• EU ‘absolutely willing’ to use trade tools against China to fight unfair practices as bloc launches train probe
• Munich Security Conference: China’s Wang Yi defends ties with Russia, warns West on Taiwan ‘red line’
• China deports ‘black hand’ foreigner over theft of thousands of wild plants
• Hong Kong, mainland China authorities in talks on travel scheme expansion to allow more visitors from tier 2 and 3 cities, top official says
• Amid China activities in Pacific, US military should turn to machine learning: American admiral
• Ni hao, Singapore: China’s Lunar New Year holidaymakers revel in visa-free travel
• Hong Kong is struggling to restore its image as a global city | China
• Young man in China pays US$210-a-day for bodyguards to look good on visit to hometown at Lunar New Year, demand for such services rises 4-fold
• How Hunan’s new African trade hub could help landlocked Chinese province ‘catch up’ with coastal powerhouses
• China’s Wang Yi voices concerns to US over Taiwan, trade and anti-Chinese harassment in talks with Antony Blinken
• Chinese scientists use massive databank and AI in effort to predict dementia 15 years before symptoms start
• ‘A truly remarkable phenomenon’: How a medieval imperial exam helped dismantle the aristocracy in Tang-era China
• China’s young adults choose to be ‘full-time children’, paid by their parents to do chores amid record-high youth unemployment
• Asia is embracing China’s vision of a peaceful, secure and prosperous future
• Is the Philippines becoming a US ‘proxy’ against Beijing in the South China Sea?
• Chinese start-up EmdoorVR counts on Apple Vision Pro lookalike to break into consumer headset market
• China, Russia and Cambodia top list of regimes targeting critics in exile
• In quantum tech entanglement with China, US may ‘already be behind’ as it moves to block access
• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet in Munich

EU ‘absolutely willing’ to use trade tools against China to fight unfair practices as bloc launches train probe

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3252287/eu-absolutely-willing-use-trade-tools-against-china-fight-unfair-practices-bloc-launches-train-probe?utm_source=rss_feed

The European Union is “absolutely willing to use” its suite of trade tools to combat perceived unfair competition from China, a top official said in Munich on Saturday.

A day after Brussels launched its first investigation into Chinese state-owned train maker CRRC over state subsidies, EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said it had an obligation to put the weapons to use.

“These are the early days of this investigation, but it is a very important signal to the business community in Europe and outside of Europe, that we’re absolutely willing to use our tools to make sure that we get fair competition,” Vestager told reporters on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

On Friday, the European Commission said it was investigating a subsidiary of CRRC, Qingdao Sifang Locomotive, over a procurement contract with Bulgaria worth €610 million (US$655 million) to provide electric trains.

No urgent EU help for European solar industry to fight cheap China imports

Under the foreign subsidies regulation, companies must flag the state subsidies they have received when bidding for procurement tenders in the EU. In a press release, the commission said there were “sufficient indications that this company has been granted a foreign subsidy that distorts the internal market”.

“We have subsidies all over the planet. I think Europe is the only jurisdiction where we have an elaborate system to control it, so that we know when we spent and how we spent, for what purpose, and that is transparent to competitors who may not get the same,” Vestager said.

Asked whether more investigations could be expected before the European elections in June, Vestager said the timing “cannot matched with an election day” in mind, but that “it must be done on substance, on the case”.

“So I want you to take note of the fact that we’re willing to use it and now the first case when it comes to public tendering is a rail case, but it could have been other sectors as well,” she said.

EU’s plans for tougher China stance risk coming off the rails

The rail inquiry marks the latest EU investigation into Chinese business practices. There has been a string of trade investigations, the highest-profile of which targets subsidies in the country’s electric vehicles sector.

Vestager denied, however, that the trade and competition weapons were pointed squarely at China.

“I think you can’t say that we’re not stepping up against China. We’re stepping up against what we see as unfair,” she said, adding that it should not have come as a surprise that the tool had been invoked.

“It has taken some time to get the foreign subsidies instrument ready and I think we have been absolutely transparent about why we would want it and what should be the use of it. Now we have it and now we have an obligation to use it.”

A Chinese business group in Europe “expressed its great disappointment and deep concerns with this investigation”.

“The initiation of an in-depth investigation … has sent a discouraging message to Chinese investors intending to cultivate and operate in the EU market,” read a statement from the China Chamber of Commerce to the EU.

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Munich Security Conference: China’s Wang Yi defends ties with Russia, warns West on Taiwan ‘red line’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3252295/munich-security-conference-chinas-wang-yi-defends-ties-russia-warns-west-taiwan-red-line?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave a forceful defence of Beijing’s ties with Moscow and warned the West not to cross red lines on Taiwan, during a combative speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

At a gathering dominated by the prospect of a US retreat from the international stage under a second Donald Trump presidency, Wang pitched Beijing as a reliable actor.

“No matter how the world changes, China is a responsible major country that will keep its major principles and policies consistent and stable ... In a turbulent world China will be a force for stability,” he said.

But – just a day after Wang met his US counterpart Antony Blinken – there were also thinly veiled swipes at the United States and a firm rejection of a direct request for China to rein in Russia, almost two years into its invasion of Ukraine.

On Ukraine, Beijing’s top diplomat said China had been “working relentlessly to promote peace and peace talks”, but there were “not ripe conditions in place for parties to go back to the negotiating table”.

According to Bloomberg, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was seeking to meet Wang at the Munich event to try and convince Beijing to take part in a Kyiv-backed summit on peace.

Countering criticism of Beijing’s close ties with Moscow, Wang said the relationship was based on “no alliances, no confrontation and not targeting any third party”.

European leaders have frequently pointed to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s regular contacts with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin since the start of the war, compared with his single telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. They say that Beijing has sent a delegate to only one of a series of Kyiv-backed peace talks.

But Wang said Xi had “in-depth exchanges with world leaders including Russian and Ukrainian leaders” and China’s special envoy, Li Hui, had “travelled intensively to mediate among different parties”.

The veteran diplomat laughed when moderator and conference chairman Christoph Heusgen asked if China would accept a “code of conduct for the South China Sea”, given the threats to navigation and “risky encounters” in the disputed waters and the Taiwan Strait – as well as the Red Sea.

“The Taiwan question cannot be compared with what’s happening in the Red Sea. The Taiwan question is China’s internal affair ... Taiwan is a part of China. It has never been a country,” Wang said.

Turning to the Middle East, he called for a two-state solution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, continuing an effort to present Beijing as the leader of the Global South.

“Efforts should be made towards a two-state solution. Only when that is realised can the state of Palestine and the state of Israel live in peace, and with assurance from the international community, can enduring security enjoyed by Israel,” Wang said.

He dismissed concerns about the Chinese economy and warned those considering de-risking that “the world economy is like a big ocean that cannot be cut into isolated lakes”.

“Those who attempt to shut China out in the name of de-risking will make a historical mistake,” Wang said, adding that the “global economy was weighed down by protectionism”.

Asked about fresh allegations of forced labour in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang that have prompted big German companies BASF and Volkswagen to reassess their presence there, Wang gave the claims short shrift.

“We have seen so much fabricated information from different parties,” Wang said. “The so-called forced labour is only a groundless accusation.”

He invited conference attendees to go to Xinjiang, saying it was “open to all that are interested to visit”.

Previously, European diplomats in Beijing have declined invitations to the region because they were not allowed to meet detained members of the Uygur community.

Wang’s midday appearance on the second day of the annual gathering Munich, billed as the “Davos of Defence”, followed addresses by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Zelensky.

Amid concerns that a returning Trump would abandon Kyiv if he won the presidential election in November, Zelensky invited the former US president to Ukraine to see the “real war”. “If Mr Trump will come, I am ready to go with him to the front line,” he said.

On Friday, in a whirlwind of diplomacy in the Bavarian city, Wang sat down with counterparts from Britain, the European Union, and the US.

After the Wang-Blinken meeting, both sides issued statements that were markedly more conciliatory than a year earlier when the pair met in Munich amid a row over a Chinese surveillance balloon.

Speaking on the Munich stage after Wang, Blinken said: “We have an obligation to manage that relationship responsibly, and I think that’s something that we hear from countries around the world.”

In separate talks with British Foreign Secretary David Cameron, Wang urged Britain to “properly handle differences and conflicts, and push China-UK relations back to the right track”, according to a Chinese foreign ministry account.

Cameron raised “a number of areas of disagreement, including on human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong”, a British readout said.

The former prime minister also raised British lawmakers sanctioned by China and “reiterated his call for the release of British national Jimmy Lai”.

China deports ‘black hand’ foreigner over theft of thousands of wild plants

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3252285/china-deports-black-hand-foreigner-over-theft-thousands-wild-plants?utm_source=rss_feed

China has deported a foreigner for gathering protected plants, warning that external forces had infringed the country’s ecological security.

In a post on its WeChat account on Saturday, the Ministry of State Security said the foreigner “illegally excavated and collected” China’s key protected plant species.

“The foreigner was instructed by an overseas organisation to illegally dig up and collect specimens and seed samples of thousands of wild plant species, and transported them abroad through illegal channels nearly 2,000 times,” the ministry said.

“The state security agency has expelled him/her in accordance with the law, successfully cutting off the ‘black hand’ of foreign forces that infringed on China’s ecological security.”

The ministry did not say the name or nationality of the defendant or identify the plants taken.

But it said the offender travelled to “dozens of reserves and scenic areas” in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces from 2011 in an operation that lasted nine years.

It also did not specify which law the foreigner broke but cited the country’s counter-espionage law, saying that “stealing, spying on, purchasing, and illegally providing” the “foregoing documents, data, materials, or items”, were all acts of espionage.

The provision is one of the expanded parts of the amended law that came into effect in July.

Before the amendment, espionage was defined as stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing “state secrets or intelligence”.

But it has since been widened to say that all documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests have the same protection as state secrets and intelligence.

The ministry also cited the country’s regulations on the import and export of endangered wild fauna and flora, as well as regulations on nature reserves.

Citing the nature reserve regulations, the ministry said “foreigners entering a nature reserve shall be approved in advance by the nature reserve management organ” and must not “engage in [unapproved] activities such as collecting specimens in nature reserves”.

Under new law, China is ‘encouraging citizens to spy on each other’, US says

China is one of only a few “mega biodiverse” countries in the world. Since 1956, it has established close to 10,000 protected areas of all types and at all levels, accounting for about 18 per cent of its total land area, according to the 2021 State Council white paper “Biodiversity Conservation in China”.

In 2022, the United Nations biodiversity negotiations, which were originally scheduled to be held in Kunming, Yunnan province, moved to Montreal amid Beijing’s pandemic control measures.

Still retaining Kunming as one of the hosts, the conference in Montreal culminated in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a global biodiversity action programme.

Hong Kong, mainland China authorities in talks on travel scheme expansion to allow more visitors from tier 2 and 3 cities, top official says

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3252283/hong-kong-mainland-china-authorities-talks-travel-scheme-expansion-allow-more-visitors-tier-2-and-3?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong authorities are in talks with their mainland Chinese counterparts on expanding a travel scheme which will allow more residents from second- and third-tier cities to visit, with the possibility of a multiple-entry arrangement, a top official has revealed.

Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki said he hoped more visitors could visit Hong Kong from the mainland “as soon as possible” to help boost the tourism sector, although he stopped short of giving a timeline.

“We are … looking to expand the list of cities to the scheme, and also exploring the possibility of multiple-entry endorsements,” Chan told a radio programme.

He added that the government would have to liaise with the authorities of different provinces and cities, which could “take some time”.

Currently, residents from 49 mainland cities can travel to Hong Kong via the Individual Visit Scheme.

Under the scheme, each visitor is allowed to stay in Hong Kong for up to seven days in each of the one to two visits during the three-month or one-year validity.

The scheme was implemented in 2003 and accounted for 60 per cent of overall mainland arrivals last year.

From 2009 onwards, Shenzhen residents were also allowed to apply for “multiple-entry” Individual Visit Endorsements, which enabled holders to enter and exit Hong Kong at will within a one-year validity period.

The “multiple-entry” provision was replaced by a “one trip per week” arrangement in 2015 due to Hong Kong residents’ concerns over parallel trading and the impact on the city’s carrying capacity due to the influx of visitors.

Hong Kong airport ranks fourth for passenger traffic in Asia-Pacific region

The carrying capacity refers to the city’s infrastructure limit in accommodating tourists.

Chan also said the extended border controls between Hong Kong and the mainland were not feasible on a daily basis, despite the number of visitors going back to pre-pandemic levels.

“We added the around-the-clock border control [over the Lunar New Year period], but we cannot do this every day,” he told the programme. “It will depend on our actual needs. If the demand is weak, it’d be a waste of resources. We have to be very precise.”

After thousands of mainland tourists were left stranded at the border following New Year’s Eve celebrations on January 1, Chan held discussions with mainland authorities on extending operating hours at checkpoints connected by railway services and increasing the number of 24-hour border crossings for the Lunar New Year period.

Driving tourism is as simple as focusing on Hong Kong’s unique appeal

The Shenzhen Bay checkpoint, connecting the western areas of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, operated 24 hours a day over a five-day period from Lunar New Year’s Eve on February 9 to February 13. The checkpoint usually operates between 6.30am and midnight.

Hong Kong has 14 control points and four operate around the clock – those at the airport, Lok Ma Chau, the Macau Ferry Terminal in Sheung Wan and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

“There are fewer people passing through the borders at night,” Chan said. “We’d encourage visitors to stay in Hong Kong if they’re here until 3am or 4am. We don’t have enough manpower and they might have a long wait.”

Hong Kong tourism blueprint ‘won’t be ready until second half of year’

Over the Lunar New Year period of February 10 to 13, the numbers of inbound and outbound visitors returned to pre-pandemic levels and operations were smooth, according to Chan.

He said that visitors on average stayed 3.1 nights before the pandemic, but the figure rose slightly to 3.4 in the fourth quarter of 2023.

He added that back in around 2017 and 2018, about 40 per cent of mainland visitors would stay overnight in Hong Kong, and the number increased to 46 per cent last year.

The city welcomed close to 4 million visitors in December, three-quarters of whom were from the mainland, according to Hong Kong Tourism Board statistics.

It marked an increase from 160,578 in December 2022 when the city’s pandemic restrictions were still in place, with 67,244 of them from the mainland.

Amid China activities in Pacific, US military should turn to machine learning: American admiral

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3252255/amid-china-activities-pacific-us-military-should-turn-machine-learning-american-admiral?utm_source=rss_feed

US Joint Forces should employ machine learning to better anticipate threats in the Pacific amid China’s activities in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, according to a senior American commander in the region.

Addressing Silicon Valley executives on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Defence Innovation Unit, a Pentagon group created to hasten the use of cutting-edge technologies, Admiral Samuel Paparo described difficulties the US had in picking up on military warnings.

Paparo said the past three years had been marked by an “erosion of strategic, operational and tactical” warnings, noting China’s military had experienced significant changes in its force levels and preparations.

The People’s Liberation Army was “raising the threshold of warning” to a point that soon the US would see “a force sufficient to execute a profound military operation” in the field “operating under a fig leaf of exercise”, the US Navy admiral added.

Other regional challenges included North Korea’s military provocation, Russia’s maritime ambitions in the Pacific, and the two countries’ weapons trade, he said.

While the Joint Forces have increasingly partnered with US allies, Paparo said “mass data analytics and processing” as well as the evaluation and dissemination of intelligence products should “go deeper to be able to determine” warnings.

Data analytics, for instance, could improve the American forces’ ability to forecast the intentions of competitors and “be prepared for aggression”.

Paparo said the challenge amounted to “what application can execute the mass data analytics and the precise covariance calculations that deliver a true, accurate picture to the war fighter [instantaneously] … with a low probability of intercept and with the kind of encryption that ensures that it’s secure”.

US military leaders have watched developments in the Pacific with mounting interest as Beijing has stepped up military drills and bolstered its presence in the South China Sea and the waters near Taiwan in recent years.

Beijing condemns Taiwan over sea chase that killed 2 mainland Chinese fishermen

Paparo said these developments represented China’s “undaunted ambitions for its excessive claims or their desire to coerce, if not effect through the use of force”.

The PLA regularly sends fighter jets, drones, and warships near Taiwan, with the island’s defence ministry saying China deployed surveillance balloons ahead of its presidential election last month.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary.

Most countries, including the US, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.

US to deploy 5 aircraft carriers in western Pacific in show of strength to China

US President Joe Biden has said US forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a mainland attack – an assertion Beijing has denounced.

Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on the US to stop arming Taiwan, calling the island the “most dangerous” issue in the Sino-American relationship.

Washington has also repeatedly condemned Chinese military moves in the South China Sea. Beijing claims historical sovereignty against neighbouring countries over the contested waters that fall within what it calls the “nine-dash line”.

Tensions between China and the Philippines have intensified in recent months, with frequent stand-offs taking place near Scarborough Shoal and Second Thomas Shoal, territories that both and other countries claim as their own.

Ni hao, Singapore: China’s Lunar New Year holidaymakers revel in visa-free travel

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3252280/ni-hao-singapore-chinas-lunar-new-year-holidaymakers-revel-visa-free-travel?utm_source=rss_feed

Singapore’s glitzy Marina Bay Sands resort was packed with tourists throughout the Lunar New Year holiday week, one of the biggest times for travel in China.

The upmarket shopping centre and casino was abuzz with holidaymakers making the most of the eight-day break and a new mutual visa waiver agreement with Beijing, which took effect on February 9, the eve of the annual vacation.

Under the agreement, travellers can now enjoy visa-free stays in either country for up to 30 days, extending the amount of time Singaporeans can spend in mainland China and removing a previous entry visa requirement for mainland Chinese visitors to Singapore.

The Southeast Asian city state, long popular with Chinese tourists, is hoping the agreement can give a further boost to its economy.

Early indicators suggest the visa waiver may already be yielding results but the lack of obvious activity at luxury boutiques point to a shift in spending among tourists.

Angel, from Yunnan province in southwest China, and her family were among the visitors who made the trip over the holiday.

“We like Singapore because it’s nearby and convenient, and it’s easier now that we don’t need a visa,” Angel said, waiting to pose for photos with an installation of three enormous Chinese dragon decorations hovering over the resort’s entrance.

The family has already been to Singapore several times, and intends to keep coming back.

“We’ve already been to other nearby countries, but we’ll keep coming back here because it’s not as expensive as Europe,” she added.

Travellers also seemed more cost conscious over at ION Orchard, an upmarket mall along the city’s main shopping belt.

While short queues formed at a handful of luxury boutiques, most customers emerged empty-handed. By contrast, mid-market stores like the shoe brand Charles and Keith were packed, as was the upmarket teahouse chain TWG.

“About 70 per cent of our footfall over the last two weeks has been from mainland Chinese,” said Adrian, a store assistant at a luxury boutique. He declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“But in my honest opinion, they’re not buying as much as they used to pre-Covid,” he added, saying that this might be because of the struggling Chinese economy and the stronger Singapore dollar.

Singapore last year logged 1.36 million visitor arrivals from China, its biggest source of tourists before the pandemic, according to data from the Singapore Tourism Board. it is a far cry from the 3.63 million Chinese visitors it drew in 2019.

But compared to far-flung locations like Paris or Rome, Singapore is an accessible alternative, building on a reputation for cleanliness and convenient transport.

It took the top spot in a 2023 survey of Chinese nationals’ most desired holiday destinations by marketing company China Trading Desk, beating out Europe, South Korea, and Thailand.

Bookings to Singapore for the Lunar New Year festive period by Chinese travellers soared 206 times compared to the same window last year, according to Edmund Ong, general manager of Trip.com Singapore.

Close to half of these bookings came from families, he added, with the Singapore Zoo, the Universal Studios Singapore theme park, and city tours being among the most popular attractions.

A director at a travel agency said her bookings from China had increased over the festive season, although by less than she had hoped for.

“Group sizes have shrunk and a lot of ‘free and easy’ individual travellers prefer a DIY approach instead of engaging a travel agent,” said Jasmine Li, the director of business development at Hong Thai Travel.

Bookings from China now make up around 30 per cent of her inbound business, compared with 35 per cent pre-pandemic.

China hopes tourism will boost economy. But what about foreign travellers?

Chinese tourists have also been spotted at unexpected locations, such as the city’s universities. Two of these have had a surge in complaints about tourist groups descending on the campuses for tours and disrupting classes, with one of the institutions saying it plans to introduce a visitor fee.

Singapore will also face stiffer competition next month, when a similar visa-free arrangement between China and Thailand takes effect. Mutual visa-free entry also applies between China and Malaysia, and Indonesia announced in December that it, too, is considering such a scheme.

“We wanted to come to Singapore even before the visa waiver was announced, because it’s convenient and very clean, so it did not make much difference,” said first-time visitor Dana, who was visiting from the eastern province of Zhejiang with her husband and two young sons for a weeklong holiday.

She said they had not yet decided when they would come back.

“We’ll see how it goes. It’s only our first day so we’re still not very familiar with the city. But we’re enjoying it so far, the people are very welcoming,” she said.

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Hong Kong is struggling to restore its image as a global city | China

https://www.economist.com/china/2024/02/15/hong-kong-is-struggling-to-restore-its-image-as-a-global-city

As China has struggled with reopening to the world, so too has Hong Kong. The former British colony has long branded itself “Asia’s world city”, a more international place than the mainland. But on top of the pandemic, a sweeping national-security law enacted in 2020 has crushed dissent and spooked foreigners. Some 34m tourists still visited last year, but that was only 57% of pre-pandemic numbers.

Hong Kong officials had hoped that holding some big events might help. To that end, they offered HK$16m ($2m) to help fund an exhibition football match featuring Lionel Messi, an Argentine superstar. Promoters plastered Mr Messi’s face on billboards across the city. On February 4th Inter Miami, Mr Messi’s club, played a local team in Hong Kong’s biggest stadium. Nearly 40,000 people paid up to HK$4,880 to watch.

They were disappointed. Mr Messi (pictured) spent the match on the bench, apparently suffering from a groin strain. The crowd booed Inter Miami off the pitch. To make things worse, three days later Mr Messi played a game in Japan, China’s long-time rival. The injury not only soured the football game; it also ignited a nationalist firestorm.

Regina Ip, a pro-mainland lawmaker in Hong Kong, said on social media that Mr Messi had made a “deliberate and calculated snub” to the city. She suggested that “black hands”—code for foreign plotters—were to blame. An editorial in the Global Times, a state-run tabloid, speculated that foreign powers were trying to undermine Hong Kong’s economy. Mr Messi’s account on Weibo, a social-media platform, was swamped by angry commenters.

Authorities in Beijing and Hangzhou then said that they would no longer host Argentina’s national football team in two friendly matches scheduled for March. The decision was made “for the reasons everyone knows,” according to officials in Hangzhou. Tatler Asia, the organiser of the match in Hong Kong, has pledged to return 50% of the price of the tickets.

All of this has made Hong Kong look worryingly like the mainland, where brands and celebrities are wary of offending thin-skinned nationalists. As well as the football, Hong Kongers have been talking about “Expats”, an Amazon Prime show about wealthy foreigners living in the city. Officials had hoped it would be good for Hong Kong’s image. In 2021 they even bent quarantine rules to allow Nicole Kidman, an Australian actress, to film on location. But some politicians have said the series portrays the city negatively. When it premiered on January 26th, Amazon did not make it available to viewers in the territory.

Undeterred, Hong Kong officials say they are planning dozens more “mega-events” to attract tourists. A new 50,000-seat stadium is set to open later this year. But in Hong Kong, as in mainland China, sports stars and other celebrities will need to tread more carefully. ■

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Young man in China pays US$210-a-day for bodyguards to look good on visit to hometown at Lunar New Year, demand for such services rises 4-fold

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3251206/young-man-china-pays-us210-day-bodyguards-look-good-visit-hometown-lunar-new-year-demand-such?utm_source=rss_feed

A man in China hired a bodyguard to escort him to his hometown during the Spring Festival so he could impress his neighbours and local matchmakers.

The man in his 20s, who uses the name Xiaoran, paid the burly bouncer 1,500 yuan (US$210) a day to drive him from Beijing where he worked to Hebei province in northern China, and provide other celebrity style services including carrying his bag and holding his umbrella, china.com.cn reported this month.

Xiaoran said he did so to impress matchmakers in his hometown, so that they could introduce him to “good” women.

An unexpected effect of his deception was that his neighbours, who used to argue about the use of shared land between their properties, had taken a more relaxed attitude to the situation, allowing Xiaoran’s family sole use.

Xiaoran is just one of the thousands of people who bought private bodyguard services from China’s e-commerce platforms during the months leading up to the Lunar New Year.

According to Taobao, which is operated by the Alibaba Group, owner of the South China Morning Post, the number of people inquiring about the service increased fourfold from last year.

The service is offered by professional security companies based in first-tier and second-tier cities, but targets customers across the nation.

According to one advertisement, the male bodyguards are all above 180cm tall and weigh at least 80kg, are well-trained in physical combat skills and business etiquette, and have a wealth of experience escorting celebrities.

The companies also provide female bodyguards.

The services they provide range from protecting customers from security threats to picking up children from school.

The comment sections on the website of the company also reveals the wide range of customer requirements.

One mother said she wanted the service to prevent her child from being forcibly taken away by her ex-husband during a custody trial.

Another hired a bodyguard to prevent former romantic partners ruining their wedding.

The companies made it clear their bodyguards would not engage in quarrelling, fighting or illegal activities.

For Xiaoran, he hired the bodyguard simply to look good in front of people, and he said it was worth the money. He used to drive expensive rented cars home, but they no longer appealed to him.

Private security is one of a wide range of services that went viral on Taobao recently.

Others included virtual study supervision, joke-telling, and “scolding and awakening lovesick people”.

“I want to hire a bodyguard to make me look good in front of my relatives at home,” a person on Weibo wrote.

How Hunan’s new African trade hub could help landlocked Chinese province ‘catch up’ with coastal powerhouses

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3252281/how-hunans-new-african-trade-hub-could-help-landlocked-chinese-province-catch-coastal-powerhouses?utm_source=rss_feed

Hunan province, the birthplace of Mao Zedong, has never been a front runner in China’s economic development, but it may soon find a niche as a hub for trade with Africa thanks to a plan approved last month by the State Council, the country’s cabinet.

With support from Beijing, Hunan will build a hub with six trade and logistics centres as part of a “pioneering zone for in-depth China-Africa economic and trade cooperation”, said Jiang Wei, director of West Asian and North African Affairs at China’s Ministry of Commerce, speaking on January 31 at a briefing on the plan.

Jiang said the China-Africa Deep Economic and Trade Cooperation Pioneer Zone’s six centres would be built around three themes – innovation, economic and trade cooperation, and industrial chains – with a conference centre or meeting venue.

By 2027, the zone is expected to be “a significant international platform for opening up and cooperation with Africa”, Hunan authorities said. And by 2035, the province aims to become a “globally competitive economic and trade hub for collaboration with Africa”.

Bumper US$3 billion trade boost in Hunan bid to become China-Africa hub

The African trade hub is part of Beijing’s plan to encourage economic growth in landlocked provinces. Compared to coastal powerhouse regions such as Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Hunan has historically had few international trade links. The province ranked seventh in terms of population in 2022, while its gross domestic product ranked ninth in the country.

However, Hunan’s economic and trade cooperation with Africa has grown 23.1 per cent annually on average over the past three years. The province’s trade volume with the continent reached 55.67 billion yuan (US$7.79 billion) in 2023, ranking first in central and western China.

The African trade hub will leverage the infrastructure and policy innovations of the Hunan Pilot Free Trade Zone, established by the State Council in 2020, and benefit from the province’s industrial and geographical advantages to serve as a test site for local cooperation with Africa, according to Hunan’s government.

The province was the first to establish “green lanes” to boost agricultural imports from Africa by easing import-export rules, establishing a currency clearing hub and making trade deals with African producers.

Chinese provinces race along Xi’s ‘green lanes’ to Africa

President Xi Jinping proposed the green lanes at the 2021 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Senegal, where he also outlined a proposal for the new trade zone.

Observers said Hunan was likely chosen for the free-trade zone because of its established agricultural links to the continent, as well as its complementary industries.

Hunan has hosted the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo three times, most recently last year, when 120 deals worth US$10.3 billion were signed.

The province has also expanded its trade routes with the continent, with combined rail-sea transport channels reaching 11 seaport hubs in Africa, which are linked to 20 inland road and rail networks to Hunan.

Yun Sun, co-director of the East Asia Programme and director of the China Programme at the Washington-based Stimson Centre, said Hunan has developed a diverse portfolio for cooperation with Africa across agriculture, industry, infrastructure and training.

“Recall Hunan [has been] the centre of hybrid rice research and development for decades. And the province has deliberately pursued agricultural cooperation as a highlight in relations with Africa,” Sun said.

Hybrid rice technology, which was pioneered in Hunan by the agronomist Yuan Longping, has been exported to 20 African countries. The technology has increased yields in countries such as Madagascar and Burundi.

Sun noted that Hunan’s industrial sector, including heavy machinery, is another potential area for cooperation with Africa.

Across the continent, it is increasingly common to see excavators or wheel loaders made by Sany Heavy Industry Co, based in Hunan’s provincial capital Changsha, deployed at construction or mining sites.

Sun said she would not count hi-tech as a special area of focus, “but with China exploring lithium for EV batteries, you never know”.

Lauren Johnston, an associate professor at the University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre, said there were “a lot of industrial complementarities” between Hunan’s competitive industries and growth industries in Africa.

“Africa, which is endowed with metals and minerals, including critical metals such as cobalt and lithium that power electric vehicle batteries, can learn from Hunan’s industrial prowess in mineral processing and making of electric vehicles,” she said.

“[China’s] focus on Hunan not only takes advantage of Hunan’s heavy industrial and agri-processing strengths, but also offers Hunan itself more chance to integrate with China’s coastal frontier. It is a catch-up chance for Hunan too.”

She noted that the e-commerce company Kilimall, which has operations in several African countries, was founded by a Hunan native.

Johnston said the zone’s overriding goal was to overcome barriers – in standards, communications, transport, currency, language, talent, and e-commerce – to elevate trade between China and Africa, especially in non-raw commodities.

Carlos Lopes, a professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, said China typically exports high-value manufactured goods, while African exports to China are mostly raw materials and commodities, which generally have lower value.

He said non-tariff barriers and regulatory hurdles might limit African exporters’ access to the Chinese market, constraining the growth of exports from Africa to China.

“That is the reason Hunan’s China-Africa Deep Economic and Trade Cooperation Pioneer Zone has the potential to enhance China-Africa trade by providing a platform for increased trade and investment, while offering streamlined processes, reduced bureaucratic barriers, and enhanced logistical infrastructure to facilitate trade,” Lopes said.

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China’s Wang Yi voices concerns to US over Taiwan, trade and anti-Chinese harassment in talks with Antony Blinken

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3252277/chinas-wang-yi-voices-concerns-us-over-taiwan-trade-and-anti-chinese-harassment-talks-antony-blinken?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi raised concerns over Taiwan, China-US trade and reported profiling of Chinese citizens in the United States during his meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich on Friday amid strained ties between the two global powers.

“The two sides should insist on following the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, and actively explore the right way for the two major countries to get along,” Wang said during the talks on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, adding that Washington should view China’s development “objectively and rationally”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

On Taiwan, one of the core points of contention between the two, Wang said Washington should “put into practice its statement of non-support for ‘Taiwan independence’”.

“Taiwan is part of China’s territory, and this is the true status quo of the Taiwan issue,” he said.

Chinese foreign minister and US secretary of state meet in Munich

“If the US side truly wants stability in the Taiwan Strait, it should abide by the one-China principle and the three joint communiqués of China and the United States, and put into practice its statement of non-support for ‘Taiwan independence’,” Wang added.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary. The US, like most countries, does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but it opposes any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with arms.

Last week, the US Senate passed a US$95 billion package of military aid to Taiwan, Israel and Ukraine. But right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives indicated that they would block it.

During his meeting with Blinken, Wang also urged Washington to lift sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals as the US calls for a “de-risking” strategy targeting China.

“Turning ‘de-risking’ into ‘de-China’, building ‘small yards and high walls’ will eventually backfire on the United States,” Wang said, warning that Washington should not harm China’s “legitimate development rights and interests”.

Hundreds of Chinese companies are on Washington’s trade blacklist. Earlier this month, the Pentagon labelled more than a dozen Chinese tech firms as “military companies” that pose a national security threat to the US.

Wang also urged Washington to “stop harassing and checking Chinese nationals for no reason” in response to reports that American immigration authorities had inquired about the political backgrounds and research projects of Chinese students.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at least eight Chinese students with legally valid documents had been “harassed, questioned and repatriated” by the US.

China slams US for ‘persecuting’ Chinese students over national security

During Friday’s meeting, Blinken raised concerns about China’s support for Russia’s defence industry and its war against Ukraine, according to the White House.

Blinken said senior officials of the two countries should exchange views on the Middle East and the Korean peninsula.

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said the Munich talk was a way to keep “open the line of communication” between China and the US.

“China is eager to show that they are managing the situation, while the US, because of the general election this year, is much the same way … [so] both sides would like to meet more. If they have any small breakthrough, both sides would like to make it public,” Wu said.

He also said that the two countries probably also raised concerns over other security issues, such as Taiwan and weapons in Ukraine, but the full details of the discussions were not likely to be disclosed to the public.

Last month, Wang met US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Bangkok. After the meeting, Sullivan said Chinese President Xi Jinping and US counterpart Joe Biden would talk by phone “relatively soon”. Beijing has not confirmed.

Chinese scientists use massive databank and AI in effort to predict dementia 15 years before symptoms start

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3252183/chinese-scientists-use-massive-databank-and-ai-effort-predict-dementia-15-years-symptoms-start?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese scientists say they have made a major step towards predicting a patient’s risk of dementia up to a decade and a half before symptoms start by analysing a sample of their blood.

The scientists used a database of more than 50,000 people to identify proteins linked to a risk of developing different types of dementia, and with the help of AI the team created a predictive model to assess disease risk.

The use of artificial intelligence was “one of the key factors for the success of this research,” Yu Jintai, study author and neurology professor at the Fudan University-affiliated Huashan Hospital told the South China Morning Post.

Using the data-driven strategy, the scientists “innovatively identified important plasma biomarkers for future dementia prediction” the team wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Ageing on Monday.

Blood tests for diagnosing types of dementia such as Alzheimer’s have been growing in popularity. From a single drop of blood they can determine whether a patient who has started showing symptoms has the disease.

But scientists have bigger goals in mind for blood biomarker tools, such as using them to accurately predict whether a patient could develop the disease in future, even before they exhibit any clinical symptoms.

There is no cure for dementia and being able to understand if a person could develop it might allow for early diagnosis and intervention, according to the authors of the paper.

The large-scale study of proteins – also called proteomics – can be used to find potential drug or diagnostic interventions for diseases and to better understand how the human body works.

However, systematically studying proteins in the blood proved to be difficult because of “technical constraints” and a lack of comparison methods, the team wrote.

To overcome this barrier, the team employed the help of the massive UK Biobank cohort, which enrolled more than 50,000 people aged 40 to 69 and had a median follow-up period of 14 years starting in the mid-2000s.

Just over 1,400 of the subjects in the biobank cohort – who all provided biological samples and demographic information – developed dementia within 10 years of the initial data collection.

The biobank recently released a new data set of more than 1,400 plasma, or blood, proteins found in the participants’ samples during the initial intake and follow-up sessions.

Decoding dementia: SCMP Lifestyle Series presents research into causes and treatment

This data release gave the team an “unprecedented opportunity” to conduct a proteomics study on blood proteins associated with the development of dementia, the paper said.

It allowed them to “trace the trajectories of plasma proteins back from the time of dementia diagnosis and assess when each protein begins to deviate from normal control values,” they wrote.

The scientists found hundreds of associated proteins, but focused their study on a handful of “important proteins” found to have begun changing in expression up to at least a decade before the clinical onset of dementia.

These proteins were evaluated using an artificial intelligence algorithm called a light gradient boosting machine, which used machine learning to screen out proteins and combinations that are most closely related to dementia risk, Yu said.

The machine learning algorithm was used to determine which of the proteins created a better prediction model and checked it against the biobank data that showed which subjects had developed dementia.

The algorithm, which played a “crucial” role in this research, had “powerful pattern recognition and prediction capabilities,” allowing for more efficient screening of the large-scale data set, Yu said

According to the team, including protein data by itself into a prediction model was “unlikely to attain the highest predictive accuracy”.

To develop an “optimal predictive algorithm that is non-invasive, cost-effective and easily accessible”, they combined data on a protein called GFAP – which they found was associated with more than double the risk of dementia – with demographic information such as age and sex.

Their final, combined predictive model shows promise for being able to provide “an accurate prediction of future dementia, even more than 10 years before the diagnosis,” according to the paper.

And compared with imaging scans or spinal taps used to screen people for disease risk, their method could also “offer considerable cost benefits”, the paper said.

Beijing urges breakthroughs in chips and quantum computing to command future

The team said there remained limitations in their study, with more than 90 per cent of the biobank cohort made up of subjects of white ethnicity and therefore not representative of the world. The proteins examined also do not involve the entire human proteome.

However Yu said the team was now also conducting research on a cohort of Chinese, which would allow them to examine similarities and differences with the British-based database.

Its work so far had “provided clues for the development of new treatments and intervention strategies,” he said, adding that the team was also using the biobank to examine other brain-related conditions, such as depression and Parkinson’s disease.

‘A truly remarkable phenomenon’: How a medieval imperial exam helped dismantle the aristocracy in Tang-era China

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3251377/truly-remarkable-phenomenon-how-medieval-imperial-exam-helped-dismantle-aristocracy-tang-era-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Education is valued today because it is viewed as an avenue for social mobility and a means for people who grew up poor to improve their lot in life and find opportunities to support themselves and their families.

But this phenomenon is not a feature of modernity.

During China’s Tang dynasty, (618–907), one specific test, called the keju, created the means for people to circumnavigate the entrenched aristocracy and begin a career in the bureaucracy, according to a new paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, a peer-reviewed journal.

“Our paper shows that even in a decidedly pre-modern society like medieval China, some institutional transformation like keju could activate the link between education and political success,” said Erik Wang, an Assistant Professor of Politics at New York University and author of the study.

The best modern comparison to the keju would be the guokao civil service exams, which more than three million people sat in 2023, competing for 40,000 government jobs.

While more is data is needed to analyse the participation rate in the keju, only around 100 people passed the exam in a given year, and just 30 of them received the highest degree.

The study showed that the correlation between those who passed the test, and those born into high-ranking families, decreased through the Tang dynasty, suggesting that the keju became a powerful tool to break down the aristocracy.

“Before the Tang dynasty, there were people who were quite educated but were not from prominent aristocratic families. The chance for them to get jobs in the bureaucracy was quite limited. What the keju did was to enable educated elites to enter the bureaucracy,” said Wang.

Prior to the keju, the likely path for these educated civilians would have been to work as a clerk doing paperwork for officials, or educating those aristocrats destined for politics.

Fanqi Wen, an assistant professor at Ohio State University, also an author of the study, said a key turning point for the keju was the reforms initiated by Empress Wu Zetian (r. 690-705), the first and only empress of China, in which she lowered the barrier to entry for those who could take the test.

“Most adult men who could read and write were qualified to take the exams, so the Empress’s reforms also likely increased the fairness of the competition,” said Wen. “This was important because success in the Keju is more deterministic of future success than college entrance exams today.”

“Among men who could read and write, after the Empress’s reforms, most of them were qualified to take the exams,” she said, adding that passing the keju was more deterministic in terms of favourable future outcomes, said Wen.

She also said that, as time passed, there was some multi-generational improvement of status, but it no longer became guaranteed that a grandfather’s success would lead to a career for the grandchild because the individual still had to pass the exam.

“Success was no longer guaranteed, so no family was able to monopolise the government post,” she said. “It became very normal that the son or grandson of a high-ranked official would fail the exam.”

Wang added that it was not unheard of for the ancestors of chief ministers –the highest position – to be entirely out of the bureaucracy within a few generations.

The team found that as the keju grew in social prominence and more people took the test, it did not correlate with a drop in its impact.

“We’ve seen in history that when a degree expands, the value of the degree dilutes. But the keju in the Tang dynasty was a truly remarkable phenomenon because of the continued rise in its social impact despite the fact that, after Empress Wu, there were more people who received the degree,” said Wang.

The team’s data-gathering process was impressive, with the analysts scouring through Tang-era epitaphs, or short remembrances of a deceased person, to see if the person passed the exam.

They cross-referenced that information with databases from towns that marked who in their villages passed the keju.

They then investigated the individual’s office rank and compared it with the highest offices their father or grandfather reached, allowing them to see if they climbed the social ladder.

Finally, for each epitaph, they painstakingly identified whether the person could be credibly traced to an aristocratic family branch.

After filtering all of this information through a regression model, the team found that there was a correlation between passing the keju and career success.

For Wen, the key takeaway of this data analysis was in proving that social mobility was not a modern phenomenon.

“Usually social scientists will link social mobility with industrialisation and modernity, so social mobility has been considered a modern phenomenon… and competitive exams, even in medieval times, can also improve social mobility,” she said.

China’s young adults choose to be ‘full-time children’, paid by their parents to do chores amid record-high youth unemployment

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3252039/chinas-young-adults-choose-be-full-time-children-paid-their-parents-do-chores-amid-record-high-youth?utm_source=rss_feed

Amid record-high youth unemployment in China, more young adults have decided to become “full-time children” who are paid by their parents to handle household tasks.

They see it as a temporary solution to a tough job market with few opportunities, low wages and long working hours. Even some young people with employment offers on the table have chosen to work for their parents.

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Asia is embracing China’s vision of a peaceful, secure and prosperous future

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/asia/article/3251583/asia-embracing-chinas-vision-peaceful-secure-and-prosperous-future?utm_source=rss_feed

When Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vietnam’s Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong exchanged Spring Festival greetings earlier this month, they recalled Xi’s visit to Vietnam last December, when they agreed to build a China-Vietnam community with a shared future.

Asean member Vietnam is one of seven in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to join China in building a community with a shared future for mankind. Why is this vision so popular?

First, because it follows a peaceful development path. The pursuit of peace, amity and harmony is deeply rooted in Chinese culture. For a long time in the past, China was one of the world’s most powerful countries. It has never colonised another state or shown overt aggression. After the Opium War broke out in 1840, China suffered through almost 100 years of turmoil and wars. Today, every Chinese person holds peace dear.

Without peace, people suffer and development is delayed, even destroyed. China’s vision of a world of lasting peace naturally attracts peace lovers.

Second, China’s vision offers a new type of international relations. Under the guidance of the UN Charter, no world war has been seen for almost 80 years.

That conflict and wars continue to flare up, and hunger and poverty threaten hundreds of millions of people worldwide, is a reminder that the wanton use of force, enforcement of hegemony and expansionism offer no way out. The Cold War mentality and zero-sum game are outdated. And a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer is simply unsustainable.

In building a community with a shared future, China promotes a new type of international relations based on mutual respect, equity and justice, as well as mutually beneficial cooperation. No matter the size, strength, ideology, religion or political system, all countries can be equal partners. In a global governance that features extensive consultations, joint contributions and shared benefits, there is no need to worry about strings attached.

Last, but not least, China’s vision translates into true multilateralism. This is about having international affairs addressed through consultation, and the world’s future decided by everyone working together. In the face of global crises, including the arms race, threat of nuclear war, development gap, poverty, pandemics and climate change, true multilateralism is the solution.

This means an international system with the United Nations at its core, an international order based on international law, and basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.

In true multilateralism, all partners can discuss global affairs of concern, build governance systems together and benefit from them. No country shall have to worry about being rejected by small circles, or be threatened or intimidated for not following the so-called rules-based international order.

For Asean members and others in the wider Asian community, there are further reasons for joining China’s vision. We share a common home, we understand and trust each other: Asian minds think alike.

Seventy years ago, China, India and Burma – now Myanmar – jointly initiated the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, which became adopted in other parts of Asia and the world. The values of consensus, harmony, unity and community were championed by the likes of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s founding prime minister, and Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia’s former prime minister, often as part of Asian values.

Indeed, these are the values commonly recognised as the essence of Asian culture and identity. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who announced last year the building of a China-Malaysia community with a shared future, is pushing a Malaysia Madani vision that envisages “sustainability, care and compassion, respect, innovation, prosperity and trust” – values highly aligned with China’s vision.

Xi, Anwar’s commitment to build trust between civilisations is the future

As the Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs pointed out last December, the vision’s goal is to build an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and shared prosperity.

It aims to promote global governance that features extensive consultations and joint contributions for shared benefits, guided by the common values of humanity to build a new type of international relations. This means the implementation of the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilisation Initiative, with the Belt and Road Initiative the platform for high-quality cooperation.

On this basis, China is ready to work with partners in Asia and the rest of the world to meet common challenges and achieve prosperity for all, ushering in a shared future of peace, security, prosperity and progress.

Is the Philippines becoming a US ‘proxy’ against Beijing in the South China Sea?

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3252236/philippines-becoming-us-proxy-against-beijing-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed

Concerns are growing among some in the Philippines that closer military ties with the United States are turning the Southeast Asian nation into a “proxy” for American interests against China, as the two superpowers jostle for influence.

Tens of thousands of Filipino and American troops took part in a series of joint drills last year and the exercises have continued into 2024, with the latest – a “maritime cooperative activity” in the South China Sea held on February 9 – the third such training manoeuvre in four months.

“We are rehearsing,” said Colonel Michael Logico, director of the Philippine Armed Forces Joint and Combined Training Centre, referring to exercises aimed at boosting interoperability with US forces and familiarising Filipino soldiers with the latest weaponry.

“On a scale from one to 10, I would rate it at 11 if not 12,” he told This Week in Asia, describing the strength of the Philippine-US alliance. “In the course of a year, at any time … we have exercises going on.”

It constitutes quite the reversal for a relationship that had soured under former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who initially sought closer ties with China and wanted to pare down America’s military presence and involvement in combat drills.

At one point, he even threatened to scrap a key pact, the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), that enables American troops to jointly train in the Philippines, in a fit of pique after one of his associates had a US visa denied. Duterte later backed down amid pressure from the Philippine military, and as billions in promised Chinese investments failed to materialise.

Manila to stay transparent over South China Sea row against Beijing’s ‘bullying’

Defence analysts say Manila and Washington are now united in their opposition to Beijing’s “maritime expansionism” in the South China Sea, which the latter claims almost in its entirety.

In the past year alone, the Philippines has complained about Chinese coastguard and militia vessels using water cannons and military-grade lasers against its ships, engaging in “dangerous blocking manoeuvres” and repeatedly harassing Filipino fishermen.

China, for its part, has issued statements accusing Filipinos of “illegally intruding” into disputed reefs and threatening to “respond resolutely” to the construction of any permanent structures in areas of the waterway it claims – despite building and fortifying seven artificial islands in the South China Sea itself.

“What annoys [China] is that we have a defence treaty with the US,” Logico said.

Alongside the large-scale military drills, joint maritime patrols, training exercises and acquisition of hardware, the Philippines has also allowed US forces to access an increasing number of military bases in the country since President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr took office in 2022.

The two countries, bound by a 1951 mutual defence treaty, agreed last year to expand the number of sites covered by their Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) to nine from the initial four – to respond to “shared challenges”, as a Pentagon spokesman euphemistically put it at the time.

New sites approved under the expanded EDCA, which was first signed in 2014 and allows US troops extended rotational stay inside Philippine bases, include one on the northeastern tip of Luzon island, around 400km from Taiwan.

The EDCA sites evoke memories of two giant Cold War-era US bases, the largest outside America at the time.

For more than 40 years, Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base – alongside 23 other installations – were for the exclusive use of the Americans, with the Philippines having little or no say in the matter. Packed with US ships, aircraft and troops, they also stored nuclear weapons.

Successive administrations in Manila defined their nationalism by either supporting or opposing the bases, though in private all supported them for “protecting” the Philippines from communist aggression.

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, which coincided with a volcanic eruption that covered the bases in ash and the Philippines’ refusal to renew leases on both following a dispute over rent, led to the US abandoning them a year later.

Circumstances have changed in the decades since. In December, the Philippines’ House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea, as Manila calls the parts of the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone, and calling on the government to continue asserting its rights.

Philippine military races for sea change amid China’s rising maritime threat

But the country’s defence budget remains low compared to its neighbours. Last year, Manila spent just over US$7 billion on its military, less than Malaysia’s US$8.9 billion, Singapore’s US$17 billion, Indonesia’s US$18 billion – and far behind the US$377 billion China reportedly spent.

The Philippines is slowly modernising its military. But it has only recently started to acquire the missiles, tanks, fighter jets, drones and radar needed to maintain a credible defence posture. It currently has no submarines.

“We are going for interoperability,” Colonel Logico said. “We are trying to see, if we go to war, are our … soldiers familiar with the capabilities of our treaty allies?

“To work together we need to have the same terminologies, appreciation of the operational environment,” he added.

Not everyone agrees with drawing closer to the US, however, and they warn about the Philippines turning into a “proxy” for American interests. The president’s own sister Imee, a senator, told ANC Digital earlier this month that “China will always be our neighbour, we have no fight with them, let’s not get dragged into a fight that’s not our own.”

Anna Rosario Malindog-Uy, director of the pro-China Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, wrote in the Manila Times on February 10 that “agreements such as the EDCA, the VFA and the Mutual Defence Treaty have not only cemented the US military presence and influence in the Philippines but also, most importantly, exemplified the Philippines’ dependence on the US in the military and defence sector.”

Teresita Ang See, former president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies and currently part of its advisory council, told This Week in Asia: “Filipinos in general condemn China’s action. But many also understand that China’s assertiveness is in response to US, Japanese and Australian provocations and increasing military presence in the Philippines.”

She warned that “we are fighting a proxy war between the US and China and in the end we will be the ants that get trampled upon”.

Chester Cabalza, founder and president of the International Development and Security Cooperation think tank, disagreed with this definition, noting that “a proxy war [only] commences when there is a military conflict”.

Another defence analyst, who asked not to be named, stressed that the Philippines did have “legitimate interests” in regards to China that shared “some similarities” with those of the US.

“It is the duty of any nation to protect its territorial and maritime interests. To argue that we are simply being used as pawns is Chinese propaganda,” he said.

For Colonel Logico, stepping up military exercises with the US is all about “deterring China”. “We are sending the message, you know, you want to try your luck with us, we are ready for you,” he told This Week in Asia.

“I belong to the armed forces, I’m in uniform. I will always see things from the realist perspective,” Logico said. “I’m aware of the Thucydides trap – the idea that a rising power will eventually collide with an existing power. And one way to avoid this is through deterrence … discouraging the other party from making any overt acts that will take aggression a step further.”

The idea that China could displace the US as the Philippines’ main ally had crossed his mind during the Duterte administration, he revealed.

“There was a time when I really thought it would happen. But China committed one strategic error. They did not deliver what they promised,” Logico said.

After a state visit to Beijing in 2016, Duterte said China had promised the Philippines US$24 billion worth of investments, aid and loans. But by 2021 only US$3.2 billion worth of investments had been recorded by Manila’s National Economic Development Authority, in addition to two bridges for the capital costing 4.8 billion pesos (US$85.6 million) that Beijing donated.

Before Duterte left office in June 2022, all remaining loans that were still under negotiation had been cancelled, including for three key rail projects.

Duterte’s was “the most China-friendly administration the Philippines has seen”, said the Filipino defence analyst who declined to be identified. But during his six years in power “China actually delivered quite little”.

The shift away from Duterte’s pro-China stance has met with little resistance as most Filipinos are traditionally pro-American. Millions of Filipino-Americans live in the United States and it remains a popular goal to emigrate to the country.

In fact, a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Centre’s Global Attitudes Project found that 85 per cent of Filipinos had favourable views of the US – compared to just 84 per cent of Americans.

Philippines’ US ties risk more than links with China, expert warns

A more recent poll conducted by survey firm Pulse Asia, whose findings were published last month, showed that eight in 10 Filipinos wanted their country to work with the US – as well as Australia, Japan, Canada and Britain – to resolve the South China Sea issue.

Only one in 10 said they would prefer to work with China. In the same survey, 67 per cent of respondents said they believed in the need to strengthen the Philippines’ external defence capability, especially its navy, air force and coastguard.

In terms of its organisation, training, equipment and traditions, the Philippines’ military has long imitated that of the US.

Even Duterte observed as much in June 2017, telling reporters after seeing the close cooperation between Filipino and US soldiers during the retaking of Marawi City from Islamist militants: “This is really the sentiment of our soldiers. They are really pro-American, that I cannot deny.”

He credited this to the fact that “almost all [Filipino] officers will go to America to study about militaristic things. That’s why they have this rapport and I cannot deny that”.

By contrast, the first time any Filipino officer studied in Beijing was during the Duterte administration’s pivot to China when a handful were sent there as part of an exchange programme, according to military sources who asked not to be named.

Meanwhile, even religious officials have, in effect, given their blessing to the current government’s efforts to seek allies against China. In a “joint pastoral exhortation” dated February 8, six bishops from the Philippines’ Catholic Church stated: “It is no secret that the aggressive incursions of the Chinese into our maritime zones” had resulted in the destruction of maritime resources and “wrought havoc on the lives of our fisherfolk”.

The bishops, coming from areas with fishing communities, said that in the absence of effective diplomacy, “then it is permissible – morally necessary even – to have recourse to the friendship of allies who can help us defend what is ours”.

The real danger lies in escalation. The Philippines maintains that its military alliance with the US, and partnerships with other countries such as Japan, are defensive in nature. Beijing sees it as part of a pattern of encirclement.

China has already used water cannons and other aggressive tactics against Philippine vessels. What might come next is unknown. The language has also become more heated. Beijing has said it would oppose “illegal construction”, referring to Manila’s plans to upgrade outposts on islands and reefs it controls. On February 8, China warned the Philippines to “refrain from playing with fire” by building up its military presence on islands near Taiwan.

Manila’s defence department fired back a testy reply. “China has no business warning the Philippines what it does within its territory,” it said, adding: “China’s pronouncements and acts are the main reasons for its low credibility with the American people.” Philippine officials have said that this year’s Balikatan exercise with the US, scheduled for April, might include drills on and around Mavulis, an island in the Batanes archipelago just 150km southeast of Taiwan where the military is building a base.

In a recent forum, Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute’s Malindog-Uy said: “The South China Sea issue should not define the entire relationship between China and the Philippines because that is too small … if only people and the government of both countries would see it that way, then probably a military confrontation in the South China Sea will never happen.”

“However, if this template is not managed properly, a third country like the United States will come into the picture and push the Philippines to … provoke China … a third world war is possible,” she added.

The US has made it clear that in the event of an attack on Philippine forces, the mutual defence treaty will be activated and Washington will come to Manila’s aid.

Asked if the Philippines could go it alone without its main ally, Logico said: “We are trying to get there. Once we transition away from internal security, then we can focus all our capability for external defence. If you want things done fast, you do it alone.”

Could Duterte’s Mindanao bid ‘distract’ Philippines from South China Sea row?

“But if you want things done faster, you do it with friends. I see no strong reason why you shouldn’t do it with your treaty ally,” he added. “Is it inevitable that we need allies? Yes, we need them. We are not yet on the right footing. Besides, the US also needs us.”

“If you are expected to die for your country, if you were in my position, you would also use everything to your advantage. Would you want to do this alone or with a strategic ally? It would be stupid not to use an ally.”

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Chinese start-up EmdoorVR counts on Apple Vision Pro lookalike to break into consumer headset market

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3251935/chinese-start-emdoorvr-counts-apple-vision-pro-lookalike-break-consumer-headset-market?utm_source=rss_feed

People in most parts of the world have yet to get their hands on Apple’s Vision Pro, the tech giant’s first mixed-reality headset that launched exclusively in the US earlier this month. But in the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen, sellers are already offering much cheaper alternatives.

One of them is the Vision SE, made by Shenzhen-based headset maker EmdoorVR. CEO Shi Qing said the company was hoping to leverage the interest around Apple’s Vision Pro to survive a slowdown in the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) industry.

“We did not want to miss the Apple Vision Pro opportunity, so we rode the wave and made something similar,” he said.

From its white straps and curved front screen down to its name, the Vision SE shows remarkable similarities with Apple’s headset. Yet, their functionality and prices are starkly different.

For less than 2,000 yuan (US$280), the Vision SE lets users view videos, web pages and workplace apps in a VR and AR environment through its 5.5-inch LCD display that has 3664 x 1920 pixels combined.

But the device, powered by Qualcomm’s entry-level AR and VR processor Snapdragon XR1, lacks the eye tracking and hand-gesture interaction experience offered by the Apple Vision Pro, which has a starting price of US$3,499 and costs twice as much in China’s grey market.

While Apple’s device dives into the new concept of spatial computing, Emdoor’s Vision SE focuses more on providing an entertainment experience, according to Shi.

Shi said he recognised the two devices’ resemblance, which has earned the Vision SE the nickname “Huaqiangbei Vision Pro” on social media, after the famed consumer electronics market in Shenzhen that is known for selling knock-off gadgets.

Shi stressed that the company had filed for relevant patents and undergone auditing to avoid legal risks.

The devices from EmdoorVR and Apple arrived after a rocky year for the AR and VR industry, which saw global shipments decline 8.3 per cent to 8.1 million units in 2023, research firm IDC estimated in December. Demand was curtailed by macroeconomic pressures on both consumers and businesses, according to that report.

In China, Pico, the world’s second-largest VR brand and a subsidiary of TikTok owner ByteDance, conducted at least two rounds of lay-offs last year, affecting hundreds of employees. The VR arm of video-streaming site iQiyi delayed salary payments and reduced headcount, according to a report by Chinese media outlet Caixin last April.

2024 is going to be different, according to IDC.

The global AR and VR market is expected to grow more than 46 per cent thanks to the launch of Apple’s Vision Pro, as well as the availability of the Facebook owner’s Meta Quest 3, released last October.

The sector is “at a critical point in its short history,” said Ramon Llamas, IDC research director for mobile devices and AR/VR. “Apple’s entry [in 2024] will bring much needed attention to a small market, but it will also force other companies to compete in different ways.”

Established in 2015, EmdoorVR started as a contract manufacturer of VR devices for Chinese tech firms including iQiyi and ZTE, as well as other industry and government clients.

EmdoorVR’s enterprise-facing business contributes around 90 per cent of the firm’s total revenue, according to Shi. The company has shipped 200,000 units of its AX161 headset, an enterprise product with the same specifications as Vision SE, since its launch last year.

Vision SE is EmdoorVR’s shot at the consumer segment, and the company is counting on Apple to pave the way.

The device’s marketing and launch schedule follows closely that of the Californian giant: Vision SE hit the market in October, just months after Apple unveiled the Vision Pro in June. EmdoorVR then showcased its headset at CES, one of the world’s leading consumer electronics expos, which took place in Las Vegas last month, right before the Vision Pro shipped on February 2.

Apple’s entry into the VR and AR market has already drawn the interest of Chinese app developers. DingTalk, the work collaboration platform run by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, recently launched a native app for the Vision Pro, allowing users to send messages and hold video meetings in a three-dimensional virtual environment.

Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.

Shanghai-based online travel service provider Trip.com Group – which also operates Ctrip, Qunar and Skyscanner – has also introduced an app for the Vision Pro, letting users watch panoramic videos of travel destinations, such as Mount Everest and the Sahara.

Emdoor’s Shi said he saw the Apple Vision Pro as a major opportunity to educate the market and bring substantial changes to the content ecosystem and supply chain, which would eventually make similar headsets more popular and affordable.

But for now, his top goal is just to stay afloat after a challenging year.

“2023 has been tough for the VR industry, which saw tech giants downsize their investment and manpower in these projects,” Shi said. “My priority for my team is to survive and ship products.”

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China, Russia and Cambodia top list of regimes targeting critics in exile

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/feb/16/china-russia-and-cambodia-top-list-of-regimes-targeting-critics-in-exile

Scores of attacks, including assassinations, abductions and assaults, were perpetrated by 25 governments last year against people outside their borders, new analysis reveals.

Data from the Washington DC-based pro-democracy organisation Freedom House reveals that the governments of Russia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Turkmenistan and China were the biggest five perpetrators of transnational repression in 2023.

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Transnational repression

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Transnational repression is the use of tactics including electronic surveillance, physical assault, intimidation and threats to family in the home country to silence people living in exile. The Guardian’s Rights and freedom series is publishing a series of articles to highlight the dangers faced by citizens in countries including the UK.

Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, said: “The phenomenon of authoritarians striking down dissidents who have sought refuge abroad is not going away. Democracies will have to do more, and soon, to protect their sovereignty and their fundamental values.”

The first known cases of transitional repression sanctioned by the governments of Cuba, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, El Salvador, Myanmar, Sierra Leone and Yemen also took place last year.

Forty-four countries – more than a fifth of the world’s national governments – have reached beyond their borders over the past decade in an attempt to forcibly silence exiled political activists, journalists, former regime insiders and members of ethnic or religious minorities.

The analysis reveals that, in total, 125 physical attacks – which also included detentions and unlawful deportation – were ordered by states against individuals based abroad during 2023.

The Russian government was responsible for at least 18 documented incidents of transnational repression last year. The Kremlin targeted anti-war activists and other Russian defectors in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan among others, with victims facing renditions or deportation.

The Cambodian government perpetrated at least 15 incidents of transnational repression, including one where four Cambodian activists were assaulted in neighbouring Thailand.

Iran is increasingly targeting people outside its borders, with a high-profile case last year involving counter-terrorism police investigating serious threats against London-based staff at a Farsi-language news channel. BBC staff in London subsequently told the Guardian they feared walking outside alone after being harassed by the Iranian authorities.

Elsewhere, agents of the Indian government were accused by Canadian and US intelligence of carrying out the assassination of the Canada-based Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and planning an assassination attempt against another, based in the US.

Last month MPs in the UK raised concerns over the safety of Sikh activists in Britain after an “intelligence hitlist” emerged targeting individuals living outside India.

Between 2014 and 2023, Freedom House recorded 1,034 direct, physical incidents of transnational repression committed by 44 governments in 100 target countries, with China accounting for a quarter of all documented incidents. Other prolific perpetrators since 2014 include Turkey, Tajikistan, Russia and Egypt.

Yana Gorokhovskaia, the research director for strategy and design at Freedom House, said: “It’s clear that governments are not being deterred from violating sovereignty and targeting dissidents living abroad.”

In quantum tech entanglement with China, US may ‘already be behind’ as it moves to block access

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3252223/quantum-tech-entanglement-china-us-may-already-be-behind-it-moves-block-access?utm_source=rss_feed

Washington has taken initial steps to stop China from accessing American quantum technology – an emerging area with military applications – but China already has a leg up on the competition, especially in research spending, according to an American policy think tank.

Legislation finalised by the US Department of Commerce in September says that funding and chips for quantum technology cannot help “countries of concern”, the Centre for Strategic & International Studies said in a paper released on Thursday.

Such a “guardrail”, according to the paper, falls under the 2022 Chips and Science Act and signals more moves to come.

“This policy, though minor, could be an indication of the department’s future desire to prevent quantum technology inputs from reaching China in a way that mirrors semiconductor export controls,” said the document, titled Optimising US Export Controls for Critical and Emerging Technologies.

Quantum technology is an area of physics that explores the behaviour of subatomic particles. Unlike a conventional computer, which performs calculations one at a time, a quantum computer can do many calculations simultaneously.

The technology is expected to improve sensing, navigation, data security, and computing power as it matures. It can help militaries or threaten digital security systems, according to the think tank’s study.

In the semiconductor realm, China faced an escalation of American sanctions last year that affect its access to advanced chipmaking tools and artificial intelligence processors.

In 2020, President Xi Jinping stressed the strategic value of quantum technology, and China has made US$15.3 billion worth of public investments in related research, compared with only US$3.7 billion by the US, the paper said.

China, it added, also has an edge in some quantum raw materials and low-priced “off-the-shelf” components to support the technology.

Quantum technology was deemed a top priority in China’s five-year development plan for 2021-25, and a document released last month by two Chinese ministries urged the country to “grasp opportunities”.

“China, for its part, has implemented policies clarifying that quantum technology development is also of the utmost importance,” the US research paper stated.

With quantum tech now at the “forefront of national security”, the paper said, US officials should strengthen relations in Europe.

Equipment such as laser diodes, dilution refrigerators and optical lithography tools “remain in the hands of a few companies located in countries with which the United States shares a robust relationship”, it said.

“The United States should therefore keep a constant dialogue with these nations and firms to build capacity and coordinate possible future export curbs once the technology is more established,” the paper added.

China brings in new export controls on hi-tech products amid US rivalry

The Biden administration began walling off quantum in a 2022 executive order on “certain national security technologies” and “countries of concern”, the think tank noted.

Washington is particularly concerned that if other countries gain an edge, they may be able to circumvent the sophisticated encryption done by normal computers.

“Targeted outbound-investment curbs, teed up in the Biden administration’s executive order … should be used sparingly so that they do not strangle a US and allied quantum industry that may well already be behind China in at least some areas,” the paper advised.

Quantum technology could become a bigger issue as long as the US and China have other disputes, such as over Taiwan or Chinese influence in disputed parts of the South China Sea, said Ker Gibbs, former president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai and a current executive in residence at the University of San Francisco.

“The US and China are already in an aggressive posture, and all the rest are just tactics,” Gibbs said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meet in Munich

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3252247/chinese-foreign-minister-wang-yi-and-us-secretary-state-antony-blinken-meet-munich?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Beijing’s state media reported.

Xinhua reported that the hotly anticipated meeting took place on the sidelines of the summit, amid a relative thaw in bilateral ties.

Earlier on Friday, US Vice-President Kamala Harris told the Munich event that the US had “responsibly managed competition” with China, “standing up to Beijing when necessary, and also working together when it serves our interests”.

Wang is scheduled to meet the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell on Friday evening. He is also expected to meet British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

More to follow …