• Beijing says Philippines made ‘illegal landing’ on disputed reef in South China Sea
• What Philippine use of legal weapons could mean for South China Sea dispute with Beijing
• China’s central bank has named 2 new academic advisers, who are they?
• Apple CEO Tim Cook meets BYD, other key mainland suppliers in Shanghai as US tech giant opens 57th China store
• China’s monetary policy mix more ‘effective, obvious’ than Western-style quantitative easing, focused on economic goals
• Why are so many countries rethinking their relations with China?
• China warns foreign hackers are infiltrating ‘hundreds’ of business and government networks
• China, EU financial regulators disembark on voyage through choppy waters in search of common ground
• Fury on China social media as woman aborts baby after boyfriend refuses to pay US$31,000 bride price
• Flying naked: Chinese scientists find laser weapons can strip the coating off hypersonic missiles with unexpected ease
• Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto congratulated by China’s Xi, US’ Blinken over victory amid election challenges
• Article 23: China hits back at criticism of Hong Kong’s hardline new security law
• ‘Too cool’: retired China doctor-turned-fashion-blogger, 70, struts stuff on Paris Fashion Week catwalk
• Chinese study sheds light on how proteins play a role in ageing process
• Tearful little China girl complains to father about ‘endless’ homework in viral video, charms online observers
• Boy’s death a reminder of China’s neglect of ‘left-behind children’
• Tech war: Chinese chip executives put faith in global cooperation despite intensifying US restrictions
• China military’s inroads make US defence of Guam ‘top priority’ in Pacific, top Pentagon officials say
• China’s Shenzhen sees trade swell, with ‘impressive’ volumes to the US amid tech war

Beijing says Philippines made ‘illegal landing’ on disputed reef in South China Sea

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3256271/beijing-says-philippines-made-illegal-landing-disputed-reef-south-china-sea?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese coastguard has “handled an incident” involving dozens of Philippine nationals who landed on a disputed reef in the South China Sea on Thursday, Beijing said.

China’s coastguard said in a statement on its official social media accounts that 34 people had had “ignored warnings from the Chinese side and illegally landed” on Tiexian Reef, part of the northern Spratly Islands.

The statement did not say whether the Filipinos were military personnel or civilians. It also did not say if they had been detained or expelled by the Chinese coastguards.

“Law enforcement officers of the Chinese coastguard landed on the reef, investigated and handled the incident in accordance with the law,” coastguard spokesman Gan Yu said, without further elaborating.

He said China has an “indisputable” sovereign right to the Spratlys, including the reef, and firmly opposed the landing attempt that “violates China’s territorial sovereignty and undermines peace and stability in the South China Sea”.

Beijing protests over ‘recent negative China-related remarks’ by Philippines

“We urge the Philippine side to immediately stop the infringements. The Chinese coastguard will continue to protect our legal rights and enforce the law in waters under China’s jurisdiction,” Gan added.

The reef is located in a strategically important spot of the northern Spratlys.

It is less than three nautical miles (5.6km) west of the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island, where the municipality of the Kalayaan serves as Manila’s administrative centre for the disputed territory.

It is also about 11 nautical miles northeast from Chinese-built artificial island Subi Reef, where Beijing has established a military base and built civilian facilities.

While being disputed by China and the Philippines, these land features and surrounding waters are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, each of whom controlled some nearby reefs.

Thursday’s incident marked another run-in between China and the Philippines.

The two sides have engaged in persistent confrontations around the Second Thomas Shoal in the eastern part of the Spratlys over the past year.

China has repeatedly blocked Philippine attempts to resupply military personnel on a warship that was deliberately grounded there in 1999, and in some cases has used water cannons against Philippine vessels.

China tells Philippines to remove grounded warship from disputed reef

In the most recent incident, four Philippine crew members were injured in a collision between two coastguard vessels earlier this month.

In another recent incident, Chinese coastguard deployed floating barriers at the mouth of the Scarborough Shoal to prevent a Philippine vessel from entering.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea through a loosely defined line known variously as the “nine-dash” or “U-shaped” line, which is contested by the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei.

It is also an area where the US navy frequently conducts what it calls freedom of navigation operations.

What Philippine use of legal weapons could mean for South China Sea dispute with Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3256207/what-philippine-use-legal-weapons-could-mean-south-china-sea-dispute-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

The territorial dispute between China and the Philippines that has been rumbling on in the South China Sea for the past year or so could soon see a new front opening up as Manila considers embedding its claims into law.

Last month senators unanimously approved the Philippine Maritime Zones Bill, which defines the parts of the sea that fall under the country’s jurisdiction and the legal powers that Manila can exercise there, prompting a swift backlash from China.

Beijing protests over ‘recent negative China-related remarks’ by Philippines

Days later, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, without naming any specific countries, said Beijing rejects any “distortion” of maritime law and will fight back against “deliberate infringements” in the waterway.

There have already been a series of clashes between the two countries’ coastguards, including collisions between ships and the Chinese use of water cannon, centred on attempts to bring supplies to troops stationed on the Philippine-held Second Thomas Shoal.

These incidents mean that the vital waterway – which carries one-third of global shipping and contains vast mineral, oil and gas resources – is widely seen as a potentially explosive global hotspot.

But Chinese analysts say that if the act is signed into law, it is likely to further narrow the negotiating room between the two neighbours while jeopardising ongoing talks between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on a code of conduct for the waterway, where there are multiple overlapping claims.

As it would reinforce Manila’s claims over contested islands, reefs and their adjacent waters, the Philippine law could also raise the bar for any future efforts to resolve the dispute between the two countries, according to Liu Xiaobo, director of the Centre for Marine Studies at the Beijing-based think tank Grandview Institution.

“Negotiation should at least be in a space where both sides can be flexible and can compromise, but after you have cemented all the rights through [domestic] legislation, you can hardly compromise,” said Liu, who added that he had seen no sign that the two sides were pushing for territorial talks at present.

Passing the law would tie the hands of future Philippine leaders, who would risk accusations they were breaking the law if they tried to downplay the dispute or a 2016 ruling by an international tribunal that rejected most of China’s claims, according to Ding Duo, deputy director of the Institute of Maritime Law and Policy at China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Hainan.

He also said China’s own position was unlikely to change and warned the new law was “pouring oil on the flames”.

“The dispute is only a small part of the bilateral relationship, the recent moves may be amplifying the dispute. Whenever you talk about China-Philippines relations, everyone’s first reaction is all about the frictions in the South China Sea,” he said.

The recent senate vote on the legislation, which includes an amendment that would allow the Philippines to claim any artificial islands that fall within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), appears to mark a shift in the Philippine public debate over the need to resort to legal means.

Several previous attempts to enshrine Manila’s claims into law have failed to get through the upper house, but several versions of the bill have been passed by the House of Representatives – most recently in May last year.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has identified the legislation as one of his priorities and the final text will be sent for him to sign into law after the two houses reconcile the language in the current versions.

The legislation will “provide the country with a strong diplomatic negotiating tool in pursuing our interests”, Philippine Senator Francis Tolentino, the main sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, said in November.

But according to Zhu Feng, executive director of the Collaborative Innovation Centre of South China Sea Studies at Nanjing University, the bill reflects rising nationalist sentiment in the Philippines.

Zhu added that Washington’s “high-profile” intervention in the South China Sea under its Indo-Pacific strategy had given politicians in the Philippines, a key US ally, the confidence to confront Beijing.

He said the bill, as a “unilateral” act, would be detrimental to regional stability and the ongoing negotiations about code of conduct for the South China Sea.

“[The move] is a huge step backward from the existing achievements that China and Asean have made over the years in maintaining stability in the South China Sea,” he said.

China and the 10-member bloc have set a goal of finally agreeing a code of conduct after years of negotiations by late 2026 and started the third reading of a draft text last October.

Efforts to provide a legal underpinning to the Philippine claims to the South China Sea date back to at least 2009 and the presidency of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, when a law set out the country’s archipelagic baselines, providing a reference point for marking out the country’s territorial seas and exclusive economic zone under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The law identified both the Scarborough Shoal and Kalayaan group of islands, part of the Spratly chain, as belonging to the Philippines, triggering protests from rival claimants China and Vietnam.

It was also seen as a move to lay the groundwork for the 2016 arbitration in The Hague.

China claims most of the South China Sea – an area marked out by the so-called nine-dash line or U-shaped line – but the Permanent Court of Arbitration, a UN body, ruled that there was no legal basis for Beijing’s claim to “historical rights” within the area.

The tribunal also ruled that the Spratly Islands and the Scarborough Shoal are not islands in the legal sense, which opened avenues for surrounding nations to assert rights over those features through an exclusive economic zone.

This is defined as a zone extending up to 200 nautical miles (370km) beyond a state’s coastline where it does not have sovereignty but has the right to exploit the natural resources within that area.

Beijing has consistently said it will not accept The Hague ruling.

Meanwhile, Philippine legislators have been incorporating the tribunal’s findings into the various drafts of the maritime zones bill put before Congress since 2021, including the recently passed versions.

Liu, from the Grandview Institution, said the law might aim to solidify the parts of the arbitration ruling that were favourable to Manila and assert its EEZ claims so that the Scarborough Shoal and Kalayaans would fall within its maritime zones.

A clause stating that “all artificial islands constructed within the Philippine EEZ shall belong to the Philippine government” could provide a basis for developing features in the parts of the Spratly chain controlled by Manila or help challenge construction by other countries, Liu argued.

In recent years China has been developing both civilian and military infrastructure in the parts of the South China Sea it controls, including runways and accommodation for troops, while Vietnam has also stepped up its land reclamation in the Spratlys.

He added that the legislation could also add an air of legitimacy to Philippine moves to “change the status quo”, including in the Second Thomas Shoal where it is seeking to repair a rusting Second World War vessel grounded there two decades ago to reinforce its claims

Beijing has lodged a formal complaint against the bill, which the foreign ministry described earlier this month as an “egregious act” that “will inevitably make the situation in the South China Sea more complex”.

Tolentino said a day later that Chinese officials’ reactions showed that “they are worried as to the future ramifications and consequences” of the maritime zones act.

Zhu, from Nanjing University, said it was possible the law could herald further international legal action from the Philippines, but warned that unilateral legislative actions at home could backfire.

“The Philippines would be hijacking international legal processes … if it were to push for domestic legislation first and then step up litigation abroad,” Zhu said.

“It’s important to return to diplomatic dialogue and engagement to manage disputes and move the South China Sea towards stability and cooperation,” Zhu said. “That’s in the common best interests of China and the Philippines.”

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

Ding, from the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, said any further international arbitration could have a greater impact than the domestic Philippine law, but China had experience of dealing with that situation.

“If you do that again, it won’t solve the problem but set back China-Philippines relations, let the South China Sea issue become more complex and difficult and delay the negotiations on the code of conduct,” he said.

He also warned that it would put Asean in an awkward position and risk splitting the bloc.

Liu also said Beijing could respond to the Philippine legislation by marking out its territorial baselines in seas around the Spratly Islands, which it calls the Nanshas, or clarifying the U-shaped line’s legal status.

“But we may have to consider the negative impact”, he added. “Taking such domestic legislative action will surely further escalate disputes in the South China Sea.”

China’s own domestic law claims the Scarborough Shoal and the Spratly Islands as part of its territory and asserts its sovereignty and rights over various nearby maritime zones.

But it has yet to formally declare the geographical boundaries of the maritime zones for those two contested areas.

Liu said he was not optimistic about tensions between the two countries easing.

He expected Macros would continue to take a tough stance against Beijing, while China had a “limited” range of ways to respond.

“Maintaining the status quo is certainly best for us,” he said, adding that the use of force would only draw Washington more deeply into the region through its mutual defence treaty with the Philippines.

But he said China did still have some advantages, including a bigger coastguard than the Philippines.

He also said that the BRP Sierra Madre, the old warship that Manila grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal in 1999, was at increasing risk of collapse.

He said the Philippine side’s recent efforts to repair the ship, which serves as a makeshift base for its troops, showed they sensed the urgency of the matter, adding: “When it comes to keeping the status quo, time is on China’s side.”

China’s central bank has named 2 new academic advisers, who are they?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3256225/chinas-central-bank-has-named-2-new-academic-advisers-who-are-they?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s central bank has appointed two prominent economists to its policy advisory body at a time when Beijing is embarking on a new mission to become a financial superpower and secure a leading position in the global digital economy race.

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) on Tuesday named Peking University’s Huang Yiping and Tsinghua University’s Huang Haizhou as its new academic advisers.

Huang Yiping, a former chief Greater China economist at Citi, and Huang Haizhou, a former executive of the China International Capital Corporation (CICC), have replaced Cai Fang and Liu Shijin as the academic members of the committee.

Cai, a prominent labour economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, joined the committee in 2021, while Liu, an advocate of government and enterprise reform who is a former deputy director of the Development Research Centre of the State Council, had been on the committee since 2018.

‘A whole new ball game’: China’s central bank looks to learn from US blunders

Peking University National School of Development head Huang Yiping was previously on the panel between 2015 and 2018.

An opinion leader in the development of China’s digital currency, Huang Yiping worked at Barclays following his experience at Citibank, while he holds a doctorate in economics from the Australian National University.

Huang Haizhou, who is a professor at Tsinghua University’s PBC School of Finance, was a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund and Barclays before becoming a senior executive at the CICC.

Having taught at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and London School of Economics, Huang Haizhou is known for his insights on the global financial landscape.

The PBOC has pledged to deepen global financial cooperation and accelerate the internationalisation of the yuan, while maintaining a loose monetary policy, this year.

The monetary policy committee, chaired by PBOC governor Pan Gongsheng, is typically made up of top officials from economic and financial regulatory bodies, as well as several academic advisers.

Wu Qing, the newly appointed head of China’s securities watchdog, vice central bank chief Xuan Changneng and foreign exchange regulator Zhu Hexin are among other replacements on the committee.

But unlike the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) within the US Federal Reserve, which maintains a large degree of independence, the monetary policy committee is not independent from the Chinese government.

The monetary policy committee holds a meeting every quarter and submits advice to the State Council, which gives the final approval on key moves, including interest rates changes and the value of the yuan.

While the FOMC sets the direction of monetary policy in the United States by meeting at least eight times a year to vote on decisions such as interest rates, the PBOC committee does not have voting rights.

At a forum in Beijing last week, Huang Yiping called for a balance between expanding domestic consumption and increasing government investment amid increasing criticism of overcapacity from the West.

Urging authorities to look into the issue, he said, “we have enough investment to create new production capacity, but it is also best to have corresponding demand to absorb such newly added production capacity”.

Huang Haizhou said at the same forum that China should pursue more technology breakthroughs and seize new opportunities brought about by artificial intelligence.

“Macroeconomic policies are important to economic growth for developed countries, but for China, structural reforms are also very important,” he said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook meets BYD, other key mainland suppliers in Shanghai as US tech giant opens 57th China store

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3256260/apple-ceo-tim-cook-meets-byd-other-key-mainland-suppliers-shanghai-us-tech-giant-opens-57th-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Apple chief executive Tim Cook’s whistle-stop tour of Shanghai has put the spotlight on three key suppliers in mainland China, as the US tech giant looks to soothe concerns of a manufacturing supply chain shift out of the world’s second-largest economy.

At Apple’s office in Shanghai, Cook on Wednesday met two billionaire company founders: Wang Chuanfu, the chairman and chief executive of the world’s largest electric vehicle maker BYD, and Zhou Qunfei, the chairwoman and chief executive of touch screen manufacturer Lens Technology.

Also present at the meeting was Chen Xiaoshuo, chief executive at electronic components manufacturer Shenzhen Everwin Precision Technology.

Cook’s get-together with the three contract manufacturing partners was held ahead of the opening on Thursday of a new Apple Store in Shanghai’s Jing’an district, the centre of China’s financial hub. It is the 57th Apple Store in the company’s Greater China region, which includes Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

The meeting reflected Cook’s efforts to give assurances to Apple’s supply chain partners on the mainland, even as the company’s other electronics contract manufacturers diversify their operations into countries like India and Vietnam.

Cook said Apple has been expanding its supply chain in China and increasing investment over the past 30 years, according to his interview with China Daily on Wednesday.

“There’s no supply chain in the world that’s more critical to us than China,” Cook said in the report.

To support its operations on the mainland, Apple announced last week the expansion of its applied research centre in Shanghai to support all of its product lines and the opening of a new lab in southern tech hub Shenzhen later this year.

Shenzhen-based BYD – founded by Wang, 58, in 1995 – has been an Apple supplier since 2008. BYD started with processing metal casings used for various Apple products.

The Chinese conglomerate, which is backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, has since expanded its contract-manufacturing activities to glass and structural components, as well as specific assembly work for devices including the iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch.

In a move to accelerate that business, BYD last year acquired US-based Jabil’s mobile electronics manufacturing business for 15.8 billion yuan (US$2 billion).

Lens Technology – founded in 2003 by Zhou in Changsha, capital of southern Hunan province – has been an Apple partner since 2006. After supplying glass screen protectors for the first-generation iPhone, the Chinese firm now produces glass and various metal components for a range of Apple products including the latest Vision Pro mixed-reality headset.

Zhou, 54, told Cook that the cover glass of the Vision Pro was “the most difficult product [to develop] in my 35-year career”, according to a report by Thepaper.cn.

Everwin Precision, meanwhile, has been working with Apple on the application of recycled materials in the company’s various products, Chen was quoted as saying in the Thepaper.cn report.

The Shenzhen-based firm started working with Apple in 2012 as a supplier of metal components for Mac computers. It now also supplies components for the Apple Watch and Vision Pro.

By noon on Thursday, hundreds of Apple enthusiasts – some of whom arrived the night before – queued patiently outside the company’s new retail store to take part in its grand opening, according to various Chinese social media posts.

Many lined up for the usual gifts and freebies that have become a tradition for a new Apple Store opening.

The gift box for the Jing’an store – including a sticker, a pin and a canvas bag with Apple logo decorated with a Yulan magnolia – has already been posted on online second-hand goods trading platform Xianyu, where it is being sold for up to 500 yuan. Xianyu is operated by Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the South China Morning Post.

China’s monetary policy mix more ‘effective, obvious’ than Western-style quantitative easing, focused on economic goals

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3256251/chinas-monetary-policy-mix-more-effective-obvious-western-style-quantitative-easing-focused-economic?utm_source=rss_feed

A senior central bank official has hinted that China would not adopt Western-style quantitative easing, saying Beijing’s mix of liquidity tools and credit allocation is more effective in reflating the national economy.

“The pass-through effect of the [central bank’s] monetary policies is effective and obvious when compared with foreign central banks,” Xuan Changneng, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), said on Thursday without specifying any overseas agencies.

“The credit growth rate is also maintained at a level conducive to achieving our economic goals,” he added, citing that the PBOC has used its 45 trillion yuan (US$6.2 trillion) of assets to encourage 244 trillion yuan of commercial bank loans for the economy.

Xuan’s comments came at a time of increasing calls for stronger policy support to achieve this year’s “around 5 per cent” economic growth target, but while Beijing’s financial system is heading in a different direction under President Xi Jinping’s financial superpower vision.

Beijing previously complained about the unprecedented monetary loosening in the United States in 2020, which was aimed at fighting the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, but led to worldwide inflation.

Subsequent tightening by the US Federal Reserve, as its benchmark interest rate was raised from 0.25 to a 22-year high of 5.5 per cent between March 2022 and July 2023 to combat inflation, also posed a huge challenge to some vulnerable emerging markets.

Xuan said foreign central banks unleash liquidity through quantitative easing or tightening to adjust liquidity because their statutory reserve requirement ratios (RRR) hover at about zero.

The ratio is vital to adjust the amount of money commercial banks must hold as reserves, while it also affects market liquidity.

China cuts banks’ reserve ratio, signals more tools in pipeline to quell fears

“They have little room to manoeuvre [in terms of RRR],” added Xuan, who on Tuesday was named as a new member of the PBOC’s monetary policy committee.

“[However,] China’s average reserve requirement ratio is still at 7 per cent, implying an ample and important means of pumping liquidity into the market.”

The PBOC surprised the market with a 50 basis point cut to the reserve ratio in January, although no other cuts of major policy rates have been announced since August, despite financial regulators vowing to lower financing costs.

Given the wide interest rate gap with the US, China’s monetary authority is widely believed to have limited options to cut its policy rate as any changes would increase capital outflows.

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve held its one-year benchmark interest rate at a range of 5.25 and 5.5 per cent, much higher than China’s medium-term lending facility rate of 2.5 per cent.

Chair Jerome Powell, though, raised the US economic growth forecast from 1.6 to 2.1 per cent in 2024, with the US Federal Reserve also staying on course for its forecast three rate cuts in 2024.

Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at French investment bank Natixis, said the PBOC is under pressure to clarify what it meant when Beijing stressed a flexible but accommodating monetary policy at December’s central economic work conference.

“It has been interpreted that there won’t be fiscal stimulus, certainly no quantitative easing, which has created a lot of asset bubbles as a Western mechanism and Chinese policymakers don’t like it,” she said.

“They are stressing that monetary policy in China will continue to be run in a way very different from the West. They are trying to be very clear on where they are heading.”

China’s central bank has been given a mission to fund the country’s real economy, particularly in tech, green development, inclusive financing, elderly care and the digital economy.

And while no major stimulus is in sight, the PBOC has embarked on a campaign to find funds sitting idle in bank accounts or financial systems.

“[The PBOC] is stepping up monitoring of loans for businesses being converted into deposits or relent to a third party,” Xuan added.

“These funds can be readily tapped to support the economy. And with economic restructuring and upgrades, funds will be more efficiently used.”

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Why are so many countries rethinking their relations with China?

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3256041/why-are-so-many-countries-rethinking-their-relations-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Last year, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte surprised many by taking a stance on the rivalry between the United States and China. In an opinion piece calling for greater support for Ukraine, he expressed doubt about China’s dominance in the 21st century, declaring it to be the century of democracy and America.

This marked a significant shift for the Netherlands towards the Western alliance. It initially had few allies in such a move, but other nations are now following suit.

The allure of China is fading as its main strategies, such as providing loans or building infrastructure, struggle to keep countries in Beijing’s corner. With the Covid-19 pandemic waning and global conflicts reshaping geopolitics, nations are reassessing their relationship with China.

This reassessment is evident worldwide. In South America, Argentina’s new president Javier Milei campaigned on distancing the country from socialist nations, including China, and refrained from joining the Brics bloc. In Asia, the Philippines has scaled back Chinese investments tied to the Belt and Road Initiative while Australia is aligning more closely with the US.

In Africa, Kenya and Zambia are seeking alternatives to Chinese financing. In Europe, Italy has withdrawn from China’s signature infrastructure initiative. Trade between China and Lithuania is almost nonexistent – with China importing just US$60,000 worth of Lithuanian goods at the beginning of 2022 – after the latter allowed a “Taiwanese” representative office to open in its capital.

It is not just Western nations pushing away from China, and neither is it only competitors such as India. Also rethinking China are “domino nations” on which China was betting. Equally surprising is that large economies, who can withstand a showdown with China, are treading a fine line while smaller economies, who have far more to lose, are turning away from Beijing.

Businesses are adopting a new geopolitical paradigm, too. Italian tyre maker Pirelli played its own chess game to stop a Chinese takeover and remain Italian. US computing company Dell wants many of its devices to be China-free within the decade. Taiwanese manufacturing giant Foxconn is diversifying its footprint away from mainland China.

Why are countries rethinking relations with China? There is no single answer. It is an ideological move for some, who would rather be aligned with democracies. For others it is about trust as they worry about Chinese economic coercion. The rest have a range of concerns from safety to misalignment.

However, overshadowing all of these reasons is a profound transformation that challenges decades of Chinese grand strategy: economics no longer drives foreign policy. The new era of rethinking relations with China represents a sharp pivot as everybody seemed to want to win over China just a few years ago. Now, even before China reaches the same level as the US, some are pulling out.

Why China can rest easy if Trump is re-elected US president

There is no greater challenge that China faces to its future standing and weight. For the rest of the globe, rethinking China threatens to further split the world into opposing camps.

First, nations rethinking China could generate new friction between neighbours. Look at central and eastern Europe. While countries such as the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania distance themselves from China, others such as Serbia and Hungary are moving closer into Beijing’s orbit. As the China rethink spreads, echoes of the Cold War could return as borders indicate the end of one tribe and the beginning of another.

Second, the West is raising the heat on those who refuse to pick sides, indirectly prodding them to rethink China. Recently, thousands of Volkswagen vehicles were held up at US ports because a Chinese component breached US forced labour laws. Also, Emirati AI firm G42 announced it was divesting itself from China and acquiring US hardware after it was investigated by the CIA. These moves send a clear message to not get too close to China.

Third, the decision to rethink China does not necessarily translate into moving closer to the US. The West faces internal divisions, while outside the West nations such as India and Saudi Arabia are attempting to lead with their own ideas and incentives. All of this means the balance of power is not just fluctuating between China and the US but among many countries as the number of nations seeking to lead on the world stage grows.

More than a year after Rutte’s declaration, the Netherlands shut down its consulate in Chongqing. For the Dutch, it is full steam ahead when it comes to rethinking China.

But while some nations make their allegiances known, others are striving for neutrality. For instance, Canada freezing participation in the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank has not inspired similar moves elsewhere. Similarly, when Norway’s sovereign wealth fund shut down its office in China, no other countries followed suit.

US TikTok hysteria pushes key questions about the app to the margins

However, the real takeaway is not how many countries are distancing themselves from China but the fact that some are willing to do so, each with their own reasons. What was once unthinkable for China is now a harsh reality.

Therein lies three great challenges facing the world. First, how long will Western countries tolerate others staying neutral while attempting to maintain relationships with both sides? Second, is there a possibility that China could compel nations to pledge unwavering allegiance to Beijing? Finally, as nations reconsider their ties with China, might they find themselves re-evaluating relationships with other global actors?

While the answers to these questions are still unknown, one thing is certain: tomorrow’s geopolitical landscape will look very different from today’s.

China warns foreign hackers are infiltrating ‘hundreds’ of business and government networks

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3256216/china-warns-foreign-hackers-are-infiltrating-hundreds-business-and-government-networks?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s state security authority warned that the networks of “hundreds” of Chinese business and government units have been infiltrated by an overseas hacking group and urged citizens to step up cybersecurity.

The Ministry of State Security on Thursday posted the message on its official WeChat account to highlight hacking and ransom risks, which it said could cause “huge economic losses and leakage of sensitive information” as cyberattacks by foreign agencies have been “rampant” in recent years.

“If [sensitive and secret information] were collected by foreign spy agencies or someone with an ill intention, it could endanger our national security severely,” it said.

It did not identify the hacking group’s name or location.

US moves against cybersecurity ‘risk’ posed by China-made port infrastructure

Beijing has expanded efforts in cybersecurity compliance in recent years amid a perceived increase in attacks by foreign agencies.

China and the United States, in particular, have exchanged accusations of state-backed cyberattacks with targets ranging from universities to critical infrastructure and supply chains.

The WeChat post cited an example of a typical attack in which a “hi-tech enterprise” was blackmailed after its infosystem and data were encrypted and controlled by the foreign hacking group, interrupting daily operations.

It said hackers often used phishing emails, targeted software loopholes and injected code to gain access to a victim’s device. The ministry urged people and organisations to report any attacks or ransom threats to national security authorities.

The ministry said earlier this week on WeChat that foreign forces had increased efforts to spy on and collect information from Chinese “information infrastructure”, creating “real threats” to national security.

It stressed that authorities have the right to “freeze assets or [impose] other sanctions” if foreign individuals or organisations “attack, invade, interfere, or damage” the country’s critical information infrastructure.

Chinese security agencies tell students studying abroad to beware of spy risk

China enacted the Cybersecurity Law in 2016 to establish a framework for cyberspace sovereignty and to govern the storage and transfer of personal information and important data by network operators.

It later implemented the Data Security Law in 2021 to further regulate the ways that data should be managed and processed.

The country has intensified its monitoring of small and medium-sized enterprises to implement technical safety measures. It is also preparing to expand the severity and scope of penalties for data protection violations under the Cybersecurity Law this year.

The chairman of the top legislature’s standing committee, Zhao Leji, named the revision of the law as one China’s national security legislative tasks this year during the National People’s Congress annual meeting earlier this month.

China has expanded counter-espionage efforts in recent years, including expanding the scope of its anti-espionage law last year to cover cyberattacks. Beijing has increasingly warned of intelligence threats from overseas and accused the US of hacking networks like Huawei’s.

But China has also been accused of breaching foreign government networks and planting malware in US infrastructure networks – an accusation it has consistently denied.

China, EU financial regulators disembark on voyage through choppy waters in search of common ground

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3256228/china-eu-financial-regulators-disembark-voyage-through-choppy-waters-search-common-ground?utm_source=rss_feed

With an eye toward a horizon in which the world’s financial systems can be safeguarded and improved, Chinese and European regulators set off this week on what analysts deemed a maiden voyage – one that looks to be a long and arduous journey.

In its first set of meetings, the China-EU Working Group on Financial Cooperation laid the foundation for a new communication channel in which grievances can be hammered out. And it comes at a time when bilateral financial concerns appear to be rising among industry players and regulators.

“Financial authorities from both sides exchanged views about the respective macroeconomic and financial stability situations, as well as on the regulatory and supervisory architecture in place in China and the EU, respectively,” the European Commission said in a statement on Wednesday, following the meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

And the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) added in a separate statement that discussions covered cross-border data transfers, a financial monitoring framework, capital market improvements and sustainable financial operations.

China’s EVs find greener pastures with free-trade partners amid US, EU barriers

China’s side involved authorities with departments concerning securities and foreign exchange, and the EU delegation was led by John Berrigan, a European Commission official in charge of financial stability, financial services and capital markets union.

Their exchange came on the heels of a similar mechanism set up between Beijing and Washington last year to deepen their economic relationship and discussions. Its third meeting took place in January.

But compared with those dialogues, which are more “clouded by the nature of their strategic rivalry”, the Chinese and European representatives seemed “pretty satisfied with their discussions”, according to Ding Chun, a professor specialising in European studies at Fudan University.

“[It] is a maiden voyage on which both sides have laid out issues they are concerned about,” Ding said. “It is not just an ordinary communication mechanism.”

The working group was set up following the outcome of the 10th China-EU high-level dialogue on trade and investment in September, which aimed to deepen financial cooperation between the two sides.

Zhou Yu, head of the PBOC’s international department, said the face-to-face talks with European and American counterparts will help address on-the-ground problems in the future.

With Beijing expressing a desire to further open up China’s financial sector, Zhou said that leadership is working to curtail hindrances to cross-border financial data flows.

“In our communication with major economies, we often exchange views on international financial trends, global economic and financial stability, and other issues,” she said at a press conference on Wednesday. “This kind of communication and exchange is also a global public good, and it helps promote global financial stability.”

EU slows China de-risking plans in face of member state resistance

The EU, with a de-risking strategy high on its agenda, launched countervailing investigations into Chinese electric-vehicle producers in October and an anti-subsidy probe into China’s state-owned train maker in February.

Rolf Langhammer, a professor with the Germany-based Kiel Institute for the World Economy, said that China’s rising debts, yuan depreciation and property crisis have raised worries over investors’ onshore interests.

“EU actors in the financial sector may feel discriminated against by local financial actors with respect to market entry and ‘behind border measures’,” he said, clarifying these as “national treatment”.

“On the other hand,” he said, “China fears repressive actions in the EU against Chinese portfolios and direct investment in the EU.”

As for their new working-group chat, Langhammer said there was “not much more to expect than just a ‘housewarming’ and an exchange of papers”. And he expected that there is still “a long way” to go in their efforts to agree on “common actions to make the financial system more resilient against crises”.

Wang Yiwei, director of Renmin University’s Centre for European Studies, said that the working group laid a solid foundation for both parties to resolve problems in the future.

“The United States has hiked their [interest] rates more than 10 times,” he added, referring to a flurry of such moves over the past couple of years. “The working group [with the EU] is a platform for both sides to discuss and hedge risks together.”

Fury on China social media as woman aborts baby after boyfriend refuses to pay US$31,000 bride price

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3255048/fury-china-social-media-woman-aborts-baby-after-boyfriend-refuses-pay-us31000-bride-price?utm_source=rss_feed

A 35-year-old woman who aborted her five-month-old fetus after her boyfriend refused to pay an agreed bride price of 220,000 yuan (US$31,000) has sparked debate on mainland social media.

Tingting, from Fujian province in southeastern China, who has two children from a previous marriage, became pregnant two months after starting a relationship in August 2023.

When her boyfriend, Liang, who promised to marry her, delayed paying the agreed bride price, Tingting ended her pregnancy at the five-month gestation period, Shanghai Morning Post reported.

Tingting said that, in October 2023, Liang and his family told her they had made sure they could afford the 220,000-yuan bride price.

However, because Liang kept his money in the bank to invest in wealth management products, he could not give her the bride price until December.

“Can you wait for two more months?” Liang asked Tingting.

She agreed she would wait, but suggested he pay part of the bride price and get a marriage licence. Liang refused and again asked her to wait.

“OK, I will wait,” Tingting told Liang, who had also been married before.

The pregnant bride-to-be was immersed in happiness and looking forward to starting a new life with her new man.

As soon as December approached, she pressed Liang again about the bride price, but noticed he kept avoiding the conversation.

Tingting was surprised when Liang told her his mother was preparing to use the money to renovate her home.

“Is her home renovation more important than us getting married?” she asked him.

Tingting had already agreed that after they married she would be willing to share some of the bride price with his mother for her home.

“It’s our joint property, so you can use it,” she said.

In the end, Liang did not pay her the money, explaining that he was worried her family would give it to their son who was also planning to get married.

“My parents promise that they will not take the bride price from me,” Tingting assured him.

At this point Tingting told Liang she would end her pregnancy.

Although he did not support her decision, she went ahead with the termination at the beginning of this year. Then she left him.

However, she kept asking him for an apology and compensation.

The story has divided opinion on mainland social media.

“Aborting the baby is right, otherwise she and the baby would suffer,” one online observer said.

“The bride price is too huge, isn’t it?” said another.

Bride price disputes often go viral in China.

In July 2023, a man who complained on a government website about being asked to pay 288,000 yuan (US$40,000) by his girlfriend’s parents, was widely ridiculed on mainland social media.

A month earlier, a man broke up with his girlfriend after her parents demanded a bride price of 380,000 yuan (US$53,000).

Men in China customarily pay the woman’s family a bride price of between 10,000 and one million yuan, but the government has taken steps to reform such wedding traditions.

In February, a local authority in southern China introduced an incentive scheme for newlywed families to cap the bride price at 39,000 yuan by offering them top priority in the choice of school for their children.

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Flying naked: Chinese scientists find laser weapons can strip the coating off hypersonic missiles with unexpected ease

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3256181/flying-naked-chinese-scientists-find-laser-weapons-can-strip-coating-hypersonic-missiles-unexpected?utm_source=rss_feed

When using laser weapons to defend against hypersonic missiles, cranking up the power does not automatically guarantee better outcomes.

That is what a team of aerospace defence engineers and scientists from Beijing found after conducting wind tunnel tests to examine a scenario in which a missile travelling at Mach 6 is hit by a laser beam.

When the beam’s power density reached 1kW/sq cm, it caused significant peeling of the coating on the missile’s surface.

This special coating is what gives China’s hypersonic weapons their edge. Without it, they would be prone to overheating, destabilising or even falling apart mid-flight.

But here’s the kicker: when the scientists doubled the laser’s power density, the area of peeling actually decreased.

“Under the influence of hypersonic airflow, the coating sustains more damage when hit by a lower-powered laser,” wrote a team led by senior engineer Lin Jian with the Chinese Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese academic journal Physics of Gases in January.

China plans to build a giant rail gun to launch hypersonic planes into space

The academy, located in the Chinese capital, is affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the nation’s largest aerospace defence contractor. It was founded in 1956 by Qian Xuesen, the father of Chinese aerospace, and is one of the main institutions for research and development of hypersonic weapons in China.

The debate rages on about the viability of lasers as a countermeasure against hypersonic weapons. Proponents argue that lasers have a low cost of operation and can travel at near the speed of light in the atmosphere, making them one of the best means to counter the threat of hypersonic weapons.

But opponents claim current laser technology produces insufficient power and has limited range, making it difficult to cause effective damage to incoming missiles within a limited time frame.

Lin’s team said previous research had not accurately replicated the conditions of hypersonic weapons flying in the atmosphere, with “airflow always playing a cooling role”.

“In actual flight environments, aircraft are usually heated up,” they wrote.

Current research also fails to consider the feedback interference of burning on the airflow.

“The destruction of materials by laser irradiation is bound to change the structure of the airflow field, and the corresponding mechanism of airflow on the material will also change,” Lin and his colleagues said.

In new wind tunnel experiments, they found that the vaporised material under laser action forms a very complex interfering flow structure in the Mach 6 airflow and evolves into a droplet-shaped shock wave on the surface of the aircraft.

Under the high-power beam of 2kW/sq cm, the coating can be burned through in one second, and then the burning damage extends to the underlying metal material.

At a lower power density of 1kw/sq cm, the laser is not enough to damage the base metal, but the energy diffusion is obvious, causing more peeling of the coating material, they said.

A popular belief is that the coating of hypersonic weapons can withstand temperatures of thousands of degrees Celsius, making them highly resistant to laser attacks.

Li’s team found that this is true in static conditions, as lower power density lasers cannot cause any damage to the coating.

However, during high-speed flight, the hot air promotes burning, “causing the upstream coating to quickly detach under the viscous action of the airflow,” they wrote.

Previously, the main goal of laser weapon development was to burn through the hull of the target. Now, the discovery of coating destruction “promises to broaden the horizons of application for laser countermeasures,” Li’s team said.

This experiment also highlights the challenges in using lasers to shoot down China’s hypersonic weapons.

In a 2020 test conducted by the US military, a 150kW laser weapon took 15 seconds to shoot down a low-speed small drone. In that amount of time, a hypersonic missile could travel at least 30km.

According to calculations by some scientists, the current megawatt-class lasers being developed in the US can only generate light spots on a target – and that is with power densities of hundreds of watts per square centimetre. To cause damage to targets at long distances, the laser power may need to be increased to the gigawatt level.

Even if future laser weapons achieve this level of power, scientists and engineers developing hypersonic weapons can still mitigate or even avoid burns by improving coating materials or allowing the missile body to rotate in flight.

Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto congratulated by China’s Xi, US’ Blinken over victory amid election challenges

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3256204/indonesias-prabowo-subianto-congratulated-chinas-xi-us-blinken-over-victory-amid-election-challenges?utm_source=rss_feed

World leaders from China to Malaysia and the United States have congratulated Prabowo Subianto after Indonesia’s election commission announced he had won the presidential poll, with Chinese President Xi Jinping hailing the two countries’ friendly ties and seeking the “construction of a community with a shared future”.

“I attach great importance to the development of China-Indonesia relations and look forward to working together with President-elect Prabowo to lead the construction of a community with a shared future between the two countries to achieve greater results, create an example of major developing countries sharing a common destiny, unite, cooperate and seek common development, and serve as a model for the two peoples, that will bring more benefits to our people and inject strong impetus into regional and global prosperity and stability,” Xi said in a statement given to Chinese state news agency Xinhua on Thursday.

The congratulatory messages from Xi and others came as Prabowo’s two rivals, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo, said they would issue constitutional challenges over the result, citing allegations of irregularities and fraud.

Some cry foul play as Indonesia’s Prabowo is set to be named president

Although analysts have been split over whether Prabowo will maintain outgoing President Joko Widodo’s economic cooperation with China – which has helped fuel much of Indonesia’s rapid infrastructure development over the last decade – or if he will adopt a more confrontational stance towards Beijing in line with some of his past nationalistic rhetoric, many believe he is likely to take the former route given his ambitious growth promises.

“I don’t foresee that there will be any drastic changes. China will still be one of the biggest investors in Indonesia,” said Yohanes Sulaiman, an international relations lecturer at the University of Achmad Yani in West Java.

“The only problem is if there is an escalation in the South China Sea, or when China does things that are considered offensive to Indonesian sovereignty. Prabowo is more nationalistic, he will be like [Philippine President Ferdinand] Marcos Jnr; his reaction will be very extreme,” he added.

In terms of defence collaboration, Sulaiman expected Prabowo to lean closer to the West than China, continuing the country’s partnership with the US and Europe that had been forged for decades.

“Militarily, Prabowo himself is closer to the US and Europe, than China. China cannot assume that it will get a replacement for Jokowi whose policies will be exactly like Jokowi’s. China must be more careful,” Sulaiman said, referring to Widodo’s popular nickname.

Indonesia’s election commission released its official tally late on Wednesday, declaring that Prabowo, who is Widodo’s defence minister, won the February 14 election with around 58.6 per cent of the vote.

Shortly after the announcement, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in a Facebook post that he was the first world leader to congratulate Prabowo on his victory.

“This is quite meaningful because it symbolises the value of friendship between Malaysia and Indonesia, which is very special as a close and important neighbouring country,” Anwar said. “Both of us are determined to strengthen bilateral relations that cover various aspects as neighbouring countries and pledge to cooperate closely in various multilateral forums, especially within the scope of Asean.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement congratulating President-elect Prabowo and lauding “the Indonesian people for their robust turnout and commitment to democracy and the rule of law”.

“The United States and Indonesia are celebrating 75 years of our diplomatic relationship grounded in democracy and pluralism. As close partners and friends under our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, we are working hand in hand to deliver a better future for our citizens. We look forward to partnering closely with President-elect Subianto and his administration when they take office in October,” Blinken said.

Will Indonesia’s Prabowo be investigated for pre-election fraud?

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also released a statement on Thursday saying that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had sent a congratulatory letter to Prabowo conveying “his intention to work together on bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas as well as on regional and global issues, touching on the bilateral relationship that was elevated to a Comprehensive and Strategic Partnership last year, when the two countries celebrated the 65th anniversary of their diplomatic relations”.

Prabowo also received congratulatory cables from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the Saudi Press Agency, in which they wished the Indonesian people further progress and prosperity.

US President Joe Biden sent a congratulatory letter to Prabowo on March 12, which was delivered by Yohannes Abraham, the US’ ambassador to Asean.

“Together, we have also safeguarded international stability, including forging a future for the Indo-Pacific that is free, open, prosperous, and secure. Your partnership as Indonesia’s Minister of Defence has been critical in these efforts,” Biden wrote.

Despite the announcement of the Prabowo’s victory by Indonesia’s election commission, his two challengers do not consider the results a settled matter.

Anies on Thursday filed a complaint with the country’s Constitutional Court contesting Prabowo win over allegations of irregularities and fraud.

“We officially submitted the request for an election dispute petition to the Constitutional Court,” Anies’s legal chief Ari Yusuf Amir told reporters outside their campaign headquarters.

Prabowo’s campaign has been mired in allegations that President Widodo had interfered in the electoral process in a bid to establish a political dynasty. His eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, was in the race as Prabowo’s vice-presidential running mate.

Will Jokowi seek to lead Indonesia’s oldest party to ‘secure his legacy’?

Anies’ team said the aim of the complaint was to improve future elections and Indonesia’s young democracy, which emerged from decades of autocratic rule in the late 1990s.

In October, Widodo was widely criticised after the Constitutional Court, then led by his brother-in-law, issued a controversial ruling that allowed political candidates to be exempted from the minimum age requirement of 40, if they had previously been elected to office, paving the way for 36-year-old Gibran, the current mayor of Solo, to join Prabowo’s ticket.

“[Anies’ complaint] is a good thing, because this is the worst election that we have after Reformasi,” said Bivitri Susanti, a constitutional law expert with the Jakarta-based Jentera Law School. Reformasi refers to a period where Indonesia transitioned into democracy following the resignation of dictator Suharto in 1998.

“From the start, the legitimacy of the Prabowo-Gibran pair was already low. Gibran could run in the election by using the connection that he has in the Constitutional Court, which was his uncle. In other countries, this would be a big scandal,” she said. “Aside from filing a lawsuit to the Court, I think that political parties in the House of Representatives should use their rights to inquire against the government.”

Anies’ team said the aim of the complaint was to improve future elections and Indonesia’s young democracy.

Anies, who earned 24.9 per cent of the vote in the election commission’s official tally, refused to concede after the results were released, condemning Prabowo’s route to victory.

“Leadership that was born out of a process tainted by cheating and violations will result in a regime that will produce policies that are full of unfairness, and we don’t want this to happen,” he said in a statement.

Ganjar Pranowo, who was the candidate for the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), also said on Thursday his team was preparing to file a complaint with the Constitutional Court over the election results, that would be submitted on Friday or Saturday.

“If Ganjar and his team do file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court, then the trial process will be more intense and more dynamic,” said Wasisto Raharjo Jati, a political researcher with the National Research and Innovation Agency.

‘Vulgar’: Indonesia’s Jokowi slammed for awarding Prabowo 4-star military rank

The open-trial nature of the court could “educate the public that this year’s elections are not completely free and fair in principle. Many behind-the-scenes dealings are in opposition to that principle”, Wasisto said.

“If it is proven that there have been serious violations of the law, there could be potential for re-election, but the chance for that is still small.”

Prabowo was widely predicted to win the presidency on his third attempt, after losing in 2014 and 2019.

His legal team was confident the result would not be successfully challenged because of his majority and wide margin of victory, local media has reported.

He will take over for Widodo in October after a transition period.

With additional reporting from AFP

Article 23: China hits back at criticism of Hong Kong’s hardline new security law

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/21/article-23-national-security-law-china-criticism-of-hong-kong-controversial

China has accused western governments and the United Nations of slander after they criticised Hong Kong’s new national security law, which was rushed through the city’s pro-Beijing parliament this week.

The law, known as Article 23, covers newly defined acts of treason, espionage, theft of state secrets, sedition and foreign interference. Critics said it was ushering in a “new era of authoritarianism”, would further erode the rights and freedoms of residents, and would scare off international business and investment.

US state department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Tuesday the US believes the law has the potential to accelerate the closing of a once open society. Patel said the crimes outlined in the legislation are poorly defined and that Washington was analysing the potential risks to US citizens and American interests.

The UK, Australia, Japan, Canada and the UN also lodged concerns, while the EU said in a statement the new law had the potential to “significantly” affect the work of its office in the city, as well other organisations and companies.

But the criticisms were dismissed by Beijing’s diplomats. China’s ambassador to the US, Liu Pengyu, said the new law was “legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach”.

Liu said it was aimed only at “a tiny minority of individuals that are involved in offences seriously jeopardising national security”.

“Foreign institutions, enterprises and personnel’s normal activities will be fully protected,” he said, saying the US criticism was unfair because it too has many domestic national security laws.

At a regular ministry of foreign affairs press briefing on Wednesday, spokesperson Lin Jian said China’s leadership “strongly deplore and firmly oppose individual countries and organisations’ slandering and smears against the safeguarding national security bill of Hong Kong”.

Lin said the law “upholds the fundamental principle of respecting and protecting human rights and protects in accordance with the law the rights and freedoms which the residents of Hong Kong enjoy”.

The law was passed unanimously in Hong Kong’s opposition-free parliament on Tuesday, after an unusually short 12-day legislative process and a limited public consultation period of just one month. Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, had called for the law to be processed “at full speed”.

Authorities said the vast majority of responses from the public were positive, and dismissed many of the negative submissions as coming from “overseas anti-China organisations” or fugitives.

Emily Lau, a veteran pro-democracy politician and former legislator, told the Guardian on Thursday she felt the low number of negative responses were likely due to “self-censorship” in the city, after a years-long crackdown on opposition. “My feeling is there are people who have other views but dare not speak out,” she said.

Jeffrey Wasserstrom, a professor of Chinese history at the University of California, said the new law seemed to be the government adding “more levers” to their crackdown.

Reuters contributed to this report

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‘Too cool’: retired China doctor-turned-fashion-blogger, 70, struts stuff on Paris Fashion Week catwalk

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3255032/too-cool-retired-china-doctor-turned-fashion-blogger-70-struts-stuff-paris-fashion-week-catwalk?utm_source=rss_feed

A 70-year-old retired doctor from southwestern China has stunned mainland social media after she was invited to model on the catwalk at this year’s Paris Fashion week.

Qin Huilan walked the runway for the brand Miu Miu at the beginning of this month, along with international supermodels and celebrities including May Andersen, Gigi Hadid, and Liu Wen, Liuzhou Evening News reported.

She wore a long grey coat with silver embellishments, a pair of oversized metallic gloves, a black scarf, a leather bag and shoes with pointed toes.

Qin looked just like a professional model in the outfit, said online observers who praised her elegance and confidence.

Before retiring, Qin was a doctor in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southern China. She and her husband moved to Shanghai to live with their son a few years ago.

Qin became an online fashion influencer when she began showing what she wears in her daily life online with help and encouragement from her son.

Since 2022 she has acquired 33,000 followers on Xiaohongshu, China’s Instagram, and 16,000 fans on Instagram.

She has so far appeared in advertisements for fashion brands such as Moncler, and has been interviewed by magazines including Marie Claire and Vogue Hong Kong.

Qin said that she received a direct message and then an official invitation from Miu Miu several weeks ago.

“I prepared for the Paris trip in a short time. I used translation software to overcome the language barrier and demonstrated, through my actions, that age is not an issue for me,” said Qin, who is affectionately called Aunt Qin on social media.

She said she originally planned to go to Paris with her son, but he could not make it due to a delay in his visa. So Qin travelled alone.

It was the first time she had been to Europe and she confessed she felt “worried and at a loss at what to do”.

“But finally I decided to try it out of curiosity and a desire to meet the challenge,” Qin wrote on her social media account.

“I was a doctor caring for patients before. Who could imagine that I could be standing here on the catwalk in Paris at the age of 70?” she added.

Qin said she used to dress casually, sometimes wearing her son’s and her husband’s clothes. Her curiosity was aroused and her style changed after she began browsing the fashion magazines her son bought.

Online photos of Qin show she often chooses designs by Miu Miu and Prada.

“I’d like to encourage everyone who is confused at any stage of their life not to give up their dream!” Qin said.

Her debut in Paris has attracted a flood of compliments on mainland social media.

“She is too cool. Although there are traces left of the years on her face, what we are enthralled with is Auntie Qin’s self-confidence and calmness,” said one online observer.

“Looking at Auntie Qin’s firm steps, we have every reason to believe that there’s always hope for a person who has a dream. As long as you are willing to try, it’s never too late,” said another.

Chinese study sheds light on how proteins play a role in ageing process

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3256164/chinese-study-sheds-light-how-proteins-play-role-ageing-process?utm_source=rss_feed

Scientists have long suspected that a protein called PAPPA could play a key role in ageing, but a new Chinese study has found that it is not acting alone.

Increased levels of the protein were found to be a “common driver” of ageing in many types of human cells. But the researchers said this was actually triggered by a family of signalling proteins called sirtuins, which are important for regulating metabolism.

The finding could deepen understanding of the ageing process and help researchers find ways to intervene, according to the team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology and Beijing Institute of Genomics.

The researchers – led by Liu Guanghui and Qu Jing from the zoology institute and Zhang Weiqi from the genomics institute – reported their findings in the peer-reviewed journal Developmental Cell on March 13.

PAPPA, or pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A, is so named because it was first identified as one of four proteins found at high levels in the plasma of pregnant women – though its function was unknown for decades.

Millennials, you’re old: why age is catching up with them faster than boomers

In the latest study, levels of PAPPA were found to be significantly higher in the plasma of the elderly than in the young, “suggesting that this protein could serve as a potential biomarker for human ageing”.

Sirtuins, meanwhile, have been targeted by scientists investigating whether calorie restriction slows down ageing.

The academy noted in a statement that there had been few systematic comparative studies of the biological functions of PAPPA and sirtuins, and that it was not well understood how they worked together.

For the study, the team first looked at how sirtuins work. Using a technique called genome-targeted editing, they obtained human embryonic stem cells in which the seven sirtuins – known as SIRT1-7 – were separately removed. They found that a deficiency in any of the seven led to accelerated cellular ageing.

Trouble sleeping? A plant-based diet could help. How, what and when to eat

The study also shed light on the process of ageing. When one of the seven sirtuins was missing, it gave PAPPA room to move and led to abnormal gene expression which then triggered cellular senescence – when cells stop dividing.

“This result provides new insights to elucidate the mechanism of human stem cell senescence and offers new clues and ideas for assessing and intervening in ageing,” according to the paper.

It is the institutes’ latest research collaboration on ageing. In November, the team said they had identified a unique group of cells surrounding the motor neurons in the spinal cord which could accelerate the ageing process.

Tearful little China girl complains to father about ‘endless’ homework in viral video, charms online observers

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3254943/tearful-little-china-girl-complains-father-about-endless-homework-viral-video-charms-online?utm_source=rss_feed

The story of a sweet little girl in China complaining to her father about having too much homework has delighted mainland social media.

The girl, from Henan province in central China, was filmed by her mother on March 6 crying and saying she was tired and could not cope with her homework any more.

She sought comfort in a hug with her father, Wutong Video reported.

In the clip, the girl and her father are sitting on the couch at home. She buries her face in his chest and weeps. Her father holds her close and taps her gently on the back.

“Why do I have so much homework? How can I finish it?” she asks, bursting into tears.

“Too tired, right?” the father asks her.

“Very tired, very tired,” she tells him.

Her mother, who was behind the camera, giggled at their conversation.

“Dad will save you,” the father says, adding: “Let’s stop doing homework for now. We’re taking a rest.”

Though still weeping, she appeared to calm down.

“Too much homework makes my hands tired,” she tells her dad, who wipes the tears from her face with a tissue. Her mother could not stop herself from chuckling again.

The story has captivated many people on mainland social media.

“Hahaha, she is very cute,” one person said.

“She is great. She knows how to express her emotions,” said another.

“Yes. Instead of lecturing the girl, the father shows he understands her feelings. What a loving family,” a third said.

In China, the pressure to succeed in education has been fueled by high unemployment figures among the 16-24 age group.

After hitting new highs between April and June 2023, unemployment among that demographic reached 21.3 per cent and only began dropping below 20 per cent in July.

As a result, academic pressure for young children in primary schools has increased.

In October 2023, a student in northwestern China called the local education authority more than 10 times in an hour to report that his school had held extracurricular classes during the week-long National Day holiday.

In another incident, in September of the same year, an 11-year-old boy from Shanghai who argued with his parents about the pressure of homework, left a goodbye note and ran away from home in the middle of the night.

Boy’s death a reminder of China’s neglect of ‘left-behind children’

https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3255988/boys-death-reminder-chinas-neglect-left-behind-children?utm_source=rss_feed

On March 10, a 13-year-old from a junior high school in Handan city, in China’s northern Hebei province, went missing. A day later, his body was found in an abandoned vegetable shed with injuries to his head and back. The police acted quickly. On the same day, they detained three of the victim’s classmates on suspicion of murder.

The case has shocked the public. The three students, aged between 12 and 14, may be the youngest murder suspects China has seen in a long time. A police investigation is ongoing, and no formal arrest has been made. But there has been abundant discussion over whether the children need to be punished if found guilty.

In the past, only those 14 and older could be held responsible under criminal law. But in 2020, a new amendment lowered the age to 12 on a case-by-case basis, depending on whether “cruel” methods were used to injure or kill.

Many in the public have called for a severe punishment. But there has been little discussion of the core of the issue: what changed the children?

The suspects and victim had one thing in common – they are part of a large demographic known as the “left-behind children”. Their parents are migrant workers, part of the hordes who left for the big cities for work and who helped built the wonder of China’s rapid urbanisation.

But they couldn’t always take their children. Some were too busy, had no stable housing or faced restrictions in enrolling their children in city schools, so many left them at home in the care of elderly grandparents.

According to Beijing Sanzhi Shelter for Children in Distress, an NGO for migrant workers’ children, in 2020, 108 million children in China were unable to live with both parents, a figure that had increased by over 30 million since 2010. Among them, nearly 67 million were left-behind children.

These children don’t always receive the care they need. Often, the elderly are barely able to keep them safe and well-fed, let alone educate them or care about their mental health. In 2012, five boys, the children of busy farmers and migrant workers, ran away from their village in Guizhou and were found dead in a rubbish bin in Bijie city. In 2014, a Guizhou village teacher was arrested after at least 12 schoolgirls reported rape, 11 of whom were reportedly left-behind children.

Left-behind children typically suffer parental neglect and this has psychological consequences. They may grow to resent their parents, become rebellious, seek suicide, drop out of school or become troublemakers.

Why so many young Chinese are depressed – and how Beijing can help

When the notorious Hunan gangster Liu Junyong was sentenced to death in 2006 at the age of 35 for his deadly crime spree, his background sparked a conversation about left-behind children. His father left to find work soon after he was born and his mother joined his father once Liu was in middle school, leaving him in the care of his grandmother. The boy who did so well in school started to neglect his homework and his grades began to slip; he eventually dropped out and began his descent into crime.

Social workers generally advocate that children live with their parents, one worker told me. They send people to check on left-behind children from time to time in the villages and also help those who move to the city adapt to urban life. But there is only so much grass-roots organisations can do, as the biggest obstacle is government policy.

When rural children move to a city, their hukou or household registration makes it very difficult for them to enrol in school there. A city hukou is usually attained by being born in the city, working there for years or through a talent programme.

Over the years, the government has tried to fix the issue, asking for more kindergartens to be built in cities and making it less difficult for migrant workers’ children to attend schools. A new points system takes into account how many years parents have worked in their adopted city, whether they have bought a house or own a small business, and allocates slots in school to their children based on these scores.

But the changes are too small and slow in the face of such a deep-rooted issue, the social worker told me. He called for more radical hukou reforms or for the system to scrapped. But this is unlikely. “In the end, it’s the children who are sacrificed,” he said.

Tech war: Chinese chip executives put faith in global cooperation despite intensifying US restrictions

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3256131/tech-war-chinese-chip-executives-put-faith-global-cooperation-despite-intensifying-us-restrictions?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top semiconductor executives attending an annual industry gathering called for tighter collaboration with their global peers, but none of them addressed the elephant in the room: growing US export curbs on advanced chip technology.

Semicon China kicked off in Shanghai on Wednesday amid signs that the US is planning to intensify sanctions against Chinese chip firms. The Biden administration may blacklist several semiconductor companies connected to Huawei Technologies, according to a Bloomberg report published on the same day.

But for veterans in the Chinese chip industry, the country will remain a key part of the international semiconductor supply chain.

Chinese chip companies are excited about the progress made by US chip designer giant Nvidia, founded and helmed by Taiwan-born American businessman Jensen Huang, according to Chen Nanxiang, chairman of China’s top memory chip maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation.

Chen also serves as chairman of the China Semiconductor Industry Association, a 744-member trade group.

“China’s semiconductor market belongs to the world, while the world’s semiconductor market also belongs to Chinese companies,” Chan said. He added that speeches made previously by Huang convinced him about the future of the global semiconductor market, which Semicon China projected will top US$1 trillion by 2030 on the back of AI-related chip demand.

Nvidia developed three new data-centre graphics processing units – the H20, L20 and L2 – specifically for Chinese customers after its A800 and H800 GPUs, tailor-made for Chinese clients to comply with an earlier version of US export controls, were banned from being sold to China in October.

While Nvidia is not allowed to export many of its best chips to China, including the new Blackwell GPUs B200 and GB200, the powerful chips raised major attention in the country amid an intensifying AI race with the US.

Neither Nvidia nor Huawei are taking part in this year’s edition of Semicon China.

New developments in AI and electric vehicles will boost demand for chips, with global semiconductor sales expected to grow between 13 to 16 per cent this year to reach around US$600 billion after an 11 per cent drop last year, according to Ju Long, president of Semicon China.

Global sales of semiconductor equipment dropped by a lower-than-expected 1.9 per cent last year, thanks to a 28 per cent jump in demand from China to US$36 billion, Ju said.

China, the world’s largest semiconductor market, relies heavily on imports to meet its demand for advanced chips, tools and software, making the country vulnerable to US sanctions.

The global chip tool market is still monopolised by foreign companies, including Dutch firm ASML and US firms Lam Research, Applied Materials and KLA, which together control 85 per cent of the market, according to Zhao Jinrong, president of Naura Technology Group, a key tool supplier to Chinese foundries.

However, none of the keynote speakers directly mentioned US sanctions or their impact on China’s chip industry.

This year’s Semicon China has brought together more than 1100 exhibitors, most of domestic companies, according to the official list of participating firms.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, China’s top foundry, is not an exhibitor this year despite being based in Shanghai.

China military’s inroads make US defence of Guam ‘top priority’ in Pacific, top Pentagon officials say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3256148/china-militarys-inroads-make-us-defence-guam-top-priority-pacific-top-pentagon-officials-say?utm_source=rss_feed

The growing sophistication and range of Chinese missile technology further from its shores has made the defence of Guam a top priority for the US Navy in the Pacific as Beijing becomes increasingly aggressive in the waters around Taiwan and the South China Sea, top Pentagon officials told Congress on Wednesday.

The call for more funding, speed and capability comes as the People’s Republic of China invests in air-to-air missiles able to strike far beyond visual range as well as in conventionally armed intercontinental missiles and an increased number of nuclear warheads as part of the People’s Liberation Army’s burgeoning capabilities.

Guam’s defence system “is certainly the top priority”, Admiral John Aquilino, commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, testified before the House Armed Services Committee.

“I’ve articulated the requirement … which is a 360-degree, integrated air-and-missile defence capability for Guam that would protect our citizens and protect the forces that we need, and that includes ballistic, hypersonic and cruise-missile threats.”

The Pentagon is asking Congress for some US$400 million to help defend the US territory, which would likely play a key role in any invasion of Taiwan. Guam is located about 1,800 miles (3,000km) from mainland China’s Fujian province.

In addition, the US Army said it needed US$7.2 billion to upgrade Guam’s crumbling infrastructure and safeguard against global warming, while the US Air Force would like US$22 billion for similar purposes.

Aquilino cited the example of storms that have slammed into the island, including super typhoon Mawar in 2017, barely affecting the underground power-distribution system at Guam’s Anderson Air Force Base but hammering other parts of the system dependent on above-ground infrastructure.

“The ability to sustain Guam is essential,” he said.

Taiwan to stage offshore live-fire military drills after incidents in area

After Guam on the Pentagon’s wish list for the Indo-Pacific is the creation of a seamless “blind, see, kill” network aimed at taking on China, military officials told the House hearing on US military policies in the region ahead of funding for fiscal year 2025.

The ambitious plan would give US military and regional allies a single “pane-of-glass” view of the battlefield to everyone ranging from enlisted soldiers on desolate islands to allied warships and commanders overseeing a conflict from thousands of miles away.

“We need to track it and then we need to shoot it,” Aquilino testified on Wednesday. “I don’t care what tracks it, I don’t care what shoots it, we just got to hit it.”

“They all have to come together to be able to execute at speed and there’s not a lot of time for decisions when you’re talking about intercontinental ballistic or ballistic missiles,” he added.

Officials also stressed, however, that avoiding conflict through deterrence was always preferred. China in the past three years added more than 400 fighter aircraft, 20 major warships and more than doubled its inventory of ballistic and cruise missiles, they said.

Conflict in the region “is neither imminent nor inevitable” and the Pentagon “is doing more than ever to keep it that way with the help of US allies and partners”, said Ely Ratner, US assistant secretary of defence for Indo-Pacific security affairs.

“We’re building on historic momentum with our allies and partners towards a regional force posture that is more mobile, distributed, resilient and lethal,” he added.

But James Moylan, Guam’s delegate to the US House of Representatives, cited some of the frustration of the island’s residents as its geographical location has attracted heightened Pentagon attention.

Chinese navy teams up with coastguard in rare joint missile exercise

The US military is the largest consumer of power on the island but is exempt from the periodic electricity brownouts and blackouts, said Moylan, who is not authorised to vote in Congress.

Furthermore, some 40 per cent of shipments moving through the port are military cargo, yet the US military’s trucks are the only ones that do not have to comply with weight limits, leading to significant road damage.

“The military is the only organisation exempt in Guam,” the army veteran and former parole officer testified. “The people of Guam have come to a consensus that the federal government must contribute to the reconstruction of our infrastructure.”

Despite rising demands for Pentagon resources and manpower fuelled by the Ukraine war and the fight to counter Houthis’ harassment of shipping in the Middle East, the US would stay committed to the Indo-Pacific and countering Beijing, officials said.

Pentagon needs to become more nimble to counter China threat, US lawmakers told

“The administration has been moving to realign the budget towards the China challenge,” Ratner said.

“This year’s budget would invest US$2.3 billion more in Indo-Pacom than last year. That’s a nearly 20 per cent increase,” he added, referring to the US Indo-Pacific Command with its 380,000 American personnel.

Aquilino, who testified on Wednesday for his last time before retiring, described China as “a competitor with the United States today, tomorrow and in the future”.

“They’re not going away,” he said, adding: “All of it, the entire strategic approach by Indo-Pacom, is designed to prevent this conflict.”

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China’s Shenzhen sees trade swell, with ‘impressive’ volumes to the US amid tech war

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3256116/chinas-shenzhen-sees-trade-swell-impressive-volumes-us-amid-tech-war?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s southern tech hub saw a big rise in exports during the first two months of the year, buoyed by electric-vehicle demand and an influx of deals with countries included in the Belt and Road Initiative.

And analysts say the promising trade figures reported by Shenzhen could bode well for the central government’s goal of growing China’s economy by around 5 per cent this year while fending off geopolitical obstacles and Western tech curbs.

The value of goods shipped from the city during the two-month period reached 441.4 billion yuan (US$61.3 billion), which marked a year-on-year increase of 53.1 per cent, according to customs figures released on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the value of imports rose by 31.9 per cent, to 233.74 billion yuan.

The combined total value of foreign trade, at just over 675 billion yuan, was up 45 per cent from a year prior in the home base of US-sanctioned telecoms leader Huawei Technologies, tech giant Tencent, electric-vehicle firm BYD and drone maker DJI.

With ‘made-by-China’ under US pressure, Mexico’s trade probes spark concerns

All trade figures and comparisons were provided in yuan terms, rather than US dollars. Meanwhile, some analysts have pointed out that China’s promising trade data to begin the year was owed in part to a relatively weak base effect from last year.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) became Shenzhen’s largest trading partner during the year’s first two months, as the trade value rose 58.1 per cent to 106.92 billion yuan. It was followed by Hong Kong, the United States, Europe and Taiwan.

Sales to the US rose 62.4 per cent, year on year, while Europe-bound shipments rose 20.9 per cent, customs figures indicated, without giving the total values.

The city’s trade with countries participating in the belt and road, which links economies into a China-centred trading network, reached 249.1 billion yuan, up 57.8 per cent from the same period in 2023.

Private firms led the growth, as their trade value jumped 72.4 per cent, year on year, and their proportion of all trade with Shenzhen increased by 11.4 percentage points to 71.6 per cent.

“It is indeed impressive that exports to the US rebounded so much,” said Peng Peng, executive chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform, a Guangzhou-based think tank. “Usually, growth in exports to Asean is accompanied by a decline to the United States.”

Peng said the city’s export rebound was likely to boost business confidence and could suggest less pain from supply-chain shifts in the short term.

“The next step is to see how the geopolitical landscape changes after the US presidential election or after the Russia-Ukraine war,” he said.

‘Something must change’: EU chamber warns of unfolding ‘train accident’ with China

Shenzhen is China’s top exporting city and home to 2.01 million enterprises – more than 99 per cent of which are small and medium-sized firms. The city has also found itself caught up in the battle for tech supremacy between Beijing and Washington.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has put some major Shenzhen companies – including Huawei, DJI, semiconductor designer Corad Technology and facial-recognition technology supplier Cobber – on its export blacklist.

Washington’s tech-containment efforts and attempts to reduce exposure to China’s supply chains have compounded the external uncertainties facing the world’s second-largest economy this year.

Among Shenzhen’s exports in January and February, mechanical and electrical products accounted for 295.5 billion yuan of the value – a year-on-year increase of 30.2 per cent.

BYD alone exported 36,700 new-energy vehicles worldwide in the first two months of this year, up 47.22 per cent from a year earlier, according to Liu Feng, one of its managers, as quoted by the state-run Shenzhen Special Zone Daily.

That demand helped drive sales of related components and materials, the newspaper reported.

Shenzhen’s trade volume rose with all of its top-10 export destinations, which accounted for 73.9 per cent of the total, in January and February.