• What China’s new defense minister tells us about Xi’s military purge
• [World] Kai Zhuang: Police in Utah say Chinese exchange student kidnapped
• 3, 2, 1 … Chinese New Year holidaymakers head off for far horizons
• China and Russia test ‘hack-proof’ quantum communication link for Brics countries
• President Xi Jinping urges China’s diplomats to ‘defy strong powers’ posing ‘special challenges’ to national interests
• ‘Heartless’ China influencer says Gansu deadly quake was 800km away and ‘nothing to do with her’ faces ongoing criticism despite apology
• Beijing should allow mainland Chinese to visit Hong Kong more easily, increase duty-free goods quota, Starry Lee says
• Chinese Swifties are ready to shake it off at the Eras movie
• Taiwan prepares to pick new president amid growing threat from China
• China launches test runs for world’s largest plant that can convert coal to ethanol
• Downed Chinese spy balloon used American internet provider to navigate US: report
• Chinese medicine ejiao facing blow to supply as Africa, Brazil move to end donkey trade
• To counter China, US revamps second world war-era Pacific airfield that launched nuclear bombings of Japan
• China removes nine PLA generals from top legislature in sign of wider purge
• University students in China help delivery man pay for medical bills for broken leg after work accident and ‘drag’ him to hospital for urgent surgery
• Man questions China funeral home for charging different cremation prices for ‘luxury’ furnaces with tailor-made requests
• South China Sea: Beijing, Asean claimant states risk pushing beyond ‘grey zone between peace and war’ in 2024
• [World] The worshippers caught between China and Taiwan
• Why have millions dropped out of China’s state health insurance scheme?
• ‘Shameless’: controversy over cuts to classical Chinese content in Taiwan’s schools heats up presidential race

What China’s new defense minister tells us about Xi’s military purge

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/30/china-defense-minister-xi-military/2023-12-30T02:36:39.556Z

A dramatic clear-out and reshuffle of the Chinese military’s top brass escalated this week when the ruling Communist Party dismissed high-ranking officers and appointed a naval commander as defense minister four months after his predecessor disappeared amid a sweeping corruption crackdown.

A year into his third term, Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, is attempting — once again — to curb deep-rooted graft that threatens his ambition of turning the People’s Liberation Army into a “world-class” fighting force able to go toe-to-toe with the United States.

The promotion Friday of Admiral Dong Jun, the 62-year-old former head of the Chinese navy, came alongside announcements that a dozen generals and senior executives from state-run military enterprises had been removed from the country’s legislature and top political advisory body.

What’s with the tumult at the top of the Chinese military?

The scale of this week’s personnel changes, announced at meetings of senior Chinese Communist Party officials in Beijing, hinted at the severity of the ongoing probe into military corruption that in recent months has targeted weapons procurement and the rocket force in charge of the country’s missile and nuclear arsenals.

China did not say why the previous defense minister, Li Shangfu, was removed from office in October after being absent from public view for two months.

But U.S. officials say Li probably was caught up in an investigation into bid rigging and lax oversight during the five years he was in charge of the Equipment Development Department, which is tasked with improving China’s military technology. High-ranking officials overseeing the rocket force that manages China’s nuclear arsenal were also replaced without warning in August.

Of the nine senior military officials who were kicked out of the National People’s Congress on Friday, all appeared to have direct or indirect connections to Li.

Some had worked in the Equipment Development Department under Li from 2017 to 2022; others were in the rocket force or space program.

“Something major must have occurred to precipitate this kind of purge,” most likely a major corruption scandal or intel leak, Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

What does this mean for China’s military strategy?

Experts on the Chinese military say that the reshuffle and Dong’s appointment are unlikely to significantly alter China’s ambitious military modernization program or its approach toward relations with the United States.

In China, the position of defense minister is largely ceremonial and mainly focused on military diplomacy and international engagement. High-level strategy and major decisions instead come from top-ranking members of the Central Military Commission, which is chaired by Xi.

Unlike his predecessor, Dong is not yet a member of the commission.

The unusual choice of a naval officer fits with a long-running shift toward prioritizing maritime power, which China sees as essential to achieving military supremacy in the Indo-Pacific and asserting its sovereignty claims over Taiwan, the island democracy Beijing considers its territory.

Dong, who has spent his entire career in the navy, has experience commanding the rapidly expanding fleets China uses to back up contested claims in the South and East China seas. He has also been involved in joint naval drills with Russia, which China sees as an important partner in its efforts to dominate the region.

What about the United States?

Military analysts say they expect Dong, as the new public face of the People’s Liberation Army, to push ahead with the recent renewal of military-to-military dialogue between China and the United States, which was agreed on when President Biden met with Xi in November.

But the fundamentals of the relationship are unlikely to significantly change, and promotions within the navy suggest China is increasingly focused on the South China Sea as an arena of military competition with the United States and its allies, the Eurasia Group wrote in a research note.

Efforts to soothe tensions remain precarious and could easily be derailed if China’s aggressive military tactics spark a fresh round of hostilities, analysts warn.

Achieving a reset in ties has been complicated by Beijing’s tense standoffs with the Philippines over contested islands, escalating saber-rattling around Taiwan, and frequent dangerous intercepts by Chinese ships and warplanes targeting the United States and its allies.

[World] Kai Zhuang: Police in Utah say Chinese exchange student kidnapped

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67847465?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

3, 2, 1 … Chinese New Year holidaymakers head off for far horizons

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3246757/3-2-1-chinese-new-year-holidaymakers-head-far-horizons?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese tourists are on the move over the New Year’s Day long weekend, with high hopes of a return to pre-pandemic levels of travel despite the sluggish economy.

And while the break is just three days and haze may be blanketing much of China, travellers appear keen to venture beyond their provincial borders to soak up the sights in other parts of the country.

Holidaymakers were expected to take more than 15 million domestic rail trips on Saturday, the first day of the break, up 60 per cent on the same time in 2020, Shanghai-based The Paper reported, quoting China State Railway Group.

A number of new high-speed rail lines is expected to ramp up tourism along the lines, including along the new section from Huangshan in Anhui province to Nanchang in Jiangxi, and between Guangzhou and Shantou, both in Guangdong province.

The number of domestic flights is also on the rise, with 49,000 expected to take off over the three days. The total is about 85 per cent higher than the same period last year and roughly 3 per cent more than in 2019, according to the report.

Online travel company Trip.com said more than half of the domestic tour reservations booked for Saturday were for people travelling outside their home provinces.

More people were heading to China’s snow country, while overall, theme parks, museums, zoos, and ski resorts were the most popular attractions, the company said.

However, weather authorities warned holidaymakers to be prepared for disruptions to their travel plans, with heavy fog and haze expected in eight provinces in the north, west and south of the country.

More people are also looking further afield.

The National Immigration Administration predicted that about 1.56 million trips would be made across the border during the New Year’s Day holiday, a fivefold increase on a year earlier – when the country was in the grip of Covid-19 – and 90 per cent higher than in 2019.

Hong Kong leads the list of top destinations for mainland Chinese holidaymakers, followed by Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Australia and Britain, according to Trip.com.

Kandy He, an operations manager at an advertising company in the southern city of Guangzhou, said she was heading to Hong Kong to spend the holiday with her family.

“It only takes an hour by high-speed train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. We’re going to the city for its biggest ever New Year’s countdown fireworks,” she said.

China and Russia test ‘hack-proof’ quantum communication link for Brics countries

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3246752/china-and-russia-test-hack-proof-quantum-communication-link-brics-countries?utm_source=rss_feed

Scientists in Russia and China have established quantum communication encrypted with the help of secure keys transmitted by China’s quantum satellite, showing that a Brics quantum communication network may be technically feasible.

The scientists were able to span 3,800km (2,360 miles) between a ground station close to Moscow and another near Urumqi in China’s western Xinjiang region to send two encoded images secured by quantum keys.

The first “full cycle” quantum communication test between the two countries was successfully conducted last year, said Alexey Fedorov, of Russia’s National University of Science and Technology (MISIS) and the Russian Quantum Centre (RQC), Russia’s leading institution in charge of creating a quantum computer, on December 14.

Bridging the vast distance is possible with the help of China’s quantum satellite Mozi, which has opened pathways to develop national and international quantum communication networks.

With the advent of advanced supercomputers and quantum computing, there were now more avenues for information systems to be attacked, the researchers at RQC, Moscow-based QSpace Technologies and MISIS University wrote in a paper published on the open-access online archive arxiv.org in October.

Quantum communication – a form of quantum physics-based information transfer that uses cryptography to encode data in single photons – offers a way to transfer information that hackers cannot eavesdrop on, according to the paper.

Encrypted data is transferred in the form of ones and zeros along with a quantum key that is used to decrypt the data.

Quantum keys, or strings of random bits, “are secret parameters that we use to encode useful information”, making it inaccessible to unauthorised individuals, Fedorov said.

Using quantum key distribution can allow for security that was “guaranteed by the law of physics”, the researchers wrote in their paper.

While there has been major progress in the development of quantum key distribution, ground-based transfer at reasonable speeds using optical fibre cables is limited to around 1,000km because of a loss of photons over long distances, according to the paper.

With this limitation, researchers in different countries and continents, or even on opposite sides of Russia, could not effectively transfer quantum keys, Fedorov said.

To overcome this hurdle, China launched Mozi, the world’s first quantum communication satellite in 2016, to begin long-distance quantum transmission.

Using the satellite, China has been able to develop a national quantum network of ground stations spanning thousands of kilometres.

In 2020, the Russian team began working with the Mozi team, who helped them set up systems to begin conducting experiments with the satellite, Fedorov said.

A ground station was set up at the Zvenigorod observatory just outside Moscow, equipped with telescopes and cameras to track the satellite. Various experiments were conducted between the Zvenigorod ground station and China’s Nanshan ground station near Urumqi, the paper said.

Sanctions lead to scientific collaboration between Russia and China

On March 1 last year, a full quantum communication experiment was conducted between the two stations.

A secret key was distributed between Zvenigorod and Mozi, which orbited between 600km and 1,100km above the ground station. Once the Chinese side received the shared key from the satellite, a secret key was established between two stations nearly 4,000km apart, the paper said.

Two coded messages were transferred between the teams that were decrypted with the help of two keys – a quote from Chinese philosopher Mozi and an equation from the late Soviet physicist Lev Landau – according to the team.

It was the first successful full-cycle quantum communication experiment between China and Russia. Fedorov said a secure quantum call had been established in 2017 between Austria and China using Mozi.

The paper released by the Russian team in October highlighted a major aspect of their research with Mozi and quantum key distribution.

To transfer quantum keys between long-distance ground stations, both stations must have detectors that pick up signals from a satellite. These devices “are not always working ideally”, Fedorov said.

Slight differences in the detectors could leave the system open to potential security attacks, he said.

The researchers said this detection efficiency mismatch was not taken into account in the decoy state quantum protocol – which is the most widely used quantum key distribution protocol. To further improve the security of the system, the team modified the security analysis protocol to take the mismatch into account.

“Our results pave the way to the considerations of realistic imperfection of the QKD [quantum key distribution] systems, which are important in the context of their practical security,” the paper said.

We live in an information age, where a lot of what we do “is tied to protected information”, making quantum keys a “useful tool” to protect strategic and sensitive information, Fedorov said.

While quantum communications networks could have many uses, Fedorov said that for now quantum systems would ideally be suited to scientific research, with more research needed before the technology could be commercialised.

He said the finance sector was interested in quantum technology, with banks storing “a massive amount of critical, important information”.

In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the Future Technologies Forum in Moscow he planned to develop Russia into an economy where quantum technology had an important role in digital infrastructure.

Russia has also proposed a joint effort to advance future technologies with fellow Brics nations Brazil, India, China and South Africa that would include quantum-based efforts.

“Technically, it’s absolutely possible” to build a quantum communication network between the Brics nations, Fedorov said.

But while there was “scientific, technical and commercial potential for these kinds of systems”, a unifying project was needed to push development forward, he said.

There would also need to be shared standards between nations regarding the exchange of data and safety measures.

Fedorov said that to commercialise quantum networks, development was heading towards expanding infrastructure through launching mini quantum satellites and building ground stations, along with forging protocols to exchange information.

In June, Russia released its own quantum microsatellite prototype, and had begun experimenting with the aim of launching its own quantum satellite, according to Fedorov.

A new frontier: China targets ‘industries of the future’ to drive 2024 growth

The team hoped to develop its own quantum technology to become a resource to help other nations conduct quantum experiments as China had helped the Russians, he said.

Beyond quantum communication, countries across the world are researching various technologies, including quantum computing, which the Russian team would soon use to solve minor tasks.

“All countries that are interested in technological leadership know that without quantum technology they won’t succeed,” Fedorov said.

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President Xi Jinping urges China’s diplomats to ‘defy strong powers’ posing ‘special challenges’ to national interests

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3246746/president-xi-jinping-urges-chinas-diplomats-defy-strong-powers-posing-special-challenges-national?utm_source=rss_feed

President Xi Jinping has urged China’s diplomatic envoys to stay on the alert and not submit to Western power as they defend national interests overseas.

Addressing diplomats gathered in Beijing on Friday, Xi said ambassadors and overseas-based officials must tell China stories well and win more friends.

“It is necessary to … resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, with an attitude of readiness to fight and a firm will to defy strong powers,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as saying.

The call comes amid an ideological and geopolitical feud between China and the United States and its allies.

It also comes a day after top Communist Party leaders, officials and diplomats attending a foreign policy meeting in Beijing vowed to further raise China’s “international influence, appeal and power”, and stand firm against “bullying” and “hegemonism” from the West.

Addressing the Central Conference on Foreign Affairs Work that concluded on Thursday, Xi had urged Chinese diplomats and cadres to “break new ground”, “rally the overwhelming majority” of the world and adhere to the “fighting spirit”.

On Friday, he said “escalating oppression and containment of China by external forces” in recent years had posed “special challenges for diplomatic work” and tested China’s envoys.

Describing Chinese envoys as defenders of national interests, Xi said they should make good use of multilateral mechanisms and rules to gain understanding and support from the global community.

“[The envoys] must be good at making friends widely and deeply, and winning people’s hearts and minds should be done during official occasions and also deeply among the masses,” he said.

“They should also use international language and methods to tell China stories well, connect China with other countries, and connect history with modern times, so as to enable the world to better understand China in the new era.”

Real wolf warriors? China builds up private forces to guard overseas interests

Pang Zhongying, a chair professor of international political economy at Sichuan University, said there was some ambiguity in the official wording, making it hard to assess if there was a change in foreign policy.

However, the emphasis on tensions and “bullying” could mean continued strains in China’s relationship with the West, Pang said.

He added the United States, the European Union and Britain had sent officials to Beijing over the past year to signal goodwill, but Beijing had not responded to them.

Instead, China has highlighted meetings with non-official “US friends”.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday that Xi “personally reached out to the world to tell China’s stories and make friends across the globe”.

Those personal contacts included meetings in Beijing with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates.

Kissinger met Xi at the Diaoyutai state guest house in the Chinese capital as part of a “private trip” in July. It was in stark contrast to visits by US officials around the same time which excluded meetings with the Chinese leader.

While in San Francisco for a summit with US President Joe Biden, Xi also “had cordial conversations with old friends from various sectors” and “delivered a historic speech to the American public”, according to Mao.

On Friday, Xi also asked the envoys to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the foreign affairs work conference, which had laid down the “goals, direction and guiding principles” for China’s diplomats.

He also stressed the importance of loyalty to the party and strict party discipline in building a “diplomatic iron army”.

Envoys must “enrich their minds with the party’s innovative theories, sharpen their eyes to distinguish right from wrong, and always maintain the correct political direction”, he said.

They should “put discipline and rules first”, and “build a diplomatic iron army loyal to the party, brave in taking responsibilities, daring to fight and being good at fighting”.

‘Heartless’ China influencer says Gansu deadly quake was 800km away and ‘nothing to do with her’ faces ongoing criticism despite apology

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3246226/heartless-china-influencer-says-gansu-deadly-quake-was-800km-away-and-nothing-do-her-faces-ongoing?utm_source=rss_feed

An online influencer who mocked the devastating 6.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Gansu on December 18 is facing a wave of backlash, and her video has been viewed 8.55 million times and received over 5,100 comments.

The 20-year-old woman, Dong Shixuan, from Fujian province in southeast China, started a live-stream for her three million followers at about 1pm on November 19 in which she tried to explain why she was not donating money to relief efforts.

“What does this tragedy have to do with me?”

She further said: “The Gansu earthquake was 800 to 1,000km from where I live.”

The earthquake killed 134 people and left nearly 1,000 others injured, with 13 people still missing. It also caused immense property damage that will require significant effort and resources to rebuild.

After her remark, followers flooded her comments section with criticisms, but the woman kept asking: “What does the earthquake have to do with me?”

“I didn’t even know about the earthquake until I started the live-stream,” she said. Dong added: “I don’t have money, I don’t have money. If I had money, I would donate.”

Amid the backlash, Dong published an apology letter on December 21 and a receipt proving she donated 5,200 yuan (US$700) to the World Union Philanthropy Foundation for relief efforts, according to Toutiao News.

“I’m sorry for not paying attention to my words and behaviour as a public figure,” Dong wrote in the letter.

Kuaishou, the live-streaming platform that Dong used, said it had punished the woman for her commentary without elaborating on the specifics of the consequences, according to Jimu News.

The apology did not help ease the public anger.

“There is no way to forgive her,” wrote one commenter.

Another person wrote: “It’s terrifying when someone is heartless.”

Stories of public faux pas from influencers often trigger public outrage in China.

Earlier this month, popular Taiwanese singer Rainie Yang Cheng-lin stunned her audience at a concert in central China’s Henan province when she said people living there “love to cheat people”.

In another case, in September, the country’s top e-commerce beauty products guru, Li Jiaqi, widely known as the “Lipstick King”, had to make a tearful apology after he ridiculed people who could not afford to buy his products.

Beijing should allow mainland Chinese to visit Hong Kong more easily, increase duty-free goods quota, Starry Lee says

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3246758/beijing-should-allow-mainland-chinese-visit-hong-kong-more-easily-increase-duty-free-goods-quota?utm_source=rss_feed

The central government should allow mainland Chinese to visit Hong Kong more easily and increase the duty-free goods allowance to 30,000 yuan (US$4,235) to spur flagging retail sales, according to the city’s sole delegate to the nation’s top legislative body.

Starry Lee Wai-king, a member of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, on Saturday revealed her proposal as Hongkongers headed across the border for the long weekend to celebrate the New Year holiday and take advantage of shopping and leisure activities.

“I believe that we have different policy priorities at different times, and I believe everyone agrees that economic development is now our top priority,” Lee said at a press conference.

Hongkongers made more than 3.2 million outbound trips between December 20 and 29. Over the same period, the city recorded 1.24 million arrivals of mainland and overseas visitors, despite Christmas not being a public holiday on the mainland and in many Asian countries.

One of Lee’s proposals to boost mainland visitor numbers was to bring back a multiple-entry permit scheme for Shenzhen residents, with the initiative potentially expanding to other cities in Guangdong province.

Recent media reports suggested authorities were mulling a reboot of the scheme, which was replaced by once-a-week visit permits in 2015 amid concerns over parallel trading and Hong Kong’s capacity to handle surges in single-day visitors.

Hong Kong officials too ‘passive’ in efforts to attract mainland visitors: CY Leung

The return of tourist coaches in the neighbourhood of To Kwa Wan, part of Lee’s local legislature constituency, led to complaints from residents earlier this year but the NPC delegate maintained that bringing in visitors from the mainland was an urgent matter to help prop up the economy.

“Businesses, especially the small- and medium-sized ones, as well as catering and retail sectors, will benefit from an orderly relaxation [of mainland residents’ visit permits],” she said. “Ultimately, and hopefully, the workforce and general public will also share a slice of a thriving retail scene.”

Hong Kong politician Starry Lee to quit as DAB leader after 8 years in role

She also called on the central government to expand the list of cities where mainlanders could travel from to Hong Kong when not taking part in group tours beyond the current 49, and increase the duty-free allowance for bringing back personal goods from 5,000 yuan to 30,000 yuan.

“This 5,000 yuan limit for personal items has not been adjusted for more than 10 years, and it has limited tourists’ appetite for shopping in Hong Kong,” she said, adding that retailers had been lobbying for the increase for years before the pandemic hit.

She said the 30,000 yuan level was proposed with reference to the 100,000 yuan annual quota for mainland residents shopping tax-free on the island province of Hainan, where sales had boomed when borders closed during the pandemic.

Chinese Swifties are ready to shake it off at the Eras movie

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/12/30/taylor-swift-china-eras-tour/2023-12-18T22:21:27.048Z

Chinese Swifties will finally get to see Taytay — or “Meimei” as she’s affectionately called in China — strut her stuff in the “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” movie Sunday, when the global phenomenon opens in theaters.

Two months after the movie opened in other parts of the world — and $250 million in box office sales later — Chinese authorities are allowing the film to be shown from New Year’s Eve, one of the busiest times of the year for moviegoing in the country of 1.4 billion people.

Swift commands a huge and powerful fan base in China, where her albums have topped the charts and raked in millions on streaming services.

Last year, she was the top-selling foreign artist on the Chinese charts. Her 2022 album, “Midnights,” sold nearly a quarter of a million copies in China in its first day of sales.

The rerecorded “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” sold as many in just five minutes, making Swift the best-selling artist on major Chinese streaming platforms during the first part of 2021, even beating megastars like Jay Chou, the Taiwanese king of “Mando-pop.”

Love Taylor Swift or not, ‘The Eras Tour’ is astonishing

News of the movie’s imminent release has been met with jubilation and frenzied planning — as thousands of fans have mobilized across the country.

Swift is one of few foreign celebrities who have gained more than 10 million followers on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, and reaction online has been breathless.

Since the announcement the film would come to China, social messaging platform WeChat has been flooded with groups in different cities devoted to strategizing about how to band together to buy tickets before they sell out.

Klyn Zhu, a 23-year-old who works for her family’s business in Jinan, the capital of the smoggy northeastern province of Shandong, told friends that she’d plan a viewing party at a local theater. Word got out, and her phone lit up — more than 1,500 people have been in touch, wanting to be part of the group.

She’s now organizing nothing short of an extravaganza: three viewing groups and a short play about the infamous drama between Swift, Kanye West and his ex-wife, Kim Kardashian.

Zhu dreams that videos of her group might one day show Swift herself just how much she means to Chinese fans. “I want her to see the power of fans here,” she said. “China is a big market, but she has never planned a tour here.”

Many of the Jinan Swifties are in their early 20s and confronting an adulthood in China that looks a little less bright than the one they were promised, as the country grapples with its first economic slowdown of their lifetime. They got hooked on Swift when she released “1989” during their high school years, and they find meaning and solace in her lyrics.

“Every one of her songs fits a moment of my different experiences,” Zhu said. Her current favorite lyrics come from the song “New Romantics,” where Swift sings about building a castle from bricks thrown at her.

“No matter what setbacks or difficulties I encounter, I just have to keep thinking that everything will turn out all right,” she said.

The Economy (Taylor’s Version)

In Beijing, people have scoured Imax theaters to secure commemorative popcorn cups and drinkware printed with Swift’s face even ahead of the movie’s release. In Chengdu, fans are planning coordinated outfits with references to favorite albums.

Sebastian Han, a 23-year-old translator in Jinan, has been preparing for this moment for years, rehearsing Swift songs at regular karaoke nights with friends.

Han credits Swift with immersing him in the English language through her music. Song by song, he learned the lyrics. Now he works full-time as a translator.

Swift’s music means more to people in China than pop songs about love and romance — it’s about deeper issues such as how society values women and views on success, ambition and betrayal, Han said.

“Songs are not just for listening to the melody,” he said. “They’re also for exploring the profound social issues behind them.”

Taylor Swift’s next feud might be with the Chinese government

There’s a stringent vetting process for foreign films released in China, and not all American blockbusters make the cut. In recent years, authorities have focused on promoting Chinese films, making it even more of a rarity to be one of the few foreign films allowed into China.

Although other American celebrities have been dropped in China over political comments, Swift has managed to steer clear of scrutiny — despite merchandise that seemed made to court controversy.

With the release of her “1989” album in 2014, she sold merchandise reading “T.S. 1989” — her initials and birth year.

The arrangement of letters and numbers could also be interpreted as a reference to a historical event that China’s censors have worked for decades to scrub from public consciousness: Beijing’s violent crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Even oblique references to this date have landed Chinese celebrities in hot water. But for Swift, censors appeared to turn a blind eye.

.@taylorswift13 trying to sell her TS 1989
clothing line in China. This is...really not going to work well. pic.twitter.com/5DO0caslSM

— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 22, 2015

In fact, Chinese state media seems to have nothing but praise for Swift. Articles in the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, and the nationalist tabloid Global Times call her “Meimei,” adopting fans’ nickname for her. In Mandarin, it sounds like the word for beauty but can be written as “unlucky,” which some say describes her track record with romantic relationships and, previously, the Billboard charts.

“We sincerely hope that Meimei can enjoy her stay in China and present a wonderful performance for her followers to enjoy,” said the Global Times in 2019, before Swift performed at a shopping event for e-commerce giant Alibaba.

In 2021, the People’s Daily headlined a story about Swift’s chart-topping album sales in China: “Taylor Swift’s Fearless hits the right note in China, again.”

“Meimei is forever and always shining among her Chinese fans, never appearing to run out of luck,” it said.

Vic Chiang contributed to this report.

Taiwan prepares to pick new president amid growing threat from China

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/30/taiwan-election-new-president-growing-threat-china

Taiwan’s election on 13 January is the first of more than 40 national elections to be held around the world in 2024. It will determine the presidency and legislature governing 23.5 million people on an island that is similar in size to Belgium. But it has major implications for the world.

There are a host of issues for Taiwan’s voters, including the cost of living, housing and labour rights, energy, education, and elderly care. Taiwan has an ageing population and there is a significant wealth gap, with low minimum wages. The domestic campaign so far has seen standard cross-party sniping over competing promises, accusations of misconduct and corruption, and endless scandals ranging from allegedly plagiarised theses to charges of secret second nationalities.

But across the Taiwan strait, Beijing is preparing to take over. The ruling Communist party (CCP) claims Taiwan as a province of China, and it intends – at some point – to “reunify” it. Beijing has not renounced using force to do so, but is not believed to yet have the capability.

When Taiwan last went to vote for a president in 2020, the threat felt different. The Hong Kong protests and resulting crackdown were fresh in people’s minds, and a key part of Tsai Ing-wen’s successful campaign to be reelected president. But generally, when asked, people would brush off questions of imminent invasion. The “China threat” had been around for decades, and there was as much point ruining your day with worrying about it as there was being worried about another of Taiwan’s frequent earthquakes.

But in the years since cross-strait tensions have skyrocketed, and Beijing has increased its threats and acts of harassment, including several rounds of major military exercises which practised direct attacks on Taiwan. As a result the population has grown more wary, with many joining a growing number of civil defence groups, and making preparations for a possible invasion.

All major parties running for president reject the prospect of Chinese rule, as do a large and growing majority of Taiwan’s people. But there are key differences between them, which could lead to vastly different climates next year, and for Beijing the priority is to ensure the ruling Democratic Progressive party (DPP) is kicked out of office.

“All three presidential candidates have acknowledged the potential risks of Taiwan becoming the next conflict zone. They aim to convince voters that they are the most capable leaders who can ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan strait,” says Jing Bo-jiun, a senior research fellow in Taiwan studies at the University of Oxford.

“What sets this year’s election apart is the influence of the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, which have arguably heightened risk awareness among the Taiwanese public.”

Tsai must step down after serving a maximum two terms, but her vice-president, Lai Ching-te, is running to replace her and carry on the DPP’s rule. Up against him is Hou Yu-ih, a popular former mayor of New Taipei City who is running for the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party. Ko Wen-je, the former mayor of the capital, Taipei, is running as a third candidate for his self-founded Taiwan People’s party.

Early on, Ko and Hou had planned to team up, pooling their votes to defeat the DPP which was ahead but with only around a third of the vote. But the efforts collapsed in a public and embarrassing spectacle, and each registered as candidates separately, cementing in the three-way race.

Lai has pledged to continue Tsai’s efforts by maintaining the status quo and offering dialogue with Beijing, and has framed the election as a choice between “dictatorship and democracy”. But Beijing considers the DPP to be a party of separatists, and its primary goal is to see the party lose power. A campaign slogan recently unveiled by Lai urging people to “choose the right person, take the right path”, was reinterpreted by Chinese officials as choosing “separatists” to take a path to “independence”.

Hou says a vote for the KMT is a vote for peace over war. Beijing says the same. The KMT has its historical roots in ruling China until it lost the civil war to the communists and fled to the island of Taiwan in 1949. There it established the Republic of China in exile and ran a brutal regime of martial law for decades. But it is seen as the party most amenable to Beijing, saying friendlier ties are the way towards peace. Its deputy chairman has made multiple trips to China in recent weeks.

Ko claims to offer a largely undefined “middle ground”, saying recently “vote DPP for conflict; vote KMT for capitulation”. Asked for details in recent interviews, Ko has repeated that he would be better at talking to both the US and China, and would develop Taiwan’s defences.

Taiwan’s biggest backer is the US, whose relations with Beijing have also plummeted over the same period. The US provides weapons to Taiwan, and under a doctrine known as “strategic ambiguity” it leaves open the prospect that it would come to Taiwan’s defence militarily if China attacked. But if China was to attack Taiwan, analysts believe it could also bring in regional neighbours like Japan, the Philippines, Korea, and broadening out further to allies in Europe and the Pacific, including Australia.

At the December forum current and former legislators from Japan and Korea reflected on the “unlikely engagement” of the two historic rivals that had been fostered by regional threats including Beijing’s hostility.

“China has unilaterally increased tension; in Japan there is growing awareness that crisis in Taiwan is crisis in Japan,” said Shiori Kanno, a former member of the Japanese House of Representatives. “But on the other hand, Japanese cooperation with Korea, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand and many others, is increasingly strengthened in order to protect a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

The election is still weeks away, but there is already evidence of mounting influence operations and other forms of cognitive warfare. Deepfake videos of the DPP candidates and fake news about their eligibility are among the disinformation unearthed by factcheckers – a daunting job in Taiwan which for the last 10 years has been the largest recipient of foreign-created disinformation.

“China aims to exploit Taiwan’s open society through hybrid means … to try and shape the outcome of our election,” said the Taiwanese foreign minister, Joseph Wu, at a China-focused forum in Taipei in December.

Taiwan authorities are also investigating dozens of neighbourhood village leaders who have travelled to China in recent months, allegedly as part of an influence operation designed to increase votes for pro-China candidates.

The coercive military activity continues – there are still near daily People’s Liberation Army flights into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone – but more extreme action appears to have slowed. Analysts say this may be because Beijing sees that such harassment can boost support for the DPP, but they are also wary there is more serious intimidation planned before 13 January.

Additional reporting by Chi Hui Lin

China launches test runs for world’s largest plant that can convert coal to ethanol

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3246707/china-launches-test-runs-worlds-largest-plant-can-convert-coal-ethanol?utm_source=rss_feed

The world’s largest coal-based ethanol production plant has started test runs in southeastern China, state media reported.

The plant, which has an annual capacity of 600,000 tonnes, uses coal rather than crops as raw materials to produce ethanol – a petrol additive and valuable basic chemical. This is expected to ease the pressure on China’s food sources while reducing its dependence on fuel ethanol imports.

Ethanol is a clean, renewable energy source with a density similar to petrol. Anhydrous ethanol, with a concentration of over 99.5 per cent, can be blended with petrol to improve exhaust emissions and enhance fuel combustion performance.

Traditional ethanol production from corn or sugar cane competes with food supply, with China’s rising grain prices also posing a challenge. Using low-grade coal, a mineral China has in abundance, can save millions of tonnes of grain a year.

“The new production route is vital for China’s food security, energy security and the chemical industry supply chain,” the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) said in a report on its website.

China’s corn-based ethanol fuel production seen threatening food security

The coal-based plant in Huaibei, Anhui province, uses advanced technology jointly developed by the DICP and the state-owned Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.

The new technology, called DMTE, produces methanol from coke oven gas – a by-product of coke production – which then reacts with other materials to generate ethanol. It can enable large-scale production of ethanol not only from coal, but natural gas or gas from steel plants as well, according to the DICP report.

China is the only country known to have deployed the technology on an industrial level.

As ethanol can be transformed into ethylene or replace ethylene in some reactions as chemical feedstock, it possesses the dual characteristics of being both an excellent energy product and a bulk chemical raw material that can be used to make hundreds of related products.

Global ethanol production currently stands at around 100 million tonnes. Produced mainly from crops like corn, cassava, sugar beet and sugar cane by the United States and Brazil, the chemical largely finds use as fuel ethanol.

China has a significant demand for fuel ethanol but faces a severe shortfall. Last year, it produced about 2.7 million tonnes of fuel ethanol through fermentation of aged grain, but a market gap of 10 million tonnes meant it was heavily reliant on imports.

The coal-to-ethanol team, led by DICP director Liu Zhongmin, developed their environmentally friendly DMTE pathway after researching non-crop ethanol production methods since 2010.

In 2017, the team helped to design the world’s first 100,000-tonne coal-to-ethanol production line, set up in northwestern Shaanxi province. The researchers have since optimised the reaction process and reduced production costs, by replacing the original costly catalysts with non-precious metals.

In June last year, China officially achieved international standards in coal-to-ethanol production with trial runs for a 500,000-tonne facility featuring only domestically made equipment in Yulin, also in Shaanxi. It is now the second-largest such facility in the world, behind the Huaibei plant.

“As of now, 13 industrial facilities [including two overseas ones] plan to use DMTE technology, constituting an ethanol production capacity of 3.95 million tonnes per year,” the DICP report said.

Downed Chinese spy balloon used American internet provider to navigate US: report

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3246745/downed-chinese-spy-balloon-used-american-internet-provider-navigate-us-report?utm_source=rss_feed

Before the rest of the country learned about a Chinese spy balloon hovering over American territory, US intelligence officials were quietly gathering intel on the balloon – including which US internet service provider it used to navigate and send information back to China.

A US air force F-22 fighter jet shot the balloon down off the coast of South Carolina in February after the device floated across the US for more than a week.

During that time, US intelligence officials were tracking the balloon, NBC News reported, citing two current and one former US official close to the matter. They learned the balloon used a US-based internet service provider, according to NBC News, which declined to name the internet company to protect the identities of their sources.

The anonymous officials said the Biden administration sought a court order allowing intelligence officials to surveil the balloon as it made its way across the states.

Though it’s unclear whether the order was granted, the US officials told NBC News that intelligence was gathered during the balloon’s journey, including the messages sent to and from China using the US internet company.

US pilot took selfie with Chinese ‘spy balloon’ before it was shot down

The balloon was reportedly loaded with American technology to help it gather photos and information, prior reporting from The Wall Street Journal found.

At the time, China insisted the balloon was being used for “mainly meteorological” purposes. In a statement to NBC News about the internet service it reportedly used, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, maintained it was a weather balloon.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The balloon travelled from Alaska and Canada to the coast of South Carolina before the US military shot it down.

While in flight, the balloon, which officials named Killeen-23, had reportedly been sending real-time intel about US military sites to Beijing, NBC News reported in April, citing two senior US officials and one former senior Biden administration official.

According to officials who spoke with NBC, the electronic signals collected by the balloon could have included communications between base personnel or signals from weapons systems.

Pentagon documents later leaked by a 21-year-old US National Guard airman revealed that a high-altitude balloon with surveillance capabilities could have used synthetic aperture radar, which uses electromagnetic data to create high-resolution images.

At the time, the Chinese government initially denied the balloon was Chinese but later said it was only a weather balloon that veered off-course.

The Pentagon has said spy balloons have been seen several times over the US in recent years, and experts previously told Business Insider that the technology was most likely sent for spying.

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Chinese medicine ejiao facing blow to supply as Africa, Brazil move to end donkey trade

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3245070/chinese-medicine-ejiao-facing-blow-supply-africa-brazil-move-end-donkey-trade?utm_source=rss_feed

The African Union and Brazil are on the verge of banning the trade of donkey skins, adding to the supply issues faced by China, which uses gelatin from the hides to make the traditional Chinese medicine ejiao.

The medicine is claimed to have anti-ageing properties. Once known as a “medicine for emperors”, it is now marketed to China’s affluent population. The donkey collagen is mixed with herbs and other ingredients to make bars, pills and liquids for consumers or in beauty products.

But China’s insatiable demand for ejiao sees the country go through more than 5 million donkeys annually, with only 2 million of those supplied domestically, according to a recent study. The remainder come from imported donkey hides, with the animals often treated cruelly or stolen from farmers who rely on them for their livelihoods.

With donkeys stubbornly difficult to breed – the gestation period can last more than a year – any obstacle to China’s import of their skins is likely to pile on the pressure for the booming ejiao industry.

Last month, the 55-member African Union endorsed a report calling for a 15-year ban on the slaughter of donkeys and export of their skins.

The report’s recommendations will be put to the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government for adoption in February.

African countries such as Tanzania and Ivory Coast have already banned the donkey skin trade, and Kenya had four Chinese-owned donkey slaughterhouses closed in 2020 over increased cases of theft.

“This [approval] is so important for communities in Africa and their donkeys which suffer untold cruelty driven by this insatiable demand for their skins,” Dr Raphael Kinoti, regional director of Brooke East Africa, said.

“We are delighted that the committee recognised the socio-economic contribution of the donkey to livelihoods in Africa and hope every African country will respect this decision and stop this trade to preserve this critical natural heritage and the livelihoods that it supports.”

Meanwhile in Brazil, a bill to ban donkey and horse slaughter was recently passed in its agricultural and environmental commissions, and will now proceed to the parliamentary constitution and justice committee.

Brazil is one of China’s biggest markets for donkey skins, but the animal also holds a lot of cultural significance for the Brazilian people.

“The donkey, due to its historical importance, became a symbol of the struggle, strength, resistance of the [country’s] people, integrating the imaginary Brazilian and constituting a true historical and cultural heritage,” Brazilian congressman Nilto Tatto said at a recent meeting of the environmental commission in Brasilia.

He said the trade in donkeys had contributed to the reduction in its population, not only in Brazil but around the world.

“Considering the benefits to donkeys, the health of the Brazilian population, biosafety, and our cultural history, we voted to approve this bill,” Tatto said.

The bans in Brazil and Africa will effectively cut off supply from two of the biggest markets in the trade. It is a move UK-based charity The Donkey Sanctuary hopes will spur the ejiao industry into looking for sustainable and cruelty-free alternatives.

According to Sian Edwards, head of campaigns at The Donkey Sanctuary, countries with high donkey populations are targeted by the ejiao industry. This includes African countries, Latin American nations, and even Australia with its feral donkey population.

“We conservatively estimate around 4.8 million donkeys [each year] are slaughtered to supply the skins the industry requires for its output of ejiao sales,” Edwards said.

China’s demand for donkey hides to meet its voracious appetite for ejiao has not only led to a domestic shortage – it could be fuelling an illegal trade in other countries.

Africa is home to about two-thirds of the world’s donkeys. Ethiopia is said to be the “world’s donkey superpower” with more than 10 million of the animals. Sudan and Pakistan are also among the world’s top donkey producers.

Demand for Chinese medicine fuelling illicit African donkey trade

Meanwhile, data from the Shandong Ejiao Industry Association shows the market for the traditional Chinese medicine rose from 19.6 billion yuan in 2013 to 53.5 billion yuan in 2020 (around US$7.5 billion).

Lauren Johnston, an ­associate professor at the University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre, said for some of Africa’s poorest and most remote regions, donkeys are a vehicle of both social and physical mobility.

“When a mother has a donkey, she is often free to earn more off-farm income – to get more chores done more efficiently and so can work off-farm and send her children to school,” Johnston said.

But when the donkeys are stolen, or become unaffordable thanks to inflation, it is the poor – and particularly women and girls – who suffer the most.

Johnston said the other issue is that donkeys do not breed quickly, so if they are consumed quickly, it is not possible to replace them immediately.

She said that some experts believe China’s high consumption rate does not only risk the supply of donkeys for ejiao – it risks the availability for donkeys entirely, in their traditional role as a working animal for the poor and geographically marginalised.

A recent study conducted by Johnston for the South African Institute of International Affairs found that China needed more than 5 million donkeys annually – roughly 10 per cent of the global donkey population – to meet the demand for ejiao.

However, the study said only about 2 million hides come from China’s domestic donkey population. Of the 3 million or so hides it imports each year, 25 per cent to 35 per cent are from animals that have been stolen, mostly from small farmers who need the animals to transport their produce.

To counter China, US revamps second world war-era Pacific airfield that launched nuclear bombings of Japan

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3246739/counter-china-us-revamps-second-world-war-era-pacific-airfield-launched-nuclear-bombings-japan?utm_source=rss_feed

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, an abandoned US airfield once key to dropping the nuclear bomb on Japan – and nearly lost to history amid encroaching forest – is being revived.

But as the Americans hack away at the jungle overgrowth at Tinian island airfield and other old, World War II-era bases across the region, it will not be with Japan on their mind.

Rather, it’s Beijing’s growing influence in the Pacific that is spurring the recovery of a slew of abandoned runways on the 100 sqkm (40 square mile) speck of land that makes up Tinian, part of the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands.

“Rehabilitation of World War II-era airfields has provided Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) a rapidly executable avenue to enhance infrastructure in the region,” a spokesperson said.

Though the statement mentioned a “sense of urgency” enabling PACAF to “enhance … warfighting capability and improve deterrent posture alongside Allies and partners,” it did not mention China directly.

But Washington’s plans for what officials have described as “an extensive” facility on Tinian comes amid a serious military pivot to the Pacific in recent years – and as China builds its own new bases in the region, including in disputed waters.

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

“The most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security is the [People’s Republic of China’s] coercive and increasingly aggressive endeavour to refashion the Indo-Pacific region and the international system to suit its interests and authoritarian preferences,” the Department of Defence’s 2022 planning document, called the National Defence Strategy, reads.

Tinian’s old military airfield “has extensive pavement underneath the overgrown jungle. We’ll be clearing that jungle out between now and summertime,” air force General Kenneth Wilsbach recently told Japanese outlet Nikkei Asia.

Meanwhile, military projects for “fuel and airfield development” at the island’s nearby civilian airport are already under way, according to the PACAF spokesman.

If little known now, the airfield at Tinian was perhaps the most important – and the busiest – in the world in 1945, as its six hastily built runways played host to US B-29 bombers carrying out missions against Japan, some 2,300 km (1,500 miles) away.

Including, on August 6 and August 9 of that year, the planes that dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

“Little Boy” and “Fat Man,” as the weapons were known, killed some 200,000 people.

In the last three years, money annually allocated to Indo-Pacific military construction costs has doubled, from US$1.8 billion in 2020 to just shy of US$3.6 billion in 2023, according to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service (CRS).

It’s part of a Pentagon strategy to open a range of flexible military bases, able to operate outside the larger, long-standing installations in Japan, South Korea and the American island territory of Guam.

On Tinian, initial work started near the civilian airport in February 2022, before extending towards the World War II airfield on the north of the island.

Within two years, tarmac rehabilitation and the construction of fuel tanks are set to be completed, at a budget of at least US$162 million, part of contingency plans in the event “access to Andersen Air Force Base or other western Pacific locations is limited or denied,” according to air force financial documents reviewed by AFP.

Across multiple projects at Tinian, the total cost is unclear, “due to differing timelines and requirements, and the fact that not all work is being executed by the US air force,” the PACAF spokesperson said.

Tinian isn’t the only World War II-era base being revamped: new defence appropriations also include money for construction at Basa Air Base in the Philippines, “along with ongoing projects” at the Royal Australian Air Force’s Darwin and Tindal bases, according to the PACAF spokesperson.

“A lot of our strategy there is taking many of the World War II airfields that frankly are overgrown by the jungle, and there’s still concrete or asphalt underneath,” Wilsbach said in a September speech.

“We’re not making super bases anywhere. We’re looking for a place to get some fuel and some weapons, maybe get a bite to eat and take a nap and then get airborne again.”

Satellite images already show the extent of the work under way, including a new tarmac built just north of the civilian airport.

Not far off, satellite images show other military developments – from China, which has created artificial islets among the diplomatically contested Spratly Islands, used to host its own airbases.

China removes nine PLA generals from top legislature in sign of wider purge

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3246738/china-removes-nine-pla-generals-top-legislature-sign-wider-purge?utm_source=rss_feed

Nine generals of the People’s Liberation Army, including a number of senior members of the Rocket Force, have been dismissed from China’s top legislature.

Besides losing their qualification as national representatives, those holding seats in relevant legislative committees had also been removed from their positions, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC) announced on Friday. It gave no reason for the disqualifications.

Those dismissed include five past or current top commanders of the PLA Rocket Force, a key component of the country’s nuclear arsenal, and a former Air Force commander.

Two of the rest served in equipment development departments, including for the Central Military Commission (CMC), while one is a naval commander.

The CMC is the top military command body in China’s political hierarchy, and is chaired by President Xi Jinping.

The ousted military men include Li Yuchao, commander of the Rocket Force from January last year before being replaced in July, and his former deputy, Zhang Zhenzhong. Zhang was the force’s deputy commander from 2016 to 2022 and then deputy chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department.

Both were reportedly placed under anti-corruption investigation earlier this year, along with another former deputy of Li’s.

Li was replaced by Wang Houbin, the navy’s former deputy commander, in July. Despite the surprise shake-up, Beijing has not published any official statements about the reason for the dismissals or the investigation.

Also stripped of their NPC roles on Friday were Li Chuanguang, deputy commander of the Rocket Force since 2016, and Zhou Yaning, Li Yuchao’s predecessor as commander from 2017 to 2022, as well as the force’s current head of equipment development – Lu Hong.

They represented most of the top leadership of the Rocket Force since its establishment in 2015 in a major overhaul of the PLA.

‘Quality of weapons top priority’ in complex world: Chinese general to top brass

The others dismissed included Rao Wenmin, deputy director of equipment development for the CMC, Zhang Yulin, who served in the same role from 2016 to 2018, and Ju Xinchun, commander of the PLA Navy’s South Sea Fleet since February.

Ding Laihang, commander of the PLA Air Force from 2017 to 2021, lost his NPC representative qualification as well as his membership of the NPC Standing Committee and the Overseas Chinese Committee.

There had been no previous official statement on whether any of the nine were under any kind of investigation.

But the disqualifications suggest they might face further disciplinary action, as NPC representatives enjoy immunity from arrest or criminal charges.

In a separate statement on Friday, the NPC Standing Committee appointed former PLA Navy commander Dong Jun as China’s new defence minister, a post that had been vacant for two months.

Li Shangfu’s dismissal as defence chief came with no details, but a few clues

His predecessor Li Shangfu was removed in October without explanation after not being seen in public since late August. Li was also a former head of equipment development for the CMC, serving in the role from 2017 to 2022. The department oversees the purchase of PLA equipment and the development of military technology.

The military has been one of the main targets of Xi’s far-reaching anti-corruption campaign, which is now in its second decade. Two of the most prominent targets were Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, both former vice chairmen of the CMC.

Guo was jailed for life for bribery in 2016, while Xu died of cancer in 2015 while facing court martial.

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University students in China help delivery man pay for medical bills for broken leg after work accident and ‘drag’ him to hospital for urgent surgery

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3246220/university-students-china-help-delivery-man-pay-medical-bills-broken-leg-after-work-accident-and?utm_source=rss_feed

A group of Chinese students in Shanghai crowdfunded a 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) medical deposit for a delivery driver who fractured his femur but declined hospitalisation because he could not afford to pay the bill.

The students eventually “dragged” the man to hospital, where he was able to undergo surgery to insert several steel pins into the injured area.

The accident happened on November 12 when the driver, Xiang Jianju, attempted to dodge two pedestrians while riding his electric bike. Xiang lost control of the bike and crashed into a guardrail, breaking his leg.

The accident quickly drew the attention and help of nearby Fudan University students, who offered their coats to cover his injured legs and accompanied him to the hospital.

When he was diagnosed with a displaced fracture of his left femur, Xiang refused further treatment when he learned about the 10,000-yuan deposit. He signed the refusal of care paperwork and accepted all consequences of leaving the injury untreated. He then returned to his home.

That evening, he borrowed money from a friend and used a packet of iced lemon tea as an ice pack to relieve the pain.

His predicament soon drew the attention of a group of empathetic students from the university, along with several members of the community, who began their plan to help Xiang.

They discovered that Xiang was ineligible for most social assistance programmes due to his “non-critical” condition and lack of Shanghai housing registration.

With limited options available, the students encouraged Xiang to initiate a crowdfunding campaign. The campaign was finally launched on the evening of November 15 and quickly resonated with the public, reaching its goal of 50,000 yuan (US$7,000) within three hours.

The students then immediately “dragged” Xiang to hospital.

A volunteer, named Chen Zheng, had to prepay 5,000 yuan (US$700) to secure Xiang’s admission because of an administration delay in accessing the crowdfunded money.

To further aid in the compensation claim, two students, Wang Ling, and Liu Yan, made two trips to the local police department to affirm that the pedestrians were at fault and Xiang was not responsible for the accident.

On the evening of November 20, Xiang finally underwent surgery. The doctors successfully inserted several steel pins into the fracture site in his femur, reconnecting the bone.

Xiang’s story has sparked sympathy for delivery riders and stirred calls for social security for lower-income groups in China.

“Life is too hard for the underprivileged,” said one commenter.

Another added: “Providing a social security net for honest workers is an urgent need.”

A third remarked: “We hope the government can improve labour protection measures.”

Man questions China funeral home for charging different cremation prices for ‘luxury’ furnaces with tailor-made requests

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3246217/man-questions-china-funeral-home-charging-different-cremation-prices-luxury-furnaces-tailor-made?utm_source=rss_feed

A funeral home in China offered different prices for their cremation services based on the quality of the furnaces they used during the burial process, sparking controversy in China.

An unidentified man in Hebei province in northern China shared a video on December 19 exposing a local funeral home that designated separate queues for collecting ashes depending on whether they came from a high-end or low-end furnace.

“The area for collecting ashes from the low-end furnace is over there, and the high-end furnace is this way. Do we really need to differentiate between high-end and low-end even for cremation services?” He asked.

A funeral home staff member told Hou Lang Video: “Ordinary furnaces are simpler in structure, while high-end ones are more luxurious and tailored to specific needs of the relatives. Thus, we charge more.”

The employee added that the separate classification of cremation services are common across China: “For local residents, cremation in a low-grade furnace is free while non-residents are charged 250 yuan (US$35). High-grade furnace fees also vary, with non-residents paying 800 yuan (US$110) for cremation.”

An official from the district’s Bureau of Civil Affairs confirmed that the practice aligns with longstanding regulations.

Some low-grade furnaces might not fully cremate remains, potentially requiring families to crush the bones personally and even causing families to inadvertently collect the ashes of others.

One person online shared: “I heard that in lower-grade furnaces, to save time, several bodies are cremated together, and it’s hard to tell whether the ashes you get are actually from your family member. In high-grade furnaces, each body is cremated individually. After cremation, families are shown the complete skeleton before it’s boxed, starting from the feet up.”

However, this revelation has led to various reactions online.

One person commented: “Even in death, we can’t achieve equality?”

Another added: “Even on the way to paradise, there’s a different starting line. Truly, the rat race continues even in death!”

South China Sea: Beijing, Asean claimant states risk pushing beyond ‘grey zone between peace and war’ in 2024

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3246702/south-china-sea-beijing-asean-claimant-states-risk-pushing-beyond-grey-zone-between-peace-and-war?utm_source=rss_feed

The South China Sea has long been one of the most disputed stretches of water on the planet with territorial tensions festering for many years and 2023 is no different – with one exception: the number of incidents among claimant nations and exchanges of belligerent rhetoric have escalated.

Analysts say that the Philippines’ increasingly confrontational stance against China’s “grey-zone” tactics – particularly over flashpoints in waters around the Second Thomas Shoal and the Scarborough Shoal – and its further alignment with the US could keep tensions simmering or even risk an outbreak of serious conflict.

Earlier this month, the Philippines accused Chinese vessels of firing water cannons and ramming into its ships while China said it was engaged in legitimate “control measures” during the incident.

The decades-long conflict involving multiple claimant nations – China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia – has long simmered in an area that foreign policy and military analysts describe as the “grey zone between peace and war”.

On Monday, Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said that the Philippines was continually provoking China with “extremely dangerous” behaviour that threatened regional stability.

Philippine military spokesman Medel Aguilar shot back the next day, accusing China of performing dangerous manoeuvres. “They are the ones committing all the violations,” Aguilar said on state-run broadcaster PTV.

Philippines says it’s not provoking conflict, accuses China of ‘dangerous’ moves

The exchange was indicative of the hardened stances both countries have taken over the disputed waters, with neither side showing signs of backing down. But while China has long held onto its uncompromising position, the Philippines’ increasingly aggressive resistance reflects a shift in policy over the dispute after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr took office last year.

In mid-December, Marcos Jnr posted a statement on social media condemning “the aggression and provocations perpetrated by the China Coast Guard and their Chinese Maritime Militia against our vessels and personnel”, saying it “further steeled our determination to defend and protect our nation’s sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea”.

In addition to this month’s incidents, earlier this year the Philippines accused China of firing a laser at its vessels, swarming more than 100 ships around contested reefs, and building artificial islands within waters that it considered to be its territory under international law.

While these clashes have received the most attention, Vietnam was reportedly involved in a separate incident against China in the waters. In May, there were reports of a stand-off between Chinese and Vietnamese naval forces after Hanoi attempted to expand its oil drilling operations in the area.

The incident was highlighted extensively on social media in both countries. Neither Hanoi nor Beijing, however, confirmed what happened – the official reticence reflecting both sides’ desire to avoid further escalation, according to analysts.

Vietnam has also been ramping up its dredging and landfill work in the Spratly Islands, a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea where China has been busy building artificial islands, according to a report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

Malaysia also entered the fray after its energy projects in the South China Sea prompted Beijing to express its concerns. Although Malaysia was committed to protecting its territorial rights in the South China Sea, it is open to negotiations with China, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said.

None of these grey-zone tactics constitute an act of war, but analysts said they are part of China’s carefully calculated strategy to strengthen its territorial claims over the waters without escalating the conflict.

While Beijing has been undertaking similar actions in the South China Sea for years, observers have noted a significant increase in the frequency and intensity of grey-zone activities in 2023. Marcos Jnr’s increasingly confrontational posture and heightened nationalist sentiment in China mean neither side is likely to back down and escalation may be inevitable, according to analysts.

China claims more than 80 per cent of the South China Sea as its territory – demarcated on its maps as a nine-dash line, or, more recently, as a 10-dash line – based on what it has long maintained as its “historical rights”. Beyond the contested versions of history, China has strong reasons for wanting to control the waters, which contain some of the world’s most valuable shipping lanes, oil and gas reserves, and a significant percentage of the planet’s commercial fishing operations.

In 2016, the Philippines challenged China’s claims at The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration, which ruled that Beijing’s history-based territorial claims lacked a legal basis and were contrary to international maritime law. China refused to accept the ruling, calling it a “political farce”, but said it would work towards a peaceful resolution.

Although Chinese officials say negotiations are the most feasible way to deal with the South China Sea issue, Beijing has continued to engage in frequent grey-zone provocations as a means of strengthening its position.

“The grey zone approach has delivered gains for China, advancing its position in the disputed sea without triggering conflict thus far. It allowed Beijing to undermine the position of other disputants in contested spaces while maintaining deniability,” Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, a research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, told This Week in Asia.

Collin Koh, a senior fellow specialising in defence and strategic studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said this year’s incidents concerning the waters were China’s way of embarking on “horizontal escalation”, which has happened more regularly and with greater intensity.

“It’s so far avoided vertical escalation, which would entail actions that it has hitherto avoided such as boarding and inspection of foreign vessels, as well as the use of kinetic force,” Koh said.

Nonetheless, analysts said while China’s actions were carefully calibrated to be as disruptive as possible and stopped short of acts of war, avoiding conflict might not be China’s ultimate goal.

Koh said it is plausible that China’s grey zone tactics “are designed to bait the other party into escalation, which would thus free Chinese forces to respond in kind – and the use of force would then be legitimised as a form of self-defence or response in kind to what the other party does”.

It is difficult to know if the frequency of grey zone actions has increased in the past year as several incidents involving South China Sea claimants have been unpublicised, analysts said. Most of the recent reported incidents were based on information released by the Philippine government and military.

This was because Marcos Jnr is taking a very different tack than his predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, when it comes to their country’s relations with China, particularly over the South China Sea. Duterte was known for his China-friendly stance, which led him to look the other way when it came to the Chinese coastguard’s hostile activities in the South China Sea while Marcos Jnr is more forceful in defending Manila’s territorial claims, according to analysts.

“When Duterte was president, his tendency to keep incidents in the South China Sea under wraps quickly facilitated China’s grey zone actions with minimal consequences,” Koh said.

Other Asean countries with interest in the disputed waters, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, have preferred to keep the issue “low profile” due to their significant trade with China.

Opinion | Manila’s South China Sea ‘name and shame’ policy has Beijing on the back foot

Analysts said one of the main reasons why Chinese grey-zone actions have appeared more frequent this year is because the Marcos Jnr administration has been eager to name and shame Beijing each time they happened.

It is part of Manila’s policy that Koh has dubbed “assertive transparency”, which seeks to counter China’s tactics by making it incur reputational damage for its provocations while winning international support.

John Bradford, executive director of the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies, argued the dent in China’s image has been significant. “By blatantly disregarding international law and showing its readiness to push around its neighbours, China has shown itself as untrustworthy and has undermined its opportunities to resolve issues without force.”

While assertive transparency may be an effective counterstrategy, some analysts are wary that it could still lead to escalation rather than deterrence.

Pitlo said China is “upping the pressure” against the Philippines, possibly to induce its neighbour to refrain from publicising and “internationalising” the bilateral dispute and instead return to dialogues, such as through the Philippines-China Bilateral Consultative Mechanism, and regional frameworks like the proposed Asean-China Code of Conduct (COC).

Asean and China have been working on finalising a COC for over 20 years. However, there has been very little progress so far between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China on establishing such a mechanism.

China has shown a greater willingness to come to the table to negotiate this year. However, a recent announcement by the Philippines that it had approached Vietnam, Malaysia, and other neighbouring countries to negotiate “a mini COC” could enrage China and torpedo its separate COC discussions with Asean.

Marcos Jnr said that traditional diplomatic efforts have yielded “very little progress” and called for a “paradigm shift”, with measures including forging more military pacts between the Philippines and other nations.

China’s leaders are unlikely to back down on their South China Sea claims, particularly as the dispute provides a useful diversion amid the hard questions they are facing about the country’s current economic slump, Koh said.

“When the Communist Party of China’s domestic political legitimacy is at stake, given the [potential] breakdown of the social compact that’s based on the party and state delivering economic prosperity, it becomes imperative to assert its role as guardian of maritime sovereignty and rights against external foes – primarily the US and “vassals” such as the Philippines,” Koh said.

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

To underscore this stance, President Xi Jinping recently visited the Chinese coastguard command HQ to urge its personnel to assert China’s maritime rights, he added.

As such, the South China Sea dispute could intensify to alarming levels next year, according to analysts.

“It is dangerously likely that one of the grey-zone skirmishes could result in a collision or deaths. Given the attention focused on these issues it may be difficult to de-escalate from such a crisis,” Bradford said.

Pitlo agreed, saying that “the risk of accidents is high, especially in the absence of functional bilateral crisis management tools”. He predicted that the Second Thomas Shoal and the Scarborough Shoal would remain key flashpoints over the next year.

Tensions have also been exacerbated by the increasing US presence in the South China Sea, Koh said.

“The recent operations of [the US warship] Gabrielle Giffords off the Second Thomas Shoal signals that the Americans are willing to play a more active role in supporting the Filipinos in asserting their sovereign rights,” he said. The warship conducted operations alongside the Philippine Navy in the South China Sea a few days before it sailed near the reef on December 4, drawing a strong reaction from Beijing.

The American actions may be perceived by Beijing as a sign that Washington intends to play a more active role in the waters including taking part in joint escorts with the Philippines for missions to the Second Thomas Shoal or at least positioning US military assets to provide cover to the Philippine convoy, Koh said.

“We see the South China Sea scenarios for next year are fraught with numerous sources of uncertainty and even if the risk of a premeditated clash is low, we can’t discount the potential of inadvertent armed confrontation.”

[World] The worshippers caught between China and Taiwan

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Why have millions dropped out of China’s state health insurance scheme?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3246681/why-have-millions-dropped-out-chinas-state-health-insurance-scheme?utm_source=rss_feed

For the first time, a “political task” was assigned to teachers at Mata School in a mountainous village in western China this year – to make sure all students are covered by the country’s basic health insurance scheme.

The school, dedicated to impoverished and troubled children in Shaanxi province’s Zizhou county, was ordered by the local government to push parents to ensure their children are insured.

Families, according to deputy principal Ma Jun, had become hesitant over whether to continue taking part in the scheme amid rising premiums and their stagnating incomes.

But despite the best efforts of the teachers, “there are still a couple of students in each class whose families have refused to pay for next year’s insurance”, said Ma.

The lack of enthusiasm for the scheme epitomises a falling participation rate in China’s state health insurance system, which is having its long-term financial health tested by a growing elderly population and shrinking workforce.

While it covered over 96 per cent of China’s 1.4 billion population between 2019 and 2021, last year it fell by over 1 percentage point, meaning a loss of about 17 million subscribers, according to the National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA).

The drop can be attributed to multiple reasons, including growing reluctance to enrol in the scheme due to financial difficulties amid an economic downturn and factors induced by urbanisation and a more integrated insurance system overall, according to social security and rural affairs experts.

China’s state health insurance system is made up of two schemes, with the urban employees’ scheme dating back to 1998, and the urban and rural residents’ scheme, which has been in place since 2003.

‘Enthusiasm is not high’: China’s private pensions struggle to lure investors

The urban employees’ programme is mandatory for workers who are formally employed, and has better financial coverage and benefits, with contributions to the premiums made by both employers and employees.

The urban and rural residents’ scheme, meanwhile, is intended for anyone who is unemployed, including children. It is voluntary and has a lower fixed annual premium compared to the urban employees’ programme. In recent years, a government subsidy accounted for over 60 per cent of the total premium.

As a large number of migrant workers move from rural areas to cities for work amid urbanisation, subscribers to the urban employees’ programme rose by over 8 million last year, the NHSA said. In contrast, roughly 25 million dropped out of the urban and rural residents’ scheme.

Professor He Wenjiong, deputy director of the China Association of Social Security, said besides the influence from urbanisation, the drop could be partly attributed to technical improvements, which have prompted some to reduce the number of schemes they are enrolled in.

Since the state health insurance system is managed by local governments, for decades, policyholders had only been allowed to claim expenses in one province, leading some migrant workers to take out plans in their hometown and their place of work.

The problem, though, was solved last year with cross-province reimbursement allowed.

“There are, of course, other reasons, including the affordability of premium prices for cash-strapped residents and inadequate health insurance awareness,” said He.

“At present there’s still a big group of low-income people, to whom paying the premium is a big burden. As former premier Li Keqiang pointed out, we’re not rich yet.”

In May 2020, Li said there were still 600 million people in China who lived on 1,000 yuan (US$141) a month, despite its status as the world’s second-largest economy and subsequent declaration by President Xi Jinping in February 2021 that extreme poverty has been wiped out in China.

The minimum personal contribution required for the voluntary urban and rural residents’ programme has surged from just 10 yuan a year when it was established in 2003 to 380 yuan this year.

“Counting my two children and two parents, my family of six need to pay 2,280 yuan. It’s not a small sum for a rural family, especially when the economic condition is bad,” said Li Nian, a resident of a village under Handan city in the northern Hebei province, who has opted to not enrol himself or his wife in the scheme to save money.

Last year, the average annual disposable income for rural residents across China was slightly above 20,000 yuan (US$2,819), according to official data.

Region adds IVF to health insurance as China ramps up birth-boosting policy push

“The premium has kept increasing, but not my income,” Li added.

With a slew of headwinds, including insufficient demand and an ailing property market, China’s post-Covid recovery has been bumpy and underwhelming this year, forcing many businesses to shut down, cut jobs or freeze headcounts.

Zhu Qizhen, a retired professor who specialised in rural issues, said the increasing co-payments have also made some rural residents doubt the value of the coverage.

“Some discontinue the insurance because they’re dissatisfied with the proportion of reimbursement, because there’re still many medications and services that are not covered by the scheme,” he said.

Some may also consider the money to be wasted if they do not need to make any claims, Zhu said.

Unlike car insurance, which allows the insured to pay less in the following year if no claims are made, premiums paid under the urban and rural residents’ health insurance scheme are cleared on a yearly basis, he added.

“There are also others who tend to push their luck, especially younger ones, who believe they’re healthy enough,” he added.

Professor Li Ling, who specialises in medical insurance at Peking University’s National School of Development, has called for reforms of the basic health insurance for urban and rural residents, with a proposal for the lower fixed premium to be linked to earnings.

Under the current system, while policyholders are becoming less interested due to the rising premiums, local governments are also under an increasingly heavier burden as subsidies rise, she noted in an interview with the Economic Observer in August.

Beijing has pledged to increase the subsidy by 30 yuan (US$4.2) for each policyholder this year, representing a 30 billion yuan increase.

To ease the pressure for both sides, Li suggested, “we should decide on personal contributions based on individual income, and give them the same treatment when they go to the hospital”.

This is an example of equality, she argued, with the existing method, in her view, “equalitarianism”.

‘Shameless’: controversy over cuts to classical Chinese content in Taiwan’s schools heats up presidential race

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The controversy over the reduction of classical Chinese content in Taiwan’s high school curriculum has rekindled debate in the island’s presidential race over whether the move was politically motivated to sever historical links with mainland China.

With the January 13 elections looming, presidential front-runner William Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said the curriculum change had nothing to do with politics. However, his two opposition rivals say it is part of a government “de-sinicisation” effort aimed at promoting the Taiwanese identity.

Observers said it was not the curriculum change, but the growing trend of people – especially the younger generation – identifying as Taiwanese only that had made it inevitable for locals to distance themselves from the mainland.

Ko Wen-je, the candidate and head of the smaller opposition Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), set off the debate during a campaign rally in Taipei on December 8, saying he strongly opposed teaching less classical Chinese literature in the island’s high schools.

“I studied Tang dynasty poetry [618-907 AD],” Ko told the rally. He said there was nothing wrong with learning classical Chinese, especially when Chinese culture had existed for more than 2,000 years.

“Taiwan and mainland China came from the same race, same history, religion and culture. Though their political systems and ways of life are different today, there is no need to cut the link because of the competition between the two sides,” he said.

Ko’s comments came after a high school teacher blasted education authorities for removing half of the 30 classical Chinese literary pieces from curriculum guidelines.

Alice Ou, who teaches at the Taipei First Girls’ High School, described the move as “shameless” during a press conference held by a group of education workers on December 4 to review the government’s education policies.

“All the Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects and Mencius were axed,” she said, referring to the Four Books, a series of philosophical writings and doctrines associated with the ancient Chinese sage Confucius.

Also removed from classical Chinese textbooks was an important essay about morality by Ming dynasty philosopher Gu Yanwu (1613 -1682), Ou said.

She said the omission of the classical Chinese doctrines would only reduce the chances of high school students learning the important values of honesty, justice, integrity and honour.

The DPP government introduced the curriculum guidelines in 2019 as compulsory education was increased from nine to 12 years.

When asked to comment on the curriculum debate on December 9, Hou Yu-ih, the New Taipei mayor standing for the main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) – a mainland-friendly party – said that classical Chinese writings helped students appreciate the values of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and compassion.

“Even neighbouring countries like South Korea and Japan have used those writings in their primary and high schools,” Hou said, adding that no Taiwanese political ideology should supersede them.

Hou said if he was elected president, he would hold an island-wide educational affairs conference to review the curriculum.

He also urged Lai to address the issue and “refrain from turning it into a war between the young and the old generations”.

In response, Lai rejected the idea that the cuts were politically motivated.

“The guidelines were designed merely as a reference for publishers to decide what should be compiled in the textbooks. I believe publishers would seek advice from the frontline teachers on what should be included,” he said.

The reduction should not be seen as a political move, he added, but admitted that the controversial issue was “worth further pondering”.

Political atmosphere spells trouble for literature teacher in Taiwan

Taiwan’s education ministry later defended the guidelines, saying they were aimed at helping students to develop the right values and attitudes from more diverse texts – including modern Taiwanese literature, foreign literature and literary essays.

It said such diversity would allow students to develop critical thinking and communication skills from their life experiences, rather than spending time reciting selective texts.

The ministry also said it had no plan to abolish classical Chinese and that the current curriculum still covered a sizeable portion of ancient Chinese writings.

Meanwhile, observers said the fact that more locals identified as Taiwanese served only to encourage the removal of classical Chinese writings from high school textbooks.

“More and more students are growing impatient with learning classical Chinese as they hardly use it in daily life and it is little help when it comes to finding a good job,” education expert Chiu Li-ying said.

“The effort of the DPP government to promote the Taiwanese identity is to blame for such a phenomenon, and this would accelerate the de-sinicisation process in Taiwan,” she said.

A survey by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation in September showed 77 per cent of people on the island identified only as Taiwanese. Only 9 per cent saw themselves as Chinese and 8 per cent as both Taiwanese and Chinese.

Wu Rwei-ren, a researcher of Taiwan history at the Academia Sinica, the island’s top research institution, said there had been a notable decline in Chinese identification in Taiwan in the past decade or so.

“This is a result of identity evolution, which has transformed into natural independence among young Taiwanese,” he said, adding Beijing’s military intimidation and coercion of the island had ironically hastened this process.

Beijing – which sees Taiwan as its territory that must be brought under its control, by force if necessary – has ramped up pressure on Taiwan by intensifying military operations around the island in recent years after President Tsai Ing-wen, of the DPP, refused to accept the one-China principle.

It has condemned the Tsai government for launching a “de-sinicisation” campaign to cut the island’s historical and cultural links with the mainland.

Washington – Taipei’s informal ally and biggest arms supplier – has asked Beijing to stop using military drills near Taiwan to intimidate the island. 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.