Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, from which many workers have fled, now under seven-day Covid lockdown
Chinese authorities have announced a seven-day coronavirus lockdown in the area around the world’s largest iPhone factory, stoking concern that production will be severely curtailed ahead of the Christmas period.
Foxconn’s plant in Zhengzhou, which employs about 200,000 people, produces the majority of Apple’s new phones, including the new iPhone 14.
Continue reading...Residents claim Zhengzhou authorities are trying to avoid scrutiny of Covid lockdown’s severity
Authorities in Zhengzhou have been accused of “performative lockdown lifting” after they partially lifted restrictions amid growing pressure from residents and the reported arrival of state media.
An almost month-long lockdown in the Chinese city of about 12 million people had prompted complaints of arduous conditions, sometimes violent enforcement, inadequate medical care, and worsening mental health. But a sudden decision to ease restrictions on Tuesday was greeted by some residents with scepticism and anger.
Continue reading...Apple supplier Foxconn raises daily bonuses to $55 to ease discontent after strict Covid measures prompted some workers to flee the site
Apple supplier Foxconn said it has quadrupled bonuses on offer for workers at its Zhengzhou plant in central China as it seeks to quell discontent over Covid curbs and retain staff at the giant iPhone manufacturing site.
Daily bonuses for employees, who are part of a Foxconn unit responsible for making electronics including smartphones at the site, have been raised to 400 yuan ($55) a day for November from 100 yuan, according to the official WeChat account of Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant.
Continue reading...Videos appear to show guests rushing to locked gates as strict Covid restrictions return across China
Visitors to Shanghai’s Disney resort were trapped inside for the second time in 12 months after authorities and operators announced a sudden lockdown as part of China’s strict pandemic response.
In a repeat of scenes from across Covid-zero China, viral videos on Monday appeared to show guests rushing to the locked gates of the theme park in an attempt to escape the lockdown. It followed extraordinary scenes on the weekend, with a mass escape of employees from a locked-down Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, to walk up to hundreds of kilometres to their hometowns.
Continue reading...Mark Spencer spoke of possibility ‘some little man in China’ could be listening in to his conversations
A UK government minister has been criticised for using a “crass and archaic” trope when talking about Chinese people during a broadcast interview.
The environment minister Mark Spencer referred to the possibility that “some little man in China” could be listening in to his conversations when discussing reports a device belonging to the former prime minister and foreign secretary Liz Truss had been compromised by foreign agents.
Continue reading...Cities near Foxconn plant draw up plans to isolate migrant workers who are returning to home towns
Cities in central China have hastily drawn up plans to isolate migrant workers fleeing to their home towns from the country’s largest iPhone factory, amid fears they will spread coronavirus after leaving the plant in Covid-hit Zhengzhou.
Videos shared on Chinese social media showed people who are allegedly workers at the Foxconn plant climbing over fences and carrying their belongings along a road. It was previously reported that a number of workers had been placed under quarantine because of an outbreak of the disease.
Continue reading...Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map charts thousands of projects and activities from 67 donor entities, including Australia and the US
China is funnelling aid to Kiribati and Solomon Islands, while its overall spending in the Pacific region is in decline, the latest Pacific Aid Map reveals.
The Lowy Institute on Monday released its 2022 updated version of the map, an interactive analytical tool that enables users to track aid flow and development funding in the Pacific.
Continue reading...Incident has split China watchers with some saying former leader was unwell and others it was political purge by Xi Jinping
After eight days of China’s most important political meeting, in which the autocratic leader Xi Jinping’s precedent-breaking third term was confirmed, belligerent foreign policy reaffirmed, and the leader of the world’s largest population and second-largest economy announced through the next five years, one question was on everyone’s lips: what on earth happened to Hu Jintao and where is he now?
The drama happened on Saturday morning. In a short window between foreign media being allowed into Beijing’s Great Hall and the start of the final public meeting of the 20th party congress, the former Chinese leader Hu was physically removed from his seat next to his successor, Xi, and out of the Great Hall of the People.
Continue reading...RCMP looking into ‘reports of criminal activity’ surrounding facilities allegedly used to pressure Chinese nationals abroad
Canada’s federal police force is investigating reports that clandestine Chinese “police stations” are operating in Toronto amid reports of a global network used to target overseas dissidents.
The Royal Canada Mounted Police said it was investigating “reports of criminal activity in relation to the so-called ‘police’ stations” but did not specify the location of the sites.
Continue reading...Disagreements have opened up about strategy when China is also seen as an existential threat
Western powers in the G7 group of nations are failing to coordinate their China strategies, senior western officials admit, adding that the need to do so has been given sharp impetus by Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power at this month’s Communist party congress.
The G7’s poor coordination reflects a deep disagreement, also reflected within the EU, about whether dialogue and trade with China have a future if Beijing is seen as an existential threat that requires strict strategic controls on economic ties.
Continue reading...More than 800,000 people locked down in site of world’s first Covid outbreak in 2019, as other Chinese cities seal up streets and homes
Chinese cities from Wuhan in central China to Xining in the north-west are doubling down on Covid-19 curbs, sealing up buildings, locking down districts and throwing millions into distress in a scramble to halt widening outbreaks.
China on Thursday reported a third straight day of more than 1,000 new Covid cases nationwide, a modest tally compared with the tens of thousands a day that sent Shanghai into a full-blown lockdown earlier this year but enough to trigger more curbs and restrictions across the country.
Continue reading...Dutch government investigating ‘undeclared’ stations in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, claimed to be part of global network
The Dutch government has said it is investigating reports that Chinese police forces have illegally opened at least two stations in the Netherlands since 2018, using them in part to keep tabs and put pressure on overseas dissidents.
An investigation by RTL Nieuws and Follow the Money said the “overseas service stations” in Amsterdam and Rotterdam ostensibly served an administrative purpose, allowing Chinese nationals to renew driving licences and change their civil status.
Continue reading...US president and new British PM reaffirm ‘special relationship’ after Sunak becomes Britain’s third leader in 2022
The US president, Joe Biden, and Britain’s new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, agreed during talks on Tuesday to work together to support Ukraine and stand up to China, the White House said.
They spoke for the first time a few hours after Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister this year, inheriting an economic crisis after the resignation of Liz Truss whose tenure lasted 49 days.
Continue reading...Footage shows former Chinese president involved in apparent disagreement over documents
China’s former leader Hu Jintao was arguing about official papers, moments before he was escorted off the stage at a key Communist party meeting in Beijing, new footage shows.
Hu’s apparently reluctant departure from the stage at the 20th congress of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) was a rare moment of unscripted drama at what was otherwise a carefully choreographed week of political theatre.
Continue reading...Observers wonder whether there is anyone left in CCP to stop Chinese president making a rash move
Xi Jinping’s purging of political rivals and elevation of loyalists to the top ranks of the Chinese Communist party has raised fears that his now unfettered and unquestionable power could increase the risk of an attack on Taiwan.
Beijing has pledged to annex Taiwan under a disputed claim that it is a Chinese province, and in recent years has increased its military activity and other forms of harassment and coercion. No timeline has been set, but senior defence figures have said China could be capable of invasion as early as 2027. Others point to Xi’s pledge of “national rejuvenation” by 2047 – the centenary of the People’s Republic of China – as a potential goal.
Continue reading...Republican senator Ted Cruz was a vociferous objector to the 2020 election, but ended up hiding in a supply closet when insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on January 6, as Ramon Antonio Vargas reports:
As a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol during the January 6 attack in a desperate attempt to keep him in the Oval Office, Ted Cruz hid in a closet next to a stack of chairs, but he never thought twice about continuing to sow doubt about the former president’s electoral defeat, the Republican senator from Texas has revealed.
Tight Senate margins and a Democratic president would make it impossible for GOP leaders to deliver on the party’s most hardline fiscal wishes, at least with President Joe Biden still in office. The disappointment would surely prompt blowback from right-leaning Republicans already known as the sharpest thorns in the party’s side.
“Spare me if you’re a Republican who puts on your frigging campaign website, ‘Trust me, I will vote for a balanced budget amendment, and I believe we should balance the budget like every family in America.’ No shit,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a member of the pro-Trump Freedom Caucus, said in an interview.
Continue reading...Pair allegedly tried to bribe top US official as attorney general says DoJ ‘will not tolerate attempts to undermine the rule of law’
Two Chinese intelligence officers tried to bribe a US law enforcement official as part of an effort to obtain inside information about a criminal case against the Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment unsealed on Monday.
The announcement of charges against the two alleged agents came as attorney general Merrick Garland detailed two other cases in which Chinese intelligence operatives harassed dissidents inside the United States and pressured US academics to work for them.
Continue reading...YouGov survey finds people in Australia more likely to favour sending troops than people in Japan and US
Almost half of Australians believe the country should send troops to help defend Taiwan against China if required, a much higher percentage of the population than in the US or Japan, a new survey suggests.
About a third of the public in the US and Japan agreed with sending military forces to respond to such a crisis, according to polling commissioned by the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
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Continue reading...Xi unveiled as general secretary of ruling Communist Party, tilting China back towards one-man rule after decades of power-sharing among elite
Xi Jinping has been confirmed as leader of China for a precedent-breaking third term, after a week-long political meeting eliminated key rivals and strengthened his political power.
The 20th Party Congress, the most important meeting of the ruling Chinese Communist party five-year political cycle, saw about 2,400 delegates gather in Beijing to rubber-stamp major reshuffles and constitutional changes before its official close on Saturday.
Continue reading...Survey finds pro-China sentiment has collapsed in many nations while positive opinion of US has rebounded
China’s reputation has deteriorated rapidly over the last four years, particularly in the west, and a large share of global opinion would back some form of international help for Taiwan if Beijing tries to take the island by force, according to a survey.
It comes as Xi Jinping warned of “dangerous storms” on the horizon as he was confirmed on Sunday as Chinese leader for a precedent-breaking third term, and as Washington warns that Beijing is accelerating plans to annex the island.
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