• 2 injured in barbecue restaurant blast in China
• Focused on Global South, China upgrades ties with Angola
• From gyms to hostels, women in China are creating female-friendly spaces in growing trend
• China is planning to break its dependency on Australia and Brazil for iron ore. Africa is the key
• ‘Voice of China’ echoes Xi Jinping’s ‘self-revolution’ call to double down against corruption
• China names new chief to lead rocket maker and SpaceX rival CASC after predecessor stripped of political title
• Chinese selfie app Meitu finds its footing with AI, as profit triples after a raft of failed bets
• Popular China ex-child star embroiled in video-timing row after suffering brain tumour, shares photos of shaved head, says ‘not to worry’
• Rich world must follow China’s lead and support Africa’s green revolution
• China’s pioneering battery scientist says academia and industry must work together to win solid-state revolution
• China harnesses LNG cold energy for high-end seafood cultivation, aims to reduce overseas reliance
• ‘Doomed to failure’: Beijing warns Manila against bolstering South China Sea outpost after ships collide
• US lawmakers want a TikTok sale or ban, but China’s ByteDance won’t give up without a fight
• China officials unprepared for struggle, Xi Jinping told CCDI ahead of ‘lying flat’ campaign
• China hero boy, now 25, reunites with basketball legend Yao Ming 16 years after he rescued schoolmates from devastation of deadly 2008 earthquake
• Why China’s plan for ‘new productive forces’ should make the West sit up
• China is in America’s sights as US defence increases its budget for Indo-Pacific deterrence
• Apple to pay $490m to settle claims it misled investors over sales in China

2 injured in barbecue restaurant blast in China

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3255663/2-injured-barbecue-restaurant-blast-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Two people were injured in a blast at a barbecue restaurant in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu on Saturday afternoon, the second devastating explosion in China in a week.

State broadcaster CCTV said the explosion occurred at 4.23pm at a restaurant in Huaian, igniting a fire that was extinguished by Saturday evening.

The report did not say what caused the blast.

The city’s emergency management bureau said the two people did not have life-threatening injuries.

Video circulating on social media showed the ground and first floors of the building housing the restaurant blackened, windows and doors smashed and smoke pouring out of the remains of the structure.

Mainland media quoted the restaurant’s owner as saying that a cook had been injured and taken to hospital.

Huaian has a population of 4.55 million and is about 400km (250 miles) northwest of Shanghai.

The explosion came three days after seven people died and 27 others were injured in a blast in Yanjiao, a commuter town in Hebei province near Beijing.

Officials said the blast was caused by a gas pipeline leak.

In June, a gas explosion at a restaurant in the northwestern region of Ningxia killed 31 people and led to a nationwide safety inspection campaign.

Focused on Global South, China upgrades ties with Angola

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3255642/focused-global-south-china-upgrades-ties-angola?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese President Xi Jinping called his country a “reliable friend” for Africa on Friday as China elevated ties with Angola amid a push to further expand Beijing’s influence among developing nations.

During talks with Angolan President Joao Lourenco in Beijing, Xi said cooperation between the two countries – both developing economies – was based on “mutual help between good friends, reciprocity, and win-win cooperation”.

“In a world that is undergoing both transformation and upheaval, the two sides should continue their traditional friendship, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, firmly support each other, and achieve common development,” he said, according to a Chinese statement.

“China is a reliable friend and sincere partner for African countries in their efforts to safeguard independence, and promote development and revitalisation.”

China views itself as a developing giant and in recent years has sought to position itself as a leader of developing economies and the so-called Global South.

As a sign of that diplomatic priority, Chinese foreign ministers have upheld a decades-long tradition of making Africa their first overseas stop every year.

In his talks with Lourenco, Xi said the “collective rise of developing countries is unstoppable”, and that “the Global South must not be absent from global governance or development and prosperity”.

“China stands ready to strengthen multilateral coordination with Angola and other African countries to safeguard the common interests of developing countries, jointly advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and an inclusive economic globalisation that benefits all, and promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.”

End of ‘Angola model’ sees number of Chinese in oil-rich country plummet

The two countries upgraded their ties to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

Xi said relations had “stood the test of international vicissitudes” and China was ready to work with Angola to implement key infrastructure projects and help the southern African country modernise agriculture, industrialise and diversify its economy.

Xi added that there were “huge potential and bright prospects” for mutually beneficial cooperation, and that the two countries should boost collaboration including in China’s flagship belt and road infrastructure initiative.

According to the Chinese statement, Lourenco welcomed greater Chinese investment, and said the country was willing to work with China to achieve “more results in bilateral relations”.

“China’s support and cooperation have greatly promoted Angola’s infrastructure construction and economic and social development, setting a good example of mutually beneficial cooperation,” Lourenco was quoted as saying.

The two countries signed a number of cooperation agreements in areas including economy and trade, agriculture and green development.

Lourenco is on a four-day state visit to Beijing, which started on Thursday.

He met Zhao Leji, the head of China’s top legislative body, and Premier Li Qiang, who called for deeper exchanges in fields such as infrastructure, agriculture, new energy and digital economy.

The two countries were “good brothers and partners who trust each other”, Li told Lourenco.

From gyms to hostels, women in China are creating female-friendly spaces in growing trend

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3255584/gyms-hostels-women-china-are-creating-female-friendly-spaces-growing-trend?utm_source=rss_feed

Gym junkie Zhang Ying once had membership cards for nearly every fitness club in Shenzhen, the economic and tech hub which neighbours Hong Kong in southern China. But none of them completely met her needs as a woman.

Zhang, who used to exercise five times a week, told the South China Morning Post that the gyms had very few female trainers and the men did not understand women’s bodies or how they wanted to shape them.

“Most of the gym members are men. If you have a good body and you walk into a gym surrounded by men, it’s quite awkward,” she added.

In 2022, Zhang decided to create her own all-women gym, joining a small but steadily growing trend as Chinese women – tired of the male gaze, feeling unsafe or being overlooked – in recent years have opted for female-only spaces.

The phenomenon stands in stark contrast to the official clubs and elite politics of China, where female participation is often minimal, if not absent.

China’s top women’s affairs official vows to promote marriage and family

At Modern Training, during the lunch break of a normal weekday, a woman is being guided by one of its five female trainers on how to use a weightlifting machine correctly.

The trainer’s arms rest on the woman’s shoulders while one hand traces up her spine, helping to adjust her posture. “You can’t have this level of intimacy if your trainer is a man,” Zhang said.

The gym does not advertise itself as a place to lose weight rapidly, instead emphasising better shape and tolerance. More importantly, Zhang said she wanted to create a community, where women could come whenever they needed to and feel emotionally supported.

“Sometimes when a family comes over, the dad will take the children to play and leave the mother in our gym,” she said.

Similar services are springing up in multiple cities, across a range of activities and interests. A search on social media turned up women-friendly spaces that included book clubs and hostels, as well as bars and gyms.

On their homepages, these venues overwhelmingly describe themselves as offering “tolerance, comfort, warmth”, and a place where “girls help girls” in a “safe space to express your feelings”.

Most events are themed around feminist issues – one club in Chengdu, in southwest China, recently advertised a screening of a documentary about the US women’s soccer team’s fight for equal pay.

Not everyone intended to tailor their services for women when they started but gradually found there is a strong demand, as Xiaoli and Yanzi discovered when they opened a hostel called Cheer in 2023.

The two friends originally wanted female guests because the hostel – in Dali, in the southwestern province of Yunnan – had only one bathroom and it would be easier to clean.

But as they got to know more guests, they realised many intentionally sought out women-only rooms when travelling. Some were on a gap year, others were elderly, while some of their guests were women taking their mothers on a trip.

Standing at 173cm, single woman in China told she is too tall to date

Xiaoli and Yanzi started to improve the hostel with women’s needs in mind. They placed an emergency tampon box in the bathroom, added a make-up table in the common area, and upgraded the gate with security cameras.

They also made connections with their guests, including one woman who did not succeed in booking a room but visited the hostel several times.

She would sit in the hallway, knitting while watching a film. One afternoon, she even took a nap on a carpet in the common area, and left after waking up, Yanzi said. “She just came over and slept, like a cat. All her valuables were scattered around her.”

Yanzi said she felt touched, taking it as a sign that the guests trusted her, in a trust built on connection and mutual help between women.

Chinese feminists fear for #MeToo’s future as activist faces judgment

According to Pei Yuxin, sociology professor at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, southern China, the trend is on the rise because women are becoming more willing to protect their own feelings in a culture where men traditionally are the opinion leaders.

It was for these very reasons that Orange Li moved in with three other women last June, in a co-living project they called Scythia. “We wanted an environment where women can nourish each other … a relatively more honest, comfortable and safe environment,” she said.

At first, Li and another woman found themselves cooking for the entire household, leading to an exploration of how to fairly divide housework without falling into traditional gender roles.

The project did not last. After running for more than six months, Scythia had to close because of a lack of funding. Being all-women meant giving up half the potential market, and it had made operations difficult, Li said.

Chinese feminists squeezed by state but ‘anger will find a way out’

She is trying other projects, including an online community that encourages women to “exchange their skills”, such as plumbing, and help each other.

Li said the project, though short, had been meaningful. By living together, the women at Scythia also established deep connections and tried to fix the shared traumas experienced by women in an East Asian patriarchy, she said.

One woman learned how to respond to praise – when growing up, she seldom received any. Another changed from always criticising others, realising that was how her family treated her.

Li said the women at Scythia did not wear make-up or comment on appearances and wore whatever felt comfortable. “It’s part of the healing process,” she said.

Zhang tells a similar story, of a client – large by societal standards – who said that trainers in other gyms often pushed her to lose weight. She added that she had never received such pressure at Modern Training, where she was supported to work with her own goals.

Pei, the sociology professor, said men had always had their clubs. “They could play ball together, drink together or sing karaoke together. But now women are starting to have it too.”

China is planning to break its dependency on Australia and Brazil for iron ore. Africa is the key

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3255471/china-planning-break-its-dependency-australia-and-brazil-iron-ore-africa-key?utm_source=rss_feed

Sierra Leone may be a small country on Africa’s Atlantic coast, but it is part of China’s big ambitions to break its dependency on Australia and Brazil for its iron ore.

More than 80 per cent of China’s iron ore comes from Australia and Brazil but Beijing wants to de-risk that supply. And the West African nation, along with other countries including Guinea, Liberia, Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville, are the key to making that happen.

In the northern province of Sierra Leone, a 12 million tonne iron ore processing plant is being built – at a cost of US$230 million – at the Tonkolili iron ore mine by Leone Rock Metal Group, a subsidiary of Chinese mining and metals company China Kingho Energy Group. The mine has an estimated 13.7 billion tonnes of iron ore.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring Guinea, after 27 years of false starts, Chinese investors together with British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto, are on track to make their first shipment from the Simandou iron ore mine next year. Simandou is the world’s largest-known undeveloped reserve of high-grade iron ore.

This is after Guinea’s parliament, the National Transitional Council, voted to approve laws that ratified the US$20 billion deal which, as well as the iron ore extraction, will see the development of a railway and port. Chinese state-owned entities, including steelmaker Baowu Group, have also agreed to invest in the massive project, which has an annual production capacity of 120 million tonnes.

Chinese companies are also investing in the Mbalam-Nabeba project, which will develop large-scale iron ore deposits that straddle Cameroon and neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville in central-west Africa.

Plus, in Algeria, a consortium of Chinese companies are investing in the Gara Djebilet iron ore mine located in the Tindouf province of western Algeria, while in Liberia, Baowu shipped its first cargo of iron from its flagship Bomi project in December.

These are just some of the mining projects in Africa which observers say form part of China’s iron ore “foundation plan”, which aims to address the vulnerability of its reliance on Australia and Brazil for the resource.

Liz Gao, senior analyst in iron ore at commodities consultancy CRU Group, said China’s investment in Africa aimed to diversify its iron ore suppliers. She added that iron ore from Australia and Brazil accounted for around 80 per cent of the global seaborne iron ore exports.

“The massive investment overseas is a part of China’s long-pursued goal of enhancing its position in the global iron ore trade by taking a larger ownership stake in overseas iron ore supply,” Gao said. “At present, we estimate that there is Chinese ownership in around 5 per cent of global iron ore supply.”

Unfortunately, Gao said, much of this material was some of the highest-cost supply in the world. Therefore, it made sense to see Chinese steel mills go after more competitive assets – like Simandou, for example.

China leads global lithium race amid processing plant building boom in Zimbabwe

Lauren Johnston, an associate professor at the University of Sydney’s China Studies Centre, agreed that the investments in Africa pointed to China’s determination to de-risk its iron ore supplies.

In particular, she said, China wanted to reduce its reliance on Australia, its biggest supplier.

She said that even though China’s property building and mass infrastructure boom was fading, it was putting more effort into its push towards high value-added manufacturing.

“This agenda would be well-served by the highest-grade iron ore on the planet, which is found in Guinea’s Simandou deposit,” Johnston said.

She said the added cost of transporting iron ore from West Africa to China was a factor that favoured Australian iron ore, which is why ports were an important factor in African development.

China has built a mega port in Nigeria just outside Lagos known as the Lekki Deep Sea Port. Johnston said the port was likely to be used to receive smaller freighters carrying iron ore from Sierra Leone and Guinea that would then be transferred onto massive freighters to send the ore to China.

“Freighter size has always been the key difference in cost competitiveness of Australia over Brazil, the second-largest supplier of iron ore to China today,” Johnston said.

Gao, of CRU Group, said bringing these products to the market was costly, due to the risks in investing in infrastructure, such as port facilities and inland transport, as well as the relatively poor access to energy and power.

That was why Chinese investors and others were forced to bankroll the building of railways, power lines and port upgrades.

At the Simandou mine, besides ownership disputes and political instability in Guinea, many of the delays were caused by the lack of a railway to transport the ore to the ports, prompting the parties in the project to co-develop the infrastructure needed.

In Sierra Leone as well, Leone Rock Metal Group is spending US$153 million to upgrade the railway and port infrastructure in the coastal town of Pepel, where bulk iron ore is shipped from.

Gao said that for Simandou, once it became operational, it would probably replace some Brazilian and Australian iron ore shipments to China, although they would still have a dominant position.

“In fact, we believe it will be smaller, high-cost suppliers far away from their customers that will suffer more. Unfortunately, this includes some Chinese-owned mines,” Gao said.

She said Simandou would bring about 120 million tonnes of iron ore per year to the market, positioning Guinea as the world’s third-largest iron ore exporter.

Can Rio Tinto’s Africa mine cut China’s iron ore reliance on Australia, Brazil?

Gao said the high-grade ore from Simandou would be preferred when steel margins were favourable.

“In the current scenario, where steelmakers are struggling with the weak margins, they would still opt for lower grade ores to control their productivity, making ores from Australia preferable,” she said.

Gyude Moore, a senior policy fellow at the Washington-based Centre for Global Development and a former ­minister in Liberia, said Beijing did not want to give up its position as the world’s foremost steelmaker.

“It is clear that China intends to retain its lead in steel manufacturing and this may be a part of how China responds to slowing growth.”

Moore said that with the slowdown in the Chinese real estate sector and infrastructure already built, China was doubling down on manufacturing.

“Access to minerals and other manufacturing input might be a part of their plan,” he said. “However, it’s hard to see this as a near-term strategy.”

He also noted China’s issue with Australia. While it was an important Chinese trade partner, it was also a US security partner. Therefore, diversifying supply sources had both an economic and a national security imperative.

“Africa is relatively friendly for China and one imagines that African sources are a good replacement or backup for Australian ones,” Moore said.

China’s relationship with Australia soured in 2020 when the previous government called for an international investigation into the origin of coronavirus. The fracas saw Beijing impose tariffs on several Australian products including wine, barley, seafood and meat. Relations eased somewhat after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came into power in 2022.

Johnston, of the University of Sydney, also noted that Africa’s need for infrastructure like highways, bridges, railways, housing, trains and cars meant the major demand for steel was likely to shift to Africa itself over the next decade or two. It could see more of the iron ore staying in Africa – an eventuality some Chinese companies are already preparing for.

In Zimbabwe, Dinson Iron and Steel Company, a subsidiary of Chinese stainless steel and nickel making company Tsingshan Group, is building a US$1.5 billion steel plant in Manhize, south of Harare.

And when Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio made a state visit to Beijing earlier this month, China Kingho Energy Group, one of China’s largest privately owned energy groups, promised to build a steel factory in Sierra Leone for iron ore processing in 2025.

“So perhaps not all the iron ore will be shipped to East Asia, as over the recent few decades,” Johnston said.

And, she said, that depended on the cost of producing steel in Africa, how economies grew and the cost of electricity.

“That explains the investments in electricity projects in Sierra Leone, a dam in Guinea and Ivory Coast.”

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‘Voice of China’ echoes Xi Jinping’s ‘self-revolution’ call to double down against corruption

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3255646/voice-china-echoes-xi-jinpings-self-revolution-call-double-down-against-corruption?utm_source=rss_feed

In another sign that China will press on with its crackdown on corruption, the country’s state broadcaster has vowed to promote “self-revolution” within the Communist Party and expand the ruling organisation’s influence.

In an article in the party’s top theoretical journal Qiushi on Saturday, China Media Group (CMG) chief Shen Haixiong applauded President Xi Jinping’s idea of “self-revolution”, a process of purging party members to combat graft.

Shen, who is also deputy head of the party’s top ideological and propaganda body, said CMG would “promote and interpret” Xi’s speeches on tackling corruption and “tell a good story” through in-depth reports, commentaries and special programmes.

In addition, the media group, also known as the Voice of China, would use its dozens of multilingual overseas channels to explain the party’s “method of victory” to “create an international public opinion environment favourable to our country”.

The “method of victory” is a reference to the decade-long anti-corruption campaign launched by Xi in 2012.

CMG, which manages broadcasters including China Central Television (CCTV), China Global Television Network (CGTN), China National Radio and China Radio International, will also expose corruption in society, according to Shen.

In recent years, CCTV has worked with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the party’s top anti-graft body, to produce a series of anti-corruption TV specials. This content attracted 3.886 billion viewers and readers on CCTV’s official media platforms, Shen said.

CMG would also continue its anti-corruption campaign within its organisation “to provide a strong political guarantee for building a world-class international mainstream media”.

Without elaborating, Shen added that CMG would strengthen its ideological work, including the training and management of “key positions and key personnel”.

In 2020, Cheng Lei, an Australian reporter for CMG-affiliated CGTN, was charged with illegally sharing state secrets. She returned to Australia in October 2023 after spending three years in prison.

Why ‘two sessions’ may give China a chance to tie up loose ends after purges

Shen’s comments come a day after Qiushi published a speech Xi gave to the CCDI in January last year in which he said decades of peaceful rule by the party had made some officials complacent and unprepared for the “great struggle”.

Xi has stressed several times this year that his ambitious anti-corruption campaign will continue.

Some 110,000 party officials faced disciplinary action last year, the CCDI said in January, a 13 per cent increase from the previous year.

Last year, the commission opened corruption investigations against a record 45 senior officials, according to a tally by the Post.

Other signs suggest that more senior figures are being investigated.

Last year, Beijing sacked foreign minister Qin Gang and defence minister Li Shangfu without explanation. China’s top legislature also abruptly removed nine senior military officers as deputies, saying in a statement in January that they were suspected of “violating discipline and the law” – a reference to corruption.

Three senior Chinese aerospace-defence executives were also stripped of their titles as members of the country’s top political advisory body late last year, including Wu Yansheng, chairman of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

On Friday, the authorities announced Chen Mingbo, former vice-mayor of the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, as Wu’s replacement.

New chiefs were also announced for a number of state-owned enterprises and banks, some of whose predecessors were under investigation for corruption.

Among the appointments was Zhou Xinhuai as director of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Zhou succeeds Li Yong, who is under investigation.

China names new chief to lead rocket maker and SpaceX rival CASC after predecessor stripped of political title

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3255643/china-names-new-chief-lead-rocket-maker-and-spacex-rival-casc-after-predecessor-stripped-political?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s main space programme contractor now has a new helmsman, marking another major leadership change in the country’s aerospace-defence sector.

Chen Mingbo had been appointed the chairman and Communist Party secretary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the company said on its official WeChat account on Friday.

CASC has named Elon Musk’s SpaceX as its main competitor. The two companies launched more rockets than any others last year, with SpaceX maintaining a significant lead.

The decision to appoint Chen, made by the party’s Central Committee, was announced by representatives from the committee’s Organisation Department during a meeting attended by the company’s mid-level to-high-ranking management, CASC said.

China strips 3 aerospace-defence executives of political titles amid crackdown

Chen took over from Wu Yansheng, who chaired CASC from 2018 to 2023. Wu’s seat on China’s top political advisory body was revoked in December, and he has not shown up to company meetings since then.

CASC is China’s main builder of rockets and missile systems. Observers said the appointment might be a sign of Beijing’s anti-corruption efforts in its pursuit of better rocket and military capacity.

Chen has had an impressive career, first as an entrepreneur and then as a politician. He is often hailed as a “technical-minded official” by Chinese media.

He was born in Fenghua, Zhejiang province in 1968. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Shanghai University’s chemistry department in 1991 and went on to earn a PhD in engineering, according to Chinese media reports.

For years he headed research institutes and tech companies in Shanghai, including serving as the director of the Shanghai Institute of Space Power Sources and chairman of Shanghai Aerospace Power Technology Corporation.

He went on to hold political positions, including deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission and deputy secretary general of Shanghai’s municipal government.

Before his CASC appointment, Chen oversaw industrial development and the application of information technology and big data in the southwestern megacity of Chongqing and was later promoted to executive deputy mayor of the municipality.

Wu, Chen’s predecessor at CASC, majored in missile and spacecraft design as a university student and received multiple awards from the government for his leadership in major aerospace projects and lunar missions.

Wu was stripped of his title as a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference along with two other aerospace defence executives last year.

Chinese selfie app Meitu finds its footing with AI, as profit triples after a raft of failed bets

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3255645/chinese-selfie-app-meitu-finds-its-footing-ai-profit-triples-after-raft-failed-bets?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese selfie apps giant Meitu on Friday posted a more than three-fold jump in net profit last year, as the company hailed the success of its refocus on artificial intelligence (AI) following a series of misfired bets ranging from cryptocurrencies to smartphones.

The Hong Kong-listed company, which saw its profits surge 233 per cent year on year to 368.3 million yuan (US$51.3 million) and revenue grow nearly 30 per cent, highlighted the role of AI in boosting its earnings.

X-Design, Meitu’s business-facing graphics design platform powered by AI, made over 100 million yuan in revenue in 2023, up nearly 230 per cent from a year earlier, the company said.

In June, Meitu launched its self-developed generative AI model MiracleVision, which powers a range of AI features in the firm’s apps, including facial feature adjustments and virtual make-up. Around 83 per cent of the photos and videos edited by Meitu apps are now enhanced by AI, it said.

In September, Meitu joined Chinese social media and video gaming giant Tencent Holdings in backing AI chip start-up Enflame.

“We have struggled in the past few years and it wasn’t easy,” the firm wrote in a social media post on WeChat on Friday, highlighting its earnings results. “We returned to our original aspirations and focused on what we do best.”

“Meitu is an AI company,” it said in its earnings announcement.

Founded in Xiamen city in southeastern Fujian province in 2008, Meitu is best known for its so-called beautifying apps that help users touch up their selfies with built-in functions, such as by enlarging their eyes or removing wrinkles on their forehead.

But the company has also made unsuccessful forays into other sectors, including attempts at selling smartphones designed specifically for selfie enthusiasts and turning its namesake app into a social network.

In a high-profile announcement in March 2021, Meitu said it bought US$40 million worth of bitcoin and ether, citing the belief that “cryptocurrencies have ample room for appreciation in value”. But a market sell-off in 2022 prompted the company to warn investors about widening losses.

The cryptocurrency market largely recovered in 2023. As of December 31 last year, Meitu was holding more than US$111 million worth of ether and bitcoin, according to its earnings report.

The company had around 250 million monthly active users by the end of last year. The number of paying subscribers rose more than 62 per cent to 9.11 million, the firm said.

Meitu said it expects “more generative AI features to be launched in 2024, for both images and video use cases”.

Popular China ex-child star embroiled in video-timing row after suffering brain tumour, shares photos of shaved head, says ‘not to worry’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3254452/popular-china-ex-child-star-embroiled-video-timing-row-after-suffering-brain-tumour-shares-photos?utm_source=rss_feed

An actress who was once China’s most famous child star has unwittingly become involved in a controversy following the release of photographs of her shaved head after she had surgery to remove a brain tumour.

Gao Junyu, 22, is known in mainland China as the “point reading machine girl” due to a 2009 commercial she appeared in advertising a study-assistance machine targeting young students, reported Red Star News.

The advertisement was so widely circulated, the English words “so easy” that Gao used in it became a well-used phrase in China.

When videos of Gao with a shaved head went viral on mainland social media earlier this month, the surroundings indicated that they had in fact been captured in September last year.

It then became clear that a Hangzhou-based company to which Gao is signed as an artist released them this month without her consent.

The authorities said the company, Huo Ran Kai Lang Science and Technology, who have apologised, will face legal sanction.

“We did not release the videos when the operation took place as we took the surgery risks and possible recurrence of the illness into consideration. So we decided to release them after Gao’s condition stabilised,” the company said.

“We are deeply sorry for making mistakes in the video captions about the date,” it added.

On March 12, Gao’s mother said that her daughter’s social media account was operated by the company because they did not have time to manage it.

“We are outraged and sorry for the botched operation by the company and for the misunderstanding the incident brought to the public,” Goa’s mother said, adding that her daughter is still in rehabilitation.

In recent years, Gao has appeared on several arts programmes for state broadcaster CCTV. She was also an usher at the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, leading foreign teams into the stadium during the opening ceremony.

The 12-hour operation Gao underwent was successful and the tumour was found to be benign, according to her mother.

“Before the surgery, Xiaoyu (Gao’s nickname) was feeling positive and believed she would get better. She thanks the public for their care and encouragement and says there is no need to worry,” her mother said in a video.

“I use my own experience to warn the public. You should definitely take care of your own body and never burn the midnight oil. Otherwise, your body will take revenge on you one day for what you do today,” Gao said.

The brain tumour news triggered an outpouring of support and blessings for her online.

“Wishing that you successfully beat the tumour. So easy!” one of her followers wrote on Douyin.

“Good to hear that the tumour is benign. Get well soon,” another said.

Rich world must follow China’s lead and support Africa’s green revolution

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3255233/rich-world-must-follow-chinas-lead-and-support-africas-green-revolution?utm_source=rss_feed

Human-caused climate change is having a compounding impact on Africa and holding back the continent’s growth. In my two decades of residency in Cairo, Egypt, I have never witnessed a winter as warm as the one this year.

Last year was the hottest that the land of the Nile has witnessed, with Egyptians sweltering in summer heat in October and November. Many other African countries – from Somalia and Senegal to Libya and South Africa – also experienced unprecedented heat.

Climate change and extreme weather are having a destructive impact on African countries. Parts of Africa are becoming drier and hotter, and others are experiencing an increase in rainfall which has caused devastating floods and led to the displacement of many people.

Heatwaves and prolonged summers and droughts – particularly in the Horn of Africa – are damaging the growth of crops, leading to lower harvests, which is harming food security for the entire continent. This is damaging African countries’ economies and posing a serious threat to endeavours aimed at reducing poverty, with more than 200 million of the continent’s 1.4 billion population facing extreme hunger.

Africa produces only a fraction of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, yet it is one of the hardest-hit continents and suffers disproportionately from climate change. Although Africa has roughly 17 per cent of the world’s population, it contributes only 4 per cent of global carbon emissions. Putting it more bluntly, rich countries’ profit is poor countries’ loss.

As a result, African officials and intellectuals are closely monitoring global climate conferences such as the sixth United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) which concluded its five-day session in Nairobi, Kenya, on March 1. The UNEA-6 passed several resolutions, including enhancing air quality worldwide, proper management of chemicals and waste, boosting effective water policies for agriculture, and eliminating highly hazardous pests.

Rising temperatures and falling agricultural productivity are not just harming food security but also exacerbating human displacement and the potential for conflicts. Climate change is increasing political instability in African regions such as the Sahel, Lake Chad Basin, Great Lakes and East Africa, along with Mozambique and the Central African Republic.

Soaring food prices are slowly pushing millions of people into food insecurity and presenting a hazard to their well-being. Thus, the impacts of climate change are exacerbating poverty in Africa amid the growing climate nightmare.

While climate change is damaging nature in wealthy nations, it also poses a threat to the lives of millions of Africans. The effects of climate change on health are heavier on Africans, simply because many lack the resources to tackle them. Warmer temperatures and a surge in severe weather have led to an increase in sandflies and mosquitoes, which transmit contagious diseases such as malaria.

To reduce poverty and mitigate the effects of climate change on the health of its citizens, Africa needs to adopt climate initiatives and implement prevention measures which require the possession of effective foreign technology. It needs assistance to manufacture vaccines to defeat the contagious diseases killing its citizens.

China is helping Africans mitigate climate change through several Sino-African projects, including cooperation on renewables and clean energy. Beijing has supported African countries in their adaptation to electric vehicles such as buses and reducing their carbon footprint, a process which preserves the ecosystem and safeguards human health.

China was applauded by African officials during the UNEA-6 summit for its role in Africa’s transition towards green mobility. As Kenya’s special climate envoy Ali Mohamed said: “We seek partnership to help achieve our e-mobility aspirations, and China has come on board as a crucial partner.”

Beijing is also fostering African efforts to implement and sustain green financing mechanisms. It has played a pivotal role in structuring Africa’s road maps for energy transformation and the modernisation of agriculture – issues that will lead to a reduction in reliance on coal power and an expansion of clean energy use.

The Global Development Initiative, for example – launched by Beijing in 2021 – could help improve Africa’s capacity for green development, with projects to combat desertification and utilise water resources as well as prevent droughts, disasters and land degradation. Enhancing Africa’s ecology and delivering a green industrial revolution amid rising climate change risks would require more collaboration between the developed and developing worlds.

Finding solutions to climate change in Africa requires multilateral efforts and the creation of a more cooperative world, one in which wealthy nations play a more supportive role by devoting themselves to recycling, embracing a zero-waste approach and becoming circular economy societies, something a recent UN Environment Programme report strongly recommended.

Bolstering Africa’s climate fight and building climate-smart economies can also help Africans avoid conflict and fight hunger. Wealthy nations have a moral duty in an increasingly multipolar world to help Africans deal with climate-sensitive diseases since Africa’s health crisis should also be viewed as a climate disaster.

To prioritise climate justice and support Africa’s move towards green mobility, wealthy nations should invest in this overlooked continent through funding programmes to boost climate governance measures. It is in the world’s best interests that Africa rise from this climate nightmare.

China’s pioneering battery scientist says academia and industry must work together to win solid-state revolution

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3255603/chinas-pioneering-battery-scientist-says-academia-and-industry-must-work-together-win-solid-state?utm_source=rss_feed

A scientist known as the “father of the Chinese lithium battery” has shared his strategy to compete with the West in the race to develop solid-state lithium batteries – a technology that could revolutionise the electric vehicle (EV) market.

Chen Liquan of the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said in an interview with China Science Daily this week that “only by seizing the first opportunity can China remain in a proactive position” in the development of solid-state lithium batteries, which he described as the “future of rechargeable battery technology”.

Chen, 84, said battery companies should work with scientific research units and raw material companies to solve scientific, technological and engineering problems.

He called for cooperation between academia, engineering and industry, adding that “basic research and applied research should be closely integrated to accelerate the industrialisation of research results”.

Chinese scientists produce a powerful winter-proof lithium battery

Solid-state batteries are expected to be a game-changing technology, offering considerably faster charging times, better performance and higher safety standards than traditional liquid-state lithium-ion packs.

They are expected to increase the energy density – a measure of energy-saving ability – of existing batteries from 300 watt-hours (Wh) per kilogram to 500Wh per kilogram. And they will be safer than today’s batteries, with fewer combustion and explosion risks.

Companies from Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States, which have lagged behind China in traditional lithium batteries, have pinned their hopes on next-generation battery technology, including solid-state batteries, to pull ahead.

China’s battery and carmakers have united as part of a government-led drive to build a solid-state battery supply chain by 2030.

In January, Beijing launched the China All-Solid-State Battery Collaborative Innovation Platform (Casip), a consortium that brings together government, academia and industry, including EV battery giants CATL and BYD.

In an interview with the state-run China Youth Daily newspaper last month, Chen said the development of lithium batteries in China was following a “step-by-step strategy”. He added that the country had transitioned from being a follower to a leader in lithium-ion batteries, which are now widely used in pure electric vehicles.

He said China had invested in the research and commercialisation of lithium batteries for more than four decades, even when funding was scarce and the field was still marginalised.

Chen began his research into solid state lithium batteries as a visiting scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids in Germany in the late 1970s, when the field was in its infancy.

In 1980, two years after returning to China, Chen established the country’s first solid-state ionic laboratory at the Institute of Physics. CAS has listed solid-state ionics and lithium batteries as a key project in three of its five-year plans since then – signalling the technology’s importance as a funding priority.

Speaking at a seminar in 2009, Chen said that “the emphasis on basic research, capital investment from the government and companies, as well as the right national strategy” were the three key factors that made China’s battery industry stand out.

As China powers ahead on EVs, battery plant health risks raise a red flag

Chen isn’t the only scientist to note China’s advantages in battery development.

Zhejiang University researcher Fan Xiulin said China’s extensive and mature lithium-ion battery industrial chain could pave the way for the country’s next-generation battery boom.

Fan spent several years as a researcher in the US and recalled that when he wanted to turn the technology he developed in the laboratory into a product, he got stuck because there were few companies that could manufacture it – a problem he would not have encountered in China.

Fan is confident about the prospects of China’s solid-state batteries, saying the achievements in lithium-ion battery technology over the past 40 years show the field’s potential.

“When a technology has reached a certain level of accumulation and the industrial chain has been thoroughly developed, the Chinese market will explode,” he said.

China harnesses LNG cold energy for high-end seafood cultivation, aims to reduce overseas reliance

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3255573/china-harnesses-lng-cold-energy-high-end-seafood-cultivation-aims-reduce-overseas-reliance?utm_source=rss_feed

A trial project in China has successfully cultivated high-value marine species, such as grouper, lobster and abalone, by utilising cold energy from liquefied natural gas (LNG) as it seeks to diversify the sources of its seafood and reduce overseas reliance.

The trial – which uses cold energy produced during the heat exchange between seawater and LNG – took place at an LNG receiving terminal in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, the state asset watchdog said on its official social media account on Thursday.

The project is estimated to reach an annual output of 50 tonnes and reduce costs by around 30 per cent compared to conventional farming methods, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said.

Devised in December 2022, the project introduced its first batch of fry – or young fish – a year later before successfully yielding fish in January, according to a report from the People’s Daily in January.

King prawn, lobsters on offer as rural Xinjiang develops seawater aquafarming

“Currently, lobsters in the food market are mainly imported from abroad. The project aims to replace imported high-end seafood products by using artificial propagation,” the WeChat post said.

The project is another stride in China’s ongoing efforts to reduce its reliance on seafood imports, as it is placing increasing emphasis on food security amid escalating geopolitical tensions.

The inland Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region said in August it had used its saline level – a mixture of salt and water – to start to develop seawater aquafarming, including freshwater fish, king prawns, abalone and lobsters

As a highly favoured product among China’s middle class, the domestic lobster market has traditionally relied on imports from Australia, the United States and New Zealand.

Beijing unofficially banned lobster imports from Australia in 2020 in response to calls from Canberra for an inquiry into the origin of the coronavirus.

Before the ban, more than half of China’s lobster imports in 2019 were from Australia.

Beijing lifted its unofficial ban on Australian coal last year amid thawing ties with Canberra, which led to market speculation over a possible easing of the ban on Australian lobsters.

According to the social media post, the LNG terminal in Shenzhen can provide a continuous supply of low-temperature sterile seawater, which can improve the meat quality of the high-value seafood and guarantee a year-round supply.

Other automated techniques, such as varied temperature controls and centralised aeration, have also been incorporated into the project to enrich the variety of cultivated species, as well as reduce costs and increase efficiency.

“In high-value fish farming, temperature control represents the most significant cost,” the article said.

A substantial amount of cold energy will be released into the water when LNG vaporises, reducing the water temperature by between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius (37.4-41 degrees Fahrenheit), which is “particularly suitable for the growth of high-value aquatic species”.

While ensuring a stable supply of water, the project also adopts a scientific circulation system designed to avoid any disruptions to the marine environment, the watchdog’s post added.

It also praised the project as being “green, low-carbon and circular economy”, adding that the cold energy generated equalled to saving 1.97 million kilowatt-hours of power per year, which would reduce carbon dioxide emission by 1,800 tonnes.

‘Doomed to failure’: Beijing warns Manila against bolstering South China Sea outpost after ships collide

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3255638/doomed-failure-beijing-warns-manila-against-bolstering-south-china-sea-outpost-after-ships-collide?utm_source=rss_feed

China has issued fresh warnings to the Philippines over an incident in the South China Sea earlier this month, saying Manila “resorted to deception” and that its efforts to reinforce its outpost on a disputed reef were “doomed to failure”.

When asked about a March 5 collision between Chinese and Philippine vessels near the contested Second Thomas Shoal, Chinese defence ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said on Friday that Manila infringed upon Beijing’s rights and urged the Southeast Asian country to stop any “provocative actions” that would escalate the dispute.

“The Philippine side ignored the good faith and restraint shown by the Chinese side, reneged on its words once and again and repeatedly made provocations by intruding into the waters adjacent to China’s Renai Jiao,” he said, using the Chinese name for the shoal.

China and Philippines blame each other for latest South China Sea collision

The Philippines said Chinese coastguard ships had “harassed” and fired water cannons at its vessels, and later summoned China’s deputy chief of mission in Manila to protest against the “aggressive actions”.

China defended itself by saying that the Philippine vessels had illegally intruded into waters adjacent to the reef in the Spratly Islands, known in Chinese as the Nansha Islands.

The collision was the latest confrontation involving the two countries in the South China Sea, the strategic waterway over which Beijing has vast territorial claims.

Similar to earlier confrontations, the incident took place as Philippine vessels conducted a resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal, where it has stationed a small number of troops.

In 1999, Manila grounded a rusting warship, the BRP Sierra Madre, on the shoal to serve as an outpost and a demonstration of its sovereign rights over the atoll. Beijing has repeatedly claimed that Manila seeks to reinforce the World War II-era vessel and has called for its removal.

On Friday, Zhang repeated those calls, saying the Philippines had attempted to repair and reinforce the warship to permanently occupy the shoal by delivering construction materials under the guise of supplying daily necessities.

“It is the Philippine side that resorted to deception,” he said. “Such illegal and void acts severely violate China’s sovereignty and are doomed to failure.”

Zhang also framed Beijing’s actions as taking necessary measures, while claiming that some Philippine military officials had “made shows and played victim”.

“They were trying to deceive both themselves as well as others. But no matter how they perform, nobody will buy their story,” he said.

Beijing warns South Korea to ‘watch yourself’ after remarks on South China Sea

Philippine officials have been vocal in recent months when calling out China’s actions in the disputed waterway, often trading harsh words with Beijing.

Following this month’s incident, a Philippine navy official made clear that Manila would not allow China to remove its military outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal.

Last month, when addressing the Australian parliament during a visit, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said Manila was firm in defending its sovereignty, adding that he would not allow any foreign power to take “one square inch” of the country’s territory.

The confrontations between the two Asian countries last year have drawn the Philippines closer to the United States, with Marcos set to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken next week to discuss security matters, among other issues.

In a veiled reference to the US, Zhang said that “some big powers outside the region … try to back up the Philippines, stir up trouble and create turmoil in the region”.

“Such moves of using the Philippines as a pawn for selfish gains will find no support, as they go against the common aspiration of regional countries for peace and development,” he said.

US lawmakers want a TikTok sale or ban, but China’s ByteDance won’t give up without a fight

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3255539/us-lawmakers-want-tiktok-sale-or-ban-chinas-bytedance-wont-give-without-fight?utm_source=rss_feed

Zhang Yiming, the 40-year-old Fujian province native who founded ByteDance in a Beijing residential flat 12 years ago, is one of the most successful entrepreneurs the world has seen in the last decade, on a par with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman.

But the Chinese billionaire, who has rarely been sighted in public since handing over the reins of the company to his university roommate Liang Rubo three years ago, is the most reclusive among his peers, even as his company takes political heat in both the US and China.

After the US House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday to force ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban in the country, speculation has been rife about whether Zhang might consider ceding Chinese ownership of the popular app to American buyers – or whether such a move is even possible.

The bill is headed to the US Senate, where both Democratic and Republican leaders have rejected the idea of fast-tracking its passage.

While US President Joe Biden said last week he would sign the bill into law if it passes both chambers, ByteDance and TikTok can still challenge the divestment order in US courts.

In a video published on the platform, TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi, a Singaporean citizen, called the House decision “disappointing” and vowed to “continue to do all we can, including exercising our legal rights”.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the proposed ban amounts to bullying and “will inevitably come back to bite the US itself”. Global Times, a tabloid affiliated with the government mouthpiece People’s Daily, has published more than 10 articles since last week, voicing support for TikTok and describing the US bill as “robbery”.

ByteDance “has been unwilling before to seriously entertain a divestment,” said Justin Sherman, chief executive of Washington-based research and advisory firm Global Cyber Strategies. “When this came up previously, the Chinese government said it would block a sale.”

Neither Beijing-based ByteDance nor Zhang, who is believed to be in Singapore, have commented directly on the issue. The South China Morning Post was unable to reach Zhang for an interview, and ByteDance did not respond to a request for comment.

ByteDance last week denied a news report that Zhang was in talks with potential buyers of TikTok.

Zhang owns 20 per cent of ByteDance, TikTok said in April last year. Institutional investors hold a 60 per cent stake in the company, while the company’s global employees own the rest.

ByteDance’s US investors include private equity firms General Atlantic, Susquehanna International Group and Coatue Management, which all have representatives sitting on the Chinese company’s board. Other board members include Neil Shen from Sequoia China – since renamed HongShan – and ByteDance CEO Liang.

While US investors hold a significant chunk of ByteDance, Zhang has shares with special voting rights that give him control of the company, including TikTok, according to a report by the Financial Times on Friday.

US investors are now mulling a plan that would boost their voting rights while letting ByteDance keep its stake, although this arrangement would still require the approval of the Chinese government, the report said.

On Thursday, former US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview with CNBC that he had spoken to “a bunch of people” about creating an investor group to buy TikTok.

None of ByteDance’s key investors or board directors have publicly commented on a potential sale of TikTok.

Zhang’s early speeches and anecdotes from people who have worked with him showed that Zhang dreamed of building a global business, with the US market being a key piece in this puzzle.

When political tensions started to mount in the US over TikTok in 2020, Zhang tried to personally address the issue by accepting a remote video interview with US magazine The Atlantic. During that conversation, he said he was not a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

But soon, he decided to step away from the limelight, delegating the public-facing job to Chew instead.

The last published photo of Zhang was from June 2021, when the education bureau of his hometown announced that he had set up a charitable fund in the name of his grandmothers.

His most recent reported activity happened in February this year, when he was said to have asked for the removal of a stone tablet in his home province. Photos circulating online purportedly showed the tablet erected at an ancestral temple, detailing his family background while hailing him as an “idol” for young entrepreneurs.

Despite its business success, ByteDance has been a victim of Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on the internet sector.

One of the company’s first hits, a joke-sharing app called Neihan Duanzi that had nearly 200 million users at its peak, was permanently shut down by the Chinese government in 2018 over “vulgar content”.

In an open letter reminiscent of the “self-criticism” of “wrongdoers” during the era of Chinese leader Mao Zedong, Zhang apologised for “emphasising growth and scale over quality and responsibility” and promised to “correct the flaws” in the company’s algorithms and content vetting mechanism.

ByteDance’s foray into education and video gaming in China has also faced regulatory headwinds, forcing the company to scale back its online tutoring project in 2021 and video gaming operations since 2022.

In 2022, as China implemented stringent Covid-19 restrictions, Zhang decamped to Singapore.

In contrast, political scrutiny in the US seems to have done little to slow TikTok’s rise.

In 2020, then-US President Donald Trump signed two executive orders forcing a sale of TikTok, but they were later revoked by his successor. Meanwhile, the number of US users on TikTok rose from 100 million in August 2020 to 170 million this January, according to figures provided by the company.

But political hostility against TikTok is mounting.

“Undoubtedly, the political environment in Washington has grown more hawkish on China since 2020,” said Paul Triolo, associate partner for China and technology policy lead at consultancy Albright Stonebridge Group.

ByteDance has been trying to boost its political clout on Capitol Hill.

Last year, ByteDance and TikTok spent a total of US$10.35 million in lobbying, a 2.5-fold jump from 2020, according to records published on the US Senate website.

But the company has to placate both Washington and Beijing.

When Trump tried to force a sale of TikTok in 2020, the Chinese government stepped in by updating its technology export restrictions to include software, effectively banning ByteDance from transferring its content recommendation algorithms to foreign owners.

To meet demands from both sides of the Pacific, ByteDance drew up a plan to create a separate entity called TikTok Global and sell 20 per cent of equity stakes to American investors. The board of the new company would include existing ByteDance directors and the CEO of US retail giant Walmart. However, there would be no transfer of algorithms.

That plan was aborted after Trump lost his bid for re-election.

This time around, it is still unlikely for ByteDance to sell TikTok without Beijing’s consent. The Ministry of Commerce, which supervises technology exports, said China would “take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests”.

“A divestment is not possible,” said Cameron Johnson, a senior partner at Shanghai-based consulting firm Tidalwave Solutions and an American businessman with 25 years of experience in the country. “China would see it as not only a slap in the face, but the US controlling one of its national champions.”

“If TikTok [was] divested, more pressure would build to do this to other companies such as Temu [or] Shein,” he said, referring to two popular shopping apps that originated in China.

The current version of the bill applies not only to TikTok, but also other apps controlled by “foreign adversary” countries.

Resistance to a TikTok ban may come not only from China.

The app has been trying to mobilise its massive user base. Last week, it sent American users a push notification urging them to call their congressional representatives to speak out against a bill that could block their access to one of their favourite apps.

When it comes to TikTok’s overwhelming popularity in the US, politicians are not immune.

“Ironically, many of the Senate and House representatives that would vote on enacting the divestiture, are actually using the TikTok platform to reach voters in the upcoming election campaigns,” said Alex Capri, a senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a research fellow at Singapore-based philanthropic organisation Hinrich Foundation.

Biden’s re-election campaign also opened a TikTok account last month.

TikTok’s active defiance stands in stark contrast to its response in 2020, when it struck a deal to sell TikTok’s US operations to a group of American businesses – a move that was perceived by many Chinese netizens as “kneeling down”.

This time, TikTok has earned a “thumbs up” at home for its tough stance.

“TikTok doesn’t just stay still and wait for death,” Shanghai Observer, a news site under state-owned newspaper Liberation Daily, wrote in a report. “It has mobilised its users to fight back.”

Unlike the House vote, “passage in the Senate is likely to be more contentious”, said Capri from the NUS.

If the Senate passes the bill with changes, the two chambers will have to negotiate to reach a compromise, which “could take a long time”, he said.

Given that, the deadline for ByteDance’s divestment of TikTok would probably extend beyond the November 2024 midterm and presidential elections, Capri added.

Even if the bill were to pass both houses of Congress, TikTok could still take it to court.

“Any attempt to implement a ban resting on a forced divestiture will still run into major legal challenges, including First Amendment issues, in US courts, brought both by TikTok US and by well resourced TikTok influencers”, said Triolo from Albright Stonebridge.

Last year, a federal judge blocked the US state of Montana from introducing a statewide ban on TikTok.

The best way to address surveillance concerns about TikTok is Project Texas, a series of protocols proposed by TikTok that would restrict its access to user data in the US in coordination with the US government, according to Triolo.

Last year, TikTok said it had already spent US$1.5 billion on the project, which the firm estimated would cost between US$700 million and US$1 billion annually once it is fully operational.

The project, with heavy involvement of former US government officials and industry cybersecurity experts, is aimed at setting up a secure US-based data enclave hosted by Texan software firm Oracle, according to Triolo.

That would give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States strong oversight, as well as the possibility for third-party auditing of data access and AI algorithms on the platform, he said.

“In the absence of a broader US data security law that all companies operating the US would need to comply with, Project Texas would set a precedent for all similar applications, and thus would provide a useful precedent for the handling of US citizen data by social media platforms.”

China officials unprepared for struggle, Xi Jinping told CCDI ahead of ‘lying flat’ campaign

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3255597/china-officials-unprepared-struggle-xi-jinping-told-ccdi-ahead-lying-flat-campaign?utm_source=rss_feed

Decades of peaceful rule under the Communist Party have left some officials complacent and unprepared for “great struggle”, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a speech published on Friday by the party’s top theoretical journal Qiushi.

The speech was delivered in January last year at the second plenum of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China’s de facto anti-corruption and political disciplinary agency, but not made public until now.

The CCDI routinely convenes the top-level meeting at the beginning of each year, where Xi charts the corruption buster’s work focus for the 12 months ahead.

“How [can we] maintain the trail blazing spirit among officials? After decades of peaceful rule, many party members and cadres have not experienced the test of life and death, lacking the tempering of brutal struggles and harsh environments,” Xi said.

“They love to seek comfort and enjoyment, rest on their laurels and become complacent. They will panic and lose their confidence easily amid the great struggle with many new historical characteristics.”

What is ‘lying flat’, and why are Chinese officials standing up to it?

Xi called on party members to maintain the spirit to “work hard and work well”, have the courage and ability to carry on the party’s struggle well, and make every effort to overcome difficulties and challenges.

After the 2023 work planning conference, the CCDI launched a major campaign against the phenomenon of officials “lying flat” – known as “goblin mode” in the West, which involves doing the bare minimum.

Some local governments named and shamed grass-roots officials in a bid to resolve the problem.

Many Chinese bureaucrats – the arms and legs that execute the leadership’s policy decisions – are facing pay cuts, heavy workloads, seemingly never-ending inspections, and numerous political studies, on top of maintaining social stability.

Low morale and the prospect of being held accountable if they take bold action and fail to achieve the expected result have prompted some officials to quietly enter an inaction mode.

Beijing has been increasingly relying on the CCDI’s disciplinary power to exert pressure on the bureaucracy to march according to Xi’s instructions to achieve his ambitious policy goals amid external and internal challenges.

Oxford Dictionaries names ‘goblin mode’ its word of the year

In his speech, Xi reminded his top disciplinary inspectors to be mindful of encouraging enthusiasm, initiative, and creativity among party members and officials, while continuing a strict approach.

The purpose of strict disciplinary control over the party “is not to control people until they can’t do anything, making officials hesitant and fearful to act, and turn the government into a gloomy pool of stagnant water”, Xi said.

China hero boy, now 25, reunites with basketball legend Yao Ming 16 years after he rescued schoolmates from devastation of deadly 2008 earthquake

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3254503/china-hero-boy-now-25-reunites-basketball-legend-yao-ming-16-years-after-he-rescued-schoolmates?utm_source=rss_feed

A reunion between Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming and a boy who, aged nine, was hailed as a national hero for his actions in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, has touched many people on mainland social media.

The world looked on in awe, when, at the Beijing Olympics of the same year, 2.29 metre-tall Yao, held the hand of a nine-year-old boy as they led out the 1,099-strong China team at the opening ceremony parade.

That boy was Lin Hao, who had been hailed as a national hero for selflessly saving two of his classmates after the devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Wenchuan county in southwestern China’s Sichuan province on May 12, 2008.

Lin was a primary school pupil in Yingxiu town, the epicentre of the quake.

When the earthquake hit, he risked his life to save his classmates in collapsed buildings.

In an interview following the Olympics opening, Yao, holding Lin in his arms, said the youngster was the “hope for China’s future”. He predicted that Lin would remember his great moment and tell his grandson about it.

Earlier this month, 16 years after that great day, the pair met again.

On March 5, at the CBA All-Star Weekend held in Xiamen, in southeastern China’s Fujian province, the 43-year-old president of the Chinese Basketball Association Yao Ming walked onto the stage with Lin.

Lin, now 25, is the part-time deputy secretary of the Communist Youth League of Yingxiu, his hometown, and founder of a start-up e-commerce company that helps local farmers promote and sell their produce.

He also works as a volunteer tour guide in his spare time, telling earthquake and reconstruction stories to tourists.

In January, Lin also announced he was to marry a Tibetan woman.

Lin said he did not expect Yao to remember him, but the moment Yao saw him, he congratulated him on his marriage.

Yao also joked to Lin on the stage: “You have grown taller since then, and I have grown fat.”

For Lin, despite having not met Yao for 16 years, the reunion felt more like an ordinary catch-up with an old friend. He said Yao patted him on the head after the event and told him to “add oil”.

Yao retired from professional basketball at the age of 30 in 2011 following a series of injuries.

The former NBA star’s transformation to become the leader of Chinese basketball and businessman over the last decade has been considered a success by many.

As the chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association from 2017 to 2023, Yao dedicated himself to bringing more market forces into the state-owned national basketball league.

He also promoted youth educational schemes to cultivate more Chinese basketball talent.

The reunion of Yao and Lin was described by many online observers as “meeting at the peak”.

“Lin Hao has also become a good young man now, just like Yao back then,” said one person on Douyin.

“It was like nothing has changed over the past 16 years when they stood together again,” said another.

Why China’s plan for ‘new productive forces’ should make the West sit up

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/asia/article/3255248/why-chinas-plan-new-productive-forces-should-make-west-sit?utm_source=rss_feed

In China’s annual parliamentary meetings, developing “new quality productive forces” topped the agenda. A twist on Marxist theorisation, new quality productive forces simply mean new drivers of economic – and defence – growth, powered by frontier technologies.

Such new forces can span from infotech, biotech, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, new energy and new materials, to deep space, deep ocean and deep mind. The strategy appears to have three objectives: foreign technology substitution, rapid industrial adoption and strategic defence empowerment.

Investing in frontier technologies is not new; neither is China’s use of industrial policies. Some may dismiss the jargon as an attempt to camouflage the government’s desperation to rescue the troubled economy. They would be wrong.

Year Zero of China’s electric vehicle (EV) industry coincided with the announcement of “Made in China 2025”, a full-scale decade-long industrial strategy for China to become a global leader in high-end manufacturing. China’s three EV champions, Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto, began around 2015, when Made in China 2025 was introduced. Over the next nine years, China’s EV industry grew, from non-existence to world domination.

It is no surprise that Made in China 2025 was grossly underestimated by the West early on. It also began on a modest industrial foundation.

A decade ago, China was a rudimentary global industrial power. Home appliances were its crowning glory. Excess capacity in low-end industrial products – steel, aluminium, glass, etc – plagued the economy. Domestic oversupply was channelled towards the Belt and Road Initiative. There was little China produced that the world had never seen. Since then, China has embarked on a new industrial paradigm, from making all things cheap to turning all things intelligent.

Made In China 2025 is an exceptionally successful industrial strategy. In six years, China’s smartphone manufacturing surpassed 50 per cent of the global market share. In eight years, Chinese solar, wind, and lithium battery production all rose to global dominance.

Today, China battles with a new kind of excess industrial capacity, to the envy of the world. The only logical business decision is to export this excess but there are strong political headwinds.

The European Union has opened an anti-subsidy inquiry into Chinese EVs. The United States is planning an investigation into the data security risks of Chinese EVs and parts. Upon BYD’s plan to set up an EV factory in Mexico, the US is looking at banning Chinese auto parts from third countries. Chinese solar panel, wind turbine, battery and lidar (light detection and ranging) car sensor manufacturers, the poster children of Made in China 2025, are all facing potential trade restrictions and sanctions in the West.

The West has come to an aha moment, a decade after China announced its plans to be a leader in high-end industries, having ignored the momentum for far too long.

While the West scrutinises a decade of Chinese industrial success, China has begun to cultivate a new army of tech starlets among its “new quality productive forces”. Given China’s track record, its speed of innovation in the unfolding decade will only accelerate, with more revolutionary technology.

Chinese researchers already lead in 37 of the world’s 44 critical frontier technologies, including in communications, new materials, new energy, sensing and navigation, drones and hypersonics. China also leads in some areas of AI, biotech, robotics and quantum computing. In a decade, China’s lead in fundamental research will translate into another generation of Chinese industrial prowess.

Western governments are at a crossroads. To outcompete China, should one focus on the technology of the past or the future? It is important to catch up on EVs and renewable energy. It is also future-defining to invest in technologies that will grow to lead the world.

China’s rise as world’s green factory has put West on the back foot

Ten years ago, Western government made the mistake of failing to invest properly in their development of EVs, solar power, batteries and drones. Today, Western governments are making another mistake in being consumed with their investigations into Chinese EVs, solar panel manufacturers, batteries and drones. The Chinese industrial caravan has moved on.

Developing “new quality productive forces” is China’s renewed industrial blueprint, the successor to Made in China 2025. If the West treats this seriously, among the few dozen global frontier technologies in focus, the emergence of new Chinese industrial pre-eminence should be no surprise.

There is no need to read the tea leaves. The race to define another decade of global industrial supply chains has begun.

China is in America’s sights as US defence increases its budget for Indo-Pacific deterrence

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3255534/china-americas-sights-us-defence-increases-its-budget-indo-pacific-deterrence?utm_source=rss_feed

The US Pentagon turned up the pressure on Beijing in its 2025 budget request earlier this week, singling out an “increasingly aggressive” China as a major focus for its defence spending in the coming year.

Experts pointed to advanced submarine building and nuclear deterrence as the US Defence Department’s core concerns, with its 2025 budget request, published on Monday, identifying a key priority as “defend[ing] the homeland, with [China] as the department’s pacing challenge”.

It then increased the budget for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI) from this year’s US$9.1 billion to US$9.9 billion in 2025 – a rise of 8 per cent – while the total defence budget grew by just 1 per cent.

“This request will bolster our ability to defend our country, paced to the challenge posed by an increasingly aggressive People’s Republic of China,” US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

The PDI budget includes money for ballistic missile defence activities that contribute to developing and integrating a joint missile defence system to defend Guam against missile threats, as well as funding for exercises, training and experimentation activities, plus planning and design for military construction investments in the western Pacific.

Austin added that he expected some funding may go towards the construction of new airstrips in the Pacific to avoid an overconcentration of forces.

Another major investment in deterrence capabilities included in the budget request was the development of the latest Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), replacing the nearly five-decades-old Ohio-class.

Construction began in 2020 on the first Columbia-class submarine, which is scheduled to enter service in 2031. The second is expected to begin construction this year after the Defence Acquisition Executive’s (DAE) authorisation in September 2023.

The Pentagon allocated US$9.9 billion for the submarine budget, up US$3.7 billion from the US$6.2 billion allocated in 2024. The rise was attributed to “increases for the submarine industrial base and in advance procurement costs for the FY2026 submarine”.

“[The Columbia-class submarines’] defining characteristic will be the ability to launch ballistic nuclear missiles as part of America’s strategic deterrence,” Timothy Heath, a senior international defence researcher at the US-based think tank Rand Corporation, said.

“The new submarine will also feature a quieter electric engine system, an improved nuclear power system that should reduce maintenance downtime and greater overall durability, which should enable each submarine to serve for 42 years.”

With the budget request focusing on deterring Chinese military activities, analysts said submarines would become more important in the Indo-Pacific region in the future.

“Equipped with the latest technology, these will be exceptionally difficult to target. Therefore, states in conflict with the United States will be under the continual threat of nuclear attack,” said John Bradford, executive director of the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies and a former US Navy officer.

“China’s advances in undersea warfare are certainly keeping the US engaged with upgrading its own capabilities,” he said. “This upgrade will ensure the status quo nuclear deterrence situation remains in place even as anti-submarine warfare technology improves.”

Collin Koh, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said Washington’s investment in the Columbia-class submarines comes from an “urgent need” to replace the ageing Ohio-class SSBN – with the understanding that a sea-based deterrent is more secure for a second strike than other “nuclear triads” such as intercontinental ballistic missiles or strategic bombers.

“It isn’t [only] designed for the Pacific,” Koh said. “But I think overall, there are broader concerns in the US about the ongoing strategic stability with … China and Russia because both of these so-called rival countries are also building up their own nuclear capability.”

‘Systemic’ China-US rivalry could last a decade: Washington envoy Nicholas Burns

Beijing has also recently been focusing on increasing its submarine capabilities. In August last year, a report from the China Maritime Studies Institute of the US Naval War College said China’s latest Type 096 SSBN will be quieter and have significant improvements over its predecessor, posing “profound implications for US undersea security”.

In December, Beijing appointed submarine expert Hu Zhongming as the new PLA Navy commander.

Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Washington-based think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said the US submarines still have a “major qualitative advantage” over China. They are all nuclear-powered, compared to China’s diesel-powered submarines, and the US submarines have a longer history of conducting operations globally.

However, he said Beijing is modernising “virtually all areas of its navy”. The PLA has made submarines a priority, steadily adding nuclear-powered attack submarines to its fleets, including six SSBNs that provide credible sea-based deterrence.

“In East Asia, China has a home-field advantage. Most of its submarines do not venture far from China’s own shores while US submarine forces are globally deployed,” Hart said.

“That too is changing, though, as China is increasingly looking to field its submarines farther from China, in places like the Indian Ocean,” he said. “Its force of SSBNs is particularly important. China is undertaking an unprecedented and rapid expansion of its nuclear forces.”

Heath, from the Rand Corporation, stressed that “submarine operations are important in the Indo-Pacific just as they are for all naval operations” due to their ability to fire anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles. He said both the US and China are expected to continue investment in their submarine capabilities.

“Modern anti-ship missiles have rendered large surface ships, such as aircraft carriers, extremely vulnerable. Submarines are especially effective at sinking enemy ships, and thus the US Navy could be expected to rely heavily on submarines to fight a Chinese invasion of Taiwan,” he said.

Meanwhile Koh, from the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said the “cat and mouse game” is likely to persist between the undersea forces of China and the US, and Washington’s enhancement of its allies and partners, such as Aukus and its trilateral ties with Tokyo and Seoul.

“The problem is that in the region, we don’t have any mechanism that can, in a way, forestall such an eventuality,” Koh said. “So I think we might potentially see the risk of the sea encounters and the sea incidents because of that.”

Apple to pay $490m to settle claims it misled investors over sales in China

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/15/apple-tim-cook-settlement-misleading-investors-iphone-sales

Apple has agreed to pay $490m to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging chief executive Tim Cook misled investors about a steep downturn in iPhone’s sales in China that culminated in a jarring revision to the company’s revenue forecast.

The preliminary settlement filed Friday in Oakland, California, federal court stems from a shareholder lawsuit focused on the way Apple relayed information about how iPhone models released in September 2018 were performing in China, one of the company’s biggest markets.

Cook signaled that the new iPhones were off to a good start during an investor conference call in early November 2018, according to the complaint.

That reassurance dissolved into a huge letdown on 2 January 2019 when the Cook issued a warning that Apple’s revenue for the just-completed quarter would fall $9bn below management’s forecast for the period. What’s more, virtually all of the sales drop was traced to weak demand in China.

It marked the first time Apple had cut its revenue guidance since the iPhone’s release in 2007 and triggered its stock price to plunge 10% in the next day of frenetic trading, wiping out more than $70bn in shareholder wealth.

Apple vehemently denied Cook deceived investors about the iPhone’s sales in China between early November and early January. The company maintained that stance in the settlement documents, but said it decided to make the payment after more than four years of legal wrangling to avoid an “overly burdensome, expensive, and distracting” hassle.

The settlement was reached through a mediator after US district judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers rejected Apple’s request to dismiss the case and set a 9 September trial date.

Gonzalez Rogers is now being asked to approve the settlement in a hearing scheduled for 30 April.

Thousands of shareholders who bought Apple stock in late 2018 could be eligible for a piece of the settlement, which will be distributed from of a pool that will be less than $490m after lawyers involved in the case are paid. The attorneys plan to seek up to one-fourth, or about $122m, of the settlement.

The $490m payment represents less than 1% of the $97bn profit that Apple pocketed during its last fiscal year ended in September. Apple shareholders who have held on to their shares have become wealthier too. Apple’s stock price has more than quadrupled from where it stood after Cook’s China warning, creating an additional $2 tn in shareholder wealth.