Category: China


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • An adviser to Senate President Hun Sen was arrested at Phnom Penh International Airport on Friday after returning from a business trip to China, two Cambodian news outlets reported.

    It was unclear what charges Duong Dara could be facing. Earlier this year, he was named in a complaint filed by villagers in southern Svay Rieng province that accused a Phnom Penh company of scamming them out of investments that ranged between US$40,000 and US$120,000.

    The Fresh News online news site and the Koh Santepheap newspaper reported that Duong Dara was arrested in connection with a citizen’s complaint. No further details were given.

    Duong Dara was appointed secretary of state for the Council of Ministers – the government’s Cabinet – last year and has also worked as a personal assistant to Hun Sen. 

    Duong Dara is credited with creating and overseeing Hun Sen’s popular Facebook account, where the former prime minister continues to post statements and personal observations, as well as video clips from public appearances.

    The arrest comes several days after Hun Sen wrote on Facebook that another adviser, Ly Sameth, had defrauded several Cambodians over the last two years by soliciting bribes in exchange for favors and government positions.

    03 Duong Dara Cambodia arrest Ly Sameth.png
    Ly Sameth, an adviser to former Cambodian President Hun Sen, in an undated photo. (Ly Sameth via Facebook)

    Hun Sen wrote on Facebook on Monday that Ly Sameth’s assets should be frozen and Phnom Penh court officials should issue an order to return money he accepted from people. 

    Police officers went to Ly Sameth’s house on Tuesday morning, but he wasn’t at home and authorities were unable to locate him on Wednesday, Phnom Penh Municipal Police spokesperson Sam Vichheka said. Authorities haven’t charged Ly Sameth, he said.

    Business interests

    The complaint submitted at Svay Rieng Provincial Court in June stated that the Phum Khmer Group promised that its duck farms, animal feed factories, restaurants and real estate holdings would generate a monthly 4% payment for investors.

    One investor told Radio Free Asia that he never received any interest or dividend payments, as promised in the signed contract.

    Phum Khmer’s chief executive, Som Sothea, stopped responding to messages, another investor told RFA in June. Som Sothea is believed to be a close friend of Duong Dara.

    04 Duong Dara Cambodia arrest Som Sothea.png
    Phum Khmer Group Chief Executive Officer Som Sothea in an undated photo. (Som Sothea via LinkedIn)

    Several investors told RFA that Duong Dara and his younger brother, Duong Virath, all have shares in the Phum Khmer Group.

    Duong Dara said on his Facebook page in June that – other than joining company workers in distributing food to the poor on one occasion – he has no involvement with the Phum Khmer Group’s business interests.

    RFA was unable to reach Duong Dara for comment on Friday.

    Sam Vichheka, Phnom Penh Municipal Court spokesman I Rin, Phnom Penh Municipal Police Commissioner Chuon Narin also didn’t respond to requests for comment on the arrest.

    Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Khmer.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • A claim emerged in Chinese-language social media posts that U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti revealed during an internal meeting a U.S. plan to launch a war against China in 2027. 

    But this is misleading. Franchetti’s comments were part of a public statement in which she said it was important to ensure the U.S. is prepared for a potential conflict with China by 2027.

    The claim was shared on Douyin, Chinese version of TikTok in late September, 2024, alongside a 30-second video that shows U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Lisa Franchetti. 

    “A leaked video shows that Franchetti revealed U.S.’s plans to launch a war with China in 2027 during internal U.S. Navy operations meeting,” the claim reads in part.

    1 (26).png
    Chinese online users claim that in a leaked conversation Admiral Franchetti said the U.S. plans to go to war with China in 2027. (Screenshots /X, Douyin and Weibo)

    There are growing concerns about a potential U.S.-China war, particularly the assumption that such a conflict would be short and decisive. 

    War games and military novels often portray limited, quick engagements, such as battles over Taiwan, but history shows that wars between great powers are rarely brief. Instead, they tend to drag on, expanding across multiple regions and involving other nations. 

    Several factors could trigger a U.S.-China war, with Taiwan being the most significant. A Chinese attempt to invade or blockade Taiwan could prompt a U.S. response. Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where China’s claims clash with those of U.S. allies like the Philippines, also pose risks.

    Additionally, alliances involving nations like Russia or North Korea could draw more countries into a broader conflict, turning a regional dispute into a larger war.

    The same claim about Franchetti was shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Weibo

    But the claim is misleading. 

    Original clip

    A combination of keyword searches and reverse image search on Google found that the clips of Franchetti were taken from a video released by the U.S. military on Sept. 18, titled: “CNO Release Navigation Plan 2024.”

    “Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti released her Navigation Plan (NAVPLAN) for America’s Warfighting Navy at the Naval War College, Sept. 18,” the caption of the video reads in part.

    “This strategic guidance focuses on two strategic ends: readiness for conflict with the PRC by 2027 and enhancing long-term advantage,” it reads further.

    Separately, the Navy’s navigation plan, the first update in two years, sets the year 2027 as a baseline for U.S. naval operations in response to goals stated by Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding target dates for China’s military modernization.  

    A review of the video and the navigation plan found no mention of a  U.S. plan to launch a war with China in 2027.

    Chinese military modernization

    China proposed  accelerating the modernization of its defense forces at a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee in October 2020. 

    The meeting signaled that China’s armed forces should be prepared for the country’s great rejuvenation by 2027, a goal frequently mentioned by Chinese officials and reported in state-run media

    Since then, U.S. officials have debated and offered different viewpoints about whether China will attack Taiwan in 2027 or 2035. 

    When Chinese President Xi Jinping met U.S. President Joe Biden at a summit in San Francisco in November 2023, he denied that China planned to attack Taiwan in 2027 or 2035, according to media reports. 

    Translated by Shen Ke. Edited by Shen Ke and Taejun Kang.

    Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Zhuang Jing for Asia Fact Check Lab.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • plant based milk china
    7 Mins Read

    China is on course to becoming the world’s third-largest dairy producer – what does that mean for its plant-based industry?

    People in China are eating more protein than Americans now, but a majority of this comes from plant-based foods. Despite that, the country – already the leading producer of pork, fish and eggs – is now the third-largest producer of milk.

    The country is home to two of the top 10 dairy companies in the world, Yili and Manegniu, and has an industry worth CN¥680B ($95B). However, despite milk production rising by 36% since 2018 and surpassing the 2025 target three years ahead of time, per capita consumption of milk fell from 14.4kg in 2021 to 12.4kg in 2022.

    The alternative dairy industry, meanwhile, is a burgeoning sector, with a host of brands vying for market share by putting taste and nutrition at the forefront. According to Chinese company database Qichacha, there are over 5,000 enterprises related to plant-based milk registered in China today (though some of these contain casein or milk powder, but are still classed as dairy alternatives).

    These include traditional brands like Coconut Palm and Yangyuan, young startups like Oat Plant and Oakidoki, and global giants like Danone, Vitasoy and Oatly. It’s a market set to reach CN¥300B ($42B) next year.

    “This undoubtedly attracts numerous new players, yet it remains to be seen how many of these 5,000 enterprises will successfully launch products,” says Wan Lin, marketing and research lead at Toronto-based Dao Foods International, a China-focused impact investor whose alt-dairy brands include Wow Foods, PlantNow!, and True Plant.

    The rise of China’s plant-based milk sector

    oat milk china
    Courtesy: Oakidoki

    China’s annual per capita consumption of dairy (excluding butter) reached 34kg in 2021, compared to 231kg for the US. “This amount translates to approximately 90ml per day, which is less than one-third of the 300ml daily intake recommended by the Chinese Dietary Guidelines 2022,” explains Lin. “In contrast, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2020-2025) recommend a daily intake of 710ml.”

    He adds: “Notably, most people in China’s rural areas, which make up 36% of the entire population, do not have a habit of drinking milk. Therefore, there is considerable potential for growth in China’s milk consumption.”

    Further, in China, nutritional guidelines play an important role in helping influence consumer dietary habits – demand for dairy is set to increase by 2.4% every year until 2032, reaching 62.2 million tonnes of liquid milk equivalent. Concurrently, the country’s milk supply is also set to grow, having reached 41.5 million tonnes last year and already showing a 5% increase in the first quarter of this year.

    The country also has a long-running National School Milk Programme to encourage children to consume more milk in schools. The programme has reached 27 million schoolgoers aged six to 15, and aims to expand to 35 million in the future.

    But there’s also room for alt-dairy. “Capitalising on the global plant-based trend in 2020, plant-based milk sales on [online retailer] Tmall surged by 965%, accompanied by a 900% increase in the consumer base,” Lin reveals. “Since 2007, plant-based milk has been the fastest-growing segment in China. In 2021, the industry generated revenue of CN¥211.72B ($29.6B), with a compound annual growth rate of 34.5% from 2007 to 2021.”

    However, sales appear to have suffered in the last couple of years, particularly for major international players like Oatly, whose struggles in China saw it withdraw low-margin SKUs and initiate a strategic reset, separating Greater China from Asia in its business operations.

    One major reason was the popularity of local brands. “Typically, when choosing a dairy alternative, Chinese consumers tend to prefer more familiar domestic options such as soy milk or walnut milk,” says Lin/ In 2022, Yangyuan (walnut milk), Coconut Palm (coconut milk), Lolo (almond and apricot seed milks), Dali (soy milk), and Vitasoy (soy milk) represented the top five alt-milk brands in the country.

    “The plant-based milk market in China, which has been established for two to three decades, is highly regionalised,” he explains. Western China is dominated by Viee (which makes nut, soy and oat milks), the eastern region by Yinlu (peanut milk mixed with milk), the south by Coconut Palm, and the north by Lolo.

    “These brands have become synonymous with their categories and hold dominant positions in their respective markets. With the emergence of numerous new brands as mentioned earlier, international brands like Oatly entering the Chinese market face significant competition,” adds Lin.

    Government support and the focus on nutrition

    china vegan survey
    Courtesy: ProVeg International

    Despite falling population numbers, animal consumption is expected to increase by 2030 in China, according to a study from last year. If the country is to meet the 1.5°C Paris Agreement goal, 50% of all protein consumption would need to be from alternative sources by 2060.

    Even so, the primary driver of vegan product consumption is wellness, rather than the environment. In June, a poll found that 46% of Chinese consumers are motivated by health reasons to eat more plant-based, followed by nutrition (39%).

    But while plant-based meat is still much more of an emerging player in China, the established milk analogue market is taking note of these trends, highlighting attributes like ‘no sugar/cholesterol/trans fat’, ‘good for brains/eyes’, and ‘high protein/calcium’ on product packaging, alongside cleaner labels. Nestlé’s recently introduced oat milk latte, for example, boasts 7g of dietary fibre. Lin says the food as medicine movement is gaining traction in this segment too.

    China’s government has been prioritising more nutritious food products as part of its Healthy China policy. In May, the theme of its 10th Nutrition Week was ‘Reduce Oil, Increase Beans, Add Milk’. Its dietary guidelines recommend consuming 15-25g of soybeans or equivalent soy products per day, but more than two-thirds of people don’t meet this intake.

    A state-backed conference held by the Chinese Nutrition Society aimed to promote a broader understanding of soy milk nutrition through a report on soy milk and health. And in the National Nutrition Plan (2017-2030), the government emphasises “plant-based proteins as the primary nutritional base, enhances efforts to innovate in research and processing technologies, and promotes the adoption of plant-based products”.

    “A significant portion of the population in China is lactose-intolerant, which also boosts the demand for dairy alternatives,” adds Lin, who points to social media as a key influence as well. “Ultimately, consumers prioritise taste and nutritional content when making their food choices.” Surpassing dairy on both these fronts is also key for repeat purchases.

    At last year’s Asia-Pacific Agri-Food Innovation Summit in Singapore, HaoFoods founder Astrid Prajogo told Green Queen’s Sonalie Figueiras that Chinese consumers are increasingly interested in plant-based dairy drinks and yoghurts.

    Soy milk dominates, but coconut explodes in popularity

    coconut milk china
    Courtesy: FreeNow

    “The range of ingredients in plant-based milk has become more diverse,” Lin says. “Recent additions to the market include rice milk, walnut yoghurt and water chestnut milk. Wow Foods… specialises in producing pea protein milk.”

    But over the last year, coconut milk has emerged as a standout, largely because it’s versatile and pairs well with milk, tea, fruits, and more. “Brands like Coconut Palm (founded in 1998) have high national recognition, while newer brands like FreeNow and Coco100 have experienced rapid growth and increasing popularity. Additionally, specialised coconut beverage chain stores such as Cococean and Yee3 have become increasingly common,” explains Lin.

    That said, soy milk – which has been consumed for over 2,000 years – is still the most recognised and dominant product in China’s plant-based milk market. It’s even more popular than cow’s milk when it comes to breakfast beverages, with 39% of people drinking soy milk with their morning meals, compared to 14% choosing conventional dairy.

    “However, a significant portion of soy milk consumption in China is sourced from breakfast vendors or homemade using soy milk makers,” states Lin. “Currently, no single company holds an absolute leading position in this market. The ubiquity of soy milk has made it too commonplace to excite mainstream young consumers.”

    In the wider market, too, product similarity is a major barrier, he says. “To overcome this, we need fresh and unique products that surpass cow’s milk in both nutrition and taste, providing consumers who typically drink cow’s milk with a compelling reason to try something new.”

    The post The State of Play: Unlocking China’s Appetite for Plant-Based Milk appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • A six-nation naval exercise led by the United States and the Philippines has begun in the waters off northern Philippines, the second such drills in 10 days, amid rising tensions with China.

    Exercise Sama Sama, or Togetherness in the Tagalog language, kicked off on Monday, “marking the beginning of two weeks of maritime engagements designed to enhance interoperability and strengthen security ties among regional partners,” the U.S. Navy said in a statement.

    The exercise, involving almost 1,000 naval personnel from Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the U.S. and the Philippines, takes place in the northern Luzon area facing Taiwan. The United Kingdom has sent observers to the drills.

    Just days before, on Sept. 28, four of the partners – Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the U.S. – together with New Zealand, conducted a maritime exercise within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, in the South China Sea.

    Sama 2023 troops.jpg
    U.S. and Philippine Navy Sailors pose for a photo aboard Philippine Navy guided missile frigate BRP Antonio Luna (FF 151) after a training event, September 15, 2023. (U.S. Navy)

    On the same day, China announced its own air and naval drills around Scarborough Shoal, which it gained de facto control of following a standoff with the Philippines in 2012.

    China’s Southern Theater Command criticized the earlier exercise as destabilizing outside interference.

    “Some countries outside the region have disrupted the South China Sea and created regional instability,” the Chinese military said.

    The command pledged to “resolutely defend China’s sovereignty, security, and maritime rights and interests” in the South China Sea.

    Beijing, which has just observed a lengthy national holiday, has yet to respond to Sama Sama 2024.

    ‘Not targeted at any country’

    The U.S and the Philippines are treaty allies and they conduct various  joint military drills every year.

    The U.S. Navy said in its statement that Sama Sama, now in its eighth iteration, “reflects ​​the spirit of the decades-long partnership between allies in the region.”

    “What began as a bilateral event between the United States and the Philippines has grown into a multilateral and multiplatform operation,” it said.

    “Working alongside naval vessels and maritime surveillance aircraft, ​​​​specialized teams​, including ​diving and explosive ordnance disposal units​,​​ ​will conduct high-intensity drills focusing on anti-submarine warfare​, ​anti-​surface warfare​, ​anti-​air warfare​, and maritime domain awareness.”


    RELATED STORIES

    China holds drills at disputed Scarborough Shoal

    Philippines, US launch yearly large-scale military exercises

    China stages naval drills during Philippines-US exercise


    The U.S. head of delegation, Rear Adm. Todd Cimicata, told reporters before the launching of the exercise that it was not targeted at any country.

    “The intent of these exercises is not to ruffle feathers. It’s tailored for interoperability,” Cimicata was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying. “Across the gamut, there are people that don’t follow those rules so we have to agree so that we can set those standards.”

    China, which claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, has been in a tense standoff with the Philippines over some reefs inside Manila’s EEZ.

    Last week, Chinese law enforcement personnel were accused of beating and injuring 10 Vietnamese fishermen near the Paracel archipelago in what Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano described as an “alarming act with no place in international relations.”

    Navy spokesperson, Rear Adm. Roy Vincent Trinidad, told a press briefing on Tuesday that Philippine authorities “have contingency plans in place” in case similar incidents happen to Filipino fishermen.

    Trinidad urged fishermen to continue fishing in the West Philippine Sea, or the part of the South China Sea within the country’s EEZ.

    The Philippine Navy said it had spotted a total of 190 Chinese vessels, including 37 naval and coast guard vessels, in Philippine waters this week, a slight increase from 178 the week before.

    Jason Gutierrez in Manila contributed to this report.

    Edited by Mike Firn.




    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have marked the 75th anniversary of their countries’ relations but the messages they exchanged were less effusive and shorter than in the past, hinting at cooler ties.

    Xi’s message to Kim this year, published by China’s Xinhua News Agency, was 309 characters long, compared with 435 characters in 2019, for the 70th anniversary.

    Similarly, Kim’s message to Xi, published by the Korean Central News Agency, was 497 characters this year, down from 809 characters in 2019.

    But it wasn’t just the length of the messages that was different.

    Xi told Kim that relations between their countries had “stood the changes of the times and the trials of an ever-changing international situation and become a precious asset common to the two countries and the two peoples.”

    Xi added that China was ready to further develop relations “through strengthened strategic communications and coordination, and deepened friendly exchange and cooperation.”

    But Xi did not use the phrases he used in the 70th anniversary celebration, such as “the traditional friendship between China and the DPRK has grown stronger over time and gone deep into the hearts of the people.”

    DPRK stands for the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

    Kim referred to Xi in 2019 as his “esteemed” comrade but he dropped that salutation this year. 

    “Our Party and the government of the Republic will steadily strive to consolidate and develop the friendly and cooperative relations between the DPRK and China as required by the new era,” Kim said. 

    This year, the messages between Xi and Kim were published on page four of North Korea’s state-run Rodong Sinmun daily. In 2019, they were splashed across the newspaper’s front page.


    RELATED STORIES

    Xi’s latest message to North Korea’s Kim hints at cooling ties

    North Korea bans more TV and movies. Surprise! They’re Chinese

    North Korea orders return of workers in China stranded by pandemic


    Since North Korea and China established diplomatic ties on Oct. 6, 1949, their relationship has often been described as being “as close as lips and teeth.” 

    However, there have been signals that China, by far North Korea’s largest trading partner, has become more distant towards its northeastern neighbor.

    In September, Xi, in his first message to Kim in eight months, marking the anniversary of North Korea’s founding, was also less effusive in tone on the friendship between the countries than he had been the previous year.

    South Korea’s main security agency has raised the possibility of cooler ties between China and North Korea while media has reported that China is hesitant to form a three-way, anti-West alliance with North Korea and Russia. 

    North Korea and Russia have moved significantly closer amid widespread suspicion that North Korea has supplied conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. 

    This year, North Korea and Russia the two countries signed a strategic treaty that includes mutual defense elements.

    China Beijing appears to prioritize a stable regional security environment to address its economic challenges and maintain relationships with Europe and its Asian neighbors.

    China’s foreign ministry has dismissed any suggestions that relations with North Korea have cooled.

    While North Korea largely sealed itself off during the COVID-19 pandemic, this year it has been building up its diplomatic ties, apart from those with Russia.

    A top Vietnamese defense official visited Pyongyang last month and in August, North Korea took steps to patch up ties with old ally Cuba.

    In April, a North Korean delegation visited Iran

    Edited by Mike Firn. 


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The hopeless fault-finder. Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

    The hopeless fault-finder. Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

    These days the People’s Republic of China is celebrating its 75th anniversary. Over the past 75 years, China has grown from a poor and backward country to the world’s second-largest economy, with about one-sixth of the world’s population escaping poverty.

    However, as China continued to rise, the US’ attitude toward China has changed dramatically. Be it the “China threat” narrative or the “China challenge” theory, US politicians have become increasingly anxious about China’s development. This anxiety has turned into slander and attempts to portray China as a force threatening global development.

    Recently, a former American government official claimed that China aims to impose its ideology on the rest of the world, posing an unprecedented threat to the US.

    Over the past few years, many US politicians have stressed the threat of China. But what exactly has China’s development taken away from the US?

    When China was still a poor and backward country, the US never worried about China’s ideology “threatening” the world. However, as soon as China achieved economic takeoff, US politicians began exaggerating China’s “ideological threat.”

    Over the past 75 years, if China’s ideology had been detrimental to development and harmful to its own and the world’s progress, China would not be standing so proudly before the US today. China’s development demonstrates that its ideology contributes to global growth, as proven by its achievements.

    Even though China has become the world’s second-largest economy, its per capita GDP is still far below that of the US. In 2023, China’s per capita GDP was about $12,720, while the US was about $76,000, nearly six times higher. China must continue to advance steadfastly on its chosen path of development.

    In 2020, the US Strategic Approach to the People’s Republic of China (May 20, 2020) read, the CPC has “accelerated its efforts to portray its governance system as functioning better than those of what it refers to as ‘developed, Western countries.’” Based on this assumption, then such competition should contribute to global development. Indeed, only through such competition can we show that human development is a diverse process. Every country has the right to choose its own path of development.

    Isn’t it good for humanity if more countries develop through self-reliance like China? China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs and has never attempted to export its ideology to other countries. However, China has proven that a country can achieve economic takeoff and social progress without copying Western models.

    This successful approach has shaken the long-held discourse power and dominance of the West, especially the US, thus posing a significant challenge to the US’ global strategy.

    Suppose the development model and path advocated by the US are no longer the only correct ones. In that case, the foundation of its global strategy and influence will be shaken.

    When some US politicians claim that China’s ideology poses a threat, they are actually making excuses for Washington’s hegemonism. The “rules-based international order” in the mouths of American politicians is actually an order where the US makes the rules and other countries obey. Any country that attempts to challenge this order, regardless of its intentions, will be labeled an “ideological threat.”

    China has chosen a suitable path for itself and achieved great success. This success should not be a reason for demonization. If Washington cannot accept and recognize a prosperous and stable China and tries to set China as an opponent or even an enemy of the US, that would be a huge threat to world peace and development.

    The post Did 1.4 billion Chinese Achieving Poverty Alleviation Cut into Washington’s Cake? first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.


  • Detail of: Ye Wulin (China), 红星颂 (Ode to the Red Star), 2015.

    Seventy-five years ago, on 1 October 1949, Mao Zedong (1893–1976) announced the creation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It is important to note that the Communist Party of China (CPC) did not name the new state the Socialist Republic, but instead called it the People’s Republic. That is because Mao and the CPC did not foresee China being immediately ushered into socialism; rather, the country was embarking on the road to socialism, a process that would likely take decades, if not a century. That was very clear to the people who began to shape the new state and society. The People’s Republic would have to be built out of the embers of a very long war, one that began when the Japanese invaded northern China in 1931 and that lasted for the next 14 years and took the lives of over 35 million people. ‘From now on our nation will belong to the community of the peace-loving and freedom-loving nations of the world’, Mao said at the first plenary session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference on 21 September 1949. The new China, he continued, will ‘work courageously and industriously to foster its own civilisation and well-being and at the same time to promote world peace and freedom. Ours will no longer be a nation subject to insult and humiliation. We have stood up’.

    Mao’s words echoed the sentiments of anti-colonial movements from around the world, including those of leaders of movements that were not socialist, such as Jawaharlal Nehru of India and Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. For them, the decolonisation process required world peace and equality so that the formerly colonised people of the world could stand up and build their lives with dignity. Reading and reflecting upon these words in 2024 allows us to appreciate both the advances made by the world’s peoples since 1949 and the obstinacy of the old colonial powers that have long sought to prevent this new world from being built. The ongoing US-Israeli genocide against Palestinians and bombardment of Lebanon reflect the barbarousness to which the colonial powers are willing to resort as they attempt to hold us in this past that we want to transcend. The attitudes and wars imposed by the old colonial powers divert us from building our ‘own civilisation and well-being’ and from promoting ‘world peace and freedom’. Mao’s words, which are really the words of all people emerging from colonialism, offer the world a choice: either we live as adversaries with our resources poured into ugly and meaningless wars or we build a ‘community of peace-loving and freedom-loving nations of the world’.

    Ode to the Red Star, detail.
    Detail of: Ye Wulin (China), 红星颂 (Ode to the Red Star), 2015.

    The average life expectancy in the PRC – 77 years – exceeds the global average by four years, coming a long way from 1949, when the figure was a mere 36 years. This is one of many indicators of a society that prioritises the well-being of people and the planet. Another was explained to me by a Chinese official a few years ago, who told me about how his country planned to create a post-fossil fuel economy soon. The word ‘soon’ interested me, and I asked him how it would be possible to do something of that nature so quickly. He began to tell me about the importance of planning and marshalling resources but, when he realised that I was not asking him about the strategy for this new economy but about the timeframe, said that this could be done ‘within the next half century, maybe, if we work hard, by [2049,] the hundredth anniversary of the formation of the PRC’. The confidence in the PRC allows for this kind of long-term planning, rather than the short-term compulsions imposed on states by the logic of capitalism. This long-term attitude pervades Chinese society, and it allows the CPC the luxury to harness resources and plan decades into the future, rather than mere months or years.

    It was this sort of thinking that gripped Beijing’s city managers over twenty years ago, when the rapid rise of automobiles in the capital and the burning of coal to generate heat enveloped the population in toxic smog. The national five-year plans for 2001–2005 and 2011–2015, as well as Beijing’s own Five-Year Clean Air Action Plan (2013–2017), made it clear that economic growth could not ignore the environment. The city managers began to centre their planning around public transportation and transit corridors rooted in an older Chinese urban design that built shops and apartment buildings in a way that would promote walking rather than driving. In September 2017, the city established low-emission zones to prevent polluting vehicles from entering Beijing and created incentives for the use of new energy vehicles, which are powered by electric energy. China owns 99 percent of the world’s 385,000 electric buses, 6,584 of which are on Beijing’s streets. Though there is still a long way to go for Beijing’s air to meet its own standards, the toxicity of the air has noticeably declined.

    Comrade Cháng’é, Fan Wennan (China)
    Fan Wennan (China), 嫦娥同志 (Comrade Cháng’é), 2022.

    In Mao’s founding speech in 1949, he declared that one of the PRC’s goals would be to foster the people’s well-being. How is it possible to do that within a neocolonial world system that enforces the poorer nations’ dependency on the former colonial powers? In the global production chain, the poorer nations produce goods at a lower cost, with wages and consumption suppressed, which allows multinational corporations (MNCs) to sell commodities for higher prices around the world and earn larger profits. These large profits are then invested by the MNCs to develop new technologies and productive forces that reinforce the permanent subordination of the poorer nations. If a poor nation exports more goods in an attempt to earn higher returns, it simply digs itself into a deeper and deeper spiral of lowered living standards for its exploited workers and into a debt trap that simply cannot be exited. It is one thing to be able to plan, but how does one acquire the resources to execute a plan?

    At Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, we have been looking closely at the experience of China and other countries in the Global South that have attempted to rattle this cage of dependency. As Tings Chak and I show in an article on the 75th anniversary of the PRC, in its first decades China marshalled whatever minimal resources were available to it, including assistance from the Soviet Union, to build a new agricultural system against landlordism, create an education and health system that improved the people’s quality of life, and fight against the wretched hierarchies of the past. That first phase, from 1949 to the late 1970s, endowed China with a culture that is far more egalitarian and a population that is far more educated and in better health than those in other post-colonial states. It is the CPC’s commitment to transform people’s lives that created this possibility. In the second phase, from 1978 to the present, China has used its large labour force to attract foreign investment and technology, but it has done so in a way that ensures that science and technology will be transferred to China and that the state’s control over exchange rates will allow the CPC to raise wages (which were improved by the 2008 Labour Contract Law), avoid the middle-income trap, enhance technological capabilities, and drive state-owned enterprises to develop high-tech productive systems. That is what accounts, in large measure, for the rapid growth that China has experienced over the past decades and its ability to lift up the well-being of its population and environment within the overall structure of the neocolonial world system.

    China 2098: Welcome Home. Fan Wennan (China)
    Fan Wennan (China), 中国2098: 欢迎回家 (China 2098: Welcome Home), 2019–2022.

    In April 2017, the Xiong’an New Area (roughly 100 kilometres south of Beijing) was officially established to accommodate five million residents in order to relieve the emergent congestion in Beijing, whose growing population of 22 million faces serious problems of scale. This is being done, for instance, by absorbing many of the non-government institutions that are currently located in the capital city (among them research, higher education, medical, and financial institutions). One of the key motivations for the construction of the Xiong’an New Area was to address the plights facing the densely populated capital without embarking on urban reconstruction that could ruin the character of this city that first emerged in 1045 BCE.

    To take advantage of the clean slate afforded by building this new city, PRC officials set a zero-carbon emissions target for the Xiong’an New Area, its landscape defined by the blue-green hues of water and vegetation rather than the grey smog of a concrete jungle. The first priority as the city was planned was to rehabilitate the Baiyangdian, the largest wetland in northern China. Its water area, known as the ‘kidney of North China’, was expanded from 170 square kilometres to 290 square kilometres; its water quality was improved from Class V (unusable) to Class III (able to drink); and the critically endangered diving duck Baer’s pochard was settled in the area and now thrives on the lake. The Baiyangdian anchors the city.

    The Xiong’an New Area is being built as ‘three cities’: a city above ground; an underground city of commercial centres, transportation, and pipelines (for fibre optic cables, electricity, gas, water, and sewage); and a cloud-based city that will provide data for smart transportation, digital governance, intelligent equipment inspection, elderly monitoring, and emergency response. As the National Development and Reform Commission of Hebei Province’s January report describes, the Xiong’an New Area is:

    creat[ing] an urban ecological space where city and lake coexist, where city and greenery are integrated, and where forests and water are interdependent. … [It e]mphasise[s] the integration of greenways, parks, and open spaces to create a city with parks within cities and cities within parks, where people can live and enjoy nature.

    Seventy-five years into its revolutionary process, China has indeed made rapid advances, though it will have to settle the many new problems that have emerged (which you can read about in the international edition of the journal Wenhua Zongheng, or 文化纵横). China’s feat of shaking the chains of dependency is worthy of detailed debate, perhaps while walking along the Baiyangdian Lake in the Xiong’an New Area.

    The post A Walk Along the Baiyangdian Lake in the Xiong’an New Area first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Talk delivered for the event “Changes Not Seen in a Century: 75th Anniversary of the Founding of PRC.”

    Friends, Colleagues, Comrades,

    It’s a great honor for me to join you in this extraordinary, historical moment of celebration and reflection on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the PRC.

    As has been said, we are seeing changes unseen in a century.  Changes both great and terrible.

    We are currently seeing the unravelling of Empire–and its last desperate, violent, hideous death rattle. We are seeing the unmasking of 500 years of western “civilization”, and the laying bare of its hypocrisy and unspeakable brutality. We are seeing the true face of capitalist imperialism, not its made up public relations face, but its resting bastard face.

    It’s not pretty.

    One of the precipitating factors of the end of Empire–not the only one, but a very important one, because it allows countries to resist hegemony together–is the rise of China.

    The rise of China is one of the greatest success stories in the history of human civilization. So we could talk about China’s accomplishments all day. I’d like to highlight three.

    We all know in 1949 when China stood up, liberating half a billion people, 10-20% of China’s population was still addicted to opium.  In 4 years, the CPC eradicated opium addiction, liberating 90 million people from this colonial scourge.  It’s also one of the greatest public health accomplishments of the 20th century.  And I bet you’ve never heard of it.

    By giving everyone the means of production–at the time, by distributing land–and by offering everybody education, community, meaning, hope, purpose–and by doing it at scale–because it has to be done at scale–the Party was successful.

    You can’t do this in dribs and drabs. tinkering at the edges.  You have to do it all at once for everyone.

    The Power of People’s Solidarity

    We all know this and understand this: we don’t liberate anyone, until everyone is liberated. We liberate each other. It’s because we are fundamentally socially interconnected.

    This is our species being. 

    You don’t help anyone, until we all help each other, because we all are implicated in each other’s futures.

    We saw the same thing with extreme poverty alleviation. Poverty was not seen as an individual failing–as it is, in the capitalist west.  It was a whole of society responsibility requiring a whole of society response. It focused on everyone.

    So, 850 million were brought out of extreme poverty–which lets the world know that poverty is not an immutable, social, historical fact.  It is a policy choice.  You can raise everyone up, if we all work together.

    That’s the way it works–and it works for everything:  if we start from this approach, we can succeed, no matter how vast and immense the challenge is.

    So China is proof positive of the power of people’s solidarity, the power of a people’s leadership, the power of scientific planning according to socialist principles to overcome unthinkable challenges.

    This is how China accomplishes things, and it accomplishes them at scale–at a scale so vast that nothing under heaven–as they say–is left behind.

    Now, there is another achievement that China is working on.

    Yes, a socialist society, that’s the ultimate goal, but this is an important stepping stone on the way to it. And it is a big one.  It is the creation of an ecological civilization.

    China is literally greening the planet, creating, single-handedly, the conditions and means to transition to a sustainable energy regime, to enable sustainable development, to turn back the tide of global warming.  And it is doing it at a scale that is truly inconceivable–but necessary.

    China knows how to accomplish things at scale.  It knows how to solve problems even when the problems are unthinkably immense.  And the leadership and the people do not flinch at the immensity of the challenge.

    Ecological transition with Chinese characteristics:

    China is concretely showing us the pathway out of Global Climate catastrophe. And as I said before, none of us are safe, good or well until all of us are. Until all of us are safe from the effects of the climate crisis, none of us are.

    And China is leading the way.  All the west has to do is work together with China: China has provided the tools and the map and it is showing the path out.

    So, to reduce it to its simplest terms, going green means going red. But–and there is a but: from the US standpoint, they don’t want that.

    They do not want energy transition if it means the Chinese are going to be leading it. They would rather be dead than red. The US would rather burn up the planet than give China its place in the sun.

    If China is on the side of renewable energy, then the US has to be firmly on the side of Global Warming:  it’s more important to beat China than to beat Global Warming. 

    We can see that right now, in the massive sanctioning of Chinese sustainable technologies that could shift the balance. If the planet heats up, we’re all dead, but if China cools the planet and saves the world, then we are no longer the coolest, and that’s worse than death. That’s how the leadership in the US thinks.

    Preparing for War: Not if but When

    So we can’t talk about China’s successes, without talking about the US hostility towards China. The US sees China as the enemy. It is determined to take down China and all its accomplishments.

    Now, China has overcome–countless threats–but this one is an existential threat.

    Let’s be very clear.  The US is preparing for war–kinetic war–against China. Washington is abuzz with talk of war with China. It’s seen as necessary, inevitable, and incredibly, winnable.

    Winnable means they are planning to use nukes.

    We see with Palestine, and now Lebanon, that there are no limits to the depravity of what the Imperial ruling class will do to stay in power. Nothing is off the table. Nothing is too inhumane, too brutal, too illegal, too dangerous. Nothing shocks the conscience.  In fact, nuclear war is definitely on the table, in the policy papers being distributed, in the military table-top exercises they conduct, in the field training and air exercises that are now being conducted with the greatest intensity since WWII. We are headed towards war, towards nuclear war.

    To put it bluntly, the US ruling class would rather see the end of the world than the end of their power and privilege. So we are at a turning point in history. a crisis: both opportunity and danger, hope and terror, unseen possibility and unthinkable tragedy.

    This Imperial ruling class has actually been escalating to war against China–covertly since 2009 and now overtly.  It has calendared dates–2027.

    It’s not if, but when.

    Three Steps to War

    Now there are three distinguishable steps on the way to war:

    The first is Information war: inventing the enemy and then demonizing them: manufacturing consent, shutting down opposition, like you shut down the skies before bombing. We’re being fire-hosed and carpet bombed with lies about China.

    The second is shaping the theater logistically for war, with arms, alliance, exercises, material/fuel–pre-positioned stocks–and troops.

    The third is provocation. There is non-stop provocation by the US–in the Taiwan strait, the East China Sea, the South China Sea, on the Korean peninsula, everywhere.

    This follows the increasing, expanding ambit and intensity of proxy war in Europe, in the genocidal terror in the middle east, and in the building war momentum in the Pacific.  Kurt Campbell, Biden’s Asia Czar and the architect of the Pivot, has threatened to unleash “a magnificent symphony of death” across a “unified field [of war]”.

    Martial Arts in the No-Think Zone

    And we can all see and feel the shutting down of anti-war dissent, of opposing voices and alternative media. That’s a key characteristic of the information war–silencing opposition, silencing voices of peace. It’s like taking out anti-aircraft batteries, and imposing a no fly zone. You shut down the skies, before you drop the bombs. You shut down the opposition before you drop the narrative bombs. You attack opposition to war, attack those who want good relations with China, or negotiations. You attack divergent voices and platforms in order to create a no-think zone.  

    No critical thinking. No thinking, no dialogue, no peace. 

    The US literally seeks full spectrum dominance in all domains of war, but especially in the space domain: outer space, cyber space, and information space, mental space. It literally seeks to occupy your mind.

    So resistance in this critical moment–at the most fundamental level–begins with first not letting your mental space be occupied, colonized, dominated. It means resisting the narrative dominance of the dominant narrative; that China is threatening the world, that war is thinkable, that war is justified. It means resisting the normalization of war, of genocide, of terror, of atrocity, of  lies and propaganda.

    We can all be vectors of this transmission of lies of propaganda, or we can impede its transmission.

    So it’s incumbent on all of us to re-engage in the mental martial art of critical thinking: we strengthen our psychic immune system against this type of mental virus, this colonization of our mental spaces. We re-orient, de-occupy ourselves, we kick out the colonizing narratives, and we recommit to “seeking truth from facts.”

    What we need to do is tune up our critical thinking engines constantly, with the precision tools of wit, humor, parody, perspective, context–and facts.

    The flipside of this is that we can also spread the facts and the truth, as many are doing together today. Share the truth. The rise of China, and the liberation of the Global South is not a threat to the peoples of the world. It is a transformative moment of hope for human history.

    But the stakes are immense. The future of the planet is at stake. As Brian Berletic said, “A war against China is a war against the world.” And we all have a part to play. We have already been inducted.

    Where do we start? We start with our clear minds and our courageous hearts. Decolonize and de-propagandize your minds, and resist! Together!

    The future of China, the future of the Global South, the future of the world depends on it!

    The post Your Mind is a Battlefield: Decolonize Your Mind to Prevent Global Catastrophe! first appeared on Dissident Voice.

    This post was originally published on Dissident Voice.

  • China has denied that its law enforcement authorities adopted a heavy-handed approach to stop Vietnamese fishing boats from operating in disputed waters claimed by both countries in the South China Sea.

    Vietnam’s state media reported that Chinese personnel boarded a Vietnamese fishing boat off the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea on Sunday and beat the crew with iron bars, seriously injuring four of them.

    They also smashed the fishing equipment and took away the Vietnamese crew’s catch.

    China’s foreign ministry, responding to a request for comment from the Reuters news agency, said that Vietnamese fishing boats illegally fished in the waters of the Paracel Islands without permission.

    It said that Chinese authorities took measures to stop the boats and that “on-site operations were professional and restrained, and no injuries were found.” 

    Vietnam’s foreign ministry has not said anything about the incident, and the official Vietnam News Agency withdrew a report on it several hours after publishing it.

    Vietnamese media, meanwhile, ran several interviews with the captain and crew of the fishing boat QNg 95739 TS from central Quang Ngai province.

    The fishermen described a “terrifying attack” by about 40 Chinese personnel on two steel-hulled Chinese ships. 

    Crewman Huynh Tien Cong told the Tien Phong newspaper that the attackers beat him and other crew members with meter-long steel bars, breaking his arms and legs.

    The captain, Nguyen Thanh Bien, was quoted as saying that the attack on Sept. 29 was “the most brutal aggression” he’d witnessed during his 15-year career in the waters off the Paracel archipelago.

    Disputed islands

    The Paracels comprise about 130 islands and reefs about 400 kilometers (249 miles) off Vietnam’s eastern coast.

    According to Captain Bien, the QNg 95739 TS when attacked was sailing near an atoll of the Paracel Islands called Vuladdore Reef, or Yuzhuo Jiao in Chinese.

    Vietnamese fishermen consider the area their traditional fishing grounds and their fishing boats have sailed the waters for centuries.


    RELATED STORIES

    Vietnam says China attacked fishing boat near disputed islands

    Philippine coast guard ship leaves disputed shoal in South China Sea

    Chinese Coast Guard water cannon attack on Vietnamese fishing boat leaves 2 injured


    China seized the islands, known in China as Xisha, in 1974 from the government of South Vietnam and has held control over them since. In 2012, Beijing established Sansha City, headquartered in one of the Paracel islands, to administer all the features it claims in the South China Sea.

    Details have emerged that the two Chinese ships that took part in the attack on the Vietnamese fishing boat may belong to Sansha City’s comprehensive law enforcement bureau.

    Vietnamese fishermen on the QNg 95739 TS said the two attacking vessels bore hull numbers 101 and 301. Ship-tracking data obtained by RFA from the website MarineTraffic show that the bureau’s patrol vessels Sansha Zhifa 101 and 301 were present in the area on Sept. 29, just kilometers away from Vuladdore Reef.

    Fishermen.jpg
    This photo taken on August 18, 2022, shows fishermen pulling in their nets on Vietnam’s Ly Son island. the country’s closest island to the disputed Paracel archipelago in the South China Sea. (Nhac Nguyen/AFP)

    Vietnamese fishermen operating in disputed waters in the South China Sea have often complained about harassment by Chinese maritime militia and the coast guard.

    In 2020, when a Vietnamese fishing boat was rammed by a Chinese maritime surveillance vessel near the Paracel Islands and sank, Hanoi lodged an official protest. 

    Vietnamese members of the public raised questions on internet forums about the lack of immediate reaction from their government on this occasion.

    China has just appointed a new ambassador to Vietnam, He Wei, who previously served at the foreign ministry’s department of boundary and ocean affairs.

    Vietnam has adopted a flexible approach to foreign policy known as “bamboo diplomacy” and maintains good relations with the United States, China and Russia, as well as others.

    Edited by Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • 5 Mins Read

    China’s potential biotech dominance – especially its progress with cultivated meat – has spurred Republicans to call for US action to ensure “continued leadership”.

    What would it take for a Republican to support cultivated meat?

    Could it be China’s progress in the sector? That’s one way to interpret a letter sent by 11 Republican Congress members to the director of national intelligence and the USDA’s director of homeland security last week.

    First obtained by Politico’s Morning Agriculture newsletter, the letter was led by House Representatives Andrew Garbarino (R-NY) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), in direct response to the national intelligence director’s annual threat assessment. That report labelled China’s strategic advancements in “synthetic biology and agricultural biotechnology” as an attempt to “lead the broader biotechnological landscape”.

    China’s latest five-year plan for agricultural and rural tech development in 2021 calls for research in cultivated meat, alternative egg and dairy, and recombinant proteins, which the lawmakers described in their letter as China looking to “dominate global supply chains”.

    China’s biotech strides and focus on cultivated meat

    china alternative protein
    Courtesy: UN Geneva/CC

    China has been making moves towards alternative protein as part of its national climate, economic, and public health targets. Its citizens are already eating more protein per capita than the US now, and most of this comes from animal-free sources.

    Aside from the aforementioned agricultural strategy, the ongoing five-year bioeconomy development plan has outlined an advancement of man-made protein and novel foods. And it came just two months after President Xi Jinping called for a Grand Food Vision that included plant-based and microorganism-derived protein sources.

    In 2020, the science and tech ministry launched the Green Biological Manufacturing initiative, which set aside ¥600M ($93M at the time) in funding for research projects – around ¥20M was said to be earmarked for cultivated meat and plant-based protein companies. Similarly, in 2021, the government announced a proect focused on high-efficiency biomanufacturing tech for meat analogues, led by agricultural science institute the Jiangnan University.

    According to alternative protein think tank the Good Food Institute (GFI) APAC, the National Natural Science Foundation of China has backed many cultivated meat and plant-based research teams too, with similar funding mechanisms available at provincial and city levels.

    Last year, Shanghai was the site of a meeting convened by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, where cellular agriculture companies engaged with regulators over production processes and safety concerns.

    GFI has further suggested that China’s cultivated meat sector has expanded in an environment that features much lower costs than Europe or the US, with local governments taking steps to ensure that the cost of equipment like bioreactors stays low.

    Meanwhile, the national government has been encouraging citizens to eat fewer animal products and more plant proteins, as part of a broader drive to connect public health with socioeconomic development, which began with the Healthy China 2030 policy.

    And then there’s the climate benefits: cultivated meat has a much lighter impact on the planet than industrial livestock production. China’s 30-60 climate policy is aimed at hitting peak emissions by 2030 and becoming carbon-neutral by 2060 – and research has shown that this will only be possible if half of all proteins consumed in the country come from alternative sources.

    Republicans highlight the importance of alternative protein

    lab grown meat china
    Courtesy: Jimi Biotech

    The Congress members’ letter implored the US intelligence community to “conduct a focused analysis” on the potential impact of China’s advancements in innovative protein technologies, and its implications for the global food supply.

    “Countries around the world are recognising the need to pursue innovative farming techniques to complement their existing agricultural structures,” the letter reads. “The innovative protein sector’s rapid evolution and its potential to reshape global food markets underscore the urgency of responding to these developments.”

    Pointing to precedents that show how rapidly global trade patterns shift, the lawmakers write: “Should China secure a dominant position in the global innovative protein market, it could fundamentally alter food supply dynamics worldwide and give China control of key aspects of global food security dynamics.

    “Put simply, we cannot allow China to control more of the world’s food supply than it already does. To cede American leadership in the global innovative protein market to foreign adversaries like China is to forfeit the food security of the United States and its allies.”

    The Congress members conclude by asking the intelligence agencies to recommend strategic measures the US should consider to “ensure continued leadership and resilience in this critical sector”.

    An indication of the US’s response to China’s biotech dominance came in May when the House of Representatives passed the Biosecure Act to prevent local biopharma companies from working with Chinese contractors due to national security concerns.

    But if the US wants to continue being a leader in the alternative protein and biotech sectors – the country is home to the highest number of companies in this sector – it would perhaps be better if its policymakers stopped bringing bills to try and ban cultivated meat.

    lab grown meat republicans
    Courtesy: Morning Consult

    Yesterday, Alabama’s ban came into effect, three months after Florida’s did (the latter is now being sued over the legislation). Policymakers in a number of other states – including Illinois, Nebraska and Arizona – have proposed similar moves, and they have almost exclusively been Republican. This isn’t a surprise, considering how a study by Morning Consult found Republicans to be much less receptive to cultivated meat than Democrats.

    These politicians would do well to encourage their GOP colleagues and heed their words, which acknowledge that alternative protein can reshape global markets, and there’s a need for governments to back this industry. Whether that falls on deaf ears, only time will tell.

    The post US Republicans Fear China’s Biotech Revolution – Are They Finally Embracing Cultivated Meat? appeared first on Green Queen.

    This post was originally published on Green Queen.

  • Authorities in the Chinese capital are stepping up security measures ahead of celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on Tuesday, slapping restrictions on who may enter the city, rights lawyers and activists told RFA Mandarin.

    Police have been following rights activists and lawyers, detaining their family members, or preventing them from entering Beijing, while the phones of outspoken journalist Gao Yu remain blocked ahead of the National Day holiday, they said.

    The moves form part of China’s “stability maintenance” operations, which kick in ahead of politically sensitive dates or major events, in a bid to stave off potential threats to the ruling Chinese Communist Party before they can occur.

    One of the first to be targeted was Li Wenzu, the activist wife of prominent rights attorney Wang Quanzhang, who was detained on entering Beijing in recent days, Wang told RFA in an interview on Monday.

    “Li Wenzu got back to Beijing from out of town a few days ago, and was stopped by police at the railway station,” Wang said. “They detained her in the police station on the pretext of checking her ID.”

    “This was because Oct. 1 is a major holiday,” said Wang, in a reference to China’s National Day, which marks the founding of the People’s Republic of China by late supreme leader Mao Zedong on Oct. 1, 1949.

    “She was detained for a few hours, before being picked up by officials from the local government [where we live],” he said. “Li Wenzu has been to Beijing dozens of times in the past and has never been stopped or had her ID checked.”

    “It shows that they’ve stepped up their so-called stability maintenance operations,” Wang said.

    Wang said he was also followed by state security police for 50 kilometers while driving away from Beijing on Sunday.


    RELATED STORIES

    China calls on Hong Kong tycoons to help kickstart national economy

    Property firm cuts off power to home of recently evicted China rights lawyer, family

    China cuts off internet, phones of outspoken journalist Gao Yu


    Independent political commentator Ji Feng, a former student leader of 1989 pro-democracy movement on Tiananmen Square, said he has been barred from entering Beijing.

    “I’m currently in Yanjiao,” Ji said, referring to a town just outside Beijing city limits in the northern province of Hebei. “Beijing is just across the river.”

    But Ji, who once lived in Beijing but was exiled to his hometown in southwestern Guizhou province in June 2023, has been warned off trying to cross the bridge by state security police.

    “They straight up told me I can’t enter Beijing, that no politically sensitive figures are allowed in during sensitive periods,” he said.

    “This year is the 75th Anniversary, which is a medium-importance milestone compared with the major milestones every 10 years,” Ji said.

    000_36HJ72T.jpg
    China’s President Xi Jinping speaks during a National Day reception on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on September 30, 2024.

    While a person familiar with the situation of the Tiananmen Mothers, who campaign for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, said they haven’t been forced to leave the city, the authorities have stepped up monitoring of key activists who already live in the city.

    State security police are on high alert, and one activist told RFA Mandarin they have left the city of their own accord to avoid unwanted surveillance, and plan to return after the National Day celebrations are over.

    Communication blocked

    Meanwhile, a friend of independent political journalist Gao Yu, who has been incommunicado since last month, said police have succeeded in blocking all of her attempts at making phone calls or going online in recent weeks.

    “A well-wisher recently gave Gao Yu a sim card, but when she inserted it into her phone and went to make the first call, the phone was blocked again,” Gao’s friend told Radio Free Asia on Monday. “Gao Yu can’t even make a phone call.”

    “She needs to use the phone to make an appointment with her doctor,” they said.

    Rights activists in Wuhan, Shanghai, Changsha and other parts of China have told RFA Mandarin that they have also been told by local authorities not to go anywhere during the National Day celebrations, and that they will be under close surveillance during the holiday period.

    But a shortage of money means that fewer activists are being taken on supervised, out-of-town “vacations” than in previous years, one activist said.

    Instead, the authorities are stepping up surveillance of people in their own homes to save time and money, they said.

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Joshua Lipes.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China has conducted what it called “routine” naval and air exercises  near the Scarborough Shoal in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, China’s military said.

    The weekend drills were aimed at boosting capabilities in reconnaissance, surveillance, alert patrol, combat readiness and joint strike operations in real combat environments, the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, said.

    “On Sept. 28, the Southern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army organized routine exercises such as reconnaissance and early warning, sea and air patrols in the sea and air near China’s Huangyan island,” the command that’s responsible for the South China Sea said in a statement, referring to the shoal by its Chinese name.

    Scarborough Shoal, known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines, is about 125 nautical miles (232 kilometers) from the main Philippine island of Luzon. China now effectively controls it, even though a landmark international arbitration case in 2016 rejected Beijing’s claims to most of the South China Sea.


    RELATED STORIES

    Philippines says it did not surrender Sabina Shoal to China

    Philippines says 200-plus Chinese vessels have clustered in its EEZ

    Philippines joins US-led allies in multilateral maneuvers in South China Sea


    Also on Saturday, the Philippine military, together with Australian, Japanese, New Zealand and US forces, held joint maritime drills in the disputed waterway, drawing criticism from the PLA’s Southern Command.

    “Some countries outside the region are disrupting the South China Sea and creating regional instability,” the Chinese military said. 

    China has repeatedly said that the U.S., as an outsider, has no say in the South China Sea.

    On Friday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in New York to discuss a variety of issues including ways to reduce tension and avoid conflict in the South China Sea.

    Wang reportedly emphasized that “China insists on resolving differences with countries directly concerned through dialogue and consultation.” 

    Five-nation joint drills

    The joint drills on Saturday, involving navies from the Philippines and the four other nations, also took place in the vicinity of Scarborough Shoal, Philippine officials said.

    Six Philippine warships joined the so-called Multilateral Marine Cooperative Activity, or MMCA, alongside three destroyers from the U.S., Japan and Australia, and a New Zealand replenishment vessel.

    The Philippine military said an anti-submarine helicopter and search and rescue assets from the Philippines also took part in the MMCA, as well as two helicopters from the U.S., and a P-8 Poseidon aircraft and a helicopter from Australia.

    Two Chinese vessels monitored the joint exercise but there was no reported confrontation.

    MMCA.jpeg
    Naval vessels from the Philippines, U.S., Japan, Australia and New Zealand taking part in the Multilateral Marine Cooperative Activity in the South China Sea on Sept. 28, 2024. (Philippine Armed Forces)

    The exercise was “a clear display of our resistance to China’s bullying,” said Philippine Senator Risa Hontiveros.

    “These exercises demonstrate the commitment of the international community to uphold the rules-based order in the entire South China Sea,” she said in a statement, “It shows that we who believe in the rule of law will not tolerate any form of violence, threat, or intimidation.”

    “It has always been clear that it is China who is provoking tensions in the West Philippine Sea — not us — so it is China who must stop her aggression,” Hontiveros said, referring to the part of the South China Sea within the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone.

    An EEZ is typically 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) from a country’s coast and the coastal country has jurisdiction over natural resources in the waters and the seabed. 

    Edited by Mike Firn.

    Jason Gutierrez in Manila contributed to this story.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA and BenarNews Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Leadership rivals Jenrick, Cleverly and Tugendhat reject her comments, as row over her ‘excessive’ claim escalates

    Q: Do you agree with Kemi Badenoch that some cultures are less valid than others?

    Jenrick says culture matters. But he says he disagres with Badenoch on immigration numbers. He says he thinks you have to have a cap on numbers. And he also says he believes the UK has to leave the European convention on human rights. He says Badenoch is just talking about developing a plan in a few years time, and that’s “a recipe for infighting and for losing the public’s trust”.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Read RFA coverage of this story in Uyghur.

    China has launched an investigation into PVH Corp., the U.S. parent company of fashion brands Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, for suspected discriminatory measures by refusing to purchase cotton and other products from its northwestern region of Xinjiang, home to 12 million Uyghurs.

    Analysts said the measure appears to be a retaliatory response by Beijing against companies complying with U.S. laws that ban the import of materials and products from Xinjiang suspected of using Uyghur forced labor.

    “China is attempting to retaliate against U.S. sanctions on Xinjiang region by imposing its own sanctions on companies that follow U.S. sanctions,” said Anders Corr, principal of the New York-based political risk firm Corr Analytics. “It’s a very bad idea.”

    “Beijing is trying to tell Calvin Klein not to follow U.S. law but to follow Chinese law,” he said.

    China’s Ministry of Commerce said Tuesday that PVH Corp. must provide documentation and evidence within 30 days to show it did not engage in discriminatory practices over the past three years.

    “The U.S. PVH Group is suspected of violating normal market trading principles and unreasonably boycotting Xinjiang cotton and other products without factual basis, seriously damaging the legitimate rights and interests of relevant Chinese companies and endangering China’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” the ministry said in a statement.

    Earlier this month, China adopted a resolution condemning a series of U.S. sanctions against the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and providing support for affected companies.

    RELATED STORIES

    China introduces resolution opposing US sanctions on Xinjiang

    Uyghur rights advocates applaud addition of Chinese companies to US blacklist

    Uyghur forced labor bill heads to Biden’s desk after unanimous House, Senate votes

    In response to the measure, Alison Rappaport, PVH’s vice president of external communications, said the company maintains strict compliance with relevant laws and regulations in the countries and regions where it operates. 

    “We are in communication with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and will respond in accordance with the relevant regulations,” she said, without further comment.

    Genocide

    In 2021, the U.S. government declared that China’s repression of Uyghurs and other Muslims in Xinjiang, including mass detentions, the sterilization of women, forced labor and cultural and religious erasure, amounted to genocide and crimes against humanity. Legislatures in several Western countries passed similar declarations.

    To punish China and get it to change its policies, the United States and other countries have banned the import of products from Xinjiang produced by Uyghur labor. About 90% of China’s cotton is produced in Xinjiang, most of which is exported.

    Since June 2022, the U.S. government has blacklisted companies in China that make products linked to forced labor in Xinjiang under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, or UFLPA. 

    The law also authorizes sanctions on foreign individuals and entities found responsible for human rights abuses in the northwestern region. 

    More than 80 companies are now on the entity list

    This May, the U.S. Homeland Security Department added 26 Chinese textile companies to the entity list under the act, restricting them from entering the U.S. market. 

    Consequences

    Henryk Szadziewski, research director at the Uyghur Human Rights Project, said China is using the measure to lash back over criticism of its policies in Xinjiang.

    “This is very much a message to multinational corporations that they should not comply with sanctions and other kinds of bans placed on entities operating in Xinjiang,” he said. “It definitely is a countermeasure to what is being done outside of China.”

    Nevertheless, multinational companies that adhere to U.S. sanctions and exclude forced labor products from their supply chains could face repercussions in China, Szadziewski said.

    “If you do want to operate in China, you really have to operate by their rules and not by the rules of elsewhere,” he said.

    Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcom Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Uyghar for RFA Uyghur.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  •  

    A US circuit court panel appears ready to uphold a federal law that would effectively ban the popular social media network TikTok because it’s owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The legal attacks on the video platform—which FAIR (8/5/20, 5/25/23, 11/13/23, 3/14/24) has written about before—are entering a new phase, in which judicial interpreters of the Constitution are acting as Cold War partisans, threatening to throw out civil liberties in favor of national security alarmism.

    Earlier this year, despite widespread protest (Guardian, 3/7/24), President Joe Biden signed legislation forcing TikTok’s owner “to sell it or face a nationwide prohibition in the United States” (NBC, 4/24/24). Advocates for the ban charge that data collection—which is a function of most social media networks—poses a national security threat because of the platform’s Chinese ownership (Axios, 3/15/24).

    Given that TikTok is a global platform, with 2 billion users worldwide, demands that ByteDance sell it off are in effect another name for a ban; an analogy would be Beijing allowing Facebook to operate in China only if Meta sold the platform to a non-US company.

    ‘Foreign adversary controlled’

    WSJ: TikTok's Bad Free Speech Case

    The Wall Street Journal (9/18/24) stood up for the government’s right to ban speech it doesn’t like, i.e. that of “foreign adversaries.”

    Now TikTok is fighting for its right to remain unbanned in the US court system, taking its case straight to the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals. All three of the judges, two of whom were Republican appointees, questioned TikTok’s plea that free speech was at stake. The discussion suggested that the ban will survive the appeal, and ultimately be decided by the right-wing-stacked Supreme Court.

    The Wall Street Journal, in an editorial (9/18/24) praising the TikTok ban and the judges who appear ready to validate it, said:

    But Congress didn’t restrict speakers on TikTok. What’s really at issue is Chinese control of the app, and TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company. TikTok is welcome to keep operating and its users to keep posting. The law merely says TikTok cannot do so while remaining what Congress calls a “foreign adversary controlled application.”

    The DC Circuit’s panel grasped this distinction. Judge Douglas Ginsburg wanted to know “why this is any different, from a constitutional point of view, than the statute precluding foreign ownership of a broadcasting license?” Good question.

    Ginsburg’s question isn’t as “good” as the Journal thinks it is. Broadcast licenses are finite, as there are only so many FM radio slots in a given geographical location, which requires government management of that limited space. That just isn’t the case with global internet-based media, which have heretofore been accorded the same strong First Amendment protections that pertain to print publications, not the lesser shield granted to broadcast media.

    The editorial went on to quote TikTok’s lawyer saying “‘lots of US speakers,’ including Politico, are owned by foreign entities” prompting Rao to reply, “But not foreign adversaries.” Sri Srinivasan, a third judge on the panel—appointed by Barack Obama, and well-known for his bipartisan appeal (NPR, 5/23/13)—also followed the logic of the “China exception” to free speech, asking whether a Chinese-owned entity should be banned if the US were to go to war with China (Reuters, 9/17/24).

    ‘Skeptical’ of free-speech argument

    Roll Call: Appeals court sounds skeptical of TikTok challenge to potential ban

    “When you have speech in the United States, our history and tradition is we do not suppress that speech because we don’t like those ideas,” a lawyer for TikTok argued (Roll Call, 9/16/24).

    Few other outlets outright agreed with the judges, but many reported that the judges were “skeptical” or showed “skepticism” of the free-speech argument (NBC, 9/16/24; Washington Post, 9/16/24; Roll Call, 9/16/24), while Politico (9/16/24) and the New York Post (9/16/24) said the judges “grilled” the app’s lawyer.

    The leaders of the ominously titled House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party filed an amicus brief (8/2/24) with the appeals court, saying the law does “not regulate speech or require any social media company to stop operating in the United States,” because it is “focused entirely on the regulation of foreign adversary control.”

    This, right here, is key. China is officially designated as an “adversary,” along with Iran and Cuba, despite the fact that China and the US have formal diplomatic relations and do billions of dollars in trade. The suggestion is that US citizens can and should be denied access to news and views that are tied to so-called adversary countries.

    Iran’s Press TV is no objective media outlet by any measure, but would be important viewing for anyone who wants to further understand the Middle East, the same way one might explore Israel’s Haaretz or Qatar-based Al Jazeera. Its website is currently operational, but in 2021 the US government seized “33 Iranian government-affiliated media websites,” including that of Press TV (Al Jazeera, 6/23/21).

    FAIR (8/5/20) has raised the concern that if TikTok is banned because of its Chinese affiliation, then Chinese newspapers and broadcasters, which many people rely on to inform themselves of the Chinese government perspective, could also be censored. These outlets have been feeling federal heat ever since the US State Department, in a move reminiscent of the Cold War against the Soviet Union, forced Chinese state media outlets to register as foreign agents (ABC, 2/18/20; FAIR.org, 2/28/22).

    Unpopular censorship

    Pew: Support for a U.S. TikTok ban continues to decline, and half of adults doubt it will happen

    Support for banning TikTok has fallen from 50% in March 2023 to 32% in July/August 2024 (Pew, 9/5/24).

    Unsurprisingly, the potential ban of the fourth-most popular social media platform in the US is unpopular with the public. Pew Research (9/5/24) reported: “The share of Americans who support the US government banning TikTok now stands at 32%. That’s down from 38% in fall 2023 and 50% in March 2023.”

    That’s not surprising given that users say a ban “would hurt countless people and businesses that rely on TikTok for a significant portion of their income,” according to AP (3/16/24). “TikTok has become an unrivaled platform for dialogue and community.”

    Many Americans are turning to the network for news (Bloomberg, 9/17/24). And TikTok has also been cited for being an important communications tool for labor unions (Vice, 5/7/21; Wired, 4/20/22; Fortune, 9/1/22) and other progressive causes (Politico, 3/27/22; Nation, 1/25/23).  It is easy for some people to disregard the platform as a space for silly videos and memes made purely for entertainment, but clearly it has much more social utility than the scoffers realize.

    TikTok (3/21/23) claims 150 million users in the United States; its users are disproportionately young, female, Black and Latine (Pew, 1/31/24). Pulling the plug on such an operation would be as disruptive as suspending postal operations—which, of course, is also on the conservative agenda (New Yorker, 5/2/20).

    ‘Demanding legal scrutiny’

    EFF: Government Has Extremely Heavy Burden to Justify TikTok Ban, EFF Tells Appeals Court

    “Millions of Americans use TikTok every day to share and receive ideas, information, opinions and entertainment from other users around the world, and that’s squarely within the protections of the First Amendment,” noted EFF (6/27/24).

    The Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a press release (6/27/24) that its amicus brief, which was joined by other media freedom groups, addressed the First Amendment concerns of the law:

    ​​The amicus brief says the Court must review the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act—passed by Congress and signed by President Biden in April—with the most demanding legal scrutiny, because it imposes a prior restraint that would make it impossible for users to speak, access information and associate through TikTok. It also directly restricts protected speech and association, and deliberately singles out a particular medium for a blanket prohibition. This demanding First Amendment test must be used even when the government asserts national security concerns.

    The argument in favor of this law boils down to McCarthyite anti-China xenophobia: America’s most sacred liberty must be abandoned out of fear of the Red Menace. The paranoia manifests in other ways, too: State governments, mostly those controlled by Republicans, are enacting laws against land ownership by Chinese citizens (Politico, 4/3/24).

    The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would authorize “more than $1.6 billion for the State Department and USAID over the next five years,” part of which would “subsidize media and civil society sources around the world that counter Chinese ‘malign influence’ globally,” reported Responsible Statecraft (9/11/24). The outlet added, “It’s possible that the program could in some cases be used to subsidize covert anti-Chinese messaging,” reminiscent of “the way Russia is accused of covertly funding anti-Ukrainian messaging by US media influencers.”

    Spies don’t need TikTok

    CPR: Is TikTok a National Security Threat?

    TikTok is directly owned by TikTok Inc., a US-based company that is ultimately owned by ByteDance, a company incorporated by Chinese investors in the Cayman Islands. As Chicago Policy Review (7/26/24) noted, “If the CCP wanted TikTok to steal Americans’ data, it would not have chosen this corporate structure that is designed to insulate TikTok from Chinese influence.”

    Even Washington Post columnist George Will (5/15/24), one of the loudest conservative voices in US media, framed the “national security” issue with TikTok as a weak and vague excuse to subvert free speech. “Respect for the First Amendment has collapsed, and government has a propensity for claiming that every novel exercise of power legitimates the next extension of its pretensions,” he said. “TikTok will not be the last target of government’s desire to control the internet and the rest of society’s information and opinion ecosystem.”

    And the “national security” concerns of the US government (Bloomberg, 7/27/24) don’t hold water. The Citizen Lab, published by the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, issued a report (3/22/21) on both TikTok and another ByteDance app, Douyin. The report found that both apps “do not appear to exhibit overtly malicious behavior similar to those exhibited by malware.” Researchers did not “observe either app collecting contact lists, recording and sending photos, audio, videos or geolocation coordinates without user permission.”

    More recently, the Chicago Policy Review (7/26/24), published by the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, found that the corporate structure of ByteDance does not indicate that China’s Communist Party has firm control on day-to-day operations as the US government contends. Further, it argued that party or government control of TikTok would have little value for Beijing:

    First, China has little incentive to spy on ordinary Americans, since most data has no national security relevance. Second, the Chinese Communist Party does not need to subjugate TikTok to spy on the social media of powerful Americans. Chinese state intelligence can obtain valuable information by monitoring users’ behavior and posts on TikTok and other social media applications. Banning TikTok would not solve the problem of foreign intelligence agencies gathering social media data.

    At the same time, Republicans pretend to care about free speech in social media when it comes to claims that Facebook is icing out conservative voices (New York Post, 9/16/24), decrying fact-checking and content moderation by a private entity as censorship. Those sanctimonious appeals to constitutional liberty ring hollow when all the branches of government are working to destroy an entire network.

    This post was originally published on FAIR.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Read RFA coverage of this story in Cantonese.

    The ruling Chinese Communist Party has called on Hong Kong’s leader to mobilize the city’s wealthiest families into kick-starting economic growth, although signs that any are answering the call have been thin on the ground.

    Xia Baolong, who heads the ruling party’s Hong Kong and Macao Work Office, “expressed the hope that all sectors of Hong Kong society, especially the business community and entrepreneurs, will unite as one and seize the opportunity to strive for economic development,” the city’s Chief Executive John Lee told reporters following a Sept. 20 meeting with Xia, as he attended an investment cooperation conference in Beijing.

    Hong Kong’s business community should “transform their love for their country and for Hong Kong into concrete and practical action, and work together to promote Hong Kong’s … prosperity,” Xia told Lee during the meeting.

    Xia’s call to action echoes recent policy moves from Beijing to find a role for the private sector in boosting flagging economic growth, under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s concept of “public-private partnerships,” which analysts have warned could be a disguised asset grab by the government.

    It also comes after Xi wrote to the descendants of the “Ningbo Gang” – wealthy Hong Kong families with roots in the eastern port city of Ningbo – in July, calling on them to “contribute to the dream of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” state media reported.

    Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (L) meets with Yin Li (R), secretary of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, in Beijing, China , Sept. 20, 2024. (info.gov.hk)
    Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (L) meets with Yin Li (R), secretary of the Communist Party of China Beijing Municipal Committee, in Beijing, China , Sept. 20, 2024. (info.gov.hk)

    They included Anna Pao, eldest daughter of the late shipping magnate Sir Pao Yue-kong, and Ronald Chao, eldest son of the late industrialist Chao Kuang-piu, families whose business operations formed the backbone of much of Hong Kong’s growth under British colonial rule.

    Lee said the private sector in Hong Kong “are not bystanders, but participants, contributors and beneficiaries” of the city’s economic rewards.

    ‘Serve the country’

    But commentators said there hasn’t exactly been a big rush to respond to Beijing’s call for investments on the part of Hong Kong’s entrepreneurs.

    The city’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, has instead been stepping up his investments in the United Kingdom, with his CK Infrastructure Holdings acquiring a wind farm portfolio in from Aviva Investors for £350 million (US$450 million) in August, renewable power generator UU Solar for £90.8 million (US$122 million) in May, and natural gas distributor Phoenix Energy in April.

    Exiled Hong Kong businessman Elmer Yuen, whose family hails from Ningbo, said Beijing has repeatedly called on Hong Kong’s tycoons to “serve the country.”

    But he said there is unlikely to be much response, given that few business families from Ningbo and Shanghai trust the Chinese Communist Party.

    “You can lump all of us together, us Shanghainese, most of whom are from Ningbo, and say that we have absolutely zero trust in the Chinese Communist Party,” Yuen said. 

    “Maybe a small number of people will invest, but the rest already know who they’re dealing with.”

    Kevin Yeung, Hong Kong's secretary for culture, sports and tourism, gives a speech at a ceremony in Dujiangyan, southwest China's Sichuan province, to see off two giant pandas, An An and Ke Ke, headed to Honk Kong, Sept. 25, 2024.  (info.gov.hk)
    Kevin Yeung, Hong Kong’s secretary for culture, sports and tourism, gives a speech at a ceremony in Dujiangyan, southwest China’s Sichuan province, to see off two giant pandas, An An and Ke Ke, headed to Honk Kong, Sept. 25, 2024. (info.gov.hk)

    According to Xia Ming, professor of political science at the City University of New York, Lee is being tasked by Beijing to step up integration with neighboring Guangdong province and Macau, and provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the sluggish Chinese economy.

    “Policy in today’s Hong Kong is clearly about how to perfectly integrate Hong Kong into what Xi Jinping calls the China rejuvenation strategy, which is basically about controlling the economy,” Xia told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview. “[Lee’s aim] is to more perfectly integrate Hong Kong into China’s accelerated regression.”

    Xia said the overall aim is to integrate Hong Kong into the mainland Chinese economy and “ultimately sell Hong Kong off to Beijing and to Xi Jinping.”

    “The goal of Xi Jinping’s reforms is not that mainland China will become more like Hong Kong, but that Hong Kong will become more like Yan’an,” he said in a reference to the revolutionary wartime base of Mao Zedong’s communists.

    Stimulus measures

    The call for investments came as Chinese leaders announced a slew of stimulus measures to boost demand for real estate, including lower mortgage rates, fewer restrictions on buyers and tax cuts as part of “a new model” for real estate development.

    On Tuesday, China’s central bank, top securities regulator and financial regulator announced a raft of monetary stimulus, property market support and capital market strengthening measures to boost “high-quality economic development,” state news agency Xinhua reported.

    The top economic meeting, attended by Xi, also called on officials to “foster a favorable environment for the development of the non-public sector,” with efforts made to boost consumption among low- and middle-income groups.

    The pair of giant pandas gifted by the Chinese government to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China arrive safely in Hong Kong, Sept. 25, 2024. (info.gov.hk)
    The pair of giant pandas gifted by the Chinese government to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China arrive safely in Hong Kong, Sept. 25, 2024. (info.gov.hk)

    China has also extended a helping hand to Hong Kong in the form of pandas, with a ceremony at the Hong Kong International Airport on Thursday to welcome An An and Ke Ke, described by Lee as “just entering adulthood and full of energy” and likely to be a successful draw for tourists.

    The giant pandas will live in a newly refurbished suite at the Ocean Park theme park complete with climbing frames and more plants.

    “Citizens will join in welcoming the two giant pandas to Hong Kong, and the whole city is looking forward to it,” Lee told reporters on Tuesday, adding that images of the pandas will be added to the Oct. 1 National Day drone and light show over Victoria Harbour.

    Hong Kong is expecting an influx of up to 1.2 million mainland Chinese tourists to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Lee said.

    “We hope that everyone can celebrate the 75th anniversary of National Day together, and also bring in many business activities to increase business and tourism revenues,” he said.

    Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Ng Chi Ping for RFA Cantonese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • UK TV Producer Collaborated In Chinese Regime Deception On Tibet

    Original Image China Daily – Info Additions @tibettruth

    The Chinese regime invests a lot of effort and resources on its propaganda and disinformation campaigns, especially in regard to Tibet!It wants you to believe that Tibetans are happy and prosperous; that as a consequence of China, life in Tibet is a marvel of economic growth, its people contented and culture flourishing.

    However the world is very aware of China’s record in Tibet, the denial of basic freedoms, human rights violations, mass-surveillance and eradication of Tibetan culture. As a consequence there’s understandable cynicism regarding claims made by the Chinese authorities.

    This is why China places vital importance on the concept of the ‘independent’ observer, a non-Chinese visitor to endorse, affirm and bear witness that all is well in Tibet and its people. In its latest deception a number of Gen Z guests were invited by various Chinese Embassies to take part in a visit to Lhasa and Nyingtri, in U-Tsang and Kongpo regions respectively.

    The four day trip, which took place September 24 to 27, was a staged and cynical illusion which involved a visit to an empty Potala Palace, attendance at an opera; the story of which is a Chinese political re-write of Tibetan history and a trip to a local school. No doubt the children were all super happy to inform their guests what a splendid ‘education’ they were receiving!

    Among those who took part in this clear disinformation exercise was Ms Mimi Templar-Gay an English television producer and director. She is reported, by no less than the China Daily, as regarding the trip as ‘amazing’.

    What ‘s truly is extraordinary however is that people can be so gullible, or wish to actively collaborate in a clear propaganda exercise, designed to conceal the oppression and suffering of Tibetans!

    This post was originally published on Digital Activism In Support Of Tibetan Independence.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Japan Ministry of Defense (JMOD) intends to revamp the space domain capabilities of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) by constructing a new 323.2 billion-yen (approx. 2.2 billion USD) ‘satellite constellation’ capable of tracking multiple suspicious targets in real time, according to local news reports citing insiders familiar with the matter. JMOD is also expected […]

    The post Japan’s Defense Ministry Aims to Boost Space Defense Funding for Fiscal 2025 appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • The Japan Ministry of Defense (JMOD) intends to revamp the space domain capabilities of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) by constructing a new 323.2 billion-yen (approx. 2.2 billion USD) ‘satellite constellation’ capable of tracking multiple suspicious targets in real time, according to local news reports citing insiders familiar with the matter. JMOD is also expected […]

    The post Japan’s Defense Ministry Aims to Boost Space Defense Funding for Fiscal 2025 appeared first on Asian Military Review.

    This post was originally published on Asian Military Review.

  • The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council called on China on Tuesday to implement recommendations made by the U.N.’s human rights office in a two-year-old report issued and to release Uyghurs and others unjustly detained in Xinjiang. 

    American diplomat Michèle Taylor also demanded that China clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing family members and facilitate safe contact and reunion during a speech at the current Human Rights Council session in Geneva, which runs from Sept. 9 to Oct. 11.

    Taylor read the joint statement on behalf of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States – all members of the Core Group on Xinjiang.

    In September 2022, the U.S. and Norway cosponsored a proposal that the Human Rights Council hold a debate on the situation of human rights in Xinjiang, home to roughly 12 million Uyghurs, as a follow-up to a report issued that August by the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights, or OHCHR.

    The 46-page report by then-U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said “serious human rights violations” had been committed in Xinjiang in the context of the Chinese government’s application of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism strategies, and that repression of the Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities there “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.”  

    But China and its allies on the 47-member Council defeated the proposal in a 19-17 vote, with 11 abstentions.

    “Over the past two years, China has had many opportunities to meaningfully address these well-founded concerns,” Taylor said. 

    “We regret that China has denied the impartial and objective findings and rejected the recommendations of the OHCHR’s assessment,” she said.


    RELATED STORIES

    UN rights chief calls on China to protect human rights in Tibet and Xinjiang

    China ‘gamed’ UN human rights review, experts say

    51 nations blast China over violating Uyghurs’ rights

    UN human rights chief issues damning report on Chinese abuses in Xinjiang


    Earlier this year during China’s Universal Periodic Review – a human rights record review by U.N. member states that occurs every five years – “China rejected many legitimate concerns and dismissively labeled the OHCHR’s assessment ‘completely illegal and void,’” Taylor said.

    EU’s statement

    Rushan Abbas, executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, praised the Core Group’s statement because it  highlighted “the undeniable atrocities” of arbitrary detention, forced labor and cultural erasure occurring in Xinjiang, as documented by the OHCHR.

    “The way the CCP exerts influence in the U.N. is to bury the ongoing genocide, and these findings are deeply troubling,” she told Radio Free Asia, referring to the Chinese Communist Party. “Every day of inaction only prolongs the suffering of Uyghur families.”

    “It is essential that the U.N. strengthens its efforts to hold China accountable,” Abbas said.

    Rushan Abbas, executive director of  Campaign for Uyghurs, holds a photo of her sister, Gulshan Abbas, who is imprisoned in Xinjiang, during a rally in New York, March 22, 2021. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP)
    Rushan Abbas, executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, holds a photo of her sister, Gulshan Abbas, who is imprisoned in Xinjiang, during a rally in New York, March 22, 2021. (Timothy A. Clary/AFP)

    The U.S.’s statement, along with another by the European Union, coincided with this week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York.  

    The EU’s delegation to the U.N. Human Rights Council expressed concern over China’s mistreatment of Uyghurs on Tuesday in Geneva, including political re-education camps, mass detentions, widespread surveillance, the use of forced labor, and sexual and gender-based violence in Xinjiang.

    “Numerous reports by U.N. treaty bodies and special rapporteurs, and in particular OHCHR’s assessment report on human rights in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, confirm that the human rights situation requires the urgent attention of the government of China, U.N. bodies and the human rights system,” the delegation said.

    It also noted that the human rights situation in neighboring Tibet “continues to be dire” with compulsory boarding schools for Tibetan children and DNA sampling, and said the EU would closely monitor the safeguarding of the fundamental freedoms, cultural heritage and identity of Tibetans.

    The delegation called on China to provide bilingual education in Tibetan and Chinese at all levels of instruction. 

    “The EU continues to urge China to abide by its obligations under national law, including its own Constitution, and international law, to respect, protect and fulfill the rule of law and human rights for all, including Uyghurs, Tibetans and other persons belonging to national or ethnic, linguistic, religious or other groups and minorities across China,” the delegation said. 

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian speaks during a press conference in Beijing, China, March 20, 2024. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)
    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian speaks during a press conference in Beijing, China, March 20, 2024. (Tingshu Wang/Reuters)

    At a regular press conference on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Lin Jian noted that Cuba delivered a joint statement on behalf of nearly 80 countries at the Human Rights Council session in Geneva “in response to the attacks and smears on China’s human rights situation by the U.S. and a handful of countries.”

    “They stressed that issues related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Xizang are China’s internal affairs,” he said, using the Chinese government’s word for Tibet.

    “They spoke against the politicization of human rights issues, the application of double standards and interference in other countries’ internal affairs in the name of human rights,” Lin said.  

    Edited by Matt Reed.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Alim Seytoff for RFA Uyghur and Roseanne Gerin for RFA English.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • The Chinese military said that it successfully launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, its first such test in more than 40 years.

    ICBMs are primarily designed to carry nuclear warheads and China’s latest generation ICBM – Dongfeng-41 (DF-41) – has an operational range of between 12,000 kilometers and 15,000 kilometers (7,500- 9,300 miles), which means it can reach the U.S. mainland.

    China’s defense ministry said in a statement that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force successfully launched an ICBM carrying a training simulated warhead into the high seas of the Pacific Ocean early on Wednesday.

    “It accurately landed in the designated sea area,” the ministry said.

    It was not clear what type of ICBM was tested.

    The ministry said that the launch was a routine arrangement of the force’s annual military training, “in line with international law and international practice, and is not aimed at any specific country or target.”

    China’s first publicly known ICBM test launch was in May 1980 when it fired at least two missiles into the South Pacific as a gesture of deterrence to the Soviet Union but since then the PLA has not announced any further test.

    In its 2023 China Military Power report, the Pentagon said that China had completed construction on at least 300 ICBM silos in 2022. It also said that as of May 2023, it had more than 500 operational nuclear warheads, and that number would likely grow to more than 1,000 by 2030.


    RELATED STORIES

    US, China rebuild military contacts even as China wants on Taiwan

    Chinese defense minister denounces ‘outside forces’ at security forum

    Analysts: US missile deployment expected to assist Philippines’ defense


    China’s Xinhua News Agency said relevant countries had been notified about Wednesday’s test launch in advance but it did not elaborate.

    Taiwan’s ministry of national defense said it had recorded “intensive” Chinese missile firing activities but did not provide further details.

    This month, China’s neighbor North Korea has also conducted several short-range ballistic missiles.

    Meanwhile, Beijing has protested against the deployment of U.S. Mid-Range Capability missile system Typhon in the Philippines since April, saying it undermined peace and stability in the region.

    Edited by RFA Staff.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.


  • This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • China has responded angrily to comments by U.S. President Joe Biden, at a weekend summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, about Chinese aggression, saying the grouping was a U.S. tool to ensure its hegemony.

    Leaders of the so-called Quad, which groups the United States, Australia, India and Japan, met on Saturday in Delaware, Biden’s home state on Saturday. 

    During their talks the U.S. president made comments that were transmitted by a microphone he did not realize was on, a so-called hot mic incident, saying: “China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region. It’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits.”

    A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, asked about the comments at a media briefing in Beijing on Monday, said the grouping was “a tool the U.S. uses to contain China and perpetuate U.S. hegemony.”

    Spokesman Lin Jian said the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy was essentially an attempt “to patch up forces to exclude and contain China.”

     “Though the U.S. claims that it does not target China, the first topic of the summit is about China and China was made an issue throughout the event,” Lin said, adding: “the U.S. is lying through its teeth” and Washington needed to “get rid of its obsession with perpetuating its supremacy and containing China.”


    RELATED STORIES

    Quad foreign ministers meet in Tokyo to discuss regional security

    Australia, India, Japan and US end ‘Quad’ summit with eyes on China

    U.S. not seeking to create ‘Asian NATO,’ defense secretary says


    The Quad was established in 2007 but Australia withdrew in 2008. It was re-established in 2017 and was immediately denounced by Beijing as a U.S. effort to gang up to create “an Asian NATO.”

    U.S. and other Quad officials have repeatedly denied that they are attempting to form a defense alliance in the region to counter China.

    ‘Lack of significant decisions’

    The Quad summit’s 5,600-word final statement did not mention China by name but said that Quad members “are seriously concerned about the situation in the East and South China Seas.”

    “We continue to express our serious concern about the militarization of disputed features, and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea,” the group said. 

    “We condemn the dangerous use of coast guard and maritime militia vessels, including increasing use of dangerous maneuvers,” it said, without mentioning any other countries. 

    Chinese coast guard.JPG
    Chinese Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel Unaizah May 4 on its way to a resupply mission at Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, March 5, 2024. (Reuters/Adrian Portugal)

    The statement underscored that the 2016 Arbitral Award, which rejected all China’s claims in the South China Sea, should be the basis for peacefully resolving maritime disputes.

    Yet on the issue of maritime security, Quad members only agreed to launch a first Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission between coast guards in 2025 “to improve interoperability and advance maritime safety,” without releasing further details.

    “There weren’t any really significant decisions made,” said Malcolm Davis, a senior defense analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI. 

    “I suspect given that this is the last ones for Joe Biden and Kishida Fumio – with a U.S. presidential election fast approaching – and with an Australian election occurring by May next year – they decided to ‘mark time’ for this one.”

    “So, a missed opportunity to set a firm stance going into 2025, with a potential return of Trump, and an uncertain situation in Japan in terms of likely replacement for Kishida,” the analyst added.

    ‘Quad has to step up’

    Stephen Nagy, a Tokyo-based professor of politics and international studies agreed that the group had likely avoided making commitments that new leaders might question.

     “With President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida departing soon, I suspect the Quad statement was focused on presenting a broad vision rather than concrete initiatives that incoming leaders may not agree to,” said Nagy. 

    The Quad‘s function had “evolved significantly away from being a security provider to a public good provider and regional problem solver, and this explains the lack of concrete details as to how to deal with China’s assertive behavior in the South and East China Seas,” added Nagy.

    The summit’s final statement reaffirmed that “the Quad is here to stay” and that the U.S. would host the next Quad foreign ministers’ meeting in 2025 while the next Quad Leaders’ Summit would take place in India, also in 2025. 

    “I definitely think that the Quad has to step up and become a more powerful and visible group – and that means it needs to start dealing more decisively on defense and security matters, rather than avoiding them,” said ASPI’s Davis.

    “It shouldn’t be an ‘Asian NATO’ per se, but it does need to do more than low-level diplomatic decisions,” he said.

    “China will continue to treat the Quad with contempt if the group doesn’t take on a more visible role, and the group will lose influence.”

    There have reportedly been some proposals to expand the grouping’s dialogue mechanism to Quad Plus to attract wider support but Nagy said the Quad was “designed as a foursome to maximize the decision making process.”

    “Adding more members would slow down decisions and potentially lead it down the road of the tyranny of multilateralism,” he argued, “But ad hoc, functional cooperation with other nations in a Quad Plus format may be possible.”

    Edited by Mike Firn.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Staff.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.