China-Africa summit 2024, South China Sea tensions continue, and China, US climate envoys meet
+ former aide to New York governors charged with spying for Chinese government
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Through the Lens
Xinjiang
Long arm of China looms over one of the world's last Uyghur bookshops (The Telegraph)
[…] for Mr Turkistanli, a tall, bearded man with a smile rarely far from his lips, Kutadgu Bilik – which means Divine Knowledge, and is named after an 11th-century epic poem by a renowned Uyghur philosopher – is not just a labour of love but an act of resistance.
It is now one of the world’s last shops selling literature written in the Uyghur language, after China launched its crackdown on the Muslim community that saw more than a million detained and the culture largely eradicated within its borders.
“There are no bookstores like this anywhere in the world, not even in weten,” said Mr Turkistanli, 50, using the Uyghur word for “homeland”.
[…]
Chinese police from his hometown of Hotan, in southern Xinjiang, have called him several times, pressuring him to close.
“They offered to pay me to open a mobile or computer store – anything, but a bookstore,” he told the Telegraph.
“But I told them I wanted nothing to do with them, hung up and changed my number.”
Rune Steenberg, an expert on the Uyghurs and senior researcher at Czechia’s Palacký University Olomouc, said: “Beijing is concerned about the impact of Uyghur identity abroad.
“As they are destroying and forcefully changing Uyghur culture and even history in Xinjiang, the record of what used to be written and known is a constant reminder of their manipulation and of the artificiality of the story they try to establish as truth.”
China introduces resolution opposing US sanctions on Xinjiang (RFA)
The Chinese resolution, which took effect on Monday, aims to “expose to both the international community and the people of Xinjiang, what is clearly the U.S. sinister intention in implementing sanctions against Xinjiang, to reveal the U.S. suppression of the region’s enterprises and its undermining of Xinjiang’s social stability and development,” Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.
“The rights of workers of all ethnic groups in Xinjiang are guaranteed and people live harmonious lives,” the resolution stated, according to Xinhua.
“However, neglecting these facts and such progress, the U.S. maliciously slanders the human rights situation in Xinjiang,” it said.
[…]
Under the resolution, local governments are encouraged to help sanctioned companies expand their domestic and international markets, promote their products, boost innovation, and strengthen the appeal of company brands, according to Xinhua.
Politics & Society
Has Xi Jinping Reached His Peak? Power Concentration versus Governance Capability (China Leadership Monitor)
Through analyzing the strengths and limitations of Xi Jinping’s power in its interactions with the CCP regime’s governance performance, this article summarizes Xi’s accomplishments of concentrating power in contrast to his ineffectiveness in promoting his governance programs, presents evidence of regime elite resistance to Xi’s power and policy, and contends that Xi is now trapped in the same power-policy deadlock that during his first ten years in office facilitated his rapid concentration of power. The article thus argues that Xi’s power has now peaked due to the existence of such a deadlock, and any possible moves on his part to further concentrate power will inevitably and increasingly harm regime governance in general as well as Xi’s own authority within elite politics in particular.
Do Chinese Leaders and Elites Think Their Best Days Are Behind Them? (China Leadership Monitor)
Despite its current economic slump, official statements by senior Chinese leaders indicate that they remain optimistic about the country’s economic future. They have responded critically to the “peak China” thesis, providing a lengthy list of favorable factors in support of their optimistic assessment of China’s future trajectory, such as the country’s advantages of scale, accumulated economic resources and technological capabilities, and its new development framework crafted to mitigate the effects of U.S.-led containment. Although Chinese leaders’ optimism is partly grounded in reality, it may be premature because the country’s immense potential will unlikely be realized without effective implementation of the necessary reforms. Examination of statements by senior Chinese leaders does not provide useful clues as to whether or when Chinese power will peak. However, it does show that Chinese leaders do not believe that their best days are behind them.
China’s Defense Spending: The $700 Billion Distraction (War on the Rocks)
American political and military leaders are amplifying flawed estimates that China’s annual defense spending is much higher than it actually is. In these mistaken calculations, China’s defense spending has reached $700 billion, approaching the level of the U.S. defense budget. These exaggerated estimates have gained traction in Congress, the media, and defense circles.
[…]
Why do such estimates matter, and why is it important to make them as accurately as possible? First, there is no excuse for getting an important national security–related estimate wrong when better data and methods are available. Second, defense spending estimates play a critical role in assessing the degree and nature of military challenges that China poses to the United States and its allies. All else equal, a larger defense budget suggests a more salient threat. Underestimating the threat can leave one unprepared, while overestimating it can fuel spirals of security competition. Third, a misplaced focus on aggregate spending levels can distract attention from the more important debate about what kinds of capabilities the United States should purchase in response to China’s ongoing military modernization.
The Nuclear Submarine Building Capacity of China’s Bohai Shipyard (Observer Research Foundation)
Throughout the Cold War, both the US and the Soviet Union had several shipyards that were engaged in nuclear submarine construction and were, on average, building a total of four to six boats a year. What is unique in the Chinese case is the concentration of all such activity at a single shipyard.
It appears that nuclear submarines have crossed a Rubicon similar to the Destroyers—where, after several rounds of iterative improvements over numerous classes built in small numbers, the rapid induction of 25 Type 52D (Luyang III) vessels, followed by ten more, signaled design maturity. It is evident that China’s nuclear submarine construction moment has arrived.
China detains artist for scathing Mao works created more than a decade ago, family says (CNN)
A prominent Chinese artist known for his scathing political critiques of Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution has been detained in China, according to his brother and artistic partner.
Gao Zhen, 68, was detained last week in a police raid on his art studio on the outskirts of Beijing on suspicion of slandering China’s “heroes and martyrs,” his younger brother Gao Qiang told CNN Sunday in an email from New York. The criminal offense, introduced in 2021, is punishable by up to three years in prison.
The public security bureau that Gao Qiang said had detained his brother, in Hebei province’s Sanhe city, declined to comment.
At the height of their careers, the Gao Brothers created provocative sculptures of Mao in a country notoriously sensitive about its former ruler’s legacy. But that was well over a decade ago — during a relatively liberal era for artistic expression before China took an authoritarian turn under leader Xi Jinping.
Now, some of those older works have been seized by police as evidence against Gao Zhen, his brother said.
China: RSF raises international alarm over retargeting of journalist Zhang Zhan (RSF)
Chinese journalist Zhang Zhan, previously imprisoned for four years for her independent reporting on the Covid 19 outbreak, is missing again and was reportedly recently taken to a detention facility in Shanghai for unclear reasons. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is alarmed by this development, and urges immediate mobilisation of the international diplomatic community to ensure her safety. She must be released and granted full freedom without delay.
How China’s internet police went from targeting bloggers to their followers (The Guardian)
Duan says that he was detained for 24 hours and interrogated about his relationship to Yang, his use of a VPN and comments that he’d made on Discord. He was released without charge after 24 hours, but he – and other followers of Yang – remain concerned about the welfare of the vlogger, who hasn’t posted online since late July.
The incident is just one sign of the growing severity of China’s censorship regime, under which even private followers of unfavourable accounts can get into trouble.
“I don’t think I’ve seen followers of influencers being questioned to this extent in the past,” said Maya Wang, the associate China director at Human Rights Watch.
China’s ministry of public security and the local public security bureau handling Duan’s case could not be reached for comment, but both he and his fellow online idealists fell foul of one of the foundational principles of China’s internet: don’t form a community, especially not one related to politics, even in private.
Deaths in China’s RSDL system spark domestic calls for reform (Safeguard Defenders)
UN human rights bodies have called out RSDL for being “tantamount to enforced disappearance” and posing “a high risk of torture or ill treatment” to detainees. Safeguard Defenders has conducted extensive research into RSDL, focusing on human rights defender detainees, who are often disproportionately targeted. See the end of this article for links to our RSDL publications.
These mounting calls inside China for RSDL reform come ahead of planned revisions to the country’s Criminal Procedure Law (CPL), which regulates RSDL.
Media have reported that the current 14th National People’s Congress Standing Committee is expected to discuss amendments to the CPL before its five-year terms ends in 2028.
[…]
RSDL was originally meant as a softer form of detention, a way to prevent filling up detention centres with suspects whose alleged crimes are not that serious and who are not candidates for house arrest because they do not live in the jurisdiction where the investigation is located. In 2012, the law was amended to allow police to use RSDL in cases involving national security (typically human rights defenders), terrorism and major bribery. It’s use under Xi Jinping has rapidly expanded and there is good evidence that it constitutes a crime against humanity.
AstraZeneca says ‘small number’ of employees under investigation in China (Financial Times)
AstraZeneca said a “small number” of its employees are under investigation by police in China, following a report they had been detained over possible infringement of data privacy laws and importing unlicensed medications.
Police in Shenzhen have detained five current and former employees over the collection of patient data and the distribution of a liver cancer drug that had not been approved in the country, Bloomberg reported earlier on Thursday.
The employees are Chinese citizens who marketed cancer drugs and were arrested earlier this summer, according to Bloomberg.
Chinese vendor jailed for giving railway data to foreigners: State Security Ministry (SCMP)
China’s top spy and anti-espionage agency says it has cracked the case of a Chinese company helping an overseas client gather data about Chinese railways and jailed those who leaked the data.
It is the first known case since September 2021, when Beijing’s Data Security Law became effective, of collected data being identified as intelligence.
The Ministry of State Security (MSS) made the statement in a post on its social media on Monday, reminding Chinese companies and individuals to “keep a tight grip on data security”, and to be vigilant against foreign intelligence agencies stealing critical data from China.
Rock ’n’ roll, internet are potential Western ‘colour revolution’ traps: Chinese textbook (SCMP)
Rock ’n’ roll, pop music and the internet are Western vices that can be used to sow the seeds of “colour revolution” among Chinese youth, according to China’s latest college textbook on national security.
The textbook, which was officially launched last week, represents the latest move from Beijing to strengthen ideological control and promote national security among young Chinese.
The book, National Security Education Readier for College Students, will be used in the foundational course on national security education in universities, according to Community Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
According to the book, university students must remain vigilant against Western popular culture and beware of “colour revolution” traps when surfing online.
An Incomplete List of Everything Threatening China’s National Security (The New York Times)
What do snapping turtles, tissue boxes and college students looking for part-time jobs have in common?
They all might be hiding threats to China’s national security.
That, at least, is the message being pushed by the Ministry of State Security, China’s main intelligence agency, in a flurry of recent social media posts. Every few days in the past month, the agency has published an addition to its long, wide-ranging list of dangers, with the stated goal being to keep the public vigilant and enlist it to fend off foreign enemies.
The drumbeat is part of a broader push by China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, to make national security the country’s top priority, above other longstanding goals, such as economic development.
In Beijing’s view, that requires far more than strengthening spy agencies or investing in the military. It requires activating every Chinese citizen to be on the lookout, in what China has called a “whole of society” mobilization.
Bus Hits Crowd Outside Middle School in East China, Killing 11 (Caixin)
Five students and six parents were killed when a bus rammed into a crowd near a middle school in East China’s Shandong province on Tuesday morning, local police announced.
The 7:27 a.m. incident injured another 13 people, one of whom is in a critical condition, according to a statement from the Dongping County Public Security Bureau.
The vehicle, operated by a third-party bus company, “lost control” during the incident, the police statement said. The driver has been taken into police custody and the cause of the deadly crash is under investigation, police added.
Commentary: Exposure of Underground Surrogacy Clinic Highlights Growing Demand for Service (Caixin)
An underground surrogacy clinic was found in Qingdao, China, performing unauthorized operations since March.
Despite bans, illegal surrogacy persists, driven by demand and expanding beyond coastal provinces.
The debate on surrogacy legalization includes concerns over women's rights and the black market's unregulated risks versus the need to address infertility.
Chinese Kindergartens Transition to Elderly Care as Birth Rates Decline ()
As the silver economy continues to grow, new types of intergenerational communities are flourishing across China. As traditional family structures evolve, community-based, multi-generational living arrangements are poised to become the norm.
China’s Foreign Ministry announced Thursday that no more Chinese children would be sent abroad for adoption. The only exceptions will be for foreigners adopting the children or stepchildren of blood relatives in China.
“This is in line with the spirit of relevant international conventions,” the ministry’s spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news conference. “We are grateful for the desire and love of the governments and adoptive families of relevant countries to adopt Chinese children.”
The ban raises uncertainty for hundreds of American families currently in the process of adopting children from China.
Nearly 2 million foreigners make visa-free visit to China from July to August (China Daily)
About 1.96 million foreign nationals entered China via visa-free polices from July to August, a 117 percent year-on-year increase, the National Immigration Administration announced on Tuesday.
A total of 110 million visits by domestic and foreign tourists have been recorded from July to August, marking a 30 percent increase compared to the same period last year, the National Immigration Administration added. Among them, foreign nationals made 10.89 million entries and exits, a 52.8 percent year-on-year increase.
Mainland residents accounted for about 55.38 million entries and exits, marking a 28.1 percent increase from the same period last year. Residents of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan had about 44 million entries and exits, a 27.6 percent year-on-year increase.
World's largest indoor ski resort opens in Shanghai as China logs hottest month (France 24)
Even as the country warms, huge government support and the interest of an expanding middle class have seen the ski industry coast to new heights in China, particularly after Beijing hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The country leads the world when it comes to indoor ski resort building, boasting half of the world's top ten based on snow area, according to Daxue Consulting.
On Friday, the Shanghai L*SNOW Indoor Skiing Theme Resort was officially certified by Guinness World Records as the world's largest, overtaking the previous record-holder -- also in China, in northern Harbin.
Modelled like a glacier, the almost 100,000-square-metre snow world towers over coastal Lingang, about 1.5 hours away from the city centre.
Hong Kong & Macao
'Hong Kong 47': Court wraps up mitigation hearing in city’s largest national security case (Reuters)
The last batch of 45 Hong Kong activists entered their final pleas on Tuesday for light sentences in a landmark national security trial over charges that they had formed a "conspiracy to subvert the state power".
The offence carries up to life in jail under a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the financial hub in 2020 after sometimes-violent democracy protests rocked the city for months in 2019.
Judge Andrew Chan said on Tuesday that the 45 would be sentenced at a later date that has yet to be decided.
A total of 47 activists were arrested and charged in 2021 for participating in an unofficial poll to select pro-democracy candidates for a 2020 legislative council election.
Hong Kong Shops Sit Empty, Retail Rents Plunge as Chinese Turn Frugal (Bloomberg)
In Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, the mock-classical 1881 Heritage mall used to lure queues of mainland Chinese tourists eager to shop at boutiques operated by brands such as Tiffany, Cartier and Chopard. Now it attracts neither crowds nor brands. Only three of the more than 30 units at the mall owned by billionaire Li Ka-shing’s CK Asset Holdings Ltd. are occupied, and its colonnaded courtyards are quiet.
On nearby Canton Road, a shop previously rented by Swatch Group AG’s Omega for about HK$7.5 million ($962,000) a month is leased to a bank for 80% less, according to real estate agents familiar with the deal. Over in Causeway Bay’s Russell Street, a Transformers-themed fast-food restaurant has taken the place of Burberry Plc. Its rent is 89% below the HK$8.8 million the British firm was forking out in 2019, the agents said, declining to be identified because the matter is private.
China’s collapse in high-end spending has shaken investor confidence in luxury brands across the globe as companies from LVMH to Richemont and L’Oreal report falling sales in the region. Nowhere is the scale of that decline in demand more evident than Hong Kong, which was for many years the favored destination for China’s nouveau riche to splurge on designer handbags and Swiss watches.
Hong Kong schools forced to axe 70 Primary One classes as student population shrinks (SCMP)
The new academic year has seen 70 Primary One classes at 66 Hong Kong schools axed as the city contends with a shrinking student population, as a sector representative warns that tens of thousands of youngsters arriving under talent policies have done little to alleviate the shortfall.
Ten schools opened either a single Primary One class or none at all among the tally, following years of declining enrolment that put the institutions at risk of closure as industry veterans warned the worst was yet to come.
The data was revealed in profiles of 453 government and aided primary schools published by the Committee on Home-School Co-operation on Monday.
A ‘patriotic education’: Hong Kong schools begin rollout of Xi Jinping Thought (The Guardian)
The new school year began this week in Hong Kong with a significant new addition to the curriculum for some students: the teachings of Xi Jinping Thought.
The changes come alongside more lessons about national security and pro-Beijing patriotism, as the influence and control of China’s ruling Communist party increases in the semi-autonomous city.
The teachings on the ideology of China’s leader are encased in a new subject now mandatory for secondary students, Citizenship, Economics and Society, first announced in 2022.
The new module instils “patriotic education” for all three years of secondary students, and its content is aimed at “cultivating students’ sense of nationhood, affection for our country and sense of national identity”, according to government-issued curriculum guidelines. Third form students are expected to learn about Xi Jinping Thought in a module on “our country’s political structure and participation in international affairs”. The guidelines recommend teachers spend 12 40-minute lessons on the module.
Hong Kong releases song to promote patriotic education (HKFP)
Hong Kong has launched a song to promote patriotic education, with a karaoke version for primary and secondary schools.
The song is the latest effort to promote patriotic education amid a push to strengthen Hongkongers’ national identity and patriotic awareness, including new exhibitions, new school subjects, and a new festival.
The song, titled Our Home, was produced by the Working Group on Patriotic Education (WGPE), an institution established in April to coordinate government departments and civil groups to implement patriotic education.
Hong Kongers march in London to mark subway station police attacks (RFA)
Hundreds of Hong Kongers gathered in London over the weekend to mark the fifth anniversary of 2019 attacks by riot police on unarmed train passengers with baton's and tear gas in Prince Edward subway station.
Around 500 people gathered in London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday [Sep 1], raising the colonial-era flag of British Hong Kong and singing the banned protest anthem "Glory to Hong Kong," before lowering the flag to half-mast to mourn those who died during the months-long protests against Hong Kong's vanishing autonomy under Chinese rule.
US Warns Businesses in Hong Kong of Heightened Legal Risks (Bloomberg)
The US said businesses operating in Hong Kong could fall afoul of national security legislation and also faced heightened legal and regulatory risks — including violating US sanctions — in an alert issued by the Biden administration on Friday.
The advisory said the additional danger was posed by China’s March implementation of the Article 23 security legislation in Hong Kong, which the US has warned could further erode human rights protections and be used to prosecute routine business activities.
American authorities are concerned that lobbying, market analysis relying on government data, publishing media analysis or commentary, or engaging with reporters, think tanks, or nongovernmental organizations could all be classified as threats to national security, according to the bulletin.
“Businesses should be aware that the risks they face in the People’s Republic of China are now increasingly present in Hong Kong,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a social media post.
Hong Kong keeps Russia’s dark fleet afloat (Lowy Institute)
As a fleet of between 600 and 1,000 mostly ageing vessels continues to sail under the umbrella of suspected flags of convenience to evade international sanctions against Russia, the role of Hong Kong in undermining the measures has become clear according to a much-cited report by the Washington DC-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. The findings are largely based on data from the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS), a non-profit devoted to identifying “illicit networks that threaten global peace and security”.
Chaired by James Cunningham, the former US consul general for Hong Kong and ambassador to the United Nations, the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation has considerable weight and continues to highlight civil rights abuses in the territory.
The report claims that Hong Kong’s exports of semiconductors to Russia almost doubled after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Between August and December 2023, 40 per cent of the $2 billion worth of shipments to Moscow contained goods on the US and EU’s lists of advanced components – including semiconductors, computer processors, digital storage units, and integrated circuits – many of them sought by Russia for its war effort. The report also identified numerous locally registered companies that are working with Russia, Iran and North Korea to facilitate their shipping needs, including the transport of sanctioned oil and gas.
Epoch Times media outlet to suspend print edition in Hong Kong (SCMP)
A publication closely linked with the Falun Gong group branded by Beijing as an “evil cult” has announced it will suspend its print edition in Hong Kong after failing to renew the lease of its printing shop.
In a Facebook post on Friday, the Hong Kong edition of the Epoch Times said it would cease printing the newspaper on September 17, adding the decision was due to “various factors”.
“As the Epoch Times Hong Kong edition’s printing team had not been able to renew its lease after it had expired, in addition to the various factors in Hong Kong presently, the Epoch Times Hong Kong Edition has decided to temporarily stop its printing and the distribution of its daily newspaper,” the outlet said.
Someone came in and took away the joy (The Hong Konger)
Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities are starting to speak out about sexual abuse after many years of silence
Cathay Pacific inspects entire A350 fleet after finding engine problems (CNN)
Hong Kong’s flag carrier Cathay Pacific has canceled dozens of flights as it conducts an inspection of its entire Airbus A350 fleet after finding engine problems affecting the plane.
The airline, one of the world’s largest users of the long-haul jet, said it identified an engine component failure on flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich on Monday. The plane later returned to Hong Kong.
“This component was the first of its type to suffer such failure on any A350 aircraft worldwide,” Cathay said in a statement sent to CNN. A thorough inspection of its 48-plane fleet revealed “a number of the same engine components that need to be replaced,” it added. It did not detail the nature of the engine issue.
Taiwan
If China wants Taiwan it should also take back land from Russia, president says (Reuters)
Speaking in an interview with a Taiwanese television station broadcast late on Sunday, Lai, who China calls a "separatist", brought up the 1858 Treaty of Aigun in which China signed over a vast tract of land in what is now Russia's far east to the Russian empire, forming much of the present day border along the Amur River.
China's Qing dynasty, then in terminal decline, originally refused to ratify the treaty but it was affirmed two years later in the Convention of Peking, one of what China refers to as the "unequal" treaties with foreign powers in the 19th Century.
"China's intention to attack and annex Taiwan is not because of what any one person or political party in Taiwan says or does. It is not for the sake of territorial integrity that China wants to annex Taiwan," Lai said.
"If it is for the sake of territorial integrity, why doesn't it take back the lands occupied by Russia that were signed over in the Treaty of Aigun? Russia is now at its weakest right?" he added.
"The Treaty of Aigun signed during the Qing - you can ask Russia (for the land back) but you don't. So it's obvious they don't want to invade Taiwan for territorial reasons."
[…]
Lai said that what China really wants to do with its designs on Taiwan is to change the rules-based international order.
"It wants to achieve hegemony in the international area, in the Western Pacific - that is it's real aim."
Kinmen Is Unlikely to Become Taiwan’s Crimea (China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe)
China’s gray zone and cognitive warfare tactics are one issue; a Crimea-like scenario is another. We should not confuse the two.
US is building allies network to counter China's threat, top diplomat to Taiwan says (Reuters)
The United States is building a network of alliances in the Indo-Pacific to counter China's threats there, its top diplomat in Taiwan said on Wednesday, adding that the island was not Beijing's only target in seeking to change the status quo.
The United States is Taiwan's most important supporter and arms supplier, despite its lack of formal ties with the island, and Raymond Greene, the newly appointed director of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and de facto U.S. ambassador, was speaking to reporters in Taipei.
"The United States is building a latticework of alliances in the Indo-Pacific to enhance our deterrence capabilities," Greene said, adding Taiwan was not the only target of Chinese efforts to "use intimidation and coercion to change the status quo" and that as a result more and more countries were joining forces to preserve the rules-based international system.
He said those efforts, along with Taiwan's investment in defence and "impressive" military reforms, were designed to prevent a war rather than preparing for one.
"Preserving strategic balance in the Taiwan Strait and the broader Indo-Pacific region will promote peaceful dialogue to resolve disputes between the two sides," said Greene, who delivered his remarks in Mandarin.
Taiwan to explain Resolution 2758 to U.N. member states: MOFA (Focus Taiwan)
Taiwan's government intends to help the international community better understand United Nations Resolution 2758 this year so that Beijing can no longer misuse it to exclude Taiwan from the U.N. system, a senior Taiwanese diplomat said Tuesday.
Speaking during a press event announcing this year's strategy in pushing for Taiwan's inclusion at the U.N., Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said that Taiwan will again invite diplomatic allies to speak up for the country during the upcoming U.N. General Debate, as has been the country's approach since 1993.
Taiwan will also again ask these allies' permanent representatives to the U.N. to submit a joint letter to U.N. Secretary-General Antόnio Guterres urging him to rectify the U.N.'s "erroneous interpretation of Resolution 2758."
Former Taiwan presidential candidate suspected in corruption case is sent back to jail (AP)
A former Taiwanese presidential candidate who was once mayor of the capital Taipei has been returned to custody as part of a sprawling corruption investigation.
Ko Wen-je was returned to detention Thursday night in handcuffs after a legal panel overruled an earlier order allowing him to return home. sure. He is being held incommunicado, unable to speak to anyone outside the facility in which he is being held.
Ko’s case involves alleged illegal favors and payments from a web of business people and local level politicians brought to light by an urban redevelopment project that stood to bring investors massive profits by avoiding required reviews.
Can the Taiwan People’s Party Survive? (Council on Foreign Relations)
Mounting scandals surrounding the Taiwan People's Party raise questions about its long term viability.
China Sentences Taiwanese Man To 9 Years For 'Separatism' (Barron's)
A Chinese court has sentenced a Taiwanese politician who supports the island's independence to nine years in jail for "separatism", an official told state media on Friday.
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to seize it one day, by force if necessary.
The People's Court of Wenzhou in eastern China sentenced Yang Chih-yuan on August 26 to nine years in prison on secession charges, Chen Binhua, the spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Bureau, said on state broadcaster CCTV.
Yang is the leader of a minor political party advocating for Taiwan's formal independence and once ran unsuccessfully for the democratic island's parliament, according to Taiwanese media.
He was arrested in China in 2022.
Taiwan Accuses China of ‘Poaching’ Talent From Its Tech Firms (Bloomberg)
Taiwan said Chinese chip companies are “illegally poaching” talent and trade secrets, underscoring the heated global rivalry to develop the key technology used in phones, cars and artificial intelligence.
A probe last month turned up eight Chinese companies that broke Taiwan law, including Naura Technology Group Co., a top Taiwanese intelligence and investigative agency said in a statement.
Naura, which supplies China’s biggest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., illegally recruited engineers who worked on chip-related equipment, according to the statement.
Beijing-based Naura said in a statement to Bloomberg News that its office in Taiwan “was set up in accordance with local laws and regulations and there is no poaching.”
China resumes Taiwan pomelo imports, allows tourist travel to Kinmen (Nikkei Asia)
China resumed imports of Taiwanese pomelos on Monday, days after announcing plans to allow Fujian residents to travel to the nearby Taiwan-administered Kinmen Islands.
[…]
Chinese customs authorities had suspended imports of Taiwanese pomelos since 2022. Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Chen Binhua said Monday that the decision to resume imports was made after multiple requests from officials in the eastern Taiwanese county of Hualien, a major producer of pomelos.
World
Asia
Malaysia says it won't bow to China's demands to halt oil exploration in the South China Sea (AP)
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Thursday that Malaysia will not bow to demands by China to stop its oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea as the activities are within the country’s waters.
Anwar said Malaysia would continue to explain its stance following China’s accusations in a protest note in February to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing that Kuala Lumpur had infringed on its territory. Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it was investigating the leak of the diplomatic protest note that was published by a Filipino media outlet on Aug. 29.
Manila and Hanoi team up against China (Politico)
The Philippines and Vietnam sent a message to Beijing last week about its increasingly aggressive moves in the South China Sea — back off.
Beijing, so far, is brushing off the warning.
The letters of intent from Vietnam’s Defense Minister General Phan Van Giang and his Philippine counterpart Gilberto Teodoro on Aug. 30 pledge to improve military cooperation between the two Southeast Asian nations in a formal agreement expected in December.
The terms of that cooperation are modest — a focus on military medicine and humanitarian aid. But it’s a way to signal that the countries’ first-ever joint coast guard drills last month are part of a larger effort to curb China’s power in the region.
Philippines Spots 200 China Ships, Most This Year, Amid Tensions (Bloomberg)
The Philippines said it has monitored the highest number of Chinese ships in the South China Sea this year, as Beijing projects its naval power amid renewed tensions with Manila.
Some 203 Chinese vessels were spotted near nine Philippine outposts and other key areas in the contested waterway in the past seven days, higher than the 163 ships tracked the week prior, according to the Philippine Navy.
The surge can be attributed to the recent attention on Sabina Shoal, Philippine Navy spokesperson Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad told reporters Tuesday. Other areas with increased Chinese presence include Pag-asa Islands and Iroquois Reef, according to the Navy.
Japan and Australia agree to increase joint military training (AP)
Japan and Australia agreed on Thursday to increase joint military training exercises as their government ministers shared concerns over China’s recent incursions into Japanese airspace and territorial waters.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara met for a regular summit with their Australian counterparts, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defense Minister Richard Marles in the Australian coastal town of Queenscliff.
They discussed greater security cooperation in the context of the ministers’ shared support for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and concerns over China’s increasingly aggressive territorial claims in the South and East China Seas, Wong said.
Hotline not used over Japan airspace breach by China military plane (The Mainichi)
China and Japan did not use their defense hotline to communicate following an unprecedented violation of Japanese airspace by a Chinese military spy plane last week, diplomatic sources said Wednesday, casting fresh doubt over the direct line's effectiveness in crisis management.
Japan warns of ‘new era of crisis,’ asks for record defense budget (RFA)
Japan’s defense ministry has released its annual white paper for 2024, warning that the Asia-Pacific region is facing “the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II.”
[…]
Kihara singled out China, which has been building up military strength while intensifying activities in the East China Sea and the Pacific, as one of the greatest strategic challenges to Japan, alongside North Korea and Russia.
The ministry assessed that China had been “intensifying changes to the status quo by force” in the entire region around Japan, including in the East China and South China Sea.
China Warns Japan of Retaliation for Possible New Chip Curbs (Bloomberg)
China has threatened severe economic retaliation against Japan if Tokyo further restricts sales and servicing of chipmaking equipment to Chinese firms, complicating US-led efforts to cut the world’s second-largest economy off from advanced technology.
Senior Chinese officials have repeatedly outlined that position in recent meetings with their Japanese counterparts, according to people familiar with the matter. One specific fear in Japan, Toyota Motor Corp. privately told officials in Tokyo, is that Beijing could react to new semiconductor controls by cutting Japan’s access to critical minerals that are essential for automotive production, the people said, declining to be named discussing private affairs.
Toyota is among the most important companies in Japan and is deeply involved in the country’s chip policy, partly reflected by the fact that it has invested in a new chip campus being built by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. in Kumamoto, according to one of the people. That makes its concerns a major consideration for Japanese officials, in addition to those of Tokyo Electron Ltd., the semiconductor gear-maker that would be principally affected by any new Japanese export controls.
The US has been pressuring Japan to impose additional restrictions on the ability of firms including Tokyo Electron to sell advanced chipmaking tools to China, part of a long-running campaign to curtail China’s semiconductor progress. With those talks, senior US officials have been working with their Japanese counterparts on a strategy to ensure adequate supplies of critical minerals, some of the people said, especially since China imposed restrictions on the exports of gallium, germanium and graphite last year.
Fugitive former mayor Alice Guo back in the Philippines to face Senate (Al Jazeera)
Alice Guo, a former mayor who went on the run after she was accused of links to Chinese organised crime, has arrived back in the Philippines, where she is expected to be brought in front of the Senate.
Guo, dressed in an orange T-shirt marked ‘detainee’ and wearing a black face mask, touched down in Manila in the early hours of Friday morning.
Philippine media reported that Guo travelled on a chartered jet from Jakarta, where she was arrested for immigration offences earlier this week, and was accompanied by Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and Philippine National Police chief, General Rommel Francisco Marbil.
In brief comments at a news conference after her arrival, she said she had been the target of death threats. She spent most of the time with her back to the media and looking at the wall.
Alice Guo: Fury as Filipino officials pose with 'China spy mayor' (BBC)
Senior Filipino officials have sparked outrage for posing for photos with a former smalltown mayor accused of spying for China, as they escorted her home from Indonesia.
Alice Guo is seen flashing a wide smile and the peace sign with the smiling interior minister and chief of the Philippine National Police. The photo was allegedly taken before they boarded a Manila-bound private jet in Jakarta late on Thursday.
Ms Guo's story which has involved illegal scam centres, questions over her citizenship and a dubious account of her childhood, has gripped the Philippines for months.
Analysts: China tests US commitment to Indo-Pacific with maritime operations (VOA)
China’s recently increased maritime and aerial operations near the Philippines, Japan, and Taiwan is part of Beijing’s attempt to gauge the United States’ commitment to supporting allies in the Indo-Pacific region, say analysts. They noted the increased activity comes as Tokyo and Washington gear up for elections in the coming weeks.
“China sees an opportunity to test the United States’ commitment to the broader region. So, it is sending a signal to Washington that if they try to invest more in the Philippines and other relationships in the South China Sea, Beijing will try to complicate their security architecture and their ability to manage many issues at once,” said Stephen Nagy, a regional security expert at the International Christian University in Japan.
Why Tensions in the South China Sea Are Bolstering the U.S.-Philippines Alliance (Council on Foreign Relations)
There appears to be little chance of a de-escalation of these tensions anytime soon. China’s belligerence and the continuing arms race—accelerated by growing sales from major powers, pressure on some countries from the United States, and rising fears among Southeast Asian states—heightens the risks of deadly confrontations or accidents. With the United States now having declared itself ready to defend the Philippines and few measures in place to reduce the temperature once confrontations have flared into bigger fights, it is not hard to imagine one incident turning into a much broader conflict.
Yet, as regional conflict specialist Oriana Skylar Mastro has noted, China’s position in the South China Sea is less secure than around Taiwan, and if the United States more assertively policed the sea, upgraded other regional defense ties, and made clear it would stand up to China in a fight, Beijing would probably back down from some of its aggression. That in itself might prevent conflict, at least for a time.
New Zealand spy report calls out China for interference (VOA)
New Zealand's spy service branded China a "complex intelligence concern" Tuesday and warned the Pacific nation was vulnerable to foreign interference.
In an annual threat report, the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service said several countries were undertaking "malicious activity" on its shores and called out China's attempts as "complex and deceptive."
In particular, Beijing was accused of using front organizations to connect with local groups to replace authentic and diverse community views with those approved by the ruling party.
New Zealand’s Security Threat Environment (New Zealand Security Intelligence Service)
The PRC carries out foreign interference activities against New Zealand’s diverse Chinese communities.
The NZSIS has seen attempts to use complex and deceptive front organisations to connect with groups in New Zealand and replace authentic and diverse community views with those approved by the PRC.
These front organisations will often appear to be community-based, claiming to represent an issue or a group of people but their true affiliation, direction and funding sources are hidden.
Community members may join these front organisations for legitimate personal reasons or to meet community expectations, and may not know they are taking part in activities considered foreign interference. Some people who join will be vetted for their ability to perform foreign interference tasks.
Pentagon to set up military repair hubs in 5 Indo-Pacific countries (Nikkei Asia)
The U.S. Department of Defense will launch military repair hubs in the Indo-Pacific countries of Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore and the Philippines, sources told Nikkei Asia, as it envisions a global network of repair hubs for key warfighting platforms.
The Pentagon's new Regional Sustainment Framework (RSF) envisions utilizing existing industrial capabilities of its allies and partners so that it can conduct maintenance, repairs and overhauls of its ships, planes and vehicles closer to their area of operation instead of bringing them back to the continental U.S.
The plan is to launch pilot programs in five Indo-Pacific countries this year, then expand it to NATO partners in the European Command's area in 2025 and to Latin American partners under the Southern Command in 2026.
Cold War In Asia? For Business It’s An Everyone-Makes-The-Rules Rumble (Forbes)
[…] Cold War style bipolarity just doesn’t capture the realities facing business in a region of 4.8 billion people and 2.2 billion middle class consumers who, according to World Data Lab, will comprise more than half of global consumer spending by 2032.
Asia is filled with large, capable, self-interested powers. And increasingly, without looking to either Washington or Beijing, these players are setting diverse and sometimes competing rules on the market and regulatory matters that affect business.
One example is the negotiation of major trade pacts in goods and services. Another is the governance of cross-border data transfers. Still another is standard setting for the digital economy—for example, for online authentication and data access control. And in emerging industries, like the governance of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, fragmented rules prevail while Chinese and American regulators sometimes even lag their peers.
EU's solar plans in SE Asia caught in US-China trade war (DW)
Chinese-owned solar companies operating in Southeast Asia — particularly in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia — are facing potential challenges due to rising US tariffs. These countries account for around 40% of solar module production capacity outside of China and may soon be subject to additional US tariffs amid accusations of aiding China in circumventing US import duties.
In response, many Chinese firms have scaled back operations in Southeast Asia, complicating the European Union's efforts to expand its solar capacity. Southeast Asia, second only to China in solar panel production, accounted for over 80% of US solar imports by the fourth quarter of 2023, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Are India And China Finally Warming Up To Each Other? (NDTV)
It's not a thaw yet, but there are certainly signs of some warming in the India-China relationship. Of late, there has been an uptick in dialogue to resolve outstanding issues along two friction points in Eastern Ladakh. At the same time, there is a fresh debate underway within India on economic engagement with China.
July witnessed two meetings between the Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and China's top diplomat Wang Yi. The first of these had indicated a softening of tone from Beijing. While eschewing remarks about putting the border issue in the "appropriate position", Wang called for "properly handling and controlling the situation in the border areas, while actively resuming normal exchanges". Following the second one, the Chinese statement talked about the need to "work for new progress in consultations on borderaffairs." Since then, within a month, there have been two meetings of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs. The most recent of these took place last week.
Continuing ban on Chinese tourists forces Mandarin-speaking guides to seek other jobs (The Caravan)
Since early 2020, when India sealed its borders at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, scarcely any Chinese tourists have entered the country. Four years later, even as travel restrictions on visitors from elsewhere in the world have been lifted, the Indian government has not yet reinstated tourist visas for Chinese nationals. The exclusion only goes one way: China issued around a hundred and eighty thousand visas to Indians in 2023 and, in a less-than-subtle signal of the Chinese government’s stance, its state media has claimed that nearly seventy percent of Chinese citizens wish to visit India.
Local Reporting Overstates PRC’s Economic Impact on the Kyrgyz Republic (Jamestown)
Censorship is the most prominent tactic deployed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to manage public memory. Yet suppression of information constitutes only a fraction of Beijing’s efforts to curate narratives for overseas audiences. The manipulation of information through the active insertion of positive messaging is also a prominent feature and can be effective when taking local conditions into account.
In the Kyrgyz Republic, the PRC has been successful in creating a positive perception of itself among the local population. This has influenced choices made by the whole population, from government officials at the highest level in Bishkek to families in rural villages across the country.
Chinese families flock to Thailand to avoid high-pressure school system at home (AP)
“Southeast Asia, it’s within reach, the visa is convenient and the overall environment, as well as people’s attitude towards Chinese people, it allows Chinese parents to feel more secure,” Zhang said.
A 2023 survey by private education company New Oriental found Chinese families also increasingly considering Singapore and Japan for their children’s overseas study. But tuition and the cost of living are much higher than in Thailand.
Within Thailand, the slow-paced city of Chiang Mai often ends up being the top choice. Other options include Pattaya and Phuket, both popular beach resorts, and Bangkok, though the capital is usually more expensive.
The trend has been ongoing for about a decade, but in recent years it’s gathered pace.
Americas
How national security has transformed economic policy (Financial Times)
Over the past decade, there has been a much greater willingness to use tariffs as part of industrial and trade policy. Under Biden, there has also been a parallel emphasis on employing subsidies and other forms of state intervention to boost investment in key sectors.
This process is being turbocharged by the way that security issues are becoming entrenched in US government thinking about large segments of the economy, from manufacturing to new technologies.
The growing intersection of economic policy and national security has many roots. It accelerated after 9/11 and the war on terror; with the Covid pandemic, which snarled supply chains; and with Russia’s belligerence and invasion of Ukraine.
But the biggest factor has been China. US officials have watched with awe and trepidation at the advances of Chinese state capitalism in many of the industries that are likely to dominate the first half of this century. Retaining and restoring American manufacturing competitiveness has come to be seen as a defining geopolitical challenge.
At the same time, officials have become increasingly alarmed at the number of products and technologies that they fear could have a parallel use in the military sphere or be used as espionage tools.
The result is a mindset where economic priorities and national security concerns become fused in a way that is unrecognisable from the more free market approach that took hold at the end of the cold war.
Will US and China be able to lower risks before the new president takes office? (SCMP)
Speculation has been rife that Biden could make a trip to China before he steps down. If that does not happen, he would be the first president since Jimmy Carter, who stepped down in the 1981, not to visit China while in the White House.
Zhu Feng, executive dean of Nanjing University’s School of International Studies, said if Biden did visit China it would be “in large to signal the sustainability of [Washington’s] China policy”.
“It is a sign of the sustainability of Biden’s four-year China policy that the US is trying to avoid an escalation of conflict between the two countries even as it continues to suppress China,” he said.
[…]
A Xi-Biden summit could benefit both sides, according to Dylan Loh, assistant professor of foreign policy at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
For Biden, it would cement his foreign policy legacy and allow him to hand over the most consequential relationship “in good stable hands” to the next administration, while for Xi it would be “another foreign policy win” – especially when China is grappling with slow domestic growth and wants to ease international tensions.
He said: “[The relationship] is in a much better place than it was two years ago and even compared to the previous administration which admittedly was at a very low base. I think we will see more when a call [between Xi and Biden] happens first.”
Dominic Chiu, a senior China and Northeast Asia analyst at Eurasia Group, said Xi might have an economic motivation for meeting Biden because China did not want relations to decline to the degree that it upsets its trading partners and scared off foreign investors.
China-US tensions: Kevin Rudd, Australian ambassador to the US, says deterrence key to preventing war with China (Australian Financial Review)
Avoiding war with China requires Western allies to present a strong enough show of deterrence to make clear to Beijing the high cost of conflict while also establishing “guard rails” for dialogue, Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, said.
A recent easing of tensions as high-level political dialogue restarted and co-operation on climate change was explored did not mean security issues between Washington and Beijing were resolved, he said.
[…]
“Is it [the US-China relationship] better than it was before? Yes,” Dr Rudd said at the Summit via video link.
“Have any of the fundamental security differences between the two sides been substantively dealt with? No. So that’s where we’re at.”
Pacific Crossings (German Marshall Fund of the United States)
The outcome of the November vote may not alter the trajectory of US-China relations, but potential differences in policies that both major candidates would pursue have implications for US allies, including those in Europe.
PRC Disinformation and U.S. Elections: What to Watch For (Part I) and more ()
The Kremlin may be the primary culprit regularly attempting to influence foreign elections, but since 2018 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has also stepped into the ring, often with a different set of goals, priorities, leverage points, and tactics.
With under three months to go until major U.S. elections, how likely is PRC interference to occur and what forms might it take?
US climate envoy says discussed plans for summit on methane at Beijing talks (France 24)
China is the world's leading emitter of climate change-inducing greenhouse gases, including methane, followed by the United States.
Podesta's visit to Beijing comes as experts say China could be near or already at peak emissions -- a potentially watershed moment in international efforts to keep global temperatures below targets set by the 2016 Paris Agreement.
While acknowledging "some differences", Podesta said he had held "excellent" talks with Chinese counterpart Liu Zhenmin and foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing.
The two sides had "made plans to hold a summit on non-CO2 gas -- methane, N2O, hydrofluorocarbons", he said.
"They get less attention but they're fully half of what's causing global warming," he said.
Wang said on Friday the talks in Beijing had gone "smoothly", hailing "pragmatic results in cooperation".
US, China 'narrowing' rift on climate finance in this week's talks, US envoy says (Reuters)
During their meeting on Friday, Chinese foreign minister Wang told Podesta that he "hoped that the U.S. side would maintain policy stability", according to a summary of the meeting issued by China late on Friday.
Podesta said the two sides had "excellent discussions" on the upcoming COP29 climate talks in Baku, Azerbaijan in November, where agreement on a major new fund to help developing countries will be a top priority.
The U.S. is seeking to broaden the fund's contributor base, but China and other large developing countries are concerned that such a move will "dilute" the obligations of rich nations.
Podesta said the two countries also discussed their preparations to submit ambitious 2035 climate targets to the United Nations ahead of the deadline early next year. The U.S. is pressing China to pledge substantial cuts in CO2 emissions.
Ex-aide to New York governors charged with being agent of Chinese government (The Guardian)
A former New York state government official who worked for the former governor Andrew Cuomo and current governor, Kathy Hochul, was charged on Tuesday with acting as an undisclosed agent of the Chinese government, federal prosecutors revealed in a sprawling indictment.
Linda Sun, who held numerous posts in New York state government before rising to the rank of deputy chief of staff for Hochul, was arrested on Tuesday morning along with her husband, Chris Hu, at their $3.5m home on Long Island.
The pair pleaded not guilty to criminal charges before magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo in Brooklyn. Kuo ordered Sun released on $1.5m bond and Hu on $500,000 bond. Their next court appearance is 25 September.
Prosecutors said Sun, at the request of Chinese officials, blocked representatives of the Taiwanese government from having access to the governor’s office, shaped New York governmental messaging to align with the priorities of the Chinese government and attempted to facilitate a trip to China for a high-level politician in New York.
US denies Chinese diplomat expelled amid New York spying dispute (The Guardian)
The US Department of State has denied that China’s consul general in New York has been expelled, amid a swirling crisis around New York governor Kathy Hochul’s former aide, who has been charged with acting as a secret agent for the Chinese government.
The CCP does not care about your mom and pop shop or your elementary school teacher, it is not here for your precious bodily fluids. It cares about the underpaid, ambitious staffer to the popular mayor in the Rust Belt state, the human rights activist that fled persecution that has now set up camp in the local district attorney’s office, or the graduate student working on groundbreaking metamaterials at the state university’s lab. It will, however, attempt to cultivate relationships and generate influence in a way that makes the CCP appear to be a friend of that mom and pop shop or the teachers’ union. A single fellow traveler may not turn the tide of China policy in the United States, but a thousand minor actions of CCP-sympathetic policy may discourage or confound action at the federal level where it really matter.
U.S. implements new export curbs on advanced chips and quantum tech (Nikkei Asia)
The U.S. is implementing new export controls on chipmaking equipment and quantum computing technologies as it continues efforts to curb China's advances in such fields.
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) on Thursday published the new rules, which become effective immediately although there is a 60-day comment period open to the public.
In a press release, the department said the new rules bring the U.S. in line with similar restrictions put in place by other countries and added that it expects further coordination on this front between "like-minded" countries.
Under the latest controls, export licenses will be required for shipments of quantum computing items, advanced chipmaking tools, gate all-around field-effect transistor (GAAFET) technology and so-called additive manufacturing items for producing metal or metal alloy components.
Nvidia’s AI chips are cheaper to rent in China than US (Financial Times)
The cost of renting cloud services using Nvidia’s leading artificial intelligence chips is lower in China than in the US, a sign that the advanced processors are easily reaching the Chinese market despite Washington’s export restrictions.
Four small-scale Chinese cloud providers charge local tech groups roughly $6 an hour to use a server with eight Nvidia A100 processors in a base configuration, companies and customers told the Financial Times. Small cloud vendors in the US charge about $10 an hour for the same set-up.
The low prices, according to people in the AI and cloud industry, are an indication of plentiful supply of Nvidia chips in China and the circumvention of US measures designed to prevent access to cutting-edge technologies.
The A100 and H100, which is also readily available, are among Nvidia’s most powerful AI accelerators and are used to train the large language models that power AI applications. The Silicon Valley company has been banned from shipping the A100 to China since autumn 2022 and has never been allowed to sell the H100 in the country.
Exclusive: US expected to send senior Pentagon official to China military forum (Reuters)
The United States will send Michael Chase, the deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, Taiwan and Mongolia, to China's top annual security forum in mid-September, a U.S. official told Reuters.
The choice of Chase has not been previously reported. He is more senior than the U.S. officer who attended the Xiangshan Forum last year, a sign that the U.S. military is hoping for deeper working-level engagement with China amid regional disputes and increased deployments across East Asia.
More than 90 countries and international organisations plan to send delegations to the Sept. 12-14 forum in Beijing, Chinese state media reported Wednesday.
Georgia Tech to end China partnerships following concerns over military ties (Reuters)
Georgia Tech is ending its research and educational partnerships in the Chinese cities of Tianjin and Shenzhen, the U.S. university said on Friday, following scrutiny from Congress over its collaboration with entities allegedly linked to China's military.
In May, the House of Representatives' select committee on China wrote a letter to Georgia Tech asking for details on its research with China's northeastern Tianjin University on cutting-edge semiconductor technologies.
Pro-China activists harassed anti-Xi Jinping protesters in San Francisco (The Washington Post)
Chinese diplomats and pro-China diaspora groups based in the United States organized demonstrations in San Francisco that harassed and silenced protesters opposed to Beijing’s policies, including through violence, during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the city in November, a six-month investigation by The Washington Post shows.
The events in San Francisco illustrate how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is willing to extend its intolerance of any dissent into the United States and target people exercising their First Amendment rights in an American city. It is part of a broader global pattern of China attempting to reach beyond its borders and suppress parts of its diaspora advocating against the CCP and ongoing rights abuses in Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and mainland China, the U.S. government and human rights groups say.
A number of diaspora group leaders have long-standing links to Beijing, according to Chinese state media, photos of high-level events and interviews, including with Chinese activists, former FBI officials and researchers. These include ties to the United Front Work Department, an arm of the Communist Party which uses non-state actors to further China’s political goals overseas, blurring the line between civilians and state officials.
Shuttered in Shanghai, Chinese bookstore reopens in Washington (VOA)
A Chinese bookstore reopened in Washington on Sunday, six years after the Chinese government forced it to close its doors in Shanghai.
[…]
The shop sells Chinese-language books from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in addition to a selection of English-language books. It will also regularly host speakers for events.
Founded in Shanghai in 1997 as Jifeng Bookstore, the shop ran into trouble in 2017 when its landlord said the lease couldn’t be extended. The bookstore looked for a new location, but the prospective landlords at each potential site received warnings or notifications from the government.
Jifeng Bookstore is one of several independent bookstores that Beijing has forced to close in recent years.
Mission to Mao (Georgetown University Press)
Mission to Mao is a social history of the OSS officers in the field that reveals the weakness of US intelligence diplomacy in the 1940s. Drawing on over 14,000 unpublished records from five archives as well as white papers and memoirs from the participants, Sara B. Castro demonstrates how the US intelligence officers in China clashed with political appointees and Washington over the direction of the US relationship with the Chinese Communists. Interagency and political conflicts erupted over assessments of Communist capabilities and whether or not the mission would later involve operations with the Communists. Castro shows how potential benefits for the war effort were thwarted by politicization, rivalries, and the biases of US intelligence officials.
China hits Canada with anti-dumping probe on canola imports, Ottawa deeply concerned (CNBC)
China said on Tuesday it planned to start an anti-dumping investigation into canola imports from Canada, after Ottawa moved to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, lifting prices of domestic rapeseed oil futures to a one-month peak.
Canadian Farm Minister Lawrence MacAulay said the move was “deeply concerning.” In a post on the X social media network, he said Ottawa was closely following the case and would defend and support the farm sector.
Canada, following the lead of the United States and European Union, announced last week a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese electric vehicles and a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum from China.
China requests consultations with Canada at WTO over tariffs (Reuters)
China said on Friday it had requested talks with Canada at the World Trade Organization on tariffs Ottawa has imposed on its electric vehicles as well as steel and aluminum goods, the same week Beijing announced plans to probe Canadian canola imports.
Beijing on Tuesday announced it planned to start an anti-dumping investigation into canola imports from Canada, a week after Ottawa joined the U.S. and EU and imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese EVs and a 25% tariff on its imported steel and aluminum.
"On September 6, China lodged a request for consultations with Canada at the WTO regarding Canada's additional tariffs on electric vehicles and steel and aluminum products," a statement from China's commmerce ministry said.
"Canada has disregarded WTO rules and violated its commitments within the WTO by proposing to impose additional tariffs of 100% and 25%."
BYD Pauses Mexico EV Factory Plans Until After US Election (Bloomberg)
China’s top electric-vehicle maker BYD Co. won’t announce a major plant investment in Mexico until at least after the US election, according to people familiar with the matter, as shifting American policy forces global businesses into wait-and-see mode.
BYD was scouting three locations for a car production facility in Mexico but has stopped actively looking for now, several of the people said, asking not to be identified discussing information that’s private.
The postponement is largely because BYD would prefer to wait and see the outcome of the race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris in early November, the people said. They added that BYD’s paused factory plans may still be revived or could change, and no final decision has been made.
Europe
Europe must rely less on Chinese technology, Danish PM says (Financial Times)
Europe should depend less on China for technology and show it has learned its lessons about relying too much on a single supplier, as it did previously with Russian oil and gas, Denmark’s prime minister has warned.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mette Frederiksen urged Europeans to change “our attitude, the way of looking at the world, which is based on peacetime”. Instead, she called for greater awareness of Beijing’s role in allowing Russia to extend its invasion of Ukraine into a third year.
“I don’t think it would be possible for Russia to continue this full-scale war and at the same time work as they are doing in other areas of the world without being helped by China,” Frederiksen said.
Europe must invest more in homegrown technology, the Danish premier added. “We were too dependent on Russian gas and oil and now we’re repeating the same with China on many technologies, which is a big mistake.” She would not say whether trade restrictions were needed to wean the European economy off Chinese goods.
[…]
Joseph Wu, secretary-general of the National Security Council of Taiwan, separately told the FT at the forum that, rather than just focusing on boosting its own industry, Europe could cut reliance on China by building up “a resilient democratic supply chain” with “like-minded partners” such as the US, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
China’s Double Threat to Europe: How Beijing’s Support for Moscow and Quest for EV Dominance Undermine European Security (Foreign Affairs)
Given the enormous stakes, Europe should approach the overcapacity threat with the same strategic logic it needs to address China’s support for Russia’s war machine. Europe is more exposed to the effects of Chinese economic retaliation than is the United States, but it should not underestimate the strength of its hand when devising an effective response to China’s car exports. China badly needs the European market because other large markets, such as the United States and Canada, are fast closing, while still others in the developing world lack the infrastructure or energy systems to support a large EV market any time soon. In its ongoing investigation into Chinese subsidies for its new-energy vehicle industry, the European Commission has far more leverage than European officials may realize. They should use it.
‘A very serious situation’: Volkswagen could close plants in Germany for the first time in history (CNN)
Volkswagen is weighing whether to close factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history as it moves to deepen cost cuts amid rising competition from China’s electric vehicle makers.
[…]
Volkswagen, which embarked on a €10 billion ($11.1 billion) cost-cutting effort late last year, is losing market share in China, its single biggest market. In the first half of the year, deliveries to customers in that country slipped 7% on the same period in 2023. Group operating profit tumbled 11.4% to €10.1 billion ($11.2 billion).
The lackluster performance in China comes as the company loses out to local EV brands, notably BYD, which also pose an increasing threat to its business in Europe.
China’s electric vehicle makers scramble for EU tariff deal, with price floor on the table (SCMP)
China’s car industry was scrambling to cut a last-minute deal with the European Commission last week, with representatives offering to set a minimum price on imported electric vehicles (EVs).
Companies would in return be granted some amnesty from hefty import tariffs due to be slapped on Chinese-made EVs by the commission by October. The EU has complained that cheap, exported Chinese vehicles threaten the future of Europe’s car industry.
The companies would also be willing to put a limit on the volume of EV exports to the European Union should Brussels cut the punitive tariff, according to people familiar with the meetings. Above that volume, imports would face the duties the commission proposed earlier this month of up to 36.3 per cent.
Netherlands curbs more ASML exports, in line with U.S. rules (Nikkei Asia)
The Netherlands is tightening restrictions on exports of advanced chipmaking machines from top European semiconductor equipment maker ASML to bring the country's curbs in line with those of the U.S.
Dutch curbs introduced in September 2023 restrict exports of the company's most high-end machines, while Washington unilaterally imposed restrictions that limit shipments of ASML's less-advanced tools to China.
The Netherlands' latest curbs now apply to all types of immersion deep ultraviolet (DUV) lithography equipment, which is essential for making semiconductors at the 40-nanometer grade and better. Such semiconductors, the government said in a news release, can be used in advanced military applications, making the restriction of these machines a matter of national security.
ASML said it did not expect any material impact from the latest rule change, adding that the move would streamline the license application process.
Europe reliant on Chinese drugs after local products priced out (Nikkei Asia)
Paris-listed pharmaceutical manufacturer Euroapi is phasing out production of 13 medical ingredients, leaving Europe dependent on cheaper Chinese imports for its most commonly used drugs such as paracetamol.
As part of the pullback, Euroapi, formerly a unit of industry major Sanofi, will sell its manufacturing plants in the Italian city of Brindisi and the U.K. town of Haverhill by the end of 2027. A spokesperson told Nikkei Asia the moves were necessary because of "decreasing or stagnant markets and increasing competition from Asian players."
Chinese manufacturers like Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical, China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holding, Hebei Jiheng (Group) Pharmaceutical and Zhejiang Haisen Pharmaceutical are set to benefit.
"China recognized the relevance of active ingredient production early on and strongly promoted its expansion, with the larger production volume enabling Chinese plants to reduce their costs enormously," said Bork Bretthauer, managing director of Pro Generika, a lobby group comprising manufacturers of generic and biosimilar drugs.
[…]
European policymakers are facing a quandary. In July 2023, Germany enacted a law requiring health insurance companies to award contracts to available API manufacturers in the EU. However, for some ingredients, there are now no European producers.
Austria recently opted to subsidize production, contributing 50 million euros ($55.5 million) to modernize and expand a Sandoz penicillin plant in the town of Kundl in exchange for the Swiss pharmaceutical company's commitment to keep running Europe's last remaining complete penicillin production plant.
At a broader level, the European Commission in April formed a Critical Medicines Alliance in hopes of preventing and addressing shortages of critical medicines.
Watching China in Europe with Noah Barkin ()
As the clock ticks down to a US presidential election that, to the relief of capitals across Europe, is looking far more competitive than it did at the start of the summer, three camps are emerging on the future shape of European policy toward China. One is led by returning European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a second by French President Emmanuel Macron, and a third by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
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“The political turmoil in Berlin and Paris opens the door for the Commission to assert itself more,” a senior European official predicted. “Von der Leyen got her second term. She doesn’t have to worry about winning another.” Still, Brussels would be remiss if it didn’t have a Plan B for what is likely to be a highly disruptive second Trump term. As the new von der Leyen Commission overhauls its China policies and prepares an offer for the new US president, it should also be honing its contingency plans in consultation with allies in Tokyo, Seoul, London, Ottawa and beyond.
How Labour should deal with China (The Spectator)
A relationship with China requires careful balance and an understanding of the unseen traps that might lie ahead. If Starmer and his team are looking for a practical example of what does and doesn’t work with China, they should study the experience of their Australian counterparts, who also came to power after a long period in opposition.
In its first year, Australian Labor held firm to the strong security position established by the previous government, and was able to secure some important wins.
But subsequent waves of coercion and aggression from China tested the practicality of the government’s cooperation doctrine. For UK Labour, the lesson must be that its ‘compete, challenge and cooperate’ slogan should be understood as a hierarchy – in which competition comes first and cooperation is contingent on China’s actions.
An incoming government cannot predict every new China challenge that will arise, but it can learn some other lessons from Australia.
Spanish PM Sanchez to visit China from Sept. 8 to 11 (CGTN)
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will pay an official visit to China from September 8 to 11 at the invitation of Premier Li Qiang of the State Council, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced on Tuesday.
Norwegian prime minister to visit China September 9 to 11 (CGTN)
At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store will pay an official visit to China from September 9 to 11, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning announced on Wednesday.
Putin Says Expects China's Xi At BRICS Summit In Russia (Barron's)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he was expecting Chinese leader Xi Jinping to attend a summit of the BRICS group of major emerging economies in Russia next month.
Putin has looked to the Chinese leader for support since the Ukraine conflict began, with the two boosting trade to record highs as Russia faces heavy economic sanctions from the West.
"As agreed, we are expecting Chinese President Mr Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit," Putin said during a meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok.
Taiwan and the Limits of the Russia-China Friendship (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
China’s measured response to Russia’s war against Ukraine, structured to maximize benefits while minimizing the risk from U.S. sanctions, may well serve as the prototype for Moscow’s assistance to Beijing in the event of a war over Taiwan. That would translate into supplying China with oil and gas, some military hardware, and some nonkinetic military support. Russia would also probably seek to maximize the benefits from this opportunity while minimizing the risks.
This is not to suggest that Russia will not be a factor in the event of a military confrontation over Taiwan. Its long-term adversarial relationship with the United States, its military and naval presence in the Asia-Pacific, and its long-term confrontation and tense military standoff with NATO in Europe could lead to different scenarios fraught with the risk of a military clash with the United States and/or its allies. The proximity of Russian strategic and economic assets to the United States, Japan, and South Korea carries incalculable risks for all parties involved.
Finally, Russia is primarily a European power. But it is precisely because of its preoccupation with Europe and its perception of the United States as its principal adversary there that it would be a mistake to treat it as a marginal actor in the Asia-Pacific. Its role there cannot and should not be overlooked.
Russia’s Putin says grandchildren fluent in Mandarin Chinese, but English still matters (SCMP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that young members of his family speak fluent Mandarin, though he told schoolchildren they should not forget the importance of English too, despite the growing popularity of Chinese.
Putin has two daughters with his ex-wife Lyudmila, and they speak Russian, English, German, and French. Putin, who divorced his wife in 2014, rarely speaks about his family but has at least three grandchildren, according to Russian media.
“Some of my family members, the little ones, speak Chinese too – they speak it fluently,” Putin told pupils of Secondary School No. 20 in Kyzyl, Tuva, about 4,500km (2,800 miles) east of Moscow.
Amid a growing partnership between China and Russia, Mandarin has been growing in popularity across Russia as a foreign language of choice, a trend Putin said was due to developing contacts across economics, politics and society.
Putin, who speaks fluent German but has also taken lessons to improve his English, said that pupils should not forget the importance of English.
Liu Xiaobo Bust To Be Dedicated At University Of Galway (University of Galway)
The bust, by Czech sculptor Marie Šeborová, is the first bronze bust of the late Nobel Prize Laureate, poet and human rights defender to be placed on a university campus anywhere in the world. The project has been realised in partnership with ARTICLE 19, Index on Censorship, Front Line Defenders, International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) and Humanitarian China.
Middle East & North Africa (MENA)
China's Middle East policy shift from "hedging" to "wedging" (Atlantic Council)
Rather than acting as a constructive stakeholder, Beijing is attempting to capitalize on the Gaza crisis to promote its own power, not just in the region, but in the wider Global South. Its response is custom designed to appeal to the Global South, where the Palestinian cause is widely popular. The idea is to characterize itself as the champion of the world’s downtrodden and a voice for peace in contrast to the United States, which the Chinese propaganda machine tries to paint as favoring war and oppression. “China firmly supports the Palestinian peoples’ just cause of regaining their legitimate national rights,” Wang stated in a March press conference, “and urge[s a] certain U.N. Security Council member”—the United States—“not to lay obstacles to that end.”9
China’s leaders thus perceive their role in the Middle East in the context of their greater geopolitical competition with the United States. As its Gaza approach shows, Beijing intends to use its influence in the region to upset American policy and promote its own influence and vision in its place. In that, Beijing’s stance on Gaza is part of a significant shift in Chinese foreign policy toward the Middle East—from “hedging” by maintaining positive relations with regional actors to “wedging,” or attempting to exploit space between the US and its partners and allies in the Middle East. The key question is whether this more assertive China will encourage regional stability or instability.
Sub-Saharan Africa
China pledges $50B and 1M jobs in renewed outreach to Africa (The Washington Post)
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged $50 billion in loans, aid and investment for Africa over the next three years, and the creation of 1 million jobs, as he laid out a plan to expand Beijing’s already extensive political, military and economic ties with the continent.
Portraying China as a champion of the developing world, Xi presented the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation with a vision of growth that is distinct from that offered by liberal Western governments.
“The Western modernization process has brought profound suffering to the vast majority of developing countries,” Xi told the 51 African leaders gathered in Beijing. “As the world undergoes changes unseen in a century, we stand shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand, to resolutely defend each other’s legitimate interests.”
China-Africa Summit: Xi Changes Terms of Belt and Road Initiative (Bloomberg)
From Angola to Djibouti, for over a decade, China poured more than $120 billion of government-backed loans through its Belt and Road Initiative to build hydropower plants, roads and rail lines across the continent — as well as unparalleled influence. Those relationships helped Beijing lock down access to energy and minerals, while providing an outlet for its pent up industrial capacity.
But the infrastructure and diplomacy also came with accusations of debt traps, exploitation and corruption, charges that were bolstered when a wave of debt distress swept Africa in recent years and three countries defaulted, sparking lengthy restructurings. Some projects, like an unfinished $3.8 billion railway in Kenya that ends in an empty field, seemed to epitomize the failed promise of the BRI.
Despite those problems, the parade of African leaders arriving in Beijing for the ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation starting Wednesday attests to China’s role as the continent’s dominant foreign economic power. It’s the first such summit in Beijing since 2018, and it’s the biggest diplomatic event Xi is hosting this year, with participants expected to include Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Heading into the gathering, both sides expect the close ties forged by Beijing’s largess to continue. The difference now is that Xi, struggling to address his nation’s economic slowdown, is shifting China’s focus toward more opaque, public-private partnerships that can generate better returns while deflecting more of the blame if things go wrong.
“The heady days of big lending are done,” said Joshua Eisenman, a professor at the University of Notre Dame who studies China-Africa relations. “What comes next won’t be as big as before and it won’t be as grandiose. It’s going to be more profitable.”
Xi says 2.8bn Chinese and Africans can modernize Global South together (Nikkei Asia)
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday sought solidarity with Africa, saying both sides had struggled against imperialism and colonialism as he opened a forum with leaders from across the continent.
Hosting a banquet for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing, Xi vowed to achieve modernization with the emerging economies of the so-called Global South, even as many observers expect China to scale back its largess to mitigate debt risks.
"I believe that as long as the over 2.8 billion Chinese and African people work together, we will surely create a brilliant road to modernization and lead the development of the Global South," Xi told attendees including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.
China-Africa summit: The tactics behind President Xi Jinping's red-carpet welcome (BBC)
With pomp and splendour, China has welcomed more than 50 Africans leaders to Beijing this week for a summit to strengthen ties at a time of increasing political and economic turmoil around the world.
“It appeals to their vanities,” Macharia Munene, a Kenya-based professor of international relations tells the BBC, referring to the red carpet welcome - spiced up with entertainment by dancers in colourful costumes - that the leaders received.
The optics were carefully choreographed to make the leaders feel that it is a meeting of equals.
Many of them - including South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa and Kenya's William Ruto - held one-to-one meetings with their Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and were given tours of Beijing and other cities at the heart of China's development ahead of the summit.
As Prof Munene puts it, China's aim is to show African leaders that "we are in the same boat, we are all victims of Western imperialism".
South Africa asks China for better balanced trade (Reuters)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told China's Xi Jinping on Monday he wanted to narrow his country's trade deficit with Beijing, days before the Chinese leader is due to urge a summit of 50 African nations to buy more Chinese goods.
China, which has the world's second-biggest economy, is South Africa's largest trading partner globally but last year the value of its imports from China far outstripped exports.
Ramaphosa's remarks point to the challenge Xi may have in convincing African leaders gathering in Beijing to absorb more of the production powerhouse's wares, particularly after China did not meet a pledge from the last Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit in 2021 to buy $300 billion of African goods.
China is not pushing Africa into debt trap, South African president says (Reuters)
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Thursday that he did not believe Chinese investments in Africa were pushing the continent into a "debt trap" but were instead part of a mutually beneficial relationship.
Ramaphosa made the remarks on the sidelines of a China-Africa summit in Beijing, where delegates from more than 50 African nations gathered this week.
"I don't necessarily buy the notion that when China (invests), it is with an intention of, in the end, ensuring that those countries end up in a debt trap or in a debt crisis," Ramaphosa said, when asked by reporters about China's pledge at the summit of $51 billion in new funding for Africa.
The Truth About Africa's "Debt Crisis" (Council on Foreign Relations)
The basic problem is, first, denying African culpability for its present situation by suggesting that it was innocently put upon by malevolent foreign forces; second, ignoring the fact that what is commonly referred to as a “debt crisis” is in fact an inevitable outcome of African leaders’ well-documented financial recklessness; and third, refusing to acknowledge that debt forgiveness for African countries is pointless if not matched with a demand for better and more transparent governance.
No amount of external solicitousness for their plight will change the laws of economics by protecting African countries from the consequences of their actions or inactions. To continue pretending otherwise is harmful and infantilizing.
As China, Africa woo each other, who gains more? It’s complex, say experts (Al Jazeera)
China’s moves in Africa have long faced scrutiny from Beijing’s rivals in the West, who have been losing political favour on the continent. Detractors – notably the United States – are quick to paint the partnership as one that largely benefits China to the detriment of African countries. However, experts say things are far from black and white.
Many accuse Western countries of predatory behaviour on the continent too, pointing to their colonial legacies and the fact that lenders like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are accused of exploiting African nations through loans. Many also argue that Beijing’s investments have helped Africa modernise and provided thousands of jobs.
“That narrative [of China exploiting Africa] makes sense for [Western countries] because of their declining influence in Africa,” said Jana de Kluvier, a researcher focused on China-Africa relations at the South Africa-based Institute of Security Studies (ISS). “But it skips over a lot of the nuance that’s in the very multifaceted relationship.”
Eswatini Missing Xi’s China-Africa Banquet Over Taiwan Alliance (Bloomberg)
When Xi Jinping was wooing leaders from across Africa with a banquet on Wednesday night, King Mswati III of Eswatini was notably absent.
That’s because the kingdom — about the size of New Jersey and with just 1.2 million people — is one of Taiwan’s remaining dozen diplomatic allies. That means Eswatini doesn’t participate in Xi’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, a centerpiece of China’s diplomatic outreach to Africa, which is being held in Beijing this week.
The landlocked nation, which sits between Mozambique and South Africa, is the last holdout in Beijing’s seven-plus decade mission to make Africa a “Taiwan-free” zone. Burkina Faso severed its relations with Taiwan in favor of China in 2018, leaving the self-governing island with only one diplomatic partner in Africa — Eswatini.
[…]
Taiwan’s support to Eswatini has mainly been in the form of grant funding, and it adopted a more “bottom-up” in its approach toward relations, Neal Rijkenberg, the kingdom’s finance minister, said in a May interview. “I do believe that our relationship with Taiwan has really paid off in the last 10 years.”
China has maintained its commercial ties with Eswatini despite their differences — it is the kingdom’s biggest source of imports after neighboring South Africa.
China Leads Race for Influence Over Africa’s Youth, Survey Shows (Bloomberg)
China remains the major foreign power with the biggest positive influence on Africa’s youth, a new survey shows, indicating the limitations of a drive by the US to bolster its standing on the continent.
Eighty-two per cent of young Africans consider Beijing’s influence on the continent as positive, while 79% regard Washington’s standing in a similar vein, the survey conducted for the Ichikowitz Family Foundation and released Tuesday showed.
While both countries gained from the previous iteration of the poll in 2022, the findings highlight the obstacles the US and some of its allies face in trying to reengage the continent after years of neglect.
The affordability of Chinese products and infrastructure investment are “the primary drivers of positive perceptions,” wrote the researchers, who interviewed 5,604 people between 18 and 24 years old across 16 African nations in January and February. “The provision of loans and economic support” was the reason most often cited by youths for their positive view of the US, they said.
China to 'revitalise' ageing railway linking Zambia, Tanzania (Reuters)
China, Tanzania and Zambia signed an initial agreement to rehabilitate a decades-old railway aimed at improving the rail-sea transportation in resource-rich East Africa, Chinese state media said on Wednesday.
President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding on refurbishing the 1,860 kms (1,156 mile) Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) railway with the Tanzanian and Zambian presidents, who were in Beijing attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Kenya Joins AIIB as Fully Paid Member, Unlocking Access to Billions in Infrastructure Funding (Nairobi Wire)
Kenya has officially become a fully paid member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), securing its place in the multilateral development institution by fulfilling all financial obligations, including the required membership fees.
The announcement came on September 3, following a meeting between President William Ruto and AIIB President and Board of Directors Chairman Jin Liqun at the bank’s headquarters in Beijing, China.
Business, Economy & Finance
China Property Slump Spurs Local Governments’ Quest for Cash (WSJ)
Since last summer, cities across China have been doubling down on selling and leasing out state assets—anything from unused buildings and parking lots to mineral reserves.
The strategy has proved particularly successful in wealthy areas like Jiangsu province, where it contributed the bulk of a roughly 30% surge in nontax revenue in January-May, official data showed.
“This follows the central government’s urging for local governments to address their debt burdens, even resorting to extreme measures like ‘selling everything to pay off debts,’ especially in regions facing high debt pressures,” said Wenyin Huang, a director at S&P Global Ratings.
With traditional revenue sources untenable and newer ones uncertain, resolving the debt issue is a challenge.
A district government in Chongqing city caused a stir recently by setting up a task force to “smash iron pots and sell the steel”—a metaphor for disposing of its assets at all costs—to pay down debt.
It is unclear how many profitable assets local governments have left, and who’s buying them, some analysts say. In some cases, local administrations have been moving assets from one pocket to another, asking state-owned firms to buy up assets, recent government reports found.
Country Garden’s Home Sales Tank 57% as Liquidity Stress Worsens (Bloomberg)
Country Garden Holdings Co.’s sales slump dragged on in August, exacerbating the Chinese developer’s liquidity woes as it battles a wind-up petition.
Contracted sales for August declined 57% from a year earlier to 3.43 billion yuan ($483 million), following a 72% drop in July, according to an exchange filing on Thursday.
The poor sales underscore the challenges facing the distressed real estate giant, which is counting on a turnaround in revenue to appease debt holders and fight off liquidation. Country Garden said on Thursday it is considering a fresh holistic restructuring plan for yuan bonds after struggling to raise cash for delayed debt repayments.
Offshore, the Foshan-based firm said in July that it plans to make the restructuring support agreement publicly available to all creditors by October. Its wind-up hearing in Hong Kong has been adjourned to late January.
PwC Resigns as Country Garden’s Auditor Amid Regulatory Probes (Bloomberg)
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP resigned as auditor for defaulted developer Country Garden Holdings Co., as both firms navigate challenges to keep operations afloat in China.
The real estate company said PwC is unable to fulfill the timetable requirements for the company’s need to publish its overdue financial statements for 2023. PwC will be replaced by Hong Kong-based Zhonghui Anda CPA, according to a filing.
PwC is facing a six-month ban as part of punishment over its role in auditing failed developer China Evergrande Group, a person familiar said in August. If the penalty is handed down, it’s expected to stop PwC China from signing off on financial results and restructurings, based on previous cases. The company declined to comment.
Lower Down Payments Boost Beijing’s Pre-owned House Sales But Prices Still Fall (Caixin)
After a policy initiative in June that lowered the down-payment requirements and mortgage rates home buyers faced, the pre-owned housing market in Beijing has seen increased sales but a decline in prices in July.
Sales of pre-owned homes reached 15,600 units in July, the highest monthly volume in 15 months, according to data from the Centaline Property Research Institute. However, in August, the initial effect of the policy diminished slightly, with sales falling by 7.8% to 14,400 units.
Despite this decrease, the volume remained above 12,000 units for six consecutive months, a level often used as a benchmark for market health.
The market’s response has been shaped by a cautious attitude among buyers, influenced by broader economic uncertainty and a property market that has been slow to recover.
China Vanke Debt Cracks Exposed After First Loss in 20 Years (Bloomberg)
China Vanke Co. faces mounting concerns about its ability to repay debt after posting the first loss in two decades.
Vanke had a short-term refinancing gap of about 12 billion yuan ($1.69 billion) at the end of June due to a spike in long-term debt within a year, according to Bloomberg calculations based on company data. That’s the first time Vanke’s cash balance has failed to cover interest-bearing debt maturing in less than a year since at least 2014.
As a bellwether for China’s real estate crisis, Vanke’s debt troubles underscore how even the highest quality developers have been ensnared by the unprecedented property downturn. While it’s managed to avoid a default so far, Vanke’s sprawling connections with the nation’s financial and government-backed entities means its distress could eclipse the turmoil wreaked by defaults at rivals China Evergrande Group and Country Garden Holdings Co.
China’s consumer confidence nears all-time low, calls for ‘bolder’ measures (SCMP)
Consumer confidence in China is approaching a historic low as short-term supportive measures rolled out this year have had a limited impact amid falling asset prices, moderate wage growth and capital outflows, investment bank Nomura said on Wednesday.
The consumer confidence index for the world’s second-largest economy hit 86 in July, according to Nomura, down from 86.2 in June, falling to just above the all-time low of 85.5 in November 2022 during the coronavirus pandemic.
“To truly revive consumer confidence, we believe Beijing needs to implement bolder and more effective stimulus measures to address the real problems in the property sector,” said Nomura economists led by Lu Ting.
The metric, which measures consumer confidence on a scale of zero to 200, with 100 indicating a neutral stance, had reached a record high of 127 in February 2021. It is based on a monthly survey of 6,480 individuals from 15 provinces conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics.
China’s services activity expansion slows in August despite summer travel peak: Caixin PMI (SCMP)
Growth in China’s services sector activity slowed in August despite the summer travel peak, prompting some firms to cut staff amid concerns about rising costs, a private-sector survey showed on Wednesday.
The Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipped to 51.6 in August from 52.1 in July. The 50-mark separates expansion from contraction on a monthly basis.
“Although the index remained in expansionary territory for the 20th straight month, growth in activity slowed,” said Wang Zhe, senior economist at the Caixin Insight Group.
The new business index remained above 50, extending the sequence of expansion that started from January 2023, but the rate of growth was softer than July.
China's manufacturing output swung back to modest growth: Caixin PMI (CNBC)
China’s factory activity grew modestly among smaller manufacturers last month as export orders offset weakening domestic consumption, according to a private survey.
The Caixin/S&P Global manufacturing PMI came in at 50.4 in August, according to data released Monday, beating the median estimate of 50.0 in a Reuters poll. The latest figure also reflects a rebound from the contractionary level of 49.8 in July.
The private gauge, which focuses on smaller and export-oriented companies, came in contrast with the broader official PMI data released Saturday, which showed the country’s manufacturing activity extended declines to a six-month low at 49.1.
“The divergence is about the better export orders [as] global demand is relatively resilient compared to China’s domestic demand,” Gary Ng, APAC economist at Natixis, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” Monday morning. But with geopolitical risks on the rise, Ng noted, “who knows how long it will last.”
PBOC Signals Room for Reserve Requirement Cuts to Release More Liquidity (Caixin)
China’s central bank still has room to lower reserve requirement ratios (RRRs), but interest rate cuts are limited by constraints, Zou Lan, head of the central bank’s monetary policy department, said at a press conference Thursday.
Since the start of 2024, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) has made three significant monetary policy adjustments, including restarting government bond purchases as it maintains financial stability amid slowing growth.
China’s New Economy Industries Slip as Labor Inputs Fall to Nine-Year Low (Caixin)
The contribution of high value-added industries, such as biomedicine, to China’s total economic inputs sank to a five-month low in August, due primarily to decreases in labor and technology inputs, a Caixin index showed Monday.
The Caixin BBD New Economy Index (NEI) fell 1.2 points from July to 29.8 last month, indicating that new economy industries accounted for 29.8% of China’s overall economic input activities.
China Should Fight Deflationary Pressure Now, Ex-PBOC Chief Says (Bloomberg)
Former People’s Bank of China Governor Yi Gang said his nation should focus on fighting deflation, in a rare admission by a prominent figure in China that falling prices are threatening the country’s growth outlook.
China should focus on fighting deflationary pressure now, Yi said at a panel discussion at the Bund Summit in Shanghai on Friday.
Analysts in China have been advised to avoid discussing sensitive terms such as “deflation” or expressing views deemed overly negative for the economy. That comes as the country faces its worst deflationary streak in 14 years, putting pressure on corporate profits and wages.
Nomura Expects China’s GDP Growth to Slow to 4.5% in 2024 (Caixin)
Amid a persistent slowdown in the property market, Nomura Securities has given a cautious forecast for China’s economic growth, expecting it to be limited to 4.5% in 2024 and 4.0% in 2025, slower than the 5% growth in the first half of this year.
Nomura Securities joins a number of global banks expecting China’s economy to grow more slowly in the second half, with UBS the latest to slash its forecast, following in the wake of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
China's Economy Has Peaked. Can Beijing Redefine its Goals? (China Leadership Monitor)
Nothing in economic development is certain, but China’s economy has probably already peaked in size as a proportion of the global economy, reaching the peak in 2021. China now faces a structural economic slowdown as the financial system constrains economic growth rather than facilitating it. These economic pressures are directly linked to the end of an unprecedented credit and investment expansion during the previous decade. The resulting credit crunch has produced a collapse in property investment and slower local government infrastructure investment. Moreover, GDP growth has almost certainly been overstated in the official data both in both 2022 and 2023. The costs of years of low-return investments now prevent Beijing from redirecting the financial system, making it difficult to unleash improvements in efficiency or “new quality productive forces.” However, nothing about Beijing’s behavior in response to this structural slowdown is inevitable, as China’s leaders can adjust their economic objectives and potentially ease tensions with the rest of the world by publicly acknowledging a slower growth trajectory.
China to tackle risks in new infrastructure push (Reuters)
China will address the risks of fragmentation and imbalances as it seeks to build new infrastructure aimed at upgrading its manufacturing sector, the government said on Wednesday.
China has built the world's largest 5G network and fibre-optic broadband infrastructure, with growing capabilities in artificial intelligence, according to a notice issued by state agencies, including the industry ministry, finance ministry and the central bank.
"However, the development problems such as difficulties in coordination and integration, lack of coordination, and imbalances are becoming increasingly prominent," it said.
It also highlighted the problems of uncoordinated development and regional disparities across new information infrastructure.
China creates $230 billion brokerage powerhouse as sector consolidates (Reuters)
The merger of two state-backed brokerages in China to create a sector leader with $230 billion in assets is part of Beijing's drive to consolidate the $1.7-trillion industry amid challenging markets, and the move is set to gather pace, analysts said.
Shanghai-based Guotai Junan Securities is set to acquire, opens new tab its cross-town rival Haitong Securities via a share swap, the two companies said late on Thursday. The deal is subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
The combined entity, with 1.6 trillion yuan ($226 billion) in total assets, will overtake Citic Securities as China's largest brokerage. Trading in shares of Guotai Junan and Haitong was suspended on Friday.
Both Haitong and Guotai Junan are controlled by companies running state assets for the Shanghai government.
Under the deal, Guotai Junan plans to issue new shares to investors in Haitong's mainland China and Hong Kong listed entities. Guotai Junan will also issue new shares in the onshore market to raise funds for the deal, exchange filings showed.
China Should Explain ‘Enormous Gaps’ in Data, Top US Economist Says (Bloomberg)
China should explain widening discrepancies in its balance of payments data that are obscuring growing global imbalances, a top US economist said.
The country’s surplus in goods trade shown in the BoP data — compiled by its State Administration of Foreign Exchange — has significantly undershot the one reported by the customs since 2022, according to Brad Setser, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former US trade and Treasury official.
“These are enormous gaps that call into question some of the adjustments that China is making to that data,” Setser said on the sidelines of the Bund Summit in Shanghai on Thursday.
The gap is contentious as countries seek to gauge the true size of China’s trade surplus as they accuse Beijing of unfairly subsidizing exports to drive growth. The US Treasury in June called for clarifications from Beijing on the difference.
Data released last month showed that anomaly in the measurement of the trade surplus continued to grow, hitting a record $87 billion in the second quarter and taking it to almost $150 billion for the first half of the year.
Other puzzles include the rising deficit in China’s investment income even as interest rates have risen, according to Setser. He argued in a recent report that China looked to be undercounting its income from its trillions of dollars in overseas assets.
China’s new back doors into western markets (Financial Times)
Beijing, Washington, Brussels and other capitals have imposed a range of tariffs, export controls and other measures to protect their domestic markets and stymie competitors’ technological progress.
In response, company executives and analysts say, Chinese corporations are setting up shop in a host of relatively non-aligned third countries, hoping they can bridge the increasingly hostile gap that divides China from the west.
The prime motivation behind shifting investment into these relatively insulated countries — which include Singapore, Vietnam, Ireland, Hungary and Mexico, among others — has been to circumvent protectionist measures imposed by western powers against China-based companies.
Chinese investment is pouring into such countries, according to figures provided exclusively to the FT by the Rhodium Group, a research provider. But as more of China’s exports are rerouted through these jurisdictions, officials in the US and Europe are growing increasingly concerned about the emergence of back doors into their markets.
“Global Chinese companies are definitely facing their most challenging time ever,” says Frank Pieke, professor at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore.
“But they are also much better equipped than in the past to meet these challenges. They are larger, more sophisticated and have much more to offer to the countries that they operate in.”
Chinese state shipbuilders plan merger with eye on 'strong military' (Nikkei Asia)
Two listed Chinese state-owned shipbuilders announced Monday that they are preparing for a merger, a move that could end competition between them and help them better serve the military, while dealing with global vessel shortages.
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According to the disclosures, the plan would see CSICL absorbed by CSSC Holdings through a stock swap. Based on the latest share prices, CSSC Holdings' market capitalization is 156.08 billion yuan ($22 billion) while CSICL's is 113.55 billion yuan.
Both companies said the top goal is to "further focus on major state strategy." That is a strong hint that the move is led and endorsed by the government.
"Promoting equipment for a strong military" was also mentioned as a priority. Both companies supply the Chinese armed forces, including the country's homegrown aircraft carriers. Other goals include pursuing "high-quality development" of their ship assembly businesses, limiting horizontal competition and enhancing the management quality of listed entities.
The two companies ultimately belong to the same state-owned conglomerate, China State Shipbuilding Corp. (CSSC). This is one of the so-called central companies -- a group of fewer than 100 elite state-owned enterprises directly under the control of the cabinet-level State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, or SASAC.
China’s Cabinet Issues Guidelines to Attract Tourists And Export Its Culture (Caixin)
New guidelines to boost tourism were issued by China’s State Council on Monday as it seeks to cut the large deficit in its service sector.
Measures include easing visa requirements and making it simpler for tourists to use electronic payments as well as an emphasis on promoting Chinese culture abroad in areas such as martial arts, traditional Chinese medicines and cuisine.
Mercedes-Benz Plans $2 Billion Joint Investment in China to Regain Lost Ground (Caixin)
Mercedes-Benz Group AG, alongside two local partners, plans to invest more than 14 billion yuan ($2 billion) to diversify its product lineup in China, in a renewed effort to strengthen its foothold in the world’s largest auto market, where homegrown brands are gaining traction amid an electric-car frenzy.
Around 10 billion yuan of the capital will be earmarked for expanding its passenger car business, with the remaining funds used to support the development of its light-weight commercial-focused vehicle business, the German auto giant said in a statement on Wednesday.
Glory days for automakers like Ford, General Motors in China are over (CNN)
Foreign automakers have dominated China’s car market for decades, selling millions of vehicles and raking in enormous profits. That golden era is now coming to an abrupt end.
The rapid rise of China’s homegrown electric vehicle (EV) makers, such as BYD and Xpeng (XPEV), is upending the largest passenger car market on the planet and leaving the world’s biggest carmakers on the losing end.
The latest sign of the steep challenges facing traditional automakers came Monday, when Volkswagen warned it could close plants in Germany for the first time in its history, in an effort to cut costs.
China Evergrande NEV Trade Halted as Unit Faces Bankruptcy Liquidation in Shanghai (MarketWatch)
Trade in China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle's shares was halted in Hong Kong after one of its unit's creditors applied for bankruptcy liquidation in a Shanghai court.
Shares of the electric-vehicle unit of property developer China Evergrande Group fell 5.4% to 25 Hong Kong cents, the equivalent of 3 U.S. cents, before trade was halted early Thursday.
The halt came after a late Wednesday court statement that Shanghai-listed Zhejiang Chint Electrics had filed a winding-up petition for Evergrande New Energy Vehicle's Shanghai subsidiary in a local court. The court has scheduled a September 18 meeting for the case.
China Will Need 9,000 New Aircraft Over Next Two Decades, C919 Plane Designer Says (Caixin)
China will need 9,000 new planes over the next 20 years to meet the “huge demand” in the global civil aviation market, said the chief designer of the country’s first homegrown airliner.
China operated 4,270 aircraft by the end of 2023, including 4,013 passenger planes and 257 freighters, data from the Civil Aviation Administration showed.
Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has given a “huge boost” to Chinese airlines, said Wu Guanghui of Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd. (Comac), developer of the narrow-body C919 airliner. Since the BRI was launched in 2013, the number of routes from China to partner countries has surged from 439 to 19,397, with 7,616 weekly flights, Wu said at an industry forum Thursday.
China buys US$12 billion worth of chip-making equipment in second quarter (SCMP)
China remained the world’s largest and fastest-growing market for semiconductor manufacturing equipment in the second quarter, according to global chip industry association SEMI, as the country pushes to be technologically self-sufficient amid sanctions by the US.
In the June quarter, China saw sales of chip-making equipment – including tools for wafer processing, assembly, packaging and testing – jump 62 per cent year on year to more than US$12 billion.
The soaring demand in China helped lift worldwide income from semiconductor gear by 4 per cent to US$26.8 billion, despite sales contraction in major markets, including South Korea, Taiwan and North America. Japan, ranked fifth by market size, recorded a revenue rise of 6 per cent to US$1.6 billion.
“The semiconductor equipment market has returned to growth, driven by strategic investments to support continued strong demand for advanced technologies and regions seeking to bolster their chip-making ecosystems,” said SEMI CEO and president Ajit Manocha.
Tech & Media
Huawei’s bug-ridden software hampers China’s efforts to replace Nvidia in AI (Financial Times)
Nvidia’s software platform Cuda is renowned as the company’s “secret sauce” for being easy for developers to use and capable of vastly accelerating data processing. Huawei is one of many companies trying to break Nvidia’s stranglehold on AI chips by creating alternative software.
Huawei’s own employees are among those complaining about Cann. One researcher, who declined to be named, said it made the Ascend product “difficult and unstable to use” and work on testing it was being hampered.
“When random errors occur, it is very difficult to find out where it comes from due to poor documentation. You need talented developers to read the source code to see what the issue is, which slows everything down. The coding is imperfect,” they said.
Another Chinese engineer briefed on Baidu’s use of the Huawei processors said the chips crashed frequently, complicating AI development work.
The Huawei researcher said crashes happened because it was difficult to use the hardware. “It is easy to get bad results because people don’t know much about the hardware itself,” they said.
Huawei prepares for launch, though of what product remains a secret (SCMP)
Huawei’s autumn launch event, scheduled for Monday and Tuesday in Shenzhen, will be led by its secretive chip design unit, HiSilicon. When the announcement of the event was first made, it sparked significant speculation thousands of miles away in the US.
Some US industry analysts anticipate that Huawei will unveil a groundbreaking artificial intelligence semiconductor that could be capable of rivalling high-end chips that American tech giants like Nvidia are prohibited from selling to China.
Such a development, they say, might undercut the market share that Nvidia and other US chip companies have built in China and the Global South. It could also nudge Washington to reconsider its sanctions-based approach to curbing China’s technological progress.
China’s Views on AI Safety Are Changing—Quickly (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
Despite the growing salience of safety concerns, China’s leaders remain just as, if not more, worried about falling further behind the United States in advanced AI. When discussing AI policy, scholars and policy advisers often invoke a long-standing CCP turn of phrase: “Failing to develop is the greatest threat to security.” This ensures that catching up in AI capabilities remains a top CCP priority. But the shifting attitudes toward frontier AI risks means that work on safety will likely rise in tandem.
Regardless of what China does next, international engagement on AI safety will still face enormous hurdles. Both China and the United States have good reason to be deeply suspicious of each other’s intentions in this space. And if extraordinarily powerful—and potentially dangerous—AI systems are on the technological horizon, the competitive pressure to be the first country to build them will be immense. These dynamics will make any binding international agreements on governing frontier AI a long shot.
Authoritarian Countries’ AI Advantage by Angela Huyue Zhang (Project Syndicate)
Authoritarian countries like China have a built-in competitive advantage when it comes to AI development, largely owing to their reliance on domestic surveillance, which fuels demand. Facial-recognition technologies, for example, are used by these regimes not just to enhance public safety but also as powerful tools for monitoring their populations and suppressing dissent.
By contrast, facial recognition has become a source of enormous controversy in the West. The European Union’s AI Act, which entered into force on August 1, has effectively banned its use in public spaces, with only a few narrowly defined exceptions.
This provides AI firms in China and the UAE with a massive advantage over their Western counterparts. Research by David Yang and co-authors shows that Chinese AI firms with government contracts tend to be more innovative and commercially successful, owing to procurement practices that provide them with access to vast troves of public and private data for training and refining their models. Similarly, UAE firms have been allowed to train their models on anonymized health-care data from hospitals and state-backed industries.
AI firms seeking access to such data in Western countries would face numerous legal hurdles. While European and American companies grapple with strict compliance requirements and a surge in copyright-infringement lawsuits, firms in China and the UAE operate in a far more lenient regulatory environment.
This is not to suggest that authoritarian countries do not have laws protecting data privacy or intellectual property. But the national goal of promoting AI development often takes precedence, resulting in lax enforcement.
EV owners face software blackouts as startups go under in China (Rest of World)
As Chinese car owners brace for further consolidation of the country’s hypercompetitive EV market, the fact that many electric cars rely on cloud services — from smartphone controls to software updates — has raised concerns about the long-term serviceability of the vehicles.
China's DJI taps young farmers to cultivate drone market (Nikkei Asia)
DJI is rapidly expanding its agricultural-drone business by catering to young farmers in its home market of China, growing its cumulative sales 15-fold in five years to 300,000 units.
Drones flying over fields to spray pesticides are an increasingly common sight in rural China. These vehicles use aerial photos to set flight paths and can avoid obstacles automatically. The latest models are equipped with two sprayers that can apply 18 liters of chemicals per minute.
DJI drones are used to work about a third of Chinese farmland, mainly by large-scale farmers in their 30s and 40s. Demand is growing for the technology to alleviate a labor shortage as China's population ages.
With price tags in the 50,000 yuan ($7,000) range, DJI drones are reportedly favored as a more cost-effective option than competing models.
Alibaba to Allow Taobao Shoppers to Check Out Through WeChat Pay (Caixin)
China’s two internet giants Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. have taken another step toward breaking down long-standing barriers between their platforms.
Alibaba will finally allow shoppers on its Taobao platform to check out via Tencent’s WeChat Pay. In the past, Alibaba favored Alipay, the digital payment created by its affiliate Ant Group Co.
Why Catching Up to Starlink Is a Priority for Beijing (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)
It is never a good bet to underestimate China’s ability to out-innovate and surpass its rivals. Its companies have proven time and again whether for drones—where Chinese firm DJI has become the dominant consumer drone supplier—or electric vehicles—where manufacturers such as BYD are endeavoring to capture the global market—that no technological lead is safe.
China’s satellite industry is still nascent. It would be quite a leap for its companies to go from launching small batches of LEO satellites to becoming market leaders. Qianfan and its cohorts first need to resolve a host of technical and logistical complications. In the meantime, Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb will continue to grow. But China’s commitment to advancing its space-based technologies should give pause to U.S. policymakers. Undoubtedly, the CCP will expend billions of dollars turbocharging its satellite internet companies. And Beijing will invest with urgency. It is mindful that the window in which to master these innovations for geopolitical advantage and military gain is diminishing.
After 30 years, China’s BeiDou is a GPS rival. Will the world enter its orbit? (SCMP)
Even with BeiDou unlikely to redraw the global navigation map, Beijing remains committed to incorporating the system into its broader strategies.
At an event marking the programme’s 30th anniversary on Tuesday, an initiative backed by the National Development and Reform Commission – the country’s top economic planner – was put forward to encourage commercial adoption of BeiDou, as well as the development of related industries.
More exchanges with developing countries were mentioned, as well as the promotion of BeiDou’s achievements and technological virtues. Central authorities, local governments and private firms with investments abroad were encouraged to join in these efforts.
“China’s tech and industrial policies are forward-looking to nurture an important industry and industrial chain,” said Yeung of NUS. “The return on investment in BeiDou should not be assessed by the number of users only, but by its value for a host of strategic sectors and their overseas interests.”
China is already incentivising the use of its system through the Belt and Road Initiative, its regional infrastructure plan, as well as its outbound investments.
China Now Has Nearly 1.1 Billion Internet Users, Report Finds (Sixth Tone)
The country gained more than 7 million new users in the first half of 2024, with many signing up to watch short video content.
Science, Health & Environment
Record Rainfall Spoils Crops in China, Rattling Leaders (The New York Times)
While climate change is upending food supply chains everywhere, it is a particularly sensitive issue in China, where famines have historically led to unrest, and leaders have long made food security a policy priority. The latest flooding is a reminder of how even the ruling Communist Party struggles to tame the unpredictable weather gods.
The stakes are high: China is already the world’s largest food importer and needs to feed almost one-sixth of the world’s population with less than one-tenth of the world’s arable land, which has shrunk and degraded with heavy fertilizer use and pollution. The ranks of farmers have thinned out, with generations of people moving into towns and cities in pursuit of better wages.
Add extreme weather to the list of challenges. More rivers flooded this year than any other since records in China began in 1998, the Ministry of Water Resources said in August. The country this year also recorded its hottest July since at least 1961.
Weather phenomena are expected to become more frequent. While China has made huge investments in updating dams and putting in place warning systems for impending weather events, that money has mostly gone into areas where such events are predictable. Officials now need to be more nimble to keep pace with weather changes in other areas.
Super Typhoon Yagi hits China’s Hainan, killing two people and forcing 1 million to leave their homes (The Guardian)
Asia’s strongest storm this year, Super Typhoon Yagi, landed in China’s Hainan on Friday, bringing violent gales and heavy rain that killed at least two people and injured 92, state media reported, and forced about a million people in the country’s south to leave their homes.
The storm triggered widespread power outages, paralysing the tourist island province.
Packing maximum sustained winds of 234km/h near its centre, Yagi registers as the world’s second-most powerful tropical cyclone so far this year – after the category-5 Atlantic Hurricane Beryl – and the most severe of 2024 in the Pacific basin.
After more than doubling in strength since killing 16 people in the northern Philippines earlier this week, Yagi slammed into the city of Wenchang in Hainan on Friday afternoon.
China sees hottest August over 6 decades (HKFP)
China logged its hottest August in more than six decades last month, its national weather service said, after the country endured a summer of extreme weather and heatwaves across much of its north and west.
Cover Story: China Formally Enlists ‘Miracle’ Drug in Fight Against Ballooning Obesity Rate (Caixin)
New CMA [Chinese Medical Association] guidelines in China recommend including medications like semaglutide early in weight management, reflecting the growing obesity epidemic.
The GLP-1 drug market in China is booming, with sales expected to reach $11.4 billion by 2033, though accessibility and long-term effectiveness remain challenges.
The Struggle to Repurpose Abandoned Mines in China’s Coal Capital (The World of Chinese)
Former mines are being turned into public gardens and tourist attractions as China looks to a post-coal future, but the transition has not been smooth
Arts & Culture
Capybara lo-fi + Pulitzer Prize-winning opera ()
In this issue: an LP from “the Chinese underground’s most shadowed corner”, offbeat Capybara pop, intriguing electronic music, more dungeon synth, a work that gave a Washington Post music critic nightmares, and the entirety of a special sunrise seaside set from one of China’s best bands.
Philip Kuhn: Sorcery and Bureaucracy in Qing China (China Books Review)
A supernatural crisis pits an anxious autocrat against his own functionaries, when a hunt for soul-stealing sorcerers turns into a political witch-hunt among 18th-century China’s “deep state.”
Sports
China’s men’s soccer team fell to a 7-0 loss to arch-rivals Japan on Thursday night, a startling new low for a soccer-obsessed nation where the game has been plagued by corruption scandals and ever-worsening performances.
Players in top European leagues led the way for Japan, with Liverpool’s Wataru Endo and Brighton’s Kaoru Mitoma both scoring in the demolition at the Saitama Stadium, north of Tokyo, in 2026 World Cup final-round Asian qualifiers. Monaco’s Takumi Minamino also scored twice.
“This is humiliating,” one China fan wrote on social media platform Weibo, where the defeat has become a trending topic, garnering more than 460 million views by Friday morning.
Fans Cry Foul as China vs. Japan World Cup Qualifier Only Available on Paid Live Stream (Caixin)
Controversy erupted after a highly anticipated soccer match between China’s national team and Japan on Thursday wasn’t shown on the state-owned TV station and was only available via a paid live stream on iQiyi.
Fans anxious to watch the opening game of the FIFA 2026 World Cup Asian qualifying tournament, a crucial stage in China’s bid for the next World Cup, were faced with the option of buying a 318-yuan ($45) annual iQiyi package or paying a smaller fee of 9 yuan to access the game through a monthly membership.
US Open: Zheng Qinwen blames sleepless night for quarter-final loss, eyes China ‘prime time’ (SCMP)
Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen said her tame US Open quarter-final exit was caused by a sleepless night following the record late finish to her previous match, but predicted she would be “prime time” when she gets back to China.
Zheng was back on court on Tuesday evening to face world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka having played until 2:15am on Monday to complete her last-16 victory over Donna Vekic.
The 21-year-old Zheng said she got to bed only at 5am and was unable to practise on Monday.
‘I’ll beat you’: angry Zheng Qinwen, Chinese fans react to apparent racist taunts at US Open (SCMP)
Chinese fans have reacted angrily after tennis star Zheng Qinwen appeared to be the victim of racist abuse during her US Open match against Donna Vekic on Monday.
Zheng, who beat Vekic to Olympic gold in Paris last month, was trailing 3-2 and down 40-30 in the second set when an onlooker shouted something that sounded like “yellow banana, yellow” as she prepared to serve.
The slur, which has been directed at other Chinese athletes in the past, was picked up by courtside microphones during Zheng’s 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 win in the round of 16.
Video of the incident caused uproar on Chinese social media, with the hashtag becoming the hottest trending topic on Weibo with more than 1.65 million views before it was removed from the platform.
How China’s Skateboarders Went From ‘Bad Boys’ to the Establishment (Sixth Tone)
[…] unlike in Western countries, where skateboarding was often treated as a threat to public order, in China the early scene was treated as little more than a curiosity. Skateboarders generally faced little resistance from chengguan, or “urban management officials”; instead their presence drew crowds of curious onlookers.
China dominates the Paralympics – but that’s not just down to its almost limitless funds (The Guardian)
At the Olympics, as in geopolitics, China is locked in a continuing battle for global dominance with the US. In the all-important gold medal tally at the Tokyo Games three years ago, the Americans edged their Chinese rivals by 39 golds to 38; in Paris last month, they finished with 40 apiece.
When it comes to the Paralympics, however, China leaves the US (and everyone else) in the dust. At each of the past five Summer Paralympics – dating back to 2004 – China’s gold medal tally has been, at a minimum, the same as the second- and third-placed countries combined. In Paris, as of this morning, they have 73 – with the UK and US trailing at 37 and 27, respectively.
Many of the reasons for this success mirror China’s success at the Olympic Games, starting with almost limitless funding from the state.
Events
Ja Ian Chong — Northeast Asia Is for Deterrence and Southeast Asia Is (Mostly) for Free-Riding: Understanding Divergent Responses to Maintaining Order (Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies)
September 9 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Hybrid Zoom attendance
The focus of Ja Ian Chong’s teaching and research is on international relations, especially IR theory, security, Chinese foreign policy, and international relations in the Asia-Pacific. Of particular interest are issues that stand at the nexus of international and domestic politics, such as influences on nationalism and the consequences of major power competition on the domestic politics of third countries. In addition to their academic background, they have experience working in think-tanks both in Singapore and in the United States.
Wan-an Chiang — Global Taipei: Bridging Tradition and Innovation (Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies)
September 9 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
This event will also be livestreamed on YouTube.
A Conversation with Taipei City Mayor Wan-an Chiang, moderated by Anthony Saich, Director of the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs.
Hedging Their Bets: Taiwan Industry Adapts to Geostrategic Risks (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
September 11, 2024 • 8:30 – 9:30 am EDT
Online
This online event, set for Wednesday, September 11, 8:30-9:30 am US ET, centers around the release of a new report by CSIS’s Scott Kennedy and Andrea Palazzi about how companies in Taiwan are responding to evolving geostrategic risks. Their research, based on the program’s second formal survey of Taiwanese companies, finds that firms are still quite worried about the international environment and conditions in China, and as a result are adopting a variety of coping strategies, including shifting some of their operations out of Mainland China and Taiwan.
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