and to refrain from using military drills near the island to intimidate voters. The United States, like most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state but is opposed to any unilateral change of the cross-strait status quo.

Taiwan’s presidential vote will be held alongside legislative elections on January 13. Lai is currently ahead in the polls, followed by Hou and Ko Wen-je, the former Taipei mayor and head of the Taiwan People’s Party.

China ups Asean trade, investment push with new high-speed railway link connecting to Vietnam border

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3246390/china-ups-asean-trade-investment-push-new-high-speed-railway-link-connecting-vietnam-border?utm_source=rss_feed

The first high-speed railway connecting a Chinese city on the China-Vietnam border with the nation’s national network began operations on Wednesday, underlining Beijing’s efforts to deepen trade and investment cooperation with its Southeast Asian neighbours.

The 47km (29.2-mile) Fangdong Railway links the cities of Fangchenggang – which has the biggest seaport in western China and is a major gateway to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) – and Dongxing in the southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region via the coastline of the Beibu Gulf, which is also known as the Gulf of Tonkin.

Dongxing sits across the Beilun River from the northern Vietnamese city of Mong Cai.

“After the Fangdong Railway was put into operation, the structure of the road network in the Beibu Gulf economic zone has been further improved,” the China State Railway Group said.

“It is of great significance for facilitating the travel of people along the route, boosting border tourism and economic and trade exchanges, and promoting infrastructure connectivity for the Belt and Road Initiative.”

The dual-purpose line, which can handle both passengers and freight, has a maximum speed of 200km/h (124mph).

Having overcome various geological and environmental challenges during four years of construction, the line has reduced the travel time between Fangchenggang and Dongxing from one hour to 19 minutes, according to the Nanning branch of the China State Railway Group.

The launch of the Fangdong Railway comes after China and Vietnam announced closer cooperation on cross-border rail development during a state visit by President Xi Jinping to Hanoi earlier this month.

A joint statement released during the visit mentioned the 392km (244-mile) Lao Cai-Hanoi–Haiphong standard-gauge railway project that, once constructed, could effectively connect the two countries’ railway networks.

Currently, trains cannot run through the border due to different gauges adopted by the two countries.

But despite having appeared in every diplomatic declaration between Beijing and Hanoi in the past eight years, the Lao Cai-Hanoi–Haiphong railway project has remained on the drawing board due to Vietnam’s concerns over costs, anti-China sentiment and broader geopolitical factors.

China has been ramping up the construction of rail links and infrastructure projects around the Beibu Gulf in recent years in an effort to boost trade and logistics passage bridging hinterland provinces in southwestern China with the Asean bloc, which is its largest trading partner.

Exports to the Asean region topped US$473 billion in the first 11 months of the year, while imports from the 10-nation bloc stood at US$352 billion during the same period, Chinese customs figures showed.

Hong Kong urged to open up primary school enrolments to more mainland Chinese pupils amid record-low births

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3246407/hong-kong-urged-open-primary-school-enrolments-more-mainland-chinese-pupils-amid-record-low-births?utm_source=rss_feed

The new chairman of Hong Kong’s Subsidised Primary Schools Council has urged the government to help the city’s public institutions survive by allowing them to take in more pupils from mainland China.

Veteran educator So Ping-fai said the city’s shrinking student population was threatening to not only shut down schools but also put teachers’ jobs at risk.

“The high level of pessimism among the principals is unprecedented,” he said. “The government should pay attention as it is not ideal for everyone to live in such a pessimistic state … The bleak, unstable outlook is affecting students and lots of teachers who have families.”

So, who is the principal of Tin Shui Wai Methodist Primary School, is due to retire at the end of the current academic year. The educator with more than 30 years’ experience was elected council chief in November.

The falling number of babies born in Hong Kong has hit enrolments, with worse expected.

The number of births fell from 52,900 in 2019 to 43,000 in 2020, 37,000 in 2021 and a low of 32,500 last year.

The council represents 422 primary schools, and So said he feared that the number who might face the axe would be “not too few”.

Primary One enrolment has fallen to a record low in 14 years with only 42,277 children registered for public schools for the next academic year, a drop of about 10,000 from 2019.

Hong Kong Catholic secondary school to close a year earlier than first planned

Public primary schools with fewer than 16 children enrolling are not allowed to start Primary One classes, leading to their eventual closure. But those who come up with a survival plan and get approval for it can carry on.

This year, five schools had too few children enrolling. A school in Wong Tai Sin has been told it will close after three years, while the other four managed to get their survival plans approved.

So’s council urged the government to allow more children from the Greater Bay Area to enrol in Hong Kong schools, by opening up to more than those with the right to study in the city.

“Why can’t we open our quality primary and secondary schools [to more students] when the government is allowing the universities to double their quota of non-local students,” So asked.

Hong Kong primary schools hardest hit in education sector by UK emigration wave

Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong form the bay area, which Beijing aims to turn into an economic powerhouse.

So said mainland parents were impressed by the city’s public schools, and not only the elite ones.

A three-day education expo earlier this month, targeting mainlanders whose children were entitled to study in Hong Kong, attracted more than 10,000 parents and pupils.

So said people from the mainland who moved to the city to work under various talent schemes did not only choose top or popular schools for their children, but also some “average schools”.

“Their reasons for choosing such schools may be the parents’ work location or the proximity of the border,” he said.

He urged the authorities to fully implement small class sizes in primary schools and to count every child with special needs as 1.5 or 2 pupils.

From the next school year, 90 per cent of public primary schools will have smaller classes of about 25 pupils, down from 30 previously.

So also voiced concerns about a new subject being introduced in schools and the mental health of children.

The government announced in October that the core general studies subject would be broken into two others, science and humanities, from September 2025.

The humanities subject aims to boost students’ patriotism and awareness of national identity, with Primary One children taught to love the nation and learn that “without a country, there is no family”, according to the bureau.

So said it was too rushed to introduce a new subject in less than two years, with no prior consultation.

Half of Hong Kong pupils secure spot at preferred primary school in 16-year high

“Teachers will be busy preparing the new subject, such as choosing textbooks and planning lessons,” he said. “In the end, pupils will suffer from the lack of preparation. I am worried there will be a revision soon after its launch.”

The state of mental health among Hong Kong students has been in the spotlight with 31 suicides among primary and secondary pupils in the first 11 months of the year, the highest number since 2018.

So said the long period of class suspensions during the Covid-19 pandemic could be one of the main causes of mental health problems among the city’s youngsters.

“Did we underestimate students’ needs?” he said. “The impact of the full resumption of classes after such a long period of suspension is greater than we anticipated.”

After three years of disruptions and home-based learning, everyone was suddenly back in school and So recalled that some people were in a hurry to make up for lost time.

“But students are not machines, we cannot press a button and get back all that we lost,” he said, adding that the return to campus should have been more gradual.

New science subject to help Hong Kong pupils ‘appreciate national achievements’

The Education Bureau responded to the spike in suicides by announcing in November that every school would receive HK$60,000 (US$7,680) to hold activities to boost mental health that month.

So said teachers felt that it was more important for them to have the time to get to know their students, identify those at risk and either counsel those at risk or seek emergency support when necessary.

“But teachers in Hong Kong are too busy to counsel students,” said So, urging the bureau to ease educators’ heavy workload, especially the need to submit reports on key performance indicators.

“When schools are given HK$60,000 to hold activities, teachers are again asked to spend time asking different parties to submit quotations and vet different organisations,” he said with a sigh. “With the money comes tonnes more work for teachers.

“We advise schools to strengthen existing or planned activities to boost mental health, but not devise a brand new activity just to put on a show because of the new money from the government.”

Import-reliant China makes rubber extraction innovation amid rising demand from car industry

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3246381/import-reliant-china-makes-rubber-extraction-innovation-amid-rising-demand-car-industry?utm_source=rss_feed

China could solve its acute shortage of rubber – a resource it has traditionally relied on imports for to meet its domestic demand – after reporting a technological breakthrough in the extraction of gum from a native plant.

Eucommia ulmoides, a species of small tree native to China, could potentially provide a large volume of rubber after Chinese researchers managed to increase the extraction purity to more than 99 per cent, the Science and Technology Daily said on Tuesday.

The innovation has taken place as the world’s second-largest economy is looking to become more inward-looking for its economic development, seeking to strengthen its domestic supply chains amid surging demand for a material that is important for its rapidly-growing automotive industry.

China imports more than 80 per cent of the natural rubber it needs each year, according to official figures.

The research team from the Northwest A&F University also identified the conditions required for compatibility of eucommia gum with natural and nitrile rubber – another commonly used rubber – the report said.

The development is expected to be a “blessing” for the high-end rubber market in China, thanks to the long list of advantages in using eucommia gum, including its high wear resistance, excellent fatigue resistance and slip resistance, it said.

“It is an ideal rubber material to replace natural rubber and petroleum synthetic rubber in the future to manufacture high-performance green tyres,” Professor Zhu Mingqiang and his team wrote in a separate research paper published last month in Industrial Crops and Products – an international journal.

China’s reliance on imports for natural rubber, a polymer mainly sourced from the Hevea brasiliensis tree, simply known as the rubber tree, has climbed over the past decades along with its rapid growth in industrial output.

Ro-ro, roll your cars: China automakers splurge on huge carriers to meet demand

Since 2014, China has imported over 80 per cent of the natural rubber, according to data from Chinese customs and the National Bureau of Statistics.

China needs over 6 million tonnes per year, accounting for more than 40 per cent of global production, said Wang Lijuan, secretary general of China Natural Rubber Association at a forum in October in Shanghai.

Last year, China produced 856,000 tonnes domestically, mostly from the southern island province of Hainan and parts of the southwestern Yunnan province, according to Wang.

Southeast Asian countries are the main sources of natural rubber imports for China, with Thailand taking the lead, she added.

Eucommia ulmoides is widely grown in China, but has traditionally been used in medicines.

It has not previously been commercially utilised for rubber production due to poor extraction methods which often are costly, inefficient and polluting, according to Zhu.

China, though, could produce 1.2 million tonnes of rubber from eucommia ulmoides per year if it meets the required planting area of 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) by 2030, which was targeted by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration in 2016, added Zhu.

Happy loser: China woman whose ‘OK to be a loser’ video went viral last year remains unshaken in belief ditches well-paid job to be free again

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3246196/happy-loser-china-woman-whose-ok-be-loser-video-went-viral-last-year-remains-unshaken-belief-ditches?utm_source=rss_feed

A young Chinese woman who went viral last year because she lamented that “it is OK to be a loser” said she no longer considers herself a failure despite having had a particularly challenging year.

Last year, the 28-year-old woman, who goes by the name Wanwan, published a 17-minute late-night talk with her friend Chaochao – also a pseudonym – in which the two women who graduated from top Chinese universities in 2017 said they lived lives “full of failure”.

At that point in her life, Wanwan had held over a dozen jobs, none of which she found meaningful. She had also failed the postgraduate entrance exams and only had savings of 5,000 yuan (US$700).

Chaochao, who had a master’s degree, could not land a career as a scriptwriter and was cleaning tables at a hotpot restaurant to support herself.

In the talk, they called themselves “losers” but optimistically encouraged each other – as well as others who were down on their luck – by saying having nothing meant “a life full of choices”.

As the year passed, Wanwan tried to leverage her viral video into a career as an online influencer but quickly learned the unsteady income created anxiety, so she gave up that dream.

She would eventually land a job as a short video creator for a large internet company in Beijing but quit after two months because she got in a car accident and realised: “Dying on the way to work is a miserable way to go. I don’t want to die before experiencing the world.”

Wanwan is now jobless but has more money in her savings account – 50,000 yuan (US$7,000) – because of the video job.

She said she plans to do another late-night chat with Chaochao, who found a job writing scripts for children’s television and was about to pass her probationary period.

“We were losers but happy last year. This year, we had jobs but no smiles,” said Wanwan.

Wanwan said she no longer considers herself a loser. She said her last job made her realise that “the company culture did not work with my character” and “she had choices in her life” and did not have to accept terrible jobs just for money.

“I am not a loser,” Wanwan said.

“I am accepting my destiny as an ordinary person, and I will live happily ever after.”

Emergency scramble brings crippled China communications satellite under control

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3246362/emergency-scramble-brings-crippled-china-communications-satellite-under-control?utm_source=rss_feed

Engineers scrambled to regain control of one of China’s largest communications satellites after a catastrophic engine failure sent it tumbling wildly in its orbit more than 36,000km (22,370 miles) away from Earth.

State-owned China Satcom reported on Monday that “emergency response measures” were needed to bring the Zhongxing 6C satellite under control after it experienced an “attitude abnormality”. The satellite is now stable but cannot repaired, it said.

In a statement to investors, the company said the satellite is operating with broken chemical thrusters without replacements. “This leads to increased propellant consumption and the satellite’s remaining lifespan is anticipated to be reduced”.

The financial losses of the stricken craft – also known as ChinaSat 6C – are expected to reach 260 million yuan (US$36.4 million) – nearly 30 per cent of the company’s net profit in 2022, according to the statement.

The company said it has kicked off the insurance process with its main underwriter. Meanwhile, the satellite is operating in its normal work mode.

China launches satellite internet that could challenge SpaceX’s Starlink

The five-tonne satellite has been broadcasting television and radio signals to China and other regions – including Southeast Asia, Australia and the South Pacific – since its launch in 2019.

Chinese space authorities at the time said the satellite was “responsible for ensuring the security of radio and television information broadcasts” and “is of significance to China”.

These days, it is mainly a backup for the ChinaSat 6B and ChinaSat 6D satellites and its situation will not have a major adverse impact on the company’s business operations, the statement said.

The Zhongxing 6C uses the Dongfanghong-4 (DFH-4) satellite platform, which carries more than three tonnes of chemical propellent for orbital station-keeping and attitude control during its designed 15-year lifespan.

DFH-4 was developed by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology in the early 2000s as a general-purpose, high-capacity platform for tracking and data relay, as well as other uses in addition to television and radio transmissions.

The platform – which supports C, Ku, Ka and L band transponders – has a propulsion module, service modules and solar arrays, giving it a lift-off mass of 5.2 tonnes. Its 600kg (1,323lbs) payload capacity provides up to 8 kilowatts of power.

These capacities – which put DFH-4 in the same class as Lockheed Martin’s A2100AX and other major satellite platforms in the US and Europe – have attracted international customers from countries like Nigeria, Venezuela, Pakistan, and Belarus.

DFH-4 has been used by more than two dozen satellites over the past two decades, all with a stable performance, after initial failures in 2006 and 2008, when the first two craft launched failed to deploy solar arrays once in orbit.

In 2017, another communications satellite mounted on the DFH-4 platform – ChinaSat-9A – was left stranded halfway to its designated orbit by a rocket anomaly. Two weeks later, the satellite used more than half of its propellant to reach the correct orbit, reducing its operating life to four years.

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Hong Kong woman died after car tried to overtake another in Christmas Day traffic accident in mainland China

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3246403/hong-kong-woman-died-after-car-tried-overtake-another-christmas-day-traffic-accident-mainland-china?utm_source=rss_feed

A Hong Kong woman died on Christmas Day after the car she was a passenger in tried to overtake another and crashed into an oncoming vehicle in mainland China’s Guangdong province, according to authorities across the border.

Representatives from a hospital in Shaoguan city said two other injured Hongkongers, a man and a woman, were in a serious condition despite staying conscious, with one suffering multiple bone fractures.

Yin Wenhua, who heads the health service session of Yuebei People’s Hospital, on Wednesday told reporters the pair were being treated in the intensive care unit.

Hongkonger killed in Christmas Day traffic accident in Guangdong province

“They suffered injuries to the abdomen and chest,” he said. “The female also had multiple bone fractures. The situation is complicated and serious.”

The three residents were passengers in the car with two other people. The driver of their vehicle tried to overtake a car in front of them before slamming into oncoming traffic, according to the municipal government of Shaoguan city.

The two vehicles collided on a road in Tiziling village in Lechang, a county-level city under the administration of Shaoguan in northern Guangdong.

Shaoguan city authorities said the car attempting the overtake manoeuvre was licensed in Shaoguan, while the other was registered in the Guangdong city of Dongguan.

Local authorities conducted breath tests on the two drivers and found neither were under the influence of alcohol.

Shaoguan city police are investigating the incident.

Hong Kong police investigate minibus crash that killed 73-year-old driver

The Hong Kong woman was pronounced dead at Lechang Second People’s Hospital.

The other two Hongkongers were first sent to the same hospital but transferred on Tuesday night to Yuebei People’s Hospital, the largest grade 3A facility in northern Guangdong.

Grade 3A medical facilities are considered the highest tier on the mainland.

Yin said the hospital would continue to monitor the patients and adjust treatment accordingly.

Hong Kong landfill contractor ordered to stop using tipper after worker’s death

“The hospital has formed a multidisciplinary treatment team for the patients and they will adjust medical plans accordingly based on the evolving condition of the injured.”

According to Yin, both patients could communicate with medical personnel but were not able to take in any food.

He also noted that the injured were not suitable for transfer over a long distance because of the bone fractures they had suffered.

The hospital said it had not received any requests from the patients or their families to be sent back to Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Guangdong earlier said the car involved in the incident was not a ride-hailing vehicle or a Hong Kong-licensed car under the northbound travel scheme, which allows residents with permits to drive into Guangdong.

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Chinese company faces criticism for ‘jokingly’ asking women staff to apply makeup for work to ‘motivate’ team

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3246193/chinese-company-faces-criticism-jokingly-asking-women-staff-apply-makeup-work-motivate-team?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese company has been criticised for requesting that their female employees apply light makeup to work because it “motivates” their male colleagues.

A boss of the company from Shenzhen in southeastern China sent the message but later deleted it, claiming it was simply a misunderstood joke.

On November 30, Luo, an executive officer at the firm, started up a group conversation with his team on WeChat, which included five women. At one point he asked female staff to start wearing cosmetics.

“Ladies, please wear light makeup to work from December to motivate our team,” Luo wrote.

“Our gentlemen will crowdfund to treat ladies to afternoon tea,” he continued.

After a while, Luo became aware he had not received any response from the group, so he re-sent the message to emphasise its importance.

“Please do reply when you receive the message, otherwise your performance bonuses will be slashed,” he threatened.

Luo’s message went viral after it was shared online by an influencer who is the friend of an unidentified member of staff. After the story was picked up by the local media, Luo said he was not being serious.

When asked if he had sent the message, the executive did not deny it, but claimed it was misunderstood.

“It’s just a joke, and we’ve removed it. Everyone knows there’s no such thing,” he said.

Luo said that staff making jokes on WeChat happens from time to time, as well as in person and that employees have fun with each other.

In addition, Luo said most of the 300 staff were men, and admitted that, because everyone was so focused on work, the company often overlooked the needs of its female staff. As a result, the firm frequently took measures to offer more benefits to women employees.

The story triggered an outpouring of anger on Chinese social media.

“Is it really a joke? He is the only one laughing,” said one.

“It’s not funny at all,” commented another.

“Why does he not ask the male staff to do workouts to motivate the team?” Another asked.

Stories about employers imposing ridiculous and unreasonable requests on their employees are common in China.

Two months ago, a boss in southeastern China threatened to cancel weekends off because his staff ignored messages he sent them over a two-day break.

Late last year, a woman in southeastern China who quit her job as a new media specialist after being forced to clean the bathroom on her first day has become an internet sensation.

‘Revolutionary’ design: Chinese scientists invent the most powerful detonation engine for hypersonic flight

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3246361/revolutionary-design-chinese-scientists-invent-most-powerful-detonation-engine-hypersonic-flight?utm_source=rss_feed

Scientists at the forefront of hypersonic weapons research in China say they have an unprecedented power solution for aerospace planes.

The “revolutionary” air-breathing engine could, in theory, lift an aircraft from a runway to more than 30km (18.6 miles) into the stratosphere and continuously accelerate it to 16 times the speed of sound.

At this velocity, even the longest intercontinental flights could take just one or two hours while consuming less fuel compared with conventional jet engines.

The engine blueprint was detailed in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese Journal of Propulsion Technology in December by a team led by Zhang Yining with the Beijing Power Machinery Institute.

According to the paper, the engine operates in two distinct modes: below Mach 7 speed, it functions as a continuous rotating detonation engine. Air from the outside mixes with fuel and is ignited, creating a shock wave that propagates in an annular, or ring-shaped, chamber. The shock wave ignites more fuel during rotation, providing a powerful and continuous thrust for the aircraft.

Above Mach 7, the shock wave stops rotating and focuses on a circular platform at the engine’s rear, maintaining thrust through a nearly straight-line oblique detonation format, according to the paper. The fuel auto-detonates as it reaches the rear platform because of the very high speed of incoming air. Throughout its operation, the engine relies on detonation as its primary driving force.

Zhang and his colleagues did not disclose the efficiency of the engine in their paper. However, based on previous scientific estimates, the explosion of combustible gases can convert nearly 80 per cent of chemical energy into kinetic energy. Conventional turbofan engines, which rely on slow and gentle combustion, achieve 20-30 per cent efficiencies.

China makes leap ahead with hypersonic technology

Zhang’s team said its design integrating rotational and straight-line detonation across a wide speed range was a “world first” and testament to Chinese ingenuity.

“This solution has obvious advantages and is expected to improve the optimal thermodynamic cycle efficiency in nearly all speed ranges, bringing a revolutionary change in aerospace propulsion,” the researchers said.

Publicly available information indicates that the Beijing Power Machinery Institute is China’s largest manufacturer of ramjet engines, supplying propulsion systems for the country’s most advanced weapons, including hypersonic missiles.

The PLA’s 93160 unit, headquartered in Beijing and deeply involved in designing the new detonation engine, remains shrouded in secrecy with no publicly available information.

Scientists and engineers from the Beijing Institute of Technology’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, an institution under US sanctions, also played a pivotal role in the project, according to the paper.

The current propulsion systems for China’s hypersonic vehicles consisted mainly of rockets and scramjet engines. Rockets were less efficient due to the need to carry oxygen, while scramjet engines required the vehicle to reach speeds above Mach 4 to activate and experienced a sharp drop in thrust near Mach 10. Both military and civil supersonic aircraft projects were in dire need of new breakthroughs in propulsion technology to achieve greater payload and range at lower costs.

Zhang’s team said the new detonation engine transition was a challenge between the two operating modes: as the speed approached Mach 7, the rotating detonation mode became unsustainable, and the oblique detonation mode had to be ignited within a short time.

The authors said possible solutions to the problem include reducing the incoming air speed from Mach 7 to Mach 4 or lower to allow the fuel to heat sufficiently for auto-ignition. Slight adjustments to the engine’s internal structure, such as the diameter of the circular platform and the angle of the shock wave tilt, could affect engine performance.

Overall, the engine was not too demanding on operating conditions and could work efficiently in most typical scenarios, they said.

However, the researchers said that relying solely on the paper was not sufficient to produce a practically usable product because they had omitted critical parameters for engineering applications, such as the limited space available for air flow path.

China names submariner Hu Zhongming as top PLA Navy commander

The world’s first sustainable detonation engine was developed by Soviet scientists during the Cold War but remained confined to laboratories because of challenges reliably controlling the shock wave.

In recent years China and the United States have engaged in fierce competition in this field. Nasa and contractors such as GE recently conducted ground tests on prototype engines.

This year, China achieved the world’s first flight of a rotating detonation engine on a drone platform. Meanwhile, at the powerful hypersonic wind tunnel facility JF-22 in the northern mountainous region of Beijing, scientists were testing an advanced oblique detonation engine, according to a state media report this month.

Hong Kong tourism officials too ‘passive’ in efforts to attract mainland Chinese visitors, former city leader CY Leung says

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3246365/hong-kong-tourism-officials-too-passive-efforts-attract-mainland-chinese-visitors-former-city-leader?utm_source=rss_feed

Former Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying has accused local tourism officials of being too passive in their efforts to attract mainland Chinese visitors to the city amid increasing competition from other destinations across the country.

Leung, Hong Kong’s only vice-chairman on Beijing’s top political advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, criticised politicians, without naming them, in two social media posts on Tuesday and Wednesday after local businesses expressed concerns about a large number of residents leaving the city during the Christmas holidays.

“Making guesses [about the outlook of mainland tourists] is passive. A proactive approach would be to facilitate travellers heading south through policies and procedures,” he said in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

“This, in nature, is a tourism policy, and the transport bureau and immigration department are just playing a supporting role. So which authority is primarily responsible for scoring goals?

“The role of a striker and a goalkeeper should be clearly defined. The responsibility of scoring goals cannot be handed over to the goalkeeper.”

Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung is the city’s top tourism official. He served as the education undersecretary during Leung’s administration between 2012 and 2017.

Hong Kong residents made more than 2 million outbound trips between last Wednesday and Tuesday. Over the same period, 653,990 visitors from the mainland entered the city, including 161,789 on Saturday, marking the highest single-day figure for arrivals from across the border since the National Day holiday in October.

With many Hongkongers flocking to Shenzhen for day trips to enjoy affordable dining and retail options, Leung said mainland officials had made “great efforts” in ensuring their cities had competitive offerings following the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Shenzhen is just one example that is within sight for Hong Kong people,” he said.

Hongkongers make 1.3 million outbound trips in 3 days, beating pre-pandemic era

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Leung said the city should not worry about losing patrons as a result of more land crossings with Shenzhen being open for 24 hours.

More checkpoints operating around the clock was among the goals of a three-year action plan released by the National Development and Reform Commission designed to boost business in the Greater Bay Area.

“I think we will [lose more consumers to Shenzhen] in the short term, but if we don’t embrace competition, we won’t face up to the need to upgrade and transform, let alone extend the reach of Hong Kong’s businesses across the Shenzhen River,” he said, adding facing external competition was what made the mainland’s opening up policy successful.

Beijing not taking Hong Kong’s current calm for granted: CY Leung

But he said many political elites and opinion leaders in Hong Kong did not visit Shenzhen enough, adding there was a reluctance to build relationships on the mainland.

The bay area refers to Beijing’s initiative to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities into an economic powerhouse.

Indonesian workers protest at Chinese-funded nickel plant after 18 killed in explosion

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3246363/indonesian-workers-protest-chinese-funded-nickel-plant-after-18-killed-explosion?utm_source=rss_feed

Hundreds of Indonesian workers protested on Wednesday against conditions at a Chinese-funded nickel-processing plant where an explosion killed at least 18 people and injured dozens more over the weekend.

The accident occurred on Saturday morning on Sulawesi island as workers repaired a furnace at a plant owned by PT Indonesia Tsingshan Stainless Steel (ITSS) in the Morowali Industrial Park.

Sulawesi is a hub for the mineral-rich country’s production of nickel, a base metal used in electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel, and China’s growing investment in the sector has stoked unrest over pay and working conditions.

Images seen by AFP showed hundreds of workers taking part in the protest outside the complex.

Demonstrators gave a list of 23 demands to management, according to a letter sent to police by unions representing the workers.

The demands included that smelters be better maintained, health clinics be improved to deal with emergencies and Chinese workers be required to learn the Indonesian language.

Chinese workers ‘suffering’ in Indonesia’s nickel factories, complaint says

“No production is worth a life!” protesters shouted through loudspeakers, video footage of the demonstration showed.

Among those killed in the blast was Muhammad Taufik, a 40-year-old welder who left behind a wife and two children.

“The family is grieving, he was the breadwinner,” Taufik’s cousin Parlin Hidayat said, adding that ITSS had given the family compensation worth 600 million rupiah (US$30,625) after the accident.

“They hope there will be no more incidents like this in the future, let him be the last victim.”

Thirty people are still being treated in hospital for their injuries after the blast, according to police.

Dedy Kurniawan, a spokesperson for Morowali Industrial Park, said that the company had “done what they [the protesters] demanded two days ago,” without specifying which demands had been met.

“We hope this demonstration will not continue after they hear our explanation,” he said.

Tsingshan Holding Group, the world’s biggest nickel producer and China’s biggest stainless steelmaker, holds a majority stake in ITSS.

ITSS is a tenant in the industrial estate, which is also majority-owned by Tsingshan along with local partner Bintang Delapan.

In January, two workers, one of whom was a Chinese national, were killed at a nickel smelting plant in the same industrial estate after a riot broke out during a protest over safety conditions and pay.

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Why hasn’t China joined US-led naval force against Houthi rebel attacks in Red Sea?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3246266/why-hasnt-china-joined-us-led-naval-force-against-houthi-rebel-attacks-red-sea?utm_source=rss_feed

China would be unlikely to deploy naval forces in the Red Sea against the Houthi militants as invited by the United States, as this could put its position on the Israel-Gaza conflict at risk, analysts said.

This comes as Iran-backed Houthi militants based in Yemen continue to attack Israel-linked commercial vessels in the lower Red Sea with drones and missiles, in response to the sustained Israeli military assault on Gaza.

More than 20 countries have agreed to take part in a new US-led coalition to safeguard commercial traffic in the Red Sea from attacks by Houthis, the Pentagon said last week.

However, despite the likely impact of the attacks on China’s own supply chains, Beijing might not take part in the anti-piracy drive until there are actual security threats to Chinese vessels, the observers said.

The Houthis’ actions are mainly concentrated around the Bab el-Mandeb strait from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden along the Yemeni coast – a unique energy corridor connecting to Egypt’s Suez Canal linking Europe and Asia.

The 193km (120-mile) canal, one of the world’s busiest waterways and the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, accounts for 12 per cent of global trade, including 30 per cent of all container movement, according to Egypt’s State Information Service.

The Houthi assaults intensified since mid-November, driving major shipping companies, including Europe’s CMA CGM, Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping, as well as Chinese state-owned giant Cosco and Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine, to suspend transits through Bab el-Mandeb.

On Sunday, Maersk cited the US-led naval operation in announcing it would resume operations in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, “and once again return to using the Suez Canal as a gateway between Asia and Europe”.

The Operation Prosperity Guardian coalition, announced by Washington on December 18, includes the US, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Spain and Seychelles, with Bahrain the only Middle Eastern nation to have joined so far.

China has been invited to take part in protecting the Red Sea, with the US State Department saying Washington would “welcome a constructive role played by Beijing” to prevent Houthi attacks.

While Beijing did not directly respond to the invitation, foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that China “believes relevant parties, especially major countries with influence, need to play a constructive and responsible role in keeping the shipping lanes safe in the Red Sea”.

Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies at the US National Defence University, said having Chinese forces join a US-led mission risked implying that China would go along with the US position on Gaza.

“The issue is not one of capacity but one of political will … Becoming part of a US military plan will be viewed in the Chinese political and military establishments as ‘capitulation to US interests’ and ‘humiliation of China’,” he said, citing Beijing’s opposition to Washington’s stance on the Gaza crisis, marked by steadfast US support for Israel.

“Such a move would send mixed signals to the Global South, which is on the same side as China on the Gaza crisis as reflected in numerous UN General Assembly resolutions.”

China has consistently condemned Israel’s actions against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, slamming the civilian death toll while calling for a sustained humanitarian ceasefire.

China is not the only power concerned about an anti-Houthi patrol affecting its perceived stance on Gaza. US ally Saudi Arabia, which backs the Yemeni government and is opposed to the Houthi insurgents, is also absent from the US-led patrol, while others in the region like Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have maintained silence on the high seas attacks.

Several major Western countries that have joined the US mission – such as Canada, the Netherlands and Norway – who have a strong pro-Palestine stance, said they would not send ships but only military personnel for consultancy.

Song Zhongping, a military commentator and former People’s Liberation Army instructor, said China’s actions in the Red Sea depended on whether the attacks actually threatened its interests.

“Whether China joins the [maritime task force] depends on whether the ships that the Houthis are attacking are related to China,” Song said. “According to the information released by the Houthis in Yemen, they are going to attack ships related to Israel and ships of the Israeli state, so China’s interests are not threatened.”

But China’s global shipping costs have already been affected. According to China’s Ningbo Shipping Exchange, the Red Sea route had seen a “sharp jump” in booking prices last week, with the “temporary suspension of sailings by most companies”.

Moreover, while the militants have said only Israel-linked vessels and the US-led coalition would be targeted, a missile fired from Houthi territory missed a Hong Kong-flagged container ship travelling from Oman to Saudi Arabia on December 14.

The strait at the centre of the crisis is home to China’s first overseas naval base – in Djibouti, opened in 2017 in the Horn of Africa port across the sea from Yemen’s Houthi-controlled west coast.

However, the Red Sea crisis and the Israel-Palestine conflict were unlikely to see China increase military capacity at the base, said Zeno Leoni, a lecturer at the Defence Studies Department of King’s College London.

“It is unlikely that this crisis in itself will prompt such change. China knows that the Middle East is an unstable region anyway, and I think the attacks coming from the Houthi are just a reminder but not a game-changer in this region,” he said, though expansion of the base in the long term was “certainly an option”.

John Calabrese, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said China might pressure Iran to persuade their Houthi allies to stop missile and drone attacks against commercial vessels.

China is seen as a key player with leverage over Iran to prevent the Gaza war from spreading further afield.

China urges Iran and Saudi Arabia to work together to ‘avoid miscalculation’

Beijing has seen a dramatic increase in official and semi-official exchanges with Tehran in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian for the second time since the war started in October, on rising fears that a second front could open up along the Lebanon border.

The US says the Houthis are receiving direct weapons support from Tehran. Last week, the White House said Iran had provided drones and missiles as well as tactical intelligence to the rebel militants.

Tehran has rejected the charge. “The resistance [Houthis] has its own tools … and acts in accordance with its own decisions and capabilities,” deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri told Iranian media.

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‘Mickey ears’ popularity soars among China pet owners despite concerns over painful, risky cosmetic procedures inflicted on beloved fur babies

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3246192/mickey-ears-popularity-soars-among-china-pet-owners-despite-concerns-over-painful-risky-cosmetic?utm_source=rss_feed

Pets having cosmetic surgery to achieve “Mickey ears” so they can look like Disney’s famous cartoon mouse, is an increasingly worrying trend in China.

Leading animal experts are demanding the practice be stopped because of the physical pain and psychological distress it inflicts.

One advertisement for a pet clinic in the Beibei district of Chongqing in southwestern China, promoting a “Mickey ear” group purchase, has attracted significant attention.

It says its special offer of 300 yuan (US$40) for the procedure to be performed by Chinese Spring Festival, will depend on the “factory’s” apparent “production schedule”.

Liu Yundong, a dean at Loving Care International Pet Medical Centre in Beijing, explained to the Post that the procedure comprises two parts.

First, the surgical removal process, which requires anaesthetic and takes about half an hour. The second styling phase involves shaping the ears to stay upright, which can take from 20 to 60 days.

This stage takes a bit longer requiring frequent adjustments to ensure the pets’ ears remain in an upright position permanently.

Although it is legal to carry out the procedure, reputable big city animal hospitals seldom perform this type of surgery on pets.

“It is rarely performed in pet hospitals in tier-one cities but is common in dog kennels and breeding facilities. Currently, there are no legal restrictions on this surgery in China. It’s a moral issue,” Liu said.

“As veterinarians, we adhere to the principle of animal welfare and do not advocate these surgeries. The colleagues I’ve encountered are tacitly opposed to such surgeries.”

He emphasised that the surgery’s impact on pets includes physical pain and psychological torment, along with the risks of having anaesthesia, which could lead to psychological trauma as well as physical side effects.

Chen Yong, a veterinarian from Shenzhen Lianhe Pet Hospital, warned the procedure could also lead to self-mutilation behaviour among pets.

“Damaging the natural structure of the ears can cause psychogenic problems in some pets. For instance, some sensitive pets may scratch repeatedly due to excessive pain,” he said.

The emerging trend has received significant online backlash from many Chinese pet lovers.

“Cutting tails, cutting ears – are these pet owners sick? Where does this market demand even come from?” Asked one person.

“If they think it’s cute, they should try cutting their own ears like that,” another added.

“This is animal abuse, not love,” a third remarked.

China turns spotlight on digital economy in quest for ‘common prosperity’ under President Xi Jinping

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3246289/china-turns-spotlight-digital-economy-quest-common-prosperity-under-president-xi-jinping?utm_source=rss_feed

China will focus on the digital economy to promote President Xi Jinping’s vision for “common prosperity”, national planning and data authorities said.

The National Development and Reform Commission and the new National Data Administration have jointly released a plan to expand the application of digital technology to support the development of China’s real economy.

The government “aims to consistently narrow disparities among regions, urban and rural areas, various demographic groups, and among fundamental public services, while striving to continually bridge the digital divide”, the data administration said in announcing the new scheme on its official WeChat social media account.

China’s Communist Party cements ‘common prosperity’ as core economic agenda

Common prosperity is one of the pillars for China’s modernisation goals as laid down by Xi, who has pledged to “substantially grow” the country’s middle-income group as a share of the total population by 2035.

The policy is seen as key to reducing income inequality and avoiding the middle-income trap where growth stagnates and incomes stall.

It also seeks to foster a more equitable distribution of wealth across regions and society, as China’s rapid economic growth has led to significant income gaps.

To that end, the digital economy and new digital infrastructure are key areas now being prioritised by Beijing.

China has the world’s second-largest digital economy after the United States, accounting for 41 per cent of its gross domestic product.

By 2025, “the affirmative role of the digital economy in advancing common prosperity is anticipated to become increasingly evident,” the WeChat blog post said.

The plan aims to promote regional digital collaboration by advancing relevant infrastructure and enhancing digital economy links between the country’s western and more developed eastern regions.

By 2030, authorities expect to have in place a set of innovative practices on east-west collaboration ready for replication and promotion nationwide.

China has experienced significant urbanisation in recent decades, with millions of rural migrants moving to the cities in search of better economic opportunities. However, the economic growth and development has also been accompanied by disparities between urban and rural areas, and among population groups.

The plan also aims to promote digital talent and improve digital literacy in rural areas for better job prospects. Other areas of focus will be more inclusive access to social services through digital means, as well as better quality digital educational resources, remote medical care and elderly care.

Chinese chess champion stripped of title after defecating in hotel bathtub

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/27/chinese-chess-champion-stripped-of-title-after-defecating-in-hotel-bathtub

The world of Chinese chess is in uproar over rumours of cheating and a bad behaviour scandal that saw the national champion stripped of his title on Monday after a victory celebration ended with him defecating in a hotel bathtub.

Xiangqi, or Chinese chess, has been hugely popular for hundreds of years across Asia – and 48-year-old Yan Chenglong beat dozens of contenders last week to win the title of “Xiangqi King” at a national tournament hosted by the Chinese Xiangqi Association.

But his joy was short-lived, with the CXA on Monday announcing that Yan would have his title revoked and prize money confiscated after had been caught “disrupting public order” and displaying “extremely bad character”.

The association was also forced to address rumours circulating online that Yan had cheated during the competition by using anal beads equipped with wireless transmitters to send and receive signals.

Yan allegedly clenched and unclenched rhythmically to communicate information about the chess board via code to a computer, which then sent back instructions on what moves to make in the form of vibrations, according to reports circulating on the Chinese social site Weibo.

“Based on our understanding of the situation, it is currently impossible to prove that Yan engaged in cheating via ‘anal beads’ as speculated on social media,” the CXA said.

But he was still stripped of his title and banned from playing for a year after his celebrations went wayward.

“Yan consumed alcohol with others in his room on the night of the 17th, and then he defecated in the bathtub of the room he was staying in on the 18th, in an act that damaged hotel property, violated public order and good morals, had a negative impact on the competition and the event of Xiangqi, and was of extremely bad character,” the association said.

The association did not disclose the amount of prize money Yan was forfeiting, but Xiangqi tournaments often promise winners tens of thousands of yuan (thousands of dollars).

The CXA had published a social media post last week congratulating Yan and other players for their “spectacularly heated high-level gameplay”.

The post included a photo of Yan on stage, flanked by two runners-up, proudly holding up his prize certificate.

State-owned China Resources teams up with Hong Kong’s New World to develop US$1.3 billion Northern Metropolis residential project

https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/3246270/state-owned-china-resources-teams-hong-kongs-new-world-develop-us13-billion-northern-metropolis?utm_source=rss_feed

China Resources Group, a state-controlled conglomerate, has teamed up with Hong Kong’s New World Development for a collaborative venture worth HK$10 billion (US$1.28 billion) in the city’s Northern Metropolis mega project, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The partnership marks a milestone as the first major involvement of a large Hong Kong-based Chinese enterprise in the planned innovation and technology hub in the northern New Territories.

In the initial phase of cooperation, China Resources, through its Hong Kong-listed property unit China Resources Land, has agreed to invest in a plot of land owned by New World Development, according to the sources, who requested anonymity.

It aligns with Beijing’s recent call for cooperation between the special economic zone of Qianhai in Shenzhen and Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis, with the aim of strengthening the development of the Greater Bay Area.

The site, covering an area of around 150,000 square feet in the southern part of Yuen Long, is expected to be developed into some 2,000 residential units. The total value of the development is expected to be HK$10 billion upon completion, one of the sources said.

China Resources and New World Development were unavailable for comment when contacted by the Post.

An action plan for the Northern Metropolis development, unveiled earlier in the year, pledged to build some 500,000 homes in the area and to create four major zones covering innovation and technology, high-end professional services and logistics, commerce and industry, and eco-recreation.

During his visit to Beijing earlier in December, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the progress of the Northern Metropolis plan had been highlighted as “a new momentum of growth” in a closed-door meeting with President Xi Jinping.

The Greater Bay Area is Beijing’s plan to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine southern mainland cities to form a gigantic economic hub. It had a combined gross domestic product of US$2 trillion in 2022.

The cooperation between New World and China Resources comes a few days after the National Development and Reform Commission released the “Qianhai Shenzhen-Hong Kong Modern Service Industry Cooperation Zone Master Development Plan”.

In it, Beijing has proposed to accelerate the development of the science and technology services industry, and strengthen cooperation with the science and technology industry in the planned Northern Metropolis area.

This aligns with China’s current five-year plan and the vision for the bay area, which aims to create a vibrant and liveable hub for work, residence and travel, with the innovation and technology industry as the driving force, as highlighted in the Chief Executive’s policy address this year.

The development of the Northern Metropolis, spanning an area of 30,000 hectares, encompasses the Yuen Long and North districts, and includes existing new towns such as Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai, Fanling, and Sheung Shui.

Designed to address the long-standing issue of land and housing scarcity in Hong Kong, the Northern Metropolis is expected to provide significant land supply in the future, with the potential for more than half a million new residential units.

China Resources, a diversified group overseen by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), was registered in Hong Kong in 1938 under the name Liow & Co. It was restructured and renamed China Resources Company a decade later.

It is one of the key state-controlled enterprises headquartered in Hong Kong, with business operations spanning consumer products, food and drink, power, real estate, pharmaceuticals, cement, gas and finance.

China Resources Land, founded in 1994 and listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange two years later, is one of the country’s major developers, with a focus on building houses and commercial projects in big cities.

This venture with New World Development represents China Resources Group’s first large-scale property investment in Hong Kong since it jointly developed Villa Esplanada Tsing Yi with Sun Hung Kai Properties in the late 1990s.

It is likely that China Resources will explore further cooperative projects with New World beyond residential projects, according to another source.

The latter has said it owns around 15 million square feet of agricultural land, mostly in North Fanling and Yuen Long.

In a circular to shareholders in October on the sale of NWS Holdings Chow Tai Fook Enterprises, New World Development said one of the ways it plans to reduce its debt is to capitalise on the value of its agricultural land bank.

This might involve forming joint ventures with partners such as stated-owned enterprises to develop property and monetise part of the company’s investment costs, it said. Chow Tai Fook Enterprises is New World’s parent company.

New World’s debts are estimated at HK$111.5 billion after the disposal of infrastructure unit NWS.

Zambia Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo resigns amid outcry over Chinese business dealings

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3246331/zambia-foreign-minister-stanley-kakubo-resigns-amid-outcry-over-chinese-business-dealings?utm_source=rss_feed

Zambia’s Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo resigned Tuesday, the president’s office announced, hours after he was embroiled in a social media frenzy over alleged dealings with a Chinese businessman.

Kakubo, who had been foreign minister since September 2021, said in a letter he was quitting because of “malicious claims over a business transaction”.

Earlier, a video showing two people counting wads of cash stacked on a table spread quickly on Zambian social media accounts.

An image of a signed handwritten note, dated July 8, 2022, was also put online. The note named a Chinese mining firm and a Zambian mining firm and said they had “exchanged US$100,000”.

Though the names of Kakubo and a Mr Zang were on the note, it was not immediately possible to verify the details.

“President Hakainde Hichilema has accepted the resignation of the honourable Stanley Kakubo MP from his cabinet position as minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation,” said an official statement.

It gave no reason for the resignation but added: “The president acknowledges the commendable work and leadership” of Kakubo in the government.

Kakubo, 43, quickly followed the announcement by releasing his own letter.

China firms up ties with debt-laden, resource-rich Zambia

He said he had resigned “in view of the matter that is currently in the media regarding malicious claims over a business transaction between my private family business and our business partner with whom we still have good relations”.

He added: “This decision is to ensure that our government is not distracted from continuing to look for solutions for bettering the lives of our people.”

Kakubo could not be contacted to comment further on his resignation or the video.

Chinese enterprises are heavily involved in the Zambian mining industry, a bedrock of the southern African nation’s economy. China is a major importer of Zambian copper.

Kakubo, an MP since 2016, said however he would remain “loyal” to the government.

The president’s statement said Hichilema “implores” the former minister “to continue to serve diligently in his capacity as member of parliament”.

The Chinese embassy said in 2022 that more than 600 Chinese businesses had invested more than US$3 billion in Zambia.

China has also been a major player in international efforts to restructure Zambia’s foreign debt. Zambia defaulted on its sovereign debt in 2020 as the Covid-19 crisis grew.

China Proposes More Rules for Online Gaming

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/china-proposes-more-rules-for-online-gaming/7409308.html

China has proposed new rules for online gaming that aim to restrict purchases and limit compulsive playing behaviors.

The guidelines were recently issued by the organization that oversees, or regulates, the country’s gaming industry. It is called the National Press and Publication Administration.

Reuters news agency reported the public will be able to comment on the rules through January 22 before they receive final approval.

The new rules ban companies from offering incentives to people who play video games or make in-game purchases each day. Other restrictions include limits on how often players can add money to online money accounts, called wallets.

The government also warned of the dangers of “irrational” behaviors it says can lead to gaming compulsions. In addition, the regulator brought attention to an existing ban on online game content “that endangers national unity.”

The new rules also call for companies to create warning messages to be sent to users who seem to be showing irrational playing behaviors. And in an effort to protect user privacy, the regulations also require game publishers to store their servers within China.

The announcement of the new proposals caused shares in major Chinese gaming companies to fall sharply. Stock shares in Tencent Holdings, the world’s biggest gaming company, dropped as much as 16 percent. The stock price for NetEase, Tencent’s biggest Chinese competitor, fell about 25 percent.

The latest proposals follow rules announced by China’s government in 2021. Those regulations included a policy that limits online gaming for young people to three hours each week. Current law permits players under age 18 to only play between 8 pm and 9 pm on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays during the school year.

Chinese gamers are also currently required to provide identification when registering to play online under existing rules. In 2021, Chinese regulators suspended approval of all new video games. But approvals restarted in April 2022.

Steven Leung is a sales director at Hong Kong stock trading company UOB Kay Hian. He told Reuters that many people in the industry thought such policies had ended, reducing the risks for gaming businesses. "It's not necessarily the regulation itself - it's the policy risk that's too high." Leung said.

When asked about the effects of the new proposals, Tencent Games' vice president Vigo Zhang said the company will not need to change "its reasonable business model or operations" for gaming. He added that the company has already been enforcing existing government rules.

Zhang said that since the first regulations were announced in 2021, minors had been spending historically low amounts of time and money on Tencent's games.

One of the new rules is widely expected to be welcomed by the industry – a requirement for regulators to process game approvals within 60 days. On the same day the gaming proposals were released, Chinese regulators announced the approvals of 40 new imported games for release in the country.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

 

The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

compulsive – adj. to do something very often because the activity is very hard to control

incentive – n. something that urges a person to act in a particular way

irrational – adj. not reasonable or logical

reasonable – adj. fair and showing good judgment