• Maldives signed military deal with Beijing but may remain swing state in China-India tug of war
• Western and Chinese medicine traditions join forces in more Hong Kong hospitals to treat cancer, strokes, muscle and bone pain
• Top Ukraine official speaks with China’s ambassador about peace summit plans
• Top Beijing envoy to US criticises Biden’s moves targeting Chinese products over national security
• China-Australia wine trade barriers seen falling as foreign minister Wang Yi confirms trip down under
• China seeks closer US links on scientific research, use of AI in education
• As China plays catch-up in AI advancements, Premier Li vows more leeway to ‘overtake rivals’
• Apple’s Vision Pro headset likely to face trademark issues in China as Huawei has already registered the name
• China names former South Africa envoy Chen Xiaodong as new foreign vice-minister
• Nasa’s dream comes true: China plans to build a giant rail gun to launch hypersonic planes into space
• Chinese students, academics say they’re facing extra scrutiny entering U.S.
• China has 12½ times more robots in its workforce than industry experts predicted: report
• ‘Palm sister’ China baby born small as hand, light as 2 cans of soup, survives 112-day intensive care, mother hopes she will be a doctor
• Chinese state media reporters blocked from deadly blast site near Beijing, raising rare controversy over press controls
• China urged to save coral reefs in Asian waters amid booming illegal trade in giant clams
• China’s Middle East investment ‘pivot’ highlighted by mega UAE desalination plant
• Chinese state media body condemns police harassment at site of deadly blast
• China actor who plays role of beggar at popular mainland tourist site convinces visitors he is real, given food and money
• Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese coastguards join forces to save capsized fishing boat crew
• How Chinese is TikTok? US lawmakers see it as China’s tool, even as it distances itself from Beijing
• AIA’s 2023 profit jumps 15%, buoyed by Hong Kong’s increasing sales of insurance policies to mainland Chinese visitors
• China’s police pledge to build ‘new quality combat capacity’ with tech aimed at preventing risks
• China may be facing too many economic obstacles to hit its ambitious growth target for 2024
• Clunky new US$3,300 ‘clear sticky tape bracelet’ from fashion house Balenciaga mercilessly mocked on China social media
• Australia should ‘end servility to US’ and have independent China policy, ex-Greek minister says
• Retired SMIC veteran joins China’s top memory chip maker CXMT in boost to research efforts, report says

Maldives signed military deal with Beijing but may remain swing state in China-India tug of war

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3255321/maldives-signed-military-deal-beijing-may-remain-swing-state-china-india-tug-war?utm_source=rss_feed

The military assistance agreement signed between the Maldives and China last week came at a sensitive time. The island’s new China-friendly president sought to elevate ties with Beijing to reduce dependence on New Delhi, including asking its South Asian neighbour to withdraw troops from the country.

Some 89 Indian military personnel began withdrawing from the island nation this week as the Chinese defence ministry confirmed on Wednesday that a People’s Liberation Army delegation had visited and met President Mohamed Muizzu last week.

Without mentioning the agreement, the Chinese statement said the Maldives trip was part of a three-nation tour that also included Sri Lanka and Nepal – also India’s neighbours – that focused on promoting defence cooperation with Beijing.

China’s foreign ministry described the agreement last week as part of “normal cooperation” between the two countries that did not “target any third party and does not undergo any interference by third parties”, but observers said it signalled the Maldives’ further tilt towards Beijing amid its deteriorating relations with New Delhi.

The Maldivian defence ministry said the pact signed in Male on March 4 to receive free military assistance from China was aimed at “fostering strong bilateral ties”, without providing further details.

India, which traditionally has had close ties with the Maldives, is clearly concerned about China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean, especially since Muizzu came to power last year.

Pointing to “a significant deterioration” in the Maldives’ relationship with India, David Brewster, a senior research fellow at the Australian National University’s National Security College in Canberra, said the Maldives had increasingly become a battlefield for geopolitical jostling between China and India.

“The decision of the Maldives government to accept defence assistance from China is very significant and many observers see this as signalling a major tilt towards Beijing,” he said. “It may be possible to allay these concerns [from India and others] by providing full transparency about these arrangements.”

In response, the Indian Navy last week announced the opening of a new naval base on the “strategically important” Lakshadweep islands close to the Maldives, in a move pundits said was specifically targeting Beijing that could ratchet up tension between the two regional giants.

The US State Department said last week it was “tracking” Beijing’s military pact with Male, with spokesman Matthew Miller calling the island nation “a valued partner” for Washington in its China-focused Indo-Pacific strategy.

Liu Zongyi, a senior fellow with the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies’ South Asia and China Centre, said the Maldives was not the first nation to receive free military assistance from China.

He said that in recent years Beijing had signed several similar deals to provide military aid to developing countries in Asia and Africa, which were aimed at addressing their specific defence needs and were usually free considering the nations’ financial difficulties.

“The Maldives is a small country and the agreed military assistance from China is not likely to exceed what Male needs. China will not force other countries to do things they do not want to do and it has no intention to turn the Maldives into an overseas military base like what India has been doing,” he said.

Liu said the deal raised many eyebrows because it coincided with the withdrawal of Indian troops while ties between the South Asian neighbours were at a low point.

Since assuming power in November, Muizzu, who campaigned on promises to reduce India’s influence on the country, broke tradition by visiting China before India.

Shortly after his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in January after the signing of multiple infrastructure, energy, marine and agricultural deals, he formally asked India to withdraw military personnel from the island. But Muizzu previously denied he would bring in Chinese forces to replace Indian troops.

Liu said Beijing should not be blamed for New Delhi’s insecurities about China’s presence in its perceived sphere of influence.

“China steps in and offers to provide help in times of need when India can no longer fulfil its defence commitments [after the withdrawal of military personnel]. It is not aimed at India, but to meet the needs of the Maldives in safeguarding its defence and national security interests,” Liu said.

Can India mend fences with the Maldives amid China’s gambit to gain clout?

Instead, the strengthening of relations between China and the Maldives was largely because of the need on Beijing’s part to counter India’s attempts to limit China’s influence in South Asia and the Indian Ocean region, he said.

“The main issues here are India’s regional hegemony mentality, its concept of sphere of influence and its view of a zero-sum game between China and India,” Liu said.

He described India’s calls for its tourists to boycott the Maldives as using economic coercion to bully its small neighbour and said the building of a new naval base near the island nation would make things worse.

“The base may pose a substantial security threat to the Maldives. It is also obviously aimed at China as it would strengthen India’s control of the main shipping lanes of the Indian Ocean, affecting China and other countries that rely on this important corridor for energy and trade with Europe and Africa,” he said.

China’s ties with India are already at a low point. The two countries have remained locked in a military stand-off since their fatal clash at the disputed Himalayan border in June 2020.

Nilanthi Samaranayake, a visiting expert at the United States Institute of Peace and adjunct fellow at the East-West Centre in Washington, said Muizzu’s new diplomatic approach showed “how the Maldives as a smaller state was seeking a wider base of security cooperation partnerships to include, but not be limited to, India and China”.

She noted the island nation’s recent attempts to buy drones from a Turkish company for maritime surveillance and a US commitment to provide four patrol boats for the Maldives as examples.

“Small island states like Maldives are increasingly confronted with the need to maintain their sovereignty and autonomy amid rivalry between large powers,” she said.

“They foremost are trying to achieve national development goals, often in the context of requirements to address non-traditional security challenges, such as climate change impacts. Heightened strategic competition makes achieving these objectives that much harder.”

After ordering India’s troops to leave, Maldives signs defence deal with China

But despite the headway China had made in pulling the Maldives closer to its orbit, Liu said Male was still under India’s influence and would inevitably remain a swing state in the great power rivalry between China and India.

“Its shifting stance carries risks and challenges for Beijing, especially considering India’s dominating influence over the Maldives’ internal politics. The same is true for other small regional countries such as Sri Lanka and Nepal,” Liu said.

Western and Chinese medicine traditions join forces in more Hong Kong hospitals to treat cancer, strokes, muscle and bone pain

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3255431/western-and-chinese-medicine-traditions-join-forces-more-hong-kong-hospitals-treat-cancer-strokes?utm_source=rss_feed

Cancer and stroke patients can now get Western and Chinese medicine treatments at 26 Hong Kong public hospitals under a service expansion that also covers people with bone and muscle pain.

The Hospital Authority on Thursday said the Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Programme had been expanded from eight public hospitals to 26 in the first quarter of the year and covers 53 service points across the city.

“We estimate that we can serve 30,000 patients a year,” Rowena Wong How-wan, the authority’s chief manager of Chinese medicine, said.

“We will also explore the possibility of further expanding the collaborative programme in terms of degenerative diseases and respiratory diseases as our population continues to age.”

She added the authority hoped to introduce pilot programmes in new disease areas this year.

The scheme, introduced in 2014, covers four areas – stroke, cancer palliative care and cancer care and muscle and bone pain.

More than 44,000 patient attendances had been recorded by February.

Patients aged 18 or over are eligible for the scheme. A team made up of Chinese and Western medicine practitioners will invite the patients to join the programme after their suitability is assessed. Each treatment costs HK$120 (US$15).

Wong said the scheme used an evidence-based approach and the Chinese and Western medicine specialists worked together to formulate and adjust treatment plans to ensure safety and integrate both plans.

Doctors from the two disciplines also visit patients and hold discussions on their cases.

Wong said more than 90 Chinese medicine practitioners were involved in the scheme and further recruitment was under way.

The cancer care pilot programme was launched in Princess Margaret Hospital last September and in Tuen Mun Hospital a month later in a bid to relieve some of the symptoms and treatment side-effects in patients having a variety of cancer treatments.

Hong Kong’s Baptist University eyes medical school for Western, Chinese medicine

Wong said about 400 patients had joined the pilot scheme and it had got a good response. She added that the authority might expand the programme to other hospitals in the future.

She explained the treatment focused on patients having chemotherapy and radiotherapy who suffered neuropathy syndrome – nerve damage that causes pain, weakness, numbness or tingling in one or more parts of the body.

“Patients find it is very useful, especially for numbness and pain relief,” Wong said.

“We will continue to observe the effects of involving Chinese medicine in [cancer] treatments.”

Queen Elizabeth Hospital is one of the existing sites that offer stroke treatments.

Dr Fong Wing-chi, the hospital’s chief of service and chairman of the authority’s Central Committee on Stroke Service, said between last November and January this year, an average of 18 patients a month were given acupuncture – more than 1 per cent of people hospitalised because of an acute stroke.

“We welcome the scheme as collaboration with Chinese medicine practitioners allows patients to receive comprehensive treatments,” he added.

Hong Kong Chinese medicine hospital outpatient fees likely to match public clinics

Fong highlighted an example of an elderly woman in her seventies who received acupuncture for stroke rehabilitation, as well as muscle and joint pain.

He said that, after treatment, she told him her use of pain relief pills had been greatly reduced.

Fong added an average of about 30 patients a month will be invited to receive the treatments. But he said some of them would reject the offer because of fear of pain or unstable conditions.

Yau Kin-chung, a senior Chinese medicine practitioner involved in the scheme, said they were able to study hospitals’ patient medical records and doctors were eager to help.

He added practitioners or their assistants stayed with patients throughout the acupuncture process and a record of the number of needles inserted and extracted was logged on the hospital’s computer system.

“The treatment details will be recorded … in case the patient has been transferred to another hospital or visits other government Chinese medicine clinics after being discharged so the continuity of their treatments can be maintained,” Yau said.

But he added some patients were unable to get the treatments because they did not have their Octopus card, the only payment method, on them.

Wong said the authority would examine ways to improve the charging system.

She explained that fees are at present charged by government-run Chinese medicine clinics rather than the hospitals.

Top Ukraine official speaks with China’s ambassador about peace summit plans

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3255434/top-ukraine-official-speaks-chinas-ambassador-about-peace-summit-plans?utm_source=rss_feed

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff met with China’s ambassador on Wednesday, as Kyiv pushed for a global peace summit and Beijing stepped up diplomatic efforts to mediate an end to the war with Russia.

Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky’s presidential office, spoke with Ambassador Fan Xianrong about preparations for a proposed international leaders’ conference to be held in Switzerland, the office said in a statement.

The meeting came after Li Hui, Beijing’s special representative for Eurasian affairs and its point man on the war, finished his tour of European capitals in an effort to “mediate and build consensus” for an end to the conflict, now in its third year.

Li had visited Moscow, Brussels and Warsaw before he met Yermak on March 7 for “frank and friendly talks”. He travelled to Germany and France afterward. It was his second round of “shuttle diplomacy” after a first attempt last May.

Yermak and Fan summarised outcomes of Li’s visit to Kyiv and discussed areas for further cooperation on the Ukrainian Peace Formula, the statement said.

“Yermak thanked the Chinese side for its interest in achieving a just peace for Ukraine,” it said.

Zelensky proposed a “global peace summit” to rally support for his peace plan, which seeks restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity and withdrawal of all Russian troops. The Swiss government has committed to host the event “by the summer”.

During his meeting in Berlin on Saturday with German State Secretary Thomas Bagger, Li said that China was ready to work with Germany “to support the timely convening of a peace conference with equal participation of all parties”.

EU locks horns with China’s envoy on Ukraine, as schisms on war remain

But Li also warned that the crisis was “at risk of further escalation”.

Speaking in Paris on Monday with Jonathan Lacôte of the French foreign ministry, Li said the most urgent task was to end fighting and agree to a ceasefire as soon as possible.

China’s foreign ministry said that Li’s diplomatic outreaches had been “appreciated” by his European colleagues.

However, EU officials said that Li had mainly echoed the Kremlin’s points of view, and told the EU to stop sanctioning Chinese companies.

China says it is neutral in the conflict and has consistently called for a ceasefire. But it is seen by the US and its European allies to have sided with Russia, since Beijing has refused to condemn its invasion of Ukraine and maintained close ties with Moscow despite Western sanctions.

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Top Beijing envoy to US criticises Biden’s moves targeting Chinese products over national security

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3255437/top-beijing-envoy-us-criticises-bidens-moves-targeting-chinese-products-over-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top envoy to the US criticised President Joe Biden’s recent moves targeting Chinese products on national security grounds, even as he acknowledged that the American leader’s recent summit with President Xi Jinping helped to stabilise the bilateral relationship.

Speaking at a conference hosted by Chinese state media outlets on Thursday, Ambassador Xie Feng appeared to reference an investigation into connected technology used in Chinese vehicles and actions aimed at reducing possible vulnerabilities tied to products from the country in American port infrastructure.

“Viewing e-vehicles as ‘iPhone[s] on wheels’ or describing cargo cranes as ‘Trojan horses’ only gets one into a never-ending cycle – overstretching national security leads to excessive anxiety,” Xie said, according to a report on the ambassador’s remarks published by his embassy.

“If ‘de-risking’ is all about China, it means lost opportunities and lose-lose outcomes,” it added. “After all, with over 70,000 American companies investing in China and the two economies so closely connected, a forced ‘decoupling’ can be too expensive.”

US government concerns about potential national security vulnerabilities embedded in Chinese products and investments in America have gathered momentum for years, prompting measures like a law in 2018 that strengthened the authorities of the Committee of Foreign Investment in the US, or CFIUS.

These measures continued under Biden’s watch, with ever-tightening restrictions on China’s access to advanced chips and chipmaking tools, prompted by concerns that Beijing could leverage them to develop military technologies.

The concerns reached a fever pitch this week with the closely watched House of Representatives passage of a bill that would force Chinese tech company ByteDance to divest its popular short-video sharing app TikTok to keep its service to US users intact.

Acting on alarms sounded by American officials and others in Washington that Beijing could remotely operate Chinese-manufactured cranes to disrupt the flow of goods and reveal information about US military shipments, Biden last month signed an executive order to mandate the reporting of cyber incidents.

US raises alarm as Chinese platform corners global shipping logistics market

Warnings about port vulnerabilities have included a report published last year by the Brookings Institution spotlighting the Chinese commercial logistics platform Logink, which collects information on shipping and cargo movement worldwide and provides tracking, data management and other services free of charge.

The Biden administration also plans to invest more than US$20 billion in American port infrastructure over the next five years, including an effort to onshore US crane manufacturing.

Logink, which describes itself as a “one-stop logistics information service platform”, began as a provincial programme in China in 2007. It became part of a regional network in northeast Asia in 2010 and a global platform after 2014.

Just days later, the US Commerce Department announced that its investigation into “connected” car technology developed by China could lead to the imposition of restrictions on these products.

On a more positive note, Xie praised the “successful” summit between Xi and Biden in California in November, stating that “the San Francisco vision” had “stabilised the bilateral relationship”.

China-Australia wine trade barriers seen falling as foreign minister Wang Yi confirms trip down under

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3255405/china-australia-wine-trade-barriers-seen-falling-foreign-minister-wang-yi-confirms-trip-down-under?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s foreign minister will co-host a strategic talk during his visit to Australia next week amid improving relations, with the likely removal of tariffs on Australian wine looming large after nearly three-and-a-half years.

It is part of Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia from March 17-21, Beijing announced on Thursday, confirming an earlier report by the Post.

Beijing is widely expected to reduce some trade barriers that were imposed in the past few years as relations deteriorated following Canberra’s call for an investigation into the origin of the coronavirus. Bilateral ties have been improving since Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited China in November.

Australia’s largest wine producer, Treasury Wine Estates, has been informed that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce had issued a draft interim decision outlining the cancellation of additional tariffs on Australian wine, according to a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange on Tuesday.

The wine producer said the content of the provisional draft decision may change, but it “expects China to issue a final decision in the coming weeks”.

The commerce ministry said on Thursday that China would make a final ruling regarding its tariffs on Australian wine in accordance with investigation procedures and laws.

Late last month, commerce minister Wang Wentao discussed bilateral trade concerns with Australian trade minister Don Farrell during a World Trade Organization ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi.

Mainlanders shell out for smuggled Australian lobsters via Hong Kong

The Post had reported that Wang Yi would spend one day in Canberra and another day in Sydney, and that he was expected to talk with his Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, about unresolved issues, including those concerning technology, trade and the Aukus security alliance.

Wang Yi’s trip looks to mark another milestone in the thawing of relations, and it could pave the way for a potential trip by Premier Li Qiang later this year, according to sources.

Beijing and Canberra have displayed a willingness to mend ties, and the recent indication that China’s commerce ministry was mulling the scrapping of tariffs on Australian wines is seen as the latest progress.

Australian coal, barley, cotton, beef and dairy products – all of which were under official and unofficial bans – have gradually returned to the Chinese market since last year.

Andrew Ferguson, managing director at seafood provider Ferguson Australia, said that the industry is also expecting “good news” concerning the possible lifting of an unofficial ban on Australian live lobsters exported to China.

“So, my Chinese friends will wait for it to order,” he added.

As for wine, the owner of an Australian company said that exporters were gearing up their production lines and supporting mechanisms to serve the Chinese market again.

“However, final details of the announcement are still uncertain at the moment,” said the man, surnamed Zhang, who declined to give his full name or mention his company due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Trade between China and Australia dropped by 2.9 per cent, year on year, in the first two months of 2024 after having edged up 4.1 per cent in 2023.

Additional reporting by Kandy Wong

China seeks closer US links on scientific research, use of AI in education

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3255412/china-seeks-closer-us-links-scientific-research-use-ai-education?utm_source=rss_feed

China has urged closer cooperation with the United States in scientific research and the use of artificial intelligence in education, while boosting youth exchanges.

The call from China’s education vice-minister Chen Jie came as he met New York University president Linda G. Mills in Beijing earlier this week.

“[We] welcome more outstanding students from NYU to come to China for study and exchange,” Chen told Mills, according to a readout published on the education ministry website on Thursday.

Beijing is under growing pressure from US technology curbs amid an intense geopolitical rivalry with Washington with AI as one of the main battle fronts, and has called for more international cooperation in the field in recent years.

“[We are] willing to bring 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study in the next five years,” Chen said, inviting NYU to participate in the initiative announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping last year.

The announcement from Xi – during a much-awaited summit in San Francisco with his US counterpart Joe Biden in November – followed an agreement to expand educational, cultural and business exchanges as the two countries sought ways to reverse a prolonged downward spiral in relations.

China’s Xi wants market-ready scientific research – and singles out 2 provinces

The number of US students enrolling in Chinese universities dropped to its lowest level in a decade last year – with strained bilateral ties, Covid-19 restrictions and the delayed resumption of direct flights all thought to have played a role.

According to the 2023 edition of a US-funded study by the Institute of International Education, only 211 American students studied in mainland China during the 2021-22 academic year, compared with more than 11,000 from 2018 to 2019.

In response to Chen, Mills said NYU was willing to encourage more young Americans to visit China and hold more bilateral youth friendship activities on its campus, according to the readout from Beijing of Monday’s meeting.

China seeks to integrate AI in traditional sectors, including higher education, to stimulate innovation so it does not fall behind in the global AI race and also to boost economic growth, which has struggled to take off post-Covid.

The Chinese leadership has also called for more international cooperation in artificial intelligence in recent years as the country is squeezed by the US-led tech war.

At the meeting with Mills, Chen commended the academic achievements of NYU Shanghai, which opened in 2012 as a joint venture with Shanghai’s East China Normal University.

NYU had hailed the opening of its Shanghai campus, which received support from the Chinese education ministry and the city’s municipal government, as a “major achievement”.

Mills said NYU would continue to firmly support the development of its Shanghai campus, and looked forward to closer scientific research cooperation with China. NYU Shanghai president Tong Shijun also attended the meeting.

As China plays catch-up in AI advancements, Premier Li vows more leeway to ‘overtake rivals’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3255380/china-plays-catch-ai-advancements-premier-li-vows-more-leeway-overtake-rivals?utm_source=rss_feed

In his elevation of artificial intelligence (AI) as a key pillar underpinning China’s pursuit of long-term growth, Premier Li Qiang has vowed to cultivate a more tolerant “trial and error” culture while allowing ample room to explore different technical paths for the rapidly growing technology.

Li devoted his first field trip after the target-setting parliamentary meetings known as the “two sessions” to tech firms in the capital city of Beijing, where state media said he heard about the latest developments in the realms of AI, semiconductors and autonomous vehicles such as self-driving cars.

“While sticking to the bottom line of security, we must promote prudent, accommodative supervision and give new and emerging technologies sufficient space and room for trial and error,” the premier reportedly told cadres and business representatives from the capital city on Wednesday.

Although he did not elaborate on how exactly that will be done, the declaration came as the European Parliament on Wednesday approved a legal framework for curbing the risks of AI, and as similar legislation has received considerable attention in the United States.

In his first government work report, delivered on March 5, the premier unveiled leadership’s ambitious and arduous goal for the economy to grow by around 5 per cent this year.

The Chinese leadership is now prioritising the cultivation of “new quality productive forces” – a term first used by President Xi Jinping in September to stress the need for development spurred by hi-tech advancements and innovation – as the nation pivots economic growth towards a new trajectory amid a shaky recovery and challenges at home and abroad.

“AI is a vital engine for the development of new quality productive forces,” Li said during his inspection tour. He also called for breakthroughs in computing power, algorithms and other fronts, as well as for the trialling and deploying of cutting-edge technologies on multiple technical lines.

“[In the AI race] we must strive to overtake rivals at the bend or by swerving into a new lane,” the premier said, according to Xinhua.

Among the tech firms Li toured were search engine giant Baidu’s AI lab and the Beijing Academy of Artificial Intelligence, a private non-profit organisation led by academics from leading institutions such as Peking University.

Li was reportedly briefed on the formation of a consortium pooling together so-called large language models in the realm of research and development, as well as localised AI innovations.

The premier said China’s “rich application scenarios” give it an edge in the AI race, and he called for the expansion of AI applications under a “more loosened up” regulatory regime.

He also visited an autonomous-driving demonstration park and an integrated-circuits company.

China puts trust in AI to maintain largest high-speed rail network on Earth

Fu Weigang, executive president of the Shanghai Institute of Finance and Law, said Li’s pledge of room and support would require some government policies to be adjusted.

“Changes are needed to make appraisals of investment returns more flexible, when state funding is involved, because AI trials and experiments are risky and prone to failures,” he said.

“The government should refrain from interfering too much [into the industry practices],” Fu contended.

A researcher with Fudan University in Shanghai said AI fits into Beijing’s new productive-force strategy and it is vital to empowering numerous industries.

“Li has assured very flexible and accommodative policies,” said the specialist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Even though China appears to be late to the AI game as new apps and products are bursting onto the scene in America, there’s still the possibility for China to catch up, given the many paths to developing and applying AI.”

Apple’s Vision Pro headset likely to face trademark issues in China as Huawei has already registered the name

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3255397/apples-vision-pro-headset-likely-face-trademark-issues-china-huawei-has-already-registered-name?utm_source=rss_feed

Apple may face some trademark and marketing issues in China with its mixed-reality Vision Pro headset given that Huawei Technologies registered the name three years ago on the mainland, according to local media reports and public trademark records.

Shenzhen-based Huawei trademarked “Vision Pro” in China in 2021, covering a wide range of goods and services including virtual reality (VR) headsets and wearable video displays, according to records at the Trademark Office of China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA).

Huawei has exclusive rights to the name “Vision Pro” in the country until November 2031.

According to CNIPA, the US tech giant applied for trademark rights to the brand “Vision Pro” last year and it is currently in the “refusal to re-examine” phase. Apple also applied to trademark the brand name “Apple Vision Pro” last June and this is still under examination.

Apple to expand applied research operations in Shanghai and Shenzhen

Huawei’s first smart eyewear device, “Vision Glass”, was introduced in December 2022, and it has also launched a range of smart TV screens under the Vision brand.

Following the US release of Apple’s Vision Pro in February, local media reported that Huawei is preparing to launch similar headsets.

Li Nan, a former marketing director at Chinese smartphone brand Meizu, shared a post on Weibo outlining what a mooted Huawei Vision headset may look like.

According to Li’s Weibo post, Huawei may use a home-grown chip to power its new VR headset. Late last year, Huawei launched its 5G-capable Mate 60 series, equipped with a powerful domestic chip, the Kirin 9000S, which has been hailed by Chinese netizens as symbolic of China’s ability to defy tough US sanctions.

Li also mentioned Huawei’s headset device may be as light as 350 grams, which is almost half the weight of Apple’s Vision Pro. Li also said the price of Huawei’s headset could be around 15,000 yuan (US$2,090), which is almost half of the price of Apple’s Vision Pro.

Huawei did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest development of its headsets.

Aside from these potential trademark issues, Apple has faced growing challenges in China from local tech rivals.

Apple’s iPhone sales in China plunged by nearly a quarter in the first six weeks of 2024 year on year, according to data from Counterpoint Research. The US firm holds 15.7 per cent of the Chinese market and ranks fourth after Vivo, Huawei, and Honor. Meanwhile, Huawei achieved a 64 per cent jump in sales, giving it 16.5 per cent of the market during the same period.

Nevertheless, Apple is expanding its applied research operations in mainland China. The Cupertino, California-based firm plans to open a new lab in the southern tech hub of Shenzhen later this year, according to a statement on Tuesday.

The Shenzhen lab is expected to boost Apple’s testing and research capabilities for its major products including the iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro headset, according to the company.

It also plans to expand its research centre in Shanghai to support all of its product lines.

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China names former South Africa envoy Chen Xiaodong as new foreign vice-minister

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3255407/china-names-former-south-africa-envoy-chen-xiaodong-new-foreign-vice-minister?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s former top envoy to South Africa and Singapore Chen Xiaodong has been named as a foreign vice-minister, as Beijing continues to reshuffle its diplomatic team while external challenges mount.

The appointment of Chen – who just returned to Beijing this week after a three-year stint in the African nation – was announced on Thursday.

It comes as Beijing is trying to shore up ties with neighbouring countries and other emerging economies amid a geopolitical and ideological feud with the US-led West.

‘The next China is still China’: Wang Yi pushes back against foreign sceptics

During a farewell meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa last week, Chen hailed the “bond of camaraderie plus brotherhood” between the two countries, claiming that bilateral ties had entered a “golden era” under his watch after President Xi Jinping’s state visit last year.

Xi also attended the Brics summit during his visit to South Africa – one of the Chinese leader’s four trips abroad last year and seen as a highlight of Chen’s time as ambassador.

At a time when China’s ties with Russia are under intense scrutiny following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, and relations with India have faltered over border disputes and geopolitical jostling, Xi said China’s ties with South Africa would inject greater stability into a “turbulent world”.

Chen, 58, joined the foreign service in 1987 after graduating with a major in Arabic from Beijing International Studies University, the alma mater of China’s top diplomat Wang Yi.

He spent most of his early career rising through the diplomatic ranks with a focus on Middle Eastern countries, according to the foreign ministry website.

His career took off after he became China’s ambassador to Iraq in 2006. Two years later he was posted to London where he served as minister – the second-ranking officer – in the Chinese mission. He became head of the foreign ministry’s West Asian and North African affairs unit in 2010.

Chen was appointed ambassador to Singapore in 2015. He was promoted to assistant foreign minister two years later, responsible for China’s ties with Africa, West Asia and North Africa.

He took up the post in Pretoria in September 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the embassy’s farewell reception last week, Chen described South Africa as his “second home” and said he was proud China has been its top trading partner for the past 15 years.

It remains unclear who will replace Chen as Beijing’s next envoy to South Africa.

China should end its low-profile diplomatic approach, senior envoy says

Chen will work alongside Deng Li, 58, a French-speaking diplomat who replaced Chen as assistant foreign minister in 2020. Deng was elevated to foreign vice-minister the following year, in charge of European and African affairs. He is rumoured to be a candidate to become China’s next ambassador to France.

As part of a generational shake-up of China’s diplomatic establishment, Beijing named Miao Deyu, 52 – who had been head of the foreign ministry’s policy planning department – as assistant foreign minister in November.

Xu Feihong was removed as assistant foreign minister for administrative and financial affairs in December. Xu’s next move has yet to be announced, but there is speculation that the 59-year-old former ambassador to Afghanistan and Romania could be appointed as the new envoy to India – a position that has been vacant for more than 16 months.

Nasa’s dream comes true: China plans to build a giant rail gun to launch hypersonic planes into space

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3255351/nasas-dream-comes-true-china-plans-build-giant-rail-gun-launch-hypersonic-planes-space?utm_source=rss_feed

People could soon be launched into space using a type of hypersonic rail gun, as Chinese scientists and engineers combine the significant advances made in recent years in both electromagnetic launch and hypersonic flight.

Essentially the goal is this: to use a giant electromagnetic launch track to accelerate a hypersonic aircraft to Mach 1.6. The aircraft would then separate from the track, ignite its engine and enter near space at seven times the speed of sound.

This space plane, a behemoth weighing 50 tonnes and measuring longer than a Boeing 737, is part of the “Tengyun project” unveiled in 2016.

Relying on the plane’s own power for lift-off would require a huge amount of fuel. And to ensure safety during a low-speed take-off, scientists and engineers have had to make compromises in aerodynamic design and engine layout that affect high-speed flight efficiency.

But, while in the past such projects did not get past the discussion phase, this time it is different. China is putting words into action.

And scientists working on the project are confident the various issues can be solved.

“Electromagnetic launch technology provides a promising solution to overcome these challenges and has emerged as a strategic frontier technology being pursued by the world’s leading nations,” the team, led by scientist Li Shaowei with the magnetoelectric general department of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation’s (CASIC) Flight Vehicle Technology Research Institute, wrote in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese academic journal Acta Aeronautica on February 6.

To test the theory, CASIC, one of China’s foremost aerospace and defence contractors, has constructed a 2km (1.2 mile) low-vacuum track high-speed maglev test facility in the industrial heartland of Datong, Shanxi province.

This facility can propel a heavy object to speeds approaching 1,000km/h – close to the speed of sound. In the coming years, the length of the test line will be extended to achieve a maximum operating speed of 5,000km/h.

This is the most ambitious electromagnetic propulsion facility on the planet, poised to support the development of next-generation high-speed railways and gather vital scientific and engineering data for the space electromagnetic launch project.

Meanwhile in Jinan, capital of the eastern Shandong province, another giant maglev track to support ultra high-speed electromagnetic sled experiments is also up and running, under the supervision of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

China is not the first country to propose an electromagnetic space launch system. Such concepts have been floating around since the Cold War era.

In the 1990s, Nasa tried to bring this idea from paper to reality, with the first step being the construction of a mini test line measuring 15 metres (49 feet).

However, due to insufficient funding and technical difficulties, the actual length of the completed track was less than 10 metres. Eventually, the project was scrapped, and government and military leaders redirected resources towards the development of low-speed electromagnetic catapult technology for aircraft carriers instead.

China’s new hypersonic drone beats F-22 in aerodynamic efficiency: study

But the USS Ford, the first aircraft carrier to be fitted out with this new technology, has been plagued with issues. During Donald Trump’s presidency, he complained that the actual performance of the electromagnetic catapults was far inferior to that of their traditional steam counterparts.

The US Navy has also publicly acknowledged that the excessively high failure rate of the Ford’s electromagnetic catapult system has resulted in reduced combat capability for the entire carrier strike group.

Due to significant setbacks in electromagnetic launch technology, the US military has abandoned the development of some related projects, such as rail guns, and shifted the saved funding to hypersonic missiles.

Now, China has picked up the relay baton handed off by America. Nonetheless, Li and his colleagues are being cautious.

In the early stages of their research, they uncovered a startling omission by Nasa: no wind tunnel tests were ever conducted to ascertain the viability of detaching the space plane from its track.

Nasa’s original idea was that accelerating the space shuttle to just 700km/h would be enough to eliminate the need for a first-stage rocket, but Chinese scientists believe this speed is too low.

Does China need a data bureau to support its ever-growing satellite networks?

However as the speed increases, the airflow between the aircraft, the electromagnetic sled carrying it and the ground track becomes very intense and complex. So one of the first things the project team must confirm is that the aircraft will be able to safely separate from the track.

To this end, Li’s team has conducted extensive computer simulations and wind tunnel tests. Their findings have revealed that as the aircraft breaches the sound barrier, numerous shock waves ripple along its underside, colliding with the ground and generating a cascade of reflections.

These shock waves introduce airflow disruptions, carving out pockets of subsonic airflow amid the aircraft, electromagnetic sled and track.

When the sled then hits its target speed, releases the aircraft and brakes abruptly, the chaotic airflow initially buoys the craft, only to transition into a downward thrust after four seconds, according to the wind tunnel test result.

If there were passengers on board, they might experience brief dizziness or weightlessness. But as the distance between the aircraft and the track increases, the intensity of the airflow diminishes until disappearing completely. Accompanied by the roar of the engine, the aircraft then enters a rapid climb phase.

Certain sections of the craft require reinforcement to withstand the reflected shock waves. Further real-world tests are also needed. But overall, this approach is safe and feasible, Li’s team wrote in the paper.

In the realm of electromagnetic space launch systems, China is ahead of the game, with some clear advantages that other nations lack.

Major defence players like CASIC have already produced their own hypersonic weapons which are now part of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) arsenal – and generate an income for their creators.

Plus, China is ahead in electromagnetic rail gun research, having made breakthroughs including high-performance power supplies, precision control technology, wear-resistant coatings and the development of electronic devices capable of resisting strong electromagnetic interference.

China’s robust manufacturing sector can also supply the world’s finest and most cost-effective rare earth permanent magnets or superconducting wires for high-speed maglev tracks. Numerous cities, eager to build high-speed maglev trains, are ready to invest.

And following Elon Musk’s discontinuation of Hyperloop One last year, China stands alone in its commitment to advancing this technology.

While SpaceX’s reusable rockets have slashed satellite launch costs to US$3,000/kg, some scientists have estimated that an electromagnetic space launch system could drive those costs down to a mere US$60/kg.

Chinese students, academics say they’re facing extra scrutiny entering U.S.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/03/14/china-united-states-university-students-border/2024-02-07T08:26:01.709Z

Stay calm. Answer their questions but don’t volunteer more than asked. Have a lawyer’s number ready. Pack clothing from Western brands, and don’t carry any emblems of the Chinese Communist Party.

These kinds of tips on how to make it through U.S. border control have filled online discussion forums as frustrated Chinese students describe being questioned, sometimes for hours, and having their belongings searched at U.S. airports while on their way to American universities.

Others recount the heartbreak and confusion of being turned away at the border, their visas canceled without a clear explanation.

Chinese scholars, officials and students say they are being unfairly targeted by U.S. border officials, adding to growing doubt and disillusionment among Chinese students — a key source of tuition fees and talent for American universities — about whether coming to the United States is even worth it.

“It used to be that it was an honor to study in the United States. For some parents, it had to be the U.S. or nothing, but that sentiment has weakened,” said Leon Mei, a civil servant in Wuhan, China, whose 17-year-old son is applying to universities in the United States, but also in Britain and Australia.

The frictions are driving a deeper wedge between China and the United States at a time when they’re trying to stabilize relations and tamp down tensions. During a November meeting in California, President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to welcome more students into their countries. Given the long list of intractable issues, from Taiwan to trade sanctions, boosting student numbers should have been among the easiest to progress on.

This has not been the case.

Chinese nationals studying in the United States have been under extra scrutiny for the past four years, since a Trump-era rule barred students — especially in science and tech fields — with suspected military links.

That policy has continued under the Biden administration. Since the start of the year, Chinese officials have accused the administration of “groundlessly” interrogating and canceling the visas of Chinese students as they arrive at U.S. airports and denying them entry. China’s public security minister, Wang Xiaohong, told Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last month to stop “harassing and interrogating Chinese students for no reason.”

Six Chinese students and two visiting scholars who spoke to The Washington Post described being questioned upon landing in the United States about their research, families and any possible connection to China’s ruling Communist Party. Two of them, their visas canceled, were immediately repatriated. All but one were midway through their studies and had previously been allowed to enter with valid visas.

It is difficult to quantify the number of Chinese students who have been rejected at the border, with both Chinese and U.S. officials declining to provide detailed figures. But the State Department says the number of Chinese students detained and found inadmissible for entry at U.S. ports has remained stable in recent years — representing fewer than 0.1 percent of those who arrive. The State Department and the Department of Homeland Security declined to provide figures on how that compared with other nationalities.

Biden and Xi agree to restore military ties, helping ease tensions

For decades, academic exchanges have been a way for people in the world’s two biggest economies to get to know and understand one another better. Chinese students — whose enrollment in U.S. schools nearly tripled between 2009 and 2019 — have been a huge source of revenue for American universities, as well as talent in science, engineering and technology-related fields.

But the deteriorating bilateral environment — and the turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic — has seen numbers drop on both sides.

The number of Chinese students in the United States has fallen more than 20 percent from 370,000 in 2019, according to State Department figures.

At the same time, the number of American students in China sits below 1,000, down from more than 10,000 before the pandemic, but that has not stopped China’s leaders from setting an ambitious goal of having 50,000 U.S. students in China within five years.

Part of that decline is due to Beijing’s own crackdown on groups that traditionally support the exchanges — including a 2016 law that brought foreign nongovernmental organizations working in China under the purview of Beijing’s powerful state intelligence authority, the Ministry of State Security. A State Department official said fears of exit bans and wrongful detentions remain front of mind.

Both countries stand to lose from the drop in exchanges.

“No matter how the United States views China — partner or enemy — you need to understand the other side. If this trend continues five years or 10 years, you will lose a generation of China watchers,” said Da Wei, director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University and a visiting scholar at Stanford University, who was stopped for questioning recently on his way into the United States.

Tired of hostile Washington, China courts Indiana and Minnesota

Turned back at the border

When Eric Xu, 26, finished his graduate degree in data mining and math in Texas last May, he took a vacation to Mexico. Upon his return, he was taken to a small dark room at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for questioning about his studies.

When Xu mentioned his focus on machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, he felt the agent’s tone shift. His computer and phone were taken and searched.

Xu, still on his student visa while waiting for an H1B work visa, was informed that his visa was canceled and he would not be reentering the United States. He was told he was being denied entry on the basis of PP10043, the Trump-era rule banning graduate students suspected of links to China’s military-civil fusion program.

According to Xu, before studying in Dallas, he had attended a low-ranked private college in Nanjing with nominal links to one of China’s “seven sons of national defense,” a group of elite universities involved in military research. The college was a “diploma mill” that no one would put on the same level as the seven sons, he said. “I tried to explain that they’re totally different, but they wouldn’t listen,” he said.

Education, interrupted

Another Chinese academic said he didn’t even manage to get into the United States.

The man said he was on his way to start a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University but was held for more than five hours upon arrival at Boston Logan Airport.

“Sitting there and waiting, I felt like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered,” he wrote on Xiaohongshu, China’s answer to Instagram. He posted the questions that officers asked him before denying him entry for allegedly trying to avoid the presidential proclamation by getting a work visa instead of a student visa.

He spoke to The Post to confirm his account but declined to speak further out of concern for family still in China.

Harvard declined to comment, and Customs and Border Protection said it would not comment on individual decisions. But it said in a statement that “all international travelers attempting to enter the United States, including all U.S. citizens, are subject to examination.” A senior State Department official added that a visa does not guarantee entry into the United States.

There is no way for students to restore a canceled visa aside from filing a motion to have the decision reviewed by Customs and Border Protection.

Some U.S. lawmakers defend the tough stance on Chinese students, accusing the Chinese Communist Party of weaponizing them as a conduit to take U.S. innovation back to China.

“This needs to stop. … We are quite literally funding our own potential destruction,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), chairman of a House panel tasked with countering Beijing, said in a January op-ed. He called on U.S. universities to stop allowing Chinese students with links to People’s Liberation Army-affiliated universities from conducting research in the United States — a practice he said has empowered Beijing’s military modernization.

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

Disillusionment grows

These tales of visa and entry woes are adding to Chinese concerns about studying in the United States: Students and their families were already worrying about gun crime, anti-Chinese sentiment and the ability to stay on work visas after graduation.

“It’s a lot of money, family money, to have at risk. … It feels like gambling,” said Min, a Maryland-based Chinese student halfway through a science-related graduate degree, who spoke on the condition that her surname be withheld out of concern for her visa status. She said discussions among other students center on fears that a potential Trump administration could mean a further ratcheting-up of restrictions on Chinese students.

Then there’s the worry among Chinese students that spending too much time in the United States could jeopardize their chances of finding work back in China in state-run or other government-linked companies.

For many young Chinese, though, the draw of the United States remains strong. Ashley Chen, 23, a recent graduate of Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University, is applying for doctoral programs in the United States. “It’s about what’s practical,” she said, adding that she wants to go to the best place for political science.

But the increasingly frequent tales of difficulties and uncertainties have some warning that the United States is losing its luster.

Just last month, Clyde Yicheng Wang, an assistant professor in politics and East Asian studies at Washington and Lee University, was questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers as he prepared to board a flight from Charlotte to London.

Were his parents CCP members? Did he know any party members? Wang was surprised. In China, 98 million people have joined the CCP, often for little more than a means of networking.

Wang said his experience at the airport felt more like being in China than a country that bills itself as a beacon of democracy.

“We talk about China being a surveillance state, and you arrive in the U.S. and the U.S. definitely appears to be a surveillance state,” Wang said. “I can definitely see that becoming a moment of disillusion.”

Lyric Li in Seoul and Vic Chiang in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

China has 12½ times more robots in its workforce than industry experts predicted: report

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3255370/china-has-12-1/2-times-more-robots-its-workforce-industry-experts-predicted-report?utm_source=rss_feed

China has 12½ times more robots in its workforce than expected, according to an independent think tank in Washington, an indication that Chinese workers are being replaced by robots at the fastest rate in the world.

“China does not yet appear to be leading in robotic innovation, but … it is likely only a matter of time before Chinese robotics companies catch up to the leading edge,” the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) said in a report released on Monday.

The decision to replace a human worker with a robot is often about saving money. It follows that developed countries with high wages would have greater penetration rates of robots than do lower-wage countries.

But, the ITIF found that China is using automation far more than expected based on what workers get paid in manufacturing, with 12½ times more robots in use than predicted – a big jump from 1.6 times more in 2017.

In contrast, the United States uses only 70 per cent of the robots it should be using, given the wages paid to its manufacturing workers.

The analysis of China’s robotics industry by the US-based public policy think tank included research into major companies and insights from global experts. The report was published on their website on Monday.

The study found that production and deployment rates of robotics in China were increasing rapidly. The Chinese government has made the robotics industry a priority, suggesting that the country’s robotics firms were soon likely to be leading-edge innovators.

The upwards trend was inferred from the data in the report. “China is already the largest industrial robot market in the world. In 2022, 52 per cent of all industrial robots in the world were installed in China, up from 14 per cent a decade earlier,” said Robert D. Atkinson, ITIF president and author of the report.

China’s booming robotics market could be traced to robust domestic demand and strong policy support, according to the government.

“China has a good manufacturing foundation and a complete industrial chain. It is capable of providing technical support for the development of robots and a broad range of industrial application scenarios for robots,” according to a report released last Friday on humanoid robots by Science and Technology Daily, the official newspaper of China’s science and technology ministry.

Robots are now used across vast sectors of China’s economy, including manufacturing, logistics, hospitality, healthcare and construction. “China’s automobile industry is now the largest in the world, which is also a boon to Chinese robotic adoption, as the auto industry is a major purchaser of industrial robots,” Atkinson said.

Despite once inventing robotics, the US has fallen behind in global exports due to lack of long-term investment, with the leading-edge firms now in Germany, Japan and Switzerland. China dominates in terms of production and volume of usage.

“China has been the world’s largest market for industrial robots for eight consecutive years, according to the International Federation of Robotics,” Atkinson said.

The thriving Chinese robotics market has been aided by massive subsidies from various levels of government, according to the ITIF, which has encouraged the adoption of robots and other automation technology.

The enormous and rapidly growing demand for industrial automation has spawned numerous robotics start-ups, many of which are based in Dongguan, in southern China’s Guangdong province, an area known for its extensive robotics industry.

The rise of these start-ups has heralded significant cost advantages and efficiencies. The ITIF report cited Li Zexiang, a Hong Kong University of Science and Technology professor, who said: “People here [in Dongguan] can develop a new tech product five to 10 times faster than in Silicon Valley or Europe, at one-fifth or one-fourth the cost.”

The report also pointed out that China’s robotics industry still relied heavily on foreign technologies, and remained dependent on many imported parts that were predominantly made by companies in Japan, Germany and Switzerland.

Hong Kong research centre launches AI tool to aid in brain surgery procedures

Despite the positive growth, Atkinson noted two areas that China still lags in.

Software, which constitutes about 80 per cent of a robot’s value and is a key differentiator of robot quality and versatility, was a weak point for Chinese companies, he said.

The other was innovation.

Many automation products from China resembled those of Fanuc in Japan or Boston Robotics in the US, indicating an inclination to imitation over original development.

“Many Chinese robotics companies are copiers,” he said.

‘Palm sister’ China baby born small as hand, light as 2 cans of soup, survives 112-day intensive care, mother hopes she will be a doctor

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3254319/palm-sister-china-baby-born-small-hand-light-2-cans-soup-survives-112-day-intensive-care-mother?utm_source=rss_feed

A premature baby in China who was born weighing just 650 grams has been discharged from hospital after more than 100 days of intensive care.

The tiny infant was dubbed “Palm Sister” because her body is no longer than the palm of an adult’s hand, mainland news outlet The Cover reported.

She weighed about the same as two cans of soup and her arm was the size of an adult finger.

The baby, whose name is Xiyue, which means “joy” in English, was born in November last year when her 37-year-old mother was less than 25 weeks pregnant.

Doctors at a hospital in Deyang, in the southwestern province of Sichuan carried out a caesarean section on the mother, surnamed Wang, due to the critical situation of the fetus, according to the report.

Like other premature babies, Xiyue faced particular health risks, including septicaemia and meningitis. As a result, medical staff created a personalised care plan for her.

They strictly controlled the light, humidity and noise in the incubator where the baby was placed and touched her gently because premature babies are exceptionally sensitive to external stimulus.

Nurses tried to draw as little blood as possible from Xiyue. Usually, about 4ml of blood is taken from normal weight newborn babies during check-ups, but only 1ml or less could be taken from Xiyue because she had such a small amount of blood in her little body.

In the first few weeks after her birth, the infant was not strong enough to drink her mother’s breast milk, so nurses used cotton buds dipped in the milk and applied it to her lips and in her mouth.

They also helped the baby with swallowing training every day.

It was two months before Xiyue was finally able to drink milk and breathe by herself.

At the end of February, when the baby had been in hospital for 112 days, doctors said she was healthy enough to go home with her parents.

During her long hospital stay, little Xiyue had successfully battled a range of health hazards such as poor blood circulation, infection, bleeding, digestive issues and jaundice – a condition that causes discolouration of the skin.

By the beginning of March, doctors said the infant weighed nearly 3,000 grams and could drink as much as 59ml of milk at a time by herself.

“My baby is bigger and whiter now,” her mother said.

Wang and her husband were deeply grateful to everybody at the hospital.

“Thank you for your hard work on my daughter. You’ve saved her life,” the couple said, while bowing to the doctors and nurses.

Wang said she hopes Xiyue can be a paediatrician when she grows up so she can help other premature babies.

The story has hit 6 million views on Douyin and received cheers from people online.

“I admire those doctors and nurses,” said one person.

“Xiyue Sister, I hope you grow up healthy and happy,” said another.

Chinese state media reporters blocked from deadly blast site near Beijing, raising rare controversy over press controls

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3255364/chinese-state-media-reporters-blocked-deadly-blast-site-near-beijing-raising-rare-controversy-over?utm_source=rss_feed

Reporters with Chinese state media were forcibly removed by local authorities from a deadly blast scene near Beijing, raising rare controversy over the country’s press restrictions.

A journalist with state broadcaster CCTV was interrupted while reporting live from the scene on Wednesday following an explosion in the northern province of Hebei near the Chinese capital. The reporter was seen surrounded by several police officers in uniform who blocked the camera and shouted about potential danger at the scene, according to a video that circulated online.

The video of the report was no longer available on CCTV’s website as of Thursday.

In another video, reporters were seen surrounded by a group of uniformed police officers telling them to leave the scene. A reporter with China Media Group, of which CCTV is a division, was heard saying “we three reporters are shoved by a dozen people”.

The incident sparked controversy and became a trending topic on social media platform Weibo.

Shocking video captures moment fatal blast destroys building near Beijing

On Thursday, local authorities issued a statement saying they were “deeply remorseful” and apologised to the journalists.

The statement said the emergency response office ordered a fast evacuation at the scene to prevent secondary accidents, and local staff were following the order. The staff asked everyone except professional rescuers to leave and “forcibly persuaded” the journalists, who insisted on staying, it said.

The statement acknowledged that staff at the scene had “poor communication skills” and adopted “rough and simple” measures that “triggered misunderstanding among journalists” and raised controversy among the public. The staff involved were reprimanded, and the journalists have been given apologies, it said.

On Wednesday, the All China Journalists’ Association, a semi-official association, called on authorities to make it easier for journalists to conduct on-site interviews when reporting on emergencies.

Authorities should not “simply and brutally obstruct journalists in the normal performance of their duties for the sake of controlling public opinion”, the association said.

Hu Xijin, the outspoken former editor-in-chief of nationalist tabloid Global Times, wrote on Weibo that news organisations have the right and duty to conduct on-site reporting, especially for accidents and disasters. He added that local governments should “facilitate news coverage when on-site rescue is undisturbed, rather than interfering or stopping it”.

“This is a lack of respect for the public’s right to information, and an ungrounded restriction on the media’s right to report and monitor,” he wrote.

Many social media users pointed out that state media are typically granted more access for on-the-ground reporting than other media outlets, and that all journalists should receive equal access and fair treatment. They highlighted previous cases of journalists who were beaten or summoned by authorities.

Beijing controls media coverage and carries out vast online censorship to keep unflattering information out of the news. In recent years, news outlets have often been required to wait for and publish briefings from officials or state media following accidents and natural disasters, and they are generally discouraged from investigating emergencies.

Journalists also face strict controls on media qualifications. Authorities run a press licensing system and journalists must hold press cards endorsed by the government agency responsible for media regulation.

China’s emergency law amendment may curb media reporting on disasters

In addition, China’s legislature is set to amend its Emergency Response Law, which includes a stipulation that “no institution or individual shall fabricate or spread false information about emergencies on purpose”. Experts have cautioned that the move may pose fresh restrictions on press coverage of disasters and accidents by Chinese media.

The draft amendment also requires the government to clarify any information that it becomes aware of “that may affect the stability of society”.

Early on Wednesday, a blast occurred in Sanhe county of Langfang in northern Hebei province, neighbouring Beijing. As of Thursday, seven people were dead and 27 were injured, according to a government statement.

Fourteen of the injured have been discharged from hospital and the others are not in critical danger, the statement said. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

China urged to save coral reefs in Asian waters amid booming illegal trade in giant clams

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3255353/china-urged-save-coral-reefs-asian-waters-amid-booming-illegal-trade-giant-clams?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s thriving black market for jewellery made from giant clams continues to drive the destruction of biodiverse coral reefs in Indonesian and Philippine waters as Chinese marine scientists are urged to participate in joint efforts to survey the damage in contested seas.

Over 20,000 acres of coral reefs have been destroyed mainly due to illegal demand for giant clams, according to a study by the US think-tank CSIS Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, which says they are bound for China where the shells are coveted as carved ornaments.

“These carvings of statues and jewellery are sold in the black market,” said Harrison Prétat, Deputy Director of CSIS, adding that the trade is centred in the southernmost Chinese island province of Hainan, on the north end of the South China Sea.

“It’s supposed to be illegal. Nevertheless, there’s been documented evidence of it happening.”

Coral reefs are crucial for biodiversity in the South China Sea, supporting a quarter of all marine species and in turn, providing livelihoods for millions of people through fishing.

Will a UN biodiversity treaty stir more tension in the South China Sea?

In February, the Chinese embassy in the Philippines rebutted allegations of reef destruction, stressing that Beijing attaches great importance to environmental protection of the area they call Nansha Islands and its surrounding reefs and waters.

In the heart of Southeast Asia, the South China Sea is a crucial passage for international trade with 20 per cent of the world’s shipping crossing through it. The area accounts for 14 per cent of the world’s commercial fishing, providing a livelihood for at least 3.7 million people in the region.

The oil-rich sea is, however, contested with overlapping claims from surrounding countries including China, which is claiming a large swathe of the waters under its U-shaped nine-dash line that reaches as far south as 24 nautical miles from Malaysia’s state of Sarawak on the Borneo island.

Speaking in Kuala Lumpur, Prétat said that while China’s sand dredging and island building around the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands are widely reported, it is secondary to the damage done by the harvesting of giant clams from coral reefs.

Using satellite imagery, Prétat said that China’s dredging and landfilling efforts were found to have damaged over 4,500 acres of coral reef – a figure which leaps to over 20,000 acres when added to the damage caused by giant clam harvesting.

“It is important to underscore that – even though it’s less covered and less known – giant clam harvesting has damaged a much larger area of coral reefs,” Prétat said.

Adding that there is only so much marine scientists can learn from satellite-based research, he called for governments in the region – including China – to mount joint on-site investigations into the deteriorating state of the reefs.

“There’s a lot of interest from the Philippines and Vietnam, I’m sure in Malaysia [too] from academics and researchers … but it’s going to take some amount of political and diplomatic will to organise it in joint activities,” he said.

“Certainly China should also be included … and China has many excellent marine scientists,” he said. “All the coastal states need to be involved if you want to learn what’s going on.”

Giant clams, which can weigh up to 200kg and live for more than a century, have been facing an existential threat from illegal poaching – and very likely organised crime – which has spiked in the last few years.

Giant clams under threat as poachers target Philippine, Indonesian waters

Demand for the molluscs – often over a metre wide – has surged in tandem with stricter global controls on ivory, with the visual similarity of the massive clams making them highly sought after by China’s jewellery carving industry.

Normally found around coral reefs, giant clams are typically extracted by digging up the reefs, causing massive damage to their surroundings, which take many years to mature.

Other techniques that have been used in Philippine waters are even more damaging as they use water pumps to induce pressure on the reefs, resulting in their destruction and revealing giant clams underneath them.

The harvesting of giant clams in the South China Sea was first detected in 2012 and has ramped up after Beijing banned the harvesting of the molluscs in its waters in 2015, pushing poachers to venture further out.

Is Philippines at front line of ‘WWII-style war’ with China over disputed sea?

The lack of clear maritime jurisdiction due to the contested status of the waters by surrounding nations, including China’s ‘nine-dash line’, has made it difficult to conduct enforcement.

Last April, a rare report on the invertebrate, titled Trading Giants published by wild species trade watchdog TRAFFIC showed that some species are becoming “functionally extinct” in several countries, including Indonesia and the Philippines, meaning their disappearing population is no longer plays a role in the ecosystem.

The CSIS report found signs of depleting fish stocks in the South China Sea, with annual fishing catch rising steadily from the 1950s before reaching a plateau in 1998.

“There is certainly some portion of the catch that is being affected by the destruction of these coral reefs. How much is that versus the overfishing is very hard to separate,” Prétat said.

China’s Middle East investment ‘pivot’ highlighted by mega UAE desalination plant

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3255390/chinas-middle-east-investment-pivot-highlighted-mega-uae-desalination-plant?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s shift towards the Middle East continued as the subsidiary of a state-owned firm completed testing of a desalination plant in the United Arab Emirates last week, with the project capable of delivering up to 900,000 cubic metres (238 million gallons) of fresh water per day.

The US$900 million Taweelah Independent Water Plant in Abu Dhabi was constructed by Shandong Electric Power Construction Corporation III (SEPCO3), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Power Construction Corporation of China (Power China).

PowerChina, having signed the deal to build the plant in 2019, claimed it is the world’s largest operational membrane-driven desalination facility.

Reverse osmosis involves applying pressure to push seawater through a semi-permeable membrane to remove salt and impurities to produce drinking water.

“[The project] has considerably eased the UAE’s constraints on freshwater resources, and benefited people’s livelihoods, the local economy, and social development in the country,” said PowerChina, who added the project could benefit nearly one million people a year.

China is seeking closer integration with the energy-rich Middle East through expanded investment and infrastructure as part of its Belt and Road Initiative amid ongoing tensions with the United States, as well as wider geopolitical conflicts.

PowerChina, having signed the deal to build the plant in 2019, claimed it is the world’s largest operational membrane-driven desalination facility.

The Rabigh Phase III seawater desalination plant in the Saudi Arabian port city of Jeddah provides fresh water to more than two million homes.

The project has created more than 3,500 local jobs, and directly contributed about US$200 million to the Saudi Arabian economy, according to Power China.

“Although China has become more cautious in outbound investment, it has pivoted towards the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with a share rising from 8 per cent in 2015-2020 to 17 per cent in 2021-23,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist with Natixis Corporate and Investment Banking.

China has invested in various infrastructure projects in the Middle East, including energy, utilities and transport, as the region is generally more accepting of Chinese investment, Ng added.

There are also synergies in helping the Middle East to achieve policy goals, such as accelerating green transition and improving livelihood, he said.

The Belt and Road Initiative has faced scepticism and criticism from abroad, as it is seen as a way for China to export its overcapacity and expand its influence, although Beijing has denied the accusations.

“China will expand its reach in MENA to further export its overcapacity and geopolitical influence,” Ng added.

Welcome China: Riyadh airport first in region to receive Chinese tourism award

The Middle East is China’s leading regional source for oil, accounting for more than 48 per cent of its imports last year, according to Chinese customs.

Middle Eastern countries also received 36.7 per cent of construction engagements under the Belt and Road Initiative in 2023, representing 31 per cent growth from 2022, according to the China Belt and Road Initiative Investment Report for 2023 by Christoph Nedopil Wang, a visiting professor at Fudan University.

As of last year, the Belt and Road Initiative’s cumulative engagement had exceeded US$1 trillion since its inception in 2013, according to the report, with over 60 per cent associated with construction.

In January, four Middle Eastern countries – Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Iran – along with Ethiopia also joined the Brics bloc alongside Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Chinese state media body condemns police harassment at site of deadly blast

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/14/china-explosion-restaurant-blast-state-media-police-harassment

China’s journalist association has issued a rare rebuke over police harassment, after videos emerged of state media journalists being pushed away from the site of a deadly explosion.

In a statement published on Wednesday evening, the All-China Journalists Association (AJCA), a Communist party-backed group, said that “legitimate interviews are a journalist’s right”, adding that the authorities “should not simply and brutally obstruct the media journalists from performing their duties in a normal manner in order to control public opinion”.

The unusually forthright comments came after videos emerged of two state media journalists being blocked from reporting from the scene of a explosion in the northern province of Hebei. The blast, which killed two people and injured 26, was triggered by a suspected gas leak in a restaurant.

In one video, uniformed men interrupt the broadcast of Yang Hailing, a CCTV reporter, as she speaks to news anchors in the studio of the state broadcaster from the site of the explosion. One of the anchors looks visibly shocked as the report is obstructed.

In another, a group of police officers surround Xu Mengzhe, a reporter who is clearly wearing a badge displaying the logo of China Media Group, the state-media parent company of CCTV and other broadcasters. In the video, Xu says: “We are three reporters surrounded by a dozen people, a dozen people pushed [us] apart, come and take a look”.

“With such a major public safety incident, people are looking forward to learning more information. Journalists use a professional lens to record the actual disaster situation and the rescue process,” said the ACJA. The association said that the work of journalists was necessary to tackle online misinformation and “protect the people’s right to know”.

The videos sparked a debate on Chinese social media, with some users saying that the reporters were moved for their own safety.

China’s constitution guarantees press freedom. In reality, state media is tightly controlled and journalists for domestic and international outlets are routinely harassed, often physically, in the course of their reporting. Last year, three police officers were detained after a Chinese journalist was assaulted while trying to investigate the deaths of two teachers in Guizhou.

Reporters Without Borders ranks China as the second-worst country in the world for press freedom, with only North Korea scoring worse.

The ACJA’s statement contained “very unusual language” said David Bandurski, director of the China Media Project.

“They’re basically upholding the right to report” and “upholding an idea that information is valuable to the public”, two concepts which “sound very much like a view of journalism that has been actively opposed” in China, particularly under the rule of China’s president, Xi Jinping.

As of Thursday morning, the statement had been deleted from the association’s website but was still available on WeChat.

Many comments on Chinese social media expressed support for the statement, saying that the rights of journalists to report on news events should be protected.

Other commentaries asked why the ACJA had not defended other journalists, such as one who was beaten up in Guizhou. “Is this the first day you know this truth?” asked one liberal commentator on Weibo. “If you really care about journalists’ interview rights, you don’t have to wait until something happens to a CCTV reporter before you speak out.”

Additional research by Chi Hui Lin

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China actor who plays role of beggar at popular mainland tourist site convinces visitors he is real, given food and money

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3254219/china-actor-who-plays-role-beggar-popular-mainland-tourist-site-convinces-visitors-he-real-given?utm_source=rss_feed

A man who is employed to play the role of a beggar at a popular tourist spot in China has gone viral on mainland social media as fans flock to feed him and give him cash tips.

The tourist zone where Li Jingang works is Millennium City Park in Kaifeng, Henan province, central China.

It was built to look like the landscape from about 1,000 years ago as depicted in the famous Chinese painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival.

Li, 38, has worked as a beggar dressed in a costume from the era for 12 years and earns about 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) a month.

His earnings include about 100 yuan in tips each day from tourists impressed with his performing skills, reported Jiupai News.

Many people said Li’s “wretched and innocent” expression melted their hearts and some said they thought he was a real beggar.

Since last month, there has been a continuous stream of visitors offering food to Li.

Some fans even brought him a roast chicken after he joked during a live-streaming session on the social media platform Douyin that he wished he had some, the report said.

“To avoid disappointing tourists, I try my best to eat what they give while they are there in front of me. When I am full, I share the food with my colleagues or other tourists,” Li said.

“Sometimes, when tourists give me steamed buns, I’ll cry while eating them because I want them to have a better experience and feel involved in the play.

“If tourists see me choke while eating the steamed buns, some buy me bottled water. It is heartwarming,” he said.

Li said when he started his career acting as a role-playing beggar, he did not know how to act, so he fasted for three days to get into character, but his family intervened and sent him to hospital for physical check-up.

Li said the experience helped him understand what it feels like to be a hungry beggar.

“Now many tourists come looking for me and ask to have photos taken with me. I am suddenly so popular, I am a bit concerned about my fame,” he said.

“I feel like I am not working at Millennium City Park, but that I am an animal in a zoo.”

The pretend beggar said he plans to continue polishing his acting skills and create more dialogue to enrich the experience of visitors to the popular tourist spot.

News of Li and his job has been widely discussed on mainland social media.

“He is appreciated thanks to his hard work over the years. No pain, no gain,” one person said on Douyin.

“Beggar brother should be fearing that other people will come to grab his job,” said another online observer.

Mainland Chinese, Taiwanese coastguards join forces to save capsized fishing boat crew

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3255333/mainland-taiwanese-coastguards-join-forces-save-capsized-fishing-boat-crew?utm_source=rss_feed

Mainland Chinese and Taiwanese coastguards worked together to rescue the crew of a Fujian fishing boat that capsized near Taipei-controlled Quemoy, also called Kinmen, on Thursday, leaving two people dead and four in hospital.

The tragedy follows a deadly clash in February between the Taiwanese coastguard and a mainland speedboat that led to two deaths and heightened tensions between Beijing and Taipei.

According to Taiwan newspaper United Daily, all six crew members of the Minlongyu 61222 fell into the sea as the vessel sank about 1.1 nautical miles southwest of Quemoy’s Dongding island – not far from where the February incident occurred.

The report said Taiwanese coastguards sent four boats to the area after receiving alerts at around 6am of a vessel in distress.

The survivors were sent to hospital while the bodies of their dead crew mates were later found by the mainland coastguard near Dongding. Authorities from the mainland will arrange the return of the bodies to their families, it said.

The boat was registered in Fujian, the coastal province closest to Taiwan, which Beijing regards as part of its territory, to be brought under mainland control, by force if necessary.

Only 2km (1.24 miles) of water separates the two sides of the Taiwan Strait at its closest point.

Southern Weekly, based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, said the mainland coastguard deployed rescue boats and helicopters to the boat after reports that it had capsized in big waves.

In the February incident, the Taiwanese coastguard said it pursued the speedboat after it entered the Quemoy archipelago’s “prohibited waters” 1.1 nautical miles east of Beiding island.

Beijing strongly condemned Taipei over the fatal pursuit and accused the Taiwanese coastguard of using “violent and dangerous methods”, calling for an investigation as well as help for the bereaved families.

Most countries – including the United States, Taipei’s informal ally and top arms supplier – do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state. Washington opposes any attempt to forcibly change the status quo, while Beijing regards the issue as a “red line” that must not be crossed.

How Chinese is TikTok? US lawmakers see it as China’s tool, even as it distances itself from Beijing

https://apnews.com/article/china-unitedstates-tiktok-chew-2d851c716d6454d7c87762a056604c7aFILE - Devotees of TikTok, Mona Swain, center, and her sister, Rachel Swain, right, both of Atlanta, monitor voting at the Capitol in Washington, as the House passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban of the popular video app if its China-based owner doesn't sell, March 13, 2024. If some U.S. lawmakers have their way, the United States and China could end up with something in common: TikTok might not be available in either country. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

2024-03-14T04:04:56Z

WASHINGTON (AP) — If some U.S. lawmakers have their way, the United States and China could end up with something in common: TikTok might not be available in either country.

The House on Wednesday approved a bill requiring the Beijing-based company ByteDance to sell its subsidiary TikTok or face a nationwide ban. It’s unclear if the bill will ever become law, but it reflects lawmakers’ fears that the social media platform could expose Americans to Beijing’s malign influences and data security risks.

But while U.S. lawmakers associate TikTok with China, the company, headquartered outside China, has strategically kept its distance from its homeland.

Since its inception, the TikTok platform has been intended for non-Chinese markets and is unavailable in mainland China. It pulled out of Hong Kong in 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law on the territory to curtail speech. As data security concerns started to rise in the U.S., TikTok sought to reassure lawmakers that data gathered on U.S. users stays in the country and is inaccessible to ByteDance employees in Beijing.

TikTok’s parent company is following the same playbook as many other Chinese companies with global ambitions: To win customers and trust in the United States and other Western countries, they are playing down their Chinese roots and connections. Some have insisted they be called “global companies” instead of “Chinese companies.”

But for TikTok, this may not be enough. The House bill passed overwhelmingly on a 352-65 vote. Its prospects in the Senate are uncertain, but if it clears both chambers, President Joe Biden said he would sign it into law. The moves in Washington threaten the app’s survival and cast a spotlight on the quandary that many private Chinese companies have found themselves a part of as they seek to engage Western markets at a time of souring U.S.-China relations.

“It’s the most difficult time for Chinese tech companies and private businesses in decades as tensions and rivalry between the United States and China continue to grow,” said Zhiqun Zhu, professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University.

“These companies and businesses face squeezing from both sides as they struggle to survive,” Zhu said. “While the U.S. and other Western countries have imposed sanctions or restrictions on these companies, China itself has moved to favor state-owned enterprises in recent years, leaving little room for Chinese tech and private businesses to operate.”

Alex Capri, senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore and research fellow at Hinrich Foundation, agreed that companies like TikTok with Chinese roots are “really stuck in two polar extremes” between the heavy-handed communist party and the deeply suspicious West.

“Any Chinese tech company has to operate under a cloud of suspicion, and that’s because there’s a total breakdown of trust,” Capri said.

With the rise of techno-nationalism, by which technological capabilities are deemed a national strategic asset, China’s tech companies are obligated by Beijing’s laws and rules to turn over data and have become “essentially a de-facto representative” of China’s ruling communist party, Capri said.

”That in itself makes it very challenging for companies like TikTok,” he said.

In 2018, Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance, toed the party line after Beijing shut down ByteDance’s jokes app. He apologized publicly for his company’s deviations from socialistic core values and promised to “comprehensively rectify the algorithm” on its news app and add significantly more layers of censoring — a move considered necessary for any company to survive in China.

That explains the oft-repeated claim by Rep. Mike Gallagher, chair of the House Select Committee on China’s communist party, that “there’s no such thing as a private company in China.”

The bill, as approved by the House, seeks to remove applications from app stores or web hosting services in the U.S. unless the application severs its ties to companies — such as ByteDance — that are subject to the control from foreign adversaries, like China.

“This is my message to TikTok: Break up with the Chinese Communist Party or lose access to your American users,” said Gallagher, the bill’s sponsor. “America’s foremost adversary has no business controlling a dominant media platform in the United States. TikTok’s time in the United States is over unless it ends its relationship with CCP-controlled ByteDance.”

Congressional mistrust of TikTok was evident at a Jan. 31 hearing when Sen. Tom Cotton repeatedly asked CEO Shou Zi Chew if he is a Chinese citizen beholden to the Communist party. Chew, who is Singaporean, repeatedly said no.

On Tuesday, Rep. Nancy Pelosi said it’s problematic that ByteDance, which owns the social platform’s algorithm, is subject to Beijing’s control.

Chew, in another congressional hearing last year, told Congress that “we do not remove or promote content on behalf of the Chinese government.”

In a recent interview with Wired magazine, Chew acknowledged that the company’s Chinese origins have given TikTok a “bigger trust deficit than most other companies.”

“Maybe our trust starting line is behind other businesses, but I also think that there are very serious approaches that we’ve taken to try and earn that trust and to close that gap,” Chew said, citing efforts by TikTok to protect U.S. user data, be transparent and “not be manipulated by any government.”

Short of severance from the home country, Chinese companies chasing global ambitions have tried to distance themselves from China by introducing many foreign investors, hiring foreign executives, moving headquarters to outside China and limiting operations to overseas markets, said Thomas Zhang, China analyst at FrontierView, a U.S.-headquartered market intelligence provider. But “the effects are limited as long as the founder in China does not relinquish control,” Zhang said.

For TikTok, the trust is so lacking that even a full divestiture from its Chinese parent company may not work, because complicated ownership structures can obscure potential Chinese ownership, Capri said.

As TikTok fights for survival, it has made a move that is very present in American politics: It’s engaging in heavy lobbying, and appealing to its 170 million U.S. users to contact their lawmakers to say a TikTok ban would infringe on their free speech rights.

It’s won over one powerful critic: Former President Donald Trump, in a reversal, came out against the TikTok legislation. But Trump, for all his sway with congressional Republicans, couldn’t prevent House passage.

If the bill becomes law, Capri said, TikTok could pursue the ultimate American recourse: a lawsuit to challenge the ban.

AIA’s 2023 profit jumps 15%, buoyed by Hong Kong’s increasing sales of insurance policies to mainland Chinese visitors

https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3255300/insurer-aias-profit-jumps-15-strong-policy-sales-mainland-chinese-visitors-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed

AIA Group reported a 15 per cent profit jump last year, benefiting from demand for insurance products from the return of mainland Chinese visitors to Hong Kong in search of better returns and as a hedge against a weakening yuan.

Hong Kong-based AIA, Asia’s largest insurer, reported a net profit of US$3.76 billion, or 32.68 US cents per share, according to an exchange filing on Thursday. Operating profit after tax, which excludes any valuation gain or loss in its investment portfolio, fell 1 per cent to US$6.21 billion.

The insurer adopted the new IFR17 accounting standards in 2023 and adjusted the comparable figure a year earlier.

AIA’s value of new business (VONB), an important measure of sales and future growth in insurance, rose 33 per cent to US$4.03 billion in 2023. The big jump came after Hong Kong relaxed its inbound travel restrictions from January 2023 after three years of closed borders during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our diversified business portfolio and unrivalled distribution platform have enabled us to generate higher VONB from our key growth engines of Asean, Hong Kong, mainland China and India, as well as double-digit growth from 10 markets,” said Lee Yuan Siong, AIA’s group chief executive and president.

Hong Kong, AIA’s largest market, saw its VONB jump 82 per cent because of strong growth in policy sales to mainland visitors.

AIA’s new business in China grew 20 per cent last year, 21 per cent in Thailand, 10 per cent in Singapore and 7 per cent in Malaysia.

Analysts at Jefferies said that the breadth of growth was notable. “We believe that it’s more important that growth is broad based, with 10 markets growing at a double-digit rate.”

Mainland Chinese tourists spent HK$59 billion (US$7.6 billion) on insurance policies in Hong Kong last year, representing about 32.6 per cent of all sales, according to data from the Insurance Authority.

Mainland customers spent US$7.6 billion on Hong Kong insurance policies in 2023

Last year’s tally was a significant jump compared with HK$2.1 billion in 2022, HK$700 million in 2021 and HK$6.8 billion in 2020. It was also higher than the pre-Covid era of HK$43.4 billion in 2019, HK$47.6 billion in 2018 and HK$50.8 billion in 2017.

Many mainland customers turned to higher yielding bank deposits and insurance and investment products in Hong Kong as the yuan weakened. The Chinese currency has lost 14 per cent against the US dollar since March 2022, when the current interest rate rise cycle started.

AIA’s shares fell more than 2.5 per cent on Thursday morning after the earnings announcement, which was released before the market opened.

Under Lee’s leadership, AIA has expanded via acquisitions, spending HK$2.2 billion (US$280 million) on health insurer Blue Cross (Asia-Pacific) a year ago, and HK$5.07 billion on BEA Life in March 2021. It also invested 12 billion yuan (US$1.86 billion) on a 25 per cent stake in China Post Life Insurance in mid-2021.

The insurer will pay a second dividend of 119.07 HK cents, bringing the full-year payout to 161.36 HK cents per share, versus 153.68 HK cents in 2022.

China’s police pledge to build ‘new quality combat capacity’ with tech aimed at preventing risks

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3255274/chinas-police-pledge-build-new-quality-combat-capacity-tech-aimed-preventing-risks?utm_source=rss_feed

Police departments across China have pledged to create and strengthen “new quality combat capacity” with technology aimed at “preventive policing” and efficiency.

During the country’s annual legislative session last week, Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong reminded delegates from the northern province of Hebei to speed up efforts to achieve “new quality combat capacity”.

While Chinese officials have used the phrase “combat capacity” in the context of public security before, Wang was the first to use the phrase “new quality combat capacity” during a nationwide meeting with the country’s provincial police chiefs in January when he renewed demands for the “modernisation” of local policing.

Myanmar hands over 10 leading cyber scam suspects to China

It was decided at the January meeting that local forces would roll out more measures to use big data to support frontline capabilities.

Since then, provincial and city security forces have pledged to increase the use of big data and improve their ability to predict and prevent risks.

These risks include phone scams, offshore gambling, political rumours, “harmful” online information and “disruptive and subversive activities by domestic and foreign hostile forces”, according to the public security ministry.

During last week’s annual parliamentary meetings, known as the “two sessions”, Wang’s deputy Qi Yanjun, who is also police chief of Beijing municipality, made rare remarks on public gatherings.

“Beijing should … prepare sufficiently to respond to all kinds of risks and challenges, and uphold the security bottom line of not having large-scale public gatherings,” Qi told the delegation from the capital city.

In an article in the Legal Daily on Monday, Jiangxi’s police chief Yuan Qinhua pledged to prioritise identifying and preventing political risks, especially online and at universities.

The eastern province will also double down on risk management for large events and management of mental health services, said Yuan, who is also Jiangxi’s deputy governor.

The province will regularly investigate risk factors as the forces develop a “risk prevention system”, he said.

Song Jiayi, police chief of Pingshan county in Hebei’s provincial capital of Shijiazhuang, said last Thursday that the integration of data signalled a systemic change from passive to “active, preventive, smart, and integrated” policing.

Chinese provinces and cities have called for efforts to integrate data into a centralised system to help police make more efficient and targeted decisions.

As part of a pilot project, police in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu province, monitored 494 cameras placed around a residential compound in a central “command room”. They pledged on Saturday to promote the model throughout the city.

Surveillance on the moon? China to take its mass camera network to outer space

China has one of the world’s most sophisticated digital surveillance systems for social media and the internet. It requires real-name mobile number registration and has widespread camera networks on the streets.

As the country turns to hi-tech innovation in its pursuit of “new quality productive forces”, it is also eyeing technological breakthroughs to achieve “new quality combat capacity” in public security.

Last year, the central government began a three-year push to set up specialised innovation centres, with key technology projects to counter telecoms fraud and drugs and to assist with inspections, wireless communication and government coordination.

Some localities, including Shanghai and Zhejiang province, began developing digital portals for police work before a national plan rolled out last year.

Chinese security forces have also been expanding their influence abroad by stepping up security cooperation with African and Pacific Island countries to provide training and equipment.

China may be facing too many economic obstacles to hit its ambitious growth target for 2024

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/14/china-may-be-facing-too-many-economic-obstacles-to-hit-its-ambitious-growth-target-for-2024

Chinese leaders who have been predicting an end to the country’s deflation would have been heartened by official statistics this week showing consumer prices had increased for the first time in six months.

The news came as the ruling Communist party used its annual gathering in Beijing to declare the economy would clock up growth of “around 5%” in 2024. However in his speech, Premier Li Qiang warned dutiful delegates they “should not lose sight of worst-case scenarios and should be well prepared for all risks and challenges”.

And little wonder; conventional economics suggests achieving this level of growth, while also hitting other targets – including increasing inflation to 3% – won’t be easy.

The country’s reported 5.2% GDP expansion pace in 2023 looked impressive when compared with other large economies, but it pales in comparison with the 7.3% average rate in the decade to 2019 or the rollicking 10.5% clip in the decade prior.

There was also little hint from Li or other leaders at the week-long meeting of how a similar growth rate might be achieved in 2024. Indeed, the budget deficit was forecast to shrink this year to 3% of GDP from 3.8% last year, a contraction that would serve as a brake on growth.

Official defence spending is earmarked to rise 7.2%, a rate unchanged from 2023. To the extent it reflects actual military outlays, this budget line item won’t be an additional growth spur either.

The government did unveil plans to sell 1tn yuan ($US139bn) in bonds to fund more spending. But in an economy of about 126tn yuan in size, those bonds will only amount to about 0.8% of GDP.

Property market headaches continue

The risks to the economy are both internal and external. Much has been made of the ailing property sector – the world’s largest – which shows little sign of a revival.

Economists at ANZ, an Australian bank, last week estimated China was sitting on 3bn square metres of unsold residential property.

If they built nothing else, “it would take 3.6 years to digest the inventory, much longer than the previous downturn of 2.3 years in 2014,” economists Raymond Yeung and Xing Zhaopeng said.

In fact, residential floor space sales sank 17% last year, to an amount more than 60% below the 2021 peak.

“As sales are unlikely to improve in the next few years, the time for clearance will be much longer,” Yeung and Zhaopeng said.

So long as households see their main asset dwindle in value, it’s hard to see any sustained pickup in consumer confidence.

Hidden statistics

China famously stopped reporting urban youth unemployment numbers after that figure topped 21% last June. The move stoked suspicions that other negative numbers would stop appearing.

Prominent economic historian Adam Tooze this week noted the trend of cutting back on data releases is not new, with the number of indicators made available from the national bureau of statistics back down to levels last seen in the 1990s.

As @adam_tooze highlights, China's data releases are back to 1990s levels when the economy was just taking off - and a lot less sophisticated. pic.twitter.com/qpE8M6mgJq

— @[email protected] (@p_hannam) March 13, 2024

International interactions, though, can provide ways for outsiders to gauge the economy’s health. As the world’s second-largest economy – and its largest consumer of most commodities – many nations have a lot riding on how China performs.

Australia is one of them, with the Chinese market taking as many exports as its next three or four largest markets combined. Its biggest company, BHP, had been basking in what its chief economist Huw McKay dubbed an “unlooked-for rally”.

BHP says it has been surprised by record demand for iron ore in 2023 even as China’s real estate market cratered.

Chinese mills managed to produce 1bn tonnes of steel for the fifth year in a row in 2023 and “we think we’re going to get [that level for] another year”, McKay told the AFR business summit in Sydney this week.

Property now takes up about a quarter of China’s steel output, down from more than a third just a few years ago, he said. Some of that metal, though, is turning up in China’s booming exports of cars. The country already vies with Japan as the world’s largest auto exporter with its electric vehicle industry apparently only just getting started.

The global effort to cut greenhouse gas emissions, such as it is, also hinges heavily on China’s relatively cheap solar photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and batteries.

However, North America and Europe are busy trying to expand those industries themselves and they will probably throw up barriers particularly if elections are in the offing, as they are in the US.

Such tension is also quite separate from the tussles between the US and China over access to the latest semiconductors, mobile communications or other technology deemed critical for military, artificial intelligence, and other strategic industries.

If all goes to plan for Beijing, we might well see China boast of another successful year of 5% growth this time next year. Achieving that goal, though, looks like requiring a lot of luck at the very least.

Clunky new US$3,300 ‘clear sticky tape bracelet’ from fashion house Balenciaga mercilessly mocked on China social media

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3255206/clunky-new-us3300-clear-sticky-tape-bracelet-fashion-house-balenciaga-mercilessly-mocked-china?utm_source=rss_feed

A fashion bracelet launched by the luxury brand Balenciaga is being mercilessly mocked in China, with some people even creating their own versions to poke fun at the chunky offering.

The supposedly vogue item bears more than a passing resemblance to a thick roll of clear sticky tape and has caused much hilarity on mainland social media.

It was featured in the fashion house’s Fall/Winter 2024 collection, which made its debut during Paris Fashion Week, according to Britain’s Independent newspaper.

In a video posted by TikTok influencer @highsnobiety, the product looks like a regular roll of clear tape, marked with Balenciaga’s logo.

Another Instagram influencer @myfacewheno_o said the product is being offered in three sizes. Some said it will be priced at around 3,000 euros (US$3,300).

A Douyin observer, who uses the handle @Jizhideliuxiaoben, said he had been enlightened by the design.

He made a tongue-in-cheek video showing his three creations, a tape ring, tape earrings and a tape necklace.

He was not alone.

Another jokingly praised the brand for being so “considerate” as to make a luxury fashion product that costs less than US$1.

The tape bracelet was worn by a model at the show.

Also, many other looks on show at Paris Fashion Week featured tops and trousers held together with scotch tape.

While Balenciaga has yet to list the accessory on its website at the time of writing, some guessed it would be another icon of the brand’s utilitarian style.

Previously, Balenciaga has sold a leather pouch that looked exactly like a full garbage bag for US$1,790, and a Kim Kardashian-inspired handbag wrapped in bright yellow and black tape for US$3,100.

In the latest collection, the brand also used dust bags as tops.

Online observers in China and overseas seized the opportunity to comment on the tastes of rich people.

One person said: “Rich people want to feel poor so bad.”

In 2023, a fashion trend led by young people in China who claimed to be poor but confident, known as the “No Money Style”, went viral.

The style features ragged trousers and brown leather jackets. The latter is known as “Maillard Style”, borrowing from the word for the browning reaction of steak meat.

Several luxury fashion items have stunned mainland Chinese social media before, such as Tiffany’s US$165 paper clip, Supreme’s US$30 clay brick, and Chanel’s plastic sandals priced at 5,000 yuan (US$700), which many said look no different from the sandals they bought for US$2 at markets.

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Australia should ‘end servility to US’ and have independent China policy, ex-Greek minister says

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3255246/australia-should-end-servility-us-and-have-independent-china-policy-ex-greek-minister-says?utm_source=rss_feed

A year after the road map for Aukus nuclear-powered submarines was unveiled, a former Greek official has urged Australia to end its “servility” to the United States and rebuild its credentials as a country that “acts on its own”, including engaging with China towards peaceful cooperation.

Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who holds an Australian passport, said at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday that a diplomatic approach would be a “far better way” of addressing Beijing’s “authoritarianism towards its own people” than buying nuclear-powered submarines, which would only force “China’s political class to close ranks around an authoritarian core”.

Varoufakis’ address comes one year after Australia, Britain and the United States unveiled the timeline for the delivery of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, in an alliance aimed at countering China’s military threat. Expectations for the deal have since been dampened by news that Washington had planned to slow its submarine production.

Australia’s Aukus nuclear submarines could fuel arms race despite assurance

President Joe Biden administration’s new defence budget has halved its submarine production to the construction of just one Virginia-class submarine in 2025, down from an anticipated two.

This has raised questions over Washington’s ability to fulfil its commitment to sell Canberra up to five of the nuclear-powered vessels starting in the 2030s.

The US’ latest announcement was anticipated by Aukus critics, such as eminent Australian defence expert Hugh White, who have argued that Australia not only does not need these kinds of submarines, it was doubtful Washington would be able to deliver them.

On Wednesday, former Australian leader Malcolm Turnbull told local media that the US was not going to sacrifice its own defence needs to meet Australia’s. “The Americans are not going to make their submarine deficit worse than it is already, by giving or selling submarines to Australia,” he said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denied this deviation would upend Canberra’s submarine acquisition plans, saying on Wednesday at a press conference that he was sticking to the purchases and pointing out that Australia’s deal with the US and Britain had already been passed by the US Congress.

In Canberra on the same day, a senate inquiry was underway questioning new legislation that would allow nuclear waste from the Aukus submarines to be dumped across the country.

Using weapons like submarines to counter Beijing’s incursions in the South China Sea was not the solution, said Varoufakis.

Existing world events proved that, he said, citing the example of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“After successive pledges that there would be no expansion of Nato … which were completely and utterly violated by the West, does that justify Putin’s weaponisation of this particular violation of pledges to invade Ukraine? I don’t think so,” he said.

“In other words, let’s keep our heads. Let’s maintain diplomatic proportionality. And certainly, let’s not have A$368 billion spent on submarines, which are completely useless to Australia, that will do nothing – nothing to ameliorate those threats that you’re talking about,” said Varoufakis, who was Greece’s finance minister during the country’s 2015 economic crisis.

While it was fair to be concerned about Beijing’s “backtracking” on promises to not militarise the South China Sea, Varoufakis said there had to be diplomacy, or at most, “some military manoeuvres that are proportional to the threat”.

And in relation to China’s growing military base, Australia should only respond when there was real provocation, such as Chinese vessels entering territorial waters in Australia, otherwise weapons like Aukus submarines created a “false perspective on a threat which is not there”, he said.

Similar warnings have also been echoed by former Australian statesmen, such as former prime minister Paul Keating.

Australia’s lack of independent China policy ‘greatest risk’ to stable ties: report

Varoufakis said the Aukus deal would “turbocharge a new Cold War” and Australia would do more for its reputation by defusing such an initiative than join it.

“Australia has a duty to de-escalate the new Cold War. This can only be done if Australia ends its servility to the US, when the US is actively creating threats that then makes us pay through the nose to be protected from,” he said.

“Imagine an Australia that helps bring a just peace in Ukraine as opposed to a mindless forever war … a non-aligned Australia that is never neutral in the face of injustice, but also not automatically aligned with every warmongering adventure decided by its allies.”

Varoufakis said neither Beijing’s growing military strength nor concerns over its potential invasion of Taiwan were the reason for Washington’s move to contain it, but the US’ fear that its global financial dominance was being disrupted by China’s “cloud capital” systems, including online nonbank payment methods.

“America’s hegemony … relies entirely on its capacity to maintain its monopoly over international dollar-denominated payments,” he said. “That is what allows the United States to make the rest of the world pay for its deficits.”

Retired SMIC veteran joins China’s top memory chip maker CXMT in boost to research efforts, report says

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3255260/retired-smic-veteran-joins-chinas-top-memory-chip-maker-cxmt-boost-research-efforts-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed

A veteran of China’s top chip foundry Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) has joined the country’s top memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) to take charge of research and development, according to media reports in Taiwan.

Zhou Meisheng, formerly the executive vice-president of R&D at SMIC and a key aid to co-chief executive Liang Mong-song, will head up the R&D centre of the dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip maker, according to a report by Taiwanese media outlet DigiTimes on Tuesday.

Zhou retired from SMIC in 2022 after a five-year tenure, according to a filing by the chip foundry at the time. Prior to joining SMIC, the industry veteran worked as the chief technology officer at the China arm of US chip giant Lam Research, and held jobs at Singaporean foundry Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and industry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.

China memory chip maker CXMT indicates tech breakthrough in paper

According to previous SMIC filings, Zhou, 66, has Singaporean citizenship. She graduated from Fudan University in Shanghai in 1985 and received her doctoral degree in chemistry from Princeton University in 1990.

Hefei-based CXMT did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

If the role at CXMT is confirmed, it should boost the memory chip maker’s efforts to make further breakthroughs. In December, CXMT presented a paper to an international conference that reflected its design capabilities for so-called gate-all-around transistors – the most advanced transistor type for cutting-edge 3-nanometre grade chips – that was described by third-party analysts as “impressive”.

CXMT said at the time that the paper “describes fundamental research related to DRAM structure and the feasibility of 4F2 design” and “it has nothing to do with CXMT’s current production processes”, suggesting that the paper designs are far away from becoming marketable products.

CXMT announced in November it had produced China’s first lower power Double Data Rate 5 (LPDDR5) DRAM chip, narrowing the gap with leading players such as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

CXMT is subject to broad US export restrictions targeting China, but it is not explicitly blacklisted by the US government. However, the Biden administration is weighing further sanctions that may see more Chinese tech companies, including CXMT, added to the Commerce Department’s Entity List, according to a Bloomberg report last week citing anonymous sources.

Founded in 2016, CXMT is seen by industry analysts as China’s best hope to catch up with memory chip giants Samsung and SK Hynix, and US-based Micron Technology, in the global DRAM market.