• South China Sea: Beijing warns Philippines against ‘escalating situation’ after latest Second Thomas Shoal face-off
• Meet the Australian-designed, Chinese-made video conferencing robot challenging Zoom, Google Meet in the workplace
• Apple CEO extols Chinese suppliers at Beijing forum as iPhone sales dip while Huawei gains
• Chinese scientists say their AI model can mark the best spots for double-faced solar panels
• China’s latest African building contracts prove ‘stadium diplomacy’ is a winning formula
• No longer in Belt and Road Initiative, Italy focuses on strategic ties with China, leaders invited to Beijing this year
• Shy China science man, 40, finds calling after a jobless 2 decades by teaching quantum mechanics on social media
• Creative young China fliers dodge airline luggage fees by wearing layers of clothes to become walking wardrobes
• Chinese-owned tanker hit by Houthi missiles in Red Sea – days after China told its ships are safe
• Testing the waters: Chinese researchers find hope for life-threatening kidney injuries in the deep
• China ready to remove barriers for foreign companies, Premier Li Qiang tells international forum
• China targets group of MPs and peers with string of cyber-attacks
• China’s Communist Party officials used press coverage of corruption to undercut rivals, study of 2000-2014 data shows
• China’s construction for Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara to lead growing overseas city-building portfolio
• For Many Reasons, Fewer Chinese Students Attend US Schools

South China Sea: Beijing warns Philippines against ‘escalating situation’ after latest Second Thomas Shoal face-off

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3256528/south-china-sea-beijing-warns-philippines-against-escalating-situation-after-latest-second-thomas?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing on Sunday warned Manila to stop provocations and not to “escalate the situation” after the latest encounter between the Chinese coastguard and a Philippine supply vessel near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

The fresh warnings from China’s defence ministry came after the Philippines accused its coastguard of blocking a supply boat off the Second Thomas Shoal and firing water cannons at it.

The hour-long incident on Saturday injured members of crew and caused “significant damage” to the vessel, the Philippine coastguard said.

The Philippine military also released footage of a white ship repeatedly dousing another vessel sailing alongside it with a water cannon. One clip showed two white ships simultaneously firing water at the same vessel.

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

Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said China sternly warned the Philippines “to stop making any remarks that may intensify conflicts and escalate the situation, and stop all infringement and provocations”.

“If the Philippines repeatedly challenges China’s bottom line, China will continue to take resolute and decisive measures to firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests,” Wu said.

The ministry echoed a Chinese coastguard statement that the Philippine convoy “forcibly intruded into the area despite the Chinese side’s repeated warnings and route controls”. The Chinese carried out “control, obstruction and eviction in accordance with law”, the statement added.

Wu said China’s coastguard had “resolutely foiled the Philippines’ provocative attempt” to deliver supplies to its warship grounded at the Renai Reef, the Chinese name for the shoal.

The incident “was entirely caused by the Philippines’ provocation”, and China’s handling of the incident was “reasonable, legal, and professional”, he added.

The Philippines earlier described the manoeuvres undertaken by the Chinese side as “irresponsible and provocative”.

It was the second such encounter this month in the South China Sea, the strategic, resource-rich waterway over which Beijing makes vast territorial claims.

It follows several similar confrontations in the past year as Philippine vessels conducted resupply missions to the Second Thomas Shoal, where Manila has stationed a small number of troops on a warship it deliberately grounded in 1999 to reinforce sovereignty claims.

The shoal is part of the Spratly Islands – called Nansha in Chinese – where Manila and Beijing are among the rival claimants. The Philippines has outposts on nine reefs and islands in the Spratlys, including Second Thomas Shoal – which it calls Ayungin.

Wu said China was willing to properly resolve the dispute with the Philippines through dialogue and negotiation, but the Philippines had “betrayed its promise” and tried to reinforce its position by turning the warship into a permanent facility.

This “China will never sit idly by and ignore”, he said.

State broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) released a video clip of the encounter on social media on Saturday. The footage showed a person on a Philippine vessel waving what the post said was a “white flag”.

China’s actions were so “complete” and “decisive” that “the personnel on board the Philippine supply boat even waved a white flag”, an unnamed “expert” told the Global Times, a nationalist Chinese paper affiliated with the People’s Daily – the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.

Collin Koh, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said Beijing was trying to push a narrative of Philippine “surrender” as public emotions ran high.

“The [China] side would like to argue that the Filipinos were waving a ‘white flag’. The way I see it, it’s merely waving a piece of white fabric, perhaps a white shirt, to call on the CCG to desist,” Koh said, referring to the China Coast Guard.

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Meet the Australian-designed, Chinese-made video conferencing robot challenging Zoom, Google Meet in the workplace

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3256523/meet-australian-designed-chinese-made-video-conferencing-robot-challenging-zoom-google-meet?utm_source=rss_feed

Growing up, Marita Cheng has been fascinated with technology, particularly robots. So when the Australian engineer with Hong Kong roots turned 24 in 2013, she founded Aubot, a robotics company that aims to create products that help people with their daily lives.

Today, Aubot’s flagship product is the Teleport, a teleconferencing robot that roams around the office, allowing remote workers to talk to their on-site team members.

With a 10-inch screen attached to a height-adjustable pole and three wheels, the Teleport can be controlled using a laptop keyboard and offers a more natural interactive experience than typical meeting software like Zoom, Cheng said.

“With Zoom, you have one perspective … because [people] usually adjust the camera so that [others] just see [them] in a good way,” said Cheng in a recent interview with the Post. “Whereas with a Teleport, it’s more real in that it’s not as curated.”

Since it shipped in 2016, the Teleport – priced at A$4,980 (US$3,250) – has also been used for conducting remote tours in museums, as well as enabling children with long-term illnesses to continue their learning from home or the hospital, according to Aubot.

As a private company, Aubot does not publish its sales or user statistics.

While the Teleport is primarily sold in Australia, Cheng said the robot is produced in Shenzhen, China’s southern tech hub known for its established manufacturing industry.

Raised in Cairns, Australia by her migrant mother, Cheng comes from a large family in Hong Kong. Visiting home frequently as a child, she became curious about manufacturing in China and yearned for a first-hand experience.

“There’s a lot of deep skills in manufacturing [in Shenzhen], which made it easy to work with suppliers to prototype quickly and solve engineering challenges together,” Cheng said, adding that the Teleport’s final assembly and quality control are still conducted in Melbourne, Australia.

Cheng, who was named one of Forbes’ World’s Top 50 Women in Tech in 2018, said she has dreamed of making robots ever since she read a story book about a boy that has nanobots in his body to keep him energetic.

“My mum would ask me to do the dishes or clean the floor, and while I did that, I’d think it would be so good if there was a robot doing this instead,” Cheng said while wearing a pair of robot-shaped earrings.

Cheng said the tech industry is still male-dominated, but she is committed to breaking gender barriers.

Back in 2008, when she found out there were only five women in her class of more than 50 students studying mechatronics engineering and computer science at the University of Melbourne, she co-founded Robogals, an organisation that encourages girls to study engineering and related fields.

Today, Robogals is an international student organisation with presence in 10 countries.

While Cheng said there are still people who look down on her as a female entrepreneur, she tries to focus on things she can control.

“I’m just trying really hard to hit our goals and achieve our impact,” Cheng said. “I really like [the idea of] being too good that they can’t ignore you.”

Apple CEO extols Chinese suppliers at Beijing forum as iPhone sales dip while Huawei gains

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3256534/apple-ceo-extols-chinese-suppliers-beijing-forum-iphone-sales-dip-while-huawei-gains?utm_source=rss_feed

Apple chief executive Tim Cook lauded the “huge contribution” that Chinese suppliers have made to the iPhone maker’s carbon-neutral goals, at a high-profile summit hosted by the Chinese government and attended by Premier Li Qiang.

At the China Development Forum, which kicked off in Beijing on Sunday and runs through Monday, Cook took to the stage to address high-profile attendees that include top-level Chinese government officials and more than 80 foreign business executives.

Chinese suppliers “are not just receptive to the [carbon neutrality] goal, they’ve been innovating and figuring out new ways of doing things”, he said.

Cook’s appearance at the forum, Beijing’s answer to the World Economic Forum’s summit in Davos, Switzerland, was the latest stop of the CEO’s jam-packed trip in China, where the US giant has been struggling with declining sales while trying to diversify the geographic footprint of its supply chain.

On Friday, Cook met China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao to discuss Apple’s operations in the country and Sino-US economic and trade ties, according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce.

“China has a massive market … highly-qualified talent and a stable and open business environment … this means huge opportunities for global companies, including Apple,” the statement read. “China welcomes Apple to deepen its foothold in the country.”

Apple has been shifting some of its production to countries such as India and Vietnam amid rising US-China tensions, and after stringent pandemic restrictions in late 2022 triggered workers’ unrest and delayed shipments at the world’s largest iPhone plant, located in Zhengzhou, China.

During his meeting with Wang, Cook said Apple is committed to long-term development in the country and will keep investing in research and development and the supply chain there, according to the statement.

“There’s no supply chain in the world that’s more critical to us than China,” Cook was quoted as saying in an interview with state media China Daily published on Wednesday.

Apple said earlier this month that it plans to expand its research centre in Shanghai. It also said it will open a new lab in Shenzhen later this year, which is expected to boost its testing and research capabilities for key products, including the iPhone, iPad and Vision Pro mixed-reality headset, according to a company statement.

The company is also exploring a tie-up with Chinese internet search and artificial intelligence giant Baidu to install its Ernie chatbot on iPhones sold in the country, according to a report on Friday by The Wall Street Journal.

Apple is under mounting pressure in the world’s largest smartphone market, where the iPhone faces“ stiff competition at the high end from a resurgent Huawei [Technologies], while getting squeezed in the middle on aggressive pricing by the likes of Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi”, according to market consultancy Counterpoint.

iPhone sales on the mainland fell 24 per cent year on year in the first six weeks of 2024, Counterpoint said.

Apple reported a nearly 13 per cent drop in December-quarter revenue from Greater China, which comprises the mainland, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.

In addition to Cook, foreign executives attending this year’s China Development Forum include Amin Nasser, president and CEO at Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Aramco, Darren Woods, chairman and CEO of US energy giant ExxonMobil, and HSBC group CEO Noel Quinn.

Chinese scientists say their AI model can mark the best spots for double-faced solar panels

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3256515/chinese-scientists-say-their-ai-model-can-mark-best-spots-double-faced-solar-panels?utm_source=rss_feed

A team of Chinese scientists has developed an artificial intelligence tool that could help to locate the best place to install double-sided solar panels, thereby filling a crucial data gap in the green energy industry.

Dual-sided panels are capable of generating more power than their single-faced counterparts. Placing them in the eastern Tibetan Plateau and other places in northwestern China could help maximise solar energy output, the researchers said.

The power-generating potential of a dual-sided photovoltaic (PV) panel depends greatly on how much diffuse solar radiation reaches its rear, the team explained in an article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Remote Sensing last month.

Under the right sunlight conditions, two-sided solar panels can produce more power than conventional ones. However they are difficult to transport and maintain, so finding the optimal location for them is crucial to ensuring the best use of resources.

China is the biggest producer of solar PV modules, accounting for around 80 per cent of the global total.

However, it lacks data that would help determine the best spots to place two-sided solar panels.

The country has just 17 radiation stations that collect data on the amount and type of “solar power” available in a given location. This includes data on direct radiation – beamed straight from the sun to the front surface of a solar panel – and diffuse radiation, which is scattered by the atmosphere and more likely to be picked up by the panel’s rear face.

The equipment at these stations requires annual adjustments and regular maintenance, resulting in considerable operating costs.

To overcome the lack of on-the-ground data, researchers from Tsinghua University in Beijing and the National Tibetan Plateau Data Centre created an AI model based on sunshine data from 2,500 weather stations across China.

The AI was trained on solar radiation data – collected either via ground observation or satellite remote sensing – and surface meteorological data, to predict the amount of direct and indirect radiation at any given spot.

“In principle, this model can be applied on the global scale without additional training with local data,” the team wrote.

China needs 10 times its solar and wind power to be carbon neutral, study finds

Senior author Yang Kun, a professor with the earth system science department at Tsinghua, said the lack of comprehensive radiation data meant there was little information to help the authorities and the solar industry to plan for panel installation sites.

“Now the output of the AI model supported by satellite data can inform decision-making on where and which type of panels to deploy to take full advantage of solar power,” Yang said.

Solar power accounted for close to 5 per cent of China’s electricity output in 2022.

Yang said the AI system also revealed the solar potential of remote areas of China that lack power line infrastructure, and this could inspire future research and policy planning.

China creates electric power in its western deserts equal to half that in US

First author Shao Changkun, a PhD candidate at Tsinghua, said the area surrounding the Taklamakan Desert in the southwestern part of Xinjiang autonomous region, and the eastern Tibetan Plateau were ideal spots for dual-sided panels.

“Direct solar radiation is high on the high-altitude plateau where the air is thinner, while diffuse solar radiation is also substantial thanks to its complex landscape and high cloud coverage,” Shao said.

“Both sides of solar panels will receive sizeable amounts of radiation in these regions.”

The team compared their estimates with radiation data from around the world and found that their AI model had high accuracy, Shao said, adding that combining its inputs with meteorological data from other countries could help the system be used for solar radiation projections globally.

Yang added that the data could also be applied in other fields such as agriculture, as plants have been found to carry out photosynthesis more efficiently under diffuse light conditions.

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China’s latest African building contracts prove ‘stadium diplomacy’ is a winning formula

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3256360/chinas-latest-african-building-contracts-prove-stadium-diplomacy-winning-formula?utm_source=rss_feed

Contracts to build two new major stadiums in Tanzania and Kenya have been awarded to Chinese companies, with observers saying the move is part of Beijing’s long-standing tradition of “stadium diplomacy”.

A 30,000-seat stadium in Arusha, northern Tanzania, and a 60,000-seat one in the Kenyan capital Nairobi will both host football matches during the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon). They are the latest in a long list of stadiums Chinese companies have built in Africa, as part of a longer-term plan by Beijing to boost diplomatic ties by funding large-scale infrastructure projects.

On Tuesday, Tanzania awarded the state-owned China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG) a US$112 million contract to build the arena in Arusha, which will be named the Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan Stadium, after the country’s current president.

According to the Tanzanian minister for culture, arts and sports, Damas Ndumbaro, the stadium will be completed in time for Afcon, Africa’s biggest sporting competition, which Tanzania will jointly host with East African neighbours Kenya and Uganda.

The stadium will also host other activities such as athletics and trade events, helping to boost tourism in the country.

Zhou Zejun, chief engineer at CRCEG in East Africa, told Chinese state news agency Xinhua that inspiration for the stadium’s shape and design will come from Mount Kilimanjaro and the local gemstone tanzanite, while its colours will come from the Tanzanian flag.

“The overall architectural style is light and simple, perfectly integrating the local environment and culture,” Zhou was quoted as saying.

China’s ‘stadium diplomacy’ looking for a win at the Africa Cup of Nations

Meanwhile, in Kenya, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has been awarded the contract to build Nairobi’s Talanta Stadium, a Fifa-standard 60,000-seat football arena also suitable for rugby matches. Kenya’s defence and sports ministries will be official owners of the venue.

CRBC currently operates two other major projects in Kenya – the Standard Gauge Railway and the Nairobi Expressway.

While the cost of building the stadium has yet to be disclosed, it is expected to be completed by December 2025 and will serve as the main venue for Afcon 2027’s opening and closing ceremonies.

Talanta Stadium will be built under a public-private partnership arrangement, the same model CRBC used to fund and build the 27km (16.8-mile) Nairobi Expressway, running from Kenya’s main airport into its capital, which opened in 2022. The company will toll the road for 27 years to recover its investment, before it transfers ownership to the Kenyan government.

At the official stadium groundbreaking earlier this month, Kenyan President William Ruto said: “I have agreed with the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Defence that this stadium will be built to world-class standards with military discipline. I will therefore expect our defence team … to ensure that all the timelines we have agreed are met by the contractor.

“I also expect that there will be weekly and biweekly supervision and I will be here myself every three months until this facility is completed.”

The two venues are just the latest in a long line of arenas built or funded by China as part of its “stadium diplomacy” to win influence with African governments.

The recent 34th Afcon games in Ivory Coast featured at least three stadiums funded and built by Beijing. These included the 60,000-seat Alassane Ouattara Stadium north of Abidjan, also known as the Olympic Stadium of Ebimpe and Ivory Coast’s largest such venue.

There was also the US$107.5 million Laurent Pokou Stadium in San Pedro, funded by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

China is not new to building stadiums in Africa: Kenya’s main sporting facility, the 60,000-seat Moi International Sports Complex in Kasarani, was funded and built by Beijing nearly four decades ago.

According to Chinese nationalist tabloid Global Times, the country has built more than 100 stadiums across Africa.

Observers say the stadiums are part of a wider long-term plan by China to boost diplomatic ties with African countries by funding large-scale infrastructure projects. These have included diplomatic and military education facilities, presidential palaces, parliament buildings, hospitals and foreign ministry headquarters.

Writing in The Conversation in January, Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at SKEMA Business School in France, and Chris Toronyi, a PhD candidate and lecturer at Loughborough University London, said the stadium building was tied in to China’s belt and road ambitions.

“Linked to the Belt and Road Initiative, which is intended to promote trade and foster interdependence between China and other nations, stadiums have frequently been gifted to African nations [or else paid for using relatively cheap loans],” they wrote.

In an interview with the Post in January, Paul Nantulya, a China specialist at the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies in Washington, said the building of stadiums and other aid projects such as presidential palaces, military headquarters and parliaments, was “a cost-effective way of generating political influence with different elites”.

However, he said the projects were invariably add-ons as part of bigger deals.

Whether it was energy projects or building a railway, “you will always find those being included in these deals as a by-product”.

“China is essentially benefiting from those economies of scale,” Nantulya said. Over the past two decades, he said, China had built at least two or three major buildings in more than 40 African countries – or at least 180 buildings by 2021.

But Nantulya said there was more to it than just bricks and mortar. If the buildings were the hardware, there was also a software element to these deals.

In Namibia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, Chinese instructors not only regularly teach at military colleges that Beijing had bankrolled and built, but they also play a role in developing the curriculum.

“It also comes with training, which I call the software aspect of it – and that’s really where the influence comes in,” Nantulya said.

No longer in Belt and Road Initiative, Italy focuses on strategic ties with China, leaders invited to Beijing this year

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3256511/no-longer-belt-and-road-initiative-italy-focuses-strategic-ties-china-leaders-invited-beijing-year?utm_source=rss_feed

Italy’s withdrawal from China’s Belt and Road Initiative has had “no impact” on ties between the two countries, with plans under way for the Italian president and prime minister to visit Beijing, Ambassador Massimo Ambrosetti has said.

Italy’s top diplomat in Beijing told the Post that Chinese authorities had invited President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to visit this year, which marks 20 years of the bilateral strategic partnership.

“This is a confirmation of the positive relations between Italy and China, otherwise these visits would not be on the agenda of our leaders,” he said. “There is political willingness to keep the relations between China and Italy at a very strategic level.”

He said dates for the visits had still to be arranged, but they were “being planned and hopefully they will both take place in 2024”.

He was speaking in Hong Kong on March 15 before attended a performance by Milan’s famed Teatro alla Scala Ballet Company at the Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Questions were raised about the relationship between the two countries after Italy announced last December that it would pull out of the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing’s plan to link economies in Asia, Europe and Africa into a China-centred trade network.

Italy maintained that it was keen to pursue its bilateral strategic partnership which started in 2004, and Ambrosetti said the two countries had been negotiating a three-year action plan to be signed when leaders from the two countries met.

A first step in relaunching the partnership will be taken in the northern Italian city of Verona on April 11 and 12 with a meeting of the Italy-China Joint Economic Committee, to be attended by Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and an official delegation.

Representatives of both countries’ business sector and major corporations are also expected to be there at the same time for a business forum.

Ambrosetti said the bilateral partnership covered relations in the areas of vehicle manufacture, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, culture, people-to-people ties, education, sports and more.

It has been reported that the Italian government has invited Chinese carmakers BYD and Chery to build plants in Italy.

Ambrosetti said Hong Kong had an important role in the bilateral partnership and that the city was “a very significant gateway to China” with unique expertise and know-how.

“It’s the knowledge of the West and the East, with Chinese roots, but the culture was shaped also by Western presence,” he said.

The art of diplomacy? Hong Kong’s cultural role amid Europe’s tense Beijing ties

Hong Kong had also entered another phase of development by being part of the Greater Bay Area, which Ambrosetti said was “one of the most dynamic economic areas in the world”.

The bay area is Beijing’s plan to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in Guangdong province into an economic powerhouse by 2035.

The ambassador’s visit coincided with a variety of Italian cultural activities this month, including Italian Design Day on March 14 when a delegation of designers and architects visited the city.

Italian art galleries will also take part in “Art March” events such as Art Basel, which will start on this week.

Ambrosetti said cultural events could act as a lubricant for international relations as they helped different countries understand each other’s identity and background.

“In international politics, if you don’t understand the cultural background and the mindset of your interlocutors, it’s much more difficult to achieve good results.” he added.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been contacted for comment.

Shy China science man, 40, finds calling after a jobless 2 decades by teaching quantum mechanics on social media

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3255195/shy-china-science-man-40-finds-calling-after-jobless-2-decades-teaching-quantum-mechanics-social?utm_source=rss_feed

A 40-year-old man in China who found his calling – teaching quantum mechanics on social media – after being unemployed for more than 20 years, has become an online sensation.

Li Wei, from Qinghai province in northwestern China, became popular for teaching science in an easy-to-understand way on his Douyin account @waqing.

Such is his popularity, he has accumulating 1.8 million followers.

Since graduating from Jinan University, in the southern province of Guangdong about two decades ago, he had been unemployed because he suffers from social anxiety, Dami Video reported.

“I don’t like dealing with people,” Li said.

He gained a bachelor’s degree in law 20 years ago, but he did not find employment in that field. Instead, he started a small retail business.

“I suffered a great failure,” he said.

The turning point in his career came two years ago when he joined his friend in the photovoltaic business and was surprised to find that lots of people have no knowledge of the technology.

Photovoltaic refers to a special electrical system that produces energy from a renewable and inexhaustible source, usually the sun.

With a strong desire to help people understand, Li came up with the idea of creating clips to teach science using simple everyday words free of jargon.

As he created more teaching videos, he began to realise he was good at it and expanded his subjects to include quantum mechanics and life sciences.

“I’m not an expert. I’m teaching by learning,” he said.

Before creating a video, Li spends at least three days on research.

Apart from eating and sleeping, he immerses himself in learning and seldom speaks during such intense periods.

Apart from the straightforward language he uses, his calm, unemotional voice appeals to fans of his videos.

“Many people say there isn’t any up and down in my voice, making it hypnotic. But they absorb everything while listening,” he said.

His video about the theory of relativity was one of his most popular, and he was proud of the positive online comments it received.

“Some said that, for the first time, they understood the concept of relativity. Others said that even those with a primary school education got it,” Li said.

“It inspires me a lot,” he added.

Li is now a full-time science blogger on Douyin.

The story has captivated mainland social media.

“God has opened a window for him. I hope he gets better and better,” one person said.

“Despite experiencing a series of failures, he finally found his calling. How wonderful,” said another.

“It’s never too late to do what we enjoy,” a third person said.

Creative young China fliers dodge airline luggage fees by wearing layers of clothes to become walking wardrobes

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3255191/creative-young-china-fliers-dodge-airline-luggage-fees-wearing-layers-clothes-become-walking?utm_source=rss_feed

Young adults in China are dodging airline luggage fees by wearing all their clothes instead of packing them, much to the amusement of people on mainland social media.

Amid a post-pandemic travel industry boom, budget airlines in China have seen profits soar. Spring Airlines, for example, reported earnings of more than two billion yuan (US$280 million) in 2023.

Their success comes from stringent cost-cutting measures, such as no complimentary meals, narrower seating, and strict carry-on luggage limitations – typically allowing a small 16-inch suitcase with 7kg maximum weight.

Confronted with the restrictions, creative young mainland travellers have taken to social media to share their ingenious budget airline fashion tips.

To dodge extra baggage fees, they have turned themselves into walking wardrobes by wearing layers of clothes in a mix of styles, creating unique looks.

In one case, a person layered six pieces of autumn and winter apparel on herself, from vests to shirts to thick jackets.

Another traveller adorned herself in eight pieces of traditional Hanfu clothing while flying to Australia, and got called “simultaneously rich and poor” because she owns many high-quality outfits but still wants to save on baggage fees.

Some people have explored creative ways to pack, such as filling U-shaped pillows with clothing, which double as a comfortable in-flight cushion.

To tackle the challenge of carrying electronics, a fishing vest is a popular solution because of its many pockets in which to store documents, cables and power banks.

The vest can even carry an entire range of skincare and cosmetic items, while the back pocket provides ample space for two books and an iPad. Larger sizes are even capable of carrying a 16-inch laptop.

The item of clothing has been dubbed the “ultimate trump card” by people online.

“This must not be disclosed to the boss, or we’ll lose the excuse of ‘my computer isn’t with me’ to avoid working overtime while on a trip,” one person joked.

The strategic layering and packing trend, has sparked a wave of enthusiasm among travellers online, eager to try the hacks for themselves, reported the news magazine, Vista.

“I’m going to wear a fishing vest when I travel next time, it’s even more convenient than a backpack,” one person said.

“I’ve managed to fit 5kg of items into a fishing vest before. It’s incredibly practical,” said another.

“Haha, this reminds me of a friend who wore a bunch of stuff boarding the plane, and a woman beside him asked if he was wearing a parachute,” said a third.

“Try to wear all that in Guangdong and you will suffer from heatstroke before you even step outside,” quipped another online observer.

Chinese-owned tanker hit by Houthi missiles in Red Sea – days after China told its ships are safe

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/middle-east/article/3256505/chinese-owned-tanker-hit-houthi-missiles-red-sea-days-after-china-told-its-ships-are-safe?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese-owned oil tanker was attacked off Yemen by ballistic missiles fired by Houthi rebels, who have intensified strikes on Red Sea shipping, the US military said.

The Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned and operated Huang Pu issued a distress call on Saturday but did not request assistance, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on social media platform X early on Sunday.

“No casualties were reported, and the vessel resumed its course,” the statement said.

The Iran-backed rebels, who control much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, have launched dozens of missile and drone strikes on shipping over the past four months, actions they say are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

CENTCOM and the British Navy’s United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations (UKMTO) said a fire had broken out on board the ship but was extinguished within 30 minutes.

The Marinetraffic tracking website later had the vessel sailing out of the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden heading for its next port of call which, according to maritime security agency Ambrey, was New Mangalore in India.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which UKMTO said struck 23 nautical miles west of the Yemeni port of Mokha.

CENTCOM said Houthi rebels had launched four anti-ship ballistic missiles in the Red Sea near the Huang Pu before a fifth hit the vessel.

“The Houthis attacked the MV Huang despite previously stating they would not attack Chinese vessels,” it said.

According to Ambrey, “the tanker’s registration details, including name and operator, had been changed as recently as February 2024”.

It had been registered in 2019 by British firm Union Maritime Ltd, Ambrey said, and another vessel affiliated with the same company had previously been targeted by the Houthis.

The Houthis have vowed to target Israeli, British and US ships, as well as vessels heading to Israeli ports, disrupting traffic along the vital trade route.

US and UK launch new wave of strikes on Houthis over continued Red Sea attacks

The United States, which leads an international coalition meant to protect Red Sea shipping, has been hitting Houthi targets in Yemen since mid-January.

CENTCOM said that, following the attack on the Huang Pu, US forces engaged six drones launched by the Houthis, five of which crashed into the Red Sea.

The sixth flew into a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen, it said.

Testing the waters: Chinese researchers find hope for life-threatening kidney injuries in the deep

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3256416/testing-waters-chinese-researchers-find-hope-life-threatening-kidney-injuries-deep?utm_source=rss_feed

New hope for people suffering from a potentially life-threatening kidney condition may live in our oceans.

With the help of nanotechnology and microscopic marine organisms, scientists in China have developed a drug they says could be used to treat acute kidney injury for which there are no effective clinical therapies.

The Guangdong-based researchers developed the therapeutic nanodrug using a marine bacteria-derived drug molecule and a shellfish-derived sugar as a delivery system.

The nanodrug “alleviates kidney injury efficiently” in injury-induced mice, the researchers wrote in a paper published online on March 8 in the peer reviewed journal Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B.

Nano delivery systems are a rapidly developing area of science where nanoscale materials can be used to deliver therapeutic agents to specific targeted sites in a controlled manner.

Chinese team grows humanised kidneys in pigs, raising hopes and ethical concerns

Acute kidney injury happens when the kidneys suddenly stop working properly, usually in less than a few days. In severe cases, or if the condition is not properly treated, it can advance to chronic kidney disease or failure.

While supportive management such as dialysis and blood pressure maintenance for acute kidney injury were available in clinics, targeted medications and related treatment were not, the paper said.

“We believe that precise treatment targeting the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury is an effective solution,” said Tu Yingfeng, an author of the study and a professor at Southern Medical University.

Previous work by the scientists had identified a family of metabolism-related microbial molecules called piericidins, which they derived from marine strains of the Streptomyces bacteria, that showed promise in treating kidney cancer.

Among them was S14, which was found to be useful in treating acute kidney injury in mice by increasing the production of PRDX1, an antioxidant enzyme that can regulate oxidative stress.

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Oxidative stress can cause inflammation and cell death and is considered the leading contributor to acute kidney injury, according to the paper.

But S14 has a major drawback. The researchers determined that the bacteria is processed and excreted from the body very rapidly, “ultimately resulting in poor treatment efficiency”.

To improve the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of S14, the team aimed to develop a drug delivery platform that would improve the extent and rate of absorption to better target the injury.

Chitosan – a type of sugar from the outer skeleton of shellfish such as shrimp, crab and lobster – was chosen as the carrier for S14 because of its “excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability”, the paper said.

The nanodrug was developed using the two marine-derived molecules to “improve the druggability” of the S14 drug candidate, allowing it to accumulate in injured tissue and be released more slowly.

This included modifying the chitosan to make it pH-sensitive, causing it to target cells that overexpressed kidney injury molecules, Tu said.

US surgeons transplant pig kidney to live patient in world first

The researchers said the nanodrugs “effectively alleviate oxidative stress, protect mitochondria, mitigate inflammation” and reduce cell death when tested in mice with induced acute kidney injury.

No obvious damage to organs was found in mice that were given the nanodrug, suggesting that it was biosafe and not toxic to the kidneys, the paper said.

“Our study presents a systematic approach to the development of marine medications,” the team said, adding that integrating drug candidates with an optimised delivery platform could provide a strategy for the clinical treatment of acute kidney injury.

Tu said the team hoped further research and optimisation could lead to a clinical application of their drug.

China ready to remove barriers for foreign companies, Premier Li Qiang tells international forum

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3256500/china-ready-remove-barriers-foreign-companies-premier-li-qiang-tells-international-forum?utm_source=rss_feed

China is ready to roll out new rules to bring down some of the barriers faced by foreign companies, Premier Li Qiang told global business leaders in Beijing on Sunday.

Addressing the China Development Forum, Li said Beijing would create more opportunities for global investors through macroeconomic policy, urbanisation, industrial upgrades and the transition to a green economy.

“The fundamentals sustaining China’s long-term economic growth remain unchanged,” he said, playing up prospects for the world’s second-largest economy.

Li said the Chinese government was “carefully” studying some of the issues raised frequently by businesses, including market access, public tendering and cross-border data flow.

“Some of the questions have been basically resolved, and for some others we are still working on solutions to ensure a good settlement,” he said, two days after China eased security checks for cross-border data transfers.

He also said Beijing would make government services more efficient and protect the lawful rights and interests of businesses of all types.

“We are convinced that a more open China will bring more opportunities of win-win cooperation to the world,” he said.

More to follow …

China targets group of MPs and peers with string of cyber-attacks

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/23/china-targets-group-of-mps-and-peers-with-string-of-cyber-attacks

China has targeted a group of MPs and peers at Westminster in a string of cyber-attacks, it has been reported.

On Monday, the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, is expected to inform parliament of the attacks.

Meanwhile, Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former Tory education minister Tim Loughton, cross-bench peer Lord Alton of Liverpool and Stewart McDonald, a Scottish National party MP, have been called on to attend a briefing from Alison Giles, parliament’s director of security.

Duncan Smith, Loughton, Alton and McDonald are members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), which monitors and scrutinises Beijing.

Foreign secretary David Cameron will also hold a meeting of the 1922 Committee during which the topic of China and security is likely to be discussed, the Sunday Times reported.

The forthcoming China update is believed to be related to the work of the Defending Democracy taskforce, a ministerial committee which monitors and identifies threats and interference in the UK’s elections and democratic system.

At an Ipac meeting on Friday, Luke de Pulford, its executive director, said: “About a year ago the Belgian and French foreign ministries publicly confirmed [Chinese state] sponsored cyber-attacks against our members.

“Other countries have done the same privately. Beijing has made no secret of their desire to attack foreign politicians who dare to stand up to them.”

Last year, a parliamentary researcher was arrested over allegations of spying.

Chris Cash, who denies the allegation, worked for the China Research Group, which was set up by security minister Tom Tugendhat. He was also employed as a researcher by Tory MP Alicia Kearns, who chairs the foreign affairs select committee.

Last summer, a report by the Commons intelligence and security committee (ISC) claimed China was “prolifically and aggressively” targeting the UK and had managed to “successfully penetrate every sector of the UK’s economy”.

China’s Communist Party officials used press coverage of corruption to undercut rivals, study of 2000-2014 data shows

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3256427/chinas-communist-party-officials-used-press-coverage-corruption-undercut-rivals-study-2000-2014-data?utm_source=rss_feed

Provincial officials in China made strategic use of media reports on corruption to undermine rivals between 2000 and 2014, a study by two US-based researchers of factional competition within the ruling Communist Party has found.

The tendency intensified when officials had access to top leaders in Beijing, according to the study, which analysed more than 100 Chinese media outlets’ coverage of officials placed under corruption investigation during the 14-year period.

The work first became available online in 2022, but was most recently published in the second issue this year of the journal Political Science Research and Methods. A print version is due out next month.

Authors Ji Yeon Hong, associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, and Leo Yang, a postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions, built a complex model to carry out their comparative analysis.

The model showed that key provincial officials with ties to more influential central leaders – specifically members of the Politburo Standing Committee – were more likely to promote news coverage of corruption probes against peers from other provinces as part of factional rivalry.

‘Voice of China’ echoes Xi’s call to double down against corruption

Hong and Yang compared official biographies to determine whether there were political ties between certain provincial party secretaries and members of the Politburo Standing Committee – China’s highest echelon of power.

The researchers also used the frequency of state media reports on the committee members as a measure of their prominence.

Two approaches were used to demarcate the factions in Chinese politics during the period under study.

In the first, the authors considered each Politburo Standing Committee member to be a sponsor of a faction.

For the second, they grouped these power players into three high-profile factions once thought to be active.

These were the “Shanghai Gang”, linked to the late president Jiang Zemin; the princelings, made up of descendants of former senior party officials; and the tuanpai, a group of mainly Communist Youth League officials linked to President Xi Jinping’s predecessor, Hu Jintao.

What sidelined China’s once powerful Communist Youth League?

The authors avoided identifying who made up these factions, but said in their paper that the two methods yielded similar results.

They also searched millions of reports from more than 100 local media outlets using the keyword shuanggui, or intraparty disciplinary probes, and analysed the career paths of party secretaries in provinces where the proven corrupt officials were based.

Under shuanggui, which falls outside the criminal justice system, the party’s disciplinary inspectors have broad powers to detain and interrogate suspects. The much-criticised system of secret inquisitions was legalised in the national supervision law of 2018.

The rationale for making this a key indicator was based on the assumption that regional media, which is strictly censored, is regulated by local propaganda departments. These departments ultimately report to local party secretaries, and so regional media lack the incentive to criticise local officials.

“Criticising other local governments does not interfere with the political fortunes of their own supervisor, and may actually contribute to the supervisor’s success by disparaging local leaders who are in competition with the supervisor,” the paper argues.

Hong and Yang explained that publicly reported corruption cases had significantly disrupted the promotion prospects of the No 1 official in the provinces concerned. They also found that provincial leaders associated with more powerful Politburo Standing Committee members were more likely to promote this kind of coverage and had greater chances of promotion.

However, their study would not be able to provide an accurate analysis of today’s party politics, the authors said, as the data analysed ends at 2014 – just two years into Xi Jinping’s leadership of the party as general secretary.

In a written statement to the Post, Hong and Yang said: “Our paper is written for an academic purpose and the evidence is limited to local newspaper coverage, mostly before the current leadership. This makes it inaccurate and inappropriate for us to draw a broad implication to the current politics in China, especially at the top level.”

Their research focused mainly on the period when Hu was in power. Hu, party secretary from 2002 to 2012, stepped down as China’s president in 2013, when his mandated second and final five-year term ended.

As the authors describe in their paper, those years are “not typically framed as a period in which one faction or one top leader dominated others”.

During Hu’s time, Beijing hailed the power structure of the party as one of “collective leadership”, a term that soon fell out of favour after Xi succeeded Hu as party leader in 2012 and initiated an increasing centralisation of power.

In 2016, Xi was anointed the party’s “core” leader, giving him a higher standing than others on the powerful Politburo Standing Committee. Xi is only the third Chinese leader to win this designation, after Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang. Hu did not receive the title.

Then in 2018, the national legislature voted to change the constitution, removing the two-term presidential limit that had been in place for more than three decades.

Xi then secured a bigger-than-expected victory in the power reshuffle at the 20th party congress four years later, with more of his proteges and allies named to the Politburo Standing Committee and several top officials sent into retirement despite being short of the conventional age for stepping down.

The move in October 2022 was seen by many as marking an official end to Beijing’s collective leadership.

Xi has also repeatedly called out factions within the party, with many fallen senior officials netted in the anti-corruption campaign he launched in late 2012 accused of forming their own intraparty “political cliques”.

China’s construction for Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara to lead growing overseas city-building portfolio

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3256395/chinas-construction-indonesias-new-capital-nusantara-lead-growing-overseas-city-building-portfolio?utm_source=rss_feed

China is positioning itself to become one of the top foreign investors in Nusantara, the planned new capital of Indonesia that is being built from scratch over the next 20 years in the middle of forests and palm tree farms.

The investment is expected to become the stand-out showpiece in a growing body of work building smart cities and other landmark urban zones in other countries, analysts said.

The projects in turn would help China connect with friendly nations to facilitate trade, they added, giving Chinese construction firms a chance to prove themselves abroad.

“It’s fair to say that China has the strongest squad of engineers and constructors, who have benefited from the country’s building boom since the mid-2000s,” said Xu Tianchen, a senior China-based economist with the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“China is also experienced in providing full life cycle solutions, from financing to construction and maintenance, which make life easier for host countries.”

Beijing-based state-owned builder Citic Construction has expressed interest in developing 60 residential towers in Nusantara, which is set to replace flood-prone Jakarta as the national capital.

The move had been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic, but government offices may be relocated this year as officials seek to reduce the burden on Jakarta.

“I’m not surprised that China will invest a lot in Indonesia, including [Nusantara], because the Indonesian minister of investment has said that doing business with China is easy and they are not fussy about asking for various requirements like other countries,” said Nukila Evanty, a Jakarta-based member of the Asia Centre research institute’s ­advisory board.

Building cities for other countries also naturally follows China’s 45-year “leap” in its own urban development, as well as the goals of its Belt and Road Initiative, said Victor Gao, vice-president of the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing.

‘Clear need’ for China’s Belt and Road Initiative funding to go green in 2024

Beijing’s signature Belt and Road Initiative has spawned China-funded infrastructure projects in scores of countries, including ports, highways and power plants.

Construction of smart cities – a term that usually refers to technology-aided management of traffic and urban resources – advances China’s goal of increasing “connectivity”, especially in countries near its borders such as in Southeast Asia, Gao said.

Chinese-funded projects in Nusantara – which is located on the east coast of the island of Borneo – would follow work in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere in Asia.

In Egypt, Chinese contractors built much of the New Administrative Capital government centre, Egyptian Hong Kong-based consul general Baher Sheweikhi previously told the Post. The new capital includes one of the African nation’s tallest skyscrapers.

Several Chinese companies are also helping construct Egypt’s New Alamein, a city designed to accommodate autonomous shared cars and public transport systems, Xu added.

China is also taking part in the construction of Neom in Saudi Arabia, which officials call a “futuristic” development. Chinese firms have worked on tunnels, solar power stations and water desalination projects, Xu said.

In 2019, China and Kenya signed a US$665 million deal to help build “smart cities” in the African nation, with Chinese telecommunications equipment giant Huawei Technologies nominated to carry out the work.

And in 2020, Alibaba Cloud – Alibaba Group Holding’s cloud computing unit – received clearance in 2020 to install hardware for Kuala Lumpur’s smart city system that is designed to collect and integrate real-time data from traffic cameras. Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.

Eyeing ‘global player role’, UAE seeks closer China ties through investments

China already ranks as Indonesia’s second-largest investor after Singapore following a steep climb over the past decade, with combined direct investment from mainland China and Hong Kong in 2023 of US$13.9 billion.

“Chinese construction companies are increasingly competitive worldwide, in terms of expertise,” said Zha Daojiong, an international studies professor at Peking University.

And while countries have their own property developers, Chinese firms may carry out higher-quality work, Gao added.

The output value of China’s construction industry topped 31 trillion yuan (US$4.3 trillion) in 2022, according to People’s Daily.

The projects in Nusantara are also significant for China because Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest country, a member of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership trade pact and an original member of the Belt and Road Initiative, said Zhao Xijun, a finance professor at Renmin University in Beijing.

And a US$7.3 billion, 142km (88 mile) high-speed railway built by a Chinese-invested consortium on the populous island of Java, which opened last year, should be seen as a “model” for what China can do, Zhao added.

“That’s a very successful cooperation project in terms of investment in Indonesia,” Zhao said.

The Nusantara Capital City Authority estimated that domestic firms have committed US$2.2 billion toward building the future capital versus a total cost of about US$30 billion – leaving plenty of space for foreign investors.

But Chinese investments in the development of foreign cities comes with risks of delays, overruns, financing and social stability, analysts added.

Officials in Beijing are watching Belt and Road Initiative partners for any “country-specific risks”, linked to economic trends and social stability, Zhao said, although Indonesia is considered “low risk”, he added.

But China would still stay on alert for “significant delays and cost overruns” on the Indonesian capital construction projects, Xu said.

Chinese contractors experienced delays and overruns on the Java high-speed railway, he added.

He said some Indonesian citizens and officials already resent China over past disputes over mining projects.

Beijing’s role in Nusantara would face particular scrutiny if the Indonesian government provides the public little information about Chinese investment, Evanty added, pointing to a perception that Chinese workers take jobs away from locals.

“A few people tend to be xenophobic towards workers from China, especially in disadvantaged areas where unemployment and poverty are high and where there is Chinese investment,” she said.

For Many Reasons, Fewer Chinese Students Attend US Schools

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/for-many-reasons-fewer-chinese-students-attend-us-schools/7537255.html

The U.S. State Department says there were about 20,000 fewer visas issued to Chinese students last year compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.

After about 40 years of increasing interest, many students from China say they are considering other places for their higher education – including Britain and Hong Kong.

One student from Shanghai, Helen Dong, said she is concerned about the rising cost of higher education in the U.S. She is going to study advertising in Hong Kong later this year where it is less costly.

“It doesn’t work for me when you have to spend ($278,000) but find no job upon returning,” Dong said.

Yvonne Wong of Shanghai is 24. She studies literature and culture at the University of Bristol in Britain. She said she chose Britain because it is safer. She and her family were worried about gun violence in the U.S.

“Families in Shanghai usually don’t want to send their daughters to a place where guns are not banned,” she said. “The U.K. (United Kingdom) is safer, and that’s the biggest consideration for my parents,” she added.

Others say recent tensions between the U.S. and China have influenced the drop in students. Chinese officials say the American government is not as friendly toward Chinese students as in past years. They cite an executive order by former President Donald Trump that banned students who came from Chinese schools with a strong link to China’s military. In addition, the Chinese foreign ministry says some students have been unfairly questioned and sent home after arriving at airports in the U.S.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning called the U.S. actions “discriminatory and politically motivated.”

Young Chinese people whose parents studied in foreign countries also want to get that experience. A China-based education service company called New Oriental said students believe an education from a good foreign university will help their chances of getting a job at home, where the unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds was 15 percent late last year.

They are considering schools in places such as Britain, Canada and Australia instead. Wong, the student from Shanghai who studies in Britain, said many young people want to spend time away from China after seeing the tight restrictions there during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hoping for a comeback

Starting in 2020, China restricted the ability of students to travel outside the country for their education because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The restrictions lasted for over two years, but now China is permitting students to travel again.

American universities hoped the number of Chinese students would return to levels seen in 2019 or before. But now, some experts believe there will not be a comeback.

One international education expert is Fanta Aw. She is executive director of NAFSA, a national group of international student advisors.

Aw said “international education is a bridge.” That means those who come to study in the U.S. will maintain a connection with American classmates and organizations once they return to their home countries. Those young people who come to the U.S. will become engineers, politicians and business leaders who have good feelings about America.

Aw said higher education provides a “pipeline” of young people from other countries who get to experience life in the U.S.

“Not seeing that pipeline as strong means that we in the U.S. have to pay attention, because China-U.S. relations are very important.”

At the same time, students who study in the U.S. find themselves in a predicament. The U.S. – China Education Trust spoke with Chinese students who were in the U.S. from 1991 through 2021 and found “students from China have been criticized in the U.S. as potential spies, and in China as too influenced by the West.”

History of Chinese students in U.S.

Students from China have been coming to the U.S. in increasing numbers since 1979 when diplomatic ties between the sides were established. At that time, leaders in Beijing asked the United States and then-president Jimmy Carter to permit 5,000 students to study in the U.S. Carter said he would permit 100,000 students to come.

By 1981, China permitted students to use their own money to pay for school, instead of depending on money from the government. That change brought more students to the U.S.

The number of Chinese students in the U.S. grew to over 100,000 in 2009 as family wealth increased. The Open Doors Report published by the Institute on International Education, said that by the 2019-2020 school year, there were over 370,000 Chinese students studying or working in the U.S. Last year, the number was 289,000.

In the 12-month period ending last September, the U.S. government gave out about 86,000 student visas to Chinese citizens. However, that number is lower than the pre-pandemic level of about 105,000.

“Massive” money loss

Allen Koh founded Cardinal Education, a company that advises and helps prepare students for college. His business often works with Asian students considering higher education in the U.S.

He said the drop should be concerning to the U.S. government and universities which depend on money from Chinese students.

“Ten or 20,000 students. If you figure their tuition dollars, on average, we’ll say, is about 30 to 40,000, plus their living expenses, and if you multiply that out, that is a massive amount of money that is now missing from the American economy.”

Koh noted that even if the number of students from countries such as India and Vietnam are increasing, “China has such a scale in terms of population and wealth that no country is actually going to be able to replace it.”

But, Koh said, international students continue to see the education and the academic opportunities in the U.S. as very strong. “I don’t think the other universities (in Asia, Europe, Australia and Canada) are catching up to top American universities in terms of reputation and prestige.”

However, the countries that international students in the U.S. come from are changing. The IIE noted that many American universities are now centering their efforts on recruiting students from India, especially for programs that offer advanced degrees. Still, 36 percent of schools reported increases in new Chinese students starting last autumn.

A group that follows schools that offer advanced degrees, called the Council of Graduate Schools, said American universities have seen an increase in students from India and sub-Saharan Africa since 2020. At the same time, the number of students from China has decreased. The group noted increased competition from Chinese universities and “geopolitical tension between China and the United States” as reasons for the change.

I’m Dan Friedell. And I’m Jill Robbins.

 

Dan Friedell adapted this story for Learning English based on a report by the Associated Press and an interview with Allen Koh.

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Words in This Story

cite –v. to note in support of an idea

predicament –n. a situation especially one that is difficult

potential –adj. having the possibility of being something

tuition –n. the cost of education services at a school, college or university

scale –n. to level of size

academic –adj. related to study especially at colleges or universities

prestige –n. the level of respect people have for a person or group

recruit –n. to try to get people to join an organization or attend a school

advanced degree –n. a degree higher than a bachelor’s degree

 

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