• Hong Kong cafe society and urban chic big draw for mainland Chinese tourists looking for a taste of street life as well instead of luxury boutiques
• Why does China ban outside access to its advanced rare earth magnet technology?
• China enters hi-tech imaging race with new ‘core’ electron microscope for semiconductor industry
• ‘10 days to sell just 1 box’: businesses on Hong Kong side of border struggle as mainland Chinese shoppers, parallel traders return in low numbers post-Covid
• China businessman offering US$1.4 million to find long-lost son hassled by gold-digging imposters who call him ‘dad’
• China’s gallium and germanium exports tumble as controls on shipments to the West take toll
• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi vows to help Jamaica play bigger role on world stage, hails one-China stand
• Chinese yuan gives US dollar a run for its money as African trade embraces other currencies
• 100 years since death of Lenin marked by silence from China’s Communist Party. Why?
• Mother in China gives daughter US$1,400 to encourage her to quit 15 hour-a-day job, says health is more important
• China’s durian market ripens as Thailand loses ground, Vietnam and Philippines get a taste
• Nokia set to exit telecommunications joint venture with Huawei amid US-China tensions
• US-China tensions: Asean playbook shows how small states can navigate big power rivalry
• ‘Ice work’: China employee granted ‘mood leave’ by company because she was down in dumps over lack of snow in home city
• Why China, the only permanent Asian member of the UN Security Council, wants it to stay that way

Hong Kong cafe society and urban chic big draw for mainland Chinese tourists looking for a taste of street life as well instead of luxury boutiques

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3249260/hong-kong-cafe-society-and-urban-chic-big-draw-mainland-chinese-tourists-looking-taste-street-life?utm_source=rss_feed

A Hong Kong photo hotspot for foodie tourists has come into focus as mainland Chinese visitors move away from shopping sprees and traditional landmark attractions in favour of smaller-scale and less well-known city attractions.

A walk down Peel Street in Central any day, but especially at weekends and on holidays, guarantees the sight of tourists crowded around its graffiti-marked walls and posing for pictures on steps with plates of food and cups of coffee.

The trend towards alfresco dining seems to have stemmed from the Fineprint cafe, which has featured on Xiaohongshu, mainland China’s Instagram-like social media platform.

A search on Xiaohongshu produced hundreds of results with near-identical photos and videos featuring visitors seated on steps along the street, eating and drinking.

Fineprint’s small size and limited seating mean people who visit very often spill out onto the street.

A visitor from Shenzhen, who identified herself only as Xiaoyu, 26, said the urban chic of the street gave her photos an interesting, relaxed vibe.

“This cafe is recommended a lot on Xiaohongshu,” she said.

“The street looks kind of old and a bit dirty, but the food is colourful and looks really good in pictures.

“It creates a contrast, and it looks like you’re not trying too hard.”

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

Mindy Chan, 37, a Hongkonger who works in public relations, said she had been visiting Peel Street since before the coronavirus pandemic hit– prior to its debut as a social media sensation.

“I’ve noticed a lot more tourists, which I didn’t really see before Covid,” she added. “It gets quite lively here during the weekends.”

“People are always sitting on the side of the street here, it’s very chill,” friend Damien Siu, a banker, said.

“All the shops on this street are quite small, so people just find an empty space on the street if there’s no space inside. It’s a side street, so not a lot of cars come through.

“It’s the same at night. There’s a bar at the end of the street and people take their drinks outside for a chat.”

A number of selfie spots have caught the eye of tourists from across the border since travel restrictions were dropped last year, including MacDonnell Road in Mid-Levels and the former police station in Yau Ma Tei.

Visitors have followed what opinion leaders have posted on Xiaohongshu, known as “the little red book”.

Mainland Chinese tourists drop shopping and chase Hong Kong’s ‘trending’ side

Tourism industry experts earlier pointed out that the behaviour of visitors from across the border had drastically changed compared with pre-pandemic times.

They said that tourists had turned away from big-budget buys at luxury boutiques and opted instead for down-to-earth experiences such as trips to Sham Shui Po and cheap eats at cha chaan teng – traditional Hong Kong diners.

They highlighted the mainland’s sluggish economy and the comparatively expensive Hong Kong dollar because of its peg with the US dollar as part of the reason.

But they added that the younger generation also wanted fresher, unique experiences after repeated trips to the city.

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Why does China ban outside access to its advanced rare earth magnet technology?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3249253/why-does-china-ban-outside-access-its-advanced-rare-earth-magnet-technology?utm_source=rss_feed

On December 21, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce further tightened its ban on the export of rare earth processing technologies.

While previous bans included the export of extraction and separation technologies, the new prohibition included the technology for making permanent magnets – a downstream process in the rare earth supply chain.

China is the world’s largest supplier and processor of rare earths. Of all the advanced processed goods, the magnets are in the greatest demand and have the highest added value, with applications in green energy products such as electric vehicles and wind turbines, as well as robots and military weapons.

The new ban not only aims to solidify China’s dominance in rare earth magnet production in general, but is also an attempt to strengthen high-performance magnet production to catch up with Japan. Although China produces and uses most of the world’s rare earth magnets, Japan still leads in the technology of the higher-performance varieties.

The restrictions are also part of the US-China tech war.

“The broader context here is that for the longest time, China did not respond much to US sanctions on chips,” said Damien Ma, director of the Paulson Institute’s Think Tank and an expert in foreign policy.

“But now that dynamic has changed, a decision has clearly been made to engage in reciprocal, albeit asymmetrical, retaliation on trade sanctions.

“And the one area in which China has some leverage is the clean energy supply chain, including processed metals like those that go into permanent magnets.”

Countries led by the United States and Australia, however, have made notable progress in rare earth mining. This, together with Beijing’s policies to slow down mining and exports, has seen China’s share of global rare earth production drop from around 90 per cent a decade ago to about 70 per cent in 2022, according to the US Geological Survey.

There has also been a shift in what other countries want from China’s rare earth supplies. A study led by Zhou Mei-jing, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Petrochemical Technology, showed that the focus was shifting from lower-end to higher-end products.

Other countries imported fewer materials and rare earth oxides but slightly more rare earth magnets from China compared to more than decade ago, Zhou and her team said in a paper in the domestic Resources Science journal in September.

In the rare earths supply chain, separation and extraction are upstream processes that convert raw materials into rare earth oxides and metals, but magnet production is a downstream process with the most value added.

In recent years, countries have also pushed to build processing plants outside China.

A Chinese-led study published in Ore Geology Reviews in October 2022 said there were about 67 rare earth processing facilities outside China either under construction or operating. However, only six were built for magnet production, while the rest designed for upstream processing.

With upstream processing technologies already barred from export, the December ban marks China’s attempt to further solidify its advantages in downstream magnet production, amid a new focus on competing in rare earth supply with the US, Japan, the European Union and other developed economies.

“Beijing has recognised that China’s true advantage in rare earths lies in its processing technologies and the complete industrial chain,” said Duan Xiaolin, assistant professor of global studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. “The ban is aimed at maintaining China’s privileged status in the global market.”

Rare earth magnets were a US$17.5 billion industry globally in 2022 and expected to keep growing, according to Research and Markets. The magnets are the most sought after rare earth processed product because of their crucial role in clean-energy technologies, especially electric vehicles.

China’s export of rare earth magnets more than doubled in the past two years, from about 27,000 tonnes in 2016, and they were its most exported rare earth product, according to customs data.

A 2022 report from the US Department of Energy said China dominated every stage of the supply chain of rare earth magnets – from mining, separation and refining, to magnet making. It had a 92 per cent share of the annual global magnet production in 2020, while the US accounted for less than 1 per cent, the report said.

“Currently, China is the permanent magnets industry,” Ma at the Paulson Institute said.

“And magnets are a key component when it comes to electric power. So, as the energy and transport sector increasingly electrifies, magnets are going to be in high demand.

“This is clearly a good industry for China to be in and further strengthens its clean energy supply chain.”

China’s top spy agency vows to safeguard critical minerals amid global race

The new ban includes the technologies for making three types of rare earth permanent magnets: samarium cobalt, cerium and neodymium iron boron (NdFeB). NdFeB magnets are the strongest and the most in demand among permanent magnets and are an essential component for electric vehicles.

Research from Paulson Institute indicates that global demand for high-performance NdFeB magnets will increase five-fold by 2030 from less than 50,000 tonnes in 2020, outstripping the world’s supplies.

China has surpassed Japan in NdFeB magnets production since 2001 and become its largest producer and exporter.

Nevertheless, the researchers point out, while China leads the lower-end magnets segment, Japan still controls the vast majority of high-performance magnet patents. The patent barrier is holding China back from significantly expanding its high-performance NdFeB magnets production.

Ma, who co-authored research into Chinese magnet production, published on the think tank’s website in November 2021, said: China probably hopes to overtake Japan on high-performance permanent magnets, but that will still take some time.”

China has trying to close the gap with Japan’s patents and production of high-performance magnets since the 2010s, but progress has been slow.

By 2018, Japan produced 48 per cent of the world’s total high-performance magnets while China produced 36 per cent, according to the Paulson Institute’s research.

With the ban, China is aiming to accelerate development of high-performance magnet production by providing a better space to develop domestic patents.

“Chinese rare earth companies often lack awareness to protect intellectual property rights, so the ban can help keep the competitiveness of the domestic industry,” said Wang Guoqing, director of the Lange Steel Information Research Centre.

A month before the ban was announced, Premier Li Qiang told an executive meeting of the State Council – China’s cabinet – that China would increase its efforts to break barriers and industrialise high-end rare earth materials.

This month, the government of Baotou, in northern Inner Mongolia where more than 80 per cent of China’s rare earth deposits are located, said the city would push the research and development of high-performance magnets at major rare earth processing plants.

Duan, who has studied Chinese export policy in the field, said the ban could have both positive and negative effects.

‘Huge potential’: China looks to belt and road to feed demand for minerals

“What’s good about the ban is that it can help China solidify its dominance in rare earth processing technologies,” Duan said. “However, it could have an adverse impact on the technical and academic communication between China and other countries in rare earths.

“In the 1980s and 1990s, frequent communication between the Chinese Society of Rare Earths [a research centre] and Japan’s rare earth industry played an important role in the development of China’s rare earth industry.”

Antonio Castro Neto, a materials scientist and professor at the National University of Singapore, pointed to another possible effect.

“It will increase the effort from Western countries to create new technologies that do not depend on rare earth,” he said.

China enters hi-tech imaging race with new ‘core’ electron microscope for semiconductor industry

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3249241/china-enters-hi-tech-imaging-race-new-core-electron-microscope-semiconductor-industry?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese research laboratory has developed its own version of a “choke point” technology critical to the semiconductor industry, opening the way for domestic production, according to state media.

State-run Science and Technology Daily reported on Saturday that the Guangzhou-based research institute Bioland Laboratory had built the country’s first transmission electron microscope, called the TH-F120.

The report said China had now mastered the “core technologies” for the microscopes and could mass produce the machines, allowing the country to “break” its complete dependence on imports.

The advance could give strong support to cutting-edge scientific and industrial areas such as materials science, life sciences and semiconductors, it added.

It also reflected China’s rapid advancement in key technologies in the face of fierce international competition and US curbs.

The microscopes send a beam of electrons through an extremely thin specimen to generate a high-resolution image, a technique that is central to developing new nanostructured semiconductor materials, according to AZoNano, a technology news site.

The Science and Technology Daily report said that compared with imported versions, the TH-F120’s thermal emission electron gun generated “brighter and more stable emissions”. The images were also highly detailed, it said.

In 2018, the newspaper, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Science and Technology, listed the microscopes as one of the 35 “stranglehold” or “choke point” technologies that China needed to develop.

Urgency about home-gown technology rose in the aftermath of US sanctions on telecoms equipment producer ZTE earlier that year.

More sanctions have been imposed since, restricting Chinese access to semiconductor technology.

Major global players in the microscope technology include Japanese companies JEOL and Hitachi, as well as US firm FEI.

China spent 3 billion yuan (US$416 million) in 2022 to import 300 of the microscopes, Guangzhou Daily reported.

That year, the global market for the equipment was valued at US$825 million, with projections for it to top US$1 billion by 2028, according to an industrial report published last year.

Over the past three years, Bioland has been spearheading China’s efforts to develop the technology and become the first Chinese player in the market.

Scientific and technological self-reliance has been one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s repeated policy themes.

On Friday, Xi renewed his call for “high-quality development” in a message to attendees at the National Engineer Awards, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Xi said he hoped the country’s engineers and technicians would have the courage to make breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields, the report said.

Over the past year, the US and its allies have stepped up restrictions on China’s access to advanced chips and related equipment, citing national security concerns.

‘10 days to sell just 1 box’: businesses on Hong Kong side of border struggle as mainland Chinese shoppers, parallel traders return in low numbers post-Covid

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3249242/10-days-sell-just-1-box-businesses-hong-kong-side-border-struggle-mainland-chinese-shoppers-parallel?utm_source=rss_feed

It is noon and there are only three customers in HoKo Beauty, a cosmetics shop in Sheung Shui, a town just one train stop into the Hong Kong side of the border with mainland China.

Over about 30 minutes, each spent less than HK$100 (US$18).

Owner Yau Man, 40, sighed as she recalled better days before the Covid-19 pandemic, when her shop was packed with mainland Chinese visitors and bulk-buying agents, and the daily turnover could hit HK$100,000 on a good day.

Yau said sales were down by almost two-thirds and she had to rely on her online business to get by.

Pointing to the empty space in the shop, she said: “There used to be stacks of boxes filled with face masks and we’d sell five or six boxes a day. Now it takes 10 days to sell just one box, even after lowering the prices.”

Other businesses in the area told the same downbeat story. Before the pandemic, Sheung Shui was a magnet for parallel traders who bought goods tax-free to resell at a profit across the border.

That was when its streets were crowded with people who could be seen stuffing suitcases full of everything from baby milk formula to skin care products and medicine.

The area returned to the spotlight after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu revealed on Tuesday that the government was in talks with mainland authorities to reinstate a visa scheme to allow more day trippers to Hong Kong.

Mainland tourists, the largest group of visitors to the city before the pandemic, have returned in lower numbers than expected since travel restrictions were lifted and the border reopened a year ago.

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

More than 26 million mainlanders visited last year, about three-fifths of the number who came in 2019.

A multi-entry visa scheme introduced in 2009 allowed Shenzhen residents unlimited visits to Hong Kong within a year.

The crowds of mainlanders who turned up in North district provoked the ire of locals who protested, complaining about hygiene, difficulties for pedestrians, price inflation of goods and the depletion of stocks in shops.

There were concerns about parallel traders who bought products in bulk to resell for a profit across the border, evading the mainland’s hefty import and value-added taxes.

Locals and cross-border students eligible for multi-entry visas were also hired as couriers by bulk-purchasing agents to carry goods to the mainland.

Their activities and the surge in single-day visitors led to the multi-entry visa being replaced in 2015 with a once-a-week annual pass.

Ronald Leung Kam-shing, spokesman for the North District Parallel Imports Concern Group, remained cautious about bringing back more visitors.

“The biggest concern is that resuming the visa scheme could lead to the resurgence of parallel trading,” he said.

But North district councillor Ko Wai-kei said that while many shop owners hoped the multi-entry scheme would be resumed and more visitors would come, consumer behaviour had changed significantly.

“The rise of online shopping has almost eliminated mainland people’s need to buy through parallel traders,” he said. “A wider range of imported products that are even cheaper are available in Shenzhen, which is now attracting Hong Kong residents to travel across the border to shop there instead.”

Could Hong Kong visa scheme for Shenzhen residents resurrect parallel trading?

Most of the parallel traders in Sheung Shui had also changed jobs during the pandemic, he said.

Still, some parallel trading activity returned after the border reopened last year, prompting Hong Kong customs authorities to intensify efforts and work with mainland authorities to curb smuggling.

Shenzhen resident Zhang Ping recalled the years before the pandemic when she was a parallel trader who made frequent trips to Sheung Shui and took two suitcases across the border without scrutiny.

The 42-year-old, who worked in the real estate industry and started parallel trading in 2006, said customs checks were now “excessively strict”.

She resumed visiting Sheung Shui last year to buy cosmetics and skincare products as before, but no longer in bulk. Aside from having drastically fewer orders, she was wary of the customs checks.

Zhang said that in the past, customs inspections were rare and the worst that could happen was having the imports rejected. Now there was a high likelihood of being taxed heavily or having the items confiscated.

Hongkongers queue for more than 2 hours as they flock to new Shenzhen Costco

“Many mainland people are afraid to take anything back from Hong Kong,” she said.

HoKo Beauty owner Yau said the strict customs checks deterred bulk buyers and even discouraged individual visitors from shopping.

“We have survived the most difficult times,” she said. “But if things continue like this, we will have to close our doors like many other nearby shops.”

Last Wednesday afternoon, fewer than 10 people were seen pulling large bags or filling them on shop-lined San Fat Street.

Seven cosmetic stores, two pharmacies, a mother and baby products shop, and a general goods shop each had fewer than 10 customers. Some shops had no customers. Five vacant shops had “for rent” signs.

District councillor Ko was concerned that more businesses would close down after the Lunar New Year.

But he acknowledged that the district had not yet broken away from depending on bulk-buying visitors and parallel traders, and the shops there lacked diversity.

“Indeed, for Hong Kong to thrive, it needs to undergo changes and, most importantly, cultivate its unique tourism characteristics,” he said. “Only by doing so can it regain its appeal to visitors.”

China businessman offering US$1.4 million to find long-lost son hassled by gold-digging imposters who call him ‘dad’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3248182/china-businessman-offering-us14-million-find-long-lost-son-hassled-gold-digging-imposters-who-call?utm_source=rss_feed

A 51-year-old millionaire in southeastern China says he is fed up with strangers claiming to be his child after he offered a 10 million-yuan (US$1.4 million) reward for finding his long-lost son.

Xie Yue, an entrepreneur from Shenzhen, Guangdong province, has been bombarded by people wanting to have a DNA test with him, including a man only 10 years younger who insists on calling him “dad”.

In December last year, he said he was willing to pay anybody who could provide clues as to the whereabouts of Xie Haonan, who was born in 1998 and went missing in Shenzhen when he was just three years old.

The large sum of money has attracted widespread attention including harassment from many people “who do not live by honest labour”, Xie said.

“I receive about eight to nine phone calls every day from people who directly call me dad,” he said.

“A man of 41 years old came to my office, saying he is my son and wanting the DNA test. I am only 51. So it’s impossible for me to be his father,” Xie said.

“This has seriously affected my personal life and work,” he added.

He said at first he would welcome visits from potential candidates and offered to recoup part of their train fares after they showed him their tickets and ID cards. But that was taking up just far too much of his time.

“Please do not come to do a DNA test with me. From now on, I will not respond to people who have a ‘Haonan dream’,” Xie said in a video on Douyin on January 3.

By ‘Haonan dream’ Xie is referring to people on a duplicitous mission to inherit his wealth.

In mainland media reports, Xie had said he could afford the 10 million-yuan reward for tip-offs that led to finding his son because he owns companies and properties.

He said he is confident that, with the help of the police, his son, now aged 25, will be found this year. He also said he will respect the young man’s wishes and has no desire to disrupt his life.

“After finding my kid, I will not try to change his living environment,” Xie said. “If he wants to live with me, he will be welcomed. If he prefers to stay with his current family, I will respect his choice,” he said.

Another long-lost son story went viral on mainland social media in December last year after the father, who owns a large manufacturing business in northern Hebei province, gifted his son three properties following their reunion.

In 2021, a man who inspired the 2015 film Lost and Love was reunited with his kidnapped son 24 years after embarking on a nationwide search for him on a motorbike.

China’s gallium and germanium exports tumble as controls on shipments to the West take toll

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3249233/chinas-gallium-and-germanium-exports-tumble-controls-shipments-west-take-toll?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese exports of two critical semiconductor metals plunged last year under the weight of Beijing’s controls on shipments to the United States and his allies.

Analysts said the drop-off could just be the start as Beijing amasses weapons of retaliation against tech curbs by Washington and its allies.

According to the General Administration of Customs, the full-year value of gallium exports fell by two-thirds to US$8.47 million in 2023 while sales of germanium were down 8 per cent to US$48.42 million.

China dominates both markets, accounting for over 95 per cent of the world’s gallium production and about 60 per cent of germanium output.

Beijing imposed restrictions on exports of the raw materials and several of their compounds in August in apparent response to Washington-led restrictions on Chinese access to advanced technology.

Exports of the two raw materials to the US stopped from July, with annual gallium shipments to the United States dropping by just over 20 per cent for the full year to US$352,710 while germanium increased by 51 per cent to US$6.98 million.

The drop in annual export value was even greater in relation to Japan, where gallium shipments fell by nearly three-quarters to US$3.68 million and germanium deliveries decreased by roughly a third to US$3.76 million.

However, China’s germanium exports to Russia rose 78 per cent last year to US$10.99 million. China did not export gallium to Russia in 2022 but last year deliveries amounted to US$189,480, or more than half of the value of shipments to the US.

US expected to beat China’s export controls on gallium needed for radars

Analysts said that as tensions continued between China and the US, Beijing could add more key materials to its control lists.

“This is just a starting point for China to restrict exports of its key materials,” said Victor Gao, vice-president of the Beijing-based think tank Centre for China and Globalisation.

“The US should be fully prepared for further retaliation from China.”

Gao said China’s mining and processing of metals was one or two decades ahead of the world and the effect of the controls would be felt most in the most advanced products.

“The impact will be greater for hi-tech military supplies to the US, which relies on these two materials from China for some of its radars and warplanes,” he said.

According to the US Geological Survey, 53 per cent of US gallium imports between 2018 and 2021 came from China. Germany and Japan each contributed 13 per cent during that period.

Gary Ng, a senior economist for Asia-Pacific thematic research at Natixis, said the main impact of the controls was on costs rather than availability.

Ng said the materials were not very rare and most firms would have stockpiled supplies, but they would need to absorb the higher cost of imports from other countries.

“It is unavoidable that Japan and the US will need to diversify the sources of the two metals,” he said.

“China knows its dominant position in critical materials well, as export control is a clear retaliation against the US-led semiconductor restrictions.”

In October, China also imposed export controls on graphite, a key material used in batteries for electric vehicles.

“Export controls are always a geopolitical tool, and it is just the beginning – China will use them more,” Ng said.

“The essence of a tool means there can be room for rolling back as a bargaining chip if US-China relations surprisingly improve, but this is unlikely.”

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi vows to help Jamaica play bigger role on world stage, hails one-China stand

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3249235/chinese-foreign-minister-wang-yi-vows-help-jamaica-play-bigger-role-world-stage-hails-one-china?utm_source=rss_feed

China will support Jamaica to play a bigger role in world affairs, Foreign Minister Wang Yi has pledged, as the two countries aim to strengthen strategic alignment.

The message from China’s top diplomat came as he wrapped up a six-nation tour with a visit to the Caribbean country.

Meeting Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness in the capital Kingston on Saturday, Wang said China looked forward to expanding cooperation in trade, investment, new energy, agriculture, digital economy and the “blue economy”, or the sustainable use of ocean resources.

“[We] support Jamaica in playing a more important role in regional and international affairs,” a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry quoted Wang as saying.

According to the Chinese readout, Holness said Jamaica prioritised its relationship with China, was committed to building a strong strategic partnership and welcomed more Chinese investment.

In a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Holness said Wang’s visit was a “significant milestone” in diplomatic ties, “reflecting the enduring partnership and collaboration between our two great nations”.

“We look forward to further strengthening the bonds that contribute to the prosperity and well-being of our people,” he added.

Jamaica was the last stop of Wang’s 10-day African and Latin American tour, which began with a visit to Egypt on January 13. This was followed by stops in Tunisia, Togo, Ivory Coast and Brazil.

While Africa has long been the first port of call for China’s foreign minister in the new year, Brazil and Jamaica were added to the itinerary this year.

This was seen as aiming to boost China’s charm offensive in the backyard of geopolitical rival the United States, as Beijing steps up engagement with the so-called Global South and urges greater say for developing countries in world affairs.

Jamaica was among the first Caribbean countries to sign a Belt and Road Initiative memorandum with China and the first in the western hemisphere to sign a related cooperation plan.

China was committed to the equality of countries regardless of size and the democratisation of international relations, Wang told Holness.

“[China] never interferes in the internal affairs of any country, never engages in geopolitical scrambles and never forces other countries to take sides,” he said.

Wang also praised Jamaica’s adherence to the one-China principle, while Holness said his country would continue to firmly adhere to its “one-China policy”, according to the Chinese statement.

The one-China principle states that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

Seven of only 12 countries that still have formal diplomatic relations with Taipei are in the Caribbean and Latin America. They are Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Haiti, Belize, Guatemala and Paraguay.

The Pacific island of Nauru on Monday became the latest country to switch allegiance to Beijing. This came two days after Taiwan elected a new president, William Lai Ching-te, whose pro-independence stand has irked Beijing.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Wednesday thanked the island’s remaining allies after they pledged continued support.

No change after Taiwan election to ‘basic fact’ there is only one China: Wang Yi

Wang told Holness that China was willing to offer useful lessons to developing countries on modernisation approaches, and ready to develop closer people-to-people exchanges with Jamaica.

“The two sides could share governance experiences for mutual development,” he said.

Holness said that China’s success story offered lessons on achieving more efficient and equitable development, which Jamaica was keen to learn, the Chinese ministry readout said.

He also sought continued support from Beijing on improving the resilience of small island nations against climate change.

Chinese yuan gives US dollar a run for its money as African trade embraces other currencies

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3249030/chinese-yuan-gives-us-dollar-run-its-money-african-trade-embraces-other-currencies?utm_source=rss_feed

When you land at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka, one of the billboards welcoming you to the Zambian capital advertises the services of the Bank of China (BOC).

There are not many countries in Africa where the Chinese government-owned financial institution offers fully fledged banking services in renminbi (RMB), the official Chinese currency.

Apart from Zambia, BOC has a branch in Johannesburg, South Africa, and it also has a representative office in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi.

But it was in the southern nation of Zambia where BOC established its first African subsidiary, allowing customers to make deposits in and even withdraw Chinese yuan. Branches in both Lusaka and Kitwe, a mining town in the country’s northern Copperbelt region, serve the growing number of Chinese mining firms and immigrants.

Recently, the lender also announced that its Zambian division would help boost the use of the yuan for trade as part of China’s efforts to promote the Chinese currency in Africa.

BOC vice-president Lin Jingzhen visited Zambia in December. In a meeting with President Hakainde Hichilema, he promised to use the lender’s global reach to facilitate economic and trade ties using the Chinese currency – not only with Zambia, but other African nations as well.

“Actually, Bank of China is a local clearing bank and we will earnestly act upon our responsibility and leverage on our role in Zambia to support other African countries to provide holistic products and services related to RMB and to promote the use of RMB in bilateral trade and economic activities,” Lin said during his visit to Lusaka.

Lin’s trip followed Hichilema’s state visit to China in September, when the two countries agreed to trade more using their own currencies.

A joint statement following a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Hichilema said the two nations would “create a favourable policy environment for promoting settlements in local currencies and support a greater role of the Chinese renminbi settlement bank in Zambia”.

Zambia is Africa’s second-largest copper producer, most of it exported to China, the world’s largest consumer of the metal. But financial woes hit Zambia in 2020 when it defaulted on foreign debt.

China helped strike a deal last June to restructure US$6.3 billion in Zambian loans. About US$4.1 billion of this is owed to China, the country’s largest bilateral lender.

Beijing has also encouraged the use of local currencies across various African countries as part of its de-dollarisation bid. And it has pushed for the issuance of cross-border yuan-denominated “panda” bonds.

Last year, Egypt issued three-year panda bonds worth 3.5 billion yuan (US$490 million) when it decided to opt for less conventional borrowing as it faced an economic crisis that resulted in fewer dollars and other hard currencies.

Kenya, which is also facing debt repayment troubles, is currently considering issuing panda bonds to secure funds to retire its US$2 billion Eurobond which is due this year.

Charlie Robertson, head of macro strategy at FIM Partners, an asset management firm, said ever since the West imposed its stringent financial sanctions on Russia, China has been determined to accelerate the use of the renminbi to reduce its vulnerability to similar sanctions that could stem from a possible invasion of Taiwan.

“Encouraging the use of China’s currency gives China more foreign policy flexibility,” Robertson said. “It also transfers currency risk from China, which might otherwise have to accept very undervalued or overvalued US dollars from trading partners, on to its trading partners.”

Robertson explained that Egypt now carries the currency risk from borrowing in China’s currency after issuance of its panda bonds, and equally, Zambia carries the currency risk from accepting yuan as payment for its resources.

“There is a good case to be made for Egypt and Zambia; this is a reasonable diversification – from mainly US dollar currency risk to a broader range of currencies,” Robertson said.

Until now, Robertson said if the US Federal Reserve increased rates significantly and the US dollar strengthened, Egypt and Zambia would be very exposed.

“In the future, the Fed will matter a little less, and the People’s Bank of China will matter a little more,” he said.

“I have no doubt that China will push hard for more and more trade and debt to be issued in its currency, with the inducement today that Chinese interest rates are lower than in the US.”

African coups make life difficult for China’s belt and road projects

sub-Saharan geoeconomic analyst Aly-Khan Satchu said there is a powerful tailwind driving greater renminbi adoption.

“We are at a tipping point in Africa,” he said.

According to Satchu, African countries that had borrowed in dollars are not only shut out of dollar capital markets but their debts have increased on an forex (foreign exchange) adjusted basis.

“It is an untenable situation,” Satchu said, adding that these ill winds are now pushing African countries to diversify their dollar exposure.

“It makes perfect sense to trade in renminbi with your largest trading partner, which is China for most of the continent. So further adoption is a no-brainer,” Satchu said.

He also expects more panda bonds to be issued by African countries.

“In fact I think we are just embarked on the sophistication curve and could see asset-backed pandas, for example, which would free up China-Africa credit lines and allow China to better manage its Africa lending book,” Satchu said.

Beijing is likely to continue to make policies aimed at incentivising Chinese firms to use renminbi in trade payments across countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, according to Robert Greene, a non-resident scholar for the Asia Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“In 2024 we could see China’s largest state-owned banks’ presence in Africa expand, as well as further growth of China-Africa cross-border renminbi settlement arrangements. It is also important to watch how African banks’ connectivity with China grows,” Greene said.

A China-Africa cross-border yuan settlement centre launched in Zhejiang in mid-2023 and Mauritius now has the third clearing centre for the Chinese currency in Africa, after South Africa and Zambia.

“We could see new agreements involving China’s central bank and state-owned commercial banks aimed at increasing renminbi use in China-Africa cross-border trade payments,” Greene said of what we could expect this year.

“One thing to watch for in 2024 is the establishment of bilateral currency swap agreements between China’s central bank and African counterparts. These agreements can be used to facilitate greater renminbi use in cross-border trade and finance,” he said.

In Nigeria, politicians are reportedly working to revive a 2018 bilateral currency swap agreement between the Nigerian central bank and the Chinese central bank. Meanwhile, in August 2023, South Africa’s largest lender, Standard Bank, and China’s largest state-owned bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), renewed a long-standing partnership that facilitates renminbi use across 15 African markets.

Greene said many emerging markets are pursuing policies aimed at increasing the use of local currencies in cross-border trade payments.

“In some jurisdictions, officials believe that such policies could reduce domestic demand for dollars, and in doing so, believe they can help address local currency depreciation and exchange rate risks,” Greene said.

“Also, in certain countries, there is a desire to build out financial infrastructure that is more resilient to US and European economic sanctions.”

100 years since death of Lenin marked by silence from China’s Communist Party. Why?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3249222/100-years-death-lenin-marked-silence-chinas-communist-party-why?utm_source=rss_feed

For the death centenary of Karl Marx in 1983, China issued a special set of commemorative stamps.

In 2018, for the 200th birth anniversary of the German thinker and founder of communism, Chinese President Xi Jinping presided over a memorial meeting, one of a host of state-led events held to mark the occasion.

Sunday marks 100 years since the death of Vladimir Lenin. However, there will be no official commemoration for the death centenary of the man who founded the Soviet Union and put Marxism into practice before leaving behind a controversial legacy for the world.

Marxist-Leninism has been enshrined in the charter of the Chinese Communist Party as a guiding principle, along with the ideologies of successive communist leaders since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949.

However, unlike during the times of founding leader Mao Zedong, commemorations of Lenin appear to have fallen off the agenda for Chinese propaganda officials.

Yuan Yuhua, a self-taught leftist scholar and academic lecturer, said Lenin and the 1917 October Revolution – which inspired the founding of the Chinese Communist Party four years later – had been played down in recent years.

A mainland political scientist who declined to be named put the different treatment down to the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union, and the controversies around Leninism.

Blots on Lenin’s legacy include the massacre of political rivals – the 1918-1922 “Red Terror” carried out by his Bolshevik party, famines during the early 1920s and 30s, as well as atrocities during the totalitarian rule of his successor, Joseph Stalin.

“Even Russian leaders reviewed Leninism after the collapse of the USSR [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics] in the late 80s. In the following years, China was busy with market reform and opening up to the outside world, therefore Lenin was not a point of emphasis on the agenda for government propaganda,” the political scientist said.

Thousands of Lenin statues around the world have also been pulled down since the fall of the Soviet Union, among the most famous being the mass removals in Ukraine in the last decade.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has delivered sharp criticisms of Lenin, his statements about the founder of the Russian Communist Party have been inconsistent. He has also rejected calls to bury Lenin’s body, which remains on display in Moscow’s Red Square.

A website that documents remaining Lenin statues said there were about 6,000 left worldwide as of 2021, with four of them in mainland China.

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said while official commemorations might be lacking, Leninism was ingrained in the political fibre of China’s ruling party.

“Leninism is in the DNA of the Communist Party of China. Examples are the structure of the party and the party-state,” he said.

Leninism dictates that the communist party, as the “vanguard party”, should establish a single-party socialist state called the “dictatorship of the proletariat”.

In the party state, every aspect – from political, economic and social, to cultural and intellectual life – would be regulated strictly by the communist party.

In the 90s and 2000s, the Chinese Communist Party, while resolute in maintaining single-party rule, had attempted to delegate the responsibilities of actual policy formulation and implementation to the government and focus more on giving general directions.

This trend was reversed under Xi, who has merged party organs and government departments in a massive restructuring since the 19th national party congress in 2017.

Xi urges loyalty from courts, law enforcers to ‘defuse’ social, financial risks

The political scientist who declined to be named said the restructuring indicated a return to Leninism. “The party-state of recent years stems from Leninism,” the analyst said.

Leninism also influenced Sun Yat-sen and the early days of the Kuomintang (KMT), which was set up in 1912 according to the structure of a Leninist state, Wu said.

The KMT retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing to the communists in a civil war. It upheld single-party rule in its early decades, until it lifted martial law and legalised opposition parties in the 80s.

In mainland China, while Lenin is still a familiar name for many young people as someone they know from school text books, there is not much interest in him or his legacy.

Jade Song, 27, an employee of a public institute in southern Guangdong province, said her impression of Lenin was more from politics and history classes in school.

“When his name is mentioned, words like ‘proletarian revolution’ and Soviet come to mind, as well as the impression of him as a revolutionary pioneer, a spiritual leader, and a figure who had a great impact on China. Also, he is usually mentioned along with Marxism,” she said.

But topics related to Lenin were rarely raised among friends, she added. “So I feel that many people, like me, still mainly learned about him from textbooks and only have simple impressions but not deep understanding of his thoughts.”

To Beijing university student Wu Yuening, Lenin is a complex historical figure criticised for his political repression. But “the history books present him more in a positive way as a revolutionary and theorist”, the 19-year-old said.

Yuan, the leftist scholar, said young people in China showed more interest in Mao than Lenin.

“So many young people have flocked to Shaoshan [the birthplace of Mao] to commemorate the 130th anniversary of his birth [last December]. Young people pay more attention to Mao.”

Mother in China gives daughter US$1,400 to encourage her to quit 15 hour-a-day job, says health is more important

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3248142/mother-china-gives-daughter-us1400-encourage-her-quit-15-hour-day-job-says-health-more-important?utm_source=rss_feed

The story of a young white-collar worker in China whose mother persuaded her to give up her gruelling job has struck a chord in mainland China where the employment market is fiercely competitive.

The woman, in her 20s, surnamed Zou, lives in the southwestern Chongqing municipality and her mother recently visited her from their hometown.

In a viral Weibo post on January 10, the mother said that after seeing Zou working so hard from 8am to 11pm every day, with no holidays, she felt compelled to intervene.

Zou said she had desperately wanted to resign for a long time but could not leave because the company owed her 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) in wages.

“I will carry on with this job until I get paid,” Zou wrote on Weibo.

She said she had confided in her mother one evening about how under pressure she felt and why she could not leave the job, and the next morning she found 10,000 yuan had been transferred into her bank account.

“Quit your job as early as possible. Your health is your most precious asset,” Zou’s mother told her.

“Your father and I think your body and mind are what you should value most. Take a break. You can look for jobs later, there’s no need to rush. You do not need to worry about this as long as I am alive.”

Zou said her mother’s words made her cry: “I realised that, no matter how old I am, my mother will always look after me,” she said.

Her post has been viewed 50 million times on Weibo and 28,000 people have shared it on the social media platform.

“My father also comforts me. He says that, as a woman, I don’t need to set high goals for myself. A monthly salary of 2,000 yuan is enough,” one online observer said.

Another person took a different view: “I envy the children from wealthy families. When I complained about my job to my parents, they asked: ‘Who in this society lives easily?’ They also criticised us younger generation for being unable to endure hardship.”

A recent survey asked whether China’s parents would approve of their offspring “lying flat” – a Mandarin phrase that means rejecting society’s pressure to overwork and overachieve.

Of the 6,700 people canvassed, 4,200 said no and only 1,500 said yes, revealing that most parents would have concerns if their children resigned from their jobs.

The jobless rate for the 16-24 age group in China climbed to an all-time high of 21.3 per cent in June last year before the national statistics authority stopped releasing the figures.

China’s durian market ripens as Thailand loses ground, Vietnam and Philippines get a taste

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3249116/chinas-durian-market-ripens-thailand-loses-ground-vietnam-and-philippines-get-taste?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s imports of durians soared last year, but as the world’s chief buyer of the pungent tropical fruits widens its preference range to sate the voracious appetite of its massive consumer base, Thailand has been on the losing end of that shift -and rival exporters like Vietnam and the Philippines have benefited.

China imported 1.4 million tonnes of durian in the first 12 months of 2023, up 69 per cent from the previous year according to data from China’s General Administration of Customs.

Thailand’s share of those imports, in US dollar terms, dropped from almost 100 per cent in 2021 to 95.36 per cent a year later and 67.98 per cent last year through December.

Vietnam has cut in on Thailand’s stake after China began letting Vietnamese exporters ship fresh durians in 2021.

Vietnamese exports of durian to China went from near zero to a 4.63 per cent share at US$188.1 million in 2022, and soared to 31.82 per cent in the first 11 months of last year for a total value of US$2.1 billion.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said Vietnamese exports of the fruit worldwide reached 4.9 per cent of the total by volume in 2022 at 40.88 million kilograms, adding Vietnam’s share was less than 1 per cent the previous year and zero before that.

Vietnam is aiming to reach US$3.5 billion in durian turnover this year- a surge of 55 per cent from last year – by tapping deeper into the Chinese market, the country’s Department of Foreign Information projected last week.

More than 90 per cent of durian exports reach China, HSBC said in a research report last year.

Durian has become a prized object for China’s middle class. Though reviled by some for its smell, the thorn-covered crop commands a high price and has amassed a sizeable contingent of devotees, who dub it “the king of fruit”.

Many Vietnamese farmers have replanted fields and bought new equipment to switch to growing durians, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, a political scientist at Fulbright University Vietnam.

“Vietnamese farmers know how to rotate crops and lengthen the harvest,” Nguyen said. “Durian is considered a cash crop in Vietnam and it can bring a lot of benefits. The farmers know how to maximise their chances.”

The Philippines has gained a sliver of market share, too. A year ago this month, China agreed to start importing fresh Philippine durians, which grow largely in the volcanic soil of Mount Apo on the southern island of Mindanao.

Philippine durian exports to China were valued at US$1.88 million from January to June 2023, the government-run Philippine News Agency reported.

How do China’s first home-grown durians compare to Thai and Malaysian ones?

The Philippines took a 0.2 per cent share of China’s durian imports over the first 11 months of last year by US dollar value, Chinese customs data shows.

Durian growers still prioritise the domestic market and export the excess, said Jonathan Ravelas, managing director of the Manila-based consultancy eManagement for Business and Marketing Services.

China also announced last year that it had successfully grown its first domestic crop on the southern island of Hainan.

“Domestic durians are expected to have a production of 250 tonnes this year, and by next year they could be available on the market in bulk, and by then the production could reach 500 tonnes,” said Feng Xuejie, director of the Institute of Tropical Fruit Trees at the Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

Last year, Hainan achieved total production of 50 tonnes, which Feng said was not enough to satisfy hungry Chinese consumers.

“As for the price and flavour of domestic durians in the future, let’s just wait and see,” Feng added.

Shipping from the Philippines to China generally costs more than what other Southeast Asian exporters pay, because of distance and infrastructure barriers. That could change, Ravelas said.

“The Philippines at the moment is the first potential alternative supply point,” he said. “The government will probably improve on farm infrastructure, like cold storage.”

Durian exporters in Malaysia are pushing for a deal this year to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations with China, said Simon Chin, founder of the Malaysian exporter DKing. Today, Malaysia is only allowed to ship frozen durians.

“Now we are talking to China to explore fresh fruit exports, like the Thais and what they did,” Chin said.

In terms of income, Thailand’s durian shipments to China still went up last year in the aggregate as the consumer market in China’s mid-sized cities began to ripen, said Sam Sin, development director at S&F Produce Group in Hong Kong. S&F ships durian from Thailand.

“The supply is never enough for China,” Sin said. “Right now, (the market) is quite developed in the first- and second-tier cities, but not in the third, fourth and fifth.”

Nokia set to exit telecommunications joint venture with Huawei amid US-China tensions

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3249181/nokia-set-exit-telecommunications-joint-venture-huawei-amid-us-china-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed

Finnish telecoms equipment giant Nokia has found new buyers for its majority stake in a Beijing-based joint venture with Huawei Technologies, after a proposed deal fell through last year following strong protest by the Chinese partner.

Under the latest agreement, wireless technology firm TD Tech will be jointly controlled by Huawei and a group of entities that include the government-owned Chengdu High-Tech Investment Group and Chengdu Gaoxin Jicui Technology Co, as well as venture capital firm Huagai, according to a disclosure published on Friday by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR).

The document did not reveal how much equity each of the new participants will hold. Before the sale, Nokia owned 51 per cent of TD Tech, while Huawei held 49 per cent.

Regulators said they had no antitrust concerns on the deal and would solicit public feedback until January 28. Huawei and TD Tech together control no more than 10 per cent of China’s smartphone market, according to the SAMR, which did not specify the time frame for that data.

Huawei had a 14 per cent share in the Chinese smartphone market in the third quarter last year, putting it in fifth place behind its spin-off Honor and rivals Oppo, Vivo and Apple, data from market intelligence firm Counterpoint Research showed.

TD Tech, founded in 2005, had been a joint venture between Huawei and German tech conglomerate Siemens until 2007, when Siemens sold half of its stake to Nokia. In 2013, Siemens divested all its shares, making Nokia the major shareholder.

Known for its wireless communications equipment, including 4G and 5G networking gear, TD Tech has a presence in more than 100 countries serving 8 million industry customers, according to its website.

While Nokia had been the majority owner of the joint venture, Huawei has been the de facto controller, according to industry observers.

“The management are former Huawei employees, with product solutions based on Huawei products but fine-tuned for the industry market,” Yang Guang, an analyst covering the telecoms sector at research firm Omdia, said last year.

Huawei opposition to Nokia sale of joint venture threatens Finnish firm’s exit

When Nokia last year tried to sell its majority stake to Shanghai-listed ink maker New East New Materials, Huawei threatened to stop licensing technology to TD Tech. That deal ultimately collapsed.

Huawei likely did not want to lose control of TD Tech, which could help the Chinese tech giant circumvent some US sanctions and help it address certain market segments more efficiently, Yang said at the time.

TD Tech in 2021 started selling what amounted to rebranded Huawei phones under its own brand. They included the M40 5G, which used a 7-nanometre chip from Taiwan-based MediaTek instead of Huawei’s own Kirin processors.

Sanctions imposed by Washington currently bar companies from selling to Huawei advanced chips made with US-origin technology, which includes MediaTek processors made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s largest contract chip maker.

Despite the US restrictions, Huawei last year launched its Mate 60 Pro, a handset equipped with an advanced, home-grown 5G processor.

US-China tensions: Asean playbook shows how small states can navigate big power rivalry

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3248660/us-china-tensions-asean-playbook-shows-how-small-states-can-navigate-big-power-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed

On December 30, one day before Indonesia’s Asean chairmanship lapsed, the region’s foreign ministers issued a statement articulating their “concern” over “recent developments in the South China Sea that may undermine peace, security, and stability in the region”.

This statement from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations came after months of escalating tensions between Chinese and Filipino vessels, amid growing concern that the region would be dragged into US-China strategic competition. It affirmed Southeast Asian sovereignty in “our maritime sphere” and pressed for restraint.

It is tempting to view the Sino-American rivalry as a zero-sum, two-player game. Yet the US and China make up only 22 per cent of the world’s population. Regional powers, even small and medium-sized states, can and should exercise their agency in navigating the increasingly turbulent dynamics between the two countries. Their people deserve better than their governments’ passive acquiescence to a polarised world order.

Countries can take a leaf out of Asean’s playbook. Despite its economic intertwinement with and proximity to China, and strategic and military ties with the United States, Southeast Asia has carved its own path. Through shrewd balancing, hedging and consolidation, Southeast Asian nations show that small and medium-sized powers deserve a seat at the table.

First, Asean states are adept practitioners of dynamic balancing. They not only position themselves as uniquely useful and open to collaboration with both Beijing and Washington but also ensure the region remains neutral with no overarching tilt.

The former manifests best in the pro-trade courting of foreign investment from both the US private sector and China’s state-owned and private enterprises.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, for instance, has convinced Tesla to set up its regional headquarters in Selangor and broached the incorporation of Starlink into Malaysia’s digital infrastructure. Through his Beijing trip and the China-Asean Expo in Nanning, Anwar’s government has secured billions of dollars worth of trade deals and investments from China, seizing upon China’s recalibration of its foreign loans and global engagement after the pandemic.

Thailand and, more recently, Vietnam are long-standing practitioners of “bamboo diplomacy”, defined by both resilience and flexile adaptiveness. The rift between the military-led Thai government and the US after the 2014 coup has mended with pro-business Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s ascent to power last year.

Vietnam recently upgraded its relationship with the US to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, ranking its Vietnam war opponent as equivalent to China and Russia in its diplomatic hierarchy. In rendering themselves indispensable to both Chinese and American strategies in the region, Southeast Asian nations gain the licence to not have to choose between them.

As Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared while presiding over the 2022 G20 summit, as he firmly pushed back against sharpening rivalries, Asean will not be “a proxy to any power”.

While some would suggest the pro-China leanings of Cambodia and Laos or the Philippines’ increasing collaboration with the US would precipitate regional splintering, it is precisely the ability of countries to temporarily assume leanings that exempts the region from an unequivocal alignment.

Second, as Professor Kuik Cheng-Chwee at the National University of Malaysia put it, Asean “hedges between feasibility and desirability”. These states seek to minimise unhelpful uncertainty and diversify strategically in their dealings with all major powers.

At the Asia Future Summit in October last year, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed that “One China is the basis on which nearly every country in the world recognise the [People’s Republic of China], and has informal, unofficial relations with Taiwan”.

Asean wants no part in US-China rivalry or an unjust war over Taiwan

As the largest regional economy and fourth most populous nation, Indonesia has made clear its intentions to broker a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, resisting trenchant Western calls for further militarisation while turning non-alignment into a source of moral leadership and soft power.

Internationally, the region has looked beyond China and the US for alternative partners.

In recent years, EU-Asean ties have deepened considerably as European Union countries eye more resilient supply chains and Asean diversifies its markets and sources of foreign direct investment. At the 25th Asean-India senior officials’ meeting last year, India and Asean pledged to increase collaboration in ensuring regional peace and security, and in areas ranging from science and technology to agriculture.

With Malaysia and Indonesia sharing a strong religious connection with the Gulf states, they are well positioned to cultivate greater access to the cutting-edge technology and deep capital reserves of the region. Such multilateral, multi-track dynamism is crucial to enabling Asean states to weather the fallout from a potential deterioration in the Sino-American relationship.

Third, Asean states have sought to consolidate and strengthen their synergy. During its chairmanship in 2021, Brunei played a sizeable role in negotiating with Myanmar’s junta amid the country’s civil war. This year, Thailand may be best placed to continue to work for peace and reconciliation in Myanmar.

Inter-Asean trade is growing, as are people-to-people and cultural exchanges, innovation and technology-sharing, and climate efforts. Accelerating cross-border payments and connectivity will further lower barriers to trade, work and travel, while cross-national infrastructural projects – such as the proposed Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail – will streamline the region’s supply chain.

Regional bodies elsewhere like Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) can learn from Asean in bolstering transport interconnectivity and infrastructural synergy to unlock potential.

For Asean, full alignment on all key international issues remains elusive but given it seeks a more pragmatic solidarity, this is not a prerequisite. While there is the perennial risk of divide and conquer, Southeast Asian nations have shown the world how to weather the storm – for now.

‘Ice work’: China employee granted ‘mood leave’ by company because she was down in dumps over lack of snow in home city

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3248056/ice-work-china-employee-granted-mood-leave-company-because-she-was-down-dumps-over-lack-snow-home?utm_source=rss_feed

As China experiences a craze for winter tourism, an employee who was down in the dumps over the fact that it had not snowed where she lives was granted “mood leave” by her employer.

The viral story has been met with a mixture of envy and amusement on mainland social media.

An online video posted by a woman from Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, southeastern China, shows the process she went through to get the unusual form of leave.

The video shows her filling out her application for leave and giving the reason as: “It isn’t snowing in Hangzhou and I am feeling emotional.”

The woman told Riverside Video: “Our company has always offered ‘mood leave’. Our boss has made it clear that if an employee is unhappy, they can request this type of leave at any time without affecting their salary or performance bonus.”

The company offers various unique types of leave, such as for Women’s Day, and even Children’s Day, in addition to the traditional breaks for weddings and bereavement.

In a previous message, the firm’s CEO publicly declared: “Employees have the right to say no to their boss. Here, if employees are unhappy, they can directly take mood leave.”

This policy has amused many people on mainland social media, with some expressing envy.

One online observer said: “With this reason for leave, now the whole country knows you just want to go out and have fun.”

Another agreed and said: “This boss is really wise. Allowing employees in a bad mood to work can easily lead to errors and losses for the company.”

“Cherish such a company and such a boss. The world isn’t short of reasons for leave, but it lacks a boss who understands and gives such freedoms. Just save up a few days and go enjoy yourself!” said a third.

China’s demanding, so-called 996 work culture, referring to employees who work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week, companies that offer generous benefits often attract publicity.

In March 2023, an image showing mainland retail tycoon Pang Donglai’s benefit package went viral.

It included a “Grievance Award” of between 5,000 and 8,000 yuan (US$700 and US$1,100) for employees who feel wronged while adhering to standard work procedures.

The company also allows its all employees to work fewer than 40 hours a week and offers at least 30 days of annual paid holiday, which is almost triple the country’s average, as reported in a 2015 study by the market research firm YouGov.

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Why China, the only permanent Asian member of the UN Security Council, wants it to stay that way

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3249135/why-china-only-permanent-asian-member-un-security-council-wants-it-stay-way?utm_source=rss_feed

When Russia offered its backing to India earlier this month, the support was full throated.

Denis Alipov, the Russian ambassador to India, said New Delhi had a “balanced and independent approach to most topical issues” and warranted becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

A few months earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin had also backed India’s bid, saying international laws must reflect the “requirements and demands of today”.

India is pushing to get a seat at the table with the council’s five permanent members, or P5 – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

Those five represent victor nations of the second world war, and now with Russia behind India’s bid, only one – China – remains opposed to admitting the South Asian giant.

Analysts say Beijing is determined to remain the only Asian nation in the exclusive group, and will not be swayed by Moscow’s efforts.

They also say that any other efforts to add permanent Security Council members seems wishful thinking, with many challenges, including the difficulty of amending the UN Charter, standing in the way.

Vinay Kaura, an assistant professor at Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice in India, said China had not been influenced by Russia’s consistent support for India, resisting any restructuring of the Security Council that carried the prospect of bringing India into the group.

“China’s animosity towards India finds its echo in this debate,” he said. “Since China is the only Asian power represented in the UN Security Council, it does not want any other Asian country to share this privilege.”

China’s ties with India have soured in recent years as tensions at their shared border soared. Both Asian powers have also been competing to represent the developing world.

Kaura said Beijing’s opposition had also been apparent in its strategy to downsize and restrict India’s strategic influence at both a regional and global level.

While China has said it supported reforms to the UN Security Council, it has stopped short of providing specific proposals. Its key suggestion has been that developing nations should have “a greater say”.

Last year, Wang Yi, China’s top diplomat, said reform should “increase the representation and voice of developing countries, allowing more small and medium-sized countries to have more opportunities to participate in the decision-making of the council”.

In addition to India, other countries, including Brazil, Japan and Germany have also sought permanent seats on the UN body.

But according to Richard Gowan, UN director at the think tank International Crisis Group, India has been the “most hardline advocate” of council reform.

“[India] is absolutely adamant that it should have a permanent seat … and it is not in a mood to compromise on this,” he said.

In an interview with French media in July, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India had a “rightful place” in the UN Security Council, and that the present representation of the group was skewed.

“How can we talk of it as a primary organ of a global body, when entire continents of Africa and Latin America are ignored? How can it claim to speak for the world when its most populous country, and its largest democracy, is not a permanent member?” he said.

Gowan said that Russia’s growing support for India’s bid could have stemmed from its desire to prevent US allies – like Japan and Germany – from gaining more power at the international body.

But he suspected that even Moscow did not believe reform was likely. “So to some extent, this is another example of cheap political signalling over UN reform,” he said.

As for China, Gowan said its “absolute red line” would be if Japan won a permanent seat on the Security Council, a scenario that “really worries” Beijing.

“Obviously, China has an interest in remaining the only Asian power with a permanent seat on the council, and keeping India out too.”

The P5 members of the Security Council are granted powers to veto UN resolutions, with 10 others nations elected on a rotating basis.

Gowan said that China had previously used its blocking power to support Pakistan over the Kashmir conflict with India. “If [China] has to deal with India as an equal at the UN, it would reduce its influence over Asian-related diplomacy,” he said.

On Moscow’s influence on Beijing, he said: “I don’t see Beijing following Russia’s line. I think China will most likely aim to keep Japan and India away from winning permanent seats although it will try to avoid public disputes over the issue.”

Kaura, from Sardar Patel University, added that China’s policy had been to project itself as a champion of the Global South and Beijing has not viewed its opposition to India as contradictory to its demands for a reform of the Security Council.

China, he suggested, would likely be more keen on a limited expansion, in which additional permanent members would not have the veto powers the P5 members now wield.

China would be happy to talk about giving developing nations more power in the Council in “general terms”, Gowan said, but he was unsure if Beijing would invest political capital in any particular model of reform.

“Beijing is in part using this language to satisfy the African group of states at the UN, which it wants to cultivate as a friendly political bloc,” he said, referring to Africa’s calls for two permanent seats on the Security Council.

Russia’s support for India also came amid growing calls for a change in how the UN Security Council operates.

Stewart Patrick, director of the Global Order and Institutions Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said “the impulse for reform is understandable”.

The structure of the five permanent members was first introduced in 1945 but after nearly eight decades, it has remained the same even as major players like India and Brazil emerged, he wrote in a piece published by the Washington-based think tank in June.

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Compounding membership frustrations has been how each of the P5 countries have retained veto power, allowing each to unilaterally block Security Council resolutions that are not aligned with their own national interests.

“The result is frequent council paralysis, exacerbated by deepening geopolitical rivalry between Western democracies and authoritarian China and Russia,” Patrick added.

“To a growing proportion of the world’s governments and citizens, the council today is both feckless and unjust, dominated by irresponsible and unrepresentative powers inclined to abuse their position rather than safeguard the peace.”

UN secretary general Antonio Guterres had earlier suggested that it was time to reform the Security Council to align with the “realities of today’s world”, but separately said whether countries like India ascended to the group should be decided by UN Security Council members.

The International Crisis Group’s Gowan said Russia’s war in Ukraine and the evolving conflict in the Middle East have lent an extra sense of urgency to reform of the Security Council.

He said UN member states were particularly “angry” about Russia’s use of its veto over Ukraine and US vetoes over Gaza.

Russia last year blocked a Security Council resolution that described its attempts to annex four regions of Ukraine as an illegal move to modify Ukraine’s borders and a “threat to international peace and security”.

In response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Moscow to be stripped of its veto power, saying its powers rendered the international body “ineffective”.

More recently, Washington last month vetoed a resolution that demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza.

“The council has also been struggling to deal with other crises like the wars in Sudan and Myanmar, and there is a sense that the UN is losing credibility as big power tensions rise,” Gowan added.

Kaura noted that the composition of the Security Council had remained the same even though the world has undergone dramatic changes since 1945, with nations like Brazil, Japan and Germany gathering strength politically and economically.

“Most countries believe that UN Security Council’s performance and legitimacy have come down. And, geopolitical rivalry between the liberal democracies and authoritarian regimes has also deepened,” he said.

“In this situation, Security Council reform is urgently required to restore its effectiveness and legitimacy.”

But he warned that some hurdles stood in the way. The biggest among them was the tall order of amending the UN Charter, with different countries taking varying positions on the issue.

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The veto power granted to permanent members was another hindrance. “There is strong disagreement among member states regarding ‘whether’ and ‘how’ the current veto provisions should be extended to new permanent members of UNSC,” Kaura said.

“Any change in the voting procedure would require the consent of two-thirds of UN members, and that is not an easy task. Due to growing geopolitical rivalries and deepening polarisation, Security Council reforms seem to be pipe dreams.”

Courtney Fung, a scholar-in-residence at Asia Society Australia, agreed that the odds were low.

One reason was the competing proposals over reform, which included an African-led plan, as well a submission by the so-called G4 of Brazil, Japan, India and South Africa. There were also concerns that individual states would defect from group calls if they won their own seats.

“Moreover, reform processes are to be consensus-driven even in the politicised environment of today’s UN Security Council. In short, it may suit states to signal reform with little intention of actually getting to agreement,” Fung said.

Gowan said that in 2022, US President Joe Biden “tried to harness the sense of discontent” with the Security Council, a move that “got diplomats very excited”.

Biden, who spoke at length about Russia’s war in Ukraine at the UN, said Washington supported increasing the number of both permanent and non-permanent representatives of the Security Council.

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“This includes permanent seats for those nations we’ve long supported and permanent seats for countries in Africa [and] Latin America and the Caribbean,” Gowan said. “The United States is committed to this vital work.”

While Washington appeared to be able to set the agenda for other powers with his call and held many consultations on the issue last year, it was not able to make progress.

“So frankly a lot of talk about reforming the Security Council is quite hollow. I think P5 members sometimes raise the issue to win goodwill cheaply from those powers like India and Brazil that want permanent seats,” Gowan said.

“Nobody thinks that a reform is imminent.”