Decision of only G7 nation to join project reportedly communicated to Beijing three days ago
Italy has formally notified China of its withdrawal from Beijing’s ambitious belt and road infrastructure initiative (BRI), a significant trade and infrastructure project, according to two government sources.
The decision, which had been expected for some time, was reportedly communicated to Beijing three days ago, although no official communication has been released by either side.
Continue reading...European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen to meet Chinese president Xi Jinping at summit on Thursday
The EU is to tell China that its €400bn (£343bn) trade deficit is not sustainable long term amid fears that it will flood the bloc with subsidised electric cars, solar panels and medical devices, threatening European manufacturing and jobs.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission chief, and Charles Michel, the European Council president, will meet Xi Jinping at a summit on Thursday, the second of its kind this year.
Continue reading...Rating agency says Beijing may need to bail out local governments as property sector collapses
China’s ability to repay its government borrowing has been downgraded by the credit rating agency Moody’s, which said the ripple effects from a crisis in the property sector would undermine efforts to revive its flagging economy.
Moody’s warned that Beijing would need to bail out local and regional governments and state-owned enterprises that were struggling with rising debts, hampering efforts to boost investment and growth.
Continue reading...Hong Kong court gives property developer until 29 January to formulate deal for creditors
The property developer Evergrande has been granted an extension until late January to try to restructure its debts and avoid liquidation in one of the most high-profile cases in China’s long-running property crisis.
Evergrande was once China’s biggest property developer, but a default on offshore debt obligations in 2021 started a lurch from one crisis to another. It has reported debts of more than $300bn (£237bn), much of it to individuals whose properties were never built.
Continue reading...Defence minister Richard Marles and counterparts from the UK and US say new technologies will be deployed by militaries
Artificial intelligence, drones, and deep space radar are among the technologies that will be used by Australia and its Aukus allies to counter China’s aggression in the Pacific.
Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, met with his counterparts from the United States and United Kingdom – Lloyd J Austin and Grant Shapps – in California on Saturday to announce the second “pillar” of the Aukus deal.
Continue reading...Beijing’s strained relations with the west are less easily mollified by loans of cuddly endangered bears
As the UK’s only giant pandas leave Edinburgh zoo , returning to their native country after a 12-year sojourn away from China, the era of panda diplomacy also looks to be coming to an end.
Tian Tian and Yang Guang will board the panda express back to Sichuan less than a month after three giant pandas left the Smithsonian national zoo in Washington DC, ending the zoo’s five-decade panda programme.
Continue reading...Minnie Chan has reportedly been out of contact since travelling to Xiangshan Forum a month ago
Friends and colleagues of a Hong Kong journalist have raised concerns after she failed to return from a defence and security forum in Beijing a month ago.
Minnie Chan, a reporter for the South China Morning Post, has not been in contact since she went to the Xiangshan Forum, Japan’s Kyodo News reported on Thursday. Chan filed several stories from the forum, the most recent of which was published on 2 November.
Continue reading...Derbyshire woman who bought item said she felt uneasy at find that raises concerns over possible prison labour
An ID card that appears to belong to a Chinese prisoner was found inside the lining of a coat from the British brand Regatta, raising concerns that the clothing was manufactured using prison labour.
The waterproof women’s coat was bought online by a woman in Derbyshire in the Black Friday sale. When it arrived on 22 November, she could feel a hard rectangular item in the right sleeve, which restricted the movement of her elbow.
Continue reading...Tsai Ing-wen says economic, financial and political challenges overwhelm Xi Jinping’s government, with international pressure also a deterrent
Taiwan’s president has said China is unlikely to attempt an invasion any time soon because it is “overwhelmed” by domestic problems.
Tsai Ing-wen made the remarks in an interview at the New York Times Dealbook Summit.
Continue reading...Wang Gang accused of deliberately pushing tutorial around anniversary of death of Mao Anying
A Chinese celebrity chef has apologised after he was accused of insulting the memory of Mao Zedong’s son by posting a video about how to cook egg fried rice.
Wang Gang, who has more than 3.3 million followers on Weibo and more than 2 million on YouTube, faced a torrent of criticism by viewers who accused him of deliberately publishing his cooking tutorial around the anniversary of the death of Mao Anying as an act of mockery.
Continue reading...Company last month hoped for a valuation of $80-$90bn, according to reports, making it the largest initial public offering (IPO) in years
Fast fashion giant Shein has reportedly lodged confidential paperwork with US securities regulators, informing them of an intention to go public in the US.
The listing would likely be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in years.
Continue reading...At summit to drum up foreign investment PM says he does not intend to change policy towards Beijing
Rishi Sunak has said the UK will not return to the close relationship with China pursued under David Cameron, as the prime minister met business leaders in an effort to drum up foreign investment.
The government on Monday said £29.5bn of new investment had been earmarked for the UK, including projects by the ScottishPower owner, Iberdrola, and BioNTech, the German company that partnered with Pfizer on its Covid vaccine.
Continue reading...Data has been supplied to World Health Organization and China says flu and other known pathogens are culprits
A surge in respiratory illnesses across China that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday.
Recent clusters of respiratory infections are caused by an overlap of common viruses such as the influenza virus, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and adenovirus, as well as bacteria such as mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is a common culprit for respiratory tract infections, a National Health Commission spokesperson said.
Continue reading...Writing from prison, Alexander Csergo says investigators have found ‘no evidence’ and fallout from case will embarrass Australia
A Sydney businessman accused of selling secrets to China has claimed from prison that the case against him is a false police narrative based on no evidence and the prosecution “will fail”, embarrassing Australia.
In his first public words written from prison, where he has been remanded for more than six months ahead of an expected trial, Alexander Csergo claimed that despite months of investigation prosecutors had found “no evidence of espionage, or classified or confidential information” being handed over.
Continue reading...Richard Marles says two countries committed to a peaceful region where ‘sovereignty and agreed rules and norms are respected’
Australia and the Philippines have begun joint sea and air patrols in the South China Sea as Pacific nations warily eye an increasingly assertive China.
The three-day exercises follow discussions earlier this year on joint patrols to underscore what the countries say is their commitment to closer cooperation and a rules-based order in the region.
Continue reading...New curriculum from 2025 part of push to create sense of national identity among schoolchildren
Hong Kong is to introduce “patriotic” education in all primary schools by 2025, in the government’s latest push to “systematically cultivate” a sense of national identity among schoolchildren
Under the new framework, primary school pupils are expected to learn about national security and will also be taught about the opium war and Japan’s invasion of China, two key events in Beijing’s narrative of a “century of humiliation”, which it pushes as a reason for nationalism.
Students will also learn about significant Chinese historical figures and national achievements under the leadership of the Chinese Community party.
“The enrichment aims to keep pace with the times and systematically cultivate students’ sense of belonging to our country, national sentiments and sense of national identity from an early age for the implementation of patriotic education,” an official document reads.
The education bureau said the changes were made in line with national-level legislation that called for strengthening patriotic education in China. Mainland China maintains separate governing and economic system in Hong Kong but has gradually increased its control.
On Thursday, the education bureau announced the existing general studies curriculum in primary schools would be replaced with a new humanities curriculum by 2025. While the curriculum would contain general studies elements, such as health, citizenship and community, it would emphasise patriotic education, with new modules on national identity, national history and national security.
Paul Lee Kin-wan, an education official overseeing curriculum development, said that patriotic values existed in the previous curriculum, and students should know about China’s achievements. “It wouldn’t be right if students know nothing about their country after six years of education,” Lee said.
Students are expected to spend 93 hours – about 7% of their time in primary school – on the new curriculum.
Most of the suggested learning material came from government departments, including a short video about the legislative process of Hong Kong’s national security law, with no mention of the mass protest movement that preceded its enactment.
One veteran educator, who wished not to be named, said the curriculum seemed to emphasise national education over other components. “At that age, it is important to nurture good lifestyle and habits and students’ curiosity about their surroundings,” the educator said, adding that modules on students’ relationships with their family, friends and neighbours took up far less space.
While the curriculum highlights China’s achievements, the educator said the government should make it clearer whether more sensitive topics, such as China’s societal issues, could be discussed in class. “China has historical problems and existing ones. We need to face up to them for the country to progress.”
For more than a decade, the Hong Kong government had been trying to incorporate national and patriotic education into school curriculums. In 2012, a plan to introduce moral and national education in primary and secondary schools provoked mass class boycotts and protests, leading to it being temporary shelved.
Incident comes after maritime altercation between Toowoomba and Chinese warship last week off Japan’s coast that injured navy divers
Taiwan says an Australian warship has sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the sensitive and narrow waterway that separates the democratically governed island from China.
The ship, which it did not name, entered the strait on Thursday and sailed in a southerly direction, the defence ministry said on Friday.
Continue reading...Epidemiologists say wave in north, particularly among children, may be partly caused by ‘immunity debt’
Chinese health authorities have provided the requested data on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children, and have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
The WHO had asked China for more information on Wednesday after groups including the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases reported clusters of undiagnosed pneumonia in children in north China.
Continue reading...Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong are leading figures in the thwarted New Citizens’ Movement group of activists and lawyers
A Chinese court is to rule in the appeals of detained human rights lawyers Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong, as Ding’s wife called on China’s top judge to “rectify the miscarriage of justice” in their case.
Ding and Xu are leading figures in China’s thwarted New Citizens’ Movement, a loose network of activists and lawyers concerned with human rights and government corruption. In April, the men were sentenced to more than a decade in prison for subversion of state power, in a ruling that was criticised by the UN’s human rights chief. Ding received a 12-year sentence, while Xu’s was 14 years.
Continue reading...Zhongzhi, a wealth manager with links to China’s ailing property market, says it is ‘severely insolvent’
One of China’s biggest financial conglomerates with links to the country’s ailing property market has admitted a shortfall of nearly £30bn as it warned investors that it is “severely insolvent”.
Zhongzhi, an asset and wealth management company in China’s shadow banking sector, said its total assets amounted to 200bn yuan (£22.5bn) against obligations of up to 460bn yuan, in a letter to shareholders issued on Wednesday.
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