Category Archives: China

G20: battle for influence as US seeks to rival China in the global south

Posted on by

There will be pressure on rich countries to fulfil a commitment to provide climate finance to poorer nations

The run-up to this weekend’s G20 summit in Delhi has largely been dominated by two issues: the host’s efforts to project India as a superpower; and the intriguing decision of Xi Jinping not to attend. The substance of what world leaders will discuss during their two days together has struggled to surface.

Yet this year’s G20 – the 24th since the format was inaugurated in 1999 – is potentially a make or break moment for the organisation that includes the world’s 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union as a bloc. With one part of the world increasingly gathering in the now expanded Brics format where China has a leading role, and the west comfortable with its annual G7 summitry, the G20 is the best remaining hope of keeping the principle of multilateralism alive. The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, spoke on Thursday of a real risk of fragmentation of the world order, while his own organisation is paralysed by the war in Ukraine.

Continue reading...

Global economic fears deepen as service sector dips in China and Europe

Posted on by

Fresh signs of weakness in Chinese economy and weak UK and eurozone data spook investors

Fears about the health of the global economy have intensified following downbeat news about service sector activity in China, the eurozone and the UK.

Share prices fell in Asia and the pound dropped to a 12-week low against the US dollar after fresh signs of weakness in China triggered speculation that its post-lockdown recovery was running out of steam.

Continue reading...

China on the agenda: 2024 candidates fret over how to deal with Beijing

Posted on by

Republicans showcase range of hawkish policies designed to counter perceived threat amid diplomatic push by Biden

The United States’ tangled and increasingly fraught relationship with China is emerging centre stage in the 2024 presidential campaign in a rare case of foreign policy capturing the limelight in the race for the White House.

Half a century since a Republican president, Richard Nixon, made a historic visit to communist China to carve out a lauded strategic opening in the election year of 1972, Republican candidates vying to succeed him in the Oval Office are showcasing a range of hawkish policies designed to counter the perceived threat from Beijing.

Continue reading...

Two people detained for digging shortcut through Great Wall of China

Posted on by

Suspects admit using excavator to smash hole in Ming-era section in Shanxi province, state media say

Two people have been detained after using an excavator to dig a hole in the Great Wall of China, said the state broadcaster CCTV.

Police in Shanxi province followed tracks made by machinery used to dig a shortcut through a segment of the wall – remains of the immense structure built by China’s emperors to deter foreign invaders.

Continue reading...

Australia to roll out new south-east Asia trade strategy to hedge against China

Posted on by

Anthony Albanese is expected to announce the new economic blueprint during his trip to the Indonesian capital Jakarta

Anthony Albanese will fly to Jakarta this week to launch a major new strategy to deepen Australia’s trade and investment ties with south-east Asia and hedge against top trading partner China.

Despite China recently reopening the door to key Australian exports that it shunned at the height of diplomatic tensions in 2020, the Albanese government wants to diversify economic ties to reduce exposure to further political tumult.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

China’s share of Europe’s electric car market accelerates as UK leads sales

Posted on by

Chinese-owned MG’s MG4 is Britain’s bestselling EV after Tesla’s Model Y in first seven months of year

China’s share of the European electric car market has more than doubled in less than two years as the world’s second largest economy tries to take the lead in the transition away from petrol and diesel cars.

The UK is the largest market in Europe for Chinese electric car brands, accounting for almost a third of sales in 2023 so far, according to data from Schmidt Automotive Research on the 18 largest European car markets. About 5% of all new car sales in the UK were from Chinese brands in the first seven months of 2023, a market share second only to Sweden.

Continue reading...

Country Garden shares jump after Chinese developer strikes debt deal

Posted on by

European stocks hit three-week high as China’s government tries to prop up ailing economy

The share price of the ailing Chinese developer Country Garden has jumped by as much as a fifth after its creditors agreed a delay on debt repayments, offering some respite from the country’s crisis-hit property market.

The company agreed over the weekend to extend the payment dates on a 3.9bn yuan (£430m) private bond, to the relief of investors who had thought it would default on payments due on Saturday. Country Garden will instead have three years to repay the debt, after it won a narrow vote with the backing of 56% of its creditors, Reuters reported.

Continue reading...

UK solar could be ‘dumping ground’ for products of Chinese forced labour, ministers warned

Posted on by

Energy bill amendment requires large solar energy projects to prove supply chain free of slave labour

The UK risks becoming a dumping ground for the products of forced labour from Xinjiang province in China if it rejects reforms proposed by members of the foreign affairs select committee with cross-party support, ministers have been warned.

An amendment to the energy bill, due to be debated on Tuesday, would require solar energy companies to prove that their supply chains are free of slave labour. The Xinjiang region is the source of 35%-40% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon, the key raw material in the solar photovoltaic supply chain.

Continue reading...

Typhoon Saola makes landfall in southern China as nearly 900,000 evacuated

Posted on by

Storm hit overnight as business, transport and schools suspended in Hong Kong and Guangdong

Typhoon Saola has made landfall in southern China after nearly 900,000 people were moved to safety and most of Hong Kong and other parts of coastal southern China suspended business, transport and schools.

Guangdong province’s meteorological bureau said the powerful storm churned into an outlying district of the city of Zhuhai, just south of Hong Kong at 3.30am local time. It was forecast to move in a south-westerly direction along the Guangdong coast at a speed of about 10mph (17km/h), gradually weakening before heading out to sea.

Continue reading...

Weather tracker: Hurricane Idalia leaves trail of damage in Florida

Posted on by

Category 3 storm causes extensive flooding in south-east US, while heavy rain and winds also hit France and Italy

Hurricane Idalia struck northern Florida on Wednesday, bringing damaging winds and torrential rain. It made landfall near Keaton Beach on Florida’s Big Bend during the morning as a high-end category 3 hurricane, bringing sustained winds speeds near 125mph (200km/h) and a storm surge of 16ft along Florida’s north-west coastline.

Due to very warm sea surface temperatures, the storm strengthened rapidly over the Gulf of Mexico to category 4 status, before weakening to category 3 as it made landfall. It brought extensive flooding as it passed through and damaged power lines, leaving thousands without electricity.

Continue reading...

US restricts exports of Nvidia AI chips to Middle East

Posted on by

Controls apply to A100 and H100 chips, in escalation of US efforts to curb China’s access to products

The US has expanded the restriction of exports of Nvidia artificial intelligence chips beyond China to some countries in the Middle East.

Nvidia, which is one of the world’s most valuable companies at $1.2tn, said in a regulatory filing this week the curbs affected its A100 and H100 chips, which are used to accelerate machine-learning tasks on major artificial intelligence apps, such as ChatGPT.

Continue reading...

Thursday briefing: What we learned from the foreign secretary’s trip to China

Posted on by

In today’s newsletter: James Cleverly met senior Chinese officials for talks in Beijing – was there anything to gain?

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning, or perhaps 你好 (nǐ hǎo). Hopefully James Cleverly got at least that far on Duolingo before the UK foreign secretary’s plane touched down in Beijing this week on a trip aimed at resetting ties after a long period of tension over security, investment and human rights concerns at home and abroad.

It was the first visit to China by a UK foreign secretary for five years. Remember the last time, when Jeremy Hunt somehow ended up announcing that his Chinese wife was Japanese? Very odd.

Continue reading...

TikTok removes 284 accounts linked to Chinese disinformation group

Posted on by

Action by social media company comes after Facebook parent company Meta shut down 9,000 accounts tied to political spam network

TikTok has removed 284 accounts associated with a Chinese disinformation campaign after Guardian Australia raised questions about several accounts uncovered by the company’s rival Meta.

On Wednesday, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram reported it had shut down close to 9,000 Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups and pages associated with a Chinese political spam network that had targeted users in Australia and other parts of the world.

Continue reading...

Typhoon Saola: China issues highest warning as storm approaches Hong Kong and Guangdong

Posted on by

Winds reaching 209km/h recorded as major train lines suspended ahead of typhoon’s expected arrival on Friday

China has issued the highest typhoon warning as Typhoon Saola crawled closer to the south-eastern coastline, threatening Hong Kong and other major manufacturing hubs in neighbouring Guangdong province.

Chinese forecasters issued a typhoon red warning at 6am on Thursday. China’s National Meteorological Centre said Saola, which lies about 295km (183 miles) south-east of Guangdong province, will move north-west across the South China Sea at a speed of about 10km/h (6mph), gradually approaching the coast of Guangdong, then slowly weaken in intensity.

Continue reading...

Chinese developer Country Garden reports $6.7bn loss amid fears of another Evergrande

Posted on by

Group warns that if its financial performance ‘continues to deteriorate’ it faces possible default after huge half-year losses

Embattled Chinese developer Country Garden reported a 48.9bn yuan ($6.7bn) loss for the first half of the year in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, adding to worries of a potentially catastrophic default.

Its tenuous state has sparked fears of a collapse that could have far-reaching consequences for the Chinese financial system two years after the fall of Evergrande.

Continue reading...

Isolating China would be a mistake, says UK foreign secretary

Posted on by

On trip to Beijing, James Cleverly says Britain is ‘clear-eyed’ about its disagreements with world’s second largest economy

James Cleverly has defended his meetings with senior Chinese government members, saying it would be a mistake to try to isolate China, during the first visit to Beijing in five years by a UK foreign secretary.

Cleverly said he believed China genuinely cared about UK views on human rights, following his meetings on Wednesday with China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, and foreign minister, Wang Yi. However, there was no indication of a change in Chinese policy such as the lifting of its sanctions on British parliamentarians, the test for the trip set by the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy.

Continue reading...

Western politicians face tough balancing act on visits to Beijing

Posted on by

UK’s James Cleverly is latest to travel to Beijing hoping to improve ties and change Chinese foreign policy

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, on Wednesday described his government’s relationship with Beijing as “complicated and sophisticated”. He said the UK’s approach was “clear-eyed” and pragmatic, neither seeking to isolate the world’s second largest economy nor shying away from raising disagreements.

The balancing act may prove difficult. Cleverly is the latest in a series of western government officials – from the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to the French president, Emmanuel Macron – to have visited China in recent months hoping to repair soured relations and trade ties. Few have had much success.

Continue reading...

Travel firms urged to halt trips to Uyghur region over China rights abuses

Posted on by

Exclusive: Report says optics of western firms organising Xinjiang tours amid ‘crimes against humanity are disastrous’

Uyghur advocates have called on western tourism companies to stop selling package holidays that take visitors through Xinjiang, where human rights abuses by authorities have been called a genocide by some governments.

The request comes as China reopens to foreign visitors after the pandemic, and as its leader, Xi Jinping, calls for more tourism to the region.

Continue reading...

Australia news live: ‘no downside, only upside’, PM says, confirming Indigenous voice to parliament referendum date as 14 October

Posted on by

The formal announcement of a voice referendum date triggers a campaign from both the yes and no camps, before Australians eventually head to the polls. Follow today’s live news updates

Report points to Snowy 2.0 project costs blowing out to $12bn

Nine’s Sydney Morning Herald and the Age are this morning reporting that the cost of Snowy Hydro’s 2.0 giant pumped hydro project has doubled in six months to $12bn.

Continue reading...

UK should take China to task on human rights and Taiwan, MPs say

Posted on by

Foreign select committee report published as foreign secretary, James Cleverly, travels to Beijing

Britain must take a tougher stance on China over its severe human rights abuses and help Taiwan build its defences to deter a potential attack from Beijing, an influential group of MPs says.

With the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, scheduled to land in China on Wednesday for a first official visit in five years, a report from the foreign affairs select committee says ministers have to call out the country’s transnational repression.

China’s behaviour is a threat to world security that cannot be ignored, it says.

The Chinese Communist party (CCP) is “seeking to silence criticism of its human rights abuses, and impose its foreign policy and Xi Jinping’s thought beyond its own borders”, the committee, which is Tory controlled, writes. “This is a challenge to the functioning of democracies globally.”

Continue reading...