Category Archives: China

China’s factory activity in shock slowdown as energy crisis hits home

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Output, orders and employment all fell in September, according to official data, as Beijing turns to Russia to ease its electricity shortages


China’s factory activity has shrunk unexpectedly amid curbs on electricity use and rising prices for commodities and parts, raising more concerns about the state of the world’s second biggest economy.

A closely watched survey released on Thursday showed that China’s factory activity contracted in September for the first time since the pandemic took a grip in February 2020.

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Meng and the Michaels: why China’s embrace of hostage diplomacy is a warning to other nations

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Analysis: Beijing’s increasingly hardline approach sends a chilling message

The release of two Canadian hostages by China has ended a lengthy feud between the two countries, but experts caution the saga foreshadows a deepening rift between the two nations.

After facing charges of espionage and spending more than 1,000 days in detention, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were set free by Chinese authorities late last week. Accompanied by Canada’s ambassador to China, the pair arrived home early on Saturday morning.

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How bad is China’s energy crisis?

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Country is implementing power rationing as supplies dwindle due to price raise of imported coal

The situation is widespread. In recent days, factories in 20 of China’s 31 provinces have suffered a loss of power, forcing many to shut down production, at least for hours at a time. Millions of households in the north-east of the country have also lost power and found that they cannot use electricity to heat or light their homes.

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China hit by power cuts and factory closures as energy crisis bites

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The world’s top coal consumer implements power rationing as supplies dwindle ahead of winter

China has told railway companies and local authorities to expedite vital coal supplies to utilities as the world’s second largest economy grapples with extensive power cuts that have crippled industrial output in key regions.

As many as 20 provinces are believed to be experiencing the crisis to some degree, with factories temporarily shuttered or working on short hours. Shopkeepers were left to light their stores by candles, and there were reports of mobile networks failing after a three-day outage hit three north-eastern provinces.

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Abortion pledge adds to scepticism over women’s rights in China

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Analysis: plan to reduce abortions as birthrates plunge draws comparisons to The Handmaid’s Tale

Far-reaching proposals from Beijing on “women’s development” have sparked concern over a pledge to reduce abortions, with feminists and academics pointing to the government’s history of control over women’s reproductive rights.

On Monday China’s state council published its latest 10-year outline for women’s development. The lengthy document contained guidelines for China’s gender-based policy, but it was a short phrase that caught particular attention: a pledge to “reduce abortions conducted for non-medical reasons”.

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China’s new aircraft carrier underlines need for the Aukus pact

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Analysis: As the world’s largest navy tries to push it back in the Pacific, the US requires allies in the region

In the dockyards of Shanghai, the next step in China’s naval expansion is taking shape: a 315-metre aircraft carrier, whose construction progress was revealed by satellite photography in May this year.

China has the world’s largest navy and the largest shipbuilding industry, but the Type 003 is the latest step up: a vessel the same size as the latest US Ford class with a matching electromagnetic catapult for launching jets.

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Pacific nations face ‘lost decade’ due to economic cost of Covid

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Pacific Islands face greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report from the Lowy Institute

Countries in the Pacific risk a “lost decade” following the Covid pandemic, with the region facing its greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report into foreign aid.

The latest Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map, which sets out aid spending and donations to the Pacific Islands region, shows US$2.44bn in foreign aid reached the Pacific in 2019, which is about 8% of the region’s GDP.

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US Afghanistan withdrawal a ‘logistical success but strategic failure’, Milley says

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  • General and other military leaders in heated cross-examination
  • Milley defends loyalty to country and rejects suggestion to quit

The withdrawal from Afghanistan and the evacuation of Kabul was “a logistical success but a strategic failure,” the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff has told the Senate.

Gen Mark Milley gave the stark assessment at an extraordinary hearing of the Senate armed services committee to examine the US departure, which also became a postmortem on the 20-year war that preceded it.

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Power shortages in China hit homes and factories prompting global supply fears

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Factories were closed to avoid exceeding limits on energy use imposed by Beijing to promote efficiency

Widening power shortages in China’s north-east have left homes without power and halted production at numerous factories, while some shops operated by candlelight as the economic toll of the squeeze mounted.

Residents in the north-east, where autumn temperatures are falling, reported power cuts and appealed on social media for the government to restore supplies.

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China to clamp down on abortions for ‘non-medical purposes’

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Policy uses women as tool for economic goals and could endanger their lives, says rights group

China’s pledge to limit abortions puts women’s bodies under the state’s control just as the one-child policy did and could endanger the lives of women seeking abortions, rights groups have said.

The Chinese government announced on Monday that it would seek to reduce abortions for “non-medical reasons” – a move seen as being in line with its attempts to accelerate birthrates.

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Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil group disbands amid crackdown on dissent

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Prominent pro-democracy group Hong Kong Alliance voted to disband after many of its leaders were arrested

The Hong Kong pro-democracy group that organised three decades of vigils commemorating the victims of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square massacre has voted to disband in the face of China’s sweeping clampdown on dissent.

The Hong Kong Alliance was one of the most prominent symbols of the city’s former political plurality, and its dissolution on Saturday is the latest illustration of how quickly China is remoulding the business hub in its own authoritarian image.

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How fall of property giant Evergrande sent a shockwave through China

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All eyes are on Xi Jinping as expectation grows that the government will have to intervene to protect small creditors

In May 2020, Chen (not his real name) decided to invest 300,000 yuan (£34,000) in property in the north-eastern Chinese city of Shenyang. “I thought the price was not too expensive and I had some extra money so I invested it,” he said. “I thought it was going to be all right because Evergrande is such a big name and enterprise.”

Chen was following in the footsteps of countless fellow Chinese, getting in on a booming property market that had turned big cities such as Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai into some of the world’s most expensive, amid the huge transfer of the population from rural to urban areas.

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China clamps down on cartoons in latest morality move

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Entertainment industry told to uphold ‘truth, goodness and beauty’ and remove vulgar and violent content

China’s broadcasting regulator said it will encourage online producers to create “healthy” cartoons and clamp down on violent, vulgar or pornographic content, as Beijing steps up efforts to bring its thriving entertainment industry to heel.

The National Radio and Television Administration said in a notice posted late on Friday that children and young people were the main audience for cartoons, and qualified agencies need to broadcast content that “upholds truth, goodness and beauty”.

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‘Free and open’: Quad leaders call for ‘stable’ Indo-Pacific in veiled China dig

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Joe Biden meets leaders of Australia, India and Japan in latest effort to cement US leadership in Asia

US president Joe Biden and the leaders of Australia, India and Japan highlighted their Quad group’s role in safeguarding a stable, democratic Indo-Pacific in a veiled dig at rival China.

The first in-person summit of the Quad held on Friday marked Biden’s latest effort to cement US leadership in Asia in the face of a rising China.

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China frees detained Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, Trudeau says

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The men, who were detained by Beijing in 2018, were released hours after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was freed in Canada

Two Canadian citizens who were detained by Beijing for more than 1,000 days have left Chinese airspace and will arrive back in Canada early on Saturday, prime minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.

A plane carrying Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor left Chinese airspace around 7.30pm Ottawa time, just hours after US authorities reached an agreement allowing Chinese Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, to return to China in exchange for admitting wrongdoing in a fraud case. Shortly before Trudeau spoke, Meng boarded a chartered flight organised by the Chinese government to Shenzhen, Chinese state media reported. Zhao Lijian, ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, said her return was enabled by the “unremitting efforts of the Chinese government”.

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Meng Wanzhou: US prosecutors reach deal in case of Huawei executive at center of diplomatic row

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The agreement with Wanzhou clears a topic of dispute between US and China and could bring release of two Canadians

Meng Wanzhou, the Huawei executive at the centre of a three-way diplomatic row between China, the US and Canada has reached an agreement with US prosecutors to resolve the bank fraud case against her, in a process that should allow her to leave Canada, where she has been under house arrest.

Meng is expected to appear virtually in a hearing on Friday afternoon in Brooklyn federal court. She was arrested at Vancouver international airport in December 2018 on a US warrant, and was indicted on bank and wire fraud charges for allegedly misleading HSBC about Huawei’s business dealings in Iran.

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‘Eerie silence’ as Evergrande misses payment deadline

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As debt-laden Chinese property giant enters 30-day grace period, officials look to limit unrest and job losses

The embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande is inching closer to the potential default that investors fear, after missing an interest payment deadline.

The company, which has total debts of about $305bn (£222bn), has run short of cash, and investors are worried that a collapse could pose systemic risks to China’s financial system and reverberate around the world.

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China sends jets and bombers near Taiwan as Beijing opposes island’s trade deal bid

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Nuclear-capable bombers entered air defence zone, says Taipei, amid simmering row over competing bids to join regional trade agreement

China has voiced opposition to Taiwan joining a major trans-Pacific trade deal as it flew 24 planes – including two nuclear-capable bombers – into the self-ruled island’s air defence zone, the biggest incursion in weeks, Taiwanese officials said.

Last week Beijing submitted its own application to become a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

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Experts say China’s low-level cyberwar is becoming severe threat

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Activity more overt and reckless despite US, British and other political efforts to bring it to a halt

Chinese state-sponsored hacking is at record levels, western experts say, accusing Beijing of engaging in a form of low-level warfare that is escalating despite US, British and other political efforts to bring it to a halt.

There are accusations too that the clandestine activity, which has a focus on stealing intellectual property, has become more overt and more reckless, although Beijing consistently denies sponsoring hacking and accuses critics of hypocrisy.

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UK warns Hong Kong security law critics of extradition risk posed by China

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Activist Bill Browder warns of global reach of controversial law after being contacted by Foreign Office

Britain has warned some Hong Kong critics in the UK about travelling abroad, according to high-profile human rights advocate Bill Browder, highlighting concerns about the cross-border reach of the Chinese region’s national security law.

Browder, a well-known lobbyist for the use of sanctions against foreign governments involved in human rights abuses, said he was contacted by the UK Foreign Office earlier this month after he was named in a Hong Kong court during a foreign collusion case.

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