• Holiday travel delays fuel calls in China for bridge to Hainan
• From Chelsea FC to Bayern Munich, global brands eye post-Covid recovery in China’s sports market
• Amid US-China rivalry, Washington takes aim at allies who avoid choosing sides, observers say
• China’s February box office surpasses US$1.4 billion as local productions win over domestic audience during Lunar New Year
• China ‘dismissal dress’ sex scandal woman banned from social media for using notoriety to boost live-stream audiences
• As global appeal of Chinese artworks loses lustre, can domestic collectors reframe the industry?
• 15 dead, 44 injured in residential building fire in Nanjing, China
• Chinese scientists create tiny robot that could help treat brain aneurysms and tumours
• China tourist who spent US$2,800 on family homestay told to clean toilet, make beds before going home or lose deposit
• Indonesia’s Belinda Tanoto on net zero goods, philanthropy and Royal Golden Eagle’s China challenges and opportunities
• Apartment block fire in China’s Nanjing city kills at least 15, officials say
• Chinese hit film Article 20 is ‘a fairy tale’ about the right to self-defence, legal experts say
• China self-made millionaire bride shows off dowry of flat, villa, US$1.4 million cash, Ferrari on big day – inspiring women to create own future
• Mainland China’s top Taiwan official pledges support for pro-unification forces
• In a world engulfed by war, China is holding out for peace
• China’s 1 trillion yuan EV, solar and battery exports face overcapacity concerns as US, EU anxieties grow

Holiday travel delays fuel calls in China for bridge to Hainan

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253096/holiday-travel-delays-fuel-calls-china-bridge-hainan?utm_source=rss_feed

A member of China’s top advisory body has thrown his weight behind renewed calls to build a bridge between the southern resort island of Hainan and the mainland after legions of tourists faced delays getting home during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The island was inundated with visitors over the eight-day break, with tourist numbers up by more than 30 per cent on last year, according to official figures.

But transport to and from Hainan is limited to air and sea options.

Ticket prices for flights from Hainan skyrocketed at the tail end of the break as carriers tried to clear a backlog, according to China Newsweek.

This year, the number of motoring tourists, particularly those with electric vehicles, increased, resulting in long queues at ferry terminals for passages for their cars.

A Hainan official who refused to be named said places for EVs on ferries were limited under safety guidelines issued by the provincial transport department.

According to Hainan Strait Shipping, which operates passenger services between the island and the mainland, EVs can spontaneously combust and so need to be restricted to designated areas.

Such a fire could spread quickly and be difficult to extinguish, presenting a greater safety risk than traditional vehicles, the company said last weekend.

Each ferry is also limited to carrying no more than 10 per cent of its vehicle capacity in new energy vehicles, with a total not exceeding 18 vehicles.

The answer to the congestion, according to Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference member Zhu Lieyu, is to build a bridge over the Qiongzhou Strait between Guangdong and the island.

Zhu, a Guangzhou-based lawyer, said the bridge would ease holiday ticket price spikes and help attract investment projects to the new Hainan free trade port.

It would also link Hainan more closely to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, he said.

Zhu has submitted the idea for discussion at the annual national legislative sessions next month.

Internet users have also asked why China, which has built many mega projects, had not already created a bridge or tunnel to the island.

The Hainan official said the authorities had studied the idea for decades but the complexity and the location of such a structure made the proposal unrealistic.

The idea was first floated in 1974 and in that time three routes have been considered.

The easternmost – and shortest – route spans 20km (12½ miles) but is particularly prone to earthquakes.

The middle route would open up a direct link to the capital Haikou but the waters are deep.

The western route, at 32km, involves a flatter seabed but is longer and ends 40km from Haikou, increasing costs.

“We have three choices, but all of them come with one major challenge, the water is much deeper than the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge,” the official said.

The Qiongzhou Strait’s vulnerability to typhoons and earthquakes added to the complexity of construction, he said.

“The Qiongzhou Strait has moderate earthquakes every few decades. It’s also common to see category 12 typhoons during July to September.”

The official said that in 1994 a bridge across the Qiongzhou Strait was estimated to cost around 150 billion yuan to build but the price tag today could be up to 10 times higher.

“Even with funding and approval, construction could take more than a decade. For now, expanding flights to Haikou and Sanya and ferry capacity during peak seasons is seen as a viable short-term solution,” he said.

As a tourist destination, Hainan has big fluctuations in visitors between peak and off-peak seasons and airports and ferries would incur operational costs to meet those demands, the official said.

Tourists were also stranded during the 2018 Lunar New Year holiday when dense fog reduced visibility in the Qiongzhou Strait to below navigational standards, leading to considerable delays for outbound vehicles.

From Chelsea FC to Bayern Munich, global brands eye post-Covid recovery in China’s sports market

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3253101/chelsea-fc-bayern-munich-global-brands-eye-post-covid-recovery-chinas-sports-market?utm_source=rss_feed

Major international sports brands are setting their sights on the Greater Bay Area as a gateway to the Chinese market, where demand from fans and consumers is heating up after a Covid-related lull, according to executives in the industry.

Getting closer to or establishing a presence in China is strategically important for top sports clubs, Ben Wiggins, partnerships strategic lead for Asia-Pacific at Chelsea Football Club in London, said during the Greater Bay Area International Sports Business Summit in Macau on Saturday.

“We have some 50 million fans in China, a lot of which are based in the Greater Bay Area,” Wiggins said. “What we think and hope will follow is a greater level of activations in the market with new and existing partners.”

For Bayern Munich, a top-ranking German football club, China is not just home to the largest number of its international fans, but also a key arena for growth.

“We’re trying to bring here to China our initiatives, whether it’s [for] fans or partnerships,” said Matthias Brosamer, head of sports in Asia at the club. “We want to be connected with the people here in China.”

The event, themed “connecting the world through sports” and supported by Macau’s sports bureau and Trade and Investment Promotion Institute, brought together more than 300 influential decision makers from the sports business community. Together, they were tasked with charting the future course of the city’s sports sector.

Joe Tsai, owner of US basketball team Brooklyn Nets, Yao Ming, former NBA player and president of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), Li Ning, Olympics champion and founder of his namesake sportswear company, and retired NBA star Dwyane Wade were among the headline speakers.

Tsai, also chairman of the publisher of South China Morning Post and its owner Alibaba Group, played in a basketball match kicking off the second day of the summit, joined by Taiwanese singer Will Liu and former CBA stars Zhu Fangyu, Meng Duo and Li Qun.

Macau government officials said the city, with its location in the Greater Bay Area and strong conference and tourism facilities, strives to play a vital role in facilitating sports industry connections.

China’s sports market is expected to grow 5.2 per cent annually in the next three to five years, reaching 5 trillion yuan (US$695 billion) by 2035, said Harrison Liu, partner at PwC China, citing the firm’s latest industry survey.

“China’s sports industry is rapidly recovering thanks to a series of policy support measures,” Liu said. That is set to stimulate the growth of related upstream and downstream industries, a trend that is beginning to catch the eyes of more investors, he added.

The summit signals that the sport industry’s recovery is robust after the Covid years, according to Farrell Wang, vice-president and chief marketing officer at Li Ning. The sector is witnessing a resurgence of Chinese consumers taking part in sports, he said.

“The excitement surrounding sports events and the community’s engagement are making an extraordinary comeback,” Wang said. “We are excitedly optimistic about what lies ahead.”

Amid US-China rivalry, Washington takes aim at allies who avoid choosing sides, observers say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253046/amid-us-china-rivalry-washington-takes-aim-allies-who-avoid-choosing-sides-observers-say?utm_source=rss_feed

From Africa to the Asia-Pacific, some nations have found themselves facing a dilemma of having to choose sides amid an intensifying US-China rivalry, a point US Secretary of State Antony Blinken drove home during a talk at the Munich Security Conference last week.

Asked whether the United States was being challenged for alliances as US-China tensions led to greater fragmentation, Blinken said “if you’re not at the table in the international system, you’re going to be on the menu”, adding that Washington had “re-engaged multilaterally”.

Experts said the remarks were meant as a call for solidarity to US allies, especially European countries, and did not target Beijing directly. However, the comments drew strong backlash from Chinese state media for amounting to a “zero-sum game mentality”.

Lu Xiang, a senior researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Blinken’s remarks were aimed at encouraging the alliance’s solidarity amid an unprecedented US-China global rivalry.

“Blinken’s emphasis was on the solidarity of his allies, meaning that if [they] allied with the United States, they would not become someone else’s ‘meal’,” he said.

“At the same time, he is appeasing his allies, most of whom fear that if tensions continue between the US and China, they will be involved in an irreversible scenario.”

In Munich, Blinken said the Biden administration had “made a made a reinvestment “in our alliances, in our partnerships, and in the multilateral system”, because “it’s in our interest to do it”.

The US was not forcing other countries to choose but rather “offers a good choice”, he added.

“And if we can do that – and I believe we can, and we have and will continue – then I think the choice becomes fairly self-evident,” Blinken said.

Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at Shanghai’s East China Normal University, said Blinken’s remarks were a warning for US allies, especially some European countries, as they sought warmer relations with Beijing.

“The target of the expressions are definitely European countries who’ve tried to hedge to some extent in their relations with China … and other countries, realising that following the American strategy of so-called de-risking or decoupling will only leave them reduced,” he said.

The message was also aimed at “anyone else who thinks they can avoid choosing a side or who’s considering choosing Beijing”, Mahoney added.

“Given the moderate tone of Blinken, it is hardly the case that he will target China in such a negative way,” said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.

Wu noted that Blinken’s message was also delivered during an uncertain presidential election this year.

Spectre of Trump hangs over Munich as China looks for openings in Europe

“To a large extent, Blinken’s quote is also campaigning for the election, meant to warn domestic audiences against a return to Trump-era isolationism [in foreign policy],” he said.

Major European economies have stepped up engagement with China in recent months. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was the first leader from the Group of Seven industrialised nations to visit Beijing since the beginning of Covid-19 pandemic, meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in November 2022. He is reportedly set to visit Beijing again in April.

French President Emmanuel Macron received a warm welcome last April in China, as he stressed that Europe must reduce its dependency on America and avoid being dragged into a confrontation between China and the US over Taiwan.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited France after attending the Munich conference, said: “China appreciates France’s adherence to independence and autonomy, and hopes that France will continue to play a constructive role in the sound and steady development of China-Europe relations, enhance mutual trust, promote convergence of interests, and jointly act as a force of stability in today’s world.”

In Munich, China defends ties with Russia, warns West on Taiwan ‘red line’

Chinese Premier Li Qiang visited Europe in June last year and again last month, where he warned Europe of “de-risking” from China.

Meanwhile, China’s state-owned media lashed out at Blinken’s remarks in spite of the absence of any official response.

State news agency Xinhua published an opinion piece on Thursday criticising the comments, saying they carried a “comically menacing undertone”.

“One might jokingly inquire, ‘Who talks like that? Hannibal Lecter?’” the article said, referring to a fictional serial killer.

It added that Blinken’s “undiplomatic words represent the factors these allies fear could bring about ‘lose-lose dynamics’”.

Global Times, a Chinese nationalist tabloid, said the remarks represented “a stark zero-sum game mentality”.

“In plain language, if you have the strength, you devour others at the table; if you lack strength, you become the prey on the menu. It adheres completely to a jungle law where power and status, not ethical or legal norms, dictate actions,” the editorial said.

Blinken used the same expression in January 2022 to describe competition with China when he was asked if the Biden administration would pass the Chips and Science Act to reduce US tech reliance on China.

“Across the board, this engagement is important because, again, if we’re not doing it, someone else may be … you know the old expression: If you’re not at the table, you’ll probably be on the menu. We are and will remain at the table,” he replied.

Months later, Biden proposed the establishment of the Chip 4 alliance between the US, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to counter China’s semiconductor industry.

China’s February box office surpasses US$1.4 billion as local productions win over domestic audience during Lunar New Year

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3253091/chinas-february-box-office-surpasses-us14-billion-local-productions-win-over-domestic-audience?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s box office has racked up more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion) in revenue in February, buoyed by film-goers flocking to the cinemas during the eight-day Spring Festival holiday, according to the latest surveys.

Theatres sold 8 billion yuan in tickets from February 10 to 17 alone, led by the comedy drama YOLO, which earned 2.7 billion yuan during the period, according to data from the China Film Administration, ticketing service Maoyan and film data platform Beacon.

YOLO (“You Only Live Once” or Re La Gun Tang in Chinese), adapted from the 2014 Japanese sports drama 100 Yen Love, tells the story of an unemployed, overweight woman whose life changed after meeting a boxing coach.

Directed, written and starring Jia Ling, one of China’s most promising rising female directors, the tale of self-discovery became a big hit during the country’s biggest holiday of the year and sparked lively debates on social media about body image and self-esteem.

Following close behind YOLO was Pegasus 2, a sequel to the 1.7 billion yuan-grossing first instalment directed by bestselling Chinese novelist Han Han. It hauled in 2.4 billion yuan during the Lunar New Year.

Family-friendly animated adventure Boonie Bears: Time Twist rounded out the top three with 1.38 billion yuan in earnings. In fourth place was courtroom drama Article 20 from award-winning Chinese director Zhang Yimou, which made 1.34 billion yuan.

Co-produced by China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the top prosecutor’s office, Article 20 follows two prosecutors who work tirelessly to clear the charges of a villager accused of murdering a man who had bullied him and raped his wife.

China’s film industry has been on a recovery trajectory since 2023, after the country ended its draconian zero-Covid policy that restricted public gatherings and dealt a heavy blow to the domestic box office.

Film ticket sales during the most recent Spring Festival holiday jumped by about 18.5 per cent from the seven-day New Year break in 2023, while viewership rose by more than a quarter, data from the China Film Administration showed.

Chinese films have especially benefited from the return of film-goers, who are showing increasing enthusiasm towards movies made at home rather than Hollywood blockbusters that once dominated the country’s box office.

Local productions – such as the animated historical drama 30,000 Miles from Changan, crime mystery Lost in the Stars and martial arts film Never Say Never – topped sales rankings during last year’s summer season and the National Day “golden week” break in October.

Chinese films accounted for more than 83 per cent of the country’s box office total last year, which rose 83 per cent from the year before to reach 54.9 billion yuan, according to a report by state news agency Xinhua, citing official figures.

China ‘dismissal dress’ sex scandal woman banned from social media for using notoriety to boost live-stream audiences

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3252689/china-dismissal-dress-sex-scandal-woman-banned-social-media-using-notoriety-boost-live-stream?utm_source=rss_feed

A woman in China who was filmed holding hands with her married boss has had her social media account deleted in the wake of the scandal.

The account on Douyin, @GraceJin, was closed on February 18 for violating the “online community self-discipline regulations”, the video news outlet Jiaodian Video reported.

The woman admitted she was the person involved in the notorious “holding hands scandal” that attracted national attention in June last year, the report said.

At that time, the 27-year-old, surnamed Dong, was caught on camera by a stranger who was filming a bustling street scene in Chengdu in southwestern China.

She was walking hand in hand with a married man in his 50s whose surname is Hu and who was then an executive at a Beijing-based state-owned oil company where Dong also worked.

Following the scandal, Hu was fired and also expelled from the Communist Party because of his affair with Dong, behaviour deemed as breaching the company’s rules. Dong was also dismissed from the firm.

In a bizarre turn of events, Dong became an internet sensation for a very different reason, versions of the silky pink dress she was wearing in the scandal video sold very well on the social media platform Douyin.

In a December 31, 2023 post on the platform, Dong said she was a cheongsam enthusiast and began releasing video clips of the traditional Chinese dress, known as qipao in Mandarin, Jiaodian Video found.

Before being banned from the platform, she had uploaded 39 clips of herself wearing a range of cheongsam styles and held 11 live-streaming sessions for her 24,000 followers.

“Yes, it’s me. Why not?” Dong said several times in front of the camera as many internet users asked if she was the woman involved in the scandal.

When asked how she coped with the public pressure, Dong said it was because she had the support of her family.

“While going through my darkest moments in life, the warmth from my family is vital to me,” she said in a live-streaming event in February.

Dong’s emergence on social media trended on the mainland, with online observers divided over the closing of her Douyin account.

“I am speechless. She has no morality at all. She even acknowledges her identity and flaunts the scandal in public,” one observer said.

“She should be banned. Otherwise it means that we encourage girls to be mistresses,” wrote another.

Others voiced a different view: “We should give her a chance to rectify her mistake. Tolerance is kindness,” said one person.

Another sympathetic observer said: “She has no job now. Shouldn’t we give her an opportunity to make a living? Is it right to let her pay the price of her mistake forever?”

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As global appeal of Chinese artworks loses lustre, can domestic collectors reframe the industry?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3253030/global-appeal-chinese-artworks-loses-lustre-can-domestic-collectors-reframe-industry?utm_source=rss_feed

Though many welcomed China’s reopening after three years of pandemic restrictions, art trader Chiang Lim-che’s disappointment was palpable – not over the relaxing of protocols, but at the muted, almost nonexistent reception from overseas buyers as a host of Chinese pieces became newly available.

The dealer, from Hong Kong, was framing the situation as a means of rekindling interest for his wares, but years of momentum that moulded Western interest in Chinese art collections began to crack as the country painted itself into a corner with stringent zero-Covid measures and brushed off a decline in trade relationships.

To adapt, Chiang has recast his attention inward, and burgeoning interest from the younger generation of Chinese collectors now comes as music to his ears.

Top artworks by established Chinese artists are still sought-after by high-net-worth individuals, but Western collectors’ appetite for other Chinese art has quickly faded, Chiang observed.

“Geopolitical complications – especially China’s tensions with the US-led West – seem to have hit the once-booming overseas enthusiasm for Chinese art,” said Chiang, who has decades of experience in the art business.

Across the border from Hong Kong in Guangdong province, Chiang runs a large storage house in Guangzhou’s Nansha district that spans more than 20,000 square meters. It’s filled with tens of thousands of pieces of traditional Chinese furniture that he has amassed from home and abroad.

He points to sets of “eight immortals” – traditional tables that seat eight and can cost thousands of dollars – along with an assortment of sandalwood desks, closets, lampstands and various wood carvings.

The pandemic essentially iced his exports, but what has transpired since borders reopened also has not boded well for business.

“More worryingly,” he explained, “is that demand among Western consumers is still frozen in a post-pandemic chill.”

‘Let common sense prevail’, Chinese business leader urges Beijing

Chinese artists also lament the lack of overseas interest that was once considerable. One painter, who lives in the Netherlands, echoed Chiang’s assessment.

“I’ve been living in Europe for more than 30 years,” she said, declining to be named because of her close ties to the European art world. “I feel that the relationship between China and here has changed dramatically in recent years, and this has profoundly affected the Chinese art and collection business – especially among those Chinese artists who made a name for themselves in the Western market in the 2010s. There had been quite a few people collecting their artworks in Europe, and the value of these paintings is now deprecated quite a lot.”

It has also become extremely difficult for Chinese artists to hold exhibitions in galleries and museums in Europe, she added.

She attributed the shift to worsening ideological tensions between China and the West. “As artists, we feel very regrettable [about what’s happening], and we are really struggling, but the situation may continue for a while,” she said.

According to data jointly compiled last year by the China Association of Auctioneers and online auction company Artnet, the auction turnover of Chinese cultural relics and artworks in overseas markets dropped in 2022 by 12 per cent, year on year, to US$1.34 billion – roughly half of the US$2.64 billion peak in 2015 before the market was impacted by upheavals in the global economy and the US-China trade war.

China’s art market continued to cool in 2022 amid unabating Covid controls as much of the world had already reopened for business. Sales were down 14 per cent, year on year, and China was overtaken by Britain as the world’s second-largest market by market share, according to a report by Art Basel and UBS last year.

But wealthy mainland collectors have resumed splashing out on art since last year after China removed Covid control restrictions and reopened its border at the end of 2022, and they showed a strong return to post-lockdown spending, according to the report.

China’s plan to grow economy with infrastructure is self-contradictory: analyst

Looking ahead to the rest of this year, some of the most active buying plans were reported by collectors from mainland China, the report added.

Meanwhile, Chiang is pinning hopes on rising interest in Chinese culture, heritage and domestic brands among the younger generation of China’s middle class. He expects that they could boost China’s art market and offset the shrinking overseas demand.

“Enthusiasm for the traditional Chinese culture is rising among the Chinese young middle class, especially with the popularity of self-focused consumption among Gen Z women.

“An ‘eight immortals’ table and a wardrobe made in the late Qing dynasty [1644-1911] … priced at a few thousand yuan, can be converted into a coffee table or a room door, which can integrate them into young people’s lives,” he said.

Ted Fang, who is interested in original designs and the trading of second-hand collectibles, said the waning interest among overseas collectors could also serve as an opportunity for Chinese people to buy back cultural relics and artworks lost overseas, at relatively affordable prices.

“Despite the economic downturn, we have more spending power for art and collecting compared with our parents’ generation,” said Fang, who is in his thirties and lives in Guangzhou.

“Modifying classical furniture is very personalised and environmentally friendly, and many Chinese young people can try it, and maybe turn it into a new fashion statement,” he said.

“In the past, like in the ’90s, modifying a piece of furniture produced more than 100 years ago cost thousands of yuan,” Fang said. “Of course, it was a hobby that was out of reach for Chinese people who had a monthly income of only a few hundred yuan at that time. But now might be just the right time.”

15 dead, 44 injured in residential building fire in Nanjing, China

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253086/15-dead-44-injured-residential-building-fire-nanjing-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Authorities in southeastern China are investigating whether electric bikes are to blame for a fire that erupted in a residential building early on Friday morning, killing at least 15 people, according to mainland media reports.

The blaze started at 4.39am from a ground-level area where electric bikes were parked in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, and was extinguished by 6am, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

At least 44 people were injured and more than 500 affected residents were relocated to hotels.

Residents were woken by the sound of an explosion and saw the fire surge upwards, according to reports from state-owned China National Radio.

Footage posted online showed residents on higher floors of the building in Yuhuatai district screaming for help.

Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper quoted a heavily pregnant woman and her husband as saying they covered themselves with wet pillowcases to shield themselves from smoke in their escape from the 30th floor.

A team has been set up to investigate the incident.

Parking electric bicycles or charging them inside buildings was banned in 2018 when the Ministry of Public Security introduced rules in response to safety fears.

In an interview with People’s Daily, a Beijing fire official estimated that about 80 per cent of fires related to electric bikes occurred during charging, and 90 per cent of casualties in electric bike fires occurred when the vehicles were placed in areas such as hallways, corridors, or stairwells.

The Paper said residents at the Nanjing complex expressed safety concerns about parking electric bikes in the building in the aftermath of a fire in 2019.

Those complaints were part of a Nanjing television programme on fire hazards in April 2022, which prompted officials to say they would install more firefighting equipment within the building, according to The Paper.

Many cities in China, including Nanjing and Beijing, have opened channels to encourage residents to report cases of electric bikes being parked inside the building or taken in a lift.

At a press conference on Saturday morning, Nanjing mayor Chen Zhichang bowed and apologised to the public, according to footage posted online.

Jiangsu Communist Party chief Xin Changxing and governor Xu Kunlin also visited the injured in hospital

Lax safety standards have resulted in several major fires in China in the past two months, prompting Chinese President Xi Jinping to call on local authorities to “reflect deeply”.

In January, a blaze at a shophouse in Xinyu, a city in southeastern Jiangxi province, claimed 39 lives, Most of those who died were students studying for an exam.

That same month, 13 children were killed in a fire at a primary school dormitory in central Henan province.

Chinese scientists create tiny robot that could help treat brain aneurysms and tumours

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3253036/chinese-scientists-create-tiny-robot-could-help-treat-brain-aneurysms-and-tumours?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese scientists have created a magnetic, microfibre robot that they say can reduce the risk of brain aneurysm bleeds and “starve” brain tumours.

The soft “microfibrebot” does this by cutting off the flow of blood to the aneurysm or tumour.

Its coiled shape allows for more control and accuracy than other minimally invasive methods used to treat these conditions, and the researchers say tests done on blood vessel models and rabbits have shown promise for clinical use.

Brain aneurysms and tumours are life-threatening conditions that kill more than 750,000 people a year.

Embolisation to stop the blood flow is one of the first treatments. This minimally invasive procedure is typically done by inserting a catheter into the femoral artery and moving it through the blood vessels until it reaches the target site, where embolic agents to seal off the vessel are delivered.

AI tool for brain cancer prognosis created by team led by Hong Kong scientists

But this method “is often limited by the poor steerability of the catheter in complex neurovascular networks”, the researchers wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Science Robotics on Wednesday.

They noted that it also exposes surgeons to radiation for long periods as the procedure is performed manually under an X-ray.

While robots have been proposed to move the catheter remotely, they said the idea “remains a challenge” due to problems like buckling.

To address these issues, the team – from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University – designed an untethered, magnetically controlled soft robot.

Their study found it could perform robotic embolisation in blood vessel branches that conventional catheters were unable to reach.

“The microfibrebot, composed of a magnetised fibre coiled into a helix shape, can conform to different vessel sizes and performs a corkscrew propulsion when subjected to an external magnetic field,” Melisa Yashinski, associate editor of the journal, wrote in an editor’s summary of the paper.

“These proposed robots provide a controllable alternative to conventional catheter-based embolisation.”

The robot is tiny – about half a millimetre. It can change shape by elongating or aggregating and can be steered up and down using magnetic fields.

And since it will have to travel a long way to reach target blood vessels, the team proposed it be used as a supplement to catheter-based embolisation to “maximise their clinical effectiveness”.

A catheter would be used to get close to the target, then the robot would be injected into the blood vessel via the catheter and steered where it needs to go using X-ray imaging.

“If the microfibrebot goes into a wrong branch vessel, it can be readily reoriented to the right track,” the team wrote.

Micro robot made by Hong Kong academics kills 99% of medical implant bacteria

Once the robot is at the target, it can perform embolisation in two ways.

It can aggregate in a vessel branch to form a tight shape that blocks the blood supply. This could reduce bleeding from aneurysms and stop the flow of blood to brain tumours.

The researchers said it would be possible to use multiple robots for this treatment since the magnetic fields guiding others would not cause an aggregated robot to move.

Embolisation of a brain tumour can also be done by sending particles into a vessel branch to aggregate and “starve the tumour for accelerated removal”. Cutting off blood flow to a tumour causes it to stop growing and can even shrink the tumour by killing cells, according to the paper.

For this type of embolisation, the robot is used to block off a “healthy” vessel before particles are released into the target branches. Once complete, the robot can be removed from the healthy branch.

In tests on a model vessel system, the team found that dual robots in a healthy branch had a particle blocking ratio of up to 88 per cent.

The robots were also tested on the hind legs of rabbits. Three weeks after embolisation, the robots continued to block blood flow and tests on the rabbit organs found “no inflammation or pathological abnormalities”, the researchers said.

They cautioned that the robots were “still in their infancy” and that further testing was needed using different robot sizes, materials and positioning systems to guide them such as ultrasound.

But they concluded that the devices have potential. “We envisage that our magnetic soft microfibrebots will pave the way for the untethered robotic embolisation of cerebral aneurysms and brain tumours in the future,” the paper said.

China tourist who spent US$2,800 on family homestay told to clean toilet, make beds before going home or lose deposit

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3252661/china-tourist-who-spent-us2800-family-homestay-told-clean-toilet-make-beds-going-home-or-lose?utm_source=rss_feed

A tourist from China who paid 20,000 yuan (US$2,800) for a homestay was ordered by the letting agent to scrub the toilet clean before departure or her deposit would not be returned.

The traveller, surnamed Wang, took her family on a trip to Haihua Island, also known as Ocean Flower Island, in southern China’s Hainan province during the Spring Festival.

She chose a 280-square-metre house at the costly monthly rental of 20,000 yuan to avoid the holiday crowds.

After staying in the house for two weeks, they left on February 15, forfeiting the money they had paid for the rest of their stay.

However, the agent they signed the contract with refused to return their 5,000-yuan (US$700) deposit, saying they did not clean the toilet to a standard high enough so that “the next guest could directly move in”.

The agent continued to find fault, also saying the family did not clean the floor and refrigerator, or make the bed to the standard of neatness it was when they moved in.

Wang called the police and posted videos of the agency’s unreasonable request online, receiving more than 6 million views on Douyin.

Online observers supported Wang after seeing her videos, saying the house looked tidy and it should be the agency’s job to arrange for a thorough cleaning before the next guest arrives.

On February 16, the local government said they had requested the agency return the deposit and urged it to rectify its business practices.

“It is like a restaurant asking me to clean the dishes after finishing my meal,” a person on Douyin said.

“Hainan is the most popular tourist resort with the best winter climate in China, but the agent provided the lowest-quality service,” said another.

“I would rather go to Southeast Asia than Hainan for a holiday,” someone wrote on Weibo.

According to China Daily, Haihua Island attracted about 580,000 tourists during the Spring Festival holiday from February 10 to 17, 61 per cent more than the previous year.

Hainan province welcomed 9.5 million tourists during that time.

Demand was so high that prices for a return flight to the destination soared 20-fold to as much as 20,000 yuan in some cases.

Homestay has been increasingly popular among young tourists in China in recent years due to cheaper prices and bespoke experiences.

It is not the first time such properties in the country have been mired in controversy.

During the Labour Day holiday in May 2023, a homestay in a city in eastern Shandong province tricked a guest into cancelling the booking she had made at a lower price, so it could charge more to rent the property to somebody else.

Indonesia’s Belinda Tanoto on net zero goods, philanthropy and Royal Golden Eagle’s China challenges and opportunities

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3253024/indonesias-belinda-tanoto-net-zero-goods-philanthropy-and-royal-golden-eagles-china-challenges-and?utm_source=rss_feed

Asia’s richest families are set to hand down US$2.5 trillion in intergenerational wealth by 2030, throwing long-deferred succession plans into sharp relief. This is the first of two profiles this week on the next generation of crazy rich Asians. Read the main story and the second profile, on Mamee’s Pierre Pang, on Sunday.

Indonesian billionaire Sukanto Tanoto’s youngest daughter Belinda Tanoto believes the days are over when selling almost anything in China would result in a windfall and says within the decade, there will be “clear winners and losers”.

By the same token, she says moving away from China’s trickier business environment – especially for companies that want to steer clear of sanctions Washington has imposed – will not always be practical since the country remains a critical part of global supply chains. You truly have to be partners with China, she says.

“Despite any economic uncertainty, China remains crucial to the world economy thanks to its strong manufacturing, focus on exports, and expanding consumer market,” she told This Week in Asia.

The mother of two small children chairs the China division of her family’s sprawling business empire, the Singapore-headquartered Royal Golden Eagle (RGE) group which includes some of the largest pulp and paper producers in the world.

She says the group, which also spans palm oil concerns and energy businesses such as natural gas, is doubling its business interests in China.

Why Chinese-Indonesians don’t have to hide any longer

The 37-year-old Tanoto cut her teeth in palm oil upon joining the family business in 2008 before moving onto China.

Alongside her siblings, the other scions of the Tanoto clan, she has bet big on renewables, a move that came in handy in regards to China.

Renewable energy and similar climate-friendly industries are “winning” in China, she says, given that more than 90 per cent of Chinese shoppers are now interested in sustainable products.

“We have seen a huge demand for paper carriers, and we’re actually setting up new facilities to meet that demand. We’ve launched net zero paper, net zero textile products, and there’s more to come,” she said.

“Ever since President Xi [Jinping] launched China’s net zero targets, you see a lot of changes in how China approaches manufacturing.”

What surprised Tanoto most was the amount of innovation in green products and the speed at which China went from a nascent renewables industry to becoming a global leader. Innovation has driven down the costs of production, attracting consumers to such goods, she says.

RGE’s viscose-fibre company Sateri recently expanded its Chinese production of Lyocell, a non-toxic biodegradable semi-synthetic fibre, with plans to produce as much as 500,000 tonnes of it a year by 2025.

But being good to the environment has not always been straightforward. Over the years RGE businesses have been accused of contributing to deforestation, though the group has refuted these claims and reaffirmed its commitment to sustainability.

Tanoto, who is also heavily involved in the family’s philanthropic Tanoto Foundation, says it is not just the environment that is a key concern, but also helping Indonesian families find work and lifting them out of poverty.

“For example, at our pulp factory in Indonesia, when we first went there, in 1994, there were 200 families. And, now it’s a thriving town of 200,000 people,” she said.

Tanoto’s greatest wish is to leave the family business in a better shape than she inherited it, describing working in the company since her early twenties as a challenge but also a privilege for which she is grateful.

“I’m [also] very fortunate because my parents are very open to feedback … which is very rare for Asian families with strong patriarchs and matriarchs,” she said.

Asia’s family offices bet on women in business with ‘gender lens’ investing

To guide her and her siblings, the family holds formal meetings and its members will often spend time together – sometimes all day – discussing priorities, Tanoto says.

“We’ve been doing family meetings since I was in college … because most often, family businesses disintegrate not because of the business but because of family conflicts,” she said.

Apartment block fire in China’s Nanjing city kills at least 15, officials say

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/24/china-apartment-building-fire-deaths-nanjing-city

At least 15 people were killed and 44 injured in a fire at a residential building in eastern China’s Nanjing city, local authorities said.

The fire broke out early Friday morning, officials said at a press conference, with a preliminary investigation suggesting the blaze started on the building’s first floor, where electric bikes had been placed.

The building is located in the Yuhuatai district of Nanjing, a city of more than 8 million about 260km north-west of Shanghai.

By 6am (2200 GMT) the fire had been extinguished, and a search-and-rescue operation ended about 2pm Friday, authorities said.

The 44 injured people were sent to hospital for treatment, they added.

China has seen a spate of deadly fires in recent months, prompting calls from President Xi Jinping last month for “deep reflection” and greater efforts to “curb the frequent occurrence of safety accidents”.

In January dozens died after a fire broke out at a store in the central city of Xinyu, with state news agency Xinhua reporting the blaze had been caused by the use of fire by workers in the store’s basement.

That fire came just days after a late-evening blaze at a school in central China’s Henan province killed 13 schoolchildren as they slept in a dormitory.

A teacher at the school told the state-run Hebei Daily that all the victims were from the same third-grade class of nine- and 10-year-olds.

Domestic media reports suggested the fire was caused by an electric heating device.

In November, 26 people were killed and dozens sent to hospital after a fire at a coal company office in northern China’s Shanxi province.

The month before, an explosion at a barbecue restaurant in the north-west of the country left 31 dead and prompted official pledges of a nationwide campaign to promote workplace safety.

In April, a hospital fire in Beijing killed 29 people and forced desperate survivors to jump out of windows to escape.

Chinese hit film Article 20 is ‘a fairy tale’ about the right to self-defence, legal experts say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253010/chinese-hit-film-article-20-fairy-tale-about-right-self-defence-legal-experts-say?utm_source=rss_feed

A new Chinese film by multi-award winning director Zhang Yimou swept the Chinese box office over the Lunar New Year, earning 1.34 billion yuan (US$186 million) over eight days, according to the China Film Administration.

But unlike the comedy or romance films that usually dominate the holiday period, the legal drama Article 20 (Di Er Shi Tiao) explores a controversial issue – the right to self-defence.

The film, co-produced by China’s Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), follows two prosecutors – Han Ming and Lu Lingling – who find themselves working relentlessly to clear villager Wang Yongqiang of charges in the killing of another villager who had bullied him for months and repeatedly raped his wife.

As the story unfolds, the two prosecutors race to collect evidence, redefining the case as a right to self-defence.

China’s big holiday films spark social media debate about body issues and justice

In a scene near the end of the movie, the Han delivers a passionate speech in defence of the suspect.

Han tells the court that the defendant in the case, who had seriously wounded another man in a fight after being bullied by him for months, was only defending himself and should be set free. At the public hearing, Han argues that the law should be used to uphold social justice, not to wrongfully punish good people.

“The law should make it more difficult for bad people to commit crimes, not for good people to take action,” he said.

“The law cannot yield to illegality,” Han said, prompting the entire courtroom to erupt in applause. Wang later goes free.

While Article 20 has been a hit with film-goers, it has largely been a miss for a sceptical legal community, which has pointed out how the pursuit of justice depicted in the movie stands in sharp contrast to reality.

Chinese courts, criminal lawyers say, still attach greater value to social stability than one’s right for self-defence, and once charged, such reversals are rare.

In a commentary that went viral on WeChat, one criminal lawyer called the film “a fairy tale” .

China dad turns lawyer to get justice for suicide son who suffered teacher abuse

“Do you believe in [Han’s speech]?” he asked in the post.

Article 20 refers to a clause in China’s Criminal Law that says if a person acts to stop his or others’ rights being harmed, it is “justifiable defence” and should not be punished. If the defence exceeds “the limits of necessity”, the person is eligible for mitigated punishment, the law says.

The clause has been in place since 1979 but has rarely been used. Only a few cases have successfully cited the article, mostly in situations that attracted intense public attention, lawyers told the South China Morning Post.

Zhu Xiaoding, a prominent criminal lawyer, said authorities did not encourage self-defence and usually asked a victim to cooperate and obey, before filing complaints or petitions.

He Zhiwei, a lawyer at the Beijing Long An Law Firm, said that in the mindset of China’s judiciary, someone who was harmed should seek other options, including fleeing, with self-defence to be used only as a last resort.

“You can run but you should not directly fight back,” he said.

The country’s criminal justice system upheld that those who killed, or inflicted violence on others must take responsibility, He said, adding that the legal system would experience more pressure if someone wes absolved of responsibility in an act of self-defence that caused injury or even death.

Chinese victim of unsolved poisoning case dies, prompting sympathy and anger

This was mostly because the Chinese government prioritised social stability above all else when it came to legal disputes, said Victoria Hao, a Beijing-based criminal lawyer.

“Stability has been paramount in China over the past 40 years. Whoever is in charge, it is seen as troublesome if ordinary citizens are allowed to use violence to counter violence,” she said.

Article 20 had idealised the role of prosecutors in seeking a fair judicial system, Hao said, when in reality, it has been defence lawyers pushing for the right to self-defence, while “prosecutors prioritise compliance above all else, especially under the current authoritarian system [in China]”.

Amid the hype about the film, lawyer Xu Xin wrote on his WeChat account about a case he was involved in in 2018. His client, Wang Lang, had killed another man, Li Lei in a fight. Li had smashed an ashtray and wine bottles on Wang, who fought back.

Wang was originally charged with intentional murder and sentenced to nine years, but Xu convinced the court to reduce the sentence to five years on a lesser charge of “excessive defence”.

“The law of self-defence should not become the ‘law of running away’,” Xu said in his closing argument in the case.

“Wang had said multiple times that he could be wrong, but he did not know what the correct way was,” Xu said. “This is a question that the judge, prosecutors, the public, every one of us has to face … the law should guide public actions, otherwise the public is at a loss what to do.”

In recent years, the situation had improved slightly, He, the Beijing lawyer, said. More and more cases were being defined as “self-defence” as public awareness of the law grows.

In a case that grabbed national attention, also in 2018, Liu Hailong, whose BMW veered into a bike lane, attacked cyclist Yu Haiming with a machete. But Yu managed to grab the weapon and fight back, killing Liu.

Surveillance camera footage of the incident that had been posted online, boosted public support for Yu, who was eventually released without charge.

In 2020, the Supreme People’s Court, the SPP and the Ministry of Public Security jointly published a document on justifiable defence, declaring that it was wrong to always take the side of those who were killed or wounded, or whoever had the louder voice.

The document urged judicial officers to take into account the stress and anxiety of a defendant while facing an unlawful attack, instead of expecting them to act in a calm, reasonable manner.

“Justifiable defence allows citizens to protect themselves when they are violated, but they … cannot abuse the rights granted by law,” the document said.

He said it was the first time there had been a judicial interpretation of the clause. “It is a way to empower judges and prosecutors to apply such provisions in the judicial process.”

China self-made millionaire bride shows off dowry of flat, villa, US$1.4 million cash, Ferrari on big day – inspiring women to create own future

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3251649/china-self-made-millionaire-bride-shows-dowry-flat-villa-us14-million-cash-ferrari-big-day-inspiring?utm_source=rss_feed

A bride in central China who proudly showed off her self-earned dowry that included a flat in Shenzhen, a holiday villa, a Ferrari, and 9.99 million yuan (US$1.4 million) has been praised on social media.

At her lavish wedding in Luyi county, Henan province in central China on February 5, she wore a traditional red Chinese dress and a glittering gold crown like those worn by ancient Chinese royalty.

Her four bridesmaids, dressed in the red uniforms of ancient ministers, held boards displaying the list of her dowry, reported Great Wall New Media.

The properties, money and car listed have a combined value of more than 30 million yuan (US$4.2 million), the report said.

The wedding took three months to prepare and included dances by professional troupes as well as drone performances.

“I think it is the most lavish wedding in our county,” said a female guest who filmed the event.

She said all the bride’s assets were earned by herself through the business she set up in Shenzhen, Guangdong province in southeastern China.

The bride, identified as Lizi, on Douyin, said she was born in a rural area and her first job was at a factory in Shenzhen when she was just 14. She later opened a beauty salon and now owns several outlets across the city.

She revealed on the social media platform that she met her husband on a dating app in 2023.

“From an ugly duckling in a village to living the life I have currently, I am quite content,” Lizi said in a video clip.

“In a good relationship, two partners match each other in strength and help each other grow,” she said. “Thank you for spoiling me and making me look like a little princess. You stop me feeling lonely,” Lizi told her husband.

The self-made millionaire has triggered an outpouring of admiration on mainland social media.

“My first reaction is that you are already so rich, why bother getting married?” Said one person on Douyin.

“Her story sends out positive energy. Hats off to this woman. She is much better than many other women who are greedy and always eager to marry wealthy guys,” another online observer wrote.

Stories of successful independent women often attract a lot of attention in China.

A single businesswoman in eastern Shandong province who owns a modelling school and an e-commerce company was in the spotlight in 2022 for using in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment abroad to have triplets.

Mainland China’s top Taiwan official pledges support for pro-unification forces

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253057/mainland-chinas-top-taiwan-official-pledges-support-pro-unification-forces?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing’s top Taiwan affairs official has called for more efforts to support pro-unification forces and deepen cultural ties a month after the presidential election was won by an independence-leaning candidate.

Wang Huning, who heads the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, told the Taiwan Affairs Work Conference that this year its task was to “advance the process of reunification” and “maintain peace and stability” across the Taiwan Strait, state news agency Xinhua reported on Friday.

2 mainland Chinese fishermen return home after fatal Taiwanese coastguard chase

Wang, the No 4 in the Communist Party’s hierarchy, told officials they would also need to strike hard against Taiwan independence and interference by external forces.

Last month’s Taiwanese presidential election was won by William Lai Ching-te of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party – whom Beijing has repeatedly described as a dangerous separatist – as its next president. He will take office in May when current leader Tsai Ing-wen steps down.

Beijing has criticised Washington’s increased political support and arms sales to Taiwan as “external interference in China’s internal affairs”, and described them as the biggest obstacles to its reunification plan with Taiwan.

Wang also told the conference that Beijing has “overcome difficulties” in pushing ahead its Taiwan agenda and winning international support for the “one China” principle - an apparent reference to Honduras and Nauru cutting their ties with Taipei in the past 12 months.

“It is necessary to expand cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation in various fields and deepen cross-Strait integration and development. We should push for joint Chinese culture promotions across the Taiwan Strait and promote spiritual bonds among Chinese compatriots,” he added.

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.

As China will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China this year, Wang said Beijing will need to “further grasp the strategic initiative to achieve complete reunification of the motherland”.

In contrast to his speech last year, this time Wang did not refer to “one family across the Taiwan Strait” or of Beijing’s efforts to “promote policies benefiting the Taiwanese people”.

Taiwan’s Lafayette-class frigates from France set for combat systems upgrade

Instead, he said Beijing would “firmly support patriotic and pro-unification forces on the island and unite Taiwan compatriots”.

In December, Beijing suspended tariff cuts on 12 products imported from Taiwan, a decision it blamed on the DPP’s stance, and threatened more measures might follow. The decision prompted speculation it might try to weaponise trade to influence the presidential election.

In a world engulfed by war, China is holding out for peace

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3252809/world-engulfed-war-china-holding-out-peace?utm_source=rss_feed

A new world war is under way. For those living in developed countries, where gruesome battles remain mere headlines, it may not feel like the Earth is burning, but in 2022, according to the Peace Peace Research Institute Oslo, there were 137 conflicts around the world, resulting in over 224,800 deaths. The statistics for 2023 will no doubt be more chilling.

In 2022, a quarter of the Earth’s population, about 2 billion people, lived in areas directly impacted by military conflict. Battles and clashes between militaries, militias and zealots have put more people in danger than at any time since World War II.

While the first and second world wars featured large-scale battles throughout Eurasia, the current new world war is fragmented, but nonetheless global. Conflicts around the world now last between eight and 11 years.

These apparently unconnected conflicts have led to humanitarian disasters in all corners of the world, drawing in massive amounts of aid. In 2022, some 110 million people were displaced by war, persecution, violence and discrimination, far exceeding the 60 million people who were displaced during World War II.

More than 5.9 million people are seeking refugee protection in Europe because of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Sudan civil war that broke out last year has pushed more than 10 million people from their homes. In the past three years, seven military coups have occurred in African countries.

The brutality and destructiveness of the conflict in Gaza has shocked the world. More than half of the buildings in the Gaza Strip have been damaged or destroyed and 85 per cent of the population has been displaced.

Political instability in Venezuela, Ecuador and elsewhere is leading to more armed conflicts. The security situation in the Asia-Pacific is also challenging. The Korean peninsula, northern Myanmar and the Philippines are potential conflict hotspots.

The rise of localised military forces has become a new variable affecting global peace. In 2020, the International Committee of the Red Cross identified 614 non-state armed groups “of concern” to its humanitarian operations, with about 60 to 80 million people living under the control of these groups.

These groups are highly flexible and can trigger international disputes in unexpected places. If they become a proxy for major powers, they can quickly obtain hi-tech weapons, making the resolution of regional conflicts more challenging.

The traditional conflict resolution mechanism is at risk of complete failure, and international multilateral governance mechanisms, such as the United Nations and G20, no longer have the perceived authority or ability to bring about peace. Over the past decade, no war has ended through international mediation that concluded with a comprehensive peace agreement.

The lopsided post-Cold-War world order has created an international diplomatic environment that features an extreme lack of trust. Some countries see a solution to this disorder in abandoning the liberal institutionalised route characterised by unbending, high-minded principles, and returning to the more pragmatic path of realpolitik.

Yet, in 2022, global military spending reached a record high. The US accounted for about 39 per cent of global military expenditure in 2022, and its defence budget for 2024 is a record US$886 billion.

French military expenditure increased 7.5 per cent year on year in 2024 to US$49.7 billion; Japan is planning to spend US$55.9 billion, up 16.5 per cent; Russia military spending will jump a whopping 68 per cent to reach US$115 billion. In 2023, China reportedly allocated US$224 billion to its military, an increase of 7.2 per cent over the previous year.

Military weaponry is also undergoing a massive sea change with the help of artificial intelligence. This undoubtedly enhances the ability of a powerful country to launch, participate in or fund war. Poor citizens who are recruited to the army stand little chance of surviving the precision of the new generation of AI-guided weapons .

Many Chinese scholars once hoped that the United States would play a leading role in the development of true international peace. However, the influence of US global leadership is waning. The US is increasingly partisan in regional conflicts, even when it means its side will inflict greater suffering.

The multitude of conflicts globally interferes with the development of emerging economies, and are creating roadblocks to China’s rise. From China’s perspective, the US seems to be trying to protect its hegemony. A true global leader should be a conflict coordinator, not a troublemaker.

China is always ready to help mediate a conflict, but is unwilling to be the world’s judge, or global cop, even as it contributes 2,000 United Nations peacekeepers in various conflicts. It is very vigilant about the Russia-Ukraine, Palestinian-Israeli, India-Pakistan and northern Myanmar conflicts, and the potential military risks relating to Taiwan and the South China Sea. China hopes to have strong self-defence capabilities and realise the true unity of the country as soon as possible.

Philippines counts the cost of tough South China Sea stance against Beijing

China does not want to get involved in war, as its peaceful record over the past 40 years shows. For the Chinese people, being its best self is China’s greatest contribution to world peace.

Perhaps it is difficult for the West to warm to China as it navigates the friction and differences with and between some of its 20 neighbours. If it is provoked and its red lines are crossed, China will not hesitate to defend its sovereignty. But isn’t that the first rule of every self-respecting country?

However, for a long time, China has been patiently suppressing the impulse to take military action, while wisely negotiating various contradictions. Although China faces many temptations to go to war and may be forced into it, it also hopes to be a peaceful damper, working hard to alleviate the new world war.

China’s 1 trillion yuan EV, solar and battery exports face overcapacity concerns as US, EU anxieties grow

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3253000/chinas-1-trillion-yuan-ev-solar-and-battery-exports-face-overcapacity-concerns-us-eu-anxieties-grow?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s 1 trillion yuan (US$139 billion) exports of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells could face a new round of challenges this year, as Western policymakers have reflected “genuine anxieties” about overcapacity distorting their markets.

Legal action and tariff increases by the United States and European Union against a perceived oversupply of cheap products could set back a critical segment of the world’s second-largest economy, unless China diversifies away from the West and also boosts domestic demand, analysts said.

“The key question is how these industries struggle against these growing headwinds, which aren’t just tied to finding new commercial opportunities, but balancing against geopolitical and trade policy risks, as well,” said Nick Marro, lead analyst for global trade with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“I think it will be less of an ‘excuse’ for Western policymakers to engage in protectionism, and more a reflection of genuine anxieties around whether these products are distorting their own markets.”

He also noted there is a “growing sentiment” in Western capitals that work against the idea of having their consumers subsidise China’s growth engine.

The European Commission has launched anti-subsidy investigations into Chinese EVs and a train maker, while the US Department of Commerce placed import duties on solar panel makers that finish products in Southeast Asia to avoid tariffs on made-in-China goods.

The US government already bars EV battery materials from China as a “foreign entity of concern”.

The Ukraine war, which marks its second anniversary on Saturday, is also a factor affecting China’s ties with Western markets, with the British government on Thursday announcing a new package of sanctions against Russia that included three Chinese electronics companies.

China rails against EU’s train subsidy probe – will relations stay on track?

“You can get a sort of immediate protective effect by raising an anti-dumping case,” said Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

“Once a competitor loses that market share, it’s difficult for the country to recover it.”

Chinese manufacturers would be able to make 4,800 gigawatt-hours of batteries in 2025, four times the demand of its EV makers, according to online investment publication Gelonghui.

The annual supply capacity of solar panels reached between 800 gigawatts and 1,100 gigawatts last year, well ahead of projected global demand of some 300 gigawatts, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong, said that local governments provide venture capital, land tax breaks to EV companies.

“Beijing recognises insufficient domestic demand is a key economic challenge,” said Wang Zichen, a research fellow at the Beijing-based Centre for China and Globalisation.

“However, expanding domestic demand is a difficult undertaking that takes time, effort, and perhaps most importantly, domestic reforms.”

As China-EU ‘de-risking’ voices crescendo, why the focus on electric cars?

Top Chinese leaders called “overcapacity in some industries” a major challenge for 2024 at the annual central economic work conference in December.

Marro added that China’s trade frictions are as much tied to the economic challenges that it is struggling with at home.

“Deflationary forces and weak domestic demand tie back to the slowing Chinese growth engine and weak consumer confidence,” he said.

“The worsening imbalances in the Chinese economy regarding savings and investment are naturally replicated in the trade arena.”

In a paper issued in February 2023, the MIT Technology Review said that the development of batteries and EVs offered China’s automotive sector growth opportunities during the coronavirus pandemic as well as more weight in “climate policy leadership”.

And China can ease overcapacity and avoid the wrath of Western countries by setting up factories in the US or Europe – which is already an “option” – or in Southeast Asia, said Peng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform.

Producers can also sell their hardware to India or other parts of the world that are not aligned with the US or Europe because the sheer number of other potential non-Western markets can help offset dips in demand, Peng added.