• Japan confirms experts met in China to ease concerns over discharge of treated radioactive water
• The Dutch software company that could shape EU-China relations for decades
• China asserts claim to Indian-held Arunachal Pradesh in latest list of place names
• Japan says experts met in China to ease concerns over discharge of treated radioactive Fukushima water
• Chinese solar power industry urged to stay united in face of US pressure
• Chinese robot’s backflip is a leap forward for electric-powered humanoid machines and nation’s push to lead industry
• 6 things to know about China’s GM food development amid Beijing’s food security push
• Chinese state media accuse Netflix series 3 Body Problem of pushing ‘American cultural hegemony’
• Hong Kong restaurants lament drop in business over Easter holiday, hit hard by residents heading to mainland China and high rent
• Pioneering China sex workshop motivates people to embrace, share sexual experiences, provokes ire and ‘prostitution’ claims online
• China ‘needs to focus on boosting domestic AI sector to close gap on US’ as export curbs on chips take their toll
• ‘Poisoner’ China woman accused of tainting drink of pregnant colleague to avert extra work maternity leave would bring is probed by police
• ‘Good intentions’: China’s canteens for seniors are losing money and shutting down from lack of demand
• China’s factory activity hits one-year high, adding to signs economic recovery is picking up pace
• South China Sea: Philippines’ Marcos Jnr boosts maritime security as tension with Beijing boils over
• ‘All the girls in school like me’: China university student suffers delusional love disorder, warned it could lead to sex addiction and aggression
• Will China’s fourth aircraft carrier steer towards troubled waters in Asia and challenge the US Navy?
• Chinese scientists’ breakthrough discovery could improve pancreatic cancer patients’ survival rate
• China-Pakistan projects won’t be safe if local feelings are ignored
• ‘Worrying malaise’: China’s economic and social fortunes rest on its youth, but they are lying flat and ‘letting it rot’
• Bodies of 8 Chinese migrants found on beach in Mexico after boat capsized

Japan confirms experts met in China to ease concerns over discharge of treated radioactive water

https://apnews.com/article/japan-china-fukushima-wastewater-discharge-10907cf4618cfc499eae164897a88724FILE - This aerial view shows the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, situated in coastal towns of both Okuma and Futaba, northeastern Japan, on Aug. 24, 2023, shortly after its operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings TEPCO began releasing its first batch of treated radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. Japan said Sunday, March 31, 2024, its experts have held talks with their Chinese counterparts to try to assuage Beijing’s concerns over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

2024-03-31T10:44:07Z

TOKYO (AP) — Japan said Sunday its experts have held talks with their Chinese counterparts to try to assuage Beijing’s concerns over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.

The discharges have been opposed by fishing groups and neighboring countries especially China, which banned all imports of Japanese seafood. China’s move has largely affected Japanese scallop growers and exporters to China.

During the talks held Saturday in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, Japanese officials provided “science-based” explanation of how the discharges have been safely carried out as planned, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

A 2011 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant’ s power supply and reactor cooling functions, triggering meltdowns of three reactors and causing large amounts of radioactive wastewater to accumulate. After more than a decade of storage in tanks taking up much space on the complex, the plant began discharging the water after treating it at least once and diluting it with seawater on Aug. 24, starting a process that’s expected to take decades.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping at their summit meeting in November agreed to hold scientific talks by experts, and the countries have since held a number of informal meetings. Sunday’s statement from the Japanese Foreign Ministry was its first public acknowledgement of the talks.

The experts exchanged views on “technical matters” involving the discharges, the ministry official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. While stressing the importance of transparency, the official declined to give any other details, including what the Chinese side said and whether their differences have been narrowed.

The meeting comes just after the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Rafael’s visit to the plant in mid-March confirming that the ongoing discharges have been safely carried out as planned.

The Dutch software company that could shape EU-China relations for decades

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3257108/dutch-software-company-could-shape-eu-china-relations-decades?utm_source=rss_feed

In an old printworks encased in brown bricks, nestled above a sushi joint in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, sits the most important European company you may never have heard of.

Datenna – a portmanteau of “data” and “antenna” – sells software. If the foosball table in the staff area does not give away its line of business, the low-level house music pumped into a bar area populated with bottles of colourful liquor surely will.

But this particular software has the potential to shape China’s relationship with Europe for decades to come.

Datenna uses open source intelligence (OSINT) to furnish governments with the data they need to make policy decisions on China.

The company does not consult or advise, nor does it work with private businesses. It only provides state actors with unfathomable levels of detail on the business, administrative and technological landscape in the world’s second largest economy.

And, as governments look to build out economic security policies designed to curb or catch up with China’s advancements – all while Beijing is restricting access to official data – this information is getting to be like gold dust.

The company’s software tracks “an incredibly vast array of detail, including intricate details of over 45 million corporate entities and research institutes within China”, chief executive Jaap van Etten told the South China Morning Post in a rare interview.

Governments that buy the software as a service can trawl through reams of data, as they would using a search engine, to help them decide whether a Chinese company or organisation investing in Europe – or receiving European investment – has military connections, for example.

“Datenna is more than a company, we are a response to a changing world, providing indispensable insights into China’s techno-economic landscape,” van Etten said.

In Europe, the topic of data is percolating through almost every conversation on China. It is set to become a defining issue of the next five years if Ursula von der Leyen seals another term at the top of the European Commission in June, as expected.

European businesses complain that China’s rules on data transfers are too vague and “pose serious operational and compliance challenges” for companies that need to make global decisions.

EU firms want more ‘clarity’ in China’s data regulations, but will they get it?

Officials in national capitals fret that the data harvested by Chinese-owned companies could be accessed by powers in Beijing, pointing to Nuctech scanners at airports across the continent and the 134 million users of short video app TikTok within the European Union as examples.

At the EU level, a debate is forming about whether Europe, which is considering slapping tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and solar panels, is asking the right questions when it comes to trade policy.

“These electric vehicles harvest ginormous amounts of industrial data … You may think you’re simply driving a car, but China is building a massive database. We don’t know what advantages this might bring,” said a senior EU official, who asked not to be named.

But in Brussels at least, the true value of data is most frequently talked about in relation to von der Leyen’s plans – announced on the last day of March a year ago – to de-risk the relationship with China.

EU’s plans for tougher China stance risk coming off the rails

Von der Leyen’s economic security strategy calls for the 27 member states to screen outbound investments into sensitive sectors of the Chinese economy. It also pushes for an EU-wide export controls regime to stop sensitive tech falling into the hands of the People’s Liberation Army.

In a cafe in Brussels the day after the announcement, one senior official complained that the EU was not equipped to roll out such ambitious plans: “How can we track private company’s investments in China, let alone control them?”

The official, nervous about the levels of data required to forge effective policies across 27 countries, noted “there’s a reason the US has spent five years working on outbound investment screening and still doesn’t have a plan”.

“If all [von der Leyen] wants is an announcement, that can be ready tomorrow. But if you want a functional policy, that will take years,” the official said.

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

The situation had barely progressed in January, when the EU released further details on the package, along with an announcement that consultations and risk assessments among the member capitals would take more than a year.

At the time, European trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis told the Post that “on outbound investment, that’s certainly an area that many member states have voiced caution or criticism”.

“But it’s clear that we don’t have much information because neither EU nor member states are actually monitoring outbound investment and doing risk assessments on investments that may end up being sensitive technologies,” he said, adding that data gathering would start now.

Long-time EU trade group chief leaves Beijing with mixed messages about investment

Van Etten sympathises with the policymakers’ plight. In his 10 years working in science and technology in Beijing – much of it as a diplomatic attaché for the Dutch embassy – he ran into similar problems every day, leading to the founding of Datenna, he said.

“I observed the rapid ascent of China as an economic and innovation powerhouse, a shift largely unnoticed globally. It became clear to me that there was a pressing need to understand this transformation and its geopolitical implications.”

With his background in software engineering and experience with a search engine company, van Etten saw the untapped potential of OSINT, “especially regarding China’s advancements in universities, companies and R&D”.

“I understood that traditional, manual data collection methods were inadequate to keep pace with China’s rapid development,” he said.

As governments scramble to build a comprehensive picture of investment flows into China, Datenna is arguably uniquely positioned to capitalise.

“We recognised as early as 2014 the significant impact China was poised to have on the global economy and the technology sector. However, it wasn’t until 2018 that the market fully understood,” van Etten said.

“In essence, being ahead of the curve then enabled us to perfectly time our market entry.”

The EU’s early efforts to build these policies have been plagued with infighting and territorialism. Member states have accused Brussels of trying to seize powers that ordinarily reside in capitals, and of conflating national security issues with economic concerns.

Europe is no one’s vassal, ‘relaxed’ Xi tells EU leaders in Beijing

“It’s going to be extremely difficult,” said Francesca Ghiretti, a specialist on the European economic security landscape at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

“Most member states not only don’t have that data, but they don’t know how to gather that data. And they barely have the capacity to gather the data on inbound investments, let alone on outbound export controls,” she said.

But accessing the data is only part of the problem, according to Ghiretti. Capitals are also reluctant to share sensitive commercial information among fellow EU members, which also compete with each other economically.

There is a security issue too. Information shared in Brussels ultimately – inevitably – leaks to the press, while the presence of Hungary, a close ally of China, in the room has given some governments pause for thought, Ghiretti said.

China sees Europe as key trade partner, Xi tells visiting EU leaders

Despite the early teething problems at the EU level, economic security is not going away.

“The world is not all of a sudden going to become more secure, the world is becoming more complicated. Eyes and minds will become more focused on these issues,” said another senior EU source.

Van Etten describes the task facing policymakers – of “piecing together the economic and technological puzzle of China” – as formidable, “especially when it comes to implementing export controls and managing outbound and inbound investments”.

China-Germany ties are resilient despite EU push to ‘de-risk’: Beijing envoy

The primary challenge is the scale. Maintaining the data on a daily basis “could easily turn into a full-time job”, with the laborious nature of data gathering making a huge market opportunity for Datenna and other providers, he said.

“To draw an analogy, when you need to write a letter, you don’t create a new word processing software, you use existing tools like Microsoft Word or Apple Pages. Similarly, in navigating the intricate economic landscape of China, the use of specialised software becomes indispensable.”

According to van Etten, Europe is on a “journey towards understanding the full scope” of the implications of data in economic and security policies.

“There’s a growing realisation [in the West] of how integral this data is, not just to China but to any major player on the global stage,” he said.

“Better data leads to better intelligence … this is a lesson that China, through its history of catching up and now leading in certain areas, exemplifies and one that the West is increasingly appreciating.”

China asserts claim to Indian-held Arunachal Pradesh in latest list of place names

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3257387/china-asserts-claim-indian-held-arunachal-pradesh-latest-list-place-names?utm_source=rss_feed

China has renamed 30 more places in a disputed border region with India in an attempt to assert its claims in a bitter territorial dispute.

On Saturday the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs published the country’s latest set of “standardised” names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls Zangnan, and says is part of the Tibetan autonomous region.

The renaming covered 11 residential areas, 12 mountains, four rivers, one lake, one mountain pass and a piece of land, all given in Chinese characters, Tibetan and pinyin, the Roman alphabet version of Mandarin Chinese.

The ministry, which is responsible for the establishment and naming of administrative divisions, also included detailed latitude and longitude and a high-resolution map.

“In accordance with the relevant provisions of the State Council [China’s cabinet] on the management of geographical names, we in conjunction with the relevant departments have standardised some of the geographical names in Zangnan of China,” said the ministry.

The new list includes more parts of the disputed area than the three previous renamings over the past seven years.

China and India have never agreed on their border demarcation and since a short but bloody war over the issue in 1962 they have been divided by the 3,200km (1,990-mile) Line of Actual Control – although they have not even been able to agree on where that lies.

The current border between Arunachal Pradesh and Tibet is based on the British colonial McMahon line, which China has never accepted.

Earlier this month China protested about a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the territory. India responded to the complaint by saying China’s claim to the territory was “absurd”.

The United States has backed India’s position, with the State Department recently saying that it “recognises Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory” and “strongly opposes” any efforts to change the position.

China hit back, with defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian saying on Thursday: “The US has a terrible record of stoking disputes between other countries for its selfish gains. The international community sees it clearly.

“China and India have well-established border-related mechanisms and channels of communication. The two sides have the ability and willingness to properly handle the boundary question through dialogue and consultations.

However, he also rejected India’s right to the territory by saying: “It is an undeniable fact that Zangnan has been Chinese territory since ancient times, where does the so-called ‘Arunachal Pradesh’ come from?”

The comments came a day after Chinese and Indian officials met in Beijing to discuss their border dispute.

A statement from China said: “The two sides agreed to … reach a solution acceptable to both sides as soon as possible, and promote the transition of the border situation into a normalised phase of control and management,” said the Chinese readout of the meeting.

The two countries also have a long-running border dispute thousands of kilometres to the west, between Chinese-held Aksai Chin and Indian-controlled Kashmir and Ladakh, which resulted in a deadly clash four years ago in the Galwan Valley.

China has also been working to improve relations with India’s neighbours. Apart from its “iron brother” Pakistan, it has been trying to boost ties with the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

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Japan says experts met in China to ease concerns over discharge of treated radioactive Fukushima water

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3257396/japan-says-experts-met-china-ease-concerns-over-discharge-treated-radioactive-fukushima-water?utm_source=rss_feed

Japan said on Sunday its experts have held talks with their Chinese counterparts to try to assuage Beijing’s concerns over the discharge of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea.

The discharges have been opposed by fishing groups and neighbouring countries, especially China, which banned all imports of Japanese seafood. China’s move has largely affected Japanese scallop growers and exporters to China.

During the talks held on Saturday in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, Japanese officials provided “science-based” explanation of how the discharges have been safely carried out as planned, according to the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

A 2011 earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima plant’ s power supply and reactor cooling functions, triggering meltdowns of three reactors and causing large amounts of radioactive wastewater to accumulate. After more than a decade of storage in tanks taking up much space on the complex, the plant began discharging the water after treating it at least once and diluting it with seawater on August 24, starting a process that’s expected to take decades.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese President Xi Jinping at their summit meeting in November agreed to hold scientific talks by experts, and the countries have since held a number of informal meetings. Sunday’s statement from the Japanese Foreign Ministry was its first public acknowledgement of the talks.

The experts exchanged views on “technical matters” involving the discharges, the ministry official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. While stressing the importance of transparency, the official declined to give any other details, including what the Chinese side said and whether their differences have been narrowed.

The meeting comes just after the International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Rafael’s visit to the plant in mid-March confirming that the continuing discharges have been safely carried out as planned.

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Chinese solar power industry urged to stay united in face of US pressure

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3257388/chinese-solar-power-industry-urged-stay-united-face-us-pressure?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese solar industry body has warned against “vicious” internal competition in the face of efforts by the United States to target overcapacity in the sector.

Overseas trade barriers already pose a big challenge for Chinese solar panel makers, according to the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products, a semi-official organisation in Beijing, but it fears the situation will become worse.

China’s solar industry experienced fierce competition in 2023, resulting in overcapacity and a general sharp decline in product prices, the chamber said in a report released Saturday.

“[We must] avoid disorderly and vicious competition within the industry. The government and business associations should promote industry self-discipline and compliance and sustainable development.” the report said.

“Because of the limited domestic instalment and high overseas stocks, the industry is now under pressure.”

Recently US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen vowed to “press my Chinese counterparts” to take necessary steps to address overcapacity issues and create a level playing field for American businesses.

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

China’s photovoltaic product exports amounted to US$47.59 billion in 2023, down 4.9 per cent year on year, according to data from the chamber.

It said sales of photovoltaic units by volume had risen by 36.6 per cent, but their value was down by 5.8 per cent. Meanwhile, solar cell shipments jumped by 69.4 per cent but the sales value rose by just 5.2 per cent

Solar cells have been hailed as one of China’s biggest growth engines, and exports to the European Union were worth US$19.2 billion last year, according to Chinese customs data.

However, exports to the US face tariffs. Chinese exports of solar cells to the US dropped 6.7 per cent year on year to only US$3.3 million last year, or 0.1 per cent of the country’s solar cell exports, according to data from the chamber.

The Chinese trade chamber warned that other trade barriers may be imposed on grounds ranging from “human rights”, “low carbon certification” and “energy efficiency certifications” and urged the governnment to provide advice on how to counter these “new forms of trade barriers”.

China’s wind and solar power generation capacity to surpass coal in 2024

Chinese companies signed 180 new photovoltaic power projects overseas totalling US$17.16 billion, mainly in Asia last year.

The chamber predicts that Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Americas will be the main markets for new installations in 2024, with mainland China is expected to add about 172 gigawatts, accounting for more than a third of the global total.

Chinese robot’s backflip is a leap forward for electric-powered humanoid machines and nation’s push to lead industry

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3257376/chinese-robots-backflip-leap-forward-electric-powered-humanoid-machines-and-nations-push-lead?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese company has unveiled a video featuring a humanoid robot performing a backflip to land on the same spot, marking a world-first manoeuvre for a full-sized electric-powered robot.

In the clip the robot, named H1, draws its arms back to build momentum then propels itself upwards, flips in mid-air and makes a smooth landing

Following a quick recalibration, it regains balance and resumes an upright stance.

H1 is made by Unitree, a start-up based in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. Unitree posted the video on its website on March 20.

“A backflip by an electrically powered humanoid robot represents a pinnacle of intricate posture control, touching on several demanding areas of technology,” a report on robotChina.com said.

“Key among these are the modelling of dynamics, the planning of movement, the design of real-time control systems and the development of hardware.”

Robot backflips are not a novel phenomenon. Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas performed a similar feat from an elevated mat to the floor in 2017, showing advanced gait planning and balance.

However, the use of pure electric motors for propulsion sets Unitree’s H1 apart.

Compared with the hydraulic systems in Atlas, electric motors offer high control precision and clearer force feedback.

While hydraulic drives provide more robust power, they are generally heavier, more expensive, require high manufacturing precision, are difficult to maintain and are less suitable for commercialisation.

Atlas is 150cm (4 feet 11 inches) tall and weighs about 80kg (180lbs) whereas H1 stands nearly 180cm (about 5 feet 11 inches) tall, weighs around 47kg (about 104lbs) and is much slimmer than Atlas.

China sees rise of humanoid robots as ‘disruptive innovation’, economic boon

“H1 is capable of navigating uneven terrain. It is equipped with 3D LIDAR [light detection and ranging] and an Intel RealSense D435i depth camera to capture high-precision spatial data in real time,” according to Unitree’s official website.

Unitree said the H1 was China’s first full-sized, all-purpose humanoid robot capable of running, with all core components developed and produced in-house. The robot, which is priced under several hundred thousand Chinese yuan, is at iteration 4.0.

In its 3.0 versions, Unitree claimed world records for humanoid robot running speeds of 3.3 metres (10.8 feet) per second. Other achievements included the ability to withstand kicks without falling and carrying loads up to 30kg (about 66 pounds).

The core motors controlling its joints are proprietary designs, boasting a maximum joint torque of 360 newton-metres, twice that of international commercial competitors.

An expert, speaking anonymously, noted that while electric-driven robots offered powerful and high torque-to-weight ratio motor joints, further research was needed.

China is aggressively advancing in robotics, driven by government support and private enterprise innovation. This strategic focus has positioned China as a key player in global robotics, with developments such as the H1 robot highlighting its commitment to hi-tech leadership and its growing influence in the industry.

The future is AI and humanoid robots, China’s industry minister says

Humanoid robots like H1 have diverse applications across sectors such as disaster response, healthcare, manufacturing and entertainment.

They offer the potential for safer and more efficient human-robot collaboration, performing tasks in environmental hazards or situations that are unsuitable for humans and providing services that require humanlike interaction.

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6 things to know about China’s GM food development amid Beijing’s food security push

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3257353/6-things-know-about-chinas-gm-food-development-amid-beijings-food-security-push?utm_source=rss_feed

With Beijing’s increasing emphasis on food security, a new era for China’s seed industry began last year when regulators made a major push for the use of genetically modified (GM) food by approving large-scale, commercial planting of two staple crops.

After over a decade of debate and prudent trial planting, China is accelerating commercialisation of higher-yielding GM crops as part of its efforts to improve agricultural efficiency in response to President Xi Jinping’s call for greater self-sufficiency to feed its 1.4 billion people.

GM soybeans, corn, cotton and papaya have been approved to be grown for commercial purposes in China, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, which oversees the application of the technology.

Over the past decade, the ministry has limited commercial planting to papaya and cotton, but expanded the scope significantly in October 2023 by giving the greenlight to 37 GM corn varieties and 14 GM soybean varieties.

Explainer: Land has played a key role in China’s economic rise, but is it time for reform?

And in a second batch in March, it also approved 27 additional corn and three soybean varieties.

China relies heavily on overseas suppliers for soybeans, with shipments of the oil-rich seeds accounting for over 60 per cent of its 160 million tonnes of food imports last year.

Soybean imports climbed by over 11 per cent last year from 2022 to 99.4 million tonnes.

According to the two batches announced by the ministry of agriculture, Beijing Dabeinong Biotechnology, Beijing Lantron Seed and Shandong Denghai Seeds are among the listed companies that own the most approved varieties.

China National Seed Group, a subsidiary of industry leader Syngenta Group China, also owns five varieties.

Syngenta is wholly owned by state-owned chemical giant ChemChina following a US$43 billion deal in 2017.

State-backed agricultural science academies in Heilongjiang, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Beijing and Hebei also account for over a dozen of the approved varieties.

Foreign investment in GM variety breeding and seed production is generally prohibited, although contradictory provisions exist in different regulations.

Various versions of China’s negative list for foreign investment since 2002 have included development and production of GM crops.

China’s seeds, in an agricultural choke hold, must see breeding advancements

But the Ministry of Agriculture’s regulations on the safety of GM organisms has left room for manoeuvre by stating that such investment should be approved by the State Council.

The approved varieties are only allowed to be grown in designated areas, namely parts of Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan and Hubei, according to licences issued to the breeders published by the ministry of agriculture in December.

Previous trial planting covered more areas, including 20 counties in Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Sichuan and Yunnan in 2023, the ministry said in August.

There are no official figures on the total size of GM crops grown in China, but the state-owned Securities Times newspaper said in August that around 267,000 hectares (660,000 acres) of GM crops were planted as part of trial projects last year, citing industry insiders.

China requires mandatory labelling if a product contains or is processed from GM crops.

But the regulations are expected to be relaxed following a proposed amendment in October.

In the draft amendment, the ministry of agriculture said manufacturers would only be required to disclose the GM contents if it exceeded 3 per cent of the overall mass of the product.

Explainer: China sows the seeds for food security with comprehensive industry inspections

Requirements based on the percentage of GM material are widely adopted in the United States, Europe and Japan.

The amendment is set to be enforced before the end of the year, the Shanghai-based The Paper reported in March.

Analysts expect China’s GM food market to grow substantially in the coming years.

GM corn and soybean would generate a new market worth 7 billion yuan (US$968 billion) in the next eight years based on similar trends in the US, Kaiyuan Securities said in November.

China Galaxy Securities estimated that in terms of planting area, GM varieties would account for about 40 per cent of corn and soybean crops grown in China in the next six years.

Chinese state media accuse Netflix series 3 Body Problem of pushing ‘American cultural hegemony’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3257378/chinese-state-media-accuse-netflix-series-3-body-problem-pushing-american-cultural-hegemony?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s state media published a blistering critique of the Netflix series 3 Body Problem on Saturday, saying the adaptation of an award-winning Chinese sci-fi trilogy promotes “American cultural hegemony” under the guise of diversity.

The commentary by China Military Online, owned by the People’s Liberation Army, is the first from an official media outlet after more than a week of polarised discussion on Chinese social media about the series from showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the writing and producing duo behind HBO’s .

The commentary targeted the American version’s radical departure from the novels, which feature mostly Chinese characters and a plot that plays out over hundreds of years, while the first season of the Netflix series features characters of various nationalities all set in the same time period.

Fears of ‘irreversible damage’ to literature as AI wins award for sci-fi novel

“The United States is using ‘political correctness’ to combat and dissolve other countries’ cultural influence. It uses ‘pluralism’ to practise its cultural hegemony,” according to the commentary.

It added that the production team “deliberately does away with the modern image of China depicted in the novel” while preserving the “yellow faces” of its villains.

“The so-called pluralism and inclusiveness cannot hide their deep-rooted discrimination and hostility towards other civilisations,” the article said.

The Hugo Award-winning sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem is the first book in a trilogy by Chinese author Liu Cixin. The trilogy, which also includes the novels The Dark Forest and Death’s End, is about humans combating alien civilisations across centuries, starting from China’s Cultural Revolution.

3 Body Problem piracy in China shows some American shows can still break through

The first novel’s main character Ye Wenjie, who is among the few main characters portrayed as Chinese in the Netflix series, summons a race of aliens known as the Santi, whose name means “three body” in Chinese, after her father is executed during the Cultural Revolution.

The main characters in the three-book series appear at different times, with some of their stories separated by decades or more. But in the Netflix version, most of the main characters appear at the very beginning and their storylines develop over the same time period.

The Netflix series also mainly takes place in Britain, rather than China, which is the main setting of the novels.

There are no authorised channels for viewers to watch the Netflix series in mainland China, where the American streaming service is banned.

The sci-fi drama has a rating of 6.8 out of 10 on Douban, China’s best-known film review site – significantly lower than other high-budget Netflix productions such as the first seasons of Stranger Things and The Crown, which earned viewer ratings of 9.0 and 9.3 respectively.

Liu’s trilogy has also been adapted into a Chinese TV series by Tencent, one of China’s top tech and games giants.

The Tencent series, which debuted last year, has a rating of 8.7 out of 10 on Douban. While some reviewers complained the home-grown version’s depiction of the Cultural Revolution was compromised because of China’s strict censorship, most applauded the complexity of the characters and its faithful adaptation of the novels.

Most criticisms of the Netflix series on Douban echoed those raised by China Military Online, focusing on the drastic differences compared to the novels, from the characters to the compression of the trilogy’s timeline.

A major controversy is the American series’ detailed portrayal of the Cultural Revolution – the event that spurred the Santi aliens’ invasion of Earth. The director of the scene is Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Tsang Kwok-cheung.

Some reviewers compared the Netflix version’s depiction of the tumultuous period in Chinese history favourably to the Tencent series’ more nebulous version of events. But others criticised the scene, saying it portrayed China in a bad light and painted non-Chinese characters as saviours.

“Netflix followed the original novel by having the Chinese character summon the Santi, but the hero has to be replaced with Westerners. Don’t ever chalk it up to the inevitable product of globalisation,” one Douban reviewer said, giving the series two out of five stars.

But another reviewer, who gave the series a four-star rating, said that understanding the Santi required understanding the history of their engagement with humans, including the Cultural Revolution, “so it is very suitable to highlight this part at the beginning of the series”.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV also reported on the controversy, citing high-profile Japanese video game designer Hideo Kojima, who posted a review of the Netflix series advising those who had read the original novels to watch the Tecent adaptation.

However, in a separate post, Kojima also praised the Netflix version’s adaptation and visual effects, saying the production team had transformed the trilogy into “an entertaining work suited for both those who have read the original and those who have not”.

Hong Kong restaurants lament drop in business over Easter holiday, hit hard by residents heading to mainland China and high rent

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3257374/hong-kong-restaurants-lament-drop-business-over-easter-holiday-hit-hard-residents-heading-mainland?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong restaurant owners have lamented a significant drop in business during the Easter holiday compared with last year, as they suffer the double blow of residents heading across the border to spend and landlords increasing rent.

Some Hongkongers also told the Post on Sunday that they were staying in the city to save money amid the economic downturn, despite many others opting to travel to mainland China during the long weekend.

One restaurant operator said the atmosphere had been downbeat, even prompting him to close on the third day of the four-day Easter holiday.

“We only served three tables of customers on Saturday. It was worse on Friday – we only served two tables. The whole vibe was quite bleak, as my staff were just looking at each other the whole night,” said Ben Yeung Chi-keung, owner of Sakanaichi Hotpot in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Yeung said he was disappointed, especially as he had extended operating hours for lunch service at his 25-table restaurant.

“It was just miserable. I decided not to operate on Sunday as it would only be a waste of electricity and frustrating for my eight staff to serve no one. I would rather let them have an extra day off,” he said.

An owner of a restaurant chain with about 30 branches in the city reported a 30 per cent drop in business in the first three days of the break compared with last year, with his establishments in North district and the New Territories hit the hardest.

“The ones located in Kowloon are doing just fine with single-digit growth because more tourists are spending time there. But it cannot cover the drop in other locations,” said the owner, who declined to be named.

He added that landlords still kept raising rent despite the economic environment.

“It is really hard for us to compete with other cities in the Greater Bay Area which have lower operating costs,” he said. “High rent remains the biggest hurdle for me as I have already closed down a few establishments. Other industry players are experiencing the same situation.”

Immigration figures showed 99,000 residents had left Hong Kong on Sunday as of 10am, while 21,000 visitors had arrived. On Friday and Saturday, a combined 1.15 million residents departed, while the city welcomed 237,000 visitors, of which 72.5 per cent were from the mainland.

Hong Kong malls offer free parking as 541,000 people leave city for Easter break

A concern group set up on Facebook for business operators to share concerns over store closures and performance also soared in popularity over the weekend, with the number of followers jumping from 8,000 to 120,000.

A cafe owner who said he had run his business in Sai Kung for 22 years wrote on the page that the sluggish economy also affected the area’s footfall.

“Sai Kung feels like a ghost town before 8pm every evening. Even during the usual busy times, such as holidays, there is no traffic congestion, indicating how severe the situation is,” he wrote. “To make matters worse, my landlord increased the rent by 30 per cent even before things returned to normal in the past three months.”

Some Hongkongers have decided to stay in the city to save money. Beauty industry worker Elaine Cheung Yuen-shan, 32, said she had no travel budget remaining after spending about HK$80,000 (US$10,200) for a trip to Tokyo during the Lunar New Year holiday with her husband and six-year-old daughter.

“Given the poor economic environment, I find it difficult to travel like I did during holidays before Covid-19 hit. Staying in Hong Kong is not a bad idea, as my family of three can explore different places together,” Cheung said.

Hong Kong expects 11 million border crossings at Easter and Ching Ming Festival

“Spending time to see some art is quite nice as it doesn’t cost much,” she said, referring to a visit to Art Central, the main satellite fair held to coincide with Art Basel.

Among those also staying at home was Evan Wong Ching-chi, a father to a seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter, as he failed to apply for annual leave to make the holiday worthwhile for travelling.

“It is actually a good thing. Travelling with a family of four can be quite expensive,” said the 49-year-old sales representative. “Staying in Hong Kong still offers plenty of activities where I can take the kids outdoors to burn off their energy. Cooking at home also allows us not to spend extra money.

“My wife and I were considering taking the kids to Disneyland or Ocean Park, but the entrance fees for a family of four are quite expensive, so we decided against it.”

Pioneering China sex workshop motivates people to embrace, share sexual experiences, provokes ire and ‘prostitution’ claims online

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3256034/pioneering-china-sex-workshop-motivates-people-embrace-share-sexual-experiences-provokes-ire-and?utm_source=rss_feed

A psychology counsellor in China on a crusade to popularise sex has opened one of the country’s first offline sex education workshops.

Thirty-something Zhuo Yueyue from Hubei Province in central China founded the outlet in the southern city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, at the end of 2017.

In her classes, participants engage in activities such as touching the body of the opposite sex, learning techniques to reach an orgasm and sharing their sexual experiences.

“This is the first batch of sex education classes that can be conducted offline in China,” said Zhou.

Having worked as an obstetrician and gynaecologist, Zhuo saw there was a need to promote sex education in the country after encountering many patients who unintended pregnancies, some of whom were under the age of 18.

On one occasion during her working life a superiors made a sexual advance towards her, leaving her feeling “very scared” and unsure of how to refuse and protect herself.

Following the incident, Zhuo resigned from the hospital and moved to Shenzhen to study human sexuality and become a sex psychology counsellor, assessing and analysing the sex life of couples and providing solutions.

Since 2017, Zhuo’s offline sex workshops have attracted more than 1,000 people, from teenagers to the elderly.

The workshops are divided into three courses, which range in price from 5,980 to 13,800 yuan (US$840 to US$1900).

Each course lasts three days and focuses on two aspects, sexual culture and history, and sexual techniques. It includes simulated sexual scenarios using toys, audio and video.

The course is structured with sections such as “Physical Skills: How to Kiss and Perform Oral Sex”, “Awakening Desire: Learning to Caress” and “Sexual Positions and Postures”.

In Chinese tradition sex is considered a sensitive and private topic directly related to reproduction rather than a form of enjoyment or bodily exploration.

Zhuo’s ex-boyfriend accused her of “demeaning” herself, while some people even viewed her as a high-end sex worker.

Despite the criticism, Zhuo continues to conduct her workshops.

“Women often feel embarrassed to express their desire for sex, while men may perceive such desires as offensive,” said Zhuo.

“I hope people can understand that regardless of age or status, we all have the right to pleasure ourselves, and learning about sex is an act of self-love.”

One of the workshop’s participants, Cai Yixuan, 30, used to view sex as shameful.

During a three-year relationship, she consistently slept separately from her boyfriend.

“Now I have learned how to protect myself during sex and enjoy pleasure,” said Cai.

Han Hui, 46, once thought her body wasn’t sexy or attractive.

“After attending the workshop, I realised that sex is not about pleasing my partner, but about making myself happy,” said Han.

Zhuo’s workshops have sparked a heated discussion on mainland social media.

“What’s the difference between this kind of class and promoting prostitution?” said one online observer on Weibo.

“Zhuo is a brave woman, and her courses are meaningful, indicating societal progress,” said another.

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China ‘needs to focus on boosting domestic AI sector to close gap on US’ as export curbs on chips take their toll

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3257370/china-needs-focus-boosting-domestic-ai-sector-close-gap-us-export-curbs-chips-take-their-toll?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s artificial intelligence firms need to focus on developing their own hardware and software if they want to catch up with US market leaders, industry leaders have said.

Liu Cong, the vice president of Chinese AI firm iFlytek, admitted the consensus in China was that “we still have a gap” to close on the world leaders in generative AI during a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province on Wednesday.

Chinese generative AI developers rush to upgrade chat bots to handle super long texts

While the country has been running to catch up, he said the key focus must be on achieving “independently owned and controlled hard- and software”, especially in large language models (LLM).

LLMs are the deep-learning AI algorithms behind chatbots such as ChatGPT that can recognise, summarise, translate, predict, and generate content using very large data sets.

Anhui-based iFlytek is one of the major Chinese firms that have launched their own chatbots, but its chairman admitted in October that Chinese LLMs have to bridge a “real gap” between its product and its US rival, but hoped his firm could become more competitive by the middle of the year.

Export curbs on semiconductor chips, which are used to process the LLMs, are one of the major hurdles to Chinese generative AI development.

The United States has banned companies like Nvidia and AMD from selling their most powerful chips and the equipment used to manufacture them to China in 2022, citing national security concerns, and has been pushing its other countries to follow its lead.

As a result of this push by Washington, Chinese firms should not only focus on LLM breakthroughs, but also how to develop new hardware and software, Zeng Yi, a Chinese Academy of Sciences professor who also heads the China Electronics Corporation, told the panel.

“I believe that artificial intelligence is still the key to the global industrial chain trend. But we must also be prepared to not rely on these technologies in hardware infrastructure, which may be decoupled from us,” Zeng said.

The US and China are locked in intense competition to dominate the AI field and China is perceived to have a growing lead in areas such as facial recognition and autonomous driving.

But generative AI has been transformed since OpenAI – the ever-first human-like chatbot that was trained with large datasets covering topics from history to computer codes – launched ChatGPT in November 2022.

Chinese firms have been trying to close the gap with domestic rivals such as Baidu’s Ernie Bot 4 and iFlytek Spark 3.0, and earlier this year the authorities approved the use of domestic LLMs to over 40.

However, OpenAI’s of text-to-video generator Sora in February has once again stretched the gap, focusing attention on China’s competitiveness in areas such as computing power that enables AI models to be “trained” using large amounts of data.

Chinese scientists say AI model can mark the best spots for solar panels

Speaking after another AI panel in the forum, , the founder and chief executive of AI Chatbot firm Xiao-I, said China has been strong in the “application” of AI technologies since the beginning of mobile internet, but it needs to double down on developing the “core and foundational” technology.

Christopher Thomas, a Beijing-based senior fellow at Brookings Institution, echoed this in another panel on AI governance on Thursday, saying: “If you think of the ability to drive artificial intelligence as the ability to control and manage computing, computing is essentially dominated by the United States, with China as a very distant second.”

In a world “where America will do all of its own thing, and China will do all of its own thing ... we’re going to waste our money on duplication, rather than solving problems”, he said.

But Yuan was optimistic about a breakthrough. He said no single country or company could fully and independently “own” artificial intelligence as their competitors will develop similar or more advanced chips whenever new products appear.

Besides the US chip ban, China also faces domestic challenges such as the huge costs of computing and censorship .

Zeng said a risk averse approach is the biggest challenge to China’s AI development, and questioned whether people were willing to challenge the majority view.

‘’I think the biggest challenge of artificial intelligence in China now is that we may not be good at taking greater risks. In the process of exploring the unknown, we are not willing to pay more costs .... this is the biggest crux of the development of artificial intelligence in China.”

‘Poisoner’ China woman accused of tainting drink of pregnant colleague to avert extra work maternity leave would bring is probed by police

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3256179/poisoner-china-woman-accused-tainting-drink-pregnant-colleague-avert-extra-work-maternity-leave?utm_source=rss_feed

A worker at a government affiliated institution who allegedly poisoned her pregnant colleague to prevent her from taking maternity leave, has sparked outrage on mainland social media.

The incident became public via a video circulating online, which captured the employee from the central Hubei province apparently attempting to add a substance to her co-worker’s drink, according to Cover News.

Her employer, the Hydrology and Water Resources Investigation Bureau in Enshi Tujia and Miao autonomous prefecture, Hubei province, is a public institution affiliated with the government.

Such institutions are known for their highly selective recruitment process which requires rigorous exams and interviews, and are often referred to as “iron rice bowls” for their job security and stability.

In the video, a woman wearing a black vest is seen approaching her colleague’s desk, opening a small bottle and pouring a powder-like substance into the drink on the desk before leaving quickly.

According to screenshots of WeChat conversations, the situation came to light when the victim noticed her drink of water tasted strange.

Initially suspecting the office’s water supply, she switched to boiled bottled water but noticed the strange taste persisted.

Reminded of a friend’s joke that suggested someone might have tampered with her drink, she decided to use her iPad to video her desk and anybody who approached it, capturing her colleague in the act.

Bizarrely, the colleague’s reason for poisoning the pregnant woman was that she did it because she did not want her to take maternity leave as she could not manage the increased workload alone.

The victim reported the incident to the police and the authorities are investigating.

On March 18, staff from the Hydrology and Water Resources Investigation Bureau said they were treating the incident with utmost seriousness and are waiting for the results of the police investigation before taking action.

A lawyer told National Business Daily that if the woman’s actions were driven by an intent to harm, it could constitute a crime of injury, regardless of whether the substance was toxic or caused actual physical harm.

The incident has drawn widespread condemnation on mainland social media.

“Poisoning someone just because you do not want them to take leave? Has she been watching too many police dramas?” one person asked.

“We’re all here just trying to earn our bread, why be so malicious? She is too dark,” said another.

“How did such a person even get through the exams to work at a government-linked institution? It seems exams can only weed out academically poor candidates, not the morally corrupt,” a third person said.

“We should not only get fingerprint-locking thermoses for kids but for adults as well,” another online observer suggested.

‘Good intentions’: China’s canteens for seniors are losing money and shutting down from lack of demand

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3257319/good-intentions-chinas-canteens-seniors-are-losing-money-and-shutting-down-lack-demand?utm_source=rss_feed

Many of China’s government-subsidised canteens for seniors, part of an ambitious nationwide community welfare project, have shut down due to tight local budgets and lack of demand.

Community canteens have closed in dozens of major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Xian, Shenyang and Hangzhou, according to mainland media. Some of the closures have reportedly resulted in hundreds of elderly people being unable to get refunds on the prepaid cards they registered with the cafeterias.

Of the more than 2,000 community canteens set up in the eastern city of Suzhou in recent years, only about 900 are still in operation, state broadcaster CCTV reported last week. It said half of the surviving canteens were operating at a loss.

CCTV said six of a total of nine canteens had folded “due to losses” in a district in a central province, but did not name the exact location. Further investigation revealed that over 60 per cent of the province’s community canteens were running at a loss, according to the report.

In Beijing, a survey of 40 community canteens showed that more than half of them had lost money, and many said their losses were increasing.

The main reason for the losses is that far fewer elderly residents were patronising the canteens than expected.

According to research by Wang Defu, associate professor at Wuhan University’s school of social sciences, Suzhou’s community canteens served 24,000 meals last year – just one-fifth of the number predicted.

Wang’s research also showed that the 985 subsidised community canteens in the eastern province of Shandong served 950,000 meals last year, meaning each outlet only had three visits per day on average.

Unlike soup kitchens in the West, which are typically operated and funded by religious groups and charity organisations, China’s community canteens were created and subsidised by the government as a key part of a pilot plan launched by the Chinese Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Civil Affairs in November 2022.

The plan ordered every Chinese city to pick pilot communities to experiment with “one-stop” community services, including convenience stores, nurseries, and senior centres.

Low social status and income: why ‘people are reluctant’ to be carers in China

Since coming to power in 2012, President Xi Jinping has often visited these grass-roots cafeterias during regional inspection trips to check their food variety, hygiene and affordability.

Li Qing, 75, a retiree in Shandong, said he appreciated the “good intentions” behind the canteens, but he and his wife preferred to cook at home as they suffered from arthritis and found it difficult to walk to the dining hall.

“We did try out the food there when our son was around to bring us there. It was cheap and good. But he is now living elsewhere, so we rely on him to buy the groceries or have food delivered to our doorstep via food delivery apps,” Li said.

He said he would be willing to try the local canteens if they offered food delivery services.

“But they will have to face competition from other local food outlets,” he said. “We are old now. We want to enjoy a variety of good food in the last few years of our lives.”

Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said local officials in China tended to follow Xi’s policy directions to show their political loyalty, and this was one of the main reasons behind the oversupply of community canteens and similar projects.

“Sometimes it even becomes a competition among the officials to fight for Beijing’s political attention. But once there is a cut on subsidies as local governments run into deficits, things will turn south,” Wu said.

In his interview with CCTV, Wuhan University’s Wang urged local governments to take a more “scientific assessment” of the needs of the elderly by looking into affordable and flexible meal delivery services.

China’s factory activity hits one-year high, adding to signs economic recovery is picking up pace

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3257359/chinas-factory-activity-hits-one-year-high-adding-signs-economic-recovery-picking-pace?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s factory activity returned to expansion in March, hitting a one-year high in the latest sign the country’s economic recovery is picking up pace.

The news comes as Beijing doubles down on efforts to cast a rosy light on the world’s No. 2 economy in a bid to revive confidence both at home and abroad, though concerns over structural weaknesses still loom.

The country’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – a survey of sentiment among factory owners – rebounded to 50.8 this month from 49.1 in February, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Sunday.

Xi tells US delegation China’s economy is ‘sound and sustainable’

The figure beat the market estimate of 49.9 and returned above the watershed level of 50, which indicates expanding activity, ending five consecutive months of contraction.

The latest reading was the highest since March of last year when the gauge stood at 51.9.

“In March, as companies stepped up resuming production after the Lunar New Year, market vitality improved,” said Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician at the NBS.

He said in a statement that the Chinese manufacturing sector saw a wider upward swing in March as 15 of 21 surveyed subindustries expanded, up from just five one month ago.

“The survey results also show that companies are still facing some outstanding problems in production and operation. For example, the proportion of enterprises noting increased industrial competition and insufficient market demand is still high,” he added.

China’s economic recovery on track at start of 2024, but can it be sustained?

The March manufacturing PMI extended an upward swing by a group of headline economic indicators for the first two months of the year – including industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment – that beat analysts’ predictions.

But scepticism has persisted as the country’s property crisis and local government debt have worsened.

On top of that, there has been much speculation in recent years about whether China is losing its lustre as a place for business and investment amid slowing growth, an uncertain national security climate and regulatory actions that some perceive as arbitrary.

The Chinese leadership has stepped up its charm offensive to bolster both overseas and domestic expectations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping told an American delegation of business leaders and think tankers on Wednesday that the country’s economy was “sound and sustainable”.

He also explicitly rejected narratives that claim the Chinese economy was collapsing or had peaked.

Beijing has set its growth target for 2024 at around 5 per cent, the same as last year and in line with market estimates but still widely viewed as “ambitious” given the multifold challenges facing the economy. These include a protracted property market crisis, an ageing society, a jittery private sector, anxious foreign investors and complex geopolitical circumstances.

Addressing an audience of global CEOs during a high-profile forum in Beijing, Chinese Premier Li Qiang reassured them on Sunday that the country would roll out more policies to support growth, defuse risks and improve the business climate. He also played down worries about China’s real estate crash and debt problem.

Under China’s official manufacturing PMI, the new-orders subindex rose to 53 in March from 49 a month earlier, showing that market demand was picking up.

The new manufacturing export order subindex jumped to 51.3 in March from 46.3 in February, indicating an expansion in foreign demand during the month.

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

China’s non-manufacturing PMI – a measurement of sentiment in the service and construction sectors – went up to 53 in March from 51.4 in February, rising for the fourth straight month.

Within the non-manufacturing PMI, the sub-index for the construction sector rebounded to 56.2 in March from 53.5 in February, while the service sector business activity index climbed up to 52.4 from 51.

“Most service sector companies remain optimistic about future market development … Construction firms have increased confidence in the recent industry development,” said Zhao of the NBS, referring to the rise in the sub-indexes of business activity expectation in the two sectors.

The official composite PMI – a combination of the manufacturing and non-manufacturing indices – rose to 52.7 in March from 50.9 in February.

“[That] indicates the accelerated expansion of production and business activities of enterprises in the country,” said Zhao.

South China Sea: Philippines’ Marcos Jnr boosts maritime security as tension with Beijing boils over

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3257357/south-china-sea-philippines-marcos-jnr-boosts-maritime-security-tension-beijing-boils-over?utm_source=rss_feed

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has ordered his government to strengthen its coordination on maritime security to confront “a range of serious challenges” to territorial integrity and peace, as a dispute with China escalates.

The order, signed on Monday and made public on Sunday, does not mention China but follows a series of bilateral maritime confrontations and mutual accusations over a disputed area of the South China Sea.

Beijing claims almost all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than US$3 trillion of annual ship-borne commerce. China’s claims overlap those of the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016 said China’s claims had no legal basis.

The latest flare-up occurred last weekend, when China used water cannon to disrupt a Philippine resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal for soldiers guarding a warship intentionally grounded on a reef 25 years ago.

Duterte-Xi allegedly made ‘gentleman’s agreement’ for status quo in disputed sea

“Despite efforts to promote stability and security in our maritime domain, the Philippines continues to confront a range of serious challenges that threaten territorial integrity, but also the peaceful existence of Filipinos,” Marcos said in the order.

The president vowed on Thursday to implement countermeasures against “illegal, coercive, aggressive and dangerous attacks” by China’s coastguard.

His order expands and reorganises the government’s maritime council, adding the national security adviser, solicitor general, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency chief and the South China Sea task force.

The order appears to expand the role of the military by naming the Armed Forces of the Philippines, not just the navy, among the agencies supporting the council.

The renamed National Maritime Council will be the central body to formulate strategies to ensure a “unified, coordinated and effective” framework for the Philippines’ maritime security and domain awareness.

Marcos increased the number of agencies supporting the council to 13 from nine, including the space agency and the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Maritime Affairs and the Law of the Sea.

‘All the girls in school like me’: China university student suffers delusional love disorder, warned it could lead to sex addiction and aggression

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3255886/all-girls-school-me-china-university-student-suffers-delusional-love-disorder-warned-it-could-lead?utm_source=rss_feed

The story of a 20-year-old university student in China who suffers from delusional love disorder has trended on mainland social media.

A second-year university student in Jiangsu province, eastern China, surnamed Liu, was diagnosed with the condition which makes him think that all his female schoolmates fancy him.

His condition became so acute that he even began to show inappropriately bold displays of love to them.

After receiving medical treatment, Liu has started to recover, Litchi News reported.

The student developed symptoms in February, and as his condition deteriorated to the extent that he became psyched up about his perceived allure around the clock.

“All the girls in school like me,” Liu told Lu Zhenjiao, a doctor from Huai’an No.3 People’s Hospital.

“He thinks that he’s the best-looking guy in the university,” Lu told Litchi News.

Although he received negative responses from all the women he approached, Liu took this as a signal that they were too shy to accept his love.

“He has brought much trouble to many of his schoolmates,” doctor Lu said.

In addition, with his continued high spirits and excitement, Liu also showed a variety of changes in behaviour, including staying up all night, being distracted during class and spending money recklessly.

The details about him being sent to the hospital are unclear, but doctors diagnosed him with delusional love disorder.

Lu said that the disease is commonly seen in spring between March and April when peach blossoms are in full bloom.

During that period the weather is changeable, causing a fluctuation of endocrine levels in the body. People who suffer from the condition will become hyper and suffer sleep loss.

Once it sets in, patients display hyper-excitability, are talkative, and suffer from sex addiction.

“In more extreme cases patients can become enraged and attack people,” added Lu.

The doctor said as soon as people notice even the milder symptoms medical treatment should be sought.

Liu is now in recovery after psychotherapy and drug treatments.

His story has gone viral on mainland social media. At the time of writing, the Weibo news story had attracted 4.6 million views and 3,369 comments.

One online observer said: “Do human beings also go into heat in the spring?”

Another said simply: “Poor man.”

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Will China’s fourth aircraft carrier steer towards troubled waters in Asia and challenge the US Navy?

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3257264/will-chinas-fourth-aircraft-carrier-steer-towards-troubled-waters-asia-and-challenge-us-navy?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s fourth aircraft carrier is expected to help expand its maritime presence in Asia, but a lack of naval combat experience and insufficient supply bases in the region could hamper its power projection.

While the mainland Chinese military’s focus for its aircraft carrier deployment is likely Taiwan, it could also engage in sabre-rattling measures in the South China Sea, security analysts say.

During a legislative session in Beijing earlier this month, Yuan Huazhi, the political commissar of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, said China would unveil its fourth aircraft carrier soon.

When asked in an interview if the latest carrier is going to be nuclear-powered, Yuan said details of the vessel would be announced “soon”, according to a video posted by the Hong Kong Commercial Daily on the social media platform Weibo.

There had been no delays or bottlenecks in the construction of the new carrier, Yuan said. His comments were the first confirmation of China’s efforts to build its fourth aircraft carrier, commonly known as the Type 004.

Illustrations of the vessel have been circulating online, with the artwork purportedly coming from the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai, where it is believed to be under construction.

Chinese scientists send aircraft carrier catapult technology soaring

Abdul Rahman Yaacob, a research fellow in the Southeast Asia programme at Australia’s Lowy Institute, said if the fourth aircraft carrier is fuelled by nuclear power, it could operate “power-hungry” weapon systems and equipment.

“A nuclear-powered aircraft carrier can operate longer at sea without replenishment, thus the Chinese Navy can project and exert a stronger presence,” he added.

An aircraft carrier typically operates with an escort of submarines, destroyers, and supply ships and would require replenishment and refuelling. China does not have access to many military or supply bases in the region, unlike the US, Rahman says.

While the US Navy is experienced in naval battles, the Chinese navy has not been tested as yet, and it remains to be seen if its aircraft carrier group can perform in wartime conditions as effectively as the Americans, Rahman said.

Apart from its regional supply bases, the US can also tap support from its allies including Australia, South Korea, and Japan, enabling it to have an edge over the Chinese, he added.

Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think tank, said that the regional balance of power is expected to be recalibrated as China boosts its aircraft-carrier capabilities and catches up with the US.

“But operational context matters”, Davis said, noting that the Chinese carriers’ primary mission is to support the PLA’s joint landing operations targeting Taiwan.

“So while the carriers will allow the PLA Navy to operate with more confidence in other regional contingencies, I think its key role is still Taiwan-focused,” Davis said.

Amid Taiwan tensions, Beijing reveals it is building aircraft carrier No 4

China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is equipped with advanced features including electromagnetic catapults and arresting devices that allow warplanes to be launched more frequently. Its two other operational aircraft carriers are the Liaoning and the Shandong.

The unnamed fourth carrier is likely to be nuclear-powered and comparable in size and capability to the US Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, Davis said.

The 10 Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are capable of operating for over 20 years without refuelling and have a potential service life of over 50 years. In total, the US Navy has 11 aircraft carriers.

Given the global responsibilities of the US, it cannot concentrate its aircraft carriers in one region, Davis said.

“China can concentrate its carrier capabilities while seeking to project power beyond the second island chain”, Davis said, adding: “It opens the path for future carrier development for China’s navy as it builds up a multi-carrier force and gains experience in naval air operations.”

The first island chain refers to the Kuril Islands, the main Japanese archipelago, Okinawa, the northern part of the Philippine archipelago, the Malaysian peninsula, and Taiwan while the second spans from some Japanese islands to Guam and Micronesia.

Joshua Bernard Espeña, vice-president at the International Development and Security Cooperation think tank in Manila, said China’s fourth aircraft carrier would lead to “more sabre-rattling” by Beijing and have an impact on Southeast Asia.

China could seek to deter countries whom it perceives as being responsible for escalating tensions in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, Espeña said. As such, regional countries like the Philippines must learn to deter China from taking provocative steps, he added.

China and the Philippines have been locked in clashes in the South China Sea for months, with the Chinese Navy having deployed its coastguard ships and other non-military vessels to try to force Philippine boats out of the contested waters.

“Regional defence planners must develop approaches to counter [China’s] strengths and exploit weaknesses of the carrier task force,” Espeña said. One drawback faced by the Chinese task force is that some of its aircraft carriers based on Soviet-era designs had encountered “maintenance issues”, according to Espeña.

China has been embarking on efforts to modernise its navy following disruptions caused by the pandemic. In addition to its aircraft carriers, China has launched guided-missile destroyers and amphibious assault ships in the past few years, with the capacity to operate thousands of miles away from its coastal areas.

In a testimony to the US Armed Services House Committee last week, US Navy Admiral John Aquilino said China’s military is expanding at a rate not seen since World War II. The head of the US Indo-Pacific Command said mainland China is on track to meet its goal of invading Taiwan by 2027.

Chinese security analysts cited by the state-run tabloid The Global Times said China is expected to build more aircraft carriers as part of its strategy to build a blue-water navy capable of projecting its power near and far from its waters. These carriers can better safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the analysts said.

Once China has achieved the capacity to build a navy that can gain control of the seas around the first island chain and deny access to the second, it will seek to project its power further afield, including in the Indian Ocean, Davis said.

“So when you look at Chinese naval power and consider whether it can challenge US interests, I would argue it certainly does, as part of a broader suite of military capabilities across the PLA including long-range air power, long-range precision missiles, space and cyber capabilities,” Davis said.

“Sea power is a key component of China’s growing military power, and the concern in the West is that Beijing will use military force to achieve policy objectives at the expense of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

In the face of China’s expanding navy capabilities, smaller Southeast Asian countries could learn lessons from the war in Ukraine and develop effective countermeasures, Rahman said.

China has drawn its line in the Gulf of Tonkin. Is the South China Sea next?

Ukraine’s sea drones have reportedly been thwarting Russian vessels recently, including a patrol ship that was sunk in the Black Sea earlier this month in one such attack.

Citing these attacks as an example, Rahman said: “The use of drones, mobile anti-ship missiles and sea mines – these are cheaper systems that Indo-Pacific countries could deploy to counter the Chinese Navy and its aircraft carriers.”

Chinese scientists’ breakthrough discovery could improve pancreatic cancer patients’ survival rate

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3257073/chinese-scientists-breakthrough-discovery-could-improve-pancreatic-cancer-patients-survival-rate?utm_source=rss_feed

For the first time, Chinese scientists have identified two protein markers that could potentially predict chemotherapy sensitivity in pancreatic cancer, a discovery that is expected to improve overall survival rates from one of the deadliest diseases.

Pancreatic cancer is rarely diagnosed in its early stages when the chances of being cured are greatest. It has an average five-year survival rate of less than 10 per cent.

A Chinese study enrolled 1,171 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) – the most common subtype of pancreatic cancer that accounts for more than 95 per cent of all cases – and provided extensive follow-up.

PDAC causes around 466,000 deaths worldwide each year and is predicted to become the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths by 2030.

The Chinese team sequenced the proteome – the complete set of proteins expressed by an organism – and the transcriptome – which describes the set of mRNA transcripts produced in a given cell or tissue type – of 191 patients with more than three years of follow-up. This allowed them to successfully construct a model for pancreatic cancer prognosis and they then reported the identification of two important protein biomarkers: NDUFB8 and CEMIP2.

The study was co-led by scientists and doctors from institutions including Ruijin Hospital, part of the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and Changhai Hospital in Shanghai.

It was initially published online in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine on January 29, but was formally published as a cover article in the latest issue on March 19.

China to trial ‘superior’ pancreatic cancer drug with fewer side effects

To confirm the validity of these biomarkers, the team further tested their findings in medical centres in France and China involving three separate groups of patients, with more than 200 participants in each. The process “enhanced the robustness and generalisability of our findings”, the authors said.

The study is believed to be the first proteomics-driven “exploration of biomarkers associated with PDAC treatment”, Fan Jia, a senior doctor at Zhongshan Hospital, affiliated with Shanghai’s Fudan University, said in a commentary posted on the Chinese social media account “BioArt” in late January.

The findings “mark a new era in the precision diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer,” Fan, who was not involved in the research, said.

In the same article, two other peer experts, Li Min and Liu Mingyang, noted that about 60 per cent of pancreatic cancer patients had metastatic disease at the time of initial diagnosis and 30 per cent were in a locally advanced stage.

“This has deprived them of the chance of cure through surgery and left them with the suboptimal option of chemotherapy-based comprehensive treatment,” they said.

Li is a researcher at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and president of the American Pancreatic Association, and Liu is from the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

In recent years, however, it has become clear that pancreatic cancer is a highly heterogeneous tumour, meaning it can appear differently from patient to patient.

“How to accurately predict the efficacy of chemotherapy and optimise the treatment portfolio for patients is the focus and pain point of current pancreatic cancer research,” they said.

Pancreatic cancer, often called the “king of cancers” claimed the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in 2011.

China-Pakistan projects won’t be safe if local feelings are ignored

https://www.scmp.com/comment/asia-opinion/article/3256910/china-pakistan-projects-wont-be-safe-if-local-feelings-are-ignored?utm_source=rss_feed

On March 26, a suicide bomber rammed a car filled with explosives into a convoy of Chinese engineers who worked on the Dasu hydropower project in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, northwest Pakistan. The attack killed five Chinese engineers and their driver. Chinese diplomats asked Islamabad to launch a thorough investigation, punish the perpetrators and take steps to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens.

The attack comes on the heels of the Balochistan Liberation Army’s (BLA) failed attempt to enter the Gwadar Port Authority complex on March 20. The complex houses Chinese workers and engineers, as well as Pakistani intelligence offices.

Gwadar, in Balochistan province, is the culmination point of the 3,000-kilometre China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a centrepiece of the Belt and Road Initiative which starts in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. CPEC comprises rail, road, energy and other infrastructure projects.

In the first two years after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, attacks rose by 73 per cent in Pakistan, leaving the country in a tailspin. The Taliban’s takeover had a revitalising impact on jihadist groups like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as well as Baloch separatist groups.

Tuesday’s bombing was one of the most devastating attacks targeting Chinese nationals since April 2022, when suicide bomber Shari Baloch attacked the University of Karachi’s Confucius Institute. Last August, militants in Gwadar targeted a bus of Chinese engineers who all survived.

The Majeed Brigade, the BLA’s suicide squad, has carried out terrorist attacks against Chinese economic interests, workers and engineers in Pakistan since 2018.

Most major anti-China terrorist attacks in Pakistan have been carried out by the Majeed Brigade, including those on a bus in Dalbandin and the Chinese consulate in Karachi in 2018, as well as the 2019 assault on the Pearl Continental hotel frequented by Chinese nationals. The brigade also claimed responsibility for the 2020 Pakistan Stock Exchange and 2022 Confucius Institute attacks. Militants carried out two other attacks but they either did not claim them or sent mixed messages about their intentions.

TTP claimed responsibility for the Quetta Serena hotel bombing in 2021 but walked back its claim of targeting foreign officials. The hotel was hosting then-Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Nong Rong, who was not present during the attack. Likewise, the 2021 suicide attack on a bus of Chinese engineers associated with the Dasu hydropower project was not claimed by any terrorist group. It bears mentioning that Pakistan blamed TTP for that bombing.

The latest attack has again targeted Chinese engineers working on the Dasu hydropower project. Last July, the Pakistani government decided to form a task force comprising personnel from the Pakistan Army, Punjab Rangers, Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts, police and levies force to ensure “foolproof” security of the project. Tuesday’s attack will bring the efficacy of the task force into sharp focus and could revive China’s past demand to allow private security companies to protect Chinese nationals and projects in Pakistan.

Pakistan has refused to allow private Chinese security companies to operate in the country, particularly in conflict zones. Sources say the Pakistani authorities fear that allowing private Chinese security companies will not only reflect poorly on their leadership but also strengthen conspiracy theories about CPEC.

Furthermore, some in the West would see the arrival of private Chinese security companies as a precursor to the arrival of People’s Liberation Army troops in Pakistan.

The timing of the attack could not have been worse for Pakistan’s newly formed and fragile coalition government, struggling to revive from a downward economic spiral. It is banking on CPEC’s second phase which involves opening up special economic zones and cooperation in other sectors to revive the economy.

China and Saudi Arabia are two countries that a new Pakistani prime minister typically visits upon taking office. The most recent attack could change the focus of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coming visit to Beijing from new economic projects to the efficacy of the current security measures for Chinese residents and projects.

The Baloch separatists view China as a neocolonial power which has furthered their sense of alienation and economic deprivation by colluding with the Pakistani state.

The separatist groups take the view that projects like CPEC will reduce the Balochs to a minority in their own province. It bears mentioning that Balochistan, despite being mineral-rich and accounting for 44 per cent of Pakistan’s land area is the country’s least populated and developed province. It is also among the most impoverished.

To the separatists, CPEC and its development projects have worsened their socioeconomic grievances. Though touted as a game-changer by the Pakistani government, CPEC has yet to result in material benefits for Balochistan. Gwadar, where the deep-sea port is located, lacks infrastructure, clean drinking water and basic health facilities.

Gwadar’s electricity is imported from neighbouring Iran. Flash floods caused by torrential rains in February once again exposed Gwadar’s poor infrastructure. CPEC’s perception-reality gap in Balochistan has allowed the separatists to exploit local grievances to recruit, fundraise and propagandise.

With jihadist groups joining the fray and with Baloch separatist groups attacking Chinese people and property, Pakistan’s new government will find it hard to convince Beijing to kick-start new projects. Without addressing the genuine grievances of the Balochs and working with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan to deal with the challenge posed by the TTP, the security situation is unlikely to improve.

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‘Worrying malaise’: China’s economic and social fortunes rest on its youth, but they are lying flat and ‘letting it rot’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3257238/worrying-malaise-chinas-economic-and-social-fortunes-rest-its-youth-they-are-lying-flat-and-letting?utm_source=rss_feed

Song Liang spent much of her adolescence chasing academic excellence, alternating between piles of textbooks and extracurricular teaching materials to gain a competitive edge and advance to a highly ranked university.

She is now in her second year at a top institution in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin. But since being admitted, her well-being has declined. She has gained 23kg (50lbs) and has abandoned dancing – a daily practice required by her mother since she was five to keep her in good shape – to do very little in its place.

“Every day I feel so tired,” Song said, “Nothing interests me. I’m now at a good university, realising the dream of my parents – that’s all.”

Like millions of young people in China, Song was diligent and studied hard for years. She succeeded in China’s tough university entrance exam but, like many of her peers, has suffered burnout and depression.

Demographers and analysts say the mental health of young Chinese may affect the country’s future “human capital”, and more broadly its economic path, and that Beijing must take steps to treat the issue seriously.

No official data is available on the number of young people with mental health issues in China. Researchers at the Central South University in Hunan province estimate more than 9 million of 156 million Chinese adolescents aged between 10 and 19 have depression or anxiety, according to a report published on the US National Library of Medicine website last year.

The 2022 Blue Book on National Depression, a report released by official newspaper the People’s Daily and the Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders, attributed youth depression mainly to academic pressure and tensions with peers and family.

Meanwhile, phrases such as “lying flat” and “let it rot” respectively refer to doing the minimum required and self-indulgence. These internet buzzwords describe a popular lifestyle among young people and shed light on a prevalent pessimism and lack of motivation.

It is in stark contrast to what President Xi Jinping seeks from the youth of China: be willing to take on responsibilities, work hard and work well. He has repeated these sentiments in several speeches over the past few years in a plea to push China to achieve “national rejuvenation”.

Free time worth more than money: China’s youth ‘lie flat’ as economy slows

“It’s worrying if younger Chinese people are experiencing a malaise in terms of drive and motivation,” said George Magnus, a research associate at Oxford University’s China Centre.

“The reasons for such malaise are normally linked to a lack of opportunity and/or low confidence in their expectations – and that’s primarily about the economy in general, and occupational and social mobility in particular,” Magnus said.

If the underlying causes remain unaddressed, widespread depression augurs low fertility and hurts societal vitality and innovation, leaving China’s plight worse than the long economic stagnation experienced in Japan, according to Magnus and other analysts.

For Song, the depression comes from high academic pressure and dim job and life prospects.

“Cutthroat competitions never end,” she said with a sigh. “It’s difficult to find a job, and competition to become a civil servant or postgraduate is getting more intense. Even if you’re lucky enough to win out in these exams, you’ll feel helpless facing high home prices and the heavy burden of raising a child.”

When China’s economy significantly slowed from the robust growth seen in past decades, it has also become harder for people to get a job. The jobless rate for the 16-24 age group has gradually climbed since 2020. It hit a record high 21.3 per cent in June but a month later Beijing suspended the release of data for an adjustment, with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) saying the figures should exclude students looking for part-time jobs.

Almost six months later, China resumed releasing the data. The youth jobless rate stood at 14.9 per cent in December, 14.6 per cent in January and rose to 15.3 per cent for February, according to the NBS. The country’s overall jobless rate was 5.3 per cent for February.

The number of Chinese graduates has been breaking records in the past few years. There were more than 10 million for the first time in 2022 and the figure reached 11.6 million last year. A record 11.7 million college students are set to graduate in the coming months.

When faced with difficulties in finding a job, many graduates choose to postpone employment or try their luck getting a position with the government, a job hunt that proves to be yet another rat race.

Last year, more than 3 million students took the civil service exam to compete for 39,600 vacancies at central government agencies and their directly affiliated institutions. This meant an average of about 77 candidates competing for a single position. Also, around 4.7 million students sat the postgraduate entrance exam last year for 760,000 vacancies nationwide.

As job prospects grow gloomier, parents are pushing their children harder to gain a competitive edge.

Chen Xugeng, 41, a Beijing resident and father to a 10-year-old boy, said he spent an annual 80,000 yuan (US$11,000) on his child’s extracurricular maths and English courses and fencing training.

“Like many Chinese parents, I hope my child can have a bright future and I believe in investment in education,” Chen said. “After all, education offers the rare fair chance for social mobility in China, especially for ordinary people with no power or political privileges.”

Chen, who was born in a remote village in the southwestern province of Sichuan, joined a security firm in Beijing after graduating from a prestigious university in the capital city.

“Education changed my life at a time when China’s economy grew rapidly. Now the economy is slowing, making education even more important because opportunities are fewer and are only for those who are well prepared,” he said.

To sharpen his child’s competitive edge, Chen paid for extracurricular courses for his son to “study earlier and deeper”.

“I feel sorry for my son that he has to study until 10pm every day. But we have no choice. Many children around us study even harder. Without the extra we’ll be left behind,” he said.

Chinese netizens borrowed the sociological term neijuan, or involution, to liken the competition in educational attainment to the audience at a cinema: someone stands up to get a clearer view, which obliges everyone behind them to stand. Then people climb on seats and ladders. But in the end, despite all their effort, no one is able to see the screen any better.

University student Wang Zhanxing said he once survived neijuan but was now reconsidering its cost. He achieved good results in the university entrance exam after one-on-one sessions with tutors for three hours every day for three years in high school.

He will graduate from a Beijing university this summer and says he has now decided to opt out of neijuan. When he sat the postgraduate entrance exam last year, his whole body trembled and in the end he quit the exam.

“I cannot do it any more. I’m fed up with tests, exams and even picking up a textbook. Enough is enough,” Wang said.

He has no immediate plans: “I will just muddle along for some time. Probably raise a cat.”

“Marriage? Maybe. Children? Never. Child-rearing would involve a lot of money and energy, and I don’t want my children to feel the pressure I did,” he said.

Chinese people are increasingly reluctant to have babies. The fertility rate – the number of children a woman can be expected to have in her lifetime – plunged from 2.6 births in the late 1980s to 1.19 last year, according to data from the United Nations. It is far below the replacement rate of 2.1 and is even lower than the 1.31 fertility rate of Japan, a country that has notably struggled for decades with low birth rates and a large ageing population.

Child-rearing costs are soaring. YuWa Population Research Institute, a think-tank in Beijing, calculated that the average cost of raising a first child to the age of 18 was 538,000 yuan last year. That is 6.3 times China’s GDP per person and is lower only than that in South Korea.

China’s fertility rate is expected to remain less than 1.5 throughout this century, according to Joseph Chamie, a demographer and former director of the United Nations’ Population Division.

“China will likely follow a pattern similar to other East Asian countries, such as Japan and Singapore, namely population decline and an ageing population,” Chamie said.

“China’s various attempts to raise the fertility rate back near the replacement level are unlikely to succeed, as the measures are too late and too limited.”

In 2016, China replaced its four decades-old one-child policy with a limit of two-children per couple.

In 2021, it switched to a three-children policy and introduced incentives such as cash handouts, tax breaks and longer maternity leave. It has also launched a “double reduction” policy – placing strict limitations on the volume and difficulty of homework as well as the scope and scale of private or after-school tutoring – to reduce the financial burden on parents. But the measures have not made much difference.

Liang Jianzhang, demographer and a founder of YuWa Population Research Institute, said China should launch more forceful policies, including scrapping the zhongkao, a compulsory senior middle school entrance exam, and reducing the number of school years – as a way to make couples less reluctant to have children and ease the negative effects of an ageing population on innovation and economic growth.

Magnus said the parallels with Japan, South Korea and other Asian “tiger economies” were instructive.

“When these nations had China’s current income per head, they were able to look forward to years of rising educational and career mobility, a growing working age population and profound shifts in their economic structures that benefited households, private consumption and services, which in turn fuelled productive private investment,” he said.

“China is now at a crossroads at which the status quo is liable to lead China to distance itself from the path trodden by Japan and the [Asian] tigers,” he said.

China is getting old before it gets rich, economists and demographers have noted, as it battles a rapidly ageing labour force and stagnating economy.

Amid job market woes, China to add another 11.8 million graduates to workforce

“If young people are the future, it’s essential to invest in their human capital as much as, or more than, in physical capital. The problem in not doing so is glacial rather than cliff edge but it’s nevertheless a big one,” Magnus said.

Chen Daoyin, an independent political analyst said widespread pessimism about the next generation’s prospects would cost society vitality and momentum.

“At some point, when economic development is hindered so much that a financial crisis breaks out, a social eruption is likely to take place from the masses and elites who are left out from the party’s inner system,” Chen said.

Bodies of 8 Chinese migrants found on beach in Mexico after boat capsized

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3257347/bodies-8-chinese-migrants-found-beach-mexico-after-boat-capsized?utm_source=rss_feed

The bodies of eight Chinese migrants were found on a beach in southern Mexico after the boat they were travelling in capsized, officials said on Saturday.

The seven women and a man were aboard a boat operated by a Mexican that left Tapachula in Chiapas state, on the border with Guatemala, on Thursday, the prosecutor’s office added.

The shore where the bodies were discovered on Friday in the state of Oaxaca which sits along a route frequently used by people trying to reach the United States.

Another migrant survived the ordeal. There was no word on what happened to the Mexican driving the boat.

US Supreme Court allows Texas deportation law in Biden loss

Thousands of undocumented migrants - often fleeing violence and poverty in their home countries - transit through Mexico each year trying to reach the US border. Many are from Central America.

According to official data, migrants apprehended last year while crossing Mexico also included citizens of China, India and Uzbekistan and other countries far from the Americas.

The rising numbers of migrants have overwhelmed Mexican immigration facilities and shelters, while the government has come under increased pressure from the United States to fight the flow as illegal immigration takes center stage in the US presidential election campaign.