Category Archives: China

Fiji prime minister warns against US and China attempts to ‘polarise’ Pacific

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Sitiveni Rabuka says island countries must be ‘zone of non-aligned territories’ and hopes big powers will avoid military conflict

The Pacific islands should be a “zone of peace”, Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, has said, adding that he hopes a rivalry between the US and China in the strategic region does not develop into a military conflict.

Rabuka was speaking after attending a summit meeting of several Pacific island leaders, where climate change and regional security dominated the agenda. The leaders of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and New Caledonia’s ruling FLNKS party met in Vanuatu on Thursday.

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Brics to more than double with admission of six new countries

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Major expansion as economic bloc that includes Russia and China attempts to provide counterweight to the US and western allies

The Brics group of big emerging economies has announced the admission of six new members, in an attempt to reshape the global world order and provide a counterweight to the US and its allies.

From the beginning of next year, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, the UAE and Ethiopia will join the current five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – it was announced at a summit in Johannesburg on Thursday.

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Huawei accused of building secret microchip factories to beat US sanctions

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US-based semiconductor association claims Chinese tech firm has acquired at least two plants and is constructing three others

Huawei has been accused by a leading association of semiconductor manufacturers of building a collection of secret chip-making facilities across China to help the technology company bypass US sanctions, according to a report.

The Chinese tech firm moved into chip production last year and was receiving an estimated $30bn (£23.7bn) in state funding from the government, the Washington-based Semiconductor Industry Association was quoted as saying by Bloomberg, adding that Huawei had acquired at least two existing plants and was building three others.

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Chinese dissident and Xi Jinping critic flees China to South Korea by jetski

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Chinese dissident Kwon Pyong, 35, was arrested after becoming stuck in mudflats near Incheon

A Chinese dissident previously jailed for criticising Xi Jinping has fled to South Korea by jetski, towing barrels of fuel behind him to ensure he completed the long journey.

The man identified by Chinese activist groups as Kwon Pyong, 35, was arrested last Wednesday night after he got stuck in mud flats near Incheon.

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China officials hit by US sanctions over ‘forced assimilation’ of children in Tibet

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Antony Blinken criticises China’s state boarding schools that ‘seek to eliminate Tibet’s distinct linguistic, cultural and religious traditions’

The United States will impose visa sanctions on Chinese officials pursuing “forced assimilation” of children in Tibet, where UN experts say one million children have been separated from their families.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken said the US would restrict visas to Chinese officials behind the policy of state boarding schools, in the latest in a series of US moves on Beijing that comes despite a resumption of high-level dialogue.

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Brics group looks to expand at summit despite divisions among key members

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Experts say India concerned about expansion and any overt anti-west turn as leaders fly into South Africa

Leaders from developing countries representing almost half the world’s population including China and Russia are meeting in South Africa for a key summit aimed at reinforcing their alliance as a counterweight to the west.

The Brics grouping summit in Johannesburg is being hosted by the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and brings together the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, as well the presidents of China, Xi Jinping, and Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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Homebuilder shares tumble as UK housing market weakens – business live

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A profit warning from housebuilder Crest Nicholson has compounded fears of a housing market slowdown, as Rightmove data reveals a further drop in asking prices

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said that while weak house price data (as was “hardly a surprise”, Crest Nicholson’s profit warning has “laid bare the the scale of the impact of a housing slowdown on the housebuilding sector.”

Sales of new homes have plunged alarmingly and, while not all developers in the space are created equal, the news, allied to Rightmove’s latest reading on the property market, has had a knock-on effect on share prices in the rest of the sector this morning.

The £7,000 drop in the average asking price observed by Rightmove in the last month, allied to a big drop in transaction volumes, is the kind of statistic to make estate agents distinctly uneasy.

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Nerves build as India moon mission prepares to make first successful south pole landing

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Chandrayaan-3 moves into prelanding orbit amid failure of Russian mission

As it was announced that Russia’s first lunar mission in 47 years had crashed on to the moon, India’s own mission, the Chandrayaan-3 lander, moved into prelanding orbit.

News on Sunday of the Russian failure was met with excitement and nervousness in India: excitement that India was now poised to win the race to become the first country to land a craft on the moon’s south pole; nervousness that its mission could also go horribly wrong at the last moment.

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North Korea abruptly cancels first post-Covid international commercial flight

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Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang cancelled two hours after its scheduled arrival in Beijing

North Korea’s national airline’s first commercial flight since it largely closed itself off from the world in early 2020 in response to the Covid pandemic has been abruptly cancelled.

Journalists gathered on Monday at Beijing’s Capital international airport to await Air Koryo flight JS151 from Pyongyang, due to arrive at 9.50am.

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China cuts key interest rate amid economic slowdown

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Central bank reduces one-year loan prime rate but surprises analysts by leaving five-year rate unchanged

China’s central bank has cut one of its key lending rates but left another unchanged, surprising economists who had expected more forceful action to support economic growth amid widespread concerns over its path.

The world’s second-largest economy is in the midst of a slowdown, and has slipped into deflation with prices falling year on year as slowing domestic spending weighs on the country’s post-Covid economic recovery.

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China sends dozens of warplanes near Taiwan after vice-president’s US stopover

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Chinese state media says military exercises involving planes and vessels were intended as a ‘stern warning’ against colluding with ‘foreign elements’

China launched military drills around Taiwan on Saturday as a “stern warning” after voicing anger over a stopover in the United States by the island’s vice-president, William Lai.

Lai – the frontrunner in Taiwan’s presidential election next year and a vocal opponent of Beijing’s claims to the island – returned on Friday from a trip to Paraguay during which he stopped briefly in New York and San Francisco.

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China’s property crisis deepens with developer Country Garden at risk of default

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Evergrande has filed for bankruptcy protection and firms covering 40% of Chinese home sales have defaulted

China’s property crisis has deepened with two major developers facing severe financial difficulties that threaten to send shock waves through the country’s economy and beyond.

Evergrande, the poster child for the woes of China’s property sector, filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York on Thursday. The provision permits the company to protect its US assets and will allow cross-border bankruptcy proceedings as it undergoes a restructuring.

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China’s struggling property giant Evergrande files for bankruptcy protection in US

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The company’s chapter 15 protection will protect its US assets while it attempts a restructuring deal

China’s Evergrande Group, the world’s most heavily indebted property developer and the poster child for the country’s property crisis, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a US court.

The company sought protection under chapter 15 of the US bankruptcy code, which protects its US assets while it attempts a restructuring deal. The code also provides mechanisms for dealing with insolvency cases involving more than one country.

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China’s army filmed apparently preparing for conflict in Taiwan strait

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Propaganda video shows troops running past anti-landing barricades similar to those that dot Taiwan’s coast

China’s army released a propaganda video showing soldiers preparing for a conflict in what appears to be the Taiwan strait.

The one-and-a-half-minute video, published on the Eastern Theatre Command’s official WeChat account on Thursday, is titled “Reading the Strait” and shows soldiers in combat gear doing press-ups under crashing waves, a tank battalion driving into the sunset and troops running up sandy shores past anti-landing barricades, similar to those that dot Taiwan’s coast.

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China renews crackdown on corruption in healthcare

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At least 177 officials reportedly under investigation amid revival of Xi Jinping’s decade-old anti-corruption drive

China’s graft-busters have set their sights on the country’s healthcare sector, in what has been described as the biggest crackdown on corruption in the history of the industry.

At least 177 hospital bosses and Chinese Communist party (CCP) secretaries have been placed under investigation this year according to local media reports – more than double the number last year. In a press conference on Tuesday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said the campaign would focus on people who had used their position to procure kickbacks and corruption in the pharmaceutical sector, the state tabloid the Global Times reported.

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China building airstrip on disputed island, satellite images suggest

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Pictures appear to show 600-metre runway on South China Sea’s Triton island, which is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan

China may be constructing an airstrip on a disputed island in the South China Sea that is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, satellite images suggest.

Pictures of Triton Island, one of the major islands in the Paracel group, appear to show the construction of a runway of more than 600 metres (2,000ft) long, according to analysis by Associated Press. This would be long enough to accommodate drones, but not fighter jets or bombers.

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US promises ‘new era’ as Biden prepares to host first summit with Japan and South Korea

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US president aiming to take advantage of recent thaw in ties under president Yoon Suk Yeol and prime minister Fumio Kishida

The US has promised to usher in a “new era” in relations with its most important allies in Asia, as the region struggles to address the threat posed by an increasingly assertive China and a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Joe Biden is expected to take advantage of a recent thaw in ties between Japan and South Korea – home to tens of thousands of US troops – to announce new collaborations on missile defence and technology, when he meets the countries’ leaders on Friday.

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Australia’s oversupply of wine tops 2.8bn bottles in wake of China trade dispute

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New report suggests glut will last years, even if Beijing drops tariffs early, while prices of Australian red wine grapes plummet by more than half

Australia has an oversupply equivalent to more than 2.8bn bottles of wine – a little more than 100 bottles per person – after the trade dispute with China slashed exports to the biggest consumer of Australian wines.

The excess wine is being stored in large steel vats in wineries across Australia, equating to 859 Olympic wine-filled swimming pools.

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China’s fertility rate dropped to record low in 2022, estimates show

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Figure fell from 1.15 in 2021 to 1.09, the lowest of any country with a population over 100 million

China’s fertility rate dropped to an estimated record low of 1.09 in 2022, the lowest of any country with a population over 100 million, according to government data.

Demographers from the China Population and Development Research Centre, a Chinese government research institution, released data indicating that last year’s fertility rate fell to 1.09 from 1.15 in 2021, below Japan’s rate for the same time period and only slightly higher than South Korea’s, which was estimated to be 0.8.

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Chinese social media filled with anti-black racist content, says watchdog

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Analysis by Human Rights Watch finds the country’s major platforms ‘do not routinely address’ pervasive online racism

Chinese social media is littered with racist videos, particularly content that mocks black people or portrays them through offensive racial stereotypes, research by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found.

The human rights watchdog analysed hundreds of videos posted on Chinese social media since 2021 and found that major platforms, including Bilibili, Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo and Xiaohongshu, “do not routinely address racist content”.

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