• Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Serbia this year, says its leader Alexander Vucic
• US commerce chief in China this week to meet government officials and business leaders
• Chinese commerce minister meets with US trade representative at WTO conference in Abu Dhabi
• Foreign firms say China’s economic woes and geopolitical feuds won’t scare them off, but they’re investing less
• Chinese investment bank joins chorus of experts as calls for fiscal stimulus intensify
• China’s top legislators weigh changes to state secrets law
• Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific hires 200 cadet pilots from mainland China, but flight crew union says airline can only cope with reduced operations
• Chinese floating barrier at South China Sea flashpoint was ‘necessary’, Beijing says
• Taiwan: mainland China sends coastguard ships from contested Diaoyu Islands to patrol near Kinmen where fishermen died
• China’s aviation boon, driven by C919 and Airbus plant, an opportunity South Korean firms ‘must pursue’
• KMT deputy chief Andrew Hsia starts mainland China trip with call for dialogue with Taiwan
• Distressed China boy boards train wearing only pyjamas after row with father over school work, police find him looking for mother
• New Biden order would stem flow of Americans’ sensitive data to China
• Welcome to China’s Cat Island, where lucky strays wait for a new home
• China is beating winter storm power blackouts as Western countries warn to get supplies
• China slams US ‘smear tactics’ in WTO assessment, says Washington covering up its ‘sabotage’
• China’s top corruption watchdog puts belt and road projects, rural strategy in the cross hairs
• China teacher warns no more ‘dog ate my homework’ or other excuses, in amusing online reminder to pupils and parents to turn in schoolwork
• More mainland Chinese cities may join solo traveller scheme if Hong Kong can handle latest additions, industry leader says after meeting Xia
• Japan-South Korea ties under scrutiny over future of continental shelf in East China Sea
• Palestinians call for China to step up pressure on Israel as they seek an end to ‘collective punishment’ on Gazans
• As China’s Pacific influence grows, Japan eyes deeper ties with island nations amid their domestic woes
• Love-seeking men in China turn to makeup in bid to boost romance chances in competitive Lunar New Year dating market
• China on alert for cold weather damage to spring vegetable crops

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Serbia this year, says its leader Alexander Vucic

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3253298/chinese-president-xi-jinping-will-visit-serbia-year-says-its-leader-alexander-vucic?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Serbia this year, with the trip confirmed in a speech and social media posts by his Serbian counterpart Alexander Vucic.

In a speech made at a Lunar New Year reception he hosted in Belgrade, Vucic said, “Xi Jinping, our sincere friend … will visit our country this year”, according to local media reports on Monday.

The trip was confirmed during discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, the Serbian leader said.

On Friday, Vucic in an Instagram post on his official account said the “upcoming visit of a great friend of Serbia, President Xi” had been discussed at lunch with Beijing’s ambassador to the country, Li Ming.

It means Serbia is the first confirmed stop on Xi’s first post-pandemic trip to Europe, after months of speculation. The Post first reported earlier this month that Belgrade could be on Xi’s agenda, while Paris is also rumoured to be part of his itinerary.

Serbia has fostered close ties with China in recent years. Vucic met Xi during a trip to Beijing for the Belt and Road Forum in October, when the pair signed a landmark free-trade agreement.

Vucic was also one of a small set of European leaders to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics Beijing in February 2022.

Beijing and Belgrade have strongly backed each other’s positions on Taiwan and Kosovo, respectively, too.

EU blacklists Chinese firms for first time in latest Russian sanctions package

“The Republic of Serbia will always respect the principle of one and single China and you can always count on our country’s support,” Vucic said in his speech, according to the Serbian media outlet Tanjug.

In April 2022, the relationship hit the headlines when China’s air force flew 12 covert sorties to Serbia to deliver three anti-aircraft missile systems, marking Beijing’s biggest overseas airlift involving its Y-20 transport planes.

The airlift sparked concerns in the Balkans and across Europe about Serbia’s military build-up, with China’s nascent military presence in Europe’s backyard spooking many Western observers.

Belgrade has maintained ties with Russia during its two-year war with Ukraine, and, to the frustration of many EU and Nato members, declined to take part in sanctioning Moscow over its invasion.

October’s trade deal was the first Beijing signed with a country in central or eastern Europe, where many capitals have become hostile towards China in recent years. Analysts say it could prise open the door to more military cooperation.

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

Belgrade will receive a steeper discount each year if it continues to buy armaments listed in the agreement, including missiles, bombs, torpedoes and tanks, according to a group of experts writing in The Diplomat, an online magazine.

“Customs tariffs for these Chinese-manufactured weapons will fall from a 25 per cent custom tariff to 2.5 per cent at the end of the 15-year period,” The Diplomat said.

Serbia is a candidate for European Union membership, although it appears to have a troubled route into the 27-country bloc.

Should it accede, however, its agreement with China would cease to apply from day one, since it would follow a trade policy and trade deals fixed in Brussels.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in October “we want Serbia to join the EU”, but added it would first need to recognise Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 after years of armed conflict including a war.

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US commerce chief in China this week to meet government officials and business leaders

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253299/us-commerce-chief-china-week-meet-government-officials-and-business-leaders?utm_source=rss_feed

The CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, is leading a delegation of former US government officials to Beijing this week, the group said.

The group will meet senior Chinese government officials and local business leaders, as well as American business executives and foreign diplomats, according to a representative of the chamber, the leading group representing business interests in the United States.

The visit comes as the United States and China gradually resume engagements after the two economic superpowers’ most tense relations in years, at loggerheads over the future of self-ruled island ruled Taiwan, territorial claims in the South China Sea and trade policies.

Beijing slams ‘smear tactics’ in US assessment of China’s ‘predatory’ economy

Ties are still recovering after the United States downed an alleged Chinese spy balloon a year ago.

US and Chinese top military officials spoke for the first time in more than a year in December. Meetings between US Treasury and Chinese financial officials in Beijing in January concluded with both sides agreeing to continue to meet regularly, the Treasury Department said.

US officials also indicated that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen looked forward to a return visit to China at an “appropriate time,” the department said.

Chinese commerce minister meets with US trade representative at WTO conference in Abu Dhabi

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253302/chinese-commerce-minister-meets-us-trade-representative-wto-conference-abu-dhabi?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, expressed Beijing’s “solemn concerns” over US tariffs and Taiwan-related issues in the economic and trade domain during a meeting with US Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Monday.

Wang and Tai conducted “professional and in-depth” communication on bilateral and multilateral economic and trade issues of mutual concerns, as they met on the sidelines of the 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization in Abu Dhabi, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

The US side raised concerns regarding China’s excess capacity of steel on the global market and the imbalances caused by Beijing’s “state-led, non-market approach to trade policy”, according to a USTR readout.

It said that Tai expressed the need for continued communication and collaboration between the two countries, while the two sides agreed to work on areas of shared cooperation, including their respective commitments to the WTO.

On the eve of the four-day conference, the USTR office published a 80-page report on China’s membership in the WTO, calling China “the biggest challenge to the international trading system”.

Beijing responded by calling the US compliance assessment groundless and a distortion of the facts, while accusing Washington of trade bullying, unilateralism and disrupting international supply chains.

Tariffs and Taiwan remain two major sore points in relations between the world’s two largest economies.

Washington has maintained tariffs on Chinese goods introduced during Donald Trump’s presidency – at an average of 19.3 per cent. The former US president and front runner for this year’s Republican presidential nomination has said he would impose additional tariffs on China if elected again, possibly in excess of 60 per cent.

Beijing slams ‘smear tactics’ in US assessment of China’s ‘predatory’ economy

In 2023, China was dethroned as the top US source of imports for the first time in 17 years, as Mexico outpaced it in terms of the total value of goods.

Meanwhile, the US and Taiwan have moved closer in the economic fields. Last year, the two sides signed a deal which included measures meant to accelerate trade between the markets.

Beijing regards the move as violating the one-China principle and contravening the US commitment of maintaining only unofficial relations with Taiwan, which it views as a breakaway province to be united eventually with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The US and most other countries do not recognise Taiwan as an independent country; however, Washington is legally committed to supporting the island’s self-defence capability.

China’s 17-year run as top source of US imports ends as Mexico rises

During a separate high-level discussion on trade and sustainable development on the first day of the WTO conference, Tai targeted “non-market economic policies” – an apparent jab at China without naming the country specifically.

She said that there was “incredible potential in the green economy”, but the vision could not be fully achieved “when some members use non-market economic policies to build global market dominance that can be abused”, according to the USTR office.

“Non-market policies and practices undermine fair competition. They create trade distortions and non-market excess capacity, which undermine our sustainability objectives and climate goals.

“They also block opportunities for members of all stages of development to participate in supply networks,” Tai said.

Thanks to the rapid development built upon government subsidies and a complete manufacturing infrastructure system, Chinese companies now have a near-monopoly in the global production of solar panels and lithium batteries, a key component for electric vehicles. The country also became the world’s largest exporter of EVs in 2023.

But the sectors are also facing sheer overcapacity issues in the country, which have prompted foreign policymakers’ concerns about cheap Chinese imports distorting their domestic markets.

Foreign firms say China’s economic woes and geopolitical feuds won’t scare them off, but they’re investing less

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3253267/foreign-firms-say-chinas-economic-woes-and-geopolitical-feuds-wont-scare-them-theyre-investing-less?utm_source=rss_feed

Foreign firms are curbing their expansion plans in China amid what they expect will be an enduring economic slowdown and an escalation in US-China trade tensions, yet most of them are still opting to maintain their foothold in the vast market, according to the latest findings.

In a survey by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in South China, involving 183 respondents polled from October 9 to December 31, 49 per cent were from the US, 35 per cent were from China and the rest were from other regions, including Europe.

It said most were “optimistic about the growth of the Chinese market”, with 76 per cent planning to reinvest in China – a year-on-year rise of 1 percentage point.

Much of that optimism was driven by Chinese firms, with 89 per cent of them intending to ramp up investments, marking a 14-percentage-point annual increase. Among American firms, 63 per cent were looking to reinvest in China, down 5 percentage points.

China’s foreign firms fear golden era over as Beijing aims to ‘solidify control’

And there was a massive drop-off among firms from elsewhere, with only 11 per cent planning in to reinvest in China – way down from 71 per cent a year prior.

The survey also found that 90 per cent of American firms said they were not planning to decouple from China amid geopolitical trade tensions, even though they are among those most impacted.

More than 60 per cent of American firms said they had been negatively affected by tariffs both from China and the US – more than about half of Chinese firms and around 40 per cent of other foreign firms, according to the latest Special Report of the State of Business in South China.

Meanwhile, 85 per cent of US firms expected that the US-China trade dispute could continue expanding this year.

Despite Beijing’s charm offensive over the past year to woo more overseas investors, coupled with vows to address their concerns about operating in the country, the nation’s huge market is still burdened by economic risks arising from a real estate crisis, large levels of local-level debt and persistent trade tensions that have effectively crippled confidence among those investors.

According to the AmCham report, which spanned a wide range of sectors, 63 per cent of American companies intended to reinvest in China in 2024, a 5 per cent year-on-year drop.

Nearly 80 per cent of polled foreign companies operating in China had a reinvestment budget at a relatively low quota of less than US$10 million in the country this year, the report said.

The report reflected how market uncertainties and concerns about investment risks in China may persist.

As US, EU anxiety grows, will overcapacity curb exports of China’s ‘new three’?

“China’s economy is expected to lose steam in 2024 and beyond, [with growth in gross domestic product possibly] dropping as low as 4.6 per cent in 2028. The country is expected to face headwinds from weak productivity and population ageing,” said Harley Seyedin, president of AmCham in South China.

Meanwhile, 4 per cent of American companies said they planned to increase their investments in major projects valued at more than US$250 million, compared with 3 per cent of Chinese companies.

“US companies contribute to China’s GDP each year more than 180 times the value of the usual measure of US FDI inflow,” Seyedin said. “This explains [why] foreign enterprises, however cautiously, continue their interest in the Chinese market in spite of continued difficulties facing all companies due to the impact of three years of Covid-19, interruptions in the supply chain, shipping-container shortages, the exorbitant cost of international travel and logistics, and anaemic world demand.”

Chinese investment bank joins chorus of experts as calls for fiscal stimulus intensify

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3253261/chinese-investment-bank-joins-chorus-experts-calls-fiscal-stimulus-intensify?utm_source=rss_feed

A leading Chinese investment bank has amplified calls for Beijing to bolster fiscal support to consumers and businesses, citing a relative gulf in effect for pandemic-era stimulative actions taken by China and the United States.

China International Capital Corporation (CICC) issued a report on Saturday discussing the economic divergences that have emerged between the two superpowers, presenting a case for demand-side measures as Beijing attempts to leverage domestic consumption to drive up growth and make its financial system more efficient in serving the real economy.

“The US had bigger fiscal expansion during the Covid years. China needs to crank up fiscal support in the near term to break the vicious spiral as weak economic fundamentals and weak confidence are feeding off each other,” said Kevin Liu, a managing director of CICC Research.

“More fiscal support can encourage consumers and the private sector to invest and expand,” he wrote.

Lawmakers will convene in the Chinese capital next week to review the year’s policy agenda and national economic targets.

Many economists have argued for more fiscal spending since Beijing issued 1 trillion yuan (US$138.9 billion) of special treasury bonds in October, which lifted the country’s fiscal deficit ratio to 3.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) from the previously budgeted 3 per cent.

The CICC report is one of several which have addressed the topic of fiscal expansion by making direct comparisons between China and the US. Surpassing the US in GDP has been cited as a long-term pursuit of Chinese leadership, although it has not been made an explicit target in government documents.

Both China and the US engaged in monetary loosening during the Covid years, although they are presently in different cycles.

China’s M2 money supply – an aggregate value of a country’s liquid assets, including currency in circulation and private banking deposits – had double-digit growth for most of the last two years, CICC said, but it failed to disperse deflationary threats and jump-start private investment, as much of the money was in credit and loans.

More fiscal support the catalyst to revive China consumption, housing market

In contrast, the US’ M2 supply was trimmed by about US$500 billion last year to tame inflation. However, the bank said, its economy still fared better, maintaining strong demand and consolidating its lead over China in terms of economic size.

“In the US, money reached people’s hands, while in China, the money [came] from banks and ultimately flows back to banks,” said the CICC report.

CICC added that much of the 42.6 trillion yuan in new loans disbursed for businesses between 2020 and 2023 did not help spur the country’s economic recovery, as they became deposits or were otherwise used to service old debts.

Credit support, compared to direct fiscal disbursement – which, per CICC, carries “almost zero cost” to revive consumption and investment – was designated as an option which generated additional costs and inefficiencies, as businesses tended toward lukewarm responses.

“In China, credit support becoming bank deposits suggested low investment return and tepid credit demand, and fiscal support remained inadequate,” the bank said.

When the private sector is unwilling or unable to expand, the CICC report estimated, the central government needs an additional leveraging of 5 to 6 trillion yuan in the first half of 2024. The bank said such an approach is necessary to bring up the “fiscal pulse”, a measure of the changing impact of the budget on the economy, to 4 per cent from its current three-year low.

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

Several economists and policy advisers have already issued recommendations for direct fiscal backing.

Yao Yang, director of Peking University’s National Development School, has for years suggested direct cash allowances for low-income residents.

Teng Tai, director of the Beijing-based private think tank Wanb Institute, made another appeal last week, saying China should learn from the likes of the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore.

“The most effective way to encourage consumption is to issue cash [coupons],” he told Chinese media outlet Yicai.

“A one-dollar cash coupon will multiply to three to five dollars of spending.”

China’s top legislators weigh changes to state secrets law

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253275/chinas-top-legislators-weigh-changes-state-secrets-law?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top legislature has started a second reading of changes to the state secrets law, with even more restrictions included in the draft.

The full text of the draft has not been made public, but official media reports suggest it proposes greater restrictions on matters considered by the authorities to be state secrets.

State broadcaster CCTV said the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress began reviewing the amendments on Monday. It was not immediately clear when the amendments would be approved or come into effect.

This is the first time the law has been revised in more than a decade and the second since its introduction in 1988.

China’s move to amend state secrets law fuels concern among businesses

One area of change is the “work secrets of government departments”.

CCTV quoted Luo Yuan, an NPC official in charge of the amendments, as saying lawmakers, government officials and legal experts had suggested these matters were already largely considered as state secrets but they should be “managed and standardised”.

Under the proposed changes, government departments would have to protect “matters arising from or acquired in work that are not state secrets but the disclosure of which would create certain negative effects”.

A previous draft expanded on the provision, defining negative effects as “impeding the normal functions of government departments or undermining national security or public interest”.

The blurring of the “work secrets” definition in the new draft could give authorities greater flexibility over what cannot be disclosed.

The CCTV report said that the new draft also placed more restrictions on state employees who leave their jobs, requiring those who are in possession of state secrets to undergo secrecy education and return classified materials.

Previous revisions proposed that all state employees with access to classified information would not be allowed to travel abroad without prior permission for a set time after their departure, a requirement that is expected to be retained.

As of 2016, China had about 7.16 million civil servants, according to state news agency Xinhua. But an estimated 31 million people are employed by the state, including at state-owned enterprises, institutions and agencies.

According to CCTV, the latest amendments require the authorities to conduct “scientific argumentation and evaluation” of matters considered state secrets and to make “timely adjustments” as circumstances change.

Xinhua said the draft under consideration also added that people should be compensated when their “rights and interests are restricted for reasons of state secrets”.

China dusts off state secrets law amid national security push

The first draft of the revised law was put to the Standing Committee in October, followed by a month-long public consultation.

That draft had more than a dozen new articles, most of which are expected to be retained. They included greater emphasis on public education about state secrets and government support for the research and application of key technologies in the field of information security.

Revisions to Chinese laws typically go through two or three rounds of deliberation, but it is unclear what the revised state secrets law will do the same.

This session of the NPC Standing Committee ends on Tuesday. The main agenda is to prepare for next week’s annual gatherings of all NPC representatives in Beijing and to “review the qualifications of some deputies” – an apparent reference about the removal and appointment of senior government officials.

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific hires 200 cadet pilots from mainland China, but flight crew union says airline can only cope with reduced operations

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3253286/hong-kong-flag-carrier-cathay-pacific-hires-200-cadet-pilots-mainland-china-flight-crew-union-says?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has hired about 200 cadet pilots from mainland China to boost staffing levels, its top management has said, but the aircrew union warned the airline did not have sufficient staff to return to pre-pandemic service levels.

Chris Kempis, the airline’s director of flight operations, said on Monday that it had taken on about 200 people from 500 mainland applicants qualified to train as pilots after it began recruitment last year.

The mainland cadets were chosen based on their experience, company standards and English language skills.

“While our cadet focus will be on Hong Kong, we realise that the source may be, in some regards, limiting,” Kempis said.

He explained the city’s lack of training facilities, flying schools and an air force made it “difficult” for someone in Hong Kong who wanted to be a pilot.

Kempis said Cathay Pacific’s present number of pilots, close to 2,600, was enough to keep services running.

Cathay hit the headlines after its decision to cancel at least 160 flights over the Christmas and New Year holidays, for what it said was a lack of pilots because of factors such as seasonal illness.

“We have sufficient pilots to meet our capacity and the size of our network right now,” Kempis said. “We’re not short of pilots at all to operate.”

“As we grow, we’ll need to employ more pilots, but we’re not short... and the main reason for that is, we have restructured the airline since Covid and the way our pilots are able to operate now.

“The way we now deploy our line pilots enables them to operate more efficiently. This results in them being able to contribute more, and that contribution is well-rewarded.”

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

He said Cathay had bounced back to 80 per cent of its pre-pandemic services and was on course to meet its earlier target of 100 per cent by the end of the year.

Kempis said lessons had been learned from the Christmas period about rostering enough pilots to prevent a repeat of the crisis, especially in the run-up to the Easter holidays in late March.

“Going on to the Easter area, and any peaks in this year going forward, what we learned is the most important thing is to make sure we have the right pilots positioned with their hours and their reserve to ensure that we get through those peaks.”

Cathay introduced a special flying allowance between February 7 and 18 which offered pilots a payment of 15, 25 or 30 per cent of their respective hourly flying rate if they worked over the Lunar New Year holiday.

Kempis said there was a “high likelihood” the same deal would be offered again over Easter.

Cathay Pacific chief vows better performance, admits axed flights affected brand

But Paul Weatherilt, the chairman of the Hong Kong Aircrew Officers Association, said the company’s new rostering system had caused unhappiness among staff because of its lack of flexibility.

“I would push back very strongly against any notion that they have enough pilots,” he said.

He added the current headcount was enough for Cathay to scrape by with its reduced operations, but was nowhere near the numbers needed to operate at pre-pandemic levels.

“It is true to say that with the new system, which they spent a lot of money on... they probably can get more out of some pilots,” Weatherilt said.

“However, that does come with a cost because... if you push that too far, which they’re trying to do, all it means is that the satisfaction rate is low.

“There has to be a little bit of flexibility.”

The association said in a statement on Monday that Cathay Pacific remained “very short of experienced pilots” including captains and first officers, and that it would be “years before the recovery in pilot numbers is complete.”

It pointed out that, although the number of second officers – the rank of junior pilots after they finish cadet training – was close to pre-pandemic levels, there was a shortfall of 736 first officers and 555 captains compared with numbers in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The association said the company needed to carry out thousands of upgrade courses and induction training to return to levels before the coronavirus struck.

Cathay went through rounds of mass lay-offs throughout the pandemic. It made 6,000 staff redundant and shut down regional airline Cathay Dragon in 2020.

Chinese floating barrier at South China Sea flashpoint was ‘necessary’, Beijing says

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3253276/chinese-floating-barrier-south-china-sea-flashpoint-was-necessary-beijing-says?utm_source=rss_feed

China on Monday said it was “necessary” to set up a floating barrier at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, where it has had frequent flare-ups with Philippine forces.

Asked about new satellite images of the barrier blocking the entrance of the shoal’s lagoon, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the shoal, called Huangyan Island in Chinese, was the country’s “inherent territory”.

“Recently, the Philippine side has taken a series of actions which violate China’s sovereignty,” Mao said in Beijing.

“China has to take the necessary measures to firmly safeguard our territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests.”

Manila could file case against China over possible cyanide use by boats in shoal

In a statement on Sunday, the Philippine coastguard accused Chinese coastguard vessels of deploying a floating barrier at the mouth of the lagoon, and conducting “blocking manoeuvres” about 1.3 nautical miles from the shoal last Tuesday during a patrol by a vessel from the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, which also transported fuel to Filipino fishermen.

Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela said Beijing installed barriers “every time” a Philippine government vessel was in the vicinity of the Bajo de Masinloc, the Philippine name for the shoal.

How many submarines does Philippines need to deter Beijing in South China Sea?

The barrier was removed a few hours after the Philippine vessel left the area, he said.

Commercial satellite images taken on the day also showed the barrier across the shoal mouth, as well as “possible Chinese interception” of the Philippine vessel, according to a Reuters report on Monday.

China’s coastguard had said the Philippine government vessel was “driven away” after it had “illegally intruded into” Chinese waters.

Beijing has used a “nine-dash line” to claim almost the entire South China Sea, a claim contested by neighbours including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

The Scarborough Shoal, which is rich in fishery and marine resources, has become a flashpoint between Beijing and Manila and a frequent source of diplomatic tension.

The shoal sits within the Philippines’ 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone and used to be part of a shooting range for US military stationed at Subic Bay, while China has claimed it as part of its Zhongsha Islands.

Beijing took control of the shoal in 2012, prompting Manila to take the case to an international arbitration tribunal in The Hague, which ruled in 2016 that China’s claims had no legal basis.

PLA sends forces to monitor US-Philippines air patrols over South China Sea

China rejected the ruling, but later allowed the Philippines to enter the area when relations improved under former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Since Ferdinand Marcos Jr became president of the Philippines in 2022, tensions have risen again, with frequent reports of confrontations.

Last September, Manila also accused Beijing of installing a floating barrier to stop fishing boats from entering the Scarborough Shoal. It was later removed by the Philippine coastguard in a “special operation”.

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Taiwan: mainland China sends coastguard ships from contested Diaoyu Islands to patrol near Kinmen where fishermen died

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253266/taiwan-mainland-china-sends-coastguard-ships-contested-diaoyu-islands-patrol-near-kinmen-where?utm_source=rss_feed

Large vessels that mainland China’s coastguard uses to sail around the contested Diaoyu Islands were sent on Sunday on a law-enforcement patrol near Kinmen, where two mainland fishermen died this month fleeing Taiwan’s coastguard.

The deployment, which signalled Beijing was stepping up pressure on Taipei, was intended to confront Taipei with an overwhelming presence, according to an expert.

At least four vessels – including a former type 053H2G frigate over 2,000 tonnes bearing the number 2202 – patrolled waters near Kinmen, also known as Quemoy, a few nautical miles from the mainland city of Xiamen but controlled by Taiwan.

The fleet was sent by the coastguard of Fujian province in southern China and carried out tasks including vessel checks, fishing boat protection and issuing warnings, according to a statement by China Coast Guard.

A video released by the force showed a coastguard vessel issuing a verbal warning: “I am China Coast Guard Ship 2202. Please advise your ship’s departure port, destination port and purpose for coming to this sea area”.

Beijing vows regular patrols in waters where 2 fishermen died after Taiwan chase

A photo attached to the statement showed a Chinese coastguard vessel facing a small boat in nearby water. The other boat appeared to be from Taiwan’s coastguard, said Yuyuan Tantian, a social media platform affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, quoting anonymous sources.

The Chinese statement said the operation aimed to strengthen law enforcement in key water areas, effectively maintain order and safeguard the safety and property of fishermen.

A video released by the force showed the types of the vessels, including those bearing numbers 14608, 14515 and 2202. The latter was used to patrol near the disputed Diaoyu Islands, called the Senkaku in Japanese, with “rich” law enforcement experience, according to Yue Gang, a retired PLA colonel.

Yue said ships 2202 and 2203, which is also over 2,000 tonnes and appeared in the patrols on Sunday, had strong firepower capabilities and could operate helicopters on deck. He said “forming an absolute advantage over the Kinmen coastguard ships and preventing possible reinforcements from Taiwan … can effectively deter Taiwan”.

Zhang Junshe, a mainland military expert, was quoted by Global Times as saying the patrols marked the first time China Coast Guard had entered the “prohibited or restricted waters” around Kinmen. In these waterways Taiwan’s coastguard searches foreign boats among other law-enforcement measures. Beijing has denied the existence of such waters but traditionally it has abided by the boundaries.

Zhang said the development on Sunday was to warn Taiwan authorities and to show that “Kinmen is China’s territory, and the Kinmen waters are waters under China’s jurisdiction”.

Yue Gang also said Beijing’s enforcement patrol intended to “[show we] do not recognise the so-called prohibition restriction lines established by Taiwan, and to abolish Taiwan’s law enforcement”.

On the same day, a further two boats were enforcing Beijing’s fisheries law in the same maritime area.

Beijing and Taipei remain at loggerheads over the death of the fishermen after their boat was being pursued by Taiwan’s coastguard in the waters near Kinmen.

Taiwanese authorities argued that the mainland Chinese boat was not licensed, illegally entered its “prohibited or restricted waters” and capsized when it was trying to avoid inspection by Taiwan’s coastguard. Beijing denied the waters were restricted and accused Taipei of hiding the truth about the accident.

Could fatal Taiwan coastguard chase be a chance to ease tensions?

A mainland delegation, including officials and relatives of the dead fishermen, were in Kinmen to negotiate with Taiwanese authorities. They conducted their sixth round of talks on Sunday, according to Taiwanese media.

The incident was expected to add to the cross strait tension that had risen since William Lai Ching-te from the independent-leaning Democratic Progressive Party won the island’s presidential election in January.

On Friday, state media reported that Beijing must grasp “the strategic initiative” to achieve reunification with Taiwan this year, according to Wang Huning, the head of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the mainland’s top advisory body, in the annual working meeting of Taiwan affairs.

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China’s aviation boon, driven by C919 and Airbus plant, an opportunity South Korean firms ‘must pursue’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3253251/chinas-aviation-boon-driven-c919-and-airbus-plant-opportunity-south-korean-firms-must-pursue?utm_source=rss_feed

South Korean aerospace manufacturers are poised to tap into China’s burgeoning aviation market amid post pandemic supply chain reshuffling and surging demand, according to a report.

China’s rising demand for aviation parts, largely due to the mass production of its home-grown C919 passenger jet and the construction of a second assembly line by Airbus at its plant in Tianjin, as well as nearshoring trends, are “opportunities that South Korean companies must pursue”, according to the report published earlier this month by South Korea’s national trade and investment promotion agency.

“Due to the unstable logistics and rapidly rising transportation costs during the Covid-19 period, China is increasingly moving existing aviation parts supply chains from North America and Europe to neighbouring countries,” the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) said in its report.

Buoyed by the post-Covid recovery in the global aviation sector, China’s civil aviation market – the second-largest in the world – is hoping to boost its domestic production with the narrowbody C919 designed to compete with Boeing and Airbus.

The state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, the manufacturer of the C919, has plans to ramp up investment in the next few years.

It has already bagged more than 1,000 orders for the C919, including a deal for 100 aircraft for China Eastern Airlines valued at nearly US$10 billion, and six C919 jets with flag carrier Air China, requiring greater manufacturing capability.

However, thanks to the gap between the technological capabilities of Chinese aviation parts manufacturers and overseas companies, China is still dependent on imports for the likes of its engine and take-off and landing gear.

Korean companies that produce parts, equipment, and tools related to composite materials, sheet metal moulding parts, wing and skin parts, fuselage structures made of aluminium and titanium and doors need to actively utilise export opportunities to China, the report said.

“Vendors in China are scattered sporadically, creating difficulties in having to transport them separately at each processing stage,” the report added.

“Our companies are geographically relatively concentrated, and have the advantage of being able to process parts and technology in one stop, therefore companies need to jointly respond to buyer demand through collaboration.”

Airbus’ second assembly line is expected to begin operation by the end of 2025, which could also see demand for parts from South Korea rise in the years to come, the report said.

More doors for South Korean firms will also be opened by poor relations between Beijing and Washington that have had severe downstream effects on aviation.

Cleared for landing: aviation suppliers expand China presence as C919 takes off

The US government has tightened controls on the export of what it deems dual-use items – technology that can be used for both military and peaceful means – with trade bans levied on a number of Chinese aerospace companies and institutions labelled as military end users.

South Korean companies could establish and increase contact with buyers by attending expos such as the Zhuhai and Shanghai air shows, the report added.

South Korea, often caught between the US and China, saw a trade deficit of US$18 billion with China in 2023 – its first such deficit since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1992, according to the South Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

It sold US$124.8 billion worth of goods to China last year, down by 20 per cent from 2022, while imports from the world’s second-largest economy fell by 8 per cent to US$142.8 billion.

KMT deputy chief Andrew Hsia starts mainland China trip with call for dialogue with Taiwan

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253252/kmt-deputy-chief-andrew-hsia-starts-mainland-china-trip-call-dialogue-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed

The vice chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang launched a weeklong trip to mainland China on Monday by calling for an easing in the cross-strait rivalry and the reopening of dialogue.

Leaving Taipei for the mainland city of Xiamen, Andrew Hsia also said that if he met mainland officials, he would express condolences to the families of two fishermen who died after a boat chase by the Taiwanese coastguard earlier this month.

“We hope cross-strait hostility will not continue to rise as we all want peace, stability, and prosperity between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Hsia said.

“We also hope the government can find a channel for dialogue between the two sides as soon as possible.”

Hsia made the comments at Taipei’s Songshan Airport at the start of a trip that will also take him to Guangzhou, Nanchang, Hangzhou, Kunshan and Shanghai.

Cross-strait tensions flared on February 14 when two mainland fishermen died in waters off the Taiwan-controlled defence outpost of Quemoy, also known as Kinmen. All four of the crew on board a speedboat being used for fishing fell overboard as the coastguard gave chase. Two were pulled from the water alive.

The island’s authorities claimed the mainland boat illegally sailed into the waters close to Quemoy and the accident happened after the boat refused to stop for an inspection and sped away. One of two survivors, however, told mainland media that their boat was hit by the coastguard vessel and overturned.

Beijing accused the island for using “violent and dangerous methods” in the chase and said it would patrol waters around Quemoy and Matsu – another Taiwan’s defence outpost close to the mainland – to enforce laws and protect its fishermen.

Chinese coastguard boards Taiwan cruise ship after deadly boat incident

At the airport on Monday, Hsia said it was “very important” for the Democratic Progressive Party government to be able to have dialogue with the mainland to avoid hostility and tensions from continuing to rise in the strait.

“The KMT has dialogue channels with the mainland side … but we are not the ruling party and are not authorised to talk with [Beijing] to resolve the issue,” Hsia said.

He said his trip would focus on meetings with Taiwanese businesspeople, students and residents based on the mainland, and there was no plan for him to meet mainland officials.

But he was open to any arrangement for the mainland authorities for such meetings “as the host wishes”, Hsia said.

“If there are such meetings, it is inevitable for our two sides to touch on the Quemoy incident,” Hsia said, adding he would “express condolences to the bereaved families”.

He also said he hoped the two sides could resolve the issue with reason and the rule of law.

“We hope the judicial authorities [in Taiwan] can find out and make public the truth … and return justice to the parties involved,” he said.

Beijing has demanded that the island swiftly make public the cause of the incident, identify the guilty parties, and apologise to the bereaved families. However, the island’s authorities insisted that its officers were merely performing their law-enforcement duty after the mainland boat illegally entered Taiwanese waters.

Hsia also denied claims by DPP lawmakers that the KMT turned a blind eye to Beijing’s attempt to use patrols around Quemoy and Matsu to erase the boundary of Taiwanese waters.

“There have been multiple cases of illegal fishing in our waters by mainland fishermen in the past seven years under the [watchful eyes] of the DPP government but all those cases were resolved. Why can’t it be resolved this time?” he said.

“Why do cross-strait relations continue to deteriorate and cannot become peaceful and stable? This is something the ruling party government should reflect on.”

Beijing – which views Taiwan as part of its territory, to be reunited by force if necessary – suspended official exchanges with the island in 2016 when Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning DPP, was elected president and refused to accept the one-China principle.

Like most countries, the United States – Taiwan’s informal ally and largest arms supplier – does not recognise the island as an independent state but is opposed to any unilateral change of the status quo by force.

Distressed China boy boards train wearing only pyjamas after row with father over school work, police find him looking for mother

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3252795/distressed-china-boy-boards-train-wearing-only-pyjamas-after-row-father-over-school-work-police-find?utm_source=rss_feed

An upset young boy in China ran away from home – in his pyjamas – and took a train to find his mother in a different city after quarrelling with his father over his academic performance.

Police officers at a railway station in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, eastern China spotted the boy, in his blue nightwear, getting off a train on the evening of February 18, reported Jiangsu Television.

They took the youngster, whose age was not released, to the local police station, where he said he did not remember his parents’ phone numbers.

One of the officers, Liu Yunchao, thought the boy was behaving strangely and trying to dodge their questions.

“He said he got separated from his parents who were still on the train. He refused to provide details of his family,” Liu said.

Suspecting the young teen had run away from home, the officer bought him a meal and comforted him.

Gradually, after talking for some time, the boy revealed why he was travelling alone.

He revealed that his surname is Zhou, that he studies at a key secondary school in another city, and that he took the train to look for his mother.

He also said he achieves top marks at school but that his father sets high standards and has a strict parenting style.

The boy had a disagreement with his father on the day he left home and boarded the train to find his mother who works in Lishui in eastern China’s Zhejiang province.

It is not clear where the boy and his father live.

When the police first contacted the boy’s father he was angry and refused to pick his son up, which he hoped would teach him a lesson. However, he soon relented and travelled to the police station.

“Personal safety is the priority. What if he got into danger? Academic performance wouldn’t help in that scenario,” Liu told the father.

Mainland social media is abuzz over the boy’s experience, with many people sympathising with the youngster.

“It’s unfortunate to have such a father,” a person on Weibo said.

“Kids are kids, after all. Parents should communicate with them patiently,” said another.

Reports about children struggling to cope with academic pressure are not uncommon in China.

In January, a depressed boy went to a police station in Shaanxi province in northwestern China to complain that his parents forced him to attend private tutoring sessions every weekend.

He hoped his actions would prompt the authorities to crack down on after-school educational institutions.

New Biden order would stem flow of Americans’ sensitive data to China

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/02/26/biden-sensitive-data-china-ban/2024-02-13T18:30:40.761Z

President Biden is expected to issue an order as soon as this week to prevent the bulk flow of Americans’ sensitive data — including genetic information — to hostile foreign countries, prime among them China.

The plan takes aim at a controversial practice that privacy advocates have long criticized as an enabler of mass surveillance, whether in the United States or other countries.

The order is designed to block data brokers and other companies from selling access to large stores of geolocation, genomic and other sensitive, personal information to buyers in “countries of concern” such as China, Russia and Iran, administration officials have told industry and civil society experts. The forthcoming order was first reported by Bloomberg.

Federal officials have for years expressed alarm over the risk that the information bought legally from data brokers or stolen by hackers working for foreign governments could be used to spy on or blackmail high-value targets in the United States, such as lawmakers and military personnel. China, for instance, has been mining Western social media, including Facebook and X, to furnish its security services with information on foreign targets, The Washington Post reported in 2021.

Recent advances in artificial intelligence have also prompted fears that the data could be analyzed in more powerful ways to enable profiling and espionage, including of activists, journalists and political figures. At the same time, new laws in China have restricted foreign access to data once available to academics, researchers and Western companies.

China’s siphoning of tens of millions of Americans’ data, whether through hacking or the purchasing of companies, has long been of concern to U.S. officials. A massive Chinese cyber breach of federal personnel records discovered in 2014 and of Marriott Hotels’ database a few years later, merged with existing intelligence and commercially available information, prompted worry that Beijing — and, to a certain extent, Moscow — was building an ability to track individuals, including undercover CIA officers.

There have been “serious adverse consequences” as a result of these breaches, said one former senior U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

Now that vast stores of personal genomic, geolocation, health and finance data are available commercially, officials are concerned that foreign adversaries can simply buy the information in bulk from brokers without users’ knowledge or consent. There are no laws that would stop a genomics company from contracting with a Chinese firm to sequence its genetic specimens, for instance.

“The amassing of Americans’ data creates real security risks,” said James A. Lewis, a technology policy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We may not know exactly what the risks look like but with an election coming up and the danger of Chinese influence operations, it’s a good defensive move.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping told Biden when the two met in November that China would not interfere in the 2024 presidential election, CNN reported in January.

At the same time, some analysts said, the order probably will be difficult to implement and enforce, requiring the government to figure out a way to track flows of commercial data on a global scale.

“In the face of a persistent, sophisticated foreign adversary, will this be effective in denying them access to this data?” asked Nigel Cory, associate director of trade policy at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. “At this stage it’s hard to see how what the administration is doing will be targeted enough and effective enough to do that.”

Other analysts feared that what the Biden administration intends as a narrow and targeted regime could embolden future presidents or other governments to more aggressively exert their influence over the world’s most powerful communications medium.

“My impression is that the administration does not want to fragment the internet,” said Samm Sacks, senior fellow at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, adding that for now the data categories in the executive order appear to be limited. “But those could expand as we play whack-a-mole” with new types of data collection, she said.

Administration officials declined to comment as the order has not been issued. But they have said in briefings that such a move is necessary in the absence of a national data privacy law, which would regulate the collection and sale of Americans’ sensitive information. And they have noted that the order merely starts a rulemaking process through which industry and civil society groups can offer suggestions and criticism.

Also prompting the order was a concern that the government has limited ability to deal with the threats of foreign data misuse. The most prominent pathway today — a cross-agency group known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS — has the authority to review and block individual foreign business deals on national security grounds. The committee has said it needs a comprehensive policy to guide decisions in areas involving businesses that collect sensitive personal data. The Justice Department, which reviews certain telecom-related licenses for national security risk, has similar concerns.

The order will not extend to any “expressive” activity such as Americans’ social media posts, messages or videos on platforms such as TikTok, the popular video app whose ownership by the Chinese tech giant ByteDance has led to fierce debates in Washington over national security and freedom of expression.

The order will not target any one company, such as TikTok. However, if an app is collecting information in bulk considered sensitive because it can help identify a person and their habits, such as geolocation data, that information cannot be sent to any country of concern, experts said.

For each category of restricted data, the administration will specify an amount beyond which the transfer is prohibited, for instance a certain number of U.S. individuals for genomic data, and a certain number of devices on which geolocation data is collected.

The most sensitive include people’s DNA and biometric data, as well as computer keyboard use patterns. The intent is not, for instance, to prevent an American from sending DNA to the genomics company 23andMe to see if she has distant relatives in China, though the firm would be barred from selling data in bulk to China or from working with a Chinese processing firm, they said.

U.S. officials have noted that BGI Group, a Chinese company with a U.S. subsidiary, operates the China National GeneBank, a vast government-owned repository that now includes genetic data drawn from millions of people around the world. Intelligence officials say they believe Chinese companies are trying to acquire DNA from Americans.

China's quest for genetic data spurs fears of a DNA arms race

“Genomic data will provide the blueprint for future biotech products and capabilities to grow the economy, but in the wrong hands, it could also be weaponized to create engineered pathogens or misused to identify and target individuals,” said Michelle Rozo, vice chair of the congressionally-mandated National Security Commission on Emerging Biotechnology. “Genomic data is a strategic resource, and the United States needs to treat it as such.”

The order would cover bulk data exchanged as part of a corporate investment, acquisition or contract, though there may be exceptions if the data exchange meets certain cybersecurity and privacy requirements. The order will exempt ordinary financial activities of multinationals or federal contractors, such as a company or government agency that is processing payroll data for employees in countries of concern.

Some Commerce Department officials have expressed unease that the plan might undermine trade or economic activity, including by imposing complicated new demands on businesses with international operations, some experts said. Administration officials have said the order is drawn narrowly so as to minimize its negative impact.

Experts say enforcement will be challenged by determined adversaries who seek to buy data through third parties in countries outside the United States. “What about the use of proxies?” Cory said. “How do you expect firms to do due diligence to try to figure out who is the ultimate owner of an entity? How do they do that with so many different transactions involving the types of data they’re worried about?”

Whatever rule is eventually adopted, he said, it’s important that it be flexible enough to adapt in the future. “This is uncharted territory,” Cory said.

Cate Brown contributed to this report.

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Welcome to China’s Cat Island, where lucky strays wait for a new home

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/26/china-shanghai-cat-island-rescue/2024-01-31T19:54:39.540Z

SHANGHAI — The happiest place on Earth for cats might just be here, on Cat Island, a feline playground just a few miles from Shanghai Disneyland. While humans whoop and whirl at the latter, the 400-plus kitties who call Cat Island home rest in the shade of specially constructed grass-covered play tunnels or loll about in pagodas. They cross a wooden bridge to stalk through pear orchards, the intrepid among them even venturing into the horse stable.

The pampered residents here were once strays in downtown Shanghai, a city of 25 million people and somewhere between 400,000 and 1.5 million stray cats. But efforts are underway to stem the exploding feral population in the metropolis, and find homes for at least some of the newly neutered cats.

Cat Island’s entire population is up for adoption. Many at “cat cafes” in the city do a similar thing: Provide a space where people can befriend and potentially take home a neutered, if shy, kitty.

There’s no equivalent of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in China. Instead, it’s left to grass-roots organizations like these to step in to save cats — from the streets, or from people who think they’re better off culled.

“Cat adoption has become quite popular in recent years, especially among the younger generation,” says Erica Guo, owner of all-rescue cat cafe More Meow Garden.

The very idea of having a cat, or a dog for that matter, as a pet is a relatively new one in China. With most Chinese people just a couple of generations removed from rural life, many people still viewed animals as livestock or rat catchers, not companions.

But as living standards have risen, so has the view of animals changed. Younger Chinese are increasingly sharing their homes with pets — often instead of having babies — and can regularly be seen walking their cats in clear backpack carriers or on leashes.

Now, analysts estimate there are as many as 51 million pet dogs and 65 million pet cats in urban China. It has generated an enormous furry economy — China’s pet industry was worth $44 billion in 2020.

This popularization of pets became very — often tragically — obvious during the covid-induced lockdowns of 2022, which were particularly long and draconian in Shanghai. When humans were shipped off to quarantine centers, their pets were often killed or left to die.

Shanghai’s covid siege: Food shortages, talking robots, starving animals

At the end of 2022, a few months after Shanghai’s longest lockdown ended, a government-affiliated nonprofit foundation opened the 130-acre Shanghai Pet Base facility which encompasses Cat Island.

It is concentrating on trapping and neutering strays, then returning them to the communities where they were found. When that’s not possible, they’re rehomed to Cat Island.

“This is what we are able to do, here and now,” said Zha Zhenliang, the foundation official responsible for Cat Island and the Pet Base. “We hope every [apartment] compound can have their own ‘cat island’ of a safe place for the cats to be,” and their feeders can operate openly, he said. Feeding strays can be a controversial activity, resulting in conflict between cat lovers and neighbors who just want them culled.

To adopt a Cat Island cat, people must first trek to the remote, grassy site outside Shanghai — a semirural location chosen to avoid angering neighbors — then complete a pet-care course and have their home inspected by video call for suitability. The precautions mean adoption numbers are barely denting the problem: In 18 months, only 130 cats have moved to new homes.

Homes for garden-variety cats

There are also more accessible places for interacting with cats — and potentially taking one home. Shanghai has seen an explosion in the number of “cat cafes,” where customers can play with some cats, and sometimes even drink a cup of coffee.

Guo, who started More Meow Garden — actually an office with vertical climbing and sleeping shelves for the felines — in downtown Shanghai five years ago, said her cafe was populated entirely by rescued strays.

“A cat cafe is not only a place for cats and humans to play together, but also provides an opportunity for prospective adopters to fully contact with cats and help them understand whether they really want to choose a companion animal to join their family,” says Guo, who rehomes about one cat per month, for a total of 64 so far.

A key hurdle to increasing that number: Many status-conscious Shanghai residents want cats they can brag about on social media — buying or adopting purebreds, not the garden-variety strays that Cat Island and More Meow are offering. “The average person here sees a cat and thinks, are they worth money or not, are they clean or not, when actually the only difference is the cats’ conditions,” Zha says. “So we need to manage the people even more than the cats.”

Independent rescuers and unofficial organizations do the lion’s share of caring for Shanghai’s street animals, ranging from collaborations in every neighborhood to feed strays to about 50 formal rescue groups.

“I estimate there are hundreds of private shelters big and small in Shanghai,” says Angelika Ma, founder of the private Nekoshelter in western Shanghai. (Neko is the Japanese word for cat.) “The problem is they are often operated by poor elderly people who lack the ability to provide stable shelter and to find a home for the animals,” Ma says.

Some independent rescue organizations target particular niches, but most focus on the Sisyphean task of finding animals homes. Groups like the one that runs Shanghai Adoption Day take rescue cats to public spaces like malls to try to find them new homes, while online adoption platforms resemble dating apps, with pets’ personalities and glamour shots.

Zorro’s galvanizing death

While many of those people who feed stray cats in compounds and parks do so under cover of night, a particularly organized effort has emerged at Jing’an Sculpture Park downtown. More than 130 cat-lovers coordinate feeding shifts and crowdfund food and medical care for the park cats. They also try to find homes for the friendlier kittens.

The park has about a hundred cats, estimates volunteer Bon Wen, and the group has neutered more than 90 of them.

The park management tacitly approved of their efforts but was forced into a more active role after the murder last May of Zorro, a black-and-white “cow” cat who had become famous on social media. Zorro’s fans made a candlelit shrine where his body was found.

Chinese man caught with 500 imprisoned cats destined for restaurants

There have been other killings and maimings too. “There is no good way to prevent people from hurting cats,” says Wen. “We all have to go to work and have our own lives. It’s impossible to stand guard in the park 24 hours a day.”

Zorro’s death, together with a growing market for animal torture videos, have sparked nationwide social media outrage and renewed calls for an animal protection law. China has no laws against animal cruelty or abandonment, and existing agricultural laws only prohibit selling strays to slaughterhouses, not against recreational abuse. Netizens and some lawmakers have proposed extending wildlife animal protections to companion animals.

But as society changes, Zha sees an animal protection law as essential. “Without a protection law, we must establish a social standard that isolates and blacklists animal abusers,” Zha said.

Stopping strays from making nine (or more) lives

Attitudes are changing, but too slowly, says Nekoshelter’s Ma. Education about caring for animals as pets, plus punishment for people who abandon animals, is needed. Then authorities should tackle the over-breeding of pedigree cats and dogs. “They have to start to try go to the root of the problem.”

As efforts to rehome neutered cats continues, slowly, animal advocates’ main effort is focused on desexing Shanghai’s stray cats to bring the population down. The trap-neuter-release program is central to that effort, and one of the heroes of the movement is Yin Xiaojun, a renowned cat catcher better known as Stone.

Yin, a business administrator by day, is called upon almost nightly to retrieve pets from roofs, free kittens stuck down drains and convince ferals unenthusiastic about a trip to the vet.

​Yin says he has caught more than 4,000 animals a year for the past five years, almost all of them so that they can be neutered. “I taught myself. Hunting is the most primitive masculine skill, it is natural, and the thrill of a successful catch is addictive,” he says.

Once caught, the thrashing felines quickly calm down for the trip to the vet for desexing surgery. After several days of recovery, the felines return to the bag or cage for the trip back home, ears now notched for future identification. One down, a million more to go.

China is beating winter storm power blackouts as Western countries warn to get supplies

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3253228/china-beating-winter-storm-power-blackouts-western-countries-warn-get-supplies?utm_source=rss_feed

In early 2008, a severe ice storm swept across large parts of central and southern China, leaving so much ice build-up on power lines that transmission towers collapsed like dominoes.

In the biting cold, more than a hundred million people soon found themselves without electricity, the worst blackout they had ever known. The chaos made global headlines.

This month, it happened again, but this time there were no reports of widespread blackouts, damage or chaos, despite the fact that such storms continue to menace power grids in other parts of the world, even in the most advanced nations.

China on alert for crop and power grid damage as heat and flood risks rise

Last April, an ice storm devastated the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, knocking out electricity for more than a million people. Last month, a massive winter storm in the eastern United States knocked out power to 811,000 homes and businesses across 12 states.

In parts of the US, winter power outages are seen as a way of life, a necessary evil in the face of extreme weather. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has warned that winter storms are treacherous killers. Power companies implore residents to stock up on supplies for survival.

In China, scientists and engineers have learned valuable lessons from the weather disaster 18 years ago, and have since developed an innovative monitoring system to prevent ice build-up on power lines during cold, snowy and icy weather, according to reports in state media.

For instance, at the end of 2022, State Grid Hubei Electric Power Company launched an online ice monitoring platform to help protect its transmission lines.

“Using cameras and sensors, the system enables real-time monitoring and prediction of ice accumulation on transmission lines in Hubei from far away, as well as managing ice melting and removal,” Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday.

Wire icing happens when could or fog vapour lands and then freezes on the surface of transmission lines at temperature of 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) or lower.

Each winter and early spring in China’s northeastern and central regions, cold dry northwestern air mixes with warm moist southeastern air, forming an “ice belt” stretching from the provinces of Hunan and Guizhou in the south to Liaoning and Jilin provinces in the north. The vast areas threatened by such storms have made it essential to develop weather surveillance systems in the regions.

“For precise control over ice accumulation on the grid, we installed 395 pieces of intelligent ice monitoring equipment, including simulated conductors and microwave sensors, along transmission lines based on local topography and climate,” said Huang Junjie, a senior engineer at the Equipment Technology Centre at the State Grid Hubei Electric Power Research Institute.

China must invest in power grid and energy storage, not coal plants: analysts

This method involves suspending a 1-metre (39 inch) section of simulated conductor line from a tower. Intelligent devices are able to calculate the thickness of the ice accumulated on the simulated conductor based on changes in its weight.

Meanwhile, microwave sensors attached to simulated conductors provide real-time information about the thickness of the ice by analysing differences in microwave signal feedback from the ice, water and air.

Ice formation can also be affected by regional topography and wind direction. Areas with favourable wind conditions, such as mountain peaks, passes, windward slopes and locations near sources of moisture like rivers and reservoirs are prone to freezing.

“Hubei’s power grid has more than 180 areas that are prone to icing. The platform’s predictive capabilities utilise meteorological data and modelling to assess ice risks in these areas, displaying four risk levels in different colours,” Huang said, according to the report.

The platform’s prediction module displays a map of Hubei dotted with blue, yellow, orange, and red patches, allowing real-time visualisation of ice risks on transmission lines.

With the help of real-time data and visual monitoring of ice, personnel can implement de-icing measures when necessary.

The most effective way to de-ice transmission lines is by running a short-circuit across the line using a large battery, which then heats the wire and melts the ice.

To end power crunches, China must rebuild its grid around clean energy

Last Wednesday, the platform detected an ice build-up on a major transmission line in the city of Jingmen in Hubei that was 8.71mm (0.34 inches) thick – enough to pose a serious risk to the power supply. The platform immediately notified a power company in the city, which then began de-icing measures to reduce the hazard.

After the ice disaster of 2008, other ice prevention and removal techniques have also been developed. State Grid Hubei Electric Power has begun using drone-assisted mechanical de-icing, and a power grid company in Guangdong has begun experimenting with flame-throwing drones and even de-icing devices that use lasers.

China slams US ‘smear tactics’ in WTO assessment, says Washington covering up its ‘sabotage’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3253231/china-slams-us-smear-tactics-wto-assessment-says-washington-covering-its-sabotage?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing has hit back at Washington’s scathing 80-page report on China’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), calling the compliance assessment groundless and a distortion of the facts.

In turn, it accused Washington of trade bullying, unilateralism and disrupting international supply chains.

“China has consistently supported the multilateral trade system and fulfilled its promises to the WTO,” China’s commerce ministry said in an online statement on Monday, three days after the annual US report said China’s socialist market economy “has turned decidedly predatory”.

The salvo of back-and-forth accusations between the world’s two largest economies have been a mainstay in relations since the US-China trade war erupted in 2018.

“China remains the biggest challenge to the international trading system established by the World Trade Organization,” US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in the report, adding that in the 22 years since China acceded to the WTO, the country still “embraces a state-directed, non-market approach to the economy and trade, which runs counter to the norms and principles embodied by the WTO”.

“Even more problematic, China’s approach targets industries for global market domination by Chinese companies using an array of constantly evolving nonmarket policies and practices,” the report said.

Firing back, China’s Ministry of Commerce accused the US of not complying with WTO rules and of implementing “discriminatory” industrial policies that disrupt the global supply chain by deferring the responsibility of defending multilateralism to others.

“The US does not reflect on and correct its own behaviour, but instead uses smear tactics and blame-shifting methods to cover up its violations and sabotage. This is extremely irresponsible,” it said.

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

By wielding its veto power within the Geneva-based organisation’s Appellate Body, the US has unilaterally crippled the WTO’s appeal court since 2019. Washington has also been taking steps to curb China’s supply-chain dominance through reshoring efforts and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, a US-led economic initiative aimed at countering China’s many trade agreements in the Indo-Pacific region.

On Sunday, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with WTO director general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the 13th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. During the meeting of the world’s trade ministers, Wang expressed China’s support for key WTO reform initiatives that would help it play a better role in global economic governance.

This, he said, includes striving for a resumption of the WTO’s dispute-settlement mechanism – the Appellate Body that the US paralysed by not allowing for new judges to be appointed.

The US report also acknowledged that Washington had taken “critical” domestic steps to invest in key industries, including by passing the Chips and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and moving to implement those acts.

The report further accused China of “routinely” deploying economic and trade policies and practices that promote unfair competition and state-directed outcomes rather than fair competition and market-based outcomes.

“Critically, the WTO has been unable to effectively address China’s continued pursuit of a state-led, non-market approach to the economy and trade,” it stated.

China’s customs figures showed that the value of imports and exports between the US and China in 2023 reached US$664.5 billion – an 11.6 per cent decline from 2022.

The US is now China’s third-largest trading partner, after Asean and the European Union.

“China’s accession to the WTO has been a landmark event both for China and the rest of the world,” Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at French investment bank Natixis, said in a report on Monday. “China has no doubt reformed and opened up its economy, but not to the extent of becoming a full market economy.

“That duality – striving to operate as a market economy in some areas while keeping the key characteristics of a state-led planned economy in others – makes it very difficult for China to comply with the principles of the WTO.”

Garcia-Herrero added that it was “highly unlikely” that a WTO-reform proposal by the EU, focusing on the behaviours of state-owned enterprises, subsidies and countervailing measures, would come to fruition.

“In particular, the urgent need to deal with market distortions – stemming from China’s economic model, and its increasing size and influence in the rest of the world – might need to be addressed through other solutions,” she added.

China’s top corruption watchdog puts belt and road projects, rural strategy in the cross hairs

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253236/chinas-top-corruption-watchdog-puts-belt-and-road-projects-rural-strategy-cross-hairs?utm_source=rss_feed

Fighting corruption related to the Belt and Road Initiative and China’s rural revitalisation strategy will be among the priorities for the country’s top graft buster this year.

That is according to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection’s work report for 2024, which was released in full by state news agency Xinhua on Sunday – two months after it was delivered by CCDI chief Li Xi during a plenary session.

The report said the CCDI would this year coordinate crackdowns both at home and overseas. It said the graft buster would deepen a campaign targeting “unhealthy practices and corruption” in rural revitalisation, and seek better integrity in belt and road projects.

The global, trillion-dollar trade and infrastructure programme and the rural revitalisation strategy are both signature policies of President Xi Jinping.

It comes after Li in November said China was committed to a “clean Silk Road” when he met his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Cam Tu in Beijing. The belt and road scheme is sometimes referred to as the “New Silk Road”, and the pledge to keep it free of bribery and corruption was seen as a response to concerns from the West about the integrity of the projects.

The rural revitalisation strategy follows on from Xi’s poverty alleviation campaign, after Beijing declared victory in the battle to end extreme poverty in 2020. It aims to make farming more efficient, and for rural areas to be more liveable and their residents better off. To do this, Beijing has poured billions of yuan into building infrastructure to improve market access to agriculture and public services, and to fix problems such as pollution.

The CCDI ordered a crackdown on problems related to rural revitalisation projects a year ago, after reports of regional officials using fake projects to pocket funding from Beijing, and some carrying out superficial work to try to get the projects past inspectors.

In this year’s work report, the graft buster also said it would focus on political security and “show no mercy to those who form political gangs, cliques and interest groups” within the ruling Communist Party.

That accusation has previously been made against senior officials including former deputy security chief Sun Lijun and former justice minister Fu Zhenghua, both of whom were jailed for life in high-profile corruption cases.

The CCDI also vowed to improve supervision of the regions and across departments to ensure commands from the party’s top leadership are closely followed.

“[We must] strengthen political supervision surrounding the major policies of the party and the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping,” the work report said.

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said the CCDI commitment to supervise every aspect of governance in China as well as overseas projects suggests that Xi sees anti-corruption efforts and party discipline as key to his political legacy.

“But it remains to be seen what Beijing will do to better supervise the belt and road projects,” he said.

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China teacher warns no more ‘dog ate my homework’ or other excuses, in amusing online reminder to pupils and parents to turn in schoolwork

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3252777/china-teacher-warns-no-more-dog-ate-my-homework-or-other-excuses-amusing-online-reminder-pupils-and?utm_source=rss_feed

A forward-thinking teacher in China who sent a pleasant, helpful message reminding parents to make sure their children bring winter holiday homework back to school, has delighted mainland social media.

The unidentified primary school teacher from Shandong province in eastern China sent the thoughtful reminder to the parents of all pupils in her class before the start of the new term on February 26 via a WeChat group, Shandian News reported.

Instead of imposing pressure on them to push their children to finish homework quickly, she offered solutions instead.

A screenshot in an online video shows that the teacher had listed four points in the message. First, she said there was still time to get the homework back by express delivery if needed.

Next, she gave examples of children losing their homework, such as the father who accidentally put it in the rubbish bin, the grandmother who sold the schoolbooks for recycling, or the enduring excuse of the dog ate my homework.

“Buy a new book and quickly do the homework again,” the teacher suggests.

Finally, she reminded parents to check that their children had actually put the homework in their bags before leaving home on the first day back at school.

“I like to help find solutions to cope with potential homework emergencies,” the teacher said.

“Children can fully enjoy their winter holiday, but I believe they are capable of doing a little homework most evenings. Do it in pencil and check it later when they have more time. Keep it up,” she said.

The video also showed several children frantically doing homework at the last minute – on the day or night before they were due to begin the new term.

A little girl was seen wiping away tears, while a boy also appeared to be racing against the clock.

The story has struck a chord with many people on mainland social media.

“Ha ha, the teacher lists all the excuses I used during my childhood,” one online observer said.

“The sweet message from the teacher is like an air defence warning siren going off,” another wrote.

Stories about the academic pressure of children or tiger-parenting styles often make the news in China.

In mid-February, a kind-hearted tourist from eastern China went searching for a mainland student who had left his schoolbooks in a cafe during a visit to Paris.

At the beginning of 2024, a mother in southwestern China who was frustrated with her nine-year-old son’s lack of focus on his homework began live-streaming his study sessions and was delighted by the “surprisingly” positive results.

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More mainland Chinese cities may join solo traveller scheme if Hong Kong can handle latest additions, industry leader says after meeting Xia

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3253189/more-mainland-chinese-cities-may-join-solo-traveller-scheme-if-hong-kong-can-handle-latest-additions?utm_source=rss_feed

More mainland Chinese cities may join a scheme allowing their residents to travel to Hong Kong on an individual basis if the latter can handle visitors from two soon-to-be-added locations, a local tourism leader has said after meeting a top Beijing official.

The central government last week announced residents from Xian and Qingdao on March 6 could apply to visit Hong Kong under the expanded policy, which allows travellers from select mainland cities to forego joining tour groups.

Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades president Simon Wong Ka-wo said on Monday that Harbin in the country’s northeastern quarter was likely to join the next round of the policy, with locations in the southwest and northwest expected to follow.

Sources earlier told the Post that tourists from Harbin and other cities in Heilongjiang province would be added to the scheme in the next phase.

Industry chief Wong was among those who met Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), on Friday.

Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs arrived in the city last Thursday to conduct a week-long fact-finding mission. He will depart on Wednesday.

Wong said one of Xia’s team who specialised in economic development had told attendees that central authorities would gauge how Hong Kong managed the coming expansion of the solo traveller scheme, including the impact on local residents.

“From [his wording] during the conversation, I believe Beijing will open up more cities soon,” he said. “[Xian and Qingdao] are the testing spots. If Hong Kong operates smoothly, there will be more cities opening up.”

Wong also expected cities in the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia would be added.

“The per capita spending among tourists in 2023 fell. But if we have more tourists in the future, even if their buying power is not that strong, more of them in the end could help to boost catering and retail business,” he said.

The federation president added that visitors from such mainland cities were more likely to stay overnight in Hong Kong given the greater travel distance involved.

Hong Kong had the capacity to welcome more tourists from Xian and Qingdao as a sudden uptick in visitors from the two cities was not expected this year, he said.

Touching on Friday’s high-profile meeting with business leaders, Wong said Xia was joined by three HKMAO deputy directors and six of the office’s bureau-level officials, who all oversaw Hong Kong’s economy and promotion-related work.

What is the newly expanded solo traveller scheme and how will Hong Kong benefit?

Wong also said mainland tourists had developed a preference for cultural and in-depth experiences, while Guangdong cuisine was considered a delicacy to those visiting from inner cities on the mainland.

“I hope the catering and tourism sector and the Tourism Board can design more package activities to attract these tourists,” he said, adding talks on the subject were already in progress.

Hong Kong Retail Management Association chairwoman Annie Tse Yau On-yee also echoed Wong’s expectation that Xian and Qingdao’s addition to the scheme was just the first step.

She added that the initial impact of the change-up would not be significant since the policy did not “start from zero”.

“If [Beijing] tried and thought it was feasible since Hong Kong’s affordability is OK, we hope it may open up more cities,” she said.

Hong Kong leader welcomes move to expand solo traveller scheme to Xian, Qingdao

The association chairwoman said long-haul travellers from Xian and Qingdao could help overnight businesses since they had to fly to Hong Kong to get there.

Tse also said mainland tourists were now more focused on exploring Hong Kong’s cultural offerings rather than shopping, with goods in the city being “comparatively expensive” as the local currency had become stronger.

The Individual Visit Scheme from early March will cover 15 mainland cities, including first-tier locations such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Chongqing.

With the inclusion of Xian and Qingdao, the Individual Visit Scheme will cover 51 mainland cities, including many first-tier ones such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Chongqing.

The policy was introduced for four Guangdong cities in 2003 under the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement between the mainland and Hong Kong.

Japan-South Korea ties under scrutiny over future of continental shelf in East China Sea

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3253072/japan-south-korea-ties-under-scrutiny-over-future-continental-shelf-east-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed

As a critical bilateral agreement nears expiry in 2028, Japan and South Korea face renewed tensions over Block 7, an underexplored zone in the East China Sea that could hold vast oil reserves, presenting a serious challenge to their recent diplomatic progress.

The South Korean government has expressed concern that Tokyo may not renew the 50-year-old Korea-Japan Continental Shelf Agreement when it runs out in June 2028, instead applying the criteria of a different treaty to claim a larger portion of a 44,618-sq-km area of the East China Sea known as the Japan-Korea Joint Development Zone, or simply Block 7.

Block 7 lies due south of South Korea’s Jeju Island and to the west of Kyushu and the Okinawa archipelago. While surveys have been conducted in the area since the agreement was signed in 1978, there has been no large-scale effort to exploit the oil reserves that lie beneath its seabed.

Is South Korea ‘adopting Japanese narratives’ on disputed islets under Yoon?

“Japan has refused to develop this area together with Korea,” said Yuji Hosaka, a professor of history and politics at Seoul’s Sejong University.

“This is because in 1994, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS] came into force and, under the terms of that international agreement, Japan will be able to claim up to 90 per cent of [Block 7] as its territory,” he told This Week in Asia.

“Japan is just waiting now and Korea is concerned that it could lose out,” he said.

If the Korea-Japan Continental Shelf Agreement is not extended, the area previously covered under the treaty would be subject to a new delimitation process based on UNCLOS terms, under which Japan would be able to claim rights over most of the waters in question.

Studies indicate reserves in the area could be significant, with a Japanese survey conducted in the 1970s estimating that it holds some 6.3 million barrels of oil. A subsequent examination in 2004 by experts from the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars suggested it could contain US$6.8 trillion worth of oil reserves, which would be 10 times more than the natural gas deposits of Saudi Arabia and four times greater than the amount of oil in the United States.

Accessing deposits on such a scale would be a solution to Japan’s growing energy requirements and reduce its reliance on expensive imports.

The relatively shallow waters of the region are also likely to contain minerals and other rare earth elements that are critical to the country’s domestic industries but are, at present, dependent on the willingness of producer nations to sell to Japanese companies. China is one of the largest exporters of rare earths and has, in the past, reduced exports at times of diplomatic tensions with Tokyo.

Although the treaty expires in four years, both parties must issue a notice of intent to extend before June 2025. And the looming deadline comes at a precarious point in bilateral relations.

Since assuming office in 2022, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has worked hard to improve relations with Tokyo that had plummeted under former leader Moon Jae-in. But recently, some of those old animosities have bubbled to the surface once again.

Familiar frictions resurfaced this week when a Seoul court approved the transfer of funds from a Japanese company held in South Korea to a former colonial-era forced labourer. Japan insists the payment should not have gone ahead that all issues of reparations were settled under a 1965 treaty that normalised its bilateral relations with South Korea and saw Tokyo pay US$300 million in redress.

South Korea responded with similar anger on Thursday when Japan held an event to reiterate its claims of sovereignty over a group of islets halfway between Japan and the Korean peninsula. Seoul claims the islets, which it refers to as Dokdo, are under its control, but Tokyo continues to insist they should be handed back.

As scandals rock Japan, most of its people unsupportive of a political party

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa suggested in a parliamentary session earlier this month that Tokyo might consider renegotiating the 1978 agreement.

There have been no moves to open formal discussions of the issue, however, and the nearer the expiry of the pact gets, the more concerned Seoul is likely to become.

An article published on February 14 by Yonhap News quoted a South Korean government official as saying that Tokyo would need Seoul’s consent to harvest the natural resources in the area even after the pact expires, although it is possible that Japan might see the matter differently.

“The situation between Seoul and Tokyo is getting difficult once again,” said Hosaka, expressing concern that Yoon could take a strong line on the Dokdo dispute and the Block 7 issue to whip up support from conservatives and nationalists ahead of the Korean election in April.

In a similar vein, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who is languishing badly in public opinion polls due to the scandals plaguing his political party, might push back to burnish his own credentials with the voting public at home.

James Brown, a professor of international relations at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, believes the Block 7 situation could easily be turned to the benefit of both countries and, more broadly, security in northeast Asia.

“In theory, it appears that Japan could go ahead and develop that area after the treaty expires, but this comes at a fraught geopolitical time, which means the issue could push the two sides together instead of apart,” he said.

“These countries have deep shared concerns over North Korea, China and Russia, so an area of friction could be quite an opportunity if it is dealt with in a diplomatic way and not confrontationally,” he said.

Palestinians call for China to step up pressure on Israel as they seek an end to ‘collective punishment’ on Gazans

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3252973/palestinians-call-china-step-pressure-israel-they-seek-end-collective-punishment-gazans?utm_source=rss_feed

As Israel prepares for a new ground incursion into Rafah, the southern Gaza border city where more than a million people are trapped, close to 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, with over one-third of those infants or children.

A ceasefire and the two-state solution, which China has persevered with despite Israel’s rejection, are seen as largely unattainable by Palestinians. They want Beijing to be more precise and forceful in its support for their liberation, as they say it has become increasingly clear that the Western position does not align with theirs.

While China cannot “resolve” the conflict, as a superpower and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, it could “do more to mitigate” it, according to Razan Shawamreh, a doctoral researcher of international relations at the Eastern Mediterranean University.

“The Palestinian sense of marginalisation and vulnerability, stemming from US policies that support Israel’s crimes, have prompted them to find potential alternatives for support and solidarity, and they find it in China,” the Cyprus-based Palestinian academic said.

Beijing’s reactions signified both its support as well as its policy of not interfering or meddling in other countries’ affairs. But that should not be construed as an unwillingness to facilitate negotiations in international conflicts, Shawamreh said.

In November, President Xi Jinping called for an end to the “collective punishment against the people of Gaza” with Beijing later issuing its formal position paper on the conflict, urging a comprehensive ceasefire and the establishment of a UN conference to draw up a road map for a two-state solution.

“I contend that it can engage in serious bilateral discussions with both parties, extending beyond its peace proposals, given the positive regard in which both sides of the conflict hold China, in recognition of its rising influence,” Shawamreh said.

Zoon Ahmed Khan, a research fellow at the Beijing-based Centre for China and Globalisation, said the capacity for China to act positively towards a resolution was enhanced by the fact “it has historically been sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause while maintaining pragmatic relations and broadened engagement with Israel”.

On Friday, Israel reportedly sent negotiators with the head of its Mossad intelligence service to Paris for talks on a potential truce. The news came after Knesset member Benny Gantz said new attempts were being made to reach a deal for the release of the 100 or so hostages believed to be held by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Despite Palestinians’ “strong belief” in Beijing being a preferable mediator over Washington, Shawamreh argued that it “lacks the actual capability [to] contribute intensively” to their cause, given the latter’s “total dominance over the conflict”.

According to New York think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid since its founding, receiving about US$300 billion in total economic and military assistance.

In June last year, Xi and visiting leader of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas jointly announced the setting up of a bilateral strategic partnership. The real power of the Fatah-controlled government body is contested, given that the West Bank, which it supposedly controls, is under Israeli occupation.

Pro-Israel groups have popularised the narrative that those who do not support Israel’s actions are effectively sympathetic towards Hamas – the strip’s other governing force which mainly Western countries and groups have designated as a “terrorist” organisation.

On Thursday – the fourth day of hearings at the International Court of Justice – China expressed support for the right of Palestinians to engage in “armed struggle” against Israel, stressing that it could not be equated with terrorism.

“In pursuit of the right to self-determination [the Palestinian people have the right to the] use of force to resist foreign oppression and to complete the establishment of the Palestinian state,” Ma Xinmin, a Chinese foreign ministry legal adviser, said.

Shawamreh said the suggestion that China supported Hamas was similar to how Western discourses bolstered the idea that Beijing supported Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Washington will strive to throw accusations at China and promote the idea that it has a hidden role in mobilising people to the streets and destabilising American society,” Shawamreh said, adding that the US was exploiting Israel’s “feelings of disappointment” towards Beijing’s position.

“Go back to China, where your headquarters is,” US Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi told protesters calling for a ceasefire outside her San Francisco home during the early days of the Israel-Gaza war.

“For them to call for a ceasefire is Mr Putin’s message … Make no mistake, this is directly connected to what he would like to see,” Pelosi later said about the demonstrators, adding that she would like to have the FBI investigate the financing of such protests.

The October clip, which went viral months later, captured a group of fasting women from the anti-war organisation Code Pink, who have been a regular fixture at Pelosi’s residence since 2007. A New York Times report from August alleged that the group had links to Beijing, but the demonstrators rejected the suggestion.

China’s response to the Israel-Gaza war and Red Sea crisis under the microscope

“It’s not uncommon for politicians to attribute domestic protests or dissent to foreign influence, for reasons including deflecting responsibility, shaping public opinion or aligning with geopolitical narratives,” Khan said, adding that “alternative powers” which expressed support for Palestine posed a “direct challenge” to US hegemony.

US politicians’ portrayal of ceasefire demands as being Chinese or Russian-led efforts to destabilise the West may have impeded the bid for Palestinian liberation, pushing it further out of reach. A more involved Global South is the answer, according to Rula Shadeed, co-director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy, which advocates for the embattled population.

Shadeed said China’s clear support for Palestine would have a “very powerful effect” on the conflict, giving a boost to smaller states that may have been concerned about the consequences of doing the same.

“China has an important role, but it definitely can do much, much, much more,” she said. “The trade relationship between China and Israel has been ongoing, for example. There has not been anything that was stopped, no calls for summoning the Israeli ambassador. There was not even mentions or threats of cutting ties [as Israeli offensives continue].”

In January, state-owned China Cosco Shipping Corporation reportedly planned to stop delivering goods into Israel because of actions by Houthi militants in the waters. Chinese ambassador Cai Run was reportedly summoned by Israel’s foreign ministry over the move.

Shadeed said Beijing had to shift its position away from a two-state solution, which was an “ancient stock” that had been proven to be “merely impossible” by the pervasive system of segregation that Palestinians have faced for more than seven decades.

“I think that most Palestinians don’t care about states any more – what they care about, which is rightly important, is liberation. They want the entire killing to stop, they want their economic situation to flourish, they want to have normal lives, access to health and education, and the right of movement.”

Israel has maintained its “declaratory decision” to reject any recognition of Palestinian statehood. Top-ranking minister Eli Cohen said recently that peace agreements should be given up “if the price of expanding peace agreements is a Palestinian state”, reinforcing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that his country needed full security control over “the entire area in the west of Jordan”.

Israel incensed after Brazil’s Lula likens Gaza war to Holocaust

The average daily death toll in Palestine has exceeded that of any other major conflict of recent years, according to a January report by Oxfam.

But that killing could be stopped with some practical solutions, according to Vijay Prashad, historian and director of the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research. He said permanent members of the Security Council, including China, could bring forward proposals similar to those imposed on Libya during the civil war of 2011.

“To stop the bombing, China can put forward a motion for a no-fly zone over Gaza and have Egypt monitor the flights over the area,” Prashad said. “It can also propose a full arms embargo – not even dual-use technology [goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications] should be allowed to be shipped to Israel.”

Prashad said the fact that member states were not offering such motions was “perplexing” and “part of our colonial sensibility” that the UN’s agenda could not be set by non-Western states, who were not traditionally the decision-makers.

“There are moments like when the Chinese representative to the UN [Zhang Jun] stopped the Israeli ambassador from talking in a very undignified way – so it’s not like people aren’t asserting themselves, but why not assert themselves with a resolution?”

Prashad acknowledged that the proposals would likely be vetoed by the US, making Washington appear “even more complicit in the massacre than they are right now”.

The US again blocked a ceasefire resolution on Tuesday. It was the third US veto of a draft resolution since October 7. Zhang said the US vote – the only one against – was “nothing different from giving the green light to the continued slaughter” in Gaza.

The veto power has become increasingly controversial as it effectively prevents UN action against the permanent members and their allies, leading to inaction on war crimes and crimes against humanity.

China and other countries could further consider recalling their ambassadors in Israel and removing Israeli diplomats in their countries in order to “put Israel on notice diplomatically”, Prashad said. They would be “straightforward” and “non-interventionist” moves to make a palpable stance against the unceasing violence.

Last week, Brazil recalled its ambassador to Israel while summoning the Israeli ambassador for a reprimand, amid tensions deepened by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s comparison of Israel’s war on Gaza to the Holocaust.

Prashad said that among his Palestinian peers, there was “a lot of respect” for China’s infrastructure investment in the West Bank, but in response to the current Palestinian suffering, the Global South in general has been “pretty timid”.

As China’s Pacific influence grows, Japan eyes deeper ties with island nations amid their domestic woes

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3253015/chinas-pacific-influence-grows-japan-eyes-deeper-ties-island-nations-amid-their-domestic-woes?utm_source=rss_feed

As Japan and Pacific island nations look to cooperate on a wide range of issues and close ranks against growing Chinese influence in the region, analysts say Tokyo also has to tackle the region’s concerns.

These include climate change, disaster relief, and the discharge of waste water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant – an issue where greater “trust” and communication will be needed – while maritime and security ties with the region also need strengthening.

At a meeting in the Fijian capital Suva last Monday, Japan and Pacific countries agreed to oppose “any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion”, widely seen as a veiled reference to China’s growing influence in the region.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters she agreed with the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) on the importance of the “international rules-based order”.

She added that Japan would continue to provide explanations based on “scientific evidence” about the release of treated waste water from Fukushima.

The gathering aimed to lay the groundwork for the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting – held once every three years since 1997 – set to convene in Tokyo this July.

Given Japan’s attempts to understand local needs, economic development and climate change mitigation, including disaster relief, “would remain a priority”, said Kei Koga, an associate professor in the public policy and global affairs programme at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

Under Japan’s Official Security Assistance (OSA) framework launched last year, which aims to help developing nations strengthen their security, Fiji was listed as a priority country, Koga noted.

Japan plans long-term maritime support for 4 Asean states in South China Sea

In December, Japan agreed to provide Fiji with US$2.7 million in security assistance, including patrol boats, and in future, Tokyo was likely to use a mix of OSA and overseas development help to strengthen the capacities of regional countries, Koga said.

“[This includes] maritime domain awareness and law enforcement capabilities to ensure maritime security,” he said, adding that Japan should also address the “long-standing concern of nuclear issues” in regards to the discharge of Fukushima waste water.

“Without understanding their socially embedded concerns, it would be difficult to gain trust,” Koga said.

For decades, Pacific countries have grappled with the environmental and health consequences of nuclear testing in the region by the United States, France and Britain after World War II.

In recent months, Pacific leaders have expressed strong concerns over the release of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the ocean, highlighting concerns that the move would have on the environment and citizens’ livelihoods.

Over the years, Japan has supported the region by setting up and expanding hospitals, building roads and bridges, and assisting with climate change mitigation and disaster relief prevention.

Though a relative newcomer to the aid scene, China has extended economic and infrastructure assistance to the region, as well as signing a law enforcement and security agreement with the Solomon Islands in 2022.

Alarmed by the move, the US reopened its embassy in Honiara the following year after a 30-year hiatus, and together with its allies including Australia and South Korea, took steps to strengthen diplomacy with the region through various forms of aid and other help.

Moses Sakai, a research fellow at the PNG National Research Institute, said any form of help to Pacific nations from Japan “should not be about strategic competition in the region”.

Rather, it should be based on mutual understanding and cooperation between Japan and PIF members and the interests of the region’s people, as spelled out in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent that was formally endorsed at a 2022 meeting in Fiji.

PIF leaders highlighted regional challenges and priorities in the strategy, ranging from climate change and ocean protection, to the sustainable management of land and ocean resources.

“The real threat at the moment to the region’s security is not geopolitics, but climate change, therefore Japan should invest more on that including other key economic development priorities,” Sakai said.

Noting that the region is prone to natural disasters as a result of climate change, Sakai said Tokyo should also invest in providing humanitarian help, especially during natural disasters.

US boosts Pacific climate aid, but defence and China remain ‘sensitive’ topics

Pacific nations are among the most vulnerable to the changing climate, with many already experiencing higher temperatures, shifts in rainfall patterns, rising sea levels and changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme climate events, according to Australia’s national science agency CSIRO.

Céline Pajon, head of Japan research at the French Institute of International Relations’ Centre for Asian and Indo-Pacific Studies in Paris, said Japan had taken steps to help the region adapt to climate change.

In 2018, Japan helped set up a regional centre in Samoa’s capital Apia, funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, to focus on researching and addressing climate change effects

The Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Chugoku Electric Power Inc. invested in expanding renewable energy in Fiji in 2021.

“Japan could follow up on these,” Pajon said, in addition to providing support on weather data and in developing information infrastructure to aid evacuations in case of a tropical cyclone.

“Japan is also expected to assist in the development of communication infrastructure, including the installation of submarine cables,” she said.

As PNG vows return to normality, will chaos mar its ties with US and China?

Adding that the next likely recipient of Tokyo’s OSA funding would be Papua New Guinea, Pajon noted that the nuclear issue had been a “traditional, central irritant” in Japan’s relations and the region.

In 1981, the region protested against a Japanese project to dump nuclear waste in the ocean, while in 1992, the PIF criticised the plutonium transiting the region on the way from France to Japan.

“The stepping up of economic cooperation helped to iron out the issue for some time”, she said. But nuclear concerns once again emerged as an issue affecting relations after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Pacific countries have called for greater transparency and communication since Japan began discharging treated waste water from the plant last August.

“Tokyo is aware that the nuclear issue is very sensitive, and it is also used as a political card by some governments to criticise Japan, following China’s example,” Pajon added.

One of the most vocal opponents of the release of the waste water, China has called the discharge an “extremely selfish and irresponsible act” and accused Japan of “passing an open wound onto the future generations of humanity”.

Kalinga Seneviratne, a consultant to the journalism programme at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, said the discharge was “widely opposed across the Pacific” and “damaged Japan’s standing in the South Pacific”.

The few leaders who supported the discharge – on the grounds that the International Atomic Energy Agency has said it is safe – were accused by non-governmental organisations and commentators in the region of being “bribed by Japanese aid pledges”, he said.

“Unless Japan is able to find a reason to stop the discharge – which they said will be done in stages over 30 years – their reputation is going to suffer,” Seneviratne said.

“Japan is really helping China’s projection as a development partner of choice for the Pacific,” he said, adding that civil society and the PIF have not ceased trying to stop the release of the waste water into the ocean.

“They see it as an affront to Pacific sensitivities,” Seneviratne said.

Love-seeking men in China turn to makeup in bid to boost romance chances in competitive Lunar New Year dating market

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3251520/love-seeking-men-china-turn-makeup-bid-boost-romance-chances-competitive-lunar-new-year-dating?utm_source=rss_feed

More young men in China are wearing make-up on dates to increase their chances of attracting a romantic partner.

Toutiao News reported that younger generation males are paying more attention to their appearance and are increasingly interested in having a makeover before a date.

As Lunar New Year is a popular time for blind dates, the demand for male make-up services has surged.

Xiaodan, a make-up artist in Sichuan province, southwestern China, said that the fee has leapt to nearly 200 yuan (US$28) a consultation, up from 60 yuan (US$9) at other times of the year.

She said the service has become popular in rural areas as well as cities, including in her hometown in southeastern Jiangxi province, where elders arrange more than one blind date a day for single males in the family.

“Who does not want to make a great first impression? Nowadays more males enjoy wearing make-up,” Xiaodan said.

“My blind date male make-up appointments are fully booked during the week-long Lunar New Year holidays. I will see at least two clients every day.”

Another make-up artist, Coco, from Guangdong province, also in southeastern China, has a busy schedule.

In the last month she has had 36 male clients and her February diary is full.

Coco says men tend to focus on their complexion and eyebrows, while some want their hair restyled.

She said many have told her they have failed to attract women on blind dates, so they turned to her to improve their appearance in the hope it would help.

“Wearing make-up can boost their confidence,” Coco said.

She told of one client, a 31-year-old surnamed Wang, who was introduced to her by a friend because he was no good at choosing clothes and hair styles. He was very satisfied with his hair cut that cost 168 yuan (US$24).

The trend has divided opinion on mainland social media.

“I think it’s good. It shows men are starting to respect their dates,” one online observer said.

“Will they wear make-up later when they have a second or more dates?” another asked.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that there were 240 million single people in China in 2018, and the number of single men aged between 20 and 49 years old was far greater than single women in the same age group.

According to the China Statistics Yearbook 2022, the number of people getting married dropped to 6.83 million in 2022, about 803,000 down from 2021.

China on alert for cold weather damage to spring vegetable crops

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3253143/china-alert-cold-weather-damage-spring-vegetable-crops?utm_source=rss_feed

Agricultural advisers have been sent out across China to help farmers minimise damage from freezing weather to their spring vegetable crops.

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences said on Friday that 40 teams of experts had fanned out across the country to assess damage and offer technical advice.

“The country has continued to experience extreme meteorological disasters and several sudden temperature drops, which has had a great impact on our vegetable production,” said the academy, a research organisation affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Authorities are expecting more low temperatures this week, with the National Meteorological Centre issuing its highest alert for cold temperatures on Sunday for a third straight day.

Daily average or minimum temperatures in parts of central-southern and northwestern China are expected to be 5 to 7 degrees Celsius lower than seasonal norms from Sunday through to Wednesday morning, according to the centre.

The academy said that in some northern parts of the country, production of cucumbers and capsicums was expected to fall by 10 to 20 per cent.

It said the teams would monitor weather changes, “minimise” losses to farmers and ensure supplies of vegetables in spring were “stable and balanced”.

The teams have already visited areas surrounding Beijing and at least 10 provinces, including Shandong in the east – the country’s biggest vegetable producer – and Henan, which has the most land under vegetable cultivation.

China’s central-southern and northwestern provinces contributed nearly 40 per cent of the country’s total vegetable output in 2022, according to a report published in November by Sublime China Information, an agricultural information and consulting services provider.

Food security has become a higher priority for Beijing in the past five years amid the trade war with the United States, the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic on the supply chain and an increasingly challenging international environment.

The leadership says the Chinese people’s “rice bowls” should remain firmly in their own hands and domestic supplies of produce safeguarded.

But production has been tested by waves of severe cold, accompanied by blizzards and freezing rain, that have rippled through the country in the past few months.

Last week, authorities issued an orange cold wave alert, the highest level in the three-tier system, from Tuesday to Thursday, with temperatures in some regions plummeting by more than 20 degrees Celsius.

In early February, severe cold spells also swept across many parts of the country, leading to disruptions to Lunar New Year travel in several areas.

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