• BASF to divest from two China joint ventures over allegations of Xinjiang human rights abuses
• EU’s plans for tougher China stance risk coming off the rails as splits emerge on multiple issues
• What’s the state of China’s US$3 trillion forex reserves war chest, and where is it invested?
• China opens up Hainan to more kinds of visa-free travel as it seeks to transform island into major free-trade port
• ‘Packing genius’: China kindergarten boy, 6, who deftly packs e-commerce products for family firm goes viral, earns online plaudits
• China’s middle class, key to Beijing’s economic recovery plan, put spending on hold over wealth, income concerns
• Thai haven draws Chinese tech bros, moms and stoners seeking freedom
• How the annual lion dance draws Chinese Americans back to D.C.’s Chinatown
• China plans to spend US$1 billion to revamp Tanzania-Zambia railway in race to control critical mineral trade routes
• An espionage case hurts Chinese relations with Australia | China
• Young women in China abandon traditional beauty standards to ‘imitate’ Western habits like wearing yoga pants, eating ‘white people’s food’
• More Japanese expats in US, China returning home amid rising costs of living
• China warns Philippines against ‘playing with fire’ as Manila boosts military presence near Taiwan
• China’s academic star sacked, Hong Kong’s Messi saga, ‘Harvard girl’ back in spotlight: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week
• Chinese telecoms giant Huawei raided in France by financial prosecutors
• China ‘Bo Bo Chicken’ dance craze sweeps nation with catchy tune sampled from street vendor cry, surpasses ‘subject three’ mania
• China’s ‘protectionism’ problem at local levels must be quelled, government adviser warns Beijing
• Australia hopes to ‘really elevate’ ties with Papua New Guinea amid China concerns, extends rugby diplomacy
• World needs China to take up diplomatic gauntlet in Middle East
• China spotlights drones at Saudi defence show to lure Middle Eastern buyers as conflicts in Gaza and Red Sea escalate
• China tech: five US venture capital firms invested over US$3 billion in mainland AI, semiconductors

BASF to divest from two China joint ventures over allegations of Xinjiang human rights abuses

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3251597/basf-divest-two-china-joint-ventures-over-allegations-xinjiang-human-rights-abuses?utm_source=rss_feed

German chemical giant BASF will divest from two joint ventures in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, following reports that its business partners were involved in human rights abuses.

“Recently published reports related to the joint-venture partner contain serious allegations that indicate activities inconsistent with BASF’s values. Consequently, BASF will accelerate the ongoing process to divest its shares,” read a statement posted on the company’s website on Friday afternoon.

The company said it had conducted its own “regular due diligence measures including internal and external audits” which had not uncovered “any evidence of human rights violations in the two joint ventures”.

Nonetheless, it has taken the decision under intense political scrutiny of its activities in the far-western Chinese region.

The divestment is “subject to negotiations and required approvals of the relevant authorities”, the company said, adding that its China business “remains otherwise unchanged, and the company is fully committed to its business activities and planned investments in the country”.

BASF had been subjected to a pressure campaign urging it to exit Xinjiang, following a joint investigation published last week in the German media outlets ZDF and Der Spiegel finding that its joint venture partner, Xinjiang Markor Chemical Industry, had accompanied Chinese government officials on visits to the homes of Uygur employees.

The visits were part of a state campaign that rights groups have criticised as ways of spying on ethnic Uygurs, who comprised 45 per cent of Xinjiang’s total population in 2021, according to local government statistics.

The Chinese government has been accused of committing “crimes against humanity” in Xinjiang by the United Nations, charges it has repeatedly denied.

China’s Xinjiang invites overseas media to political meetings for first time

The United States and some parliaments in Europe have accused China of committing genocide, a charge Beijing also denies.

After last week’s reports published, a group of 30 lawmakers sent a letter to the company asking it to leave the region immediately.

“The reports indicate the shocking degree to which your company appears to be implicated in gross abuses of the Uygur and other predominantly Turkic minorities in the region,” read the letter, which was subsequently signed by additional members of the European Parliament.

“As advocates for corporate responsibility, human rights, due diligence and respect for basic rights, we urge BASF to withdraw from Xinjiang.

“The credibility and integrity of your company are at stake, and we believe it is crucial for you to take swift and decisive action in addressing this matter,” it added.

China to more tightly control ethnic minority discussion to temper ‘risks’

“It is our hope that BASF will take this matter seriously and prioritise the well-being of those in Xinjiang who are suffering grievously under oppressive and discriminatory policies.”

The German company has been a prominent investor in China and Xinjiang in particular, where its presence has come in for close media and political scrutiny in recent years.

The recent reports were based on research by Adrian Zenz, a German anthropologist whose work has been widely cited by Western governments and media. Allegations of systemic detentions, incarcerations and forced labour among the minority Uygur and other ethnic Muslims in Xinjiang have mounted in recent years.

In 2022, the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act took effect, an American law Washington said would cut out goods made in the region under duress.

The European Union is now processing a forced-labour ban that would be geographically agnostic in its application, but which was written with Xinjiang in mind.

EU’s plans for tougher China stance risk coming off the rails as splits emerge on multiple issues

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3251590/eus-plans-tougher-china-stance-risk-coming-rails-splits-emerge-multiple-issues?utm_source=rss_feed

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has built an image over the past year as the continent’s toughest talker on China.

But just months before the end of her first term in office, a string of high-minded legislative moves and actions targeting Beijing have run into political reality as the wheels appear to be coming off its combative agenda.

Governments are already trying to head off a lurch to the far-right ahead of European Parliament elections, sparking a bonfire of green and social legislation, while also facing the possibility Donald Trump will return to power in the United States.

Bickering between European Union member states has also stepped up a notch, shaking the fragile unity on core issues such as Ukraine.

Meanwhile, splits are emerging on China, with France and Germany at odds on everything from solar energy and electric vehicles to trade deals and supply chains.

“There is no such thing as a Franco-German couple any more, it just doesn’t work … the division on China is typical of that,” said a French diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Last month the EU suspended a World Trade Organization dispute with Beijing over its alleged economic coercion of Lithuania. The Baltic state saw its exports to China collapse after it allowed a controversially named Taiwanese government office to open in Vilnius in late 2021.

The EU and China can’t agree on key issues. Is this ‘a recipe for a trade war’?

The EU represents its members at the WTO and von der Leyen’s self-described “geopolitical commission” was under pressure to sue China, despite lawyers’ warnings that unofficial boycotts do not fall neatly into WTO rules.

Officials have struggled since day one to get firms to give evidence on the record, amid fears they could face retribution, while China loosened the unofficial embargo and some Lithuanian exports flowed.

The EU decided to suspend the case at the end of last month when a second tranche of evidence was due to be submitted. It now has 12 months to resume it but observers question whether the WTO is cut out for dealing with such matters.

“China is opaque, it is impossible to prove government intervention,” said Yeo Han-koo, the former South Korean trade minister.

Yeo worked at the trade ministry during an unofficial Chinese boycott of South Korean goods and services following the deployment of a US anti-missile system in 2016. He said Seoul had considered bringing a WTO suit, but “it took place in a very opaque manner … it’s difficult to find hard evidence”.

In legislative terms, too, the EU agenda is in danger of running aground. Von der Leyen’s flagship de-risking project, unveiled last March, has been put on the back burner amid furious resistance from member states.

Key tenets of de-risking, plans to screen outbound investments and impose export controls kicked a hornets’ nest.

Some capitals were angered by the conflation of national and economic security, the perceived “power grab” by Brussels, and what one diplomat described as the “blind following” of US China policy.

The policy has been kicked into 2025, with insiders believing its best chance of succeeding may be based on Beijing’s own actions. “There will be plenty of wake-up calls on the road ahead,” one official said.

Tough corporate supply chain rules – that would force big businesses to conduct stringent social, labour and environmental audits of their suppliers – are also at risk of collapsing.

A final vote set for Friday was postponed at the last minute amid fears it would not pass. Germany said it would abstain under pressure from the business lobby, with Finland and others reported to be following Berlin.

Businesses fear the plans could push them out of the Chinese market, with one senior lobbyist questioning how they could comply with Beijing’s vague anti-espionage and data outflow rules while providing the information Brussels requires.

A forced labour ban being negotiated between the European Parliament and Council, which represents member states, could face a similar fate. The law was written with China in mind, due to allegations of forced labour in Xinjiang, although it is not named directly.

EU envoy slams China’s ‘national security obsession’, questions growth rebound

Negotiators must strike a deal by March 9 or it will be mothballed until after June’s European Parliament elections, when the political landscape could look very different. Talks, however, are proving tricky.

“Neither commission nor member states want to take responsibility for inspections. They don’t want to say they unleashed this administrative monster before elections,” said one person involved.

According to two sources, one solution is to outsource the ban’s administration to the European Labour Authority in Bratislava.

But again the law is threatened by Germany abstaining under the influence of the pro-business Free Democratic arm of its coalition.

The EU faces a related dilemma over Chinese solar panels. There it is torn between calls for a ban on panels linked to Xinjiang and broader import quotas, and fears it cannot reach its climate goals without these imports.

Several officials and diplomats have described it as a classic example of competing policy aims. It wants to do “everything at the same time”, said one official, but it is unclear what the priority is.

Last month EU trade officials held in-depth discussions on measures available to protect the solar industry from Chinese imports, people familiar with the discussions said, but held fire because of divisions within the industry and among member states.

Behind the scenes, officials fret about Chinese retaliation and the impact of a solar trade war on its ability to hit its climate targets.

The bloc’s finance chief Mairead McGuinness said on Monday it needs “access to affordable solar panels to fuel the green transition and unlock the economic opportunities”, and Europe’s own industry currently relies on Chinese-made components.

China looks to boost EU imports, urges bloc to ease hi-tech export controls

One major vulnerability is solar inverters, known in the industry as the “brain of a solar system” that enable solar power to be transmitted to electricity grids. Without these the whole industry could be imperilled.

But Europe’s biggest supplier is Huawei Technologies, which the EU is trying to get out of its 5G network at a time when there has been little debate about the fact it supplied 26 per cent of Europe’s inverters in 2021, according to consultancy Wood MacKenzie.

The solar debate is symptomatic of the wider Franco-German division at the heart of EU policy.

France, which generated less than 5 per cent of its electricity using solar power last year, would back curbs on Chinese products. In stark contrast, Germany is increasingly reliant on green energy and strongly opposes such measures.

France was also behind a probe into Chinese-made electric vehicles that infuriated the Germans, whose firms would be disproportionately hit by import duties.

“We don’t understand each other,” said the French diplomat, who described the German idea of strategic autonomy as being “we can do whatever we want with partners, and then we decide how strategic we are about it”.

They added: “Whereas the French think everything has to be done and decided in Europe before we reach out to anyone else.”

Berlin strongly backed a push for a free-trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc that could help the EU de-risking process by weaning it off Chinese minerals.

But France vetoed the deal, as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to court the farmers’ votes ahead of the European elections.

Meanwhile, the pair are vying for the attentions of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A business source confirmed that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will go to Beijing in April accompanied by industry representatives.

Macron, on the other hand, is expecting France to be Xi’s first post-Covid European destination. “I’d say before the EU elections, with Macron wanting to put on a show of power to change the course of what looks like a very bad result for him,” the French diplomat said of the timing.

A senior EU official said Serbia was also going to be on Xi’s itinerary.

In the midst of this chaos, Beijing is looking for openings.

Its ambassador to Brussels Fu Cong recently told senior EU officials he had a direct order from Foreign Minister Wang Yi to resurrect the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment that collapsed in the wake of tit-for-tat sanctions over China’s human rights record.

Such a move appears unlikely, but sources said Fu had been encouraged by von der Leyen mentioning the deal at a summit in Beijing in December.

What’s the state of China’s US$3 trillion forex reserves war chest, and where is it invested?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3251483/whats-state-chinas-us3-trillion-forex-reserves-war-chest-and-where-it-invested?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese yuan has come under renewed pressure against the US dollar since the start of the year amid China’s uneven post-Covid economic recovery, persistent deflationary pressures, a prolonged housing slump and heightened geopolitical tensions.

Over the years, China has built a sizeable war chest to defend the yuan, including about US$3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves.

Driven by its high export revenues, China has the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, which totalled US$3.22 trillion in January, according to State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE).

China’s foreign exchange reserves had stood at US$3.24 trillion in December, having risen from US$3.17 trillion in November, the exchange regulator said.

SAFE, though, does not disclose where it invests China’s foreign exchange reserves.

But according to the US Department of the Treasury, which publishes monthly data on all foreign holders of US debt, China has historically been among the top foreign holders, along with Japan.

Besides China’s foreign exchange reserves, the US Treasury data also includes debt holdings by institutional and private investors from China.

The latest data from the US Treasury showed that China held US$782 billion of US Treasury bills in November, making it the second-largest foreign holder behind Japan.

Chinese investors were net buyers of US corporate bonds and had made net purchases of US stocks as of November, according to estimates by Guan Tao, global chief economist at Bank of China International, based on US data.

US stocks had a stellar performance in 2023, with the S&P 500 index gaining 24.3 per cent.

“Due to rising valuations, Chinese institutions’ holdings of US debt and government agency bonds rose to US$1.04 trillion at the end of November, their holdings of corporate bonds rose to US$19 billion, and their holdings of US stocks rose to US$307.5 billion,” Guan said at the end of January.

In recent years, the size of China’s foreign exchange reserves have been hovering around the US$3 trillion mark, down from its peak of US$3.84 trillion in 2014. Its holdings of US treasuries also began to decline in 2014.

In 2015, a one-off 2 per cent devaluation of the yuan by the People’s Bank of China fuelled depreciation expectations, and an estimated US$1 trillion of its foreign exchange reserves were used to defend its currency.

During the second half of 2023, there was speculation that SAFE might have used its reserves to defend the yuan, which had seen its volatility rise following a series of rate increases by the US Federal Reserve.

In 2023, the yuan lost as much as 9.5 per cent against the US dollar as the interest rate gap between China and the US widened, making yuan-denominated assets less attractive to investors.

The deteriorating trade relations between China and the US have also prompted concerns over Chinese investors’ exposure to US dollar assets.

However, Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, believes China’s data does not suggest significant use of its formal reserves between July and September when pressure on the yuan was mounting.

“The only interesting evolution in China’s reserves in the past six years has been the shift into agencies,” Setser said in a blog post in October, referring to agency bonds issued by a US federal government department or by government-sponsored enterprises.

“That has resulted in a small reduction in China’s Treasury holdings – but it also shows that it is a mistake to equate a reduction in China’s Treasury holdings with a reduction in the share of China’s reserves held in US bonds or the US dollar.”

The size of China’s foreign exchange reserves has been a subject of debate within the financial community and Beijing’s policy advisers over the past few years.

China has placed an emphasis on increasing domestic demand and self-reliance, although it has yet to find a new engine of growth to replace exports amid high local government debt level and a prolonged property market downturn.

Yu Yongding, a prominent Chinese economist and former central bank adviser, who has been advocating for an “orderly” reduction in China’s investment in US treasuries, has said the size of the foreign exchange reserves should be trimmed and the country should switch away from relying on exports to fuel growth.

However, Wang Yongli, former vice-president of the Bank of China, argued in a blog post in 2022 that there is no way to determine a “reasonable” size of a country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Having sizeable foreign exchange reserves remains important to China, according to Wang, because the yuan is not yet an international reserve currency and the economy relies on external demand.

Meanwhile, Guan at the Bank of China International added that larger is not always better when it comes to the size of foreign exchange reserves.

“Foreign exchange reserves are an important external liquidity buffer, especially for emerging markets. They can significantly reduce the risk of currency crises and are the ballast stones of financial stability,” former SAFE director Guan said in 2022.

“However, [the] marginal effect decreases as the scale of foreign exchange reserves increases, and the opportunity cost gets higher and higher.”

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China opens up Hainan to more kinds of visa-free travel as it seeks to transform island into major free-trade port

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3251561/china-opens-hainan-more-kinds-visa-free-travel?utm_source=rss_feed

China has expanded its visa-free policy for Hainan beyond tourism to various travel purposes as it seeks to transform the southern island into a major free-trade port.

From Friday, passport holders from 59 countries will be able to enter Hainan for business, family visits, medical treatment, exhibitions and sporting events – as well as tourism – for up to 30 days without a visa.

According to the National Immigration Administration (NIA), such travellers can land on the duty-free hub via any of the available ports but foreigners wanting to work long term or study there will still need a visa.

It follows an announcement in October that travellers from the 59 countries did not need a visa to visit the island with a travel agency, upon invitation by an entity or as individuals.

In addition to 27 European Union member states, the list includes Iceland, Norway, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine and Britain as well as the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

In Asia, the visa-free arrangements apply to South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei.

‘China’s Hawaii’ fails post-pandemic test with weak Labour Day retail sales

Australia and New Zealand are also on the list along with Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the United States.

The NIA said the move “is a new effort to deepen reform and opening-up of the province, and contribute to the development of Hainan … as a free-trade port with Chinese characteristics”.

Hainan’s economy grew 9.2 per cent last year, the second fastest in the country after Tibet, state news agency Xinhua reported last month, citing its governor, Liu Xiaoming.

Its economic recovery has been driven by the revival of tourism, with more than 90 million tourists visiting the island last year, an increase of nearly 50 per cent year on year. Hainan’s tourism revenue also rose 72 per cent to 181.3 billion yuan (US$25 billion).

China aims to develop Hainan into the world’s biggest free-trade port, with an independent customs regime set up by the end of next year.

The tropical island is about the size of Taiwan and is seeking to attract investors, businesses and individuals with reduced taxes and relaxed visa regulations.

The country hopes to turn Hainan into a hub for offshore financing and duty-free shopping, bringing it on par with the likes of Hong Kong and Singapore.

‘Packing genius’: China kindergarten boy, 6, who deftly packs e-commerce products for family firm goes viral, earns online plaudits

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3250400/packing-genius-china-kindergarten-boy-6-who-deftly-packs-e-commerce-products-family-firm-goes-viral?utm_source=rss_feed

Footage of a young boy skilfully packaging courier items has gone viral on mainland social media, winning the youngster widespread plaudits.

A video clip of the six-year-old kindergarten pupil in Yiwu in eastern China’s Zhejiang province was released by his mother on Douyin at the end of January, Shandian News reported.

The clip shows the boy, identified as Taotao, efficiently folding cardboard boxes, sealing them with packing tape and sticking on courier labels.

Taotao’s parents own an e-commerce store in Yiwu, which has been dubbed China’s small commodities capital.

“Lunar New Year is looming and many of our workers have left Yiwu to return to their hometown to celebrate the festival. My son saw that we were busy with packing and said he would love to give us a hand,” his mother said.

“He can do it easily because he has helped with the packing since he was very young,” she added. “He can pack as many as 100 small boxes a day.”

The mother also shared a video clip of Taotao playing a small role in packing courier items beside an assembly line.

“Taotao, do you want to go home?” His mother asks in the video.

“No, I don’t want to go home. I want to do work,” he replies, adding: “I just like packing things.”

The mother said her son spends a lot of time playing in her company’s storage premises.

“He likes helping us and doing simple things, just as we helped our parents plant rice in the field when we were small children,” she said.

Children helping their parents with their businesses cannot be regarded as underage labour because there is no employment relationship, said Zhang Lili, a lawyer at Beijing Jingshi Law Firm, on the website 110ask.com.

“It is legal and reasonable for children to help their parents,” said Zhang.

The videos have generated a heated discussion online and delighted people on mainland social media.

“He does better than many adults. What a packing genius,” one person on Douyin said.

“When he applies for a job in the e-commerce industry at age 20, he could say he has 18 years of job experience,” another user said.

“He is a sensible boy. He understands the hardship from which his parents earn money,” another wrote.

In 2022, a nine-year-old girl in southeastern Guangdong province who proficiently killed and scaled fish at her father’s stall trended online.

The man said his daughter often came to help at weekends after she finished her homework.

China’s middle class, key to Beijing’s economic recovery plan, put spending on hold over wealth, income concerns

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3251554/chinas-middle-class-key-beijings-economic-recovery-plan-put-spending-hold-over-wealth-income?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s middle class continued to struggle in 2023 amid the ongoing property crisis and stock market slump, with rising household debt, lower self-indulgent spending and concerns over the future, according to a widely used measure of the key group.

A survey of household wealth and income from the Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, Sichuan province, painted a different picture from Beijing’s economic recovery narrative, despite the better-than-expected 5.2 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth last year.

China’s household wealth and income indices remained in contractionary territory at 96.1 and 94.1, respectively, in the fourth quarter of last year, indicating a fall from the previous three months, according to the survey results released earlier this week.

The indices gauged respondents’ sentiment through questionnaires, with a reading of 100 the division line between expansion and contraction.

‘Dare not spend’: China seeks fix as slowing economy may shrink middle class

Just over 61 per cent of the people surveyed said their family revenue had remained unchanged in the fourth quarter of last year, but about 10 per cent reported a large drop, while another 10 per cent said they suffered a small decline.

Overall, “household liabilities, including those used for consumption and businesses, continued to rise in 2023,” the survey showed.

The household debt index has remained high since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with the fourth quarter reading of 103.4 down from the high of 113.7 in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Unlocking the purse strings of China’s middle class is vital for Beijing, which is counting more on consumption, rather than exports and investments, to ensure a solid footing for the economy this year after consumption contributed 82.5 per cent of GDP growth in 2023.

The university’s household wealth and income survey is a widely used measurement of China’s middle class, with the families interviewed averaging 1.49 million yuan (US$209,000) of combined property and financial assets, while their average household income was 159,000 yuan (US$22,300).

Beijing claims China has around 400 million people in its middle-income range, representing a huge consumer market that is attractive for foreign investors and a foundation to drive economic growth.

China’s middle-income group was defined by the National Bureau of Statistics as a three-person household earning between 100,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan a year.

The survey’s findings have partly added to market concerns that Chinese households are focused on repairing their balance sheets, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as their job and income insecurity woes amid the post-Covid recovery.

Household debt in China already accounted for a record high 64.1 per cent of the national GDP in the third quarter of last year, marking a sharp rise from 17.9 per cent at the end of 2008 according to the Beijing-based National Institution for Finance and Development.

The survey showed middle class households are offloading their debt and hesitant to buy property, with only 6.4 per cent planning to buy property in the next three months, while 19.2 per cent said they would adopt a wait-and-see approach.

The home-buying debt index remained in contraction for the whole of last year, indicating households are repaying mortgages earlier than scheduled.

Meanwhile, self-indulgent spending, including travel and entertainment, has largely stayed in contraction since the coronavirus pandemic.

It had a small expansion in the second and the third quarters of last year, with readings of 100.6 and 100.7, respectively, but the index dropped to 97.5 in the final quarter of last year.

The survey called for more government action to revive household confidence.

The proportion of households anticipating a better economic outlook in the next 12 months dropped to 22 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year from 31.3 per cent in the first quarter.

Those with a “very bad” economic outlook doubled to 10.1 per cent, while those choosing “bad” rose to 11.5 per cent from 7.6 per cent.

In addition, the household wealth report said that consumption and economic confidence dropped significantly among the low-income class, as well as the middle-aged group.

“Low-income and middle-aged households have lower economic expectations, and they are the main groups that require further confidence boost in the future,” it said.

Thai haven draws Chinese tech bros, moms and stoners seeking freedom

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/09/china-thailand-chiang-mai-political-freedom/2023-12-28T20:53:55.096Z

CHIANG MAI, Thailand — There are the hipsters cramped by big-city life, the tech bros pumped about the internet of tomorrow, and idealistic parents wary of China’s hyper-intensive schools, and then there are the stoners. This backpacker town in the mountains of northern Thailand has become the destination of choice for a slew of Chinese seeking respite from the increasingly repressive Communist Party at home.

Huge billboards advertise international schools and mansions in Chinese characters. A Chinese-language menu is on offer at nearly every cafe, restaurant and weed store in the old town. There are Mandarin-speaking doctors, delivery drivers and police officers. The stalls at the night markets accept Chinese digital payment apps.

That’s because many of these Chinese arrivals are not just passing through. They’ve come to stay.

“Back home in China, many feel exploited and restricted as if they were cash crops in a big plantation,” said Gloria Yafan Niu, a researcher at Chiang Mai University who studies migration and gender and has lived here since 2018. “But here in Chiang Mai, you just do you and be a tree or a reed or a flower, and find a balanced life with relatively low cost and high quality.”

As freedoms — of expression, of thought, of association — have steadily been eroded in China since Xi Jinping took control of the country just over a decade ago, freethinking Chinese have looked for havens of intellectual exile. For a while, that place was Dali, the town in southwestern China that became known as “Dalifornia” because of its stunning landscape, burgeoning tech scene and tradition of relative tolerance.

But these days, even Dali is becoming inhospitable for digital nomads and burned-out urbanites, their suspected techno-anarchic tendencies drawing unwelcome scrutiny. That means many people are continuing farther south, to Chiang Mai.

Here, they sound out new ideas, embrace various countercultures and build communities considered undesirable in China under Xi, a strongman leader who has asserted Chinese Communist Party control across society.

China’s Communist Party hands Xi an endless rule for flexing power

“When I turned on television, opened newspapers or browsed social media in China, all I heard was one person talking,” said Pu Jianchuan, a 50-year-old stock broker and bitcoin investor, referring to Xi. “It was chilling.”

Xi was “closing the door” to the world, said Pu, who moved here early last year and now lives in a villa on the outskirts of Chiang Mai, citing the harsh Shanghai “zero covid” lockdown and draconian crackdowns on tech giants, tutoring and cryptocurrency.

Thailand’s warm climate, easygoing charm and relaxed visa regime has long appealed to Chinese tourists. But starting in 2022, as China’s covid lockdowns dragged into a third year, the tropical country took on new allure for those wanting to run away from a difficult situation at home.

That year, 110,000 Chinese nationals applied for long-term Thailand visas — twice as many as the year before, according to an analysis of Thai immigration data.

That has surged further since Thailand granted visa-free entry to Chinese citizens in September.

Some are from the wealthy elite that decided to relocate away from China’s coronavirus restrictions. But many are young, middle-class and educated. There are digital nomads, artists and chefs who came on a whim and a shoestring.

They cite all sorts of reasons for making the move, but there is usually a push of concern about the situation at home combined with the pull of free, easy and relatively cheap living. Many don’t know when or whether they will leave.

Tech and techno

On the final evening of 2023, an alley just outside Chiang Mai’s old town, with its red-brick walls and moat, was heaving with young Chinese singing and dancing in the new year.

A Chinese DJ played techno to a crowd sipping made-in-China craft beers. The smell of cannabis wafted through the air as tech workers from Shanghai and Shenzhen attempted TikTok dances.

The New Year’s Eve party was organized to mark the end of Wamotopia, half tech-conference, half-carnival, which — like many of those present — moved from Dali to Chiang Mai. More than 500 people — engineers, entrepreneurs and designers; blockchain developers, digital marketers and spiritual gurus — for two weeks of intense discussions in Chinese and carefree partying.

They came to hang out, sure, but also for the panels about how to imagine then create a better future — something the techie-dominated crowd often ruled was best achieved using next-generation decentralized technology.

Wamotopia “is not political,” said Lin, an organizer in his mid-20s who spoke on the condition that only his surname be used to avoid reprisals from Chinese authorities. “We are not opposing anyone.”

Xi Jinping’s crackdown on everything is remaking Chinese society

But the stifling political environment in China was an undercurrent in discussions, during which Xi and his policies were rarely far from people’s minds. One invite-only session was billed as group therapy for people traumatized by China’s lockdowns and persecution of protesters.

Lin, when joking about the challenge of herding a decentralized group with no leader, appropriated a Xi quote. “I’m ready to ‘put aside my own well-being for the good of my people,’” he said with a smirk.

Events like Wamo, and the recent opening of a Chinese-language bookstore, suggest that this migration is not a fleeting phenomenon but may have staying power.

The bookstore — ambiguously called “Nowhere” in English and “feidi,” or “enclave,” in Chinese — was founded by Zhang Jieping, a Chinese journalist known for her role creating outlets for independent Chinese writing such as online magazine Initium.

The store is meant to be an inclusive space that “can hold a great variety of books and political opinions” so that there is “something for everyone,” Zhang said. It’s quickly become a hub for in-depth intellectual chats and forming bonds with locals or the broader Chinese-speaking community.

Although attendees like Pu hailed Wamotopia as a great way to meet other budding Chinese in Chiang Mai, the community’s rising profile comes with risks.

The Chinese state is watching

Even 1,000 miles from China’s border, unidentified Chinese speakers would show up and take photos or question attendees, stoking fears that the events were being monitored.

Attention from Chinese authorities is especially concerning for those who chose Thailand purely to try out a kind of living different from the Communist Party-approved mainstream, rather than out of any notion of political dissent.

In China, because politics is basically barred from public-facing life, people focus on “how do I define myself and what kind of life do I want to live?” said Niu, the Chiang Mai University researcher.

Niu moved here in 2018 for doctoral studies and stayed so she could send her daughter Cynthia, now 7, to international school and keep her out of China’s intense educational system.

After the pandemic, more families came to seek a better quality of life and affordable international education, said Niu.

See what led protesters to a breaking point with China’s ‘zero covid’ policy

Many were similarly wary of China’s schooling system, which asserts that children thrive from “harsh pruning” and intense competition. “What if my child is grass, not a tree?” she asked.

Some have motives that are a touch less idealistic. One design student in his late 20s came to study in Thailand after being expelled from a Chinese university for smoking weed. (China has some of the world’s toughest drug laws, including potential death penalties for dealers.)

Marijuana being legal in Thailand means he can now get stoned as much as he wants. “I don’t have to worry about people taking that joy away from me,” said the student, Guagua, who spoke on the condition that his nickname be used to avoid attention from Chinese authorities.

Others came because they didn’t fit in at home in other ways.

In 2019, Eddy Lee left Hong Kong — where Beijing has increasingly asserted itself across all aspects of life — as mass protests were engulfing the territory. The fierce clashes and constant tear gas gave her what she called a “selfish” urge to flee somewhere peaceful.

So the 38-year-old chef opened a restaurant here selling traditional Cantonese dumplings and other dim sum. “Chiang Mai is for sure a good place to enjoy your later years,” she said, noting how Thailand is much more tolerant to members of the gay community like her and her partner.

Some see the influx as a mixed blessing, fearing Beijing may use its influence to establish a stronger presence in Thailand. But Lee reckons the Chiang Mai community will survive extra scrutiny and “whatever the Chinese government wants to do.”

“We will still find ways to live,” she said.

Shepherd reported from Taipei, Taiwan.

How the annual lion dance draws Chinese Americans back to D.C.’s Chinatown

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/02/09/lion-dance-new-year-parade-dc/2024-01-30T22:02:22.249Z

Harry Guey-Lee doesn’t go into D.C.’s Chinatown much these days. Although he grew up there, he mostly returns for occasional Washington Wizards games.

But every winter, the same activity draws him back: the lion dance at the Lunar New Year parade.

The performance, a vibrant spectacle meant to scare away evil spirits and bestow good luck, brings together Chinese Americans in the historic part of downtown where many of their parents and grandparents had lived and socialized. Year after year, families that have scattered to the suburbs reconnect with their heritage in a place that long ago ceased being a community focal point.

“We care about the little bit of connection we still have to our past and our parents and the cultural traditions that are part of Chinese culture,” said Guey-Lee, who lives in Silver Spring, Md. “It’s a little bit, but we hold on to that little bit.”

Guey-Lee, 73, is among roughly 50 members of the Chinese Youth Club who will step to a beat, play instruments and wave flags as part of a traditional lion dance at the parade Sunday. While several other lion dance troupes will also perform, the CYC’s team is the oldest in the District.

The dance is a family tradition for some. Guey-Lee’s father played the drums during the early years of the parade in the 1940s before passing the torch to his sons, who carried kung fu weapons, served as the lion’s tail and played the cymbals.

Now, the children of Guey-Lee and his brother also participate — and teach the next generation. People of all ages have a role: Toddlers carry flags, teens and young adults dance in the lion costumes, and older adults hold banners, play instruments and hand fortune cookies to spectators.

The origins of the lion dance, which dates at least from the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-906), are disputed. One story tells of villagers scaring away a monster with an animal costume, firecrackers, and pots and pans. Another recounts an emperor who dreamed of an animal and ordered that it be re-created for festivals.

The resulting dance, which has roots in martial arts and is traditionally taught to boys, is an athletic endeavor that takes significant energy. During the parade’s half-hour performance, dancers rotate in and out of the lion costumes to give each person a break — especially from carrying the wooden heads, which can weigh up to 10 pounds.

“If you just jump in there and try to go 100 percent, you’re going to get tired really fast,” said Kevin Lee, Guey-Lee’s nephew and one of the co-directors of this year’s dance.

Technique is important, and the performers under each lion’s head and tail are instructed to make their movements lively, Lee said. The instrumentalists and dancers work in tandem, with the music cuing specific steps and the person under the lion’s tail following the dancer under the head.

The team rehearses eight to 10 times before the parade, with younger dancers practicing first at each session. When the older dancers get their turn, instructors teach more advanced moves and critique form. The performers do squatting exercises to prepare for some of their movements during the show.

Ada Stuyvenberg, 12, said the hardest part of being a lion in the parade is, well, acting like a real lion.

“You really have to do very quick movements, all while being smooth,” said Ada, who lives in Rockville, Md. “You can’t be like a robot.”

Her mom, Daphne Pee, learned about the dance troupe from a neighbor last year and was thrilled to find the kind of Chinese American community that she didn’t get to experience while growing up in Montgomery County. Now she plays cymbals in the parade while her children dance.

Pee, 46, said the activity helps her children stay connected to their Chinese culture.

“For the parents,” she said, “we’re trying to keep that alive in them.”

The old-timers ensure the troupe stays true to traditions, like “dotting the eyes” of each new lion head by dabbing red ink on various parts to bring it to life. When the team members leave a business after dancing there to bless it, they back out as a sign of respect, rather than turning away from the audience.

Virginia’s Vietnamese Americans get head start celebrating Lunar New Year

But in other ways, much has changed since Chinese immigrants established the CYC in Chinatown in 1939. When Guey-Lee’s father immigrated from Taishan, a city in China’s Guangdong province, the organization was one of few groups offering structured socialization opportunities for the neighborhood’s young people.

The CYC functioned like a Chinese YMCA, with volleyball tournaments and Chinese classes, among other activities. Each Lunar New Year, the organization’s lion dancers spent hours going store to store to bless Chinatown’s businesses while their owners lit firecrackers and gifted the performers cash in red envelopes.

Jack Lee, Guey-Lee’s brother, joined this tradition as a preteen and remains involved in the dance troupe decades later. While he doesn’t feel as Chinese as he would like, he said performing is a way of “staying connected to Chinatown, as well as staying connected to my culture.”

Unlike cities like New York and Toronto, D.C.’s Chinatown no longer feels particularly Chinese. Chinese architectural motifs still decorate shops and an archway celebrating the relationship between D.C. and its sister city of Beijing looms over H Street, but few Chinese immigrants live there.

Many residents began to move out of the area in the 1960s in search of better housing and business opportunities and lower crime rates, according to a report from the University of Maryland. The area became the focus of government renewal projects in the 1970s and ’80s, and after the sports arena now known as Capital One Arena was built in 1996, shops and restaurants catering to spectators flooded the area. Many long-standing businesses were priced out.

Lee and Guey-Lee felt those changes personally: The townhouse their parents lived in was razed for the arena’s construction. The neighborhood, Guey-Lee said, is “obviously a shell of what it once was 35, 40 years ago.”

Most people in Chinatown participated in the lion dance back then, he said, and attracting new performers was easy. Now, it’s harder to spread the word. The D.C. area’s Chinese Americans have scattered to the suburbs and don’t have as many organic opportunities to meet. Children are busier than in previous generations, and those who live outside the city need parents to drive them to dance practices.

Wally Lee, whose father was one of CYC’s founders, said many children a few generations removed from the immigrant experience feel more American than Chinese and may not know about the lion dance.

“It’s only through word of mouth or being involved in our club where they see it in person and they hopefully will have an interest to try it,” said Wally Lee, 75, who is not related to Jack Lee and his family. “So it’s tougher than back in the old days.”

The CYC tries to meet children where they are, recruiting players on the organization’s sports teams to the dance troupe and sharing the program at schools’ “international day” events. The lion dancers also perform at other events throughout the year.

Kevin Lee, 37, said the performance can be an avenue for young people to engage with their heritage in ways that feel less like work than learning Cantonese or Mandarin.

“There’s definitely Chinese school and things like that,” he said. “This is another way into the culture.”

The dance is also open to people without Chinese heritage. Organizers said they welcome anyone who wants to experience their traditions and have had people of other backgrounds join the group.

This year, one family of lion dancers is from Peru.

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China plans to spend US$1 billion to revamp Tanzania-Zambia railway in race to control critical mineral trade routes

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3251559/china-plans-spend-us1-billion-revamp-tanzania-zambia-railway-race-control-critical-mineral-trade?utm_source=rss_feed

China plans to spend US$1 billion to refurbish a key railway line connecting Zambia’s copper belt region with the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam as part of its Belt and Road Initiative as global powers vie for control over critical mineral trade routes.

On Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Zambia Du Xiaohui handed over a proposal to rehabilitate the Tazara railway to Zambian transport minister Frank Tayali, saying the US$1 billion investment would be done through a public-private partnership (PPP) over the coming years.

Du said China would work with its “Zambian brothers and Tanzanian sisters” to strengthen cooperation and benefit the three countries.

“The Chinese side wants to use the PPP model to invest over US$1 billion in the coming years,” Du said.

Why Chinese players are taking private stakes in Africa’s new megaprojects

A team assembled in December has completed a business and technical inspection of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority, the Tazara’s operator, and issued a report on Wednesday.

Tayali said he had been briefed about the report and “was particularly excited that the Chinese experts will work alongside Zambian labour”.

When the Tanzanian and Zambian presidents visited China in 2022 and 2023 respectively, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised to support the upgrade of the railway, which was originally built in the 1970s and funded by the Chinese government under Mao Zedong as a foreign aid project.

Xi said the Tanzania-Zambia Railway had become “a symbol of China-Africa friendship”.

China last year appointed the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation, to negotiate a concession to operate the Tanzania-Zambia Railway line.

In December, the CCECC appointed an 11-member team led by Peng Danyang, managing director of the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway, to carry out an inspection from Dar es Salaam to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia with the aim of assessing Tazara’s operational and business model.

The Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway operates under a public-private partnership model through collaboration between the governments of Ethiopia and Djibouti and CCECC subsidiary Railway Operation Limited.

Tim Zajontz, a research fellow at the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, told the Post in November that Chinese PPP investment in Tazara was likely to take the form of a rehabilitate-operate-transfer concession, with a probable duration of 20 to 25 years. Under this model, governments allow private entities to rehabilitate and operate a project for a certain period before transferring it back to the government.

“The Chinese investors have made it unmistakably clear in previous negotiations that Tazara is no longer considered an aid project but that it must be a commercially viable venture,” said Zajontz, who has written about the planned privatisation of Tazara in his book The Political Economy of China’s Infrastructure Development in Africa.

“The devil remains in the details and an agreement depends on whether the investors and the shareholding governments can agree on the terms of the PPP,” he added.

China is keen to use the Tazara rail line to transport mining exports from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

The refurbished Tazara railway will compete directly with a railroad backed by the US and EU to link Zambia’s copper belt and the mineral-rich DRC to the Lobito port on Angola’s Atlantic coast.

Brussels and Washington announced in late October they would fund the rail project to connect the resource-rich region of Zambia to an existing line to the Lobito port.

The US and EU are eager to secure minerals that are vital for making batteries and advanced electronics – including cobalt, which comes from the DRC and Zambia. Most of these minerals are now exported to China for processing.

China’s involvement in the Tazara railway began in the 1970s, when Beijing was facing its own financial difficulties.

At the time, Zambia was desperate for a railway link to the Tanzanian coast to transport copper, its main export. Neighbouring white-controlled Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, had cut Zambia’s only route to the sea in response to the postcolonial transfer of power to Zambia’s black majority.

China stepped in when Western countries declined to fund a new railway, building Tazara for about 1 billion yuan (US$140.5 million).

From 1970 to 1975, about 50,000 Chinese workers built 1,860km (1,155 miles) of track stretching from Zambia’s copper belt to Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean.

It remains China’s biggest overseas project to date and succeeded in boosting Beijing’s political capital during the Cold War.

An espionage case hurts Chinese relations with Australia | China

https://www.economist.com/china/2024/02/08/an-espionage-case-hurts-chinese-relations-with-australia

In November Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, met Xi Jinping, China’s leader, in Beijing. Mr Xi declared that China and Australia had “embarked on the right path of improving relations” after years of estrangement. Just over two months later that path has a big pothole. On February 5th Yang Hengjun, an Australian citizen (pictured), was given a suspended death sentence by a Chinese court, after facing charges of espionage.

Mr Yang’s story is murky. Born in China, he may once have had ties to the country’s foreign or security ministries, though the foreign ministry says it never employed him. He was better known as a writer, publishing spy novels online and posting about democracy and human-rights abuses. He was detained in the city of Guangzhou in 2019. Two years later his trial began—behind closed doors. His death sentence could be commuted to life imprisonment after two years of good behaviour. Mr Yang denies the charges.

Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said her government was “appalled” by the decision. The bilateral relationship has been fragile for years. Chinese leaders did not like Australia’s deepening security co-operation with America, its call for an inquiry into the origins of covid-19 and its decision to bar Huawei, a telecoms giant. China froze ministerial exchanges and embargoed some Australian exports. The intimidation tactics did not work and the arrival of Mr Albanese’s government in Australia in 2022 offered China a face-saving opportunity to back down.

One interpretation of Mr Yang’s sentence is that he is guilty. But China “would be rubbing Australia’s face” in the evidence, if they had any, says Dominic Meagher of the John Curtin Research Centre in Australia. Another theory is that China’s government is split. The resolution of a case similar to that of Mr Yang helped clear the way for better relations. In 2020 a Chinese-born Australian citizen called Cheng Lei was arrested in China. She had been working as an anchor on Chinese state television. Convicted of espionage (with few details given), Ms Cheng spent three years in prison before being released in October.

Mr Yang’s sentence cuts against this precedent. It would have been approved by Communist Party leaders. Perhaps it indicates a struggle between competing bureaucracies. China’s diplomats seem to favour friendlier ties with Australia, while security officials are keen to show that Chinese who acquire foreign citizenship are not beyond their reach (China does not allow dual nationality).

The most obvious lesson is that the extent of any rapprochement was always going to be limited, given Australia’s alliance with America. That means even polite Chinese diplomacy is accompanied by a note of menace. Just after the conciliatory meeting between Mr Albanese and Mr Xi, the Chinese navy approached an Australian frigate in international waters, emitting sonar pulses that may have injured Australian divers. ■

Young women in China abandon traditional beauty standards to ‘imitate’ Western habits like wearing yoga pants, eating ‘white people’s food’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3250296/young-women-china-abandon-traditional-beauty-standards-imitate-western-habits-wearing-yoga-pants?utm_source=rss_feed

Young women in China are abandoning traditional beauty standards and mimicking western lifestyle choices by eating healthy “white people’s” food and copying their clothing choices.

Females across the country are shunning patriarchal norms as China witnesses the rise of a new trend which has been dubbed “white women aesthetic.”

It reflects a growing desire to embrace a more relaxed lifestyle and a desire to attain middle-class status, according to a report by Huxiu.com.

The phrase “white women aesthetic” recently emerged as a buzzword on the Xiaohongshu social media platform, accompanied by the slogan: “Question White women, Understand White women, Become White women” which is gaining currency online.

The lifestyle switch is characterised by Lululemon yoga pants, Stanley thermos and “white people food” which is considered to be healthy.

Women are being drawn to a range of products, from tank tops and yoga pants to backpacks and thermos, indicating a shift towards a more relaxed and comfortable way of life.

Central to the food component of the trend is the yoghurt bowl.

This involves filtering Greek yoghourt overnight to create a dry and thick yoghourt cube, then combining it with nuts, cereals and low-sugar fruits like blueberries, creating a dish rich in protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and fats.

The “white women Aesthetic” first gained popularity on Western social media.

Influencers in the US frequently share their daily routines on TikTok, showcasing their lives in tidy, luminous houses where they often start their day drinking water from a Stanley thermos, dress in popular influencer-branded outfits, make lattes on pricey kitchen countertops and prepare bowls of yoghourt and oatmeal.

Fitness blogger Da Mengli was among the first influencers in China to popularise yoghurt bowls on Douyin, inspiring others like Juanzi to follow suit.

Da Mengli often wears tank tops to show off her muscles in her home, which has under-floor heating, while Juanzi’s similar style tops expose non-toned shoulders and her cold, unheated home in Southern China.

While in Da Mengli’s videos she is seen standing up while eating in a western-style marble kitchen, Juanzi can be seen in plastic slippers while doing the same.

However, one online observer pointed out some problems with the new aesthetic.

“In a shared apartment, it’s impossible to replicate the feel of a suburban villa. A worker with a monthly salary of 8,000 yuan (US$1,120) can’t wake up at 6am for skincare and exercise.

“This is especially the case when they need to catch the early subway. Also, eating oatmeal yoghourt bowls every meal would upset a Chinese stomach.”

A third person said: “So many people don’t really know what lifestyle they truly enjoy, they just follow trends blindly.”

More Japanese expats in US, China returning home amid rising costs of living

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3251414/more-japanese-expats-us-china-returning-home-amid-rising-costs-living?utm_source=rss_feed

An increasing number of Japanese who had been long-term overseas residents are opting to return home, with the Japanese populations of Shanghai and New York showing particularly sharp declines, a demographic trend that some attribute to the pandemic and economic pressures.

The number of Japanese identified as long-term residents or permanent residents of another country increased every year from 1989 to 2019, according to data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs released in early February. In 1989, there were around 590,000 Japanese living abroad, rising to 1.41 million in 2019.

That growth trend reversed in 2020, however, falling to 1.36 million, and continued to fall in the three years since. In 2023, there were 1.29 million overseas Japanese.

By country, the 2023 statistics show that about 32 per cent of Japanese expatriates live in the United States, while 7.9 per cent of them are living in China.

While the number of Japanese living in Asia, Europe, the countries of the former Soviet Union, North America and South America fell, more Japanese are living in Africa, the Middle East, Central America and Oceania.

“Personally, my family and I would have liked to stay in London longer, but it was just not possible with my job,” said Izumi Tsuji, a professor at Chuo University who returned to Tokyo in 2019 after a year in Britain.

“We all very much liked the atmosphere in the UK, a sense of freedom after the constraints of Japanese society,” he told This Week in Asia.

For his Japanese friends and colleagues in Britain, however, the major concern was their children’s education.

“Generally speaking, education in the UK is very good, but Japanese families have to make a decision when their children reach a certain age,” Tsuji said. “They either stay in the UK and complete their education in that system or they have to come back to Japan.

“Many parents want their children to go to Japanese universities and then get a job at a Japanese company, and they think that putting their children through a Japanese school is the best way to do that,” he said.

By city, Los Angeles had the largest number of expatriate Japanese, although the total of 64,457 in 2023 was down from a peak of 71,000 in 2012. Bangkok remained the second-most popular overseas metropolis for Japanese, with slightly more than 50,000 residents last year, down from 60,000 in 2021. New York’s Japanese population declined sharply from some 60,000 individuals to 38,000 from 2007 to 2023.

Japanese residents in Shanghai peaked in 2012 at 58,000 and fell to 38,000 in 2023. There were 32,000 Japanese in London last year, down from 39,000 in 2013, and some 31,000 in Singapore, a decline from a peak of 37,000 in 2016.

The ministry’s report did not examine the reasons for expatriate Japanese returning home, although it did note that the recent decline in the number of Japanese based overseas coincided with the onset of the coronavirus outbreak in 2019.

Other factors are likely to include Japanese firms reducing the number of workers overseas due to the economic impact of the pandemic.

Japanese media highlighted a spate of racist attacks against Asians in the US as one of the reasons behind the trend. Similarly, media coverage of the arrest in China of Japanese businessmen and academics on charges of spying has triggered deep concern in the business community and encouraged some businessmen to send their families back to Japan.

Noriko Brewster, who has lived in Britain for 30 years and owns a pet business in southern England, said she had no plans to return to Japan and was not yet thinking of retirement, but could see why some of her Japanese friends might be contemplating going home.

“As they get older, they tend to miss home, especially if they have family there,” she said. “There are also economic reasons connected to the fluctuating exchange rate and the high cost of living in the UK for people who do not own a property.”

Japan tech firms face fierce competition for global talent amid skills shortage

Mami Sherwood moved to Australia in 2012 and is a primary school teacher in Melbourne. And while some of her Japanese friends are contemplating leaving, she has no plans to return to Japan.

“I’m married to an Australian, we have two children and secure jobs, so my whole life is based in Australia,” she said. “I like where we live in Melbourne, both because of the overall lifestyle, but also because of the service and opportunities available to our family, like medical care, education, the environment and the work-life balance.

“I do miss some aspects of Japan and its culture, especially for our children’s education, but we are lucky enough for them to be able to attend an international Japanese school in Australia that is funded by the Japanese government,” she said.

“But I do have some friends who are thinking about moving back to Japan,” Sherwood said. “The reasons vary, but for many it is because they want to take care of elderly parents or give their children opportunities to be educated in the Japanese school system. One of my friends wants her son to be able to train with a professional Japanese soccer team.”

Sherwood says she enjoys Australia’s multicultural society and the better work-life balance, although she has noticed prices rising in recent years and misses “Japanese standards of hospitality”.

“But for me, this is where I want to be and we are not looking at going back to Japan.”

China warns Philippines against ‘playing with fire’ as Manila boosts military presence near Taiwan

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3251463/china-warns-philippines-against-playing-fire-manila-boosts-military-presence-near-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed

China has warned the Philippines against “playing with fire” amid reports that Manila plans to bolster its military deployment on strategically important islands it controls near Taiwan.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Thursday reiterated Beijing’s position that Taiwan was “at the centre of China’s core interests and represents an insurmountable red line and bottom line”.

Beijing’s stern words stemmed from news that Philippine defence minister Gilberto Teodoro had ordered an increase in troops and construction on Batanes, the island country’s northernmost province, less than 200km (124 miles) from Taiwan.

“The Philippine side should have a clear understanding of it, act prudently and refrain from playing with fire on the issue of Taiwan, so as to avoid being exploited by others and leading to their own detriment,” Wang said in Beijing.

China and the Philippines shared a long history of friendship, he said, adding that good neighbours should treat each other with mutual respect on issues like national sovereignty and territorial integrity and not interfere in each other’s internal affairs.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. Most countries, including the Philippines and the United States, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.

However, the US is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

Washington keeps close ties with and provides arms to the self-ruled island for its defence and has increased its support in recent years as friction has mounted across the Taiwan Strait.

China promises ‘heavy price’ for blocking reunification as US, Japan hold drills

The Philippines, neighbouring Taiwan across the Bashi Channel, is a treaty ally of the US and has for years clashed with Beijing over competing claims in the South China Sea.

Last year, amid escalated tensions and frayed relations with Beijing, Manila doubled the number of its military bases that US forces can access, including three facing Taiwan.

Teodoro’s remarks on boosting the Philippines’ military presence on the Batanes islands coincided with his visit to the remote province to inspect naval facilities there. The islands are strategically located at a waterway choke point connecting the western Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea.

Batanes is the “spearhead of the Philippines as far as the northern baseline is concerned”, said Teodoro.

Filipino bishops urge Manila to ‘defend what is ours’ in South China Sea

And his visit “signifies a pivotal moment in our nation’s commitment to territorial defence and national security”, according to a Philippine navy statement.

The Chinese navy regularly transits the Bashi Channel in sailing to and from the western Pacific, especially during its frequent patrol missions around Taiwan.

The US military was also reportedly in discussions with the Philippines to develop a civilian port on the Batanes islands.

Last November, during their largest-ever joint naval exercise, the Philippines and the US used the Batanes as a training site and launch point to conduct sea patrols.

China’s academic star sacked, Hong Kong’s Messi saga, ‘Harvard girl’ back in spotlight: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3251476/chinas-academic-star-sacked-hong-kongs-messi-saga-harvard-girl-back-spotlight-scmps-7-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

For more than a month, 11 students at Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU) in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, had been quietly preparing a “revolution” to overthrow their supervisor.

“For us, this is the most important battle in our ordinary lives,” wrote doctoral student Zhang Li, in a post to social media platform Weibo on January 23.

The team of scientists from Beijing said for the first time they have achieved seamless, wide bandwidth, real-time monitoring and analysis of the electromagnetic spectrum, leaving any enemy completely out in the open during a conflict.

An overwhelming majority of homeowners at three upmarket estates in Hong Kong are suspected to have enlarged their properties on public land without approval and at essentially no cost for years, a Post investigation has found, exposing the scale of the malpractice in the land-scarce city.

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”.

China has appointed capital markets veteran Wu Qing to head the nation’s securities watchdog – a move that will place the nation’s US$8 trillion stock market under his supervision as one of several measures laid down by Beijing to blunt a downturn.

Argentinian football star Lionel Messi played the final 30 minutes of his Inter Miami team’s game against Vissel Kobe in Japan on Wednesday, the sharp contrast further fuelling the anger of fans in Hong Kong where he sat out his game just three days ago citing an injury and left the city outraged.

China’s famous “Harvard girl”, who became a national sensation more than two decades ago when she won a full scholarship to the prestigious United States university, is back in the spotlight.

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Chinese telecoms giant Huawei raided in France by financial prosecutors

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3251475/chinese-telecoms-giant-huawei-raided-france-financial-prosecutors?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese wireless equipment maker Huawei Technologies said its office in France was searched as part of a preliminary investigation by French financial prosecutors.

The probe is into suspicions of atteinte à la probité, a justice ministry official said on Thursday, referring to a catch-all term that could include corruption, misuse of public funds or influence peddling, among other infractions. He declined to provide any further details on the alleged actions.

Huawei France, which is based near Paris, said in an emailed statement that the search occurred on Tuesday at its office. It added that it had cooperated fully with the investigations and would continue to do so.

“Huawei has been in France for over 20 years, and has been in compliance with all the French laws and regulations,” the company said in the statement. “While Huawei France does not wish to comment on an ongoing investigation, the company remains confident about its conclusions.”

Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro is a blow to US sanctions but battles remain, analysts say

French news website l’Informe first reported the probe.

Huawei has research centres in France and is currently building its first production factory outside China in a town near Strasbourg.

In December, Huawei France’s co-head Zhang Minggang told radio station France Inter that the factory, which will produce telecommunications equipment for European markets, is scheduled to open at the end of 2025 and should employ 500 people in the long run.

Still, a decision by France to keep the company out of some integral parts of its wireless infrastructure, which prompted operators to begin to remove equipment in cities, has weighed on Huawei’s revenue in the country.

Filings by Huawei Technologies France show that the unit’s revenue in the country declined to €992 million (US$1.1 billion) in 2022, the most recent year available, from €1.4 billion in 2019.

Huawei is still working with French mobile phone carriers, SFR, a unit of Altice France, and Bouygues to deploy their 5G networks, Zhang said in December.

China ‘Bo Bo Chicken’ dance craze sweeps nation with catchy tune sampled from street vendor cry, surpasses ‘subject three’ mania

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3250395/china-bo-bo-chicken-dance-craze-sweeps-nation-catchy-tune-sampled-street-vendor-cry-surpasses?utm_source=rss_feed

A new dance craze named after China’s famous Bo Bo chicken snack has gone viral on mainland social media.

Two months after the hip-twisting folk dance known as “subject three” became an online sensation, new dance moves inspired by the spicy skewer snack featuring chicken, its offal and a variety of vegetables and meats, has become all the rage online.

On Douyin, the mainland version of TikTok, people have been posting different versions of the Bo Bo Chicken dance since January.

The most popular version by far features the dancer’s head bobbing back and forth like a chicken’s, and leg and hip twisting movements similar to the iconic moves of the subject three dance.

Aside from the dance moves, the accompanying tune, with its catchy rhythm and lyrics, has intrigued people the most.

It also includes a sample of the cry street vendors in southwestern China’s Sichuan province make when they sell the dish.

Hawker shouts of “Bo Bo Chicken, Bo Bo Chicken, one yuan (14 US cents) per skewer”, was reportedly captured by a car driver as he passed by a vendor during a traffic jam, and went viral before being used in various memes.

The sample was even added to a concert video of Singaporean singer and songwriter JJ Lin, because people thought it went well with his dance moves.

Despite many people finding it amusing, Lin himself was not impressed, posting on Instagram that people who put “weird music” over his concert footage should “not come to my concerts next time”, with the hashtags #notfunny and #norespect.

The sister dance to that of Bo Bo Chicken, subject three, went viral online after staff at branches of the Haidilao hotpot restaurant chain, which is famous across China for its entertaining service, performed it for customers.

Known as Ke Mu San dance in Chinese, it was said to originally be a folk dance performed at weddings in the southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and a symbol of joy and blessing.

Haidilao rewarded the staff members who thought of the idea, and promoted the dance across all its mainland outlets, asking its employees nationwide to learn the moves.

The dance became so popular that young performers from China and the US performed it during the Lunar New Year party at the Chinese embassy in the United States on January 28.

It is also set to be performed during the China Central Television Spring Festival gala, the country’s most-watched show.

However, not everybody is a fan.

Some have criticised the hip-twisting moves for being “too vulgar”.

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China’s ‘protectionism’ problem at local levels must be quelled, government adviser warns Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3251436/chinas-protectionism-problem-local-levels-must-be-quelled-government-adviser-warns-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

China must come to grips with disorderly competition among its localities – along with an irresponsibly excessive adherence to the old ways of operating – to unleash the nation’s economic growth potential, according to a prominent political scientist who has also called for more economic integration with neighbouring countries.

Zheng Yongnian, an adviser to the central government, also called for “re-establishing” Hong Kong’s role as an international financial centre as he assessed choke points in invigorating the Chinese economy, in an article published on Wednesday.

“While Shanghai as a financial centre serves stability for us, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou should form a bridge to financial services that helps us compete with Wall Street,” said Zheng, who heads the Institute for International Affairs, Qianhai – a think tank based in Shenzhen, just across the mainland border from Hong Kong.

China is looking to invigorate its sputtering economy that has struggled to show a strong recovery in a post-pandemic climate, and growth has been further dragged by Washington’s trade curbs and calls to de-risk from China in the supply chain.

China’s three-legged race to fend off the 4 D’s of an economic apocalypse

Zheng advised China to cultivate new growth momentum, such as through a greater willingness to “be more open and promise higher-quality conditions” when negotiating with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in upgrading an established trade deal.

“Our supply and industrial chain has been extended … we should aim to build a common market with Asean in the future,” Zheng said.

Domestically, while Beijing has been scrambling to roll out economic stimulus and boost investor confidence through measures that aim to unleash consumption potential or relax property restrictions, Zheng raised concerns about the implementation of these policies.

“The central government came up with as many policies as possible to support private enterprises, but when they are being carried out at the local level, there are a lot of shady implementations, and some local practices even go against these policies,” Zheng said.

Beijing has vowed to boost its economy through a 31-point plan launched last year that aims to shore up the ailing private sector that underpins economic growth, jobs and technological innovation through increasing private investment spending and passing laws that would help stabilise the business environment.

“Bureaucracy and formalism still prevail, and some government departments are unwilling or do not dare to be responsible, making it hard for policies to yield results,” he added.

On Sunday, Shanghai’s transport authorities reversed a policy that banned ride-hailing services at its Pudong International Airport after the initial announcement caused widespread criticism from the public, with accusations that the policy conflicted with the central government’s vow to foster a stable and marketised economy.

Li Qiang vows ‘practical’ cooperation with Asean in bid to reassure neighbours

Zheng said examples of unhealthy competition among local governments, at a time when they are desperate to fuel growth, include attempts to deter businesses from moving to other provinces and making under-the-table deals to meet investment targets.

“There has been a return of local protectionism, and if this trend does not reverse, it would block the development of a unified domestic market,” Zheng warned, referring to Beijing’s development outlook to build more efficient and smoother flows of domestic production factors, including labour, goods, capital and data.

Despite growing by 5.2 per cent last year – after Beijing had set a target of “around 5 per cent” – China’s economy has been seen to be losing steam, with an ailing property sector and declining private-sector investments in its post-pandemic recovery, against the backdrop of persistent tensions with the US.

Zheng said China’s economy has also been challenged by American policies that he said have utilised a “cognitive warfare” approach by sending warnings concerning economic struggles while branding China an “uninvestable” place.

“This has seriously affected the global impression of China and China’s business environment,” Zheng said, adding that there has been a spillover effect on the strong US dollar, which he said has been beneficial to the US in terms of attracting talent and resources.

Zheng urged the Chinese government to consider opening up areas that would fulfil conditions in joining multilateral trade deals, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which China has been pushing to join.

“We should expand such unilateral openness to more areas,” he said. “This is not to do so without having bottom lines, but to identify what is beneficial to us and open up according to our needs.”

Australia hopes to ‘really elevate’ ties with Papua New Guinea amid China concerns, extends rugby diplomacy

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3251443/australia-hopes-really-elevate-ties-papua-new-guinea-amid-china-concerns-extends-rugby-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed

Australia is pushing to deepen its all-round ties with Papua New Guinea by providing further support for the development of the island nation’s rugby league, an effort that comes alongside a historic speech by PNG Prime Minister James Marape in Canberra on Thursday.

Marape, in his speech as the first Pacific Island leader to address the Australian parliament, asked Australia not to “give up” on his country, saying it would continue with structural reforms including improving efficiency in its public sector and making changes to its courts, judiciary and police forces.

The issue of policing has been an undercurrent of concern for Australia and the region after the island nation and China engaged in early talks over potential security and policy deals last month.

Following the deadly riots that rocked the PNG capital of Port Moresby last month, China offered to train the island nation’s police force, a move which mirrored the deal struck between China and Solomon Islands two years ago that whipped up panic in Canberra and Washington.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Thursday said Marape’s speech and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s speech in the PNG parliament last year – a first by a foreign leader – were critical as both countries sought to “really elevate” their relationship.

She said there had been a “decade of inaction” from the previous government in relation to Australia’s relationship with its Pacific neighbours and Australia must now work harder, given greater competition in the region stemming from China’s growing influence.

“We live in a different era, and we’re not going back to where we were … what we are doing is re-emphasising our part in the Pacific family and the importance of that engagement, and you’re seeing that today,” she said.

Australia pushes for PNG security pact to counter China’s Pacific influence

Reinforcing the need for stronger relations with the Pacific nations and other countries and to avoid being blind sided by new powers in the region, Wong and shadow foreign minister Simon Birmingham on the same day launched a new paper that called for Canberra to adopt a whole-of nation foreign policy, not one that was executed by just “one arm of government”.

“It’s not just up to our diplomats in the world. It starts with who we are as a country, our first nation’s history, our multicultural fabric, our institutions, business, academia, and civil society,” Wong said.

The Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue (AP4D) that prepared the report through consultations with over 90 multidiscipline organisations, said Canberra must avoid “foreign policy autopilot” and implement an international policy that also involved non-government organisations such as business, NGOs, community and diaspora groups, and sports.

Other reports such as Australia’s new Defence Strategic Review had previously also called for a better whole-of-nation approach to foreign policy.

Australia’s support of Papua New Guinea’s rugby league performance was an example of “recognising all the tools of statecraft Australia has to build friendship and connections”, through sports in this case, AP4D executive director Melissa Conley Tyler said.

A welcome reception for Marape that included attendees from various non-government sectors held by Canberra on Wednesday night before his speech was a step in that direction, Tyler added.

In a soft-power move that is quickly becoming a staple in the Australia-PNG relationship – which embodies this whole-of-nation model – Canberra on Thursday announced it was extending the funding of PNG’s professional rugby team, the PNG Hunters’ participation in an Australian rugby league competition, the Queensland Cup.

Canberra would also help PNG establish a national women’s rugby competition.

These add to Australia’s promise to fund the rugby league-crazed nation’s bid to be the 18th team in the top-level rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand, the National Rugby League, when it expands in a few years.

Marape was expected to discuss the funding on his trip to Canberra.

Local analysts have commended Canberra’s support for PNG’s rugby as a key to strong friendships.

“Deploying rugby league to defend Australia’s interests is unconventional geopolitical strategy … sponsoring a team in rugby league-mad Papua New Guinea is the simplest – and by far cheapest – option to secure Australia’s vital northern sea approaches from Chinese Communist Party domination,” Fulbright scholar Misha Zelinsky said in an analysis last year.

Pat Conroy, Australia’s minister for the Pacific, said in a local interview on Thursday that PNG had conveyed that they would be “working with its traditional partners, being Australia, United States, and would not be doing a security agreement with China”.

Conroy also reinforced that Australia was PNG’s primary security partner and has a “strong policing cooperation” with PNG. Late last year, the two countries signed a historic security pact on policing, defence and the judiciary.

World needs China to take up diplomatic gauntlet in Middle East

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3251390/world-needs-china-take-diplomatic-gauntlet-middle-east?utm_source=rss_feed

The UN Security Council emergency meeting, held on February 5 at Russia’s request to deliberate the US military strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria – and the potential implications for peace and security in a region still reeling from the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and the disproportionate reprisals – ended in an inconclusive but predictable manner.

The five permanent members stuck to their respective national positions – as is often the case when there is a sharp divergence between the United States and Russia – and there appears to be little light at the end of a dark, blood-spattered tunnel. An escalation stemming from miscalculation could have catastrophic consequences given the number of interlocutors in the turbulence that has engulfed the long-troubled Middle East.

The US justified the strikes as acting in self-defence after the killing of three of its military personnel at a US base in northeastern Jordan in a drone attack on January 28. It conducted 85 strikes on February 2 in Iraq and Syria against reported Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Forces and affiliated groups. Meanwhile, Russia and China both denounced the US response.

Russia’s representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said the US actions had increased the level of instability in an already “burning” region. In a more temperate turn of phrase, Zhang Jun, China’s ambassador to the UN, noted that US military action was creating new turmoil in the Middle East and called on all countries concerned to stop acting out of self-interest, adding: “We are standing at a critical crossroads and should not forget that we are all in the same boat.”

This is a pertinent observation, and a similar sentiment has been voiced in different ways, the most relevant being in relation to the Cold War decades, when former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev remarked that “security is indivisible”. It is worth remembering, too, that Chinese President Xi Jinping dwelt on this concept during his address at the 2022 Boao Forum, just three days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 that year.

Scholars Zha Daojiong and Dong Ting wrote in an Asian Perspective journal article last year that Xi’s speech “used the expression ‘anquan buke fenge’ put forward as a principle (‘yuanze’). The core elements therein are ‘anquan’ (security) and ‘buke fenge’ (not to be divided or separated in conceptualisation). When used to discuss topics pertaining to national security and/or international affairs, ‘buke fenge’ can be translated into English as ‘inalienable’, ‘inseparable’ or ‘indivisible’.”

China surprised the world with its diplomatic dexterity last year by helping broker a deal between regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia. While the structural fault lines between Tehran and Riyadh in the religious, ethnic and geopolitical spheres will pose complex challenges, the resumption of normal diplomatic engagement between the regional heavyweights augurs well.

Beijing must now seek to burnish its nascent credibility as an enabling power in conflict negotiations and contributing to the global good. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council that pitches itself as being in the same league as the US, China should pick up the political-diplomatic gauntlet to stabilise things in West Asia.

The US, which is directly involved in the affairs of the region and has been an overarching security provider to most Arab nations, is now seen to be more aligned with Israel, and the tensions with Russia over Ukraine seem intractable. This is playing out in the Middle East, where the support of proxies is an opaque minefield.

Why China is unlikely to be able to cut the Israel-Palestine Gordian knot

The situation is fraught with danger. CIA director Bill Burns cautioned in a recent essay that: “I have spent much of the last four decades working in and on the Middle East, and I have rarely seen it more tangled or explosive.”

Given the breakdown in US-Russia relations over Ukraine, the UN Security Council has been paralysed since that war began. The stasis in meaningful conflict negotiations related to a “tangled” Middle East illustrates this dangerous deadlock.

Beijing has a rare opportunity to explore options for lowering the temperature, in the first instance to ensure the spiral of violence – whether from the Houthis, other non-state entities and their proxy supporters, or reprisal attacks by the US and its allies – is halted to enable tentative negotiations.

Aside from the Iran-Saudi rapprochement, which is still a work in progress, Beijing has not made a significant contribution in conflict mitigation or management. Its image is that of a steely transactional power with a singular pursuit of Chinese interests. As it seeks to project itself as a major global power, in contrast to the hegemonic US, China would be well advised to review its tangible contribution to the global good.

The Indian experience of the early Cold War decades, when there was a near breakdown between the US and former Soviet Union, could be instructive. Despite its modest economic and military profile, New Delhi with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the helm punched well above its weight and made a significant contribution in the Korean war armistice, the acceptance of the partial nuclear test ban treaty and in enabling Austria to remain neutral and safe from the Soviet embrace.

It would be disappointing if China chose to punch well below its economic weight and technological clout and fail to realise its professed commitment to “indivisible security”. This crisis is an opportune moment for Beijing to douse the fires.

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China spotlights drones at Saudi defence show to lure Middle Eastern buyers as conflicts in Gaza and Red Sea escalate

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3251429/china-spotlights-drones-saudi-defence-show-lure-middle-eastern-buyers-conflicts-gaza-and-red-sea?utm_source=rss_feed

Drones took centre stage as Chinese arms contractors attempted to lure buyers at a defence exhibition in the Middle East amid escalating conflict in Gaza and the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia hosted the second World Defence Show (WDS) in Riyadh from February 4 to 8, showcasing weapons and military equipment from 773 exhibitors representing more than 75 countries. More than 36 Chinese arms contractors and other companies took part in the event.

One of the highlights of the Chinese pavilion was a display of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) from drone manufacturers that have made deals with Middle Eastern countries.

Beijing’s state-run firms displayed more than 30 types of UAVs in the pavilion, including a Wing Loong-2 from the Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group with the Saudi flag printed on its tail wing.

The Wing Loong-2, first introduced in 2017, can carry 480kg (1,058lbs) of weapons for up to 32 hours.

Saudi Arabia has operated the model since 2017, when it bought 300 Chinese UAVs. The drone was reportedly used in the Yemeni civil war against the Houthi militia.

Several private Chinese drone companies made their first Saudi appearance at this year’s show. Beijing Hoverwing Technology displayed its largest multipurpose military drone, the HW-150V, which is capable of surveillance, mapping, and air strikes.

“We have already sold it to the [United Arab Emirates] police, and we are also manufacturing it there in the UAE. It’s our first time displaying in Saudi Arabia, and I hope there will be demand here as well,” said Muhammad Aqdas Saeed, a technical executive at Pakistani defence procurement company Crimson International.

“In the future [there will be] a very big demand in the Middle East … because they are shifting their defence technology. They are saving their troops without risking the lives of the soldiers,” said Saeed, who was promoting Hoverwing’s latest UAV models at the defence show.

Leap1 Innovations, another private defence supplier in China, showcased its latest portable coaxial dual rotor drone models, which have vertical take-off and landing functions and can carry a payload of up to 3kg.

“It’s not that heavy, so soldiers can take it around easily. The portable function makes it easier to be used in the battleground,” said Zhang Huimin, a sales representative at the company’s booth.

“This is our first time here, and we hope to find our target customers in the Middle East.”

Echoing the theme of this year’s defence show, “Equipped For Tomorrow”, attendees noted that Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries were interested in acquiring the most advanced military technology – especially drones.

“We all have a collective responsibility to work together toward advancing the aspirations of the kingdom’s military industry,” said Abdullah Abdulaziz Alhammad, deputy governor for strategy and performance at the General Authority for Military Industries, a government entity responsible for regulating and supporting Saudi Arabia’s military industry, at a conference with Saudi officials during the defence show.

“In this era of unprecedented challenges and technological advancements, government and industry have proven essential in propelling our defence capabilities for recognising this dynamic landscape.”

Drones have become increasingly important in conflicts in the Middle East as the Israel-Gaza war enters its fourth month and expands into the Red Sea after the US and Britain launched strikes against Iran-backed Houthi militias that have attacked commercial ships.

Last month, Iran-backed militias made drone strikes on a US military base in Jordan near the Syrian border, killing three American soldiers and wounding around 40 people.

US President Joe Biden expressed plans to retaliate, and Washington launched an air assault last week on sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iran-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Will drones replace human agents in Chinese military missions within 10 years?

Kostas Tigkos, head of mission systems and intelligence at global military intelligence company Janes, said drones had proved to be an “effective way” to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) and strike missions at a fraction of the cost of manned aviation, without putting pilots at risk.

Tigkos noted that the market for drones was growing worldwide, and in the Middle East in particular, countries have started local development of systems that benefit domestic industry while also offering export potential.

“Given the security and risk situation across the Middle East, UAVs are offering a solution to multiple mission requirements – from persistent surveillance over areas of interest to precision strike – ideal for counter-insurgency,” Tigkos said.

Why Israel-Gaza war might complicate China’s Mideast military drone market

According to a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute arms transfer database, China has exported more than 280 combat UAVs in the past decade.

Countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia are among the biggest buyers of Chinese drones such as the Wing-Loong I and II, and the CH-3 and CH-4.

Tigkos said China had a range of drones with good capabilities and competitive pricing. He added that Chinese drones were easier to purchase than American equivalents because of Washington’s restrictions on armed drone sales overseas.

He said Chinese drones had “repeatedly and over prolonged periods” been deployed in conflicts in the Middle East, such as the Yemeni civil war, and demand in the region was likely to increase over time.

“Generally, they are believed to have been successfully deployed on many occasions … For Middle East cases, it’s mostly in Iraq and [the Saudi-Yemen conflict],” Tigkos said, adding that there were “hundreds of strikes reported from Chinese-made drones” in these conflicts.

China tech: five US venture capital firms invested over US$3 billion in mainland AI, semiconductors

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3251468/china-tech-five-us-venture-capital-firms-invested-over-us3-billion-mainland-ai-semiconductors?utm_source=rss_feed

A US congressional panel monitoring China has concluded that five American venture capital firms invested a combined US$3 billion or more in the mainland’s artificial intelligence and semiconductor industries, and used its findings to call for more restrictions on the US financial industry’s ties to the country.

The five were GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Walden International, according to a report released by the US House select committee on the Chinese Communist Party on Thursday after a seven-month investigation.

Together the companies have invested more than US$1.9 billion in Chinese AI companies, which includes over US$1 billion in ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, according to the probe led by Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher, the committee’s chairman, and its ranking member, Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi.

In addition, more than US$1 billion has flowed to more than 150 semiconductor companies in China, including over US$50 million to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, the report stated.

SMIC is the mainland’s largest semiconductor foundry company and since 2020 has been on the US government’s Entity List, which bars it from buying tools from US suppliers without a special licence.

“Decades of investment – including funding, knowledge transfer and other intangible benefits – from US VCs have helped build and strengthen the PRC’s priority sectors,” the lawmakers wrote in the report. “This bell cannot be unrung.”

“Simply put, robust PRC-outbound investment restrictions in key strategic sectors are a national security and human rights imperative.”

Other Chinese tech companies identified by the report, on the US government blacklist and in receipt of investment from the five US VC firms included AI developers Megvii and SenseTime, which are alleged to be involved in surveillance of Uygurs, an ethnic minority group in China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

China’s Xinjiang invites overseas media to political meetings for first time

Beyond what the investigation documented, billions more in US money have poured into China, supporting the country’s military, “digital authoritarianism, and efforts to develop technological supremacy and undermine American technological leadership”, according to the report.

“The status quo is untenable,” it said.

The findings resulted from an investigation launched by the House committee in July last year. The probe initially involved four of the VC firms and extended to Sequoia Capital in October.

That development dealt a fresh blow to the already struggling US dollar-denominated funds in China, which had benefited from the rise of many mainland tech firms over the last two decades.

In a reply to the Post, a Qualcomm spokesperson said that its VC unit invests in companies worldwide as part of its engagement with the global tech ecosystem.

“Qualcomm’s investments are generally small in any given market compared to venture firms and constitute less than two per cent of the total investments discussed in today’s report,” the spokesperson said.

GGV Capital, GSR Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Walden International did not immediately respond to Post queries regarding the congressional findings.

In Thursday’s report, the lawmakers recommended that Washington immediately restrict US investment in entities sanctioned or red-flagged by the US government for ties to either the People’s Liberation Army or forced labour and genocide.

China to more tightly control ethnic minority discussion to temper ‘risks’

Meanwhile, they recommended implementing additional outbound-investment restrictions in areas related to China’s critical and emerging technologies, military capabilities and human rights.

Beijing has vehemently denied that any human rights abuses have taken place in Xinjiang, where the West’s accusations of genocide and forced labour have centred.

The recommendations followed US President Joe Biden’s executive order in August prohibiting US private equity and venture capital investments from funnelling into four Chinese tech sectors: AI, quantum computing, semiconductors and microelectronics.

An escalating rivalry between the world’s two largest economies has already triggered ruptures between American venture capital funds and Chinese tech start-ups.

US Congress mulls new methods to restrict investment in Chinese tech sectors

Last June, Sequoia Capital announced a formal split from its Chinese section Sequoia China, which has been rebranded as HongShan.

In September, GGV Capital said it was splitting its business into two, with one focused on Asia and the other on the US. The separation is slated for completion by the end of the first quarter of 2024.

Last week, at a hearing by the House Financial Services subcommittee on national security, illicit finance and international financial institutions, US lawmakers solicited recommendations for potential legislative actions to tighten restrictions on outbound investment that could bolster China’s tech and military sectors.

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