• China to nurture and praise ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ of private economy in new action plan
• China to persist with AI development efforts in 2024, despite setbacks from rigid US semiconductor restrictions, UBS analysts say
• Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao pledges stronger ties with US as both countries pursue thaw in relations
• ‘Feet in two boats’: angry ex in China detained for flying banner outside former lover’s workplace accusing her of infidelity
• Belt and road: visiting Maldives president vows greater cooperation with China on infrastructure projects
• Chinese scientists look to Antarctic krill for climate change clues
• Questions about China dominate Taiwanese elections, says Nathan Batto | By Invitation
• Chinese satellite launch triggers emergency alert across Taiwan
• China’s home-grown C919 alights in Shanghai on first regular route from Beijing
• As US-China ties struggle in ‘choppy waters’, diplomacy rides ‘a surging river’ of metaphors
• China looking to ‘shape new pattern’ for world relations, Foreign Minister Wang Yi says
• [World] China satellite launch over Taiwan triggers islandwide alert
• Typhoon Doksuri’s 2023 rampage across China leaves US$23 billion shortfall in insurance coverage, Munich Re says
• Einstein Probe: China launches powerful space X-ray observatory to understand flashes in the night sky
• China forensic firm cracks Apple’s AirDrop to help Beijing police track senders
• China school suspends member of staff who suggested ‘students should be given beatings’ instead of food
• Chinese University President Rocky Tuan quits top job after months of controversy over governing council
• Hong Kongers in Taiwan firmly support the ruling party after watching China erode freedoms at home
• Too big to ignore: China made up 15% of revenue for the world’s top 200 multinational companies in 2022, Bain’s data shows
• Pakistan-China stealth fighter deal puts India under pressure to modernise air force
• Japan’s high-end medical services attract affluent Chinese tourists
• Xi Jinping tells China’s corruption hunters to show no mercy in ‘severe and complex’ battle
• [World] Taiwan election: Kuomintang party promises peace with China
• ‘A wedding to remember forever’: China kindergarten teachers hold marriage ceremony in school with children playing key roles
• Chinese military scientists bring energy shield from science fiction to life to defend against enemy radiation: paper
• US naval officer sentenced to two years in prison over spying for China
• Bowser launches effort to reimagine Chinatown as loss of Caps, Wizards looms
• China cuts tariffs on 143 Argentine agricultural and industrial products amid tense bilateral ties
• US sailor sentenced to 27 months in prison for giving China military information

China to nurture and praise ‘entrepreneurial spirit’ of private economy in new action plan

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3247821/china-nurture-and-praise-entrepreneurial-spirit-private-economy-new-action-plan?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top economic planner on Tuesday pledged to further clear the way for the private economy, even though the scores of government policy support rolled out last year has yet to revive the spirits and lift investment within the key sector.

The authorities would “accelerate the legislative process for promoting the private economy, with a focus on building a legal and institutional framework to support the development of the private sector”, said the private economy development bureau under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The new action plan was contained in an article published on the front page of the Communist Party mouthpiece, the People’s Daily.

Many economists, though, have called for meaningful action, rather than stopgap measures.

The latest moves are intended to guarantee equal and lawful access to production factors, fair participation in market competition and equal legal protection, the NDRC bureau said.

The economic planner also promised to tackle specific problems and respond to the concerns of private firms, while creating a better environment with policies and promotions.

“On the policy front, the government will enhance integrity by implementing various pro-business policies,” the article said. “Entrepreneurial spirit will be nurtured and praised.”

Beijing’s regulatory crackdowns on various private industries in recent years, including on the finance, education, gaming, technology and internet sectors, have had a profound effect on the private economy in China.

Did China’s economic recovery make headway? 6 takeaways from November’s data

Beijing released a 31-point action plan in July, which was seen as China’s strongest message ever to shore up sentiment and provide a favourable environment to the private sector, with a focus on economic growth, jobs and technological innovation.

It was followed by a 25-point policy package in November.

At the tone-setting central economic work conference last month, Chinese leaders also vowed to “promote the development and growth of private enterprises, and put into place a batch of measures related to market access, resource acquisition, fair law enforcement and rights protection”.

However, private investment declined by 0.5 per cent, year on year, in the first 11 months of 2023, in sharp contrast to investments among state-owned enterprises, which rose by 6.5 per cent during the same period.

Questions have remained about how concrete measures would be released, and how Beijing actually views the role of the private sector within the world’s second-largest economy.

The private economy contributes more than half of China’s tax revenues, more than 60 per cent of its gross domestic product and more than 80 per cent of its urban employment.

In a speech to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on Monday, President Xi Jinping vowed to deepen his crackdown against corruption by treating the “grave punishment of corruption involving collusion between politics and business as a top priority”.

The private economy has also been challenged by the overall economic slowdown and geopolitical tensions.

In a 2024 forecast released on Monday, a Tsinghua University research team highlighted a significant lack of confidence and vitality in the private economy.

“[The Communist Party should] strive to avoid interpreting the development of the private economy as a ‘stopgap measure’, and to promptly address several concrete issues in practical actions, and to shift away from the prevailing negative expectations that society holds regarding the private economy,” the team said.

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China to persist with AI development efforts in 2024, despite setbacks from rigid US semiconductor restrictions, UBS analysts say

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3247835/china-persist-ai-development-efforts-2024-despite-setbacks-rigid-us-semiconductor-restrictions-ubs?utm_source=rss_feed

China will press ahead this year with development of large language models (LLMs) – the technology used to train ChatGPT and similar applications – and generative artificial intelligence (AI) systems, despite restrictions imposed by the United States on the mainland’s access to advanced semiconductors, according to analysts from Swiss investment bank UBS.

China is expected to “work within those constraints and try to make progress” by tapping into domestic AI accelerator programmes and being more economical in using computing resources, said Nicolas Gaudois, head of Asia-Pacific technology research at UBS, during a webinar hosted by the bank on Tuesday.

Gaudois said US export controls have blocked China’s access to Nvidia chips used for AI projects, but indicated that the mainland’s ability to overcome such setbacks must not be underestimated.

The views expressed by UBS analysts reflect how China’s semiconductor industry weathered last year’s escalation of Washington’s tech sanctions, which restricted exports of advanced chip-making equipment and cutting-edge semiconductors for AI projects.

The mainland’s tech sector appeared to have overcome the chokehold of US export controls last year, when Huawei Technologies made a surprise return to the 5G smartphone market with new handsets powered by a “breakthrough” advanced made-in-China processor. It showed the lengths taken by the US-blacklisted company to build up its operations, following years of struggles on account of trade sanctions.

Apart from that breakthrough, UBS analysts asserted that China’s semiconductor sector has developed well in certain unsanctioned segments, showing strong market growth over the past few years.

“Restrictions from the US are very limited on mature nodes,” said Randy Abrams, head of Taiwan Research at UBS, in the same webinar on Tuesday. He pointed out that sales of these mature-node chips have not been restricted.

“We have seen China make more effort to invest in those areas,” Abrams said. “We will see steady market pickup in mature applications, such as camera image sensors, micro-controllers, analogue chips and discrete semiconductor devices for EVs.”

China’s semiconductor industry weathers tough year amid tighter US sanctions

“In semiconductor equipment, local suppliers have built up their market share from very low single-digits into the mid- to high-single-digits,” he said. “Their gains come from supplying China semiconductor manufacturers, as they’ve added mature node capacity.”

Abrams said domestic chip-making equipment suppliers saw their market share increase to about 20 per cent on the back of demand from Chinese chip fabrication facilities. “So if we leave out the very advanced nodes, there are actually a lot of (investment) opportunities,” he said.

Global demand for chips, he said, is expected to start picking up, as soon as inventory pressures ease and procurement at semiconductor foundries improves.

A slew of sanctions imposed by the US since 2019 has also forced companies across China’s vast tech supply chain to work closely together.

Internet search giant Baidu, which runs Ernie Bot and the Ernie LLM, ordered US$61 million worth of Huawei’s 910B Ascend AI chips – which the Chinese firm developed as an alternative to Nvidia’s A100 processor – for 200 servers, according to a report in November by Reuters, which cited sources.

Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao pledges stronger ties with US as both countries pursue thaw in relations

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3247838/veteran-chinese-diplomat-pledges-stronger-ties-us-both-countries-pursue-thaw-relations?utm_source=rss_feed

Veteran Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao has pledged to promote “Track 1.5 diplomacy” to help build stable, healthy and sustainable US-China relations as both countries pursue a thaw in bilateral ties.

At a talk hosted by the Asia Society in New York on Monday, Liu said the US and China “should do more to enhance understanding and promote cooperation and continue the positive momentum created by the leaders’ meetings”.

Liu, who heads the International Department, the Communist Party’s diplomatic arm, is leading a delegation to the United States, and is the highest-ranking official to visit the US since Chinese President Xi Jinping met his US counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco in November.

Xi-Biden meeting a ‘milestone’ in US-China ties: top envoy

Liu said the two leaders reached an important consensus in November, which created direction and added momentum for promoting the development of China-US relations, the department said in a statement.

He also urged the two countries to promote practical cooperation in various fields, such as economy and trade, to achieve visible results and improve public confidence in China-US relations.

According to the statement, the Asia Society said the two sides could improve communication, exchanges and cooperation, and gradually remove obstacles in bilateral relations.

The exchange was part of the “Track 1.5 dialogue”, which involves government officials and non-government figures.

It has gradually become a channel for countries and diplomats seeking to manage complex policy challenges, together with Track 2 dialogue, which brings together non-governmental representatives from both countries.

Liu’s delegation also discussed global risks and challenges with Ian Bremmer, the president of Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.

Liu and Bremmer agreed that China and the US had an important responsibility for world peace, stability and prosperity, according to the Chinese statement.

“The two sides should strengthen mutual trust and cooperation … encourage close interaction between all sectors of society, especially young people, and build bridges of long-term friendship and cooperation,” the statement said.

Liu’s US visit comes as voters in Taiwan, a major flashpoint in bilateral relations, are set to elect a new president and legislators on January 13.

How is Chinese diplomacy like the Monkey King? Its many virtues, says ex-envoy

Quoting unnamed officials familiar with Liu’s trip, Yonhap news agency reported Sunday that Liu planned to visit Washington, New York and San Francisco, and was expected to meet officials in the Biden administration to discuss implementing the agreement reached during their leaders’ meeting, as well as the situation on the Korean peninsula.

Also on Monday, Shanghai Communist Party boss Chen Jining held talks with an American delegation led by former US treasury secretary Lawrence Summers.

“China and the United States should have a new vision, and work together to build together the five pillars of China-US relations,” Chen said, adding that he welcomed Summers to play a greater role in strengthening people-to-people and academic exchanges.

‘Feet in two boats’: angry ex in China detained for flying banner outside former lover’s workplace accusing her of infidelity

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3246940/feet-two-boats-angry-ex-china-detained-flying-banner-outside-former-lovers-workplace-accusing-her?utm_source=rss_feed

Police in China have detained two men over the raising of a banner at an ex-girlfriend’s company accusing her of cheating and saying she “had her feet in two boots”.

One of the men, surnamed Zheng, from Hubei province in central China, had made numerous attempts to salvage their relationship after the breakup and when they failed, he sought revenge shaming revenge.

Zheng ordered the banner online and then, with the help of his friend, surnamed Yan, hung it outside his ex-girlfriend’s place of work – as well as other high-traffic locations – to maximise visibility.

A widely shared online photo of the banner showed it accusing her of infidelity and “congratulated her” on her “seamless transition,” implying she had another boyfriend during their relationship and quickly moved on after their breakup.

A member of the public reported the appearance of the banner to police on the morning of December 18, and the authorities removed it and arrested Zheng and Yan.

Zheng and Yan were arrested for 10 and eight days respectively. Both men expressed regret for their actions.

The incident, reported in The Paper, has sparked heated a discussion about relationships online.

“The man’s actions show low intelligence by publicly announcing he was dumped, and low emotional intelligence, too. Anyone seeing the banner would think he’s petty. It’s good they broke up, otherwise they would have divorced,” wrote one person.

“A relationship is about making adjustments. Once it ends, it is none of your business who the other person dates,” said another.

A third person added: “It’s so hard for women. They don’t even have the freedom to refuse men gracefully. This kind of relentless pursuit signals a potential for domestic violence.”

It is not the first time in China that an ex has flown a banner to shame their former partner.

In May 2023, a woman surnamed Luo from Sichuan province in the southwest of the country turned up at her ex-husband’s wedding with a banner which read: “Former wife congratulates ex-husband on taking a concubine.”

The woman was angry that he had not paid her a 1 million yuan (US$141,200) settlement after their divorce.

Eventually, the ex-husband agreed to pay the compensation in three instalments and Luo publicly apologised for her behaviour.

Belt and road: visiting Maldives president vows greater cooperation with China on infrastructure projects

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3247823/belt-and-road-visiting-maldives-president-vows-greater-cooperation-china-infrastructure-projects?utm_source=rss_feed

China remains one of the closest allies of the Maldives, which will expand its cooperation with Beijing under the Belt and Road Initiative, its President Mohamed Muizzu told a business forum in southeastern China on Tuesday.

Muizzu landed in China on Monday for a state visit until Friday during which he will meet his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, making the Maldives president the first head of state welcomed by China this year.

The newly elected leader, who came to power in November, is widely seen as a Beijing-friendly politician. He defeated former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who backed closer Malé-New Delhi relations and remains critical of China’s belt and road investment in his country.

During the business forum called Invest Maldives being held in the southeastern city of Fuzhou, Muizzu said Malé would continue to cooperate with China in key Maldives infrastructure plans under the belt and road programme. He said his country would explore the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) that had been signed but not yet activated under the former New Delhi-friendly presidency, a readout from Muizzu’s presidential office said.

“[Muizzu] spoke on the long-standing relationship between the Maldives and China, which dates back to the ancient Maritime Silk Road. He stated that China remains one of the closest allies and developmental partners of Maldives,” the readout said.

Observers believe that Beijing and Malé’s engagement will focus mainly on economic issues, including China’s support for the Maldives’ pillar tourism industry and a renewed push for the belt and road programme.

But they added that the Maldives’ dependency on India, which traditionally had great influence in South Asia, could not be challenged.

New Delhi would continue to observe Muizzu’s further approach in case of potential competition with the world’s second-largest economy, they said.

Lin Minwang, the deputy director of the Centre for South Asian Studies at Fudan University, said that for China engagement with Beijing-friendly Muizzu meant China’s investment could be “viewed objectively”.

“The current government [of the Maldives] has reversed the previous government’s attitude towards China and the [belt and road programme] … this is positive for China. At least the new president can regard the project objectively.”

Under the Belt and Road Initiative, China helped the Maldives to build landmarks such as the expansion of the Velana International Airport, and the building of the cross-sea China-Maldives Friendship Bridge (Sinamalé Bridge) connecting Malé and neighbouring Hulhulé Island.

Former New Delhi-friendly president Solih accused China’s infrastructure initiative of saddling the Maldives with excessive debt and promoting government corruption.

During Solih’s term from 2018, China’s investment in the islands slowed or even decreased even though Chinese-led projects in the Maldives were not cancelled or suspended, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

Meanwhile, the China-Maldives free trade agreement that was signed during the presidency of Abdulla Yameen (2013-18) did not come into effect because of Solih’s policy on China.

Lin said there could be a push for an effective FTA regime under Muizzu, adding that belt and road projects could possibly be resumed.

Aditya Gowdara Shivamurthy, an associate fellow at the Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF), said it was expected the Maldives would ask China for help with its tourism recovery and to aid its sluggish financing status by investing and easing the debt in belt and road projects.

“There is a dire need for additional money and financing. Maldives’ economy is in real bad shape and Muizzu is expecting to continue his everyday operations and fulfil his electoral promises through external support,” he said.

China has surged ahead of Russia to be the largest contributor of tourists to the Maldives in July, the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic. China has long been the largest visitor contributor in the island state before the pandemic.

But the Maldives also faces debt problems like its South Asian neighbour Sri Lanka, where China is also the biggest actor. The China Development Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Export-Import Bank of China hold more than 60 per cent of Maldives’ sovereign debt, according to the data from the Maldives’ Ministry of Finance.

New tilt for Maldives: toward China, away from US’s Indo-Pacific ally India

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, China has been continuously conducting debt suspension to the Maldives under the bilateral and G20 framework since 2020.

“Muizzu needs to [do] debt restructuring. Chinese loans are quickly maturing and Maldives is running out of foreign reserves – due to commercial and external borrowing. The Sri Lankan episode is a grim reminder of the necessity of debt restructuring for Maldives,” Gowdara Shivamurthy said.

As the leader of the People’s National Congress – a party that has pushed a political campaign called “India out” for years – Muizzu has called for less connection with the South Asian powerhouse. However, he is likely to downplay hostility to New Delhi while in office, observers said, adding that China was not an option to replace India’s dominant influence in the Maldives.

In 2022, China was the Maldives’ second largest trading partner with a share of 15.9 per cent of its total trading volume, surpassing India, which was the third largest with 13.7 per cent of Maldives’ trade. Oman is the biggest trading partner with the islands, according to open data patrol TrendEconomy.

But Lin said India’s influence on the Maldives went beyond the economy and was “not only geographic, but also cultural, and historical”, a role he said China could not yet replace.

The Beijing-friendly president played a balancing act before his trip to China. New Delhi summoned the high commissioner of the Maldives over three deputy ministers calling India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “clown”, “terrorist” and “puppet of Israel”. Malé suspended the three deputy ministers after the row broke out.

“Muizzu has been deemed pro-China by many. But the fact is that he has done nothing to antagonise India yet, and more importantly, he hasn’t done anything to calm India’s anticipations,” Gowdara Shivamurthy said.

Muizzu has not announced any plan to go to India despite visiting Turkey and China. He has also said he would expel foreign soldiers, a pledge he started to act on after meeting Modi at Dubai’s Cop28 climate meeting last month.

Muizzu suspended an agreement signed in 2019 allowing India to conduct hydrographic surveys in Maldivian waters that was intended to help New Delhi understand information such as sea floor topography and water depth.

Gowdara Shivamurthy said India was still observing the new administration and exploring ways to collaborate and cooperate for the next five years.

“India also has its benefits – the island nation is still dependent on India for imports, development assistance, security, education, health, etc,” he added.

Meanwhile, as Washington continues to promote an Indo-Pacific security agenda, the Maldives, an Indian Ocean island country, may become a power battleground after the US established an embassy in Malé last year.

Calling India’s Modi ‘clown’, ‘terrorist’ gets Maldives officials suspended

Last week, Malé’s foreign minister Moosa Zameer spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone, vowing to cooperate on defence and other matters in the Indo-Pacific region.

But Gowdara Shivamurthy said the US would prefer India take the lead in cooperation with the Maldives.

Lin, on the other hand, said the Indian Ocean was not China’s priority and Beijing was not promoting the Maldives as a security focus.

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Chinese scientists look to Antarctic krill for climate change clues

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3247832/chinese-scientists-look-antarctic-krill-climate-change-clues?utm_source=rss_feed

China is building a surveillance network to monitor Antarctic krill as part of a project that could help protect the continent’s marine ecology in future.

Researchers said it will help them monitor seasonal changes in their numbers and analyse the status of major Antarctic animal populations and how they will be affected by climate change.

There are hundreds of millions of krill in the Southern Ocean, the world’s largest biomass of wild animal species, and the tiny protein-rich crustaceans play a vital role in the food chain.

Seals, penguins, whales and seabirds all primarily feed on them, and changes in their numbers have a significant impact on the wider ecosystem.

In the first Chinese project of its kind, the expedition team on board the research vessel Xuelong 2, which means Snow Dragon, placed a set of ecological subsurface mooring buoys in the Amundsen Sea in western Antarctica on Saturday, the official newspaper Science and Technology Daily reported.

Scientists track ‘alarming’ melt in Antarctic ice shelves

The buoys sank to a depth of about 3,000 metres (9,840ft) and will collect data and pictures before being collected a year later. They form part of the first Chinese network of its kind in Antarctica.

The waters are a key area for studying global warming and rising sea levels.

“The reason we chose this area to place the device is based on historical research data, which shows there are abundant krill. We can monitor the seasonal changes in krill over the course of a year with these sensors,” Wang Jinhui, the deputy leader of the expedition team, told state broadcaster CCTV.

“We can also analyse krill’s growth status and their response to climate change against the backdrop of global warming. This will further provide a scientific basis for China’s ecological protection in polar regions.”

A study published in 2022 concluded that previous climate events have had a significant impact on their population size.

There was a “drastic reduction” in their numbers 10 million years ago when temperatures in the Southern Ocean fell during the Ice Age, but around 100,000 years ago, their numbers rebounded as a larger area of sea ice – their natural habitat – formed.

The international team behind the research said it was not clear what impact climate change would have today.

“The habitat of krill [is likely to] shift to higher latitudes in these areas, but how climate change will impact krill population size and, consequently, the Antarctic ecosystem that depends on krill, are critical questions that need to be addressed urgently,” they wrote in a paper published in the journal Cell.

How Shackleton’s doomed Antarctic ship was found a century later

Krill are highly adaptable in extreme conditions. They can go without food for up to 200 days and adults can shrink their body size when food is scarce.

They can also lay thousands of eggs that sink 1,000 to 2,000 metres into the ocean to hatch undisturbed, before the larvae float back to the surface.

Xuelong 2 entered service in 2019 and was built in China with design support from Finland. It is the first vessel of its kind that can break ice as it moves both forwards and backwards. It can break through 1.5 metres of ice at 2 to 3 knots.

Questions about China dominate Taiwanese elections, says Nathan Batto | By Invitation

https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2024/01/08/questions-about-china-dominate-taiwanese-elections-says-nathan-batto

WHEN OUTSIDERS think about Taiwan’s elections, they often look for answers to the grand questions of the island’s future: does this election indicate that Taiwan will move towards unification with China, or towards becoming a formally independent country? Meanwhile, people on the ground often note that surprisingly little of the political discussion is actually about China. Candidates usually spend most of their time talking about other issues, such as nuclear power, high consumer prices, health-care spending and public housing. As a result, analysts often argue that Taiwanese voters have moved past questions about China and now care more about issues that affect their day-to-day quality of life.

Both types of observers are misguided. China is always at the heart of Taiwanese national elections, but the considerations are always more complex than simply unification or independence.

The dominant political cleavage in Taiwan is based on attitudes towards China. However, in this context, “China” does not necessarily narrowly refer to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). At the most basic level, Taiwan’s party system is built around national identity: do you think of yourself as Taiwanese, Chinese or both?

There are many different reasons why different people give different answers to this question, including when they or their ancestors came to Taiwan, their preferred language, their religious practices, their educational experiences, how they are treated when they travel abroad and how they feel about the history, literature and art of China. Those factors have, in turn, shaped answers to many more immediate political questions over the years, including the transition to democracy, military reform, education policy and budgetary priorities.

Of course, this cleavage is not based entirely on internal considerations. How to deal with the colossus across the Taiwan Strait is increasingly an existential question for Taiwan. As the PRC’s economic and military power grows, it becomes ever more critical for Taiwan to find the right blend of international diplomacy, cross-strait policy, national security and economic strategies to discourage aggression. Not surprisingly, though, people with exclusively Taiwanese identity and those with some degree of Chinese identity tend to give very different answers to questions about how best to respond to the challenges posed by China.

Taiwan’s two main political parties reflect this split over identity. The governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has a strong Taiwanese identity and wants to keep the PRC at arm’s length, while the opposition Kuomintang (KMT), whose full name translates as the Chinese Nationalist Party, generally favours more exchanges and economic co-operation with the PRC.

The two parties are often caricatured by outsiders and each other: the DPP as radically pro-independence, and the KMT as radically pro-unification. A better description is that the DPP is against policies that might eventually lead towards unification and the KMT is against policies that might eventually lead towards formal independence.

In the short term, however, neither political elites nor the general public are clamouring for a swift resolution of Taiwan’s status. There is a broad consensus on maintaining the status quo, though the two parties disagree on how best to do so. The DPP has stressed deterrence by building up Taiwan’s military capacity and locating Taiwan squarely in the international community of democracies. The KMT has advocated appeasing the PRC by acceding to its precondition for the resumption of official engagements: acceptance of “One China”, the principle that there is only one China and that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to it.

The framing of the China question makes quite a difference. In the election of 2020 the discussion was about the suppression of freedom in Hong Kong and fears that such a tragedy might be repeated in Taiwan. This framing helped the DPP. In 2012 and 2016 the question was about the extent and speed of economic integration with China. This worked to the KMT’s advantage in 2012, but four years later, in the wake of massive student protests against further trade agreements, it helped the DPP. This year many people are looking at the conflict in Ukraine, and their discussions about China are often about avoiding war, a framing heavily promoted by the KMT.

Of course, Taiwan faces many of the same economic and social problems that challenge other countries. Precisely because these issues are orthogonal to the main political cleavage, politicians tend to spend a disproportionate amount of time talking about them. Not everyone cares primarily about national identity, and even those who do want to be reassured that their side has a viable plan for everyday governance. This year candidates have spent a lot of time and energy discussing public housing, the low birth rate, inflation, health-care spending, energy policy and internet fraud.

The parties do not have clear, long-standing, opposing positions on these issues, so candidates have to educate voters about what they plan to do and why it makes sense. When the candidates have similar positions on an issue, they argue about who would do a better job at it.

In this election the DPP has another factor to consider: voter fatigue. After eight years in power, the governing party finds itself attracting blame from opposition politicians for all of society’s problems. They also insist that the DPP has become highly corrupt, though these accusations are poorly supported. Many people simply want a change.

In the end, the great majority of votes in this election will be determined by attitudes about China. But this will not be a referendum on unification or independence. Rather, national identity and judgments about the best way to maintain the status quo will be the most important considerations. ■

Nathan Batto is Associate Research Fellow at the Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica and the Election Study Centre at National Chengchi University.

Chinese satellite launch triggers emergency alert across Taiwan

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/09/taiwan-chinese-satellite-launch-emergency-alert

A Chinese satellite launch triggered a nationwide emergency alert in Taiwan on Tuesday just days before its presidential election, prompting some alarm and confusion as the English portion of the message erroneously translated satellite to “missile”.

The bilingual air raid alert blasted over loudspeakers and was sent to every mobile phone in Taiwan shortly after 3pm local time (0700 GMT), warning people to “be aware”. The message said in Chinese that China had launched a satellite at 3.04pm and it had flown over the southern part of Taiwan. The English portion said “[air raid alert] missile flyover Taiwan airspace”.

At about the same time Chinese media reported the successful launch of a scientific satellite, known as the Einstein probe, from the Xichang launch centre in Sichuan province. Trajectories posted by military observers online showed it flying south-east of Taiwan’s most southern point at high altitude.

Chinese authorities had not given notice of the launch.

The launch and alert came at a moment of anxiety in Taiwan, where presidential elections will take place on Saturday, under threat from Beijing which claims it as a province and threatens to annex it.

The election, like all previous ones since Taiwan democratised in the late 1980s, has been targeted by Beijing with military intimidation, cognitive warfare and economic coercion in an effort to get people to vote for its preferred candidate. In recent years there has been increased military aggression including missiles shot over Taiwan during live-fire exercises.

Taiwan’s defence ministry later confirmed it was a satellite, not a missile, and apologised for what it said was an oversight in the English language used in the alert. “The wording of the original system was not updated to accurately express that the launched object was a satellite rather than a missile.”

Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said launching the satellite over Taiwanese airspace so close to the election was a “grey zone” activity, putting it in the same category as China’s military flights into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone and a recent run of Chinese weather balloons flying over Taiwan.

“All these kinds of tactics … remind people here in Taiwan that there is a danger of war,” he said. “With these kinds of threats against Taiwan I think we should be clear-eyed, and not be provoked.”

Opposition parties accused the Taiwan government and defence ministry of fearmongering. A legislator for the opposition Kuomintang party, Ling Tao, said there were no emergency alerts during previous satellite launches, or when actual missiles were launched during the 2022 People’s Liberation Army drills held in retaliation to the then US speaker, Nancy Pelosi, visiting Taiwan. Ling questioned if the ruling Democratic Progressive party was “using the CCP [Chinese Communist party] to intimidate people”.

The Guardian has contacted Taiwan’s defence ministry for further clarification about why this particular launch triggered an emergency alert.

The Chinese portion of the text also prompted some confusion and bemusement, with “flying over the south part” sharing some characters with “Vietnam”, and leading people to think the satellite was much further away.

A popular social media page ran a poll asking if people read “Vietnam” or were “too scared to see anything clearly”. More than 85% of people said they read “Vietnam”. The supermarket chain Carrefour quickly posted an advertisement on Facebook, writing: Alert! Did you also read the message wrong? Let’s drink some Vietnamese coffee in the afternoon to wake up.”

The incident also prompted unusual Twitter activity, with dozens of accounts all tweeting “looks like a false alarm, but a lot of people were scared”. Most of the accounts were created in May 2023 and had few followers.

Wu was also among those who initially misread the message. The alert sounded in the middle of a press conference being held by the foreign minister for hundreds of mostly English-speaking foreign media in Taiwan to cover the election. Reading the alert on a phone screen, Wu initially told the crowd it was a satellite launch that flew over Vietnam, and was nothing to worry about.

Additional reporting by Amy Hawkins and Chi Hui Lin

China’s home-grown C919 alights in Shanghai on first regular route from Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3247806/chinas-home-grown-c919-alights-shanghai-first-regular-route-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s home-grown C919 passenger plane has been flown on the country’s busiest route connecting capital Beijing with the economic hub of Shanghai, a statement voyage for efforts to challenge the dominance of Western giants Boeing and Airbus.

On Tuesday, a C919 took off from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and landed at Beijing Daxing International Airport, according to operator China Eastern Airlines.

The aircraft is expected to return to Shanghai in the evening. The flight will be a regular route, available for the next two weeks.

The C919 is a narrowbody airliner developed domestically by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac). It is designed to carry 140 to 210 passengers and competes with Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’ A320.

Following its maiden commercial flight in late May – also from Shanghai to Beijing – China Eastern has regularly operated three models servicing routes from Shanghai to southwestern metropolis Chengdu.

The jet had completed 655 commercial flights and carried nearly 82,000 passengers by the end of last year, according to the airline.

Despite Comac’s 14 years of development for the C919, the jet still uses several Western components for key functionalities, including engines and avionics systems.

In pursuit of self-reliance in aviation technology, China is intensifying its support for domestically produced aircraft, and chartering the plane for the Beijing-Shanghai route – one of the world’s busiest – is a notable commitment.

The aircraft’s occupancy rate approached 76 per cent in December according to data provided by Umetrip, a platform under airline information provider TravelSky Technology Limited.

As Boeing 787 Dreamliner returns, call lands to support China’s home-grown jets

The Shanghai-based China Eastern reserved the first five C919s in 2021, and four have been delivered so far.

In September, it announced that it would purchase 100 more in a deal worth up to US$10 billion, the largest single order of the model so far.

According to the deal’s proposed schedule, Comac will deliver five of the 100 planes to China Eastern this year.

In late December, Air China, the country’s flag carrier and its largest by fleet size, announced it would purchase six C919 planes with planned delivery between 2024 and 2025.

Comac is charging US$108 million per jet for the deal, the airline revealed in an exchange filing. This is higher than the catalogue price of US$99 million the manufacturer announced in May 2022.

Variants of the plane are already being developed, including a plateau-suited model with a lower seating capacity of 140 and an expanded version with 210 seats.

China is also looking to expand its aviation footprint overseas, with the Civil Aviation Administration pledging to work with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency to help incorporate its aircraft in the continent’s plans at its annual conference last week.

As US-China ties struggle in ‘choppy waters’, diplomacy rides ‘a surging river’ of metaphors

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3247803/us-china-ties-struggle-choppy-waters-diplomacy-rides-surging-river-metaphors?utm_source=rss_feed

Are China and the United States partners or adversaries? That was the question posed by China’s top diplomat Wang Yi at an event last week marking the 45th anniversary of official diplomatic ties between the two nations.

Instead of a straightforward answer, he chose to compare the deeply troubled US-China ties to a ship braving stormy seas.

“How to recalibrate the direction of the giant ship of China-US relations, steer it clear of hidden rocks and shoals, and guide it through gorges of historical significance is a major subject that we must think about thoroughly and a question we must answer for our times,” Wang was quoted as saying by the Chinese foreign ministry website in Beijing on Friday.

Wang then likened bilateral ties to “a surging river” that made its way “through twists and turns for nearly half a century”.

Metaphors and figurative language are pervasive in the Communist Party’s political and diplomatic discourse, especially when it comes to touchy issues such as Beijing’s love-hate relationship with Washington.

With China showing little inclination of becoming more open and transparent as ties with the US and its allies deteriorate, it has become crucial to decode the metaphors most frequently invoked by top leaders and diplomats to understand where Chinese foreign policy is headed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping used a metaphor similar to Wang’s when he exchanged congratulatory notes with his US counterpart Joe Biden on New Year’s Day, marking 45 years of formal ties between Beijing and Washington. According to state news agency Xinhua, Xi said he was willing to work with Biden to “continue to steer the course” of bilateral ties despite ups and downs over the years, a reference reminiscent of the “Great Helmsman” Mao Zedong.

Chinese metaphors are often rich in political connotations and symbolism.

At a closed-door meeting of top party cadres and diplomats during the final week of 2023, Xi painted a grim picture of China’s external environment, pointing to “various difficulties and challenges” amid “high winds and choppy waters”.

120 years of SCMP: our China desk is witness to changes inside country and out

Xi was even blunter when he met the country’s ambassadors and diplomatic envoys on December 29 for the first time since the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, labelling the Biden administration’s alliance-based strategy as an effort to bog down China.

“External forces have continuously escalated their suppression and containment against us, posing special challenges to our diplomatic work. You all have undergone special tests,” he was quoted by the ministry’s website as saying, without naming the US or other countries.

But then Xi moderated his tone in a nationally televised New Year’s message, claiming the country had “endured the test of winds and rains” last year and was “bound to encounter headwinds” both at home and abroad.

He brushed aside widespread concerns about China’s lacklustre economic recovery and the looming challenges of elections in the US and Taiwan, following another year of rancorous feuds with Washington and the mysterious removal of his protégés, former foreign minister Qin Gang and former defence minister Li Shangfu.

Research on Xi’s published speeches and remarks by three mainland scholars at East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai has shown that he has an inclination for military and war metaphors, such as “struggle”, “battle” and “fighters”.

In Xi’s remarks at the Central Party School in 2019 entitled “Meet Challenges Head-on”, the word dou zheng, which translates to “struggle” or “fight” in English, appeared 56 times in the speech of less than 2,000 words, according to the study published in 2021.

But the authors also noted that while military metaphors were common and accepted in Chinese discourse, it was different for English-based Western cultures where “mechanically rendering these concepts of war in English translations may produce different conceptual associations and cause serious misinterpretations”.

“Crossroads” is another metaphor Chinese leaders and diplomats have frequently used to describe their world views and Beijing’s ties with Western countries. But according to Tsinghua University strategist Yan Xuetong, the word can be easily misunderstood due to cultural differences.

Amid US-China rivalry, Vietnam’s sweet spot diplomacy is a master class

In his political report to the party congress in 2022, Xi said “the world has once again reached a crossroads in history” after denouncing Washington’s “hegemonic, high-handed, and bullying” tactics against Beijing.

“Here we are no longer talking about both sides, we are talking about the direction in which our world is going backwards,” Yan said in a speech in April.

“In Chinese, we do not use ‘crossroads’ to describe a good prospect. It means we are heading towards disaster.”

China looking to ‘shape new pattern’ for world relations, Foreign Minister Wang Yi says

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3247793/china-looking-shape-new-pattern-world-relations-foreign-minister-wang-yi-says?utm_source=rss_feed

China hopes to shape “a new pattern” of international relations as it upholds peace and multilateralism in the face of global challenges, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Tuesday.

In a speech reviewing the past year’s diplomacy, Wang said Beijing has chosen a “cooperative” and “just” path instead of confrontational “power politics”.

“In today’s world, new and old contradictions are intertwined, unilateralism is on the rise, domestic priorities are highlighted, and the international community’s governance deficit and trust deficit continue to increase,” Wang, who is also the country’s diplomatic chief, said.

“[China] will always adhere to win-win cooperation, actively promote inclusive economic globalisation, and resolutely oppose all forms of unilateralism, protectionism and reverse globalisation.

“We will always adhere to fairness and justice, advocate the construction of an equal and orderly multipolar world, and practice true multilateralism.”

Wang Yi warns against confrontation as US and China mark 45 years of ties

Wang told the event, which was organised by two think tanks, the China Insititute of International Studies and China Foundation for International Studies, that the country’s diplomacy will enter a more “accomplished” new stage, echoing comments by President Xi Jinping last month.

He said the country should be guided by Xi’s philosophies “to open up a new realm of China’s diplomatic theory and practice, and to shape a new pattern of relations between our country and the world, to raise our country’s international influence, charisma and power to shape [events] to new heights”.

Wang’s speech came amid mounting pressures caused by China’s economic slowdown and tensions with the West as the United States and its allies try to curb what they see as a more “assertive” China that is challenging the global order.

China has been trying to promote an alternative vision to the US-led system – trying to build closer ties with developing nations through platforms such as the Belt and Road Initiative and Brics – but has consistently said its development is for the world’s common good.

Wang said China will continue to “explore the correct way to get along” with the US and said there will be “no bloc confrontation or new cold war” if “China and Europe join hands”.

Last week, Kristalina Georgieva, head of the International Monetary Fund, warned that dividing the world economy into US and China-led blocs could reduce global economic output by 7 per cent due to higher trade costs.

China and the European Union’s relations have been strained by Beijing’s close ties with Russia, and its insistence that it is not supporting the war in Ukraine has been greeted sceptically in Europe.

Wang said China will continue to expand its global partnership network and work with developing countries “hand in hand” and deepen strategic trust and partnership with Russia.

He also pledged to uphold “fairness and justice” and provide more “Chinese solutions and wisdom” to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Wang told the seminar that China’s determination to “safeguard justice” also includes its territorial integrity.

“In the face of external interference and provocations, we fought resolutely and vigorously … The determination of the 1.4 billion Chinese people to promote national reunification is rock-solid,” he said.

“No one or any force should try to challenge the iron will of the Chinese people, or try to harm China’s core interests.”

Philippines ‘continued to provoke, stir trouble at sea,’ China’s Wang Yi says

Taiwan – which Beijing sees as part of China that must be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary – is widely seen as a flashpoint in US-China relations. Taiwan will elect a new president on Saturday and the result could have a significant impact on relations between Washington and Beijing.

The US, in common with most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as independent, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the island by force and is legally bound to help it defend itself.

Over the weekend, China sanctioned five US defence companies after the US approved a US$300 million deal to upgrade Taiwan’s tactical information system.

[World] China satellite launch over Taiwan triggers islandwide alert

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67920168?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Typhoon Doksuri’s 2023 rampage across China leaves US$23 billion shortfall in insurance coverage, Munich Re says

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3247753/typhoon-doksuris-2023-rampage-across-china-leaves-us23-billion-shortfall-insurance-coverage-munich?utm_source=rss_feed

Typhoon Doksuri, which triggered extreme flooding across China last summer, was one of the costliest natural disasters worldwide in 2023, leaving a multibillion-dollar shortfall in insurance coverage, according to experts.

The catastrophe caused US$25 billion in economic losses, the second-costliest natural disaster worldwide and the costliest in the Asia-Pacific and Africa region, German reinsurance firm Munich Re said on Tuesday. Only 8 per cent, or US$2 billion, of the losses were covered by insurance – far less than other major natural disasters of 2023.

The “trend [of] decreasing insurance gap, or increasing insurance penetration” of high-income countries “has not been observed to a similar degree in China,” said Munich Re’s chief climate scientist Ernst Rauch.

Overall, only about 5 per cent of disaster-related economic losses in China were insured in 2023, a slight increase from around 3 per cent a few years ago but still well below the global average of 38 per cent, the company said. The situation leaves Chinese families and businesses vulnerable to increasing damage as climate change exacerbates extreme weather.

The reinsurance firm called for China to push for broader adoption of natural-disaster insurance.

“The challenge is that the demand is not there,” Rauch said. “Consumers do not necessarily understand the benefit of insurance and how it helps individual livelihoods under natural disasters. All stakeholders, including the private sector, the insurance companies, and the governments, have a responsibility to inform people of how to protect themselves from such risks.”

As 2023 smashed global heat records to become the hottest year ever, natural disasters cost the world US$250 billion, the same level as in 2022, according to Munich Re. The largest disaster was a June earthquake in Turkey and Syria that caused US$50 billion in overall losses, with around US$5.5 billion of that insured.

The gap between overall economic losses and insured losses has widened, with only 36 per cent, or US$90 billion, of global losses covered by insurance in 2023, compared with 50 per cent of 2022’s US$250 billion and 42 per cent of the five-year average of US$210 billion between 2018 and 2022, according to Munich Re.

Unlike in previous years, such as 2022 with Hurricane Ian, which hit several South American countries and part of the United States, a large number of small to mid-sized events drove economic losses from natural disasters in 2023.

Storms accounted for insured losses of more than US$100 billion in 2023, with severe thunderstorms being the main contributor, according to a report by the Swiss Re Institute last month. Losses from severe thunderstorms have steadily increased by 7 per cent annually in the last 30 years.

Hong Kong sees room to establish hub for catastrophe bonds amid climate crisis

“The cumulative effect of frequent, low-loss events, along with increasing property values and repair costs, has a big impact on an insurer’s profitability over a longer period,” said Jerome Jean Haegeli, Swiss Re’s group chief economist. The high frequency of severe thunderstorms in 2023 has been an earnings test for the primary insurance industry, he said.

According to Munich Re, 76 per cent of overall economic losses last year were weather-related, while 24 per cent had geophysical causes.

“The warming of the earth that has been ongoing for many some years is changing the probability and intensity of extreme weather in many regions, leading to increasing loss potentials,” said Rauch. “Society and industry need to adapt to the changing risks – otherwise loss burdens will inevitably increase.”

The human toll from 2023 disasters was far above the average due to the devastating Turkey-Syria earthquake, which killed more than 50,000 people. Overall deaths from natural disasters rose to 74,000 in 2023, from 11,400 in 2022 and the annual average of 10,000 over the previous five years, according to Munich Re.

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Einstein Probe: China launches powerful space X-ray observatory to understand flashes in the night sky

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3247782/einstein-probe-china-launches-powerful-space-x-ray-observatory-understand-flashes-night-sky?utm_source=rss_feed

China has launched a new-generation X-ray observatory to monitor flashes in the night sky and help advance understanding of tumultuous cosmic events, such as neutron stars collisions and black holes devouring their companion stars.

The Einstein Probe lifted off atop a Long March-2C rocket from southwestern China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Centre at 3.05pm on Tuesday, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation announced.

From its orbit 600km (370 miles) above the ground, the 1.45-tonne observatory will use the Wide-field X-ray Telescope – which was built with innovative technologies that mimic how lobster eyes work – to observe swathes of the sky at a glance and spot previously unknown X-ray sources.

It will also use the Follow-up X-ray Telescope to zoom in on the new X-ray sources or events for high-resolution observations over the three years it will operate.

First planned a decade ago, the Einstein Probe is led by researchers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and has major instrument contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany.

X-rays are produced in the universe when matter is heated to millions of degrees. They are often emitted under extreme physical conditions, such as very high magnetic fields or gravity, or during cosmic explosions.

However, observing X-rays is challenging. Many X-ray sources are not permanent – they seem to appear in the sky for a short time and then disappear, making them hard to detect.

X-rays are readily absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, so scientists must build telescopes that are launched into orbit. These telescopes require specialised mirrors to reflect and collect X-rays since they are highly penetrating.

Since the 1960s, more than 50 telescopes have been put into space to study cosmic X-rays. Most were used to accurately measure specific sources, but could not see much else because of their limited view. Some could quickly scan the sky but see only the brightest sources.

In 1980, Roger Angel from the University of Arizona proposed a novel design for X-ray telescopes to have both a wide field-of-view and decent resolution. Angel was inspired by crustaceans such as lobster and shrimp that developed eyes with unique structures to live in murky environments under water.

A lobster eye consists of many tiny square-shaped tubes, all pointing to the same spherical centre. The structure allows light from all directions to reflect inside the tubes and converge on the retina to give the lobster an unlimited field of view.

China tests ‘lobster eye’ telescope to capture images of the universe

Angel’s idea remained a formidable engineering challenge for a long time until micro-processing technologies matured and a technique known as micropore optics became possible in recent years.

The Wide-field X-ray Telescope on board the Einstein Probe comprises 12 modules, each containing more than 30 million square micropores. Each pore measures 40 micrometres along the side and is coated with an ultrathin layer of iridium to increase reflectivity.

The surface of the pores must be extremely flat and smooth, affording less than 1 nanometre of error, according to Yuan. It took his team a decade to develop the lobster-eye-like modules.

Thanks to its design, the Einstein Probe can observe an area of sky more than 10,000 full moons’ size at any given time. In contrast, existing large X-ray telescopes, such as Nasa’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, can only image a section of sky smaller than one full moon at a time.

It means the Einstein Probe could observe almost the entire night sky in just three orbits around Earth, or under five hours.

During three years of operation, the probe will systematically survey to detect X-rays from all kinds of cosmic objects, from black holes to neutron stars, supernovae and even the emissions of comets in our solar system.

It will be especially useful in revealing supermassive black holes that have been dormant and impossible to detect. However, if a nearby star comes too close, the black hole will wake up, start pulling the star apart and sucking in materials, making it shine in X-ray light.

The Einstein Probe is also planned to join ground-based telescopes in the search for gravitational waves – ripples of space-time created by massive objects in the distant universe, such as two neutron stars colliding. It will look for X-ray emissions from such events and help locate the massive objects.

As the probe’s international partners, the ESA and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics developed the Follow-up X-ray Telescope, which comprises a pair of conventional X-ray focusing telescopes.

Also, ESA’s ground stations will help download data from the observatory throughout the mission. In return, its scientists will get access to 10 per cent of the observation data, according to the agency’s website.

In December 2020, a technology demonstration mission named the Lobster Eye Imager for Astronomy was launched to test the Einstein Probe’s key technologies. Using a 53kg (117lb) instrument similar to one of the 12 modules on the Wide-field X-ray Telescope, the precursor mission proved the technologies worked and that the observation precision was greater than expected.

First US lunar lander in more than 50 years rockets toward moon

Later this year, China will launch the SVOM mission (Space-based multi-band astronomical Variable Objects Monitor), which is a two-decade-long collaborative project between the national space agencies of China and France for studying gamma-ray bursts produced by distant explosions of stars.

SVOM is also scheduled to be launched by a Long March-2C rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre.

China forensic firm cracks Apple’s AirDrop to help Beijing police track senders

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3247771/china-forensic-firm-cracks-apples-airdrop-help-beijing-police-track-senders?utm_source=rss_feed

A Beijing-based forensics firm has helped police to track down people using Apple’s AirDrop feature to send “inappropriate speech”, according to the Chinese capital’s Municipal Bureau of Justice.

In an article published on its official WeChat account on Monday, the bureau said forensic firm Beijing Wangshendongjian Technology Co Ltd had “broken through the technical difficulties of tracing anonymous AirDrops”.

The firm “prevented the further spread and potential bad influence of inappropriate speech” on the Beijing subway, when a passenger’s iPhone received an unacceptable video via AirDrop, the bureau said.

The file-sharing service allows Apple device users to share files with nearby users via Wi-fi or Bluetooth without revealing their identity. It was used during protests against strict Covid-19 restrictions in 2022, as well as in Hong Kong’s 2019 unrest.

“Due to the anonymity of AirDrop and the difficulty of tracking it, some netizens have already started to follow this behaviour, so the source of the transmission must be identified as soon as possible to avoid bad influence,” the article said.

Apple’s AirDrop in focus as China moves to restrict ‘short-range’ file-sharing

Because the feature can be used without an internet connection, it is difficult for police to regulate “through conventional internet surveillance means”, it said.

The justice bureau did not specify when the incident occurred, but said Wangshendongjian analysed the iPhone’s logs and found the sender’s mobile number and email address in the form of hash values, some of them hidden.

Wangshendongjian then used a “rainbow table” of cracked passwords to decode enough information from the files to help police “identify several suspects”, according to the article.

The company, a subsidiary of cybersecurity firm Qi An Xin Technology Group Inc, has handled 850 investigations since its founding in 2020, mostly for “public security clients and criminal cases”, the article said.

The parent company had not responded to a request for comment from the South China Morning Post by the time of publication.

Qi An Xin’s website, as well as mainland media reports, indicate that the company provides services to police in several provinces. Wangshendongjian belongs to a division that focuses on research into forensic techniques for electronic devices.

China’s internet watchdog to boost tip-offs to stamp out ‘illegal’ content

The parent company had a total revenue of 6.2 billion yuan (US$868 million) in 2022 and “ranks first in the industry in terms of staff size, revenue scale and product coverage”, according to its website.

Apple updated its operating system in November 2022, imposing a 10-minute limit on the sharing of AirDrop content on all iPhones sold in mainland China, weeks after the service was used to share pictures from a protest in Beijing.

The company did not explain the reason for the update, which appeared to be aimed at preventing Chinese iPhone users from bypassing the country’s strict internet censorship rules.

In July 2023, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) – the top internet watchdog – introduced a draft regulation aimed at further restricting the use of AirDrop to “safeguard national security”.

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China school suspends member of staff who suggested ‘students should be given beatings’ instead of food

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3246931/china-school-suspends-member-staff-who-suggested-students-should-be-given-beatings-instead-food?utm_source=rss_feed

A secondary school in China has suspended a member of staff after he verbally abused students while they queued up for lunch at the canteen.

The staff member, surnamed Chen, recorded a video of himself and telling the students they were “being fed, but not taught”.

Then he said students who were talking “should be given some beatings”.

The video was posted online by a parent on December 26, the same day Chen recorded it. It is unclear how the parent got their hands on the video, according to a report by the mainland media outlet Baixing Guanzhu.

The following day, the school in Yunnan province in southwestern China said Chen was not a teacher but “logistics personnel” and had been given demerit and suspended.

Mainland social media reacted angrily to the teacher’s outburst.

“These students are so poor living in such an emotionally depressing environment like this,” said one person on Weibo.

Another added: “Even prisoners have better living conditions.”

“He was insulting himself more than the students. The teachers should be the ones teaching them,” said a third.

It is not the first time school staff have found themselves in trouble in China.

In 2021, footage of a secondary school teacher who harshly scolded her students went viral after students posted them online.

The teacher, surnamed Xiao, from Tianjin municipality in northern China, said she “looked down upon” a student whose parents did not make much money and could not be compared to another student’s mother who “earns more money working for one year than your mother does working for 50 years”.

In a separate situation, Xiao told her class she would “slap those in the face who speak during breaks” adding that she believed only strict discipline led to good grades.

The local education bureau later announced they had revoked Xiao’s teaching license after an investigation.

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Chinese University President Rocky Tuan quits top job after months of controversy over governing council

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education/article/3247776/chinese-university-hong-kongs-rocky-tuan-resigns-vice-chancellor?utm_source=rss_feed

Rocky Tuan Sung-chi has resigned as vice-chancellor of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and will leave the tertiary institution in a year to “ensure a smooth transition”.

In a highly unusual move, Tuan submitted the resignation letter to the university council’s chairman on Monday, just days after his new three-year term began on January 1.

Chinese University head out of sight, but at the centre of storm over council reforms

The 72-year-old professor has come under fire in recent months as the city’s lawmakers move to overhaul the institution’s governing council. Tuan had refused to attend any Legislative Council meetings on the matter, citing illnesses.

Hongkonger Tuan, an internationally known biomedical scientist, was also criticised during the social unrest in 2019, when he was accused of being too sympathetic towards student protesters.

More to follow ...

Hong Kongers in Taiwan firmly support the ruling party after watching China erode freedoms at home

https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-taiwan-election-vote-immigrants-china-acd858e0f58c9a7d30f0ce95e95e2e09Chui Pak-tai, center, a Taiwanese of Hong Kong descent, greets to Taiwanese voters at a traditional market in New Taipei City, Taiwan, on Dec. 8, 2023. At 72, Chui, a former Hong Kong pro-democracy district councilor who secured Taiwan residency 11 years ago, is running for legislative office. Although he faces long odds, his campaign draws attention to the immigration challenges of the Hong Kong diaspora.(AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

2024-01-09T01:07:22Z

HONG KONG (AP) — As Taiwan’s presidential election approaches, many immigrants from Hong Kong, witnesses to the alarming erosion of civil liberties at home, are supporting the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Beijing’s crackdown on dissent in the financial hub has cemented their preference for a party committed to preserving Taiwan’s de facto independence and democratic values ahead of the Jan. 13 vote.

While Taiwanese immigration policies have been less welcoming than some from Hong Kong anticipated, most remain steadfast in their support for the DPP, largely due to the party’s firm stance on autonomy from Beijing, according to interviews with 10 Hong Kongers, over half of whom moved to Taiwan after the 2019 anti-government protests.

Hong Tsun-ming, a protester who feared arrest and moved to Taiwan in 2019, told The Associated Press he looks forward to having a taste of deciding its fate. The election is a cherished voting opportunity he never had in Hong Kong, where the chief executive is picked by a predominantly pro-Beijing committee. He plans to support the DPP.

Hong has thrown himself into local politics, committed to sharing lessons from Hong Kong.

“It’s to remind Taiwan not to follow the old path of Hong Kong,” said Hong, member of the pro-independence Taiwan Statebuilding Party, which did not field candidates in the presidential race.

Following Beijing’s imposition of a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, Taiwan has stood out as a haven for free speech and liberties in the Chinese-speaking world. Over the last three years, tens of thousands of Hong Kongers have migrated to the self-ruled island, many dismayed by the rapid erosion of freedoms that had been promised to remain intact for 50 years in the former British colony after returning to Chinese rule in 1997.

As these immigrants establish new lives in Taiwan, some confront a reality tinged with frustration. Taiwan’s concerns over security risks posed by China, which views the island as a renegade province, have complicated application procedures. That has resulted in residency denials for some, particularly those who worked in government-funded entities or companies with strong ties to Chinese businesses. The opacity and protracted process of securing permanent residency have also drawn criticism.

From January 2020 to November 2023, over 37,100 Hong Kongers secured temporary residency, Taiwan’s National Immigration Agency reported. Just 5,700 others obtained permanent residency.

Alvin Tam, a first-time voter in the presidential election, was “a bit” disappointed with the DPP-led government after discovering the obstacles his fellow Hong Kongers face in Taiwan. But Tam, a forest therapist who settled in 2018, acknowledged the political factors involved.

He said national security and economic policy direction are his top considerations in voting for a president, and that led him to support the DPP’s ticket of Vice President William Lai and his running mate Bi-khim Hsiao, the former Taiwanese representative to the United States.

“Given our deep-seated resentment stemming from the troubles back home, I can’t see myself supporting any political party that is close with China,” he said.

Taiwan, with a population of 23 million, has never been governed by the People’s Republic of China. But the mainland’s ruling Communist Party insists on unification with Taiwan, by force if necessary.

China has warned that “‘Taiwan independence’ means war.” Still, many Taiwan residents are undisturbed by that threat.

The DPP, which favors maintaining de facto independence, has led opponents in most polls. Its primary competitor, the Nationalist Party — also known as the Kuomintang or KMT — concurs with Beijing that both sides belong to a single Chinese nation. Another opponent, the smaller Taiwan People’s Party, has advocated resuming dialogue with China.

New immigrant Catherine Lui is unfazed by China’s bellicose talk. Lui moved to Taiwan through an investment immigration scheme in 2022, seeking greater freedoms. She was impressed by President Tsai Ing-wen’s support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement in 2019 and found resonance with the DPP’s commitment to democracy and freedom.

Four years ago, Tsai leveraged the Hong Kong protests as an argument against the “one country, two systems” framework that China uses to rule Hong Kong and has suggested for Taiwan. The turmoil in Hong Kong, 720 kilometers (450 miles) away, fortified Tsai’s campaign and played a significant role in her re-election.

Although Lui is not yet eligible to vote, she plans to support Lai by attending his campaign rally in Taipei and has been exploring the island’s vibrant political culture.

“If someone doesn’t like Tsai Ing-wen, people are free to use very harsh words,” she said. “That’s impressive.”

Bennis So, professor in the department of public administration at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, said even though the DPP has its imperfections, many new Hong Kong immigrants tend to favor the ruling party, driven by concerns that the main opposition party’s immigration policies might be less favorable to them if it comes to power.

But the influence of Hong Kongers on the election outcome is likely to be limited as they make up a small percentage of the electorate, So said. Taiwan’s total electorate is an estimated 19.5 million. Official data indicate that from 2015 to 2022, 10,440 immigrants from Hong Kong and the neighboring casino hub of Macao have secured voting rights.

Some from Hong Kong are already actively engaged in Taiwan’s political landscape.

At 72, Chui Pak-tai, a former Hong Kong pro-democracy district councilor who secured Taiwan residency 11 years ago, is running for legislative office. Although he faces long odds, his campaign draws attention to the immigration challenges of the Hong Kong diaspora.

Chui was guarded about his choice for the presidential election. He spoke ardently, however, about the economic, political, and international relations expertise that Hong Kong immigrants can offer Taiwan. He also highlighted the shared need for willpower among Hong Kongers and Taiwanese in the face of Beijing’s pressure.

“Hong Kongers and Taiwanese have common needs,” he said. “Even if it’s just on a spiritual level.”

___

Lai reported from Taipei, Taiwan.

___

Find more of AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

KANIS LEUNG Leung covers Hong Kong, Macao and mainland China for The Associated Press. She is based in Hong Kong. twitter

Too big to ignore: China made up 15% of revenue for the world’s top 200 multinational companies in 2022, Bain’s data shows

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3247769/too-big-ignore-china-made-15-pc-revenue-worlds-top-200-multinational-companies-2022-bains-data-shows?utm_source=rss_feed

China remains an important market for multinational corporations (MNCs) this year as executives eye opportunities from a rebound in consumption, even if their prospects have been bedevilled by challenges ranging from geopolitical risks to competition with local rivals.

China made up about 15 per cent of global revenue for 200 of the biggest MNCs from Japan, Europe and the US in 2022, according to Bain & Co’s data. Contribution by the world’s second-largest economy was even bigger for Tesla, Mercedes-Benz and the Japanese cosmetics brand Shiseido, which earned between 22 and 37 per cent of their revenue from China.

“It is important to take a longer term view on China instead of focusing on short-term volatilities,” said Bain’s Shanghai partner Bruno Lannes. “China’s economy will continue to grow and represent an increasing share of global revenues for MNCs doing business here.”

China’s economy is expected to grow 5.4 per cent in 2023, the International Monetary Fund said, a faster rate than the 3 per cent in 2022 when the country was hobbled by restrictions and partial lockdowns in pursuit of the government’s zero-Covid policy. The momentum may slow to 4.5 per cent in 2024, according to market forecasts compiled by Bloomberg, as piecemeal stimulus measures failed to overcome pessimism among corporate executives and consumers about the prospects of growth.

Still, China remains the biggest market for food and beverages, automotives, textiles and apparels, chemicals and chemical products, iron and steel, as well as consumer electronics, according to Bain.

The idea that China remains attractive for foreign companies despite macro volatilities was echoed by Alfredo Montufar-Helu, head of the China Centre for Economics and Business at The Conference Board, a global non-profit think tank.

‘Just in time’ morphs into ‘just in case’ as Covid-19 cuts supply chains

“More business leaders are talking about the need to defend their China operations, and this is not only because of the significance of China as an end market for their products and services, but also because of its importance as a key node of their global supply chains thanks to its highly cost-efficient industrial ecosystem,” he said.

Supply chain diversification is a top priority for foreign companies seeking to strengthen their foothold in China, he said. Many MNCs are “localising as much as possible” in China, while developing new manufacturing hubs elsewhere to meet global demands.

“All this to say that most foreign MNCs in China are committed to this market and are making a real effort to strengthen the resilience of their operations against economic and geopolitical volatility,” he said.

MNCs in the automotive and electric vehicle (EV) industries have been diversifying their supply chains away from China as a hedge against sanctions and geopolitical uncertainties that could disrupt manufacturing, said Yang Jing, the director of China corporate research at Fitch Ratings.

These so-called “China+1” or “China+N” strategies – whereby companies look into developing economies beyond China for sourcing, manufacturing, and investments – could create risks for Chinese suppliers. Meanwhile, they could present opportunities for domestic players with technology leadership and cost advantages.

“Once foreign MNCs strengthen their cooperation with local suppliers along the EV supply chain, they could consider including these key partners to their ex-China supplier list,” she said.

“In 2024, we may see various forms of cooperation between Chinese and foreign carmakers and suppliers, including but not limited to production outsourcing, technology licensing, joint ventures and alliances in ecosystem services,” Yang said. “Mergers and acquisitions are more likely between deep-pocketed market leaders and tech-savvy EV supply chain start-ups.”

Yang expects foreign auto and EV makers to face greater competition from domestic players in the year ahead, given the latter’s capacity to launch new products at competitive price points, as well as faster adoption of autonomous driving systems. However, for MNCs seeking to maintain their shares in the China market, opportunities still exist in the form of joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions.

“The bottom line is, China still matters a great deal to MNCs, and companies equipped with adequate preparation, renewed knowledge, objective risk assessment, and sound competitive strategies can seize the rich opportunities the China market has to offer,” Bain’s Lannes said.

Pakistan-China stealth fighter deal puts India under pressure to modernise air force

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3247707/pakistan-china-steal-fighter-deal-puts-india-under-pressure-modernise-air-force?utm_source=rss_feed

Pakistan’s bid to buy stealth warplanes from China may force India to speed up the modernisation of its air force by acquiring American F-35 aircraft to avoid losing tactical air superiority along its borders, analysts said.

Pakistan Air Force (PAF) chief of staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber on January 2 said “the foundation” had been laid for its acquisition of the Chinese fifth-generation FC-31 Gyrfalcon stealth fighter aircraft in “the near future”.

He did not specify how many Chinese jets PAF was buying and when, but some observers have speculated that up to 36 aircraft could be delivered by the end of the decade.

Mustafa Hyder, executive director of the Pakistan-China Institute in Islamabad, said Pakistan’s planned acquisition of the FC-31 Gyrfalcon showed its “increasing military and defence cooperation” with China in South Asia against “common adversary India”. It is also reflective of their “joint strategy and synergy to neutralise the threat emanating from India”, he added.

The deal would further put pressure on India to move towards the acquisition of the F-35s, even as it accelerates its Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft programme to develop and deploy a stealth combat aircraft by 2032, said Harsh V. Pant, a professor of international relations at the India Institute of King’s College London.

The FC-31 Gyrfalcon is also referred to as J-31 or J-35, because it has not yet been given an official designation by Beijing, reflecting the lack of official orders for the warplane.

‘Lines have been drawn’: Pakistan, India look to allies as arms race looms

Prototypes of the Gyrfalcon are still being developed by the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, but it is widely expected to be inducted by the Chinese navy within the next five years under the J-35 moniker, for deployment on its growing fleet of aircraft carriers.

Air chief Baber referred to it as the “J-31”, likely indicating the designation of the plane’s land-based variant, which China has actively marketed to foreign governments that do not have access to advanced Western military technology for political reasons.

China has decided not to market its in-service fifth-generation J-20 “Mighty Dragon” warplane for sale overseas.

India has fought several conflicts with both China and Pakistan since the 1960s over their more than 6,800km of disputed borders.

All three countries possess formidable nuclear arsenals, potentially making South Asia the ground zero of a future world war.

Pakistan’s fielding of a fifth-generation stealth fighter, with no equivalent in the present Indian Air Force (IAF), would give it “a certain tactical advantage, most prominently in air-to-air combat”, said Frank O’Donnell, senior research adviser of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, a think tank based in Seoul.

Pakistan’s close military relationship with China means it can “acquire and induct advanced aircraft at a far quicker rate than India’s more cumbersome bureaucratic process”.

To keep pace with its unfriendly neighbours, O’Donnell said India needed to overcome long-standing challenges facing its declining squadron strength and repeated delays to the acquisition of both foreign and domestic warplanes.

Despite receiving 36 Rafale 4.5-generation warplanes from France’s Dassault Aviation over the past two years, the IAF’s modernisation had “not kept pace with the ageing out of its existing fleet, to the extent that it is now at around” 30 to 32 squadrons against an intended squadron strength of 42, said O’Donnell, who is also a non-resident fellow of the South Asia programme at the Stimson Centre, a Washington think tank.

India is expected to soon announce the acquisition of 26 more Rafale planes for deployment on its aircraft carrier.

“Progress on this front would require an Indian political commitment” to streamline its defence acquisition process and remove bureaucratic roadblocks that “has not been sufficiently evident to date”, O’Donnell said.

This shortfall in the number of Indian warplanes considered necessary to counter the dual threats posed by China and its close ally Pakistan is equivalent to about 200 aircraft, a gap that the IAF has said may only be halved by the mid-2030s.

Pakistan responded to India’s Rafale acquisitions by ordering 25 Chengdu J-10C “Vigorous Dragon” in 2022, the final batch of which were formally inducted at the January 2 ceremony addressed by PAF chief Baber.

While Pakistan’s primary motivation for acquiring advanced Chinese warplanes is defence against India’s much bigger military, analysts say China sees it as an opportunity to counter India’s growing political and defence partnerships with the United States, notably under the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue that also includes Japan and Australia.

“India has been given financial and military support to be propped up as a counterweight to China in Asia, since it departed from its traditional non-aligned foreign policy,” Pakistan-China Institute’s Hyder said.

“We see that this axis of China and Pakistan to defend their security interests and sovereignty, and resist Indian hegemony, is becoming increasingly more tangible and effective.”

India, however, does not appear overly alarmed by Pakistan’s forthcoming acquisition of Chinese stealth warplanes – because the FC-31 is still a work in progress.

“It is important to remember that the FC-31 is still in the developmental stage,” said Pant of King’s College London. “It is lagging behind, and this [deal] might be more help to China than to Pakistan in the long term.”

Pakistan had no option other than to seek advanced Chinese fighter aircraft as a replacement for its ageing fleet of 75 American F-16 combat aircraft because it “realises that its long-term relationship with the US is a challenge”, said Pant, who also heads the strategic studies programme of the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank.

O’Donnell said Washington was likely to be “largely unsurprised” by Pakistan’s planned acquisition of the J-31, as it follows “large-scale Pakistani inductions” of Chinese military hardware.

Pakistan launches US$3.5 billion Chinese-designed nuclear energy project

Pakistan and China have so far jointly produced some 150 JF-17 “Thunder” lightweight fighters for the PAF to replace its elderly French Mirage aircraft. The latest Mk III version of the JF-17 has 4.5-generation capabilities.

Pakistan has also bought Chinese Type-054 guided-missile frigates and Type-041 diesel-electric submarines – with the latter “widely expected to form part of Pakistan’s future naval nuclear force”, O’Donnell said.

The US “will view this J-31 deal – if it fructifies – as another indicator of the strengthening and long-term nature” of the China-Pakistan military relationship, he added.

Japan’s high-end medical services attract affluent Chinese tourists

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3247715/japans-high-end-medical-services-attract-affluent-chinese-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed

Six times a year, a 36-year-old Chinese actress makes her way to Japan – not for the glitz of film industry events, but with a different purpose in mind: to take advantage of the country’s renowned advanced medical beauty treatments.

The Beijing-based actress has long been an admirer of Japan’s aesthetic medical techniques, including treatments like Botox to smooth wrinkles and innovative procedures using stem cell injections to achieve a youthful appearance.

“The technology and service quality at Japanese clinics are exceptional,” she said, requesting anonymity. “Their focus on specialised research and the doctors’ commitment to their skills deeply impress me.”

The actress spends about 2 million yen (US$14,000) on beauty treatments each time she visits, during which she said she also travels to scenic spots and enjoys Japanese cuisine.

She is among a rising number of wealthy Chinese tourists who visit Japan primarily for medical services, rather than the shopping-focused trips that brought many in the past.

Travel industry experts said the trend reflects a growing health consciousness in China after the coronavirus pandemic.

‘Gasoline in tourism engine’: Japan prepares for return of Chinese tour groups

Clinics and other companies in Japan are trying to seize on the expanding demand. Kenkoin Clinic, located in Tokyo’s upscale Ginza shopping district, offers personalised preventive healthcare services, featuring some of the best imaging systems in Japan, including CAT scans and MRI exams.

Chinese patients visited the clinic pre-pandemic for monthly health check-ups, intravenous infusions and supplements. The number has dropped over the past few years but is now steadily climbing back, with about 50 to 60 per cent of the pre-pandemic patient volume returning.

“The majority of our foreign patients are Chinese,” said Hidetaka Mori, managing director of Kenkoin Clinic, adding that more than half of its sales come from Chinese customers.

Mori said that while doctors in China are usually too busy to talk to patients at crowded hospitals, the clinic makes sure to allow plenty of time for its doctors to interview each patient.

“With personal concierges assigned to each, we ensure swift service and utmost privacy from check-in to departure, as patients want to avoid encountering others,” Mori added.

The move is backed by the Japanese government, which is seeking to revitalise local economies with an expansion of inbound travel as the country’s population ages.

In an attempt to boost medical tourism, Japan introduced a medical visa in 2011, permitting foreign visitors to stay for healthcare for up to one year.

The number of such visas issued jumped from 70 to 1,804 annually in the 11 years through 2022, but the actual figure for people visiting the country for medical care is likely to be much higher as many also arrive on tourist or business visas, industry experts said.

The Japanese government estimates that in 2020, more than 10,000 visitors from China came for comprehensive medical examinations, spending around 1.5 million yen on average. A smaller group of some 1,000 paid around 4 to 5 million yen to receive advanced cancer treatments. Both spending figures include travel costs.

“Japan has a high reputation for cancer screening, while its proximity, cleanliness, safety as well as the belief that there are many skilled doctors are appealing to Chinese people,” said Tsuyoshi Kondo, president of Friendly Japan, a Tokyo-based consulting company specialising in the promotion of Chinese tourism to Japan.

Beyond traditional hospitals and clinics, a diverse range of companies outside the healthcare sector have made inroads into the market in an attempt to attract more Chinese tourists.

The Japanese unit of Chinese tech giant Alibaba Group – owner of the South China Morning Post – launched a new service on its Tmall Global platform, a cross-border e-commerce site, in September.

The service enables Japanese medical firms and clinics offering medical check-ups to set up virtual outlets so that Chinese tourists can conveniently book medical services online before their arrival in Japan.

Healing holidays: how Malaysia’s Penang hopes to hook Chinese medical tourists

Tao Chengbin, operating officer and the head of the EC marketing department at Alibaba.com Japan Co. said that Japan was the first overseas market for the company to introduce such a service, noting the popularity of the country’s healthcare products among Chinese people.

“In recent years, the consumption style of Chinese visitors to Japan has been changing considerably, as they have started placing more emphasis on experiences rather than shopping,” he said.

Tokyo-based Hirotsu Bio Science Inc. is one of the companies seeing business opportunities in utilising the platform, offering more affordable medical services to Chinese visitors.

The start-up opened a store on the e-commerce website featuring its N-Nose tumour check system, a new testing technology that uses eelworms to detect signs of a variety of cancers from urine samples.

The service, priced at 1,095 yuan (US$154), offers consumers a test kit via Tmall Global that they receive before travelling to Japan. After taking a urine sample on arrival in the country and submitting it to one of around a dozen designated pharmacies in Tokyo, they can then receive the results after returning home.

Toshiki Mano, a professor at Tama University Institute for Healthcare and Long-Term Care Solution, said that in addition to China, there are many potential patients in Asia’s emerging economies such as Vietnam who are likely to become interested in Japan’s medical services.

“The market for medical tourism is likely to expand considerably, as the scope of services has widened from treatments to cosmetic surgery, health examinations and regenerative medicine,” Mano said.

Japanese island imposes tourist tax after G7 leaders’ visit sparks travel rush

Nevertheless, Japan faces challenges in further expanding the sector, including weak recognition of its medical services abroad and hospitals’ limited capacity to accept foreign visitors while offering the same level of care as local patients. Developing translation services at regional institutions will be another hurdle.

The payment structure also needs to be reviewed, as foreign visitors, who are not included in Japan’s public health insurance system, face much higher charges than local residents not only for medical fees but also for medicines, Mano said.

“While it is understandable that medical fees for foreign visitors are double compared to Japanese because of additional services such as translation, it is a problem that prices of medicines are two to threefold higher,” he said.

Still, Mano sees room for further growth. “It’s evident that the industry’s growth is robust and multifaceted, as its coverage area may expand to such new sectors as wellness,” he said.

Xi Jinping tells China’s corruption hunters to show no mercy in ‘severe and complex’ battle

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3247743/xi-tells-chinas-corruption-hunters-show-no-mercy-severe-and-complex-battle?utm_source=rss_feed

The battle against corruption remains “severe and complex” and there should be “absolutely no mercy” in rooting out the problem, Chinese President Xi Jinping has told the country’s top graft-busters.

“Facing an ongoing severe and complex situation, [the crackdown on] corruption can never turn back or slacken, [people should] show absolutely no mercy and the charge must be forever sounded,” he said on Monday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

In a speech to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) on the first day of its third plenary session, Xi kicked off the 11th year of his signature anti-corruption campaign with a call to deepen the clean-up drive.

The campaign, which has netted thousands of officials since 2013, last year intensively targeted the country’s vast and opaque financial and healthcare sector.

This year, the focus should be on “high-risk areas”, such as finance, state-owned businesses, energy, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure and engineering, said Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party.

Will China’s anti-corruption crackdown remedy its healthcare woes?

Xi called on the CCDI cadres to “fully centralise funds and resources to … clean up hidden risks, punish bribes and corruption” to give people “a greater sense of gains”, according to the CCTV report.

He also emphasised the need for “persistent purification of the political ecosystem” and called for heavier punishments for bribers who corrupt officials to “serve as a warning to others”.

The meeting was chaired by CCDI boss Li Xi and attended by members of the Politburo – China’s highest policy-makers – as well as state councillors and party heads of the legislature, courts and political advisory organs, and the military top brass. It was also broadcast to top provincial and PLA officials.

In 2018, five years after he launched the corruption-busting campaign, Xi declared “a crushing victory” against the problem.

The country’s battle against corruption set a record high last year, with the CCDI launching investigations into 45 senior officials, according to a tally by the South China Morning Post in January.

The Post’s tally showed a 40 per cent increase compared to the previous year, when 32 high-ranking officials were placed under investigation by the CCDI.

‘Tiger hunt’: China’s war on corruption sees record purge of senior officials

Two weeks ahead of this year’s third plenary session of the CCDI, the party widened the scope of offences and punishments with a new regulation on party discipline that includes the prospect of expulsion for reading sensitive materials in private.

Unflattering histories of the party, as well as publications that reflect poorly on the party’s policies, defame or slander party and national leaders, or distort the history of the party, the People’s Republic of China, and the PLA are all on the list.

[World] Taiwan election: Kuomintang party promises peace with China

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67909071?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

‘A wedding to remember forever’: China kindergarten teachers hold marriage ceremony in school with children playing key roles

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3246891/wedding-remember-forever-china-kindergarten-teachers-hold-marriage-ceremony-school-children-playing?utm_source=rss_feed

A wedding with a difference has taken place at a kindergarten in China after a group of young students helped make the marriage of two of their teachers extra special.

In the run up to the big day, the children helped the happy couple organise the wedding procession, lined up for high-fives and even carried a miniature bridal sedan chair.

The newlyweds, from Zhejiang province in the east of the country, both work at the kindergarten and decided to transform the school into their wedding hall, with their students taking an active role in the process, China News reported.

In a viral video, the students begin the ceremony wearing red outfits and forming two rows as part of the procession for the groom, surnamed Li.

As for the bride, who was not identified, several youngsters carried a model of a bridal sedan chair to show that they had “picked up” the bride to escort her to her future husband.

Two children in the front of the escort held signs indicating that they were heading to retrieve the bride, while others carried presents.

“Here comes the beautiful bride!” the children chant together in the video.

The smiling groom can be seen standing among the children and as the procession sets off he makes sure to high five the youngsters.

“Thank you,” Li says to the students.

The bridal procession soon arrived at the classroom, and it required some convincing from Li to get permission from the children to release the bride.

“Let’s give red envelopes to those congratulating her first, ok?” Li asked at the entrance. “Congratulations!” many small voices immediately yelled.

Later, the procession escorted the couple to an assembly hall where the kids took seats on both sides of a red carpet that the couple walked down.

At this point, an unnamed teacher announced over the loudspeakers: “We wish you good fortune, luck and peace,” which was greeted with applause.

On mainland social media, many people were captivated by the story.

“This is so meaningful. The kids will remember this wonderful wedding forever,” said one person. Another agreed: “So will the couple. What a great duo.”

“This wedding is full of love,” said another.

Stories about adorable children often melt hearts on mainland social media.

In November, a five-year-old student in eastern China impersonated her kindergarten teacher at home to update her family about what she had learned at school.

In October, children at a kindergarten in eastern China staged a wedding for their beloved pet rabbits, delighting mainland social media.

Chinese military scientists bring energy shield from science fiction to life to defend against enemy radiation: paper

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3247664/chinese-military-scientists-bring-energy-shield-science-fiction-life-defend-against-enemy-radiation?utm_source=rss_feed

A group of scientists from China’s top military technology research institution says it is developing a new defensive technology similar to an energy shield in science fiction.

This invisible veil of protection composed of electrically charged ions stands ready to guard China’s drones, missiles and other such weaponry against high-powered microwave attacks, much like the visionary technologies portrayed in the cinematic worlds of Star Trek or Star Wars.

When an assailant’s radiation comes calling, the energy shield springs to life in an instant – and its resistance grows stronger with each escalating attack.

Modern technology is vulnerable in the face of high-powered microwaves. Even military chips fortified with special circuits may struggle to withstand microwave attacks packing several kilowatts of punch at close range.

These powerful waves wreak havoc on the electrical currents within the chip and send its internal temperature soaring.

The team led by Chen Zongsheng, an associate researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Pulsed Power Laser Technology at the National University of Defence Technology, said their “low-temperature plasma shield” could protect sensitive circuits from electromagnetic weapon bombardments with up to 170kW at a distance of only 3 metres (9.8 feet). Laboratory tests have shown the feasibility of this unusual technology.

“We’re in the process of developing miniaturised devices to bring this technology to life,” Chen and his collaborators wrote in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Journal of National University of Defence Technology last month.

Chen’s team said its research had been spurred by pressure from the US.

“The United States has already put into use equipment such as the Active Denial System, the Vigilant Eagle system, the AGM-86 cruise missile carrying a high-power microwave warhead and high-power microwave weapons for airspace blockade,” Chen’s team said in the paper.

“The US military is doubling down on its investments in this domain.

“If the electronic information system [of the People’s Liberation Army] were to be decimated, even the mightiest of weapons and gear would be rendered blind or reduced to nothing more than a heap of scrap metal, potentially altering the very nature of future warfare.”

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

According to public information, the Chinese military is also developing ultra-high-power microwave weapons – some with a maximum power close to or exceeding 1GW – to attack long-range targets such as high-altitude drones or even low-orbit satellites similar to SpaceX’s Starlink.

In the past, the protection of electronic devices mainly focused on circuits. Yet, as the strength of potential attackers escalates, scientists proposed additional protective measures, such as super-surface protective layers that could change their physical structure to regulate incoming electromagnetic waves. However, this solid-state protection struggles to simultaneously handle issues of heating and electronic interference.

The plasma-based energy shield is a radical new approach reminiscent of tai chi principles – rather than directly countering destructive electromagnetic assaults it endeavours to convert the attacker’s energy into a defensive force.

Chen’s team first proved mathematically that the strategy did not violate the fundamental laws of physics and then they put their ambition into practice, using very little electrical energy to create a stable layer of plasma.

According to the paper, when attacking electromagnetic waves come into contact with these charged particles, the particles can immediately absorb the energy of the electromagnetic waves and then jump into a very active state.

If the enemy continues to attack or even increases the power at this time, the plasma will suddenly increase its density in space, reflecting most of the incidental energy like a mirror, while the waves that enter the plasma are also overwhelmed by avalanche-like charged particles.

“The thicker the plasma, the better the protective effect,” Chen and his colleagues said after summarising the experiment data. “Once the high-power microwave subsides, the plasma promptly reverts to its original state due to the absence of external energy sustaining it,” they added.

China strips 3 aerospace-defence executives of political titles amid crackdown

The Chinese military’s requirements for the energy shield in addition to strong protective capabilities include a lack of interference with passing low-power electromagnetic waves because protected drones or missiles must also be able to send or receive signals.

To stop enemies trying to penetrate the plasma by changing the microwave frequency the effective response frequency of the energy shield should be as wide as possible. Another fundamental challenge is that the energy-generating device itself must withstand high-powered microwave attacks while keeping its size, mass and energy consumption as small as possible.

Chen’s team said it was working on these issues.

US naval officer sentenced to two years in prison over spying for China

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/08/us-naval-officer-prison-chinese-spying

A US navy petty officer who pleaded guilty to providing sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Monday, the US justice department said.

Wenheng Zhao, 26, and another US sailor, Jinchao Wei, were arrested in August on suspicion of spying for China.

Zhao pleaded guilty in a federal court in California in October to charges of conspiring with a foreign intelligence officer and accepting a bribe.

He was sentenced on Monday to 27 months in prison and a $5,500 fine.

According to US officials, Zhao, who was stationed at a naval base north of Los Angeles, received nearly $15,000 from the Chinese intelligence officer between August 2021 and May 2023.

In exchange, he handed over sensitive information regarding US Navy operational security, exercises and critical infrastructure.

Zhao specifically provided information about a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific and electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system located in Okinawa, Japan.

“Mr Zhao betrayed his solemn oath to defend his country and endangered those who serve in the US military,” assistant attorney general Matthew Olsen said in a statement.

“The justice department is committed to combatting the Chinese government’s efforts to undermine our nation’s security and holding accountable those who violate our laws as part of those efforts.”

Wei, who served on the amphibious assault ship the USS Essex, is accused of handing over to China dozens of documents, photos and videos detailing the operation of ships and their systems.

Bowser launches effort to reimagine Chinatown as loss of Caps, Wizards looms

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/01/08/capital-one-arena-chinatown-plan-dc-bowser/2024-01-08T15:10:44.398Z

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) trotted out a new task force Monday that would be responsible for envisioning the future of the two-block area surrounding Capital One Arena in Chinatown — an effort spurred by a plan by the owner of the Washington Wizards and Capitals to move the teams to Virginia.

“This is about how old uses become new spaces,” Bowser said, while listing recent transformations of other areas such as the Wharf and Union Market. “We have the opportunity to do it again.”

That opportunity has grown out of the still-smoldering blow that Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis dealt Bowser and the District when he announced in December that he had reached a tentative, billion-dollar deal with Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to relocate the teams to a proposed arena in Alexandria’s Potomac Yard. That plan thrust the future of the Gallery Place-Chinatown corridor into uncertainty, given that the Wizards and Capitals games had long served as an economic boon and anchor for the neighborhood.

The loss ran counter to the mayor’s broader vision to revitalize downtown and to make D.C. the nation’s “sports capital,” requiring her administration to hit the reset button and entirely rethink how to revitalize the Gallery Place-Chinatown neighborhood without its main tenants.

In December, Bowser and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) offered Leonsis $500 million in public funds to upgrade Capital One Arena — but the offer came too late: Leonsis made his announcement with Youngkin the morning after she and Mendelson rolled out legislation authorizing the funds.

While Bowser reiterated that $500 million remains on the table for Leonsis, if Leonsis isn’t going to take it the city will likely invest the money in downtown instead, Bowser said.

“No matter what happens, we must invest in Gallery Place-Chinatown so that it is one of the top cultural and entertainment districts in the nation. It can be and it will be,” said Nina Albert, acting deputy mayor of planning and economic development. “And if the teams do move — and we have to anticipate that they will — we have an opportunity to reposition almost two city blocks, five acres, right in downtown D.C. for a new use.”

The area surrounding Capital One Arena started encountering challenges after the pandemic emptied city streets in 2020, attracting more crime and loitering to the area that has put some residents and visitors on edge. Leonsis, in fact, had lodged complaints with city leaders about those issues. Last February, the DowntownDC Business Improvement District published a study calling for significant economic investment, capital improvements and stronger security in the area. It called for more pedestrian-friendly spaces. More outdoor dining. More neighborhood amenities, such as retail and grocery stores — developments and spaces that would draw people, aligning with the goals of the task force Bowser unveiled Monday.

Albert will lead the new effort with “a super team of women leaders,” she said. The Gallery Place-Chinatown task force will be co-chaired by Jodi McLean, chief executive of Edens, which developed Union Market, and Deborah Ratner Salzberg, principal of Uplands Real Estate and who was instrumental in developing the Yards around Nationals Park.

McLean said their work will be guided by four focus areas. They will start by putting together an “immediate activation plan” aimed at drawing more people to the neighborhood to boost local businesses. Longer-term, she said, some of the “nation’s leading urban designers” will be invited to submit concepts for turning the area into a “world-class destination” while the task force also seeks out investors and developers interested in bringing creative spaces to the area. They’ll ultimately recommend public infrastructure investments the city should make “to directly support the vision,” including initiatives for attracting businesses, McLean said.

The new task force has Bowser walking a line between still holding out the offer to keep Monumental Sports & Entertainment— Leonsis’s company — in D.C. while also moving forward with rethinking the entire arena space. Officials with Monumental Sports have said they still want Capital One Arena to host live events and have floated having the professional women’s basketball team, the Washington Mystics, play at Capital One instead.

But that would require moving the Mystics from their relatively new arena in Congress Heights, Entertainment and Sports Arena, which opened in 2018. Bowser seemed to bristle at the idea Monday. Asked if she agreed with Monumental’s new vision for the arena, right-sizing the seating capacity and bringing over the women’s team, Bowser said: “Monumental has an obligation by their lease to have the Wizards and the Capitals play here. And if they’re not, then we’re going to move on from that discussion.”

The lease at Entertainment and Sports Arena is a 19-year lease, and the thought of losing the economic boost from the Mystics’ home basketball games — about 20 a season — has frustrated Ward 8 community members and business leaders.

Bowser said she would not allow Capital One Arena to become an “underutilized” space. Asked if tearing the arena down and rebuilding something new in its place was on the table, Bowser said the task force would be considering “all iterations” of what would be possible.

“Let’s be clear. We have to have a vibrant space here, and we can’t have it underused,” she said.

Bowser did not give a deadline for the task force to deliver a plan but said she expected them to work quickly. Last May, she launched a separate task force to create a Downtown Action Plan, though that group, led by the DowntownDC and Golden Triangle Business Improvement Districts, has yet to release its ideas. Albert said she is reviewing the final draft of the action plan and expects it to be publicly released within six weeks, noting its broad recommendations will likely guide the more specific planning for the Chinatown sector.

As part of her vision to revitalize downtown, Bowser is aiming to attract 15,000 new residents there by 2028. Toward that end, Bowser has pushed converting underused or vacant office buildings into residential housing — ambitious projects that are typically difficult undertakings for developers but that Bowser is hoping to sweeten with incentives, such as offering a 20-year tax abatement for developments that meet affordable housing targets. Five are under construction, she said.

Other work includes recruiting employers who “want to establish in-person offices downtown,” Bowser said. Earlier Monday, her administration changed telework guidelines for D.C. employees from two days a week to one day a week. She had for months called on the Biden administration to get more federal employees into downtown buildings. “I love to see everybody’s smiling face. But it’s not just about that,” Bowser said. “It’s about the services that we provide to our residents. We are a local government, and we need to be there to do that.”

China cuts tariffs on 143 Argentine agricultural and industrial products amid tense bilateral ties

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3247730/china-cuts-tariffs-143-argentine-agricultural-and-industrial-products-amid-tense-bilateral-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

China has unveiled a wide-ranging series of tariff reductions and extensions applicable to 143 Argentine agricultural and industrial products in a move that Beijing and Buenos Aires argue will bolster global commerce.

Effective immediately, the Chinese finance ministry’s decision aims to lower prices and spur end-consumer spending, according to Argentina’s ministry of economy.

On Monday the finance ministry in a statement said the decision supported the strategy of “implementing fully, accurately and comprehensively … better coordination of resources in domestic and international markets”.

Reduced tariffs have formed part of Chinese policy since 2016, targeting countries that lack a free-trade agreement with Beijing. As a rule, the policy’s implementation depends on the dynamics of China’s local market and demands.

Among the most significant adjustments affected from Monday is the elimination of tariffs on dry sweetcorn and coriander seeds, from 13 per cent and 15 per cent to now zero per cent, respectively.

Argentina’s dairy industry also got a boost, with reduced tariffs on infant formula and various cheeses.

In fisheries, the country’s key export of frozen shrimp maintained a modest 2 per cent tariff, while tariffs on other seafood items have been lowered. Argentina is one of the world’s top exporters of frozen shrimp.

Beijing’s decision also buoys Buenos Aires’s pivotal agricultural sector, with fruits like cranberries and pecans holding steady at a 7 per cent tariff. The sector accounts for almost a quarter of national GDP, according to the Agricultural Foundation for Development, an Argentine non-profit organisation.

Argentina’s snub may strain China ties but Brics has ‘dodged a bullet’

In addition, tariffs on oilseeds, including linseed and sunflower seeds, have been cut from 15 per cent to 9 per cent.

The food industry benefited as well, with ongoing tariff reductions maintained on products such as infant formula and dulce de leche.

Meanwhile, tariffs on orange juice have been slashed from 30 to 20 per cent. The policy further extended eased tariffs in the animal feed and pet food sectors, covering products like alfalfa bales and pet food.

And China will continue to offer tariff reductions on wood products. This includes charcoal and wood wool, now tariff-free, and lower rates for certain types of wood used in veneer or plywood production from 2 to zero per cent.

Argentina looks to veteran diplomat to mend ties with China: reports

Although China routinely renews its tariff reductions, doubts swirled as to whether the trade benefits granted to Buenos Aires would be suspended given recent bilateral tensions.

Argentina’s new president, far-right libertarian Javier Milei, spent much of his fiery election campaign last year vowing to break off ties with Beijing in favour of “the more ‘civilised side’ of the world”.

After his victory in November, Milei declined an invitation extended to Argentina to join an expansion of Brics, the association of leading emerging markets led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Milei has also decided to halt negotiations over the purchase of Chinese fighter jets in favour of second-hand American F-16s from Denmark, according to Argentine media reports.

US sailor sentenced to 27 months in prison for giving China military information

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3247733/us-sailor-sentenced-27-months-prison-giving-china-military-information?utm_source=rss_feed

A federal district court in California sentenced a former US Navy sailor on Monday to 27 months in prison for taking thousands of dollars in bribes and providing Chinese intelligence agencies with “controlled and classified” details of large-scale US military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, the US Department of Justice said.

In October, Wenheng Zhao, also known as Thomas Zhao, pleaded guilty to conspiring with a foreign adversary and accepting bribes. Prosecutors said he had been given nearly US$15,000 in 14 separate payments.

“Zhao betrayed his country and disgraced himself when he accepted bribes from an intelligence officer” with China, United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a Justice Department release.

Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, who was arrested in August, worked as a petty officer at a US naval base in Ventura County, California. He was born in China, immigrated to the US in 2009, became a naturalised citizen in 2012 and enlisted in the US Navy in 2017.

According to court filings, Zhao “collected” and “transmitted” photographs and videos between August 2021 and May 2023 that included specific locations and timing of naval movements, along with information of logistics and operational support.

The indictment also said that the stolen material included diagrams and blueprints for a radar system installed on a US military base in Okinawa, Japan.

Zhao was facing a maximum punishment of 20 years for the crimes. He has been in custody since August and his sentence will be calculated from the day of his arrest. He was also fined US$5,500.

Donald Alway of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said that the sentencing of Zhao should make it “very clear” that anyone “who succumbs to advances by the Chinese or any US adversary” would be held accountable.

US Navy sailor pleads guilty to sharing military data with China

The Chinese embassy in Washington said on Monday that it was not aware of the details of this case. However, it added, in recent years the “US government and media” had “hyped up cases of ‘espionage’ related to China, many of which later proved to be unfounded”.

“China firmly opposes the US side’s groundless slander and smear of China,” the embassy said in its emailed response.

Also in August, a San Diego-based US sailor Jinchao Wei, also known as Patrick Wei, was arrested on similar charges of pilfering US defence information for China. Prosecutors have not said if Wei, 22, was in touch with Zhao or if he was working for the same intelligence officer.

Wei, who was born in China and became a naturalised US citizen in 2022, pleaded not guilty. The court has scheduled a status hearing on further pre-trial motions on March 18.

US officials believe that the two cases are further proof of Beijing’s espionage operations on American soil.

“The intelligence services of the People’s Republic of China actively target clearance holders across the military, seeking to entice them with money to provide sensitive government information,” Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general for national security, said after Zhao pleaded guilty in October.