William Majcher arrested and facing two charges under the Security of Information Act
A retired police officer in Canada has been arrested and is facing rare charges under the country’s national security laws, police said on Friday.
William Majcher, 60, “allegedly used his knowledge and his extensive network of contacts in Canada to obtain intelligence or services to benefit the People’s Republic of China”, the Royal Canadian Mounted police said in a news release.
Continue reading...Temperatures reached as high as 53.3C in the US and flooding hit South Korea and India
A remote township in the north-western region of Xinjiang set a Chinese record of 52.2C (125.9F) on Sunday – in a country that was battling -50C weather six months ago. Sanbao is in the Turpan Depression, an arid basin of sand dunes and dried-up lakes where 50.3C was recorded in 2015. Beijing topped its record for high-temperature days in a year on Tuesday, with 27 days above 35C. The temperature in its southern suburbs soared even higher on Wednesday to 36.3C.
Continue reading...People buying full-face masks alongside hats, fans – and hats with inbuilt fans – as temperatures rise above 35C
In scorching Beijing, “facekinis” are the hottest new fashion as surging temperatures shatter records.
With the air temperature rising above 35C (95F) and the ground surface temperature soaring as high as 80C in some parts of the country, residents and visitors have taken to carrying portable fans and covering themselves up to avoid getting burnt. Some hats even have fans built in.
Continue reading...Nicholas Burns’ emails reportedly accessed in hack that exploited flaw in Microsoft system and took Washington by surprise
The US ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, was reportedly one of the American officials whose emails were accessed in a recent Chinese hacking attack which took Washington by surprise with its sophistication.
Another target was Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for east Asia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. When the attack was first disclosed last week, the administration admitted the email account of the commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, had also been compromised. US officials were quoted as saying those were the three most senior targets but that in total, hundreds of thousands of government email accounts could have been breached.
Continue reading...Families of Dennis Kwok and Christopher Mung questioned this week as pressure on dissidents grows
Hong Kong’s national security police raided the homes of relatives of two exiled activists this week, stepping up pressure on the dissidents who have HK$1m (£99,500) bounties on them.
The elder brother of Dennis Kwok, a former legislator, was taken away for questioning by police in Hong Kong on Thursday, according to the South China Morning Post. The brother was summoned along with another man and two women, whose identities could not be determined.
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Minister for education Jason Clare said increasing access to a Commonwealth-supported place at university will cost $34m over the next four years – “That’s a pretty good investment”.
He said on ABC RN this morning:
If you’re a young Indigenous person today, you’re more likely to go to jail than you are to university.
The cost of having somebody in jail every year is about $120,000. The cost of a university place is $11,000.
Tuna sushi.
Continue reading...Discovery in China challenges view of early mammals as ‘fodder’ for dinosaurs, say researchers
Whether they had sharp teeth, vicious claws or were simply enormous, dinosaurs were creatures to be feared. But a newly identified fossil shows that, at least sometimes, the underdog bit back.
Experts revealed the 125m-year-old fossil that froze in time after being taken on by a small mammal a third of its size. They are tangled together, the mammal’s teeth sunk into the beaked dinosaur’s ribs, its left paw clasping the beast’s lower jaw.
Continue reading...Lawyers say Alexander Csergo brought home list of requests from aspiring Chinese handlers to ensure he would be believed by Australian authorities
An Australian businessman facing a foreign interference charge brought home a “shopping list” given to him by two Chinese intelligence officials as evidence of China’s overt and ultimately unsuccessful efforts to cultivate him as a source, his lawyers say.
The list, which Alexander Csergo slipped between the pages of a magazine to spirit out of China, requests information about whether Australia’s new Aukus alliance is “preparing for [a] Taiwan war”, about competition between the US and China in the Pacific, and about the Five Eyes intelligence alliance.
Continue reading...Ex-US secretary of state’s meeting with Li Shangfu comes amid hopes of improved ties between two countries
The veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger has met China’s defence minister in Beijing.
According to a readout on Tuesday from the Chinese defence ministry, Li Shangfu said “friendly communication” between China and the US had been “destroyed” because “some people in the United States did not meet China halfway”. Kissinger said he was a “friend of China”, according to the readout.
Continue reading...The absence of China’s foreign minister has been commented on online, where some discussion appears to have been censored
China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, has not been seen in public for over three weeks, despite a flurry of high-profile diplomatic efforts to repair ties with the United States.
As a former ambassador to Washington DC, who is considered a protege of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Qin had been expected to play a key role in a string of high-level visits by US officials.
Continue reading...John Kerry arrives in Beijing as temperature hits 52.2C in Xinjiang – where authorities tell workers and students to stay at home
A remote township in China’s western Xinjiang region has set a nationwide temperature record of 52.2C, as the US climate envoy, John Kerry, held meetings with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in Beijing.
The temperature was reached on Sunday at Sanbao township in the Turpan Depression, the China Meteorological Administration said in a statement. It broke a previous record of 50.6C, set in July 2017, the CMA said.
Continue reading...Data shows the economy grew just 0.8% in the June quarter, down from 2.2% in the first three months of 2023
China’s economy expanded 6.3% in the second quarter from a year ago, falling short of market expectations as export demand remained tepid and sinking property prices sapped consumer confidence.
Compared with a year earlier, China’s GDP in the April-June period was 6.3% larger, the national bureau of statistics said on Monday, quickening from the 4.5% annual growth pace for the first three months of 2023. Economists had forecast growth to accelerate to 7.3%, according to a Reuters survey.
Continue reading...Chris Hipkins says Beijing exerting influence is ‘major driver’ of increasing competition in the Indo-Pacific
New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins has said that the Pacific region is becoming “more contested, less predictable, and less secure” as China becomes more assertive.
Hipkins said it was important that New Zealand continues to engage with China to listen and to build dialogue.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Yvette Cooper to tell RUSI thinktank that economic security and national security go hand in hand
Contractors linked to hostile foreign powers such as China will be targeted by a new security taskforce if Labour wins the next general election.
In a joint initiative from the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the new body will aim to anticipate risks to Britain’s national security.
Continue reading...The hiring of former PM and Treasury chief was to lend credibility to broader Beijing brand, intelligence watchdog told
David Cameron’s appointment as vice-chair of the £1bn China-UK investment fund and Sir Danny Alexander’s appointment as vice-president of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank were in part engineered by the Chinese state, parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC) found.
Their appointment was to lend credibility to Chinese investment as well as the broader Chinese brand, according to confidential evidence given to the intelligence watchdog.
Continue reading...Assistant trade minister suggests consideration of China’s push to join CPTPP ‘some way off’ as UK becomes 12th member
China has no hope of being accepted into a major regional trade pact in the near term, the Australian government has signalled, as members prepare to welcome the UK into the fold this weekend.
The assistant trade minister, Tim Ayres, is visiting New Zealand for a meeting with fellow members of the CPTPP. The UK, which sees joining as part of its “tilt” to the Indo-Pacific region, is to be formally accepted as the 12th member on Saturday.
Continue reading...Statement comes after US, Australia and New Zealand expressed concerns about new agreement with Beijing
Solomon Islands has said that its policing pact with China poses no “threat” to the Pacific, rebuking western powers that raised fears the deal could inflame regional tensions.
Prime minister Manasseh Sogavare inked a raft of deals during a trip to China this week, including an agreement allowing Beijing to extend its police presence in the developing Pacific nation until 2025.
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Cabinet meeting to decide Lowe’s successor today
Philip Lowe will be replaced as the Reserve Bank governor, with today’s cabinet meeting to decide his successor, Guardian Australia has confirmed.
If I was asked to continue in the role, I would be honoured to do that and I would continue.
If I am not asked to continue in the role, I will do my best to support my successor, and the treasurer has said he will make an announcement before the end of this month.
Continue reading...The ISC’s warnings are unlikely to act as much of a brake on Britain’s approach to China
If there is one constant in the UK’s policy towards China over the past three decades it has been its short-termism and inconsistency, the scathing intelligence and security committee report on China rightly finds, comparing Britain’s endless course corrections with Beijing’s capacity to think strategically about how to advance the global interests of the Chinese Communist party.
If Downing Street thinks in terms of the next news bulletin, China has a planning cycle that in some of its documents takes it to 2049, as the ISC was told by one of its intelligence agency witnesses.
Continue reading...Progress expected at Nato summit thanks to attendance of Japan’s PM but no mention made in latest talks
Nato appears to have shelved plans to open a liaison office in Tokyo, a proposal that had been discussed as part of the western military alliance’s plans to deepen cooperation with partners in the Asia-Pacific but which was strongly opposed by China.
The idea to open an office was first discussed after Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, visited Japan earlier this year. It reportedly involved opening a civilian office in Tokyo in 2024, as a means of facilitating Nato’s dialogues in the Asia-Pacific. It was expected progress would be made at the Nato summit thanks to the attendance of Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, for the second year in a row.
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