• Chinese hackers infiltrated plane, train and water systems for five years, US says
• China inflation: 4 takeaways from January’s data as consumer prices suffered steepest fall since 2009
• Market call: Chinese start-ups still crave US investors despite IPO challenges, bilateral friction
• Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin vow deeper ties in phone call ahead of Lunar New Year
• Quantum breakthrough: Chinese scientists settle 20-year physics debate with new simulator
• China’s Xi Jinping hails progress in integrating Hong Kong and Macau in speech ahead of Lunar New Year
• Hong Kong police deploy non-ethnic Chinese personnel in undercover crackdown on illegal food delivery workers
• China stocks slide, US stocks glide – will reform work to stem the tide?
• As China’s markets crash, its consumers cower | China
• How Kishida’s disappearing Japanese premiership is a gift to China
• [World] Chinese fury as Messi plays in Japan, days after missing match in Hong Kong
• Hong Kong police arrest 1 more suspect in connection with death of mainland Chinese student
• Malaysia’s Unesco plan for Chinese villages triggers fury among Malay-Muslim groups
• China woman slapped by father-in-law for asking to visit parents during Lunar New Year, told she is just ‘spilled water’
• Chinese scientists build a powerful Stirling engine-based microwave weapon that can fire from a moving truck
• China’s top legislative body to discuss ‘appointments and dismissals’ amid military purge
• China lashes out at ‘chaos and disorder’ behind Fukushima radioactive waste water leak
• Houthi Red Sea crisis serves China’s main goal: undermining the US
• Outcry in China and Hong Kong after Lionel Messi returns from injury in time for Japan match
• Who is Dilraba Dilmurat? top China actress is Xinjiang native with 80 million fans whose name means ‘beloved beauty’
• Will foreign property buyers from China, Asia shun Australian market over latest fees surge?
• Mexico overtakes China as the leading source of goods imported to US
• South Korea’s Yoon defends wife over Dior handbag scandal, rejects China policy concerns in rare interview
• China’s seed industry at least a generation behind as Western giants enter ‘Industry 4.0 Era’, must increase collaboration
• China inflation: consumer prices fall for fourth straight month in January, adding to deflation concerns
• Watching “The Shawshank Redemption” on stage in China | China
• [World] North Koreans working in China 'exploited like slaves'
• ‘Eating tender grass’: Spanish influencer, 25, gets taste of China matchmaking culture with marriage proposal from man, 50, in Shanghai park
• China property defaults won’t stop banks lending to cash-strapped developers, says Goldman Sachs report
• Former Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghe’s absence from Lunar New Year greetings list raises questions over fate

Chinese hackers infiltrated plane, train and water systems for five years, US says

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/feb/08/chinese-hack-us-transportation-infrastructure

An advanced group of Chinese hackers taking aim at critical US infrastructure has been active for as long as half a decade, American and allied intelligence agencies said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

The US National Security Agency, US cyber watchdog CISA, the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration said that the group known as Volt Typhoon had quietly burrowed into the networks of aviation, rail, mass transit, highway, maritime, pipeline, water and sewage organizations.

None of the organizations were identified by name, but the statement said that US intelligence officials have observed the hackers “maintaining access and footholds within some victim IT environments for at least five years”.

The statement, which was co-signed by the respective cybersecurity agencies of Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, is the latest in a series of warnings from US officials about Volt Typhoon, a group that has drawn particular alarm because it appears geared toward sabotage rather than espionage.

The widespread nature of the hacks has led to a series of meetings between the White House and private technology industry, including several telecommunications and cloud commuting companies, in which the US government asked for assistance in tracking the activity.

“We are extraordinarily concerned about malicious cyber activity from the PRC state sponsored actor that industry calls Volt Typhoon,” senior CISA official Eric Goldstein, referring to the People’s Republic of China, told Reuters ahead of the statement’s release. “Most of the victims we have identified have no legitimate espionage value.”

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China inflation: 4 takeaways from January’s data as consumer prices suffered steepest fall since 2009

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3251373/china-inflation-4-takeaways-januarys-data-consumer-prices-suffered-steepest-fall-2009?utm_source=rss_feed

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China’s consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.8 per cent in January, year on year, marking its steepest decline since September 2009.

The fourth consecutive monthly drop was worse than the expected fall of 0.5 per cent polled by Chinese data provider Wind.

Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING, said the primary drag on inflation continued to be food prices, which fell from minus 3.7 per cent in December, year on year, to minus 5.9 per cent in January.

Analysts at Capital Economics said the fall largely reflected a higher base for comparison caused by a shift in the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday from January in 2023 to February this year, and the lifting of China’s zero-Covid policy at the start of last year.

“CPI fell deeper into deflationary territory last month. But this was largely due to the usual volatility in food and tourism prices around Chinese New Year,” they said.

China’s consumer prices suffer steepest fall since 2009, adds to deflation woes

Junyu Tan, a regional economist for North Asia at Coface, said China’s CPI deflation intensified in January from a high base a year ago, while the drag from pork and fuel prices persisted.

“On a sequential basis, it is worth noting that inflation improved for a second consecutive month,” he said.

“But this should not be interpreted as a concrete sign of stabilising demand, as the improvement mainly stems from seasonal patterns, with demand for vegetables and household services rising ahead of the Chinese New Year.”

And economists Erin Xin and Jing Liu at HSBC pointed to preliminary data from activities around the Lunar New Year holiday as “coming in rosy”.

“Don’t get carried away by the lower headline inflation print, as preliminary data coming out of the holidays points to stronger consumption demand,” they said.

“We don’t think one should be overly concerned.”

China’s producer price index (PPI) – which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate – declined last month by 2.5 per cent, year on year, compared with a fall of 2.7 per cent in December, and marked the 16th straight month of decline. Wind had predicted a 2.5 per cent fall.

Analysts at Capital Economics said the increase was partly due to a lower base for comparison, while the pace of the month-on-month price decline also eased, supported by increases in metal prices amid the recent uptick in infrastructure spending.

“PPI deflation narrowed slightly, year on year, but worsened month on month as overall industrial activities experienced a winter seasonal trough and labour shortages before Chinese New Year,” said Tan at Coface.

“It is worth noting that ferrous metal mineral prices have risen continuously since the second half of 2023, and the increase has accelerated recently, suggesting that construction demand has stabilised.”

China’s core inflation, excluding food and fuel prices, fell to a seven-month low of 0.4 per cent in January from 0.6 per cent in December.

The main driver was a sharp fall in the tourism-price inflation, said analysts at Capital Economics.

“This component is volatile around Chinese New Year and likely to bounce back in February,” they said.

Analysts at Capital Economics expect easing food-price deflation to lift consumer-price inflation into positive territory in the coming months, but they expect core inflation to probably stay low.

CPI inflation would average only 0.5 per cent in 2024, up from 0.2 per cent in 2023, they predicted.

“We think consumer-price inflation will return to positive territory over the coming months,” they said.

“But structural imbalances between supply and demand mean that core inflation is likely to remain subdued relative to pre-pandemic norms for the foreseeable future.”

Song at ING sees a high likelihood that January’s data could mark the low point for year-on-year inflation in the current cycle, considering the more favourable base effects for February’s data.

Coface’s Tan expects mild reflation in 2024, helped by a favourable low base, while supply-side distortions – including low pork and car prices – should also ease. But with consumer confidence still sluggish, he questioned whether demand-led reflation may take hold.

“The weak inflation data will undoubtedly prompt more policy actions, but policymakers will likely continue to favour investment and production,” Tan said.

“Consumption stimulus may remain piecemeal from local governments and favour only certain products, such as green furniture or electric vehicles.

“One might, therefore, wonder whether policy bias could amplify supply-demand imbalances and lead to renewed deflationary pressure.”

Market call: Chinese start-ups still crave US investors despite IPO challenges, bilateral friction

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/money-wealth/article/3251427/market-call-chinese-start-ups-still-crave-us-investors-despite-ipo-challenges-bilateral-friction?utm_source=rss_feed

Scage, a start-up vehicle maker, repurposed a Nanjing diesel lorry factory in 2019 into a plant making clean-energy trucks. Now its founders are hoping for another transformation as they try to raise US$100 million on New York’s Nasdaq exchange and jump-start the nascent EV company into a global leader.

“We want to build a 100-year company,” said Ethan Guo Yuanchi, a former investment banker who co-founded Scage. “Even though the relationship between China and the US is complicated right now, for the past 20 years very good, mature Chinese companies go to Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.”

As China’s economy and financial system swoon, capital -hungry Chinese companies are keen to tap US markets, hoping 2024 will reopen the sluice gates after a protracted drought.

Less clear is whether the largest, most attractive Chinese companies want to navigate the shifting maze of impediments for a US listing – and how interested foreign investors are.

Once a license to print money, Chinese initial public offerings (IPOs) have been tarnished by opaque finances, scandals and rideshare company Didi Global’s sudden NYSE delisting in 2022 following a Chinese crackdown on the tech sector, wiping away US$60 billion, just 11 months after its IPO.

Adding to the headwinds was US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s August warning that Chinese companies risked becoming “uninvestible” over national security concerns.

“Since Didi Global in 2021, there have been few notable Chinese listings on US exchanges,” said Matthew Kennedy, a senior strategist with IPO research firm Renaissance Capital. “Now that the US IPO drought is ending, the question is: Will large Chinese companies return?”

Beyond economic and regulatory shoals, Chinese firms must weather strained US-China relations as turf battles and geopolitics assail the financial sector.

Didi to start trading on OTC market after delisting from NYSE

Investors say the focus ahead is on relatively sure-bet Chinese companies with believable numbers and known brands. While Wall Street memories are relatively short, once-burned financiers seek assurance that an IPO will not tank soon after listing.

Between 2019 and 2022, the share price of Chinese IPOs on US exchanges fell 71 per cent from their opening, compared with a 16 per cent drop for non-Chinese issuers, according to Renaissance.

“I’ve never heard of a Wall Street banker turning down a dollar,” said James Hinote, geopolitical officer at CGPA Global Advisors. “But they need to have their fundamentals and their value down while not treading on any potentially sensitive topics like dual-use technologies or connections” with the Chinese military.

Amer Sports, a subsidiary of Jinjiang-based Anta Sports that owns Wilson, Arc’teryx and other iconic brands, provided an early test. Despite lowering its IPO price last week, NYSE investors remained unenthusiastic, resulting in a US$6.5 billion valuation compared with an earlier US$8.7 billion estimate.

Hopes are now pinned on online fast-fashion retailer Shein and EV maker Zeekr, respectively valued at a potential US$90 billion and US$13 billion – assuming they are not discounted as well.

Chinese companies are lining up at US exchanges, at least numerically. Last year they accounted for 21 per cent of US IPOs – excluding deals under US$5 million – raising a combined US$528 million. While slightly above 2022 levels, this paled against 2021’s US$12.6 billion.

But Wall Street prefers mega-deal “whales” that boost trading revenue over schools of minnows; last year, Chinese companies only accounted for 3 per cent of total capital raised, with 2024 likely to follow suit.

‘It’s going to be a very ‘separating the wheat from the chaff’ year for small caps in China,” said Marc Iyeki, head of listings strategy at Green Impact Exchange, which promotes corporate sustainability.

“It’s getting harder to list overseas and harder to get debt and foreign direct investment needed to grow medium-sized companies.”

As US-China tensions have increased, Beijing initially steered its companies to Chinese exchanges, in part by streamlining listing requirements.

“Using some combination of carrot and stick, China has encouraged more domestic listings,” said Kennedy.

But IPOs thrive in bull markets. And even as US exchanges post record highs, China’s remain anaemic.

Chinese shares have declined by some US$7 trillion cumulatively over the past three years, including the Hang Seng’s 14 per cent slide last year – compared with a US$5.3 trillion gain for US equities – despite Beijing’s bid to reverse the slide.

This includes limits on short selling – a way to profit when share prices fall – and arm-twisting state-owned enterprises to buy stocks and prop up markets. This week, Chinese stocks partly rebounded on word that President Xi Jinping would be briefed on the rout.

Faced with a capital squeeze at home, and fear that more domestic IPOs could further depress prices, Beijing has grudgingly allowed Chinese companies to raise funds in New York – if they can.

Beijing exchange’s IPO volumes weather China’s stock market storm

Last year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission approved 72 New York or Hong Kong listings – it did not provide a breakdown – while the PwC auditing firm estimates that some 220 companies will list on China’s A-share market this year, down a third from 2022.

“I feel bad for the capital market operators in China,” Kevin Chen, an economist and adjunct professor at New York University, said. “They’ve tried very hard to avoid the US but realised it was such a disastrous strategy.”

This relative shift in the financial power balance has also seen the US up the ante.

In 2022, amid battered US-China relations and more shaky Chinese IPOs, a long-standing concern, Congress passed legislation requires any US-listed company to open its books and meet US financial standards over three years.

Initially Beijing resisted, viewing this as a violation of its sovereignty and an unwelcome disclosure of “state secrets” and Communist Party-company ties, analysts said. This dovetailed with China’s recent raids on several Western due diligence firms.

“We had an impasse between regulators and a pressure to negotiate and both sides wanted to leverage these negotiations,” said Hinote.

After the US threatened to delist more than 150 Chinese companies valued at over US$1 trillion, however, Beijing complied, allowing overseas auditing for the first time.

“It would have been basically catastrophic from a financial standpoint for these companies, but also for China’s image, that they were booted out of the US markets,” said Arthur Kroeber, a partner with Gavekal Research. “That was intolerable for them.”

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a US watchdog, soon reported evidence of false auditing reports and cheating on exams, leading to a US$7.9 million fine against three China-based firms and four individuals. “The days of China-based firms evading accountability are over,” Erica Williams, the board’s chair, declared.

Annoyed by US sanctions and the US dollar’s enduring international clout, Beijing has also encouraged European listings for Chinese firms, in part by creating a preferential arrangement with Switzerland.

Xi Jinping’s ‘financial superpower’ goal for China spurs scramble for resources

But Europe is increasingly wary of Beijing over its support for Russia’s Ukraine invasion and China’s EV push into European markets. And Swiss and broader European exchange liquidity have greatly lagged their US counterparts.

Moreover, many Chinese companies prefer to list abroad, especially New York, given the size, financial expertise, prestige and ability to invest, for example, in a Vietnamese factory without navigating Chinese restrictions on moving money abroad.

“From the Chinese government point of view, they didn’t want their existing companies to be kicked out,” Kroeber said. “But I don’t think they’re really enthusiastic about companies getting the idea that they have to invest in the US in the future.

“The problem is that, from the company’s standpoint, the US is the only market in the game.”

Priority companies related to defence, hi-tech and national security can tap state funding, but this often comes with more strings attached than foreign start-up financing. Beijing may also want to safeguard its capital as local debt problems mount, Hinote said.

In another sign that China is reluctantly accepting, at least temporarily, a larger role for foreign capital, Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca reached a deal in December to buy Grecell for some US$1.2 billion, the first-ever foreign takeover of a Chinese biotech company.

“The fact that it got a green light is a very positive development,” Chen of NYU said. “The regulators in China were just ‘no, no, no’. Now they realise they have to act.

“Companies are probably saying to the government, ‘if you give me US$1.2 billion, I’ll stay here. Otherwise, our shareholders would prefer to cash out’.”

Amid calls to “decouple” as both sides increasingly conflate national security and economic security, some believe financial logic will prevail.

Others see a growing risk that Washington, particularly Congress, will try to exploit China’s current economic weakness for strategic advantage. They anticipate closer scrutiny of companies’ Uygur labour practices as well as calls to restrict US equity funds from investing in dual civilian-military Chinese companies, particularly if former president Donald Trump is re-elected in November.

“Countries leverage their power, and one of the US powers is financial,” Iyeki said.

‘Mistrust remains high’: why half of US firms have no plans to expand in China

Few see much hope of US-China financial distrust easing any time soon. “How sad it is that earlier, Chinese companies were engaging with US investors, learning to play somewhat by international rules,” said James Shapiro, a consultant and former NYSE representative in Asia. “And now there are increasing divisions.”

Following the awkward Didi IPO reversal, and Beijing’s push to safeguard Chinese data, China last year started requiring approval to list abroad even as US auditing standards toughened.

This ultimately could ensure that fewer, more substantive Chinese companies list abroad, some say, improving global markets overall as companies increasingly compete under the same rules.

For Guo of Scage, securing US capital by June is central to his dreams. Following eight years on Wall Street, he decided to join three other co-founders in starting the company: “You have just one life, try something new.”

Scage produces “Dragon King” and “Galaxy II” electric-, hydrogen- and diesel-powered heavy-duty trucks for mining, seaports and general hauling, including exports to Egypt, Thailand and Britain. It also produces a driverless version that he said was safety-tested.

The company hopes to raise funds through a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a way to “reverse list” using a shell company that involves less oversight than traditional IPOs. SPACs have seen abuses, including those involving Chinese companies. Last week, US regulators said they would tighten their disclosure rules.

Guo maintained that Scage is financially solid and can make the SPAC structure work. The company had 2023 revenue of 120 million yuan (US$16.6 million) and aims to hit 500 million yuan this year, he added.

Starting and financing the company are steps one and two of 100 needed to build a century-old company, he said – assuming geopolitics cooperate.

“I hope the relationship between China and the US goes back to what it was before,” Guo said, before taking a deep breath. “I pray.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin vow deeper ties in phone call ahead of Lunar New Year

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3251447/chinese-president-xi-jinping-russias-vladimir-putin-vow-deeper-ties-phone-call-ahead-lunar-new-year?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged Lunar New Year greetings with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a telephone call on Thursday, with the two leaders vowing to deepen their close relationship.

The pair had also exchanged greetings on December 31, ahead of the new calendar year.

Trading new year’s greetings, reviewing the achievements of the past year and looking forward to new ones “has become a good tradition between us”, Xi told Putin during their call, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

“Looking back on the road travelled, we’ve weathered many storms together,” he said.

Xi spoke highly of the China-Russia relationship in 2023, citing booming trade, active exchanges, frequent visits and robust cooperation, and called for ever-closer strategic collaboration, CCTV reported.

Russia and China compare notes on ‘military use of artificial intelligence’

The Chinese leader also said both countries must defend their sovereignty, security and development interests and “resolutely oppose interference in their internal affairs by external forces”.

The momentum of maintaining robust supply chains must be strengthened, he added.

Both Xi and Putin said they were willing to promote multilateralism and agreed to continue in-depth exchanges on bilateral ties and strategic issues of common interest.

Putin promised that Russia would firmly adhere to the one-China principle, according to CCTV. He said Moscow “opposes any dangerous provocation against China on the issue of Taiwan, and believes that any attempts to impede the peaceful reunification of China will not succeed”.

“I look forward to continuing to maintain close contacts with President Xi Jinping and leading our two countries to new progress in cooperation in various fields,” the report quoted Putin as saying.

Xi and Putin have built a strong rapport since the Chinese leader came to power more than a decade ago. Xi has since visited Russia nine times, with Putin travelling to China 11 times, most recently in October. The two leaders also hold phone calls and exchange messages frequently.

Ties have grown closer in recent years as tensions with the US-led West worsen for both, especially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, less than three weeks after Xi and Putin declared a “no-limits” partnership.

Xi is also expected to hold talks over the phone with US President Joe Biden “relatively soon”, according to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

“Both of us agreed that … we would get them on the phone sooner rather than later,” Sullivan said following talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok late last month.

Quantum breakthrough: Chinese scientists settle 20-year physics debate with new simulator

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3251440/quantum-breakthrough-chinese-scientists-settle-20-year-physics-debate-new-simulator?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese scientists have used a powerful quantum simulator to visualise a phenomenon that could uncover the mechanisms behind high-temperature superconductors.

The breakthrough, which resolves a two-decade-old debate in physics, could be a milestone towards the practical use of superconductivity.

The team from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) observed and quantified a phenomenon called a “pairing pseudogap” within a model gas, an “energy gap” possessed by some materials with superfluid or superconductive properties that had previously not been visualised.

The pseudogap could help explain why some materials can lose electrical resistance at high temperatures, which could be key to mastering the practical use of superconductivity.

The feat was made possible after the team developed a quantum simulation system that relied on high-quality gas, along with a measurement system described to have “unprecedented” stability by a peer reviewer.

US team retracts superconductor study after China researchers challenge results

The team used high-quality unitary fermi gas made from lithium-dysprosium – a model with superfluid properties – to confirm the pairing pseudogap for the first time.

The platform developed by the USTC scientists holds promise for future quantum simulation research, the university said in a post on Chinese social media platform WeChat.

Their feat, which could also help to understand the mechanisms behind high-temperature superconducting, was outlined in a paper published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

A peer reviewer described the findings as “remarkable and exciting.”

A fermi gas is a model made up of many non-interacting fermions – particles including electrons, protons and neutrons. They can be used to make quantum simulation models of “many-body systems”, containing many interacting particles.

Unitary fermi gases make ideal simulation platforms, as the interactions between the fermi atoms is strong, and they exhibit high controllability, according to Micius Salon, a news platform hosted by USTC.

Ultracold fermi gases are able to exhibit superfluidity at very low temperatures, similar to materials that exhibit superconductivity.

When a superconducting material is cooled, its electrons are believed to group together in pairs. Breaking apart these pairs to cease superconducting takes energy.

The existence of two states of energy where a material is either superconducting or not means there is a gap between the ground state and excited state of the electrons called the energy gap, according to Micius Salon.

In conventional superconductors, the energy gap exists below the phase transition temperature, which is when a material transitions to superconducting.

However, in high-temperature superconductors, an energy gap is still observed above the transition temperature, which is called the “pseudogap”, Micius Salon said.

This pseudogap in high-temperature superconductors could not be explained by the accepted theory behind how conventional superconductors work, according to USTC.

Within high-temperature superconductors made of copper oxides, studying this gap is complicated due to the material properties so the researchers used ultracold fermi gases with superfluidity instead, according to the paper.

Scientists who study ultracold atoms have debated and sought to observe a pairing pseudogap for nearly two decades, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the country’s top research institute.

“The study established the existence of a pairing pseudogap for the first time” within ultracold fermi gas, and the feat is a “step forward in using quantum simulations to solve important physical problems”, the USTC said in their WeChat post on Thursday.

The team’s findings “lend support for the role of preformed pairing as precursor to superfluidity,” according to the paper.

Their feat also lends support to the theory that the pseudogap observed within high-temperature superconductors is also the result of electron pairing rather than quantum order phases, according to the USTC.

Understanding the mechanisms behind this would be “a huge theoretical breakthrough” which could allow us to uncover the “key to practical superconductivity”, Micius Salon said on Thursday.

The research team had been working on the project for years, and had two major issues to resolve to make their most recent feat possible, the USTC post said.

The first was the development of a uniformly dense, high quality fermi gas. It took the team years to develop a method to prepare the gas for their simulation platform.

The second challenge was developing a stabiliser for large magnetic fields, which allowed them to implement a novel microwave spectroscopy scheme with high magnetic field stability, USTC said, referring to a technology that allowed them to analyse atoms.

Understanding why and how pseudogaps occur within high-temperature superconductors is important for furthering our understanding of the mechanisms behind how it works, according to CAS.

The team’s finding chimed with the coming Year of the dragon, CAS said, as it could be compared to the Chinese myth of “Carp Leaping Over a Dragon Gate”.

The illustration accompanying the paper’s release on USTC’s WeChat handle also alluded to the myth. It depicts two carps leaping together, each clasping a jade bead in its mouth, in a representation of the electron-pairing phenomenon.

China’s Xi Jinping hails progress in integrating Hong Kong and Macau in speech ahead of Lunar New Year

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3251445/chinas-xi-jinping-hails-progress-integrating-hong-kong-and-macau-speech-ahead-lunar-new-year?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing has succeeded in further supporting the integration of Hong Kong and Macau with the mainland over the past year, Chinese President Xi Jinping said ahead of Lunar New Year.

Xi made the remarks at a state Lunar New Year gathering in Beijing on Thursday morning, according to official news agency Xinhua.

The annual gathering was hosted by Premier Li Qiang and attended by many serving and retired senior officials and generals, as well as a number of prominent scholars.

As he did in previous years, Xi mentioned Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Taiwan, in his speech.

“We have actively supported the better integration of Hong Kong and Macau into the overall development of the country,” Xi said.

On Taiwan, he said Beijing had “strongly opposed separatist acts of Taiwan independence and interference by foreign forces, and resolutely defended the country’s sovereignty, security and development interests”.

William Lai Ching-te of Taiwan’s independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party was elected the island’s president last month, angering Beijing.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its territory, to be reunified with the mainland by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington opposes any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

In his speech, Xi described the international environment as “extraordinarily complicated”, but he praised China’s diplomacy in 2023, saying it had “brought certainty and positive energy to a world of change and chaos”.

Domestically, he said the task of reform, development and maintaining stability in 2023 was “difficult and heavy”.

Ex-Chinese defence minister’s absence from Lunar New Year list sparks questions

He said a “good political ecology” had been consolidated over the past year by deepening the struggle against corruption.

An earlier tally by the Post showed that China’s anti-corruption watchdog launched investigations into a record 45 senior officials last year, the most since Xi launched his anti-graft campaign in 2013.

Xi also said Beijing had “resolutely implemented” a shift in Covid-19 control measures and promoted “economic recovery and development”.

China lifted most of its Covid-19 restrictions in late 2022 and reopened its borders in early 2023. But its recovery lacked momentum as the economy was weighed down by a sluggish stock and property market and massive local debt.

Looking ahead to 2024, Xi said Beijing would “strengthen economic vitality, prevent and reduce risks, and enhance public expectations, so as to consolidate and strengthen the trend of economic recovery and improvement”.

Hong Kong police deploy non-ethnic Chinese personnel in undercover crackdown on illegal food delivery workers

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3251446/hong-kong-police-deploy-non-chinese-personnel-undercover-crackdown-illegal-food-delivery-workers?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong police have deployed non-ethnic Chinese undercover personnel to root out asylum seekers illegally working as food delivery couriers, as part of a wider crackdown that has led to the arrest of more than 60 suspects, the Post has learned.

Superintendent Franky Cheung Ting-fung of the force’s organised crime and triad bureau on Thursday said the joint operation with the Immigration Department, which ran from Saturday to Tuesday, was prompted by a surge in the number of non-ethnic Chinese illegal immigrants coming to Hong Kong since last August.

“[The bureau] earlier deployed undercover personnel to infiltrate non-ethnic Chinese communities, collecting intelligence on illegal entrances and illegal workers,” he said.

A source told the Post that police had deployed non-ethnic Chinese staff as part of the undercover operation.

23 foreigners arrested in Hong Kong over illegal food delivery work

The number of people caught crossing the border illegally reached 1,313 last year, 80 per cent of which were apprehended between August and December, according to police.

The 1,073 apprehended over the five-month period in 2023 represented a nine-fold increase from the year before.

Police said most of those previously apprehended had come from countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, adding that the suspects had initially applied for travel visas for mainland China before trying to reach Hong Kong by boat.

The recent crackdown led to the arrest of 69 suspects, aged 21 to 79, for offences that included conspiracy to defraud, taking paid or unpaid employment illegally, recruiting illegal labour and using false instruments.

About 42 of those arrested were connected to the food delivery industry.

Eighteen of the group were Hong Kong permanent residents, who allegedly used their identity cards to set up accounts with the food delivery platforms and offered them to asylum seekers for a fee.

Hong Kong authorities break up syndicate using illegal workers as cleaners

The suspects used social media and trading platforms to advertise the service, allowing clients to earn commissions by accepting food delivery orders on their behalf.

The accounts were on offer for up to HK$1,000 (US$127) per week, or 10 to 20 per cent of a worker’s income from commissions.

Those using the accounts could earn as much as HK$20,000 in commissions and bonuses each month.

Police said the operation had also exposed technical loopholes in food courier companies’ oversight systems, which the suspects had exploited.

A lack of two-step authentication systems on some platforms had allowed account holders to transfer login details to other parties, who could then sign in at the same time, the force said.

Facial verification checks also proved to be limited as the process only needed to be performed once before the account could be passed to another user.

The force added that some suspects had used software apps to create fake images of identity to trick verification systems.

Authorities during the operation also seized four electric bicycles used by some of the suspects.

Those charged with conspiracy to defraud and taking paid or unpaid employment illegally as part of the clampdown appeared at West Kowloon Court on Monday.

Police said further arrests were still possible.

2 food couriers arrested over accounts sold to illegal workers in Hong Kong

Director of Immigration Benson Kwok Joon-fung on Thursday said his department would clamp down on non-refoulement claimants working without approval as part of future operations.

Non-refoulement refers to an assurance that asylum seekers will not be sent to a country where they may be persecuted or tortured.

“Most of them usually take up low-skilled work like food delivery or even domestic work,” Kwok said. “We will continue to work on this aspect and conduct more operations on this.”

Immigration officers last year arrested 628 non-ethnic Chinese and 250 local employers as part of efforts to crack down on undocumented workers.

Additional reporting by Jess Ma

China stocks slide, US stocks glide – will reform work to stem the tide?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3251431/china-stocks-slide-us-stocks-glide-will-reform-work-stem-tide?utm_source=rss_feed

As economic trends drive stock markets in the US and China onto wildly divergent paths, analysts said China needs to address systemic issues and loosen capital controls to change course and become a financial superpower, a goal its leaders have put forth on multiple occasions.

US stocks are hitting record highs, with tech giants such as the “magnificent seven” continuing to stand out, but the bonanza has fuelled debate over the relationship between the markets and the real economy.

“Magnificent seven” refers to an informal grouping of US technology behemoths, used as a metric for the sector as well as the economy at large. The companies involved are Nvidia, Tesla, Meta Platforms, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet.

At US$13 trillion, their combined market capitalisation is nearly half of the United States’ US$27.4 trillion gross domestic product (GDP), and nearly 75 per cent of China’s US$17.5 trillion.

Riding the new wave of demand for artificial intelligence, cloud computing and upbeat expectations for the US economy, the seven stocks accounted for 45 per cent of the S&P 500’s SPX return in January, and a more striking 71 per cent when Tesla is excluded and shares are slashed, said Michael Hartnett, Bank of America’s chief market strategist, in a note last week.

In contrast, China’s stock market has been in free fall, with a loss of US$3 trillion in capitalisation over the past three years. Highly restrictive pandemic controls, regulatory tightening for property and big tech companies and a bumpy post-Covid recovery have dented confidence across the board.

Beijing has ramped up efforts to prevent a downturn in recent weeks after mainland stocks fell to a five-year low. But analysts said the measures could only lead to a temporary rebound, and a sustained rally must be backed by improving economic fundamentals.

The plunge in China’s stock market shows a systematic collapse of investor confidence, and the drastic fluctuations are different from those driven by small issues or unexpected events in the past, according to a report published by Ambound, an independent think tank.

“This time, the lack of confidence in the stock market is compounded by issues outside the capital market, broader economic and societal concerns,” Ambound said last week. “With China’s economy facing challenges, it may be difficult to rely on robust economic growth as in the past to drive a recovery in the stock market.”

China’s economy grew by 5.2 per cent year on year in 2023, beating the government’s official target, but Beijing has an uphill battle to achieve solid and sustained growth thanks to a property market crisis, employment worries and erratic business sentiment – all while it works to put the economy on a greener and more tech-driven path.

A heightened focus on national security and subsequent investigations of foreign companies have also sent chills up the spines of overseas investors. They have long voiced concerns that unpredictable policies have tarnished the allure of the Chinese market to outsiders.

President Xi Jinping has stressed the need for China to become a financial superpower, with a system distinct from Western models. Policy statements have emphasised a strong foundation and more substantial support for the real economy.

China economy: manufacturing, consumption to drive 2024 gains, Fidelity says

Beijing has been on high alert against weaknesses in its financial system, particularly as the all-front rivalry with the US intensifies and Washington expands its ambitions to limit China’s access to cutting-edge tech.

“China would do well to learn from the openness and transparency of US equity markets, including a high standard of corporate disclosures, climate concerns, and the presence of aspirational activist investors,” said Swarup Gupta, industry manager at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Financial development is critically important, said Zheng Yongnian, an adviser to Beijing’s policymakers.

“Finance should support technological transformation in enterprises, as evidenced by venture capital in the United States,” said Zheng, also president of the Institute for International Affairs Qianhai, a think tank based in Shenzhen.

“We cannot separate finance from the real economy. As excessive financialization, seen in the United States, has led to many negative effects, we must prevent similar situations from arising,” he said.

There’s no country that attaches more importance to letting the financial sector serve the real economy than China, said Tianchen Xu, senior China economist at the EIU, but its goal of building itself into a global financial powerhouse is being hindered by tight capital controls.

“Credit growth has outpaced nominal GDP growth for a long time, but the economy struggles to improve, suggesting there’s some resource misallocation. Therefore, the market – rather than window guidance – should be allowed to play a more prominent role.

“Keeping the door half closed makes it easy to manage capital flows, but as a result institutions and investors have little chance to participate in the global financial arena. That is why China already boasts many globally competitive enterprises in manufacturing and technology, but its financial sector struggles to gain worldwide recognition.”

As China’s markets crash, its consumers cower | China

https://www.economist.com/china/2024/02/06/can-consumers-rescue-chinas-economy

MOST EMERGING economies struggle to live within their means; China struggles to live up to them. Even in the best of times, the combined spending of its households, firms and government is not enough to buy all that it can produce, leaving a surplus that must be exported: the country has run a trade surplus for 34 of the past 40 years. And these are not the best of times. China is enduring its longest spell of deflation since the Asian crisis over a quarter-century ago. An epic stockmarket rout since late 2022 has seen investors lose $2trn.

Behind that panic lies a deeper fear among investors and officials, namely that China no longer has a reliable driver of growth. The property boom is over. Cash-strapped developers are afraid to build flats and households are afraid to buy them. The infrastructure mania has run out of road: indebted local governments lack the funds. Exporting goods to the rest of the world, which China relied on for decades to escape poverty, is getting harder as protectionism rises and Western countries become wary of relying on authoritarian states.

Much therefore rests on one remaining source of growth: boosting the spending of China’s 1.4bn people. “The Chinese market, with its vast space and growing depth, will play an important role in boosting aggregate global demand,” Li Qiang, China’s prime minister, told the World Economic Forum in Davos last month. A new IMF review of China’s prospects published on February 2nd contains 61 references to the word “consumption”.

The goal of raising consumption makes sense. China’s stingy consumers often prefer to save, not spend. Consumption accounts for 53% of GDP, compared with 72% for the world. On this measure China ranks 156th out of 168 countries. Its resulting lopsided contribution to the world economy is stark. It accounts for 32% of global investment and 18% of GDP, but only 13% of consumption, according to Michael Pettis, an economist. Even among emerging economies, China stands out: it consumed 7% less per person than Brazil in 2022, even though it produced about 40% more.

What are the prospects of rising consumption bailing China out? The good news is that 2023 showed some recovery as the end of pandemic-era restrictions allowed people to return to restaurants, shops and travel. As a result, consumption accounted for over 80% of growth, the biggest share since 1999. The bad news is that the prospects of a step change appear slight, based on the public mood, cross-country maths and China’s own history.

Start with the public mood. The turmoil in the property market has damaged the income, assets and morale of ordinary Chinese. Take Mr Chen, a construction worker from Jiangsu province. He has struggled at times to find work—and is not always paid when he does. He ploughed his savings into a flat for his children in a town near his village, where many properties cannot find buyers. “What’s frightening is not the past, but the future.” The mood is mirrored in forecasts: the IMF expects consumption growth to slow during 2024.

That means the most plausible lever is to make citizens feel more financially secure, so that they save less and splurge more. Expanding health care and pension provision further is key in the long run. And citizens like Mr Chen might feel relaxed about spending more if it were easier for them to settle in the cities in which they work. Under China’s hukou system, a household registry, Mr Chen is officially a resident of his home village. That makes it harder for him to access schools, hospitals or pensions in the cities where he earns a living.

Cai Fang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences thinks giving migrant workers urban hukou could raise their consumption by as much as 30%, although other studies report less dramatic results. A study by economists at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu found that rural migrants who obtain urban hukou spend about as much as native city-dwellers, but do so more conspicuously. The end of the housing bubble could also liberate consumers. The cost of saving for a down-payment and servicing a mortgage was 11% of city-dwellers’ disposable income in 2021, according to rough estimates by Goldman Sachs. That figure could fall to about 6% in a decade, it estimates.

Yet for now China’s approach to hukou reform is timid and piecemeal, any dividend from the housing pivot is years away, and there is little sign of comprehensive welfare-state reform. Consumption will probably increase somewhat as a share of GDP, as a large cohort of retiring workers keeps spending but stops producing. The associated demographic drag, however, is hardly positive for growth. For economically insecure citizens like Mr Chen, the equation points only one way. At 51 he is only nine years from the customary retirement age for blue-collar workers. But he must look after his parents as well as his youngest child. “It all depends on me. I don’t dare do the maths.” For China’s government the calculations are similarly daunting. ■

How Kishida’s disappearing Japanese premiership is a gift to China

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3251165/how-kishidas-disappearing-japanese-premiership-gift-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Not much has been going President Xi Jinping’s way so far this year. China’s economy stumbled out of the gate. Stocks have been plunging. Deflation is deepening. And Evergrande is trending as a search term again. But leave it to Japan to offer Xi a win.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s fast-disappearing premiership is a gift to Xi and a blow to US President Joe Biden. Kishida’s government ended last year with public support as low as 17 per cent. One poll found public disapproval for the cabinet at its highest since 1947.

Tokyo’s pundits have settled on the financing scandals enveloping Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as the culprit. This is nonsense. The problem is that Japan is in recession, or very near one, after more than two years of Kishida dithering on the economy.

In 2012, Kishida’s mentor, Shinzo Abe, led the LDP to power promising a reformist “Big Bang”; the idea was to remind China who’s boss in Asia. But Abe only managed a few small pops of positive change. They enriched investors betting on a surging Nikkei 225 Average, not households. Stocks are now at 34-year highs, as wages trail gains in inflation.

Unsurprisingly, Japanese voters are in a foul mood. New year, same old political complacency and indifference. The latest financial scandals have exacerbated the perception that Japan’s political system only serves itself.

In a healthier democracy, Kishida’s party would shunt him aside. But with opposition parties in disarray and no obvious LDP successor, Mr 17 Per Cent is safe for now. Yet Tokyo’s designs on getting back in the economic game in Asia are dwindling by the day – and playing right into Beijing’s hands.

Over the past 28 months, Kishida has arguably been Biden’s most important and trusted ally. Tokyo is the cornerstone of Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy to encircle an ascendant China. Any discussion of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue partnership between the United States, Japan, India and Australia casts Kishida as Biden’s essential Asian ally.

Here, let’s dispense with the blather about Abe’s supposed bromance with Donald Trump. For all the photo opportunities and golf outings, Trump gave Abe zero passes on trade tariffs. Trump enabled North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, in direct conflict with Japan’s security interests. He bragged that Abe had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize – something Abe did not deny – humiliating the LDP.

Kishida’s bond with Biden is on a more equal footing, aimed at everything from supporting Taiwan and Ukraine to curbing Beijing’s access to vital technology. Yet what is this partnership worth as Kishida recedes into irrelevance?

What Kishida’s party also forgot is that Beijing cares little about its military spending plans. It’s nice that the LDP is increasing Japan’s defence budget – by 16 per cent this year – just as Biden had hoped. Yet economic power trumps the size of Japanese naval vessels or number of fighter jets.

The muscle-building that really matters is gross domestic product, innovation and winning the tech unicorn war. Sadly, government after government in Tokyo misses this reality.

“To the extent that a vibrant, technologically advanced Japan plays a heavier role in the region via its companies, FDI [foreign direct investment], and assorted free-trade agreements, an improved balance of economic power may limit what China can do and increase the possibility of Beijing returning to something closer to its past stance of a ‘peaceful rise’,” Richard Katz writes in his new book The Contest for Japan’s Economic Future. “So far, Japan’s economic travails have reduced its influence in Asia, and hence its ability to act as a counterweight to China.”

Consider this window closed. Kishida has virtually zero political capital to prod change-averse lawmakers to rekindle entrepreneurship and productivity, slash bureaucracy, catalyse a start-up boom, empower women or reposition Tokyo as an Asian financial centre with which to be reckoned.

Let’s not confuse pumped-up stock markets with real economic health

The price for Japan’s slow-walking upgrades these 11-plus years is rising as China speeds up Asia’s economic clock. Sure, Xi’s missteps over the past few years have hurt China, from the draconian Covid-19 lockdowns and tech crackdowns to the glacial pace with which it tackled its property crisis.

But the LDP’s failure to increase competitiveness or welcome disruption is malpractice of the first order. The longer Tokyo takes to reanimate its economy, the greater the advantage to Xi’s China. And the greater the disappointment for Asian governments seeking growth engines as China sputters. From South Korea to Indonesia, the spectre of Japan dragging on regional growth will dim economic prospects.

As Shanghai stocks crater and a default-plagued property market makes global headlines, China is turning inward. Europe is stumbling in other ways as Germany underperforms. Though the US is holding its own, can we really expect the globe’s biggest economy to continue beating the odds?

Ahead of November’s US presidential election, Biden will seek to highlight how his White House has taken on China. They include cutting Beijing off from semiconductor technologies and other goods vital to satellites, weapons systems and artificial intelligence.

A bigger win, arguably, is how Biden has worked to restore ties with Asian economies that had a rough experience during Trump’s tenure. Along with Japan, they include South Korea, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Yet, as Biden seeks to strengthen efforts to limit China’s influence in East Asia, Kishida is becoming less of a functioning partner. Unfortunate news for Washington, but some of the best Beijing has had in a long while.

[World] Chinese fury as Messi plays in Japan, days after missing match in Hong Kong

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-68236902?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Hong Kong police arrest 1 more suspect in connection with death of mainland Chinese student

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3251412/hong-kong-police-arrest-1-more-suspect-connection-death-mainland-chinese-student?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong police have arrested a man at the city’s airport in connection with the death of a mainland Chinese student whose body was discovered in a Fanling village last December.

The 31-year-old Hongkonger was detained on arrival at the airport on Wednesday, bringing the number of suspects arrested over the case to five.

As of Thursday afternoon, the suspect was still being held on suspicion of preventing the lawful burial of a body.

At the centre of the case was the death of 22-year-old mainland student Xu Wenjun, who was studying for a master’s degree in the city.

Police earlier charged security guard Kwan Wing-yin, 51, and unemployed Cheng See-chung, with manslaughter and preventing the lawful burial of Xu’s body with the help of two unidentified men.

2 Hongkongers remanded in custody in mainland Chinese student manslaughter case

Cheng Ka-fu, a 20-year-old student of LiPACE, a community education arm of Hong Kong Metropolitan University, was also slapped with the same charge of preventing the lawful burial of the body.

Police subsequently arrested another 25-year -old man at West Kowloon station on suspicion of being one of the two unknown men who aided in the unlawful disposal of Xu’s body.

Malaysia’s Unesco plan for Chinese villages triggers fury among Malay-Muslim groups

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3251417/malaysias-unesco-plan-chinese-villages-triggers-fury-among-malay-muslim-groups?utm_source=rss_feed

A bid to secure World Heritage Status for a clutch of Chinese villages in Selangor does not challenge the special position of Malaysia’s Malay majority, a minister said on Thursday, as opposition from Muslim lobby groups mounts against the proposal.

In recent years, there have been increasingly frequent and bitter rows over culture and heritage in Malaysia, in step with the poll gains of Islamist parties, who claim to protect the economic and political interests of the multi-ethnic country’s Malay-Muslim majority.

The Malays – who make up nearly 60 per cent of Malaysia’s 33 million population – have long enjoyed special privileges as Bumiputra, which loosely translates as “sons of the soil”, receiving perks including university quotas, housing discounts and government-sanctioned investment funds.

The central government has said it will work with Selangor state authorities to begin the process of nominating several Chinese “new villages” for the Unesco accolade to preserve their “unique” heritage and promote Malaysian Chinese history and culture through tourism.

The “new villages” were a post-World War II British construct aimed at containing a communist insurgency.

As Malaysia halves Najib’s sentence, watchdog warns of mass street protests

But the move to earn Unesco recognition triggered swift resistance, with some Muslim academics and Islamist parties describing it as an attempt to grant native status to non-Malays, which must be opposed.

Local Government Minister Nga Kor Ming defended the Unesco plan, saying in a statement on Thursday that it was not a “zero-sum game” to elevate the status of one race over the other.

“I welcome suggestions from various parties to nominate Malay villages or any potential historical location as a Unesco heritage site,” Nga said.

Nga added that it was “illogical and untrue” to claim that he or the government were challenging the rights of the Malays and Bumiputra.

Others disagree, saying Malays will lose out as the history of the peninsula is reshaped.

Malaysian boycotters hail win as FamilyMart says it does ‘not deal with Israel’

“In the long term, this means it will change history. This means flipping the narrative of Malaysia,” said Ahmad Murad Merican, a professor of Islamic thought and civilisation at the International Islamic University of Malaysia in a Wednesday interview with online broadcaster TV Pertiwi.

Ahmad Murad argued that the proposal would pave the way for equal recognition of non-Malay rights over land ownership and their separate education system, which he said is a direct challenge to the Malay identity and privilege as the original landowners.

Malay nationalist party Perikatan Nasional, which is in opposition, also questioned the rush for Unesco status for the Chinese villages when such a plan has not been extended to the Malay enclave of Kampung Baru in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Kampung Baru is a long-running sore issue among Malays who have questioned successive governments over the lack of recognition for the city’s last surviving bastion of Malay culture next to the capital’s central business district, coveted by property firms.

On Wednesday, a leader from the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) claimed the true motive behind the Selangor Unesco plan was racial “chauvinism” – a term regularly deployed by Malay nationalists against the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which is dominated by the ethnic Chinese. DAP is a component party of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan coalition.

“The Malays and Bumiputra as the majority and original inhabitants have been accommodating in accepting outsiders,” PAS central committee member Ahmad Amzad Hashim was quoted as saying by party mouthpiece HarakahDaily.

“But in the end, we have progressively been pushed [around], this is not unity.”

An online petition against the proposal gained over 14,000 signatures as of Thursday afternoon, a day after it was launched.

The petition, filed by pro-Malay group Suara Anak Watan, described the government’s plan as “ethnocide” and urged Malaysians to help hit the target of 1 million signatures as a show of solidarity in defending the country’s “original identity”.

The opposition has routinely targeted the influential DAP to denigrate Anwar’s efforts to build more support among Malays, claiming that his unity government was under the thumb of the DAP, which is the largest party in government with 40 seats in parliament.

The party has not commented on the Unesco issue.

Now Malaysia has a new king, will politics finally take a back seat?

Selangor Chief Minister Amirudin Shari, from Anwar’s People’s Justice Party (PKR), spoke on Wednesday about the opposition against the proposed Unesco nomination, saying it was “not healthy” to stir controversy for quick political gains.

Chinese new villages were created in the peninsula by the British after World War II to round up ethnic Chinese who were scattered in the countryside to contain a communist insurgency led by the Communist Party of Malaya (PKM).

Accounts describe the new villages as internment camps that strictly monitored the movement and activities of the ethnic Chinese to minimise their exposure to the PKM – once a key ally of the British during the Japanese occupation of Malaya.

The British launched a bloody campaign to stamp out the communists, declaring martial law in 1948. The emergency declaration extended into the Second Malayan Emergency that ran from 1968 to 1989, when a peace deal was brokered allowing PKM leaders safe passage to live in exile, some of whom chose to reside in Thailand.

Chin Peng, who headed the PKM over the entire period, died of cancer in a Bangkok hospital in 2013 at the age of 88.

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China woman slapped by father-in-law for asking to visit parents during Lunar New Year, told she is just ‘spilled water’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3250380/china-woman-slapped-father-law-asking-visit-parents-during-lunar-new-year-told-she-just-spilled?utm_source=rss_feed

The shocking story of a woman who was slapped by her father-in-law for suggesting a visit to her parents during Lunar New Year has gone viral on mainland social media.

The woman, surnamed Zhou, who is a native of the southwestern Guizhou province and married a man from Anhui province in eastern China, was stunned by the violent reaction from her father-in-law.

His behaviour backfired when Zhou and her husband drove 1,600km to her parents’ home, and later decided to move there, Hongguan News reported.

Zhou wanted to visit her parents because in three years of married life she had only seen them once.

Aware that Chinese culture expected women to consider their husband’s families first, she nevertheless felt a lack of respect towards her family.

“I want to visit my family at Lunar New Year,” said Zhou.

“A married daughter is like spilled water. Stop always thinking about visiting your family,” her father-in-law told her.

Zhou was appalled by his abusive answer, and angrily told him she would forever be the daughter of her own parents.

“Nobody can stop me from going back to them this year,” Zhou said.

That was when he slapped his daughter-in-law’s face. Zhou was so shocked she burst into tears. She said it was her first time in her life she had ever been hit and it made her head throb.

Zhou’s husband tried to defend his father by saying he had never slapped a woman before and only did it because he was emotional and his blood pressure was high.

She was not convinced, and after discussing it with her husband they decided to visit her family on January 28.

Zhou said her husband supported her and knew how much she cared about his family because she often kept them company and spent a lot of money on them.

“They take everything for granted,” Zhou said.

Her husband understood her despair, so together they made the decision to move back to Zhou’s family, selling their flat and buying one in her hometown.

At the time of writing, the video clip had attracted 43,000 comments on Douyin. But her story has divided opinion on mainland social media.

“What an ancient father-in-law. Doesn’t he know it’s 2024?” one online observer said.

“How would the father-in-law feel if his daughter did not visit him?” another person wrote.

The opposite view was also taken by a number of contributors.

“He is doing a good job. Zhou must follow the long-lasting custom,” a third said.

“Her in-law family is her family, not her parents’,” another person said.

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Chinese scientists build a powerful Stirling engine-based microwave weapon that can fire from a moving truck

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3251381/chinese-scientists-build-powerful-stirling-engine-based-microwave-weapon-can-fire-moving-truck?utm_source=rss_feed

A research team in China has developed a high-power microwave (HPM) weapon driven by four compact and efficient Stirling engines.

These engines, which efficiently convert thermal energy into mechanical energy, working together as a reverse heat pump and can help a superconducting coil generate a magnetic field with a strength of up to four tesla.

This is then harnessed to drive high-frequency electromagnetic waves that are powerful enough to suppress drones, military aircraft and even satellites.

This is the world’s first openly reported HPM weapon based on Stirling engine technology. The intensity of its continuous, steady-state magnetic field reaches 68,000 times that of the Earth’s magnetic field, or close to half of the magnetic field strength that can be generated by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Europe.

The weapon system, which can easily fit into a truck, boasts a significant reduction in energy consumption for generating a strong magnetic field compared with existing technologies.

According to the project team’s preliminary tests, it consumes only one-fifth of the energy required by current methods and can operate continuously for four hours without attenuation.

Its operation also remains unaffected by severe vibrations, even when the truck is moving at high speeds on the highway, making it much more difficult for enemies to locate.

The weapon was developed by the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology in Xian and the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Electrical Engineering in Beijing.

Currently, HPM weapons driven by strong magnetic fields “suffer from the drawbacks of huge energy consumption and large size,” the project team, led by electronic engineering scientist Xu Ce, wrote in a paper published last month in the Chinese academic journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams.

The development of low-energy, compact superconducting magnet systems will play an important role in the large-scale production and use of such weapons, added Xu and his collaborators.

The Stirling engine plays a key role in this weapon system. It can function as a refrigerator, rapidly moving heat away from one location.

Because the engine operates according to the principle of gas expansion due to heat, it requires very few moving parts and can be made very small, with some models even being used in satellites and missiles.

However, the Stirling engine has a drawback: its cooling limit can only reach 40 degrees above absolute zero (minus 273.15 Celsius or minus 459.67 Fahrenheit), but low-temperature superconductors used to generate strong magnetic fields must operate within a range of four degrees above absolute zero.

Superconducting magnets use powerful electrical currents flowing through zero-resistance coils to generate magnetic fields. If the magnetic field is not strong enough, the quality of the electron beam produced by the microwave weapon will be poor, and it will not be able to travel far.

Chinese scientists unveil design for new electronic warfare weapon to the world

To address this issue, Xu’s team used the latest superconducting tape to make the coils. This second-generation, high-temperature superconducting material, known as REBCO, can achieve zero resistance between 40 and 50 degrees above absolute zero. This tape, produced by Shanghai Superconductor Technology, is the highest-performing and lowest-cost product worldwide.

When Xu’s team combined this superconducting material with the Stirling engine, they achieved a temperature of 48 degrees above absolute zero and generated a magnetic field exceeding four tesla. At the same time, “the overall energy consumption was reduced by 80 per cent compared to traditional technology,” they wrote in the paper.

The breakthrough achieved by the Chinese scientists is partly due to sanctions initiated by former US president Donald Trump.

Users of the second-generation high-temperature superconductors in China had been heavily reliant on foreign imports. In 2017, China’s annual production capability of this tape was only a few dozen kilometres, and the quality of the Chinese materials paled in comparison to that of the West, especially the United States.

In an attempt to hinder China’s hi-tech progress, the US government issued a ban in 2018, stopping Western companies from exporting REBCO and other cutting-edge superconducting materials to China.

This ban spurred a surge in demand for Chinese suppliers, including Shanghai Superconductor. In less than two years, Shanghai Superconductor alone surpassed an annual production capacity of 400km of tape. With increased revenue, the business ramped up investment in research and development, and shattered world records in product performance.

‘World first’: Chinese scientists create high-power microwave weapon for drones

These superconducting materials have now found their way into many scientific research facilities or infrastructures across China, such as large-scale superconducting transmission lines, high-speed railways and devices capable of generating the most powerful magnetic fields on the planet. Remarkably, even some national laboratories and commercial fusion companies in the US have forsaken domestic suppliers in favour of China’s new superconducting wire.

Xu’s team did not disclose in the paper when this new technology would be ready for the battlefield. They said that during testing, certain issues requiring further refinement came to light, including refrigeration power falling short of initial design goals and a notable dip in system stability beyond four hours of continuous operation.

“Although it meets the basic requirements, there’s still room for enhancement in the overall system, and further miniaturisation is attainable within the current structure,” they wrote.

China has recently made waves in Stirling engine technology, developing the world’s most potent and efficient low-noise Stirling generator for use in submarines or space weapons.

Shanghai Superconductor aims to significantly boost its production capacity to 2,000km per year by the end of 2024 and further drive down the price of superconducting tape.

These emerging technologies and industrial capabilities hold the potential not only to elevate the performance of China’s electronic warfare weapons but also to expedite the construction of pivotal future infrastructure such as high-speed maglev trains, rail guns, fusion reactors, quantum computers and a planned collider four times the size of the LHC.

China’s top legislative body to discuss ‘appointments and dismissals’ amid military purge

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3251425/chinas-top-legislative-body-discuss-appointments-and-dismissals-amid-military-purge?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top legislative body will gather later this month to discuss “appointments and dismissals” amid an ongoing purge that has snared several senior military figures.

The National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee will meet on February 26 and 27 to review the agenda and work reports for the annual meeting of the full legislature a week later.

Over the past few months, meetings of the standing committee have been followed by announcements that a number of senior officials have been dismissed.

“The suggested agenda for the meeting includes … a National People’s Congress Standing Committee eligibility review committee report on the qualifications of certain delegates, and related proposals on appointments and dismissals,” the NPC said.

The standing committee’s last meeting in December announced that nine generals – including senior members of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force – had been removed as members of the legislature.

Ex-Chinese defence minister’s absence from Lunar New Year list sparks questions

These included the former head of the rocket force, Li Yuchao, and his deputy, Zhang Zhenzhong, who had been removed from their command positions earlier in the year. The South China Morning Post has previously reported that they are under investigation for possible corruption.

Another meeting in October announced that former defence minister Li Shangfu had been dismissed and stripped of his rank as state councillor after just months in the post.

The same meeting confirmed that Qin Gang, whose dismissal as foreign minister had been announced three months previously, had also lost his position as a state councillor, the highest cabinet rank.

Li and Qin are still on the list of the 3,000 or so NPC delegates and their seats on the legislature could now be under review. The pair also remain members of the 300-strong Central Committee, the party’s ruling body.

The meeting may also be an opportunity for the new Defence Minister Dong Jun to be promoted to state councillor rank and given a seat on the Central Military Commission – positions held by all his predecessors.

There has not been a shake-up of high-ranking figures on this scale for decades. Although meetings of the NPC Standing Committee might have provided a rare opportunity to shed some light on this opaque process, so far Beijing has yet to provide reasons for the dismissals.

The personnel changes were intertwined with last year’s sweeping anti-corruption crackdown, which saw a record 45 senior officials being placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s top watchdog, according to a tally by the Post.

Leading scientist crucial to China’s space efforts to be expelled from top body

President Xi Jinping indicated the wider battle against corruption would not let up last month, telling a meeting of the commission that it must show “no mercy” in tackling the “severe and complex” problem.

The NPC standing committee’s agenda also included amendments to the law on state secrets that expand the scope of information regulated by the law while adding new rules on people involved with state secrets.

China lashes out at ‘chaos and disorder’ behind Fukushima radioactive waste water leak

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3251395/china-lashes-chaos-and-disorder-behind-fukushima-radioactive-waste-water-leak?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s embassy in Japan has lashed out over Wednesday’s leak of radioactive waste water from the tsunami-battered Fukushima nuclear power plant, rebuking its operator the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) and the Japanese government.

“Japan’s repeated accidents in the process of treating Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water have fully exposed the chaos and disorder of Tepco’s internal management,” an embassy spokesman said on Thursday.

“The Japanese government’s supervision measures are lacking and ineffective, which once again proves that the nuclear-contaminated water treatment equipment lacks long-term reliability.”

The spokesman added that the incident “further highlights the need for the international community to engage in supervision”.

About 5,500 litres of water is estimated to have leaked from a caesium absorption tower – a section of the plant used for treating contaminated water – on Wednesday morning after a valve was left open during cleaning work.

‘Clickbait’: Japan slams UK tabloid report linking dead fish to Fukushima water

According to Tepco, the leaked water is a mix of contaminated water from the plant’s absorption system and filtered water used for cleaning. It is estimated to contain around 0.022 Terabecquerels (TBq) of radioactive substances.

Tepco said there was no risk to the public and the surrounding environment was unaffected by the leak, which was noticed by a contractor shortly before 9am local time and stopped 23 minutes later.

The utility group said that while there might be “minor contamination” to soil around the absorption tower, there was “no significant fluctuation in radiation measurements recorded at the site”.

The incident was reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Japan’s nuclear regulator, which is conducting an on-site investigation into the incident, it said.

China and Japan have clashed bitterly over Tokyo’s decision to release 1.34 million tonnes of treated waste water over 30 years into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima plant, which was wrecked by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

Japan says the discharge – which it has continually maintained is diluted and harmless – is a necessary part of the plant’s decommissioning, with storage space for the treated water running out.

The IAEA backs the release, saying it will have a “negligible effect” on the environment, and is monitoring the discharged water along with Tepco.

Beijing has been one of the fiercest critics of the operation, questioning the scientific soundness and transparency of Tepco’s treatment process and accusing Japan of treating the ocean like a “sewer”.

The row deepened into a full-blown geopolitical dispute, with China eventually banning all seafood imports from Japan last August.

China bans Japanese seafood over Fukushima nuclear waste water release

The embassy spokesman said that China would continue to pay close attention to the impact of the incident, adding that Beijing hopes Japan “will disclose relevant information in a timely manner”.

“The discharge of the Fukushima nuclear contaminated water into the sea is related to the health of all mankind, the global marine environment and international public interests,” he said.

The spokesman reiterated earlier calls from Beijing for Tokyo to “face up to the concerns of its neighbouring countries and the international community”.

Houthi Red Sea crisis serves China’s main goal: undermining the US

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3251355/houthi-red-sea-crisis-serves-chinas-main-goal-undermining-us?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese policy in the Middle East is shaped by two factors: China’s threat perceptions and its strategic calculus regarding its great-power competition with the United States. And when it comes to dealing with the US, China’s approach comes down to three “noes”: no cooperation, no support and no confrontation. This credo underlies China’s decision not to push back against the Iran-backed Houthis as they carry out drone and missile attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.

The Red Sea attacks – a response to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza – have not directly threatened Chinese ships, and the Houthis insist this will not change. Neither Chinese nor Russian vessels will be targeted, a senior Houthi official declared last month, as long as they are not connected with Israel. But the attacks will still affect China’s economic interests, and not only because of the need to avoid links with Israel. COSCO, China’s largest shipping conglomerate, has already been forced to suspend all shipping to Israel, owing to security concerns.

The identification of ships or their flag countries is not always straightforward, and shipping that affects China’s interests can still be targeted. But avoiding the area is costly. The Red Sea is one of the most sensitive choke points for world trade. If Chinese ships heading to Europe must circle around the Cape of Good Hope, rather than following the traditional route through the Suez Canal, a 26-day journey grows to 36 days and adds significantly to costs.

Longer shipping routes could also raise import prices, potentially fuelling inflation in China. If oil prices are affected, China’s economy – already in the doldrums – will come under even more pressure. More broadly, continued shipping disruptions will hamper China’s efforts to boost its economy by strengthening external trade.

So whether they target Chinese vessels directly or not, Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping could undermine China’s economic recovery. And things could get much worse: if Iran deepens its involvement in the conflict between the Houthis and the US-led coalition that is launching strikes against them, the Strait of Hormuz could be affected, threatening China’s energy supplies.

Yet, for now, China does not seem to be treating the threat posed by the Houthis as either immediate or acute. Yes, Chinese officials have reportedly urged their Iranian counterparts to pressure the Houthis to curb their attacks. But while China has some influence over Iran, it hardly controls Iranian policy. Neither is Iran fully in control of the Houthis, despite being their main backer. Given this – and contrary to what the US apparently thinks – China’s ability to rein in the Houthis diplomatically is limited.

And China is unlikely to go much further. Since Chinese strategists tend to view developments in the Middle East through the lens of Sino-American relations, even regional instability might not appear all bad to China.

Among Chinese experts, there is no shortage of Schadenfreude watching the US being forced to back Israel at the cost of its strategic relationships with Muslim countries in the region. And China can only benefit from its great-power rival being sucked into a conflict in the Middle East at a time when it is already heavily invested in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

To be sure, Beijing does not appear to be plotting to exploit US distractedness, say, by making a move on Taiwan. But it does relish the decline of US credibility and leadership. The longer the US stands by Israel, the more opportunity China will have to consolidate its ties with other Middle Eastern countries and the more credible China’s alternative approach to regional security will appear.

Under no circumstances will China join the US-led coalition against the Houthis, not only because of the first “no” but also because this would upend its own delicate balancing act between Israel and the Arab world and between Sunni and Shia Muslims. The fact remains, however, that the Houthis’ activities in the Red Sea are costing China. So what are China’s options?

One possible response is to deploy naval escorts for cargo ships, as China has been doing in the Gulf of Aden since 2008. But the Gulf of Aden escorts – part of a counter-piracy effort – are deployed on the basis of a mandate from the United Nations: Security Council Resolution 1846. Without such a mandate, the Chinese have been reluctant to pursue similar actions in the Red Sea, though they have recently begun to do so.

Security firms, high seas arms caches: China’s reply to mounting maritime perils

But for China, the easiest and most politically convenient response to the current Middle East crisis lies elsewhere. The key is to blame the turmoil since Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel – the event that triggered the current conflict – on the failure of the US and Israel to achieve a two-state solution with the Palestinians and to treat such a deal as the precondition for any practical resolution to the ongoing crisis.

China well knows that reaching a two-state solution is highly unlikely to happen any time soon, not least because it would fundamentally change Israel’s national security outlook and that of the entire Middle East. But achieving a two-state solution is probably not the point; undermining the US is.

Outcry in China and Hong Kong after Lionel Messi returns from injury in time for Japan match

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/08/lionel-messi-injury-return-japan-anger-china-benching-unfit

Chinese state media, Hong Kong politicians and fans have cried foul after Lionel Messi played in a match in Japan, just days after he stayed on the bench in a highly anticipated match in Hong Kong.

Many in Hong Kong were dismayed on Sunday when the 36-year-old Argentinian player did not come on to the field during a much-hyped Inter Miami fixture to a sell-out crowd with fans demanding answers and a refund.

Miami head coach Gerardo “Tata” Martino said Messi was deemed unfit to play in Sunday’s match in the Hong Kong friendly.

Hong Kong’s government said in a statement on Sunday: “Regarding Messi not playing the match today, the government, as well as all football fans, are extremely disappointed about the organisers’ arrangement. The organisers owe all football fans an explanation.”

China’s state-controlled Global Times media organisation said Messi’s subsequent appearance on the field in Japan posed many questions about the differential treatment given to Hong Kong.

In an op-ed, the Times wrote: “The match in Hong Kong became the only one in Messi’s six pre-season friendly matches on this trip where he was absent. The situation … has magnified these doubts and suspicions on the integrity of Inter Miami and Messi himself.”

Some mainland fans travelled 12 hours from Xinjiang to Hong Kong to see Messi, the Global Times wrote, with the disappointment of the government and fans “entirely understandable. The impact of this incident has far exceeded the realm of sports.”

The saga has dominated Chinese social media, with related conversations taking up half of the top 10 trending topics on Weibo in recent days with hundreds of millions of daily engagements, and several of the top search terms, although many commenters were making light of the furore.

Just ahead of the Japan game on Wednesday, Messi apologised to his Chinese fans on Weibo, saying it was a real shame he was not able to play in Hong Kong due to an injury.

“Anyone who knows me knows that I always want to play … especially in these games where we travel so far and people are excited to see our games. Hopefully we can come back and play a game in Hong Kong,” he wrote in Chinese and Spanish.

The match in Hong Kong drew 40,000 fans, with some spectators paying nearly HK$5,000 ($640) a ticket.

According to the Global Times, the Consumer Council of Hong Kong said it had received 547 complaints related to Messi’s absence, involving a total amount of HK$3.64 million (US$465,466).

In Tokyo, entire blocks of seating at the Japan National Stadium remained unoccupied, with just 28,614 tickets sold.

Hong Kong’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau said in a statement that, like the fans, it was very disappointed that Messi could not play in Hong Kong due to injury.

“However three days later, Messi was able to play actively and freely in Japan … the government hopes the organisers and teams can provide reasonable explanations.”

Hong Kong lawmaker Kenneth Fok said the incident “sprinkled salt” on the wounds of Hong Kong fans, while senior government adviser Regina Ip wrote on X that “Hong Kong people hate Messi, Inter Miami and the black hand behind them, for the deliberate and calculate snub to Hong Kong.”

With Reuters

Who is Dilraba Dilmurat? top China actress is Xinjiang native with 80 million fans whose name means ‘beloved beauty’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3250281/who-dilraba-dilmurat-top-china-actress-xinjiang-native-80-million-fans-whose-name-means-beloved?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s most famous actress is Dilraba Dilmurat, a 31-year-old Xinjiang native who has more than 80 million followers on the social media platform Weibo.

Her talents are held in such high regard that she has even been complimented on her dancing by the country’s foreign ministry.

Born and raised in Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang in the Uygur autonomous region, Dilraba’s given name means beloved beauty in the Uygur language.

She learned dancing as a teenager and graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy.

The actress shot to fame in 2015 playing a protagonist with a dual personality in the television series Kela Lover, which earned her the prestigious China TV Golden Eagle Award for best actress.

Also admired for her exotic and distinctive facial features, Dilraba’s earnings from commercial endorsements are the highest for a women in China. She works with global brands such as LV, Valentino, Dior, Mikimoto and Hennessy.

In 2019, she endorsed 35 domestic and international brands, grossing 3.7 billion yuan (US$521 million), according to the media outlet sohu.com.

In August, after learning she had 80 million fans on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, the star penned a handwritten letter to thank her supporters.

“Hi, I am Pang Di (which means plump Dilraba in English, a nickname which refers to her voluptuous figure when she started her career a decade ago),” she said.

“I thank you and I send my energy to you. I wish I could do more. I don’t know your names. But I hope all the people reading this letter have smooth lives, keep the light in your eyes and be happy and safe always.”

A recent highlight for the star was receiving a special endorsement after filming an episode of the arts programme Flowers and the Youngsters in Croatia in November 2023, in which she performed a Uygur dance.

The video of her dancing was forwarded by China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Facebook, with the caption: “Dilraba, wearing Xinjiang clothing and dancing Xinjiang dance, is shining brightly.”

It was then relayed by several Chinese embassies to “spread the beauty of Chinese culture”.

On the star’s Weibo account, many of her posts have garnered at least 1 million likes.

A thread she released on January 1 with photos of her enjoying the New Year celebrations received 6.5 million likes.

The hashtag of why Dilraba is so admired has been among the most searched items on websites such as baidu.com and zhihu.com.

“Dilraba not only has a peerless appearance, but also has an adorable character. Off the screen, she is as cute as a young girl,” one of her fans said.

“Dilraba goes viral because of her gorgeous looks, excellent acting skills and kind personality. She is quite down-to-earth and treats her fans well,” said another.

“She wrote a letter to fans. She bought snacks, milk tea and bottled water for fans who had waited for her for hours in the summer. She is considerate and sincere. She is absolutely my goddess!” another admirer said.

Will foreign property buyers from China, Asia shun Australian market over latest fees surge?

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3251303/foreign-property-buyers-china-asia-will-shun-australian-market-over-latest-fees-surge?utm_source=rss_feed

Australia has raised foreign buyer fees for residential property again, this time tripling application costs for the purchase of second-hand homes and doubling fees for homes left vacant.

The Australian government passed the new rules on Wednesday to preserve the housing supply for local buyers and tenants.

Industry insiders say the latest round of fee hikes is expected to “scare” off more foreign buyers, particularly those from China who had previously dominated the Australian market, and prompt them to eye other housing markets with lower cost and entry barriers such as Dubai.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Housing Minister Julie Collins said the higher fees were essential to ensure foreign investment in residential property was in Australia’s national interest.

Australia’s housing market is one of the most inaccessible in the world due to high prices and shortage, especially in bigger cities such as Sydney.

Why confusion over Australia’s ‘golden visa’ is causing ‘widespread panic’

Despite rising interest rates, the tight supply of homes – partly driven by reduced construction – has continued to push up house prices in major Australian cities, while the number of rental homes fell to a new low in December at 20 per cent lower than the 10-year average.

The surge in foreign buyers in these markets added heat to the markets starting around 2014, and both the Australian federal and state governments have for almost a decade been introducing increased surcharges in stamp duties, investment and vacancy fees, as well as land taxes in a bid to cool the market.

The result was an obvious withdrawal of foreign buyers, particularly those from China, who had dominated the sector.

This round of fees would be no different, Walton Chu, founder of Sydney real estate agency Home789, said.

“This will scare them [foreign buyers] all off,” he said.

Australia pledges aid to East Timor in bid to boost diplomatic ties in region

There will always be some Chinese foreign interest in Australian property, but that appetite now is 20 per cent of its peak about seven to eight years ago, according to Chu.

Other non-Chinese buyers, including the recently more active buyers from India and Vietnam would also be turned off by the increased fees, Chu said.

Instead, many foreign buyers have been flocking to other markets with lower buying thresholds and fees, such as Dubai, he pointed out.

Another agent, The Agency’s Steven Chen who also deals with luxury buyers, said the higher fees were substantial and would factor prominently in buying decisions.

In this round of change, foreign investment fees – or application fees – for the purchase of established homes will triple. So for a purchase price of between A$1 million and A$2 million (US$653,000 and US$1.3 million), a foreign buyer would have to pay nearly A$85,000 (US$55,000) from just over A$28,000 previously.

The vacancy tax for a similarly priced home that has already been acquired but has not been occupied for more than half the year will rise to about A$56,000 from just over A$28,000.

These changes are on top of other surcharges that investors have to pay, including higher stamp duties and land taxes.

The fees for established homes in particular will not affect foreign buyers significantly, as they are generally prevented from buying homes that have been occupied. However, they would continue to steer foreign buyers towards buying new homes, which has the intended effect of increasing the housing supply, Canberra said.

But the move could also backfire, said selling agent Plus Agency’s Peter Li.

Many developers often build higher-density projects because they know they can sell a portion of the homes to foreign buyers, but without them, developers may reduce the number of units or density of the projects, Li said.

Russian hacker Aleksandr Ermakov linked to prominent 2022 Australia data breach

This will have the effect of reducing new units as well as house and land lots available to local buyers in the end, he added.

Markets like the Gold Coast, Brisbane and Melbourne, which had previously relied heavily on the Chinese and other foreign buyers, are likely to suffer further, Li said.

Australia’s measures are not dissimilar to other markets in the region. Last year, Singapore doubled stamp duties for foreign buyers of residential property to 60 per cent from 30 per cent.

The Spring Festival or Lunar New Year celebrations – which start this Saturday – usually bring hoards of “property shoppers” particularly from China to Australia, but in recent years, those shoppers are all but gone, Chu said.

Mexico overtakes China as the leading source of goods imported to US

https://apnews.com/article/china-goods-imports-trade-mexico-tariffs-trump-eaee6cec8bb3cadc1103ba60f986b76eFILE - A woman works in a shoe maquiladora or factory in Leon, Mexico, Feb. 7, 2023. For the first time in more than two decades, Mexico last year overtook China as America's top supplier of goods — a shift that reflects political tensions between Washington and Beijing and U.S. efforts to import from countries that are friendlier and closer to home. (AP Photo/Mario Armas, File)

2024-02-07T18:51:57Z

WASHINGTON (AP) — For the first time in more than two decades, Mexico last year surpassed China as the leading source of goods imported to the United States. The shift reflects the growing tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as U.S. efforts to import from countries that are friendlier and closer to home.

Figures released Wednesday by the U.S. Commerce Department show that the value of goods imported to the United States from Mexico rose nearly 5% from 2022 to 2023, to more than $475 billion. At the same time, the value of Chinese imports imports tumbled 20% to $427 billion.

The last time that Mexican goods imported to the United States exceeded the value of China’s imports was in 2002.

Economic relations between the United States and China have severely deteriorated in recent years as Beijing has fought aggressively on trade and made ominous military gestures in the Far East.

The Trump administration began imposing tariffs on Chinese imports in 2018, arguing that Beijing’s trade practices violated global trade rules. President Joe Biden retained those tariffs after taking office in 2021, making clear that antagonism toward China would be a rare area of common ground for Democrats and Republicans.

As an alternative to offshoring production to China, which U.S. corporations had long engaged in, the Biden administration has urged companies to seek suppliers in allied countries (“friend-shoring’’) or to return manufacturing to the United States (“reshoring’’). Supply-chain disruptions related to the COVID-19 pandemic also led U.S. companies to seek supplies closer to the United States (“near-shoring’’).

Mexico has been among the beneficiaries of the growing shift away from reliance on Chinese factories. But the picture is more complicated than it might seem. Some Chinese manufacturers have established factories in Mexico to exploit the benefits of the 3-year-old U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, which allows for duty-free trade in North America for many products.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said this week that the trade status gives Mexico new leverage, saying it would make it hard for the U.S. to close the two countries’ border to limit immigration, as suggested in negotiations on a border bill in the U.S. Senate.

“The negotiation is proposing closing the border,” he said. “Do you think Americans, or Mexicans, but especially the Americans, would approve that? The businesses wouldn’t take it, maybe one day, but not a week.”

Some industries — especially auto manufacturers — have set up plants on both sides of the border that depend on each for a steady supply of parts.

Derek Scissors, a China specialist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, noted that the biggest drops in Chinese imports were in computers and electronics and chemicals and pharmaceuticals — all politically sensitive categories.

“I don’t see the U.S. being comfortable with a rebound in those areas in 2024 and 2025,” Scissors said, predicting that the China-Mexico reversal on imports to the United States likely “is not a one-year blip.’'

Scissors suggested that the drop in U.S. reliance on Chinese goods partly reflects wariness of Beijing’s economic policies under President Xi Jinping. Xi’s draconian COVID-19 lockdowns brought significant swaths of the Chinese economy to a standstill in 2022, and his officials have raided foreign companies in apparent counterespionage investigations.

“I think it’s corporate America belatedly deciding Xi Jinping is unreliable,” he said.

Overall, the U.S. deficit in the trade of goods with the rest of the world — the gap between the value of what the United States sells and what it buys abroad — narrowed 10% last year to $1.06 trillion.

___

Associate Press writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.

South Korea’s Yoon defends wife over Dior handbag scandal, rejects China policy concerns in rare interview

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3251333/south-koreas-yoon-defends-wife-over-dior-handbag-scandal-rejects-china-policy-concerns-rare?utm_source=rss_feed

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has broken his silence on the controversy surrounding his wife’s acceptance of a luxury gift, stating that she acted out of kindness and fell victim to a “hidden camera sting”.

In a rare interview, the normally media-shy Yoon said first lady Kim Keon-hee was in effect a victim of politically motivated entrapment aimed at hurting the couple’s reputation ahead of crucial parliamentary elections set for April.

Former prime minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and others in the ruling People Power Party have suggested North Korea’s involvement, sparking criticism of a “red scare” tactic to cover up the scandal.

The episode came to light in November last year when a video shot in 2022 appeared on a leftist YouTube channel, showing a South Korea-born American pastor handing Kim a US$2,200 Dior bag at her company’s Seoul office.

The gift giver, Pastor Choi Jae-young, said he had decided to film the interaction to collect evidence of Kim’s supposed corruption after witnessing her talking on the phone to an unknown person to discuss personnel appointments to key government posts, such as the country’s financial watchdog, earlier in 2022.

The two are acquainted, with long-standing ties between their families. Choi is a pro-unification activist who has occasionally visited the North for humanitarian activities and proselytisation.

‘It’s riled up people’: South Korea’s Yoon faces heat over wife’s Dior bag saga

He used a hidden camera embedded in a watch to capture the footage, which also showed other visitors holding what appeared to be gifts and waiting for their turn to see the first lady.

The interview with Yoon was filmed on Sunday and aired on Wednesday night by the state-financed broadcaster KBS.

“After Pastor Choi repeatedly insisted on visiting her, she was unable to cold-heartedly reject him. That was somewhat a problem, if one can call it a problem, and it is a bit regrettable,” Yoon said, blinking rapidly.

Asked if he and Kim had fought over the handbag issue, Yoon replied with a laugh: “Not at all.”

The liberal opposition Democratic Party of Korea lambasted Yoon for “betraying” people’s expectations that he would apologise, accusing him of being “shameless” and “arrogant” in making “far-fetched” assertions to defend his wife.

A spokesman for the presidential office earlier told local media that gifts received by Yoon and his wife belonged to the state and were automatically put in storage, hence Kim was not breaching the law as she had not kept the bag.

Choi is under investigation for trespassing and obstruction, despite Kim having twice agreed to meet him. His messages to her requesting an audience included pictures of the gifts he had prepared, such as the handbag and some luxury cosmetics.

It remains unclear whether prosecutors will press charges against the first lady.

Kim was filmed accepting the bag a few months after Yoon, a former prosecutor general, took office in May 2022. At the time, the couple were still living in a private apartment in southern Seoul, where her office was located. They later moved into a new presidential residence in the affluent Hannamdong neighbourhood at the centre of the capital.

Critics and opposition lawmakers have called for an anti-corruption official to be appointed to oversee the activities of the president’s family. They also want to see the first lady isolated from potential bribe givers through the restoration of a presidential agency in charge of handling her schedules, which was abolished after Yoon took office.

But Yoon has expressed reservations about the effectiveness of such agencies.

Elsewhere in the KBS interview, South Korea’s president dismissed criticism that he was sacrificing his country’s ties with China in order to align Seoul more closely with the United States and Japan.

He said Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang had expressed Beijing’s commitment to upholding free trade and multilateralism when Yoon met them at Group of 20 summits last year and the year before.

“I don’t think our basic respective principles for the running of state affairs or external relations are different,” he said. “We don’t need to be overly concerned about the issue of South Korea-China relations.”

As North Korea labels South its ‘top enemy’, is Kim Jong-un preparing for war?

On North Korea, he said a summit with leader Kim Jong-un was a possibility, but only if it was guaranteed to produce results.

Yoon also said during the interview that South Korea could develop its own nuclear weapons “in a short period of time” if it so chose, but doing so was “unrealistic” as the country would incur unbearable international sanctions.

“If we develop nukes, we will receive various economic sanctions like North Korea does and our economy will be dealt a serious blow and therefore, that is unrealistic and we have to thoroughly abide by the NPT,” he said.

The NPT, or Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, an international arms limitation agreement aimed at preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology and promoting cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

China’s seed industry at least a generation behind as Western giants enter ‘Industry 4.0 Era’, must increase collaboration

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3251294/chinas-seed-industry-lags-behind-western-giants-enter-industry-40-era-must-increase-collaboration?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s seed industry is at least a generation behind the Western giants in terms of technology, with a government-backed agency calling for enhanced financial, infrastructural and talent support for domestic suppliers in a rare but candid assessment of the sector.

The China Seed Association, backed the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, last week also encouraged firms to expand international collaboration efforts.

“Overseas seed giants have entered the ‘Industry 4.0 Era’ utilising big data, artificial intelligence and gene editing, while Chinese seed suppliers are still in the transition stage to the ‘Industry 3.0 Era’ primarily focusing on molecular breeding,” the report said.

The call came amid Beijing’s growing push for self-reliance in the seed industry, which is billed as the agriculture version of semiconductors, but is also seen as a weak link in China’s overall food security drive.

As part of efforts to address the over-reliance on seed imports from major exporters like the United States, China’s Seed Law came into effect in March 2022, aimed at keeping germplasm resources “independent and controllable”.

China, though, still lags behind major seed giants such as the United States and Germany, which have formed complete industry chains spanning from seed cultivation to sales, and also drive the development of related industries such as biotechnology and food.

“Chinese seed companies are more focused on a single crop or related technology and services, with limited collaboration across upstream and downstream industries,” the report added.

Although China already has more than 7,600 seed companies, their presence remains relatively low both domestically and globally.

China sows the seeds for food security with comprehensive industry inspections

According to the report, out of China’s 360 leading seed companies, only 11 have established breeding bases or research and development (R&D) centres abroad, totalling no more than 30 centres.

China’s top 10 seed enterprises account for only 13.8 per cent of the domestic market share, which differs from global giants like Germany’s Bayer and the Corteva in the US, which control 67 per cent of the global market combined.

The association said China needs to expedite the resolution of issues in scientific innovation and overseas collaboration if it wants to achieve its goals of technological independence and control over seed sources within 10 years.

China’s seed companies are facing the dual dilemma of a lack of seeds and talent, as the country’s limited resources mostly reside in research institutes, while government incentives are tilted towards institutes which help to attract more breeding talent.

It also has a relatively inefficient seed import and export approval process due to the lack of distinction between commercial usage and breeding research purposes, which affects international research and sharing of China’s germplasm resources.

The association said China needs to increase its support for seed enterprises in terms of financing, equipment and talent, and to support the enhancement of foreign cooperation to introduce high-quality overseas germplasm resources and set up R&D bases overseas.

“We should also consider loosening restrictions on foreign investment in maize seed, enticing multinational seed companies to invest more in breeding technology and variety resources in the Chinese market, and adopting foreign patented technology and new varieties,” the association said.

Up to last year, the US held 80 per cent of the world’s core breeding patents, with China holding just 3.5 per, according to a study released by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in June.

China’s bio-seed companies achieved sales revenues of 77.7 billion yuan (US$11 billion) up to the end of 2022, which is roughly the same amount as the US$10.3 billion by Germany’s Bayer alone during the same period, according to the latest data cited by the study.

According to the European Commission in May, over the next five to 10 years, there would be more than 150 gene-editing products introduced globally, with Chinese products accounting for less than 16 per cent of the products launched in the US.

China inflation: consumer prices fall for fourth straight month in January, adding to deflation concerns

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3251324/china-inflation-consumer-prices-fall-fourth-straight-month-january-adding-deflation-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s consumer prices fell for the fourth month in January, adding to concerns that deflationary risks are becoming an increasing threat to the overall economic recovery.

The consumer price index (CPI) fell by 0.8 per cent year on year in January, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday, compared to a 0.3 per cent fall in December.

The reading was worse than the expected fall of 0.5 per cent polled by Chinese data provider Wind.

Meanwhile, China’s producer price index (PPI) – which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate – declined by 2.5 per cent year on year last month, compared to a fall of 2.7 per cent in December and marking the 16th straight month of decline. Wind had predicted a 2.5 per cent fall.

Unlike many parts of the world that have experienced inflation in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, China has seen growing risks of deflation.

Its weaker-than-expected economic recovery, lower food and energy prices, as well as a prolonged property downturn, have contributed to declining prices in China, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Food and energy prices have an estimated combined 43 per cent weighting in the CPI basket, which rose by only 0.2 per cent in 2023, compared with a 2 per cent increase in 2022.

However, price growth in the service sectors, which carry around a combined estimated 30 per cent weighting, have been more resilient.

China’s statistics bureau previously acknowledged declining prices in sectors including food and energy, attributing the fall to lower prices in international commodity markets and seasonal factors such as the weather, although it does not see the risk of deflation as imminent.

“Whether China’s current contraction in year-on-year CPI growth rate means that the economy is falling into deflation is a controversial issue,” said Peng Wansheng, chief economist at the China International Capital Corporation said on Tuesday, according to comments published by the China Chief Economist Forum, a Shanghai-based think tank.

But as structural economic challenges rise in areas such as high local government debt and the slowdown in overall growth worsens, there are increasing concerns that China might experience longer-term disinflation, a problem that Japan has struggled with after a bubble burst in stock and land prices in the beginning of the 1990s.

Liao Qun, a director of the China Chief Economist Forum, said China should not underestimate the impact of deflation risks, citing plunging prices in property and stock markets, as well as declining prices in consumer goods over the last year as a key concern.

“One must know that after years of rapid economic growth and massive monetary expansion, many consumers and companies in China accumulated a large amount of assets,” Liao also said on Tuesday, according to the Shanghai-based think tank.

“What determines how much they will consume or invest is not only the amount of income from these assets, but also the value of their total assets.

“Looking at the perspective of the domestic environment, the impact of deflation on economic growth should not be underestimated.”

More to follow …

Watching “The Shawshank Redemption” on stage in China | China

https://www.economist.com/china/2024/02/01/watching-the-shawshank-redemption-on-stage-in-china

IS HOPE A dangerous thing in China? Theatregoers in Beijing have been mulling that question, with two new stage adaptations exploring themes of injustice, freedom and renewal. “The Shawshank Redemption” (pictured) is set in mid-20th-century America, while “Les Misérables” takes place in 19th-century France. Both feature characters who are unjustly imprisoned and suffer under cruel jailers and corrupt systems.

The plays, performed in Mandarin, might seem a bit too on the nose for Chinese censors. After all, the Communist Party has been known to play the role of cruel jailer in real life. The party also disputes the notion that freedom and human rights are universal values.

“The Shawshank Redemption”, based on a novella by Stephen King, was made into an award-winning film in 1994. Though it was not shown in Chinese cinemas, it became hugely popular with locals who bought bootleg VHS or DVD copies. It also caught the attention of censors. In 2012 a blind human-rights lawyer called Chen Guangcheng pulled off a daring night-time escape from house arrest in the village of Dongshigu. (He ended up in America.) This gave rise to chatter about the “Dongshigu Redemption”—and led the government to block online searches for “Shawshank”.

In 2019 “Les Misérables”, which is based on a novel by Victor Hugo, got similar treatment. This came after pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong adopted as their anthem a tune from the musical version of the story. The song, “Do You Hear the People Sing?”, was subsequently censored.

Yet people involved in the Chinese stage productions of “Shawshank” and “Les Misérables” report no problems gaining approval. This is not all that surprising. Censors worry less about plays than films or online content, which can be shared widely. Another factor is the foreign settings of the works, which make their messages easier to dismiss by Chinese officials. The production of “Shawshank” even has a foreign cast (all of whom speak Mandarin).

But Chinese theatregoers are not being obtuse. “Of course you start to think China is a bit like the prison,” says an audience member at the Beijing premiere of “Shawshank”. One of its stars is Mark Rowswell, a Canadian who has enjoyed fame in China under the stage name Da Shan. He admits that the play veers into sensitive territory. “Sure, it’s about a corrupt system that makes you think you’re trapped and you’ll never get out,” he says. “But really, it’s mostly about hope. What’s wrong with that?” ■

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[World] North Koreans working in China 'exploited like slaves'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68226271?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

‘Eating tender grass’: Spanish influencer, 25, gets taste of China matchmaking culture with marriage proposal from man, 50, in Shanghai park

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3249050/eating-tender-grass-spanish-influencer-25-gets-taste-china-matchmaking-culture-marriage-proposal-man?utm_source=rss_feed

The experience of a 25-year-old Spanish influencer when she visited a famous matchmaking spot in China has sparked heated online debate both on the mainland and overseas.

The influencer, who is known by her Chinese name Kejia, moved to China in 2019 to work at a language school and quickly developed a deep interest in Chinese culture.

During a recent visit to Shanghai, Kejia recorded what happened when she went to a renowned matchmaking corner in Shanghai’s People’s Park.

She shared the video on her TikTok account, which at the time of writing, had amassed more than 128,000 international followers.

In the video, Kejia and her friends walk through the park with “resumes” written on A4 paper which outline personal information and potential matches.

This led many Chinese parents to approach them, eagerly introducing their children.

One “resume” described a woman “born in 1994, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Trade, stands 1.72 metres tall, earns an annual salary of 200,000 yuan (US$28,000), and has a passion for musical instruments, notably having learned guzheng for over a year and a half.”

She was seeking a partner “born between 1993 and 1995, who stands taller than 1.72 metres, has a decent appearance, holds at least a Bachelor’s degree, and either owns property in Shanghai or is willing to jointly purchase a flat.”

While Kejia initially viewed the event as playful, joking with onlookers that she was there to “find a husband”, she quickly realised that matchmaking is a serious business in China.

“Many parents introduced their sons to me, detailing their preferences, properties, and occupations,” Kejia told reporters from the Zhejiang Daily Press Group.

She likened her experience to being in a supermarket, where parents displayed their “products”, or children, to prospective “buyers”.

A 50-year-old man proposed to her on-site, telling her he had a two million yuan fortune (US$280,000) and asking if that fulfilled her criteria.

Astonished at this approach, Kejia said: “I’m 25 and he’s 50 something. He’s old enough to be my father.”

Her video quickly captured the attention of TikTok users and rapidly amassed more than 3.5 million views, 300,000 likes, and more than 3,100 comments in just one day.

One intrigued international observer said: “If I can’t find someone in the end, I might consider going to China to give it a try.”

“I’m going to go to the local park and make myself a poster. What else can I do?” Said another.

However, online observers on the mainland saw things differently.

One person said: “Why do I feel like these people aren’t seeking marriage but rather selling vegetables?”

The 50-year-old’s proposal faced a particular backlash on mainland social media.

One person referred to a common Chinese expression and said: “Why do old cows always want to eat tender grass?”

“With just two million yuan, he wants to ‘eat’ tender foreign grass who is young enough to be his daughter. That amount of money isn’t even enough to buy two flats,” said another critic.

China property defaults won’t stop banks lending to cash-strapped developers, says Goldman Sachs report

https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3251298/china-property-defaults-wont-stop-banks-lending-cash-strapped-developers-says-goldman-sachs-report?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s property downturn and recent slew of defaults are unlikely to rattle overseas creditors or deter domestic banks from channelling resources towards cash-strapped developers, according to Goldman Sachs.

The share of China’s high-yield property bonds in the Asian market has declined by over 40 per cent in the past three years to account for less than 6.5 per cent of the total market value, the US bank said in a said in a February 6 report. That number was 50 per cent at the end of 2020.

“Many of the losses have already been taken,” the report pointed out, noting that over US$130 billion worth of offshore high-yield bonds have been in default in the last three years. That is on top of 160 billion yuan (US$22.5 billion) of onshore bond defaults.

Moreover, the losses and defaults tied to the property crisis have not stopped Chinese lenders from supporting the country’s struggling developers. Bank lending to the sector, as measured by loans outstanding, expanded by 7.2 per cent at the end of 2023 compared to the end of 2021.

“This highlights policymakers’ focus on addressing the ‘flow’ credit issues, directing much of the credit easing towards financing for the completions of pre-sold but uncompleted homes,” wrote Kenneth Ho, a managing director at Goldman.

China’s larger banks have contributed to close to three quarters of new property loans, and bank lending to the developers is expected to grow 3.9 per cent year on year in 2024, the report added.

“The efforts to ensure continuing supply of bank credit to developers reinforce our view that restructuring efforts are likely to take many years, and that the China property sector will be on an ‘L-shaped’ path,” wrote Ho.

“We do not believe that improving credit supply to the property developers in and of itself will be sufficient to revive the sector … At some point, policymakers will need to address the problem of excess inventory in the real estate market, or managing the ‘stock’ problem.

“We believe this will require liquidating projects that are on developers’ balance sheets, many of which are located in lower-tier cities, and such steps are necessary to restructure and restore health in the property sector.”

Beijing has been calling on local governments and banks to relieve an industry-wide liquidity crunch and boost homebuyer sentiment in recent months, after new home prices in December recorded their sharpest decline in close to nine years according to official data.

The housing ministry launched a “project whitelist” mechanism last month, asking provincial governments to recommend to banks property projects that are deemed financially sound and could qualify for further loan support.

The whitelists, which shifted screening criteria away from the developers to focus on the financial health of individual projects, have so far led to over 17.9 billion yuan worth of bank loans being channelled towards over 83 residential property projects across the country, as reported by local media.

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Former Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghe’s absence from Lunar New Year greetings list raises questions over fate

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3251308/former-chinese-defence-minister-wei-fenghes-absence-lunar-new-year-greetings-list-raises-questions?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s former defence minister Wei Fenghe was missing from a list of retired senior officials who were sent Lunar New Year greetings by the country’s leadership, raising speculation about his fate following the abrupt removal of his successor last year.

Wei did not attend an official reception to mark National Day last year and was also missing from a list of around 100 figures who were sent greetings to mark the start of the Year of the Dragon – an annual courtesy usually paid to all retired officials of a comparable rank.

Wei’s predecessors as defence minister – Chang Wanquan, Liang Guanglie, Cao Gangchuan and Chi Haotian – were all included in the list published on Wednesday.

There have been no official announcements about Wei, a former commander of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, since he retired last year.

Wei’s successor as defence minister Li Shangfu was abruptly sacked and stripped of his rank as State Councillor with no explanation offered later in the year.

China removes 9 PLA generals from top legislature in sign of wider purge

A number of other senior military figures, including rocket force commanders, have also been removed from their positions.

The current Defence Minister Dong Jun, a former head of the navy, has yet to be named as a state councillor or given a place on the top military decision-making body, the Central Military Commission (CMC), as all previous defence ministers have been.

State councillor appointments are the responsibility of the legislature, the National People’s Congress, which will meet in March and a place on the CMC would have to be confirmed at the next plenary session of the Communist Party’s Central Committee at a date to be confirmed.

However, the situation has prompted speculation that President Xi Jinping’s overhaul of the top ranks of the PLA is still ongoing.

Wei held a number of senior posts relating to the PLA’s nuclear arsenal and became the first head of the rocket force when it was formed in 2015 as part of a major military overhaul.

His two successors as head of the force, Zhou Yaning and Li Yuchao, were both ousted from positions in the National People’s Congress in December along with seven other senior PLA officers, including two of their deputies and a head of the rocket force’s equipment development programme.

Leading scientist crucial to China’s space efforts to be expelled from top body

There was no reason given for their disqualification as NPC representatives, but such a move usually leads to further action as delegates enjoy immunity from being arrested or investigated for criminal charges.

The military has been one of the main targets of Xi’s far-reaching anti-corruption campaign. Two of the most prominent targets to have fallen were Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, both former vice chairmen of the CMC. Guo was jailed for life for bribery in 2016, while Xu died of cancer in 2015 while facing court martial.