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SCHWEIZER
BOTSCHAFT IN BEIJING
EMBASSY OF SWITZERLAND IN BEIJING
AMBASSADE DE SUISSE EN CHINE |
Der wöchentliche
Presserückblick der Schweizer Botschaft in der VR China
The Weekly Press Review of the Swiss Embassy in the People's Republic
of China
La revue de presse hebdomadaire de l'Ambassade de Suisse en RP
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DPRK
Mongolia
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| Switzerland |
Swiss newspaper targets US media's HK double standard (China Daily)
2020-01-04
The Zurich-based Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), in an article published online on Dec 28, has revealed how US corporate media used a double standard in their reporting about the Hong Kong protests. The daily newspaper is one of the most influential German-language newspapers in the country, known for its high-quality journalism and objectivity on international news reporting. Matthias Müller, the media outlet's Beijing-based reporter, made an analysis of The New York Times and CNN's coverage of protests in four areas across the world - Hong Kong, Ecuador, Haiti and Chile. The article quoted a study by fair.org, a media watchdog organization based in New York City that found the two major US media outlets displayed a disproportional interest and distorted use of language in Hong Kong protests. The study tracked the two media outlets' total 737 online stories on Hong Kong, 12 on Ecuador, 28 on Haiti and 36 on Chile since each protest began, starting March 15 for Hong Kong, Oct 3 for Ecuador, Oct 14 for Chile, and July 7, 2018, for Haiti. The end date for the study was Nov 22, 2019. The study also noted that it was unwise to compare the numbers directly as those incidents in Latin America started far later than Hong Kong. But the disparity still remained enormous when analyzing the same period of time. The New York Times ran six stories and CNN three during the hottest moments of the Ecuador crisis (Oct 3 -14), in contrast to 33 and 38 articles, respectively, on Hong Kong over the same time period. Since the beginning of the Chilean protests (Oct 14), The New York Times has covered the event 14 times and CNN 22, in comparison to 59 and 92 articles on Hong Kong, respectively. The use of language also differentiates their reporting on things that could have been similar in nature. Hong Kong demonstrators were portrayed as "pro-democracy protesters" by the two media organizations despite violent acts of damaging property and infrastructure and setting a 70-year-old on fire by pouring flammable oil over him. In contrast, the protests in Chile were denigrated as "riots" by CNN or "looting and arson" by The New York Times, according to the study. CNN also recognized the violence of the Ecuadorian protesters by saying "violent protests have raged for days in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito" in a Sept 19 story on its website. "This sort of language is rarely used with regards to the Hong Kong protesters, even when it is arguably more applicable," the study concluded. In another example of how Times reporting "glossed over" Hong Kong demonstrators, the study noticed how the Times described protesters shooting an arrow into a police officer's leg. It used passive voice: "A police officer was hit in his leg with an arrow" as "activists resisted" the police onslaught to "suppress them", while in this case accurate and objective reporting should be in active voice by clearly saying who did what. The study also questioned CNN after noting the news outlet published an image of a homemade gas canister-sized bomb on Nov 17, similar to the one used in the Boston Marathon terror attack. "If, for instance, Black Lives Matter or Antifa had killed passersby, shot police or created Tsarnaev-style bombs, would they be called 'pro-democracy demonstrators,' as both CNN (11/22/19) and The New York Times (11/22/19) have continued to do for those in Hong Kong?" asked the study. By combing through The New York Times and CNN's monthslong reporting, the study concluded that corporate media has "glossed over many of the more unseemly details of the Hong Kong protests". The analysis piece on the NZZ website also noted that the situation surrounding the Hong Kong reporting by US media was "poisoned" and "one-sided". ^ top ^
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Chinese president to visit Myanmar next week (Xinhua)
2020-01-10
At the invitation of Myanmar's President U Win Myint, Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Myanmar from Jan. 17 to 18, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying announced on Friday. ^ top ^
China, Djibouti FMs hold talks, vowing to push strategic partnership to new level (Xinhua)
2020-01-10
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday vowed to boost pragmatic cooperation with Djibouti and called for promoting the bilateral strategic partnership to a new level. Wang made positive comments on the development of China-Djibouti relations, saying that China is a sincere, reliable and long-term partner of Djibouti when meeting with Djibouti's Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mahmoud Ali Youssouf. Djibouti has become one of the most stable and fastest-growing countries in the Horn of Africa by giving full play to its unique geographical advantages and actively carrying out foreign cooperation, Wang said. Wang thanked Djibouti for its firm support on issues involving China's core interests and major concerns. Wang said that China is willing to look at its relations with Djibouti from a strategic and long-term perspective and further deepen political mutual trust with Djibouti. China is willing to strengthen cooperation with Djibouti in aspects including fleet escort, peacekeeping, anti-terrorism and anti-piracy to make greater contributions to peace and security in Africa, said Wang. Youssouf thanked China for its selfless help and strong support to Djibouti for a long time, saying that China's foreign minister's first visit to Africa at the beginning of the year reflected China's friendship for African countries and Djibouti. This visit also coincides with the 41st anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Djibouti and China and is worth celebrating together by both sides, said Youssouf. Djibouti is willing to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in blue economy, digital economy and other fields under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Youssouf said Djibouti welcomes more Chinese enterprises to invest in Djibouti and more Chinese provinces and cities to carry out local cooperation with Djibouti. Djibouti is also willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China on international and regional affairs of common concern, said Youssouf. ^ top ^
China opposes military intervention in Libya as Turkey decides to send in troops (SCMP)
2020-01-09
China has voiced opposition to military action in Libya, saying the crisis can only be resolved by political means as tensions mount over Turkey's decision to send troops into the divided country. In Cairo on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said military intervention would cause continued trouble for Libya, which has been in turmoil since a US-led Nato intervention removed ruler Muammar Gaddafi from power in 2011. "China has noticed the recent escalation of tensions in the eastern Mediterranean. We always believe that the Libyan issue can only be truly and properly settled by political means," Wang said on the Egyptian leg of a trip to Africa. Libya's United Nations-supported interim Government of National Accord (GNA) is fighting forces from the Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Hifter, a former general in Gaddafi's army. On January 2, Turkey voted to send troops to Libya, joining Qatar and Italy in supporting the GNA. Egypt, Russia, France, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates have given their backing to Hifter. Besides military support, Turkey has joined the GNA in a maritime alliance, which gives Ankara a say in control of gas deposits in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. The move rattled Egypt, Israel, Greece and Cyprus, which have an eye on those resources. Egypt also said Turkey's military intervention would threaten the stability of North Africa. Wang said Beijing supported a "Libyan-led and Libyan-owned" political process under the UN to help end the conflict. He called on the sides to resume dialogue towards a ceasefire and lasting peace. "China has maintained contacts with various factions in Libya and actively worked on various parties to facilitate talks for peace," he said. His trip, which is expected to include stops in Djibouti, Eritrea, Burundi, and Zimbabwe, is part of a tradition that Chinese foreign ministers make Africa their first excursion of the year, a sign of how highly Beijing values its relationship with the continent. In Cairo, Wang met Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary general of the Arab League, the 22-nation body which rejected what it called foreign interference in Libyan affairs. Wang also discussed trade, diplomacy, China's Belt and Road Initiative and Middle East conflicts with Sameh Shoukry, his Egyptian counterpart. This year marked 20 years since the formation of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, through which Beijing has channelled US$143 billion of aid into infrastructure projects, according to data from the China Africa Research Initiative at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington. The forum has been criticised by some Western nations, which claim that China's lending practices are luring poor states into debt traps with money for projects that are not commercially viable. Wang said China would continue to fund the reconstruction of Syria and support Chinese businesses involved in that effort. "Since the crisis broke out, China has provided a large amount of humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people and has held training programmes on reconstruction, which are concrete actions in support of the reconstruction of Syria," he said. The rebuilding of Syria required the collective effort of the international community, but some countries were disrupting it rather than contributing, Wang said without naming them. Some countries had set preconditions and or blocked other countries' participation in the process through unilateral sanctions and what he called "long-arm jurisdiction". ^ top ^
Upcoming trade deal marks milestone in trade talks: Chinese analysts (Global Times)
2020-01-09
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He will lead a delegation to Washington next week to sign the phase one trade agreement with the US, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said Thursday. The signing will bring an end to weeks of work on the deal and mark a milestone in negotiations to resolve the long-running trade war. While the interim agreement delivers some relief to the world economy amid rising trade and geopolitical uncertainties, it only represents a new beginning for Beijing and Washington in addressing their profound differences on a wide range of issues, and tensions between the two biggest economies will likely persist, Chinese analysts said. At the invitation of the US side, Liu and his delegation will visit Washington from Monday to Wednesday to sign the phase one agreement, Gao Feng, MOFCOM spokesperson, told a press briefing in Beijing. Officials were still in close contacts over specific arrangements for the signatures, Gao said. "What this means is that both sides have wrapped up the final work on the deal and are ready for the final part of the process - their signature," Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, told the Global Times. "The rest is just a show now." After agreeing on the text of the phase one deal in mid-December, Chinese and US officials have been putting the final touches on the agreement, including legal and translation reviews of the text as well as arrangements for the signing ceremony. Under the deal reached on December 13, the US has committed to roll back tariffs on Chinese products in phases and China will increase purchases of US products based on market demand. Chinese officials have said the final text will be released after being signed. The MOFCOM announcement on Thursday ended intense speculation over the arrangement. Some had suggested a deal could be signed by the leaders of the two countries at the World Economic Forum later this month. US President Donald Trump previously tweeted "I will be signing" the deal at the White House on January 15. The decision to send the vice premier was due to pragmatic considerations that a signing between such a level of officials was simpler and means the deal could be signed sooner, said Huo Jianguo, vice chairman of the China Society for World Trade Organization Studies in Beijing. "We shouldn't read too much into this," Huo told the Global Times. "This is just a phase one agreement. It does not require the two leaders to sign it personally. "The most important part is that both sides have taken a very positive step that is good for both economies as well as the world," he noted. The Thursday announcement came hours after Trump said the US was ready to embrace peace after days of tensions over Washington's killing of a top Iranian general which prompted retaliatory strikes by Iran on US military bases in Iraq. The tensions have cast a dark cloud over the world economy, as oil prices skyrocketed and investors dove for safe haven assets such as gold. The seemingly cooling tensions between Washington and Tehran following Trump's comment as well as the phase one trade deal between China and the US offered breathing space for global growth, Chinese analysts said. Following Trump's address and China's announcement on Thursday, US stocks opened higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average index up 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 up 0.5 percent. The NASDAQ gained 0.8 percent at market opening. However, just as tensions remain high in the Middle East, challenges remain between China and the US, they said, given Washington's stubborn hostility toward China on a wide range of areas, from trade to technology, to security. All the deal did was to "just bring some certainty at this very stage," He Weiwen, a former senior Chinese trade official, told the Global Times on Thursday. "Its long-term effects remain to be seen." What happens next "could be much more complex and difficult," He said. After signing the phase one deal, Chinese and US officials face the immediate predicament over when to start phase two negotiations even as they try to execute the phase one deal, Huo said. "This is far from over, not even for the phase one talks." Some US officials have suggested phase two talks will start immediately after phase one, but Chinese officials have maintained the second phase of consultations depend on the implementation of phase one. "Things could get even more complex as politics in the US during the election season will likely put pressure on the trade talks," Huo said. The move opens a rare opportunity for continued talks, Gao Lingyun said. "As we like to say in China, the beginning is always the hardest, but now China and the US have overcome that difficult step," he noted. ^ top ^
As US and Iran step back from the brink, China faces energy security risk (SCMP)
2020-01-09
The US and Iran have stepped back from the brink of war, but uncertainties in the Middle East may pose a risk to China's energy supply security and complicate relations, according to analysts. Tensions dramatically escalated last Friday after Iranian military leader major general Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq. Tehran retaliated with missile attacks on two airbases housing US troops in Iraq on Tuesday night. There were no casualties in the attack. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called the strikes a "slap on the face" for the US. He said there would be no peace until the US changed its behaviour, including a complete withdrawal of its military forces from the region. Hours after Khamenei's speech, US President Donald Trump said Washington was ready to embrace peace, calling for negotiations for a new Iran nuclear deal but also vowing to impose further sanctions. China has opposed "military adventurism" by the US but avoided criticising Iran's retaliation, instead continuing to call for restraint from all sides and a return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Tehran on Monday said it would no longer abide by the uranium enrichment restrictions it agreed to under that pact. China is a major buyer of oil in the Middle East, and its relations with nations in the region are key to a stable energy supply. Trade between China and Iran in 2018 totalled US$35.13 billion, with crude oil accounting for about half, or US$15 billion. Mei Xinyu, a researcher with China's Ministry of Commerce, warned the US-Iran tensions could have an influence on Iraq and Libya, both big oil producers, which may affect global oil prices. He noted Iran's reach in the corridor connecting the Suez Canal to the Horn of Africa, where 14 per cent of global trade passes and a key route between Europe and East Asia, including China. The waterway was within range of an Iranian missile and drone attack, and Iran had significant influence over Yemen's Houthi rebels, he said: China and other East Asian nations should be on alert. "That is perhaps the risk that merits the most vigilance in the case of a further escalation of tensions in the region," Mei said. "Trilateral relations between Beijing, Tehran and Washington are not black and white … they are complicated and multifaceted, which means China has to carefully consider the costs and benefits in [its ties] with Iran and the US." A worsening of tensions could endanger China's energy supply from the region and would not be in Beijing's interests, according to Wang Jin, an associate professor with the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies at Northwest University in Xian. He said while hostilities appeared to be easing between the US and Iran, disputes over natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean among Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Greece, and the civil war in Libya – involving Turkey, Egypt and Qatar – could bring new crises to the region. Wang Yong, an international relations professor at Peking University, said any Middle East crisis would have an impact on oil prices and hit the already weak global economy, which would be "a concern for China". Eurasia Group said in a research note on Wednesday that an escalating conflict between Iran and the US would have major implications for China in terms of its energy reliance on the region and its relationship with Washington. Trump pulled the US out of the nuclear deal with Iran and five other world powers in 2018 and tightened sanctions against Iran. Last year, the US stopped offering sanctions waivers for Iranian oil. China continued to import Iranian oil, but Chinese companies appeared to be more hesitant to do business with Iran out of fear of financial penalties, according to a report by the US Institute of Peace. The research agency said China had imported only 210,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day in June 2019, the lowest in nearly a decade and 60 per cent below imports from Iran in June 2018. "China changed its buying patterns," it said, adding the country had doubled oil imports from Saudi Arabia, buying 1.8 million barrels per day in July, up from 921,811 barrels per day in August 2018. In September, the US imposed sanctions against six Chinese companies and five Chinese nationals, accusing them of buying oil from Iran. China condemned the US move, calling it "long-arm jurisdiction". Eurasia Group said Chinese shipping and energy companies could be affected if the US pursued stricter compliance with sanctions on Iran or withdrew its military from Iraq. Reuters reported on Wednesday that China National Petroleum Corp on Sunday pulled about 20 workers from the West Qurna-1 oilfield operated by ExxonMobil in Iraq due to the tensions in the region. Eurasia Group also said Beijing's relations with Washington outweighed those with Tehran, but Trump's desire for China to give up the 2015 nuclear deal and support a new deal with Iran "could be an irritant in the relationship" in the future. "While China is less politically engaged in the Middle East than the US and also Europe, its reliance on the region's oil supplies is far greater, with dependency increasing over the last five years," the research note said. "Beijing has already been promoting a policy of energy diversification to reduce its dependence on Middle Eastern oil and the Strait of Hormuz. While it will be difficult to break its dependency, China's new pipeline with Russia and joint oil and gas exploration efforts in the South China Sea will be even more in focus in the coming year," it said. ^ top ^
Chinese FM calls for promoting China-Egypt strategic partnership to higher level (Xinhua)
2020-01-09
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday called for promoting the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level with the aim of building a community of shared future in the new era. Wang made the remarks during his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. As the long-term trustworthy friend of Egypt, China firmly supports Egypt in preserving its national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, adopting the development path matching its national conditions, and combating the terrorist and extremist forces of all forms, Wang said. China also supports Egypt in its efforts to achieve national rejuvenation and play a bigger role in the international and regional affairs, the top Chinese diplomat added. As the cooperation between China and Egypt grows in scope and depth, China has become the largest trading partner of Egypt, Wang noted, adding the Chinese investments in Egypt surged more than 60 percent in 2019. China is willing to deepen strategic coordination with Egypt in a joint effort to uphold peace and stability in the Middle East, preserve multilateralism, fairness and justice, and safeguard the common interests of all developing countries, he said. For his part, Sisi spoke highly of China's great economic and social achievements and the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Egypt, while thanking the valuable long-term support China has provided to Egypt. Egypt is willing to work together with China to promote the comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level, Sisi said. As a staunch supporter of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Egypt hopes to become a key partner in promoting the Chinese initiative, the Egyptian president noted. Proposed by China in 2013, the BRI refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes to seek common development and prosperity. Being at a critical moment for its development and revitalization, Egypt hopes to strengthen win-win cooperation with China in different fields and enhance exchanges in the fight against terrorism and extremism, Sisi said. The Egyptian president hailed the fair stance China has always maintained in the global affairs, while expecting China to play a more active and greater role in dealing with the current turmoil in Middle East. ^ top ^
Chinese coastguard ships sail as tensions with Indonesia build (SCMP)
2020-01-07
Two Chinese coastguard ships left Fiery Cross Reef in the disputed South China Sea and sailed in the direction of the Indonesia-controlled Natuna Regency islands on Monday, amid renewed tensions between Beijing and Jakarta. One of the two ships, CCG 35111, put in at Fiery Cross – where China has refuel and resupply facilities – on Saturday, according to Marine Traffic, a ship tracking and maritime intelligence provider. The stopover on the artificial islands, part of the Spratly group, showed that China had created outposts for so-called grey zone operations that included monitoring and deterring foreign ships from entering disputed waters, an analyst said. "This shows the value of China's Spratly bases for grey zone coercion in the South China Sea," Ryan Martinson, a member of the US Naval War College's China Maritime Studies Institute, wrote on his Twitter account on Monday. The Chinese coastguard vessels set sail as Indonesia sent four more warships to the Natunas on Monday, doubling its naval presence to eight, after Chinese ships there refused to leave the area. Dozens of Chinese fishing boats entered the waters of Indonesia's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in Natuna last month. The Indonesian foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador in Jakarta and issued a protest. Beijing said that the Natuna waters, which border the South China Sea, were traditional grounds for Chinese fishermen. The latest tensions between China and Indonesia came as an increasing number of Southeast Asian countries toughened their stances on the South China Sea issue. On December 12, Malaysia filed a submission to the United Nations seeking clarity on the limits of its continental shelf beyond its 322-kilometre (200 mile) EEZ in the body of water claimed by several Southeast Asian countries. In August, the Philippines, another claimant, accused a Chinese vessel of ramming one of its fishing boats, causing it to sink and endangering the lives of 22 fishermen on board. The crew was saved. China has laid claim to nearly all of the South China Sea, through which US$5 trillion of annual shipping trade passes and where vast oil and gas deposits are believed to lie. China has been turning reefs in the Spratly and Paracel chains into islands, installing military aircraft and missile systems on them, according to the Washington-based Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative think tank. Charlie Lyons Jones, a researcher from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's defence and strategy programme in Canberra, said the man-made islands can help China to project naval power. "Facilities such as Fiery Cross Reef, which have concrete runways and aircraft hangars, could be used to support fighter jets or larger aircraft such as bombers or tankers and improve domain awareness," he said. However, Lyons Jones said that artificial islands and the forces sent to them needed significant maintenance, and "whether the People's Liberation Army has the logistical capability needed to support the maintenance of aircraft deploying for long periods at airbases in the South China Sea is an open question". ^ top ^
Kiribati on right side of history by resuming diplomatic ties with China: Xi (Xinhua)
2020-01-06
Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Monday that Kiribati's President Taneti Mamau and his country stand on the right side of history by resuming diplomatic ties with China. Xi made the remarks when holding talks with Mamau at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. China and Kiribati resumed diplomatic relations in September 2019 on the basis of the one-China policy, opening a new chapter for bilateral ties, said Xi. "Mr. President and the Kiribati government stand on the right side of history," Xi told Mamau, adding that the resumption "fully embodies their strategic vision and political courage." "China speaks highly of the decision," said Xi. Since the resumption of diplomatic ties, China and Kiribati have conducted numerous exchanges in different areas and at different levels with fruitful results, he said. Facts proved that it is in the interests of both peoples to restore diplomatic ties, and the bilateral ties enjoy broad prospects, said Xi. Calling Mamau's visit to China "an important landmark in China-Kiribati ties," Xi said China stands ready to work with the Pacific island country to promote bilateral ties to a new level. Xi called on both countries to deepen mutual political understanding, saying that China has always held that all countries, no matter big or small, should be equal and all countries should respect one another's sovereignty and territorial integrity. China sticks to the path of peaceful development and respects Kiribati's choice of a development path that suits its own national situation, Xi said. Xi said the two countries should expand pragmatic cooperation by seeking the synergy of the Belt and Road Initiative with Kiribati's development plans. China will encourage more Chinese enterprises to invest in Kiribati, said Xi, adding that China has approved the listing of Kiribati as a destination for Chinese tour groups. China is willing to enhance cooperation within multilateral mechanisms including the United Nations and the Pacific Islands Forum, and will continue to provide assistance and support to Kiribati on climate change under the framework of South-South cooperation to safeguard the common interests of developing countries, said Xi. Mamau said it is based on trust and confidence in China that Kiribati made the important decision to restore diplomatic ties with China. He reaffirmed that Kiribati will firmly adhere to the one-China policy, respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, support China's "one country, two systems" principle and its reunification. Appreciating China's support, Mamau said he looks forward to enhancing cooperation with China in areas including economy, trade, investment, tourism, fisheries, education, healthcare and infrastructure construction. Kiribati speaks highly of China's role in safeguarding world peace and promoting common development, and appreciates China's efforts to advance South-South cooperation and help small and medium-sized developing countries such as Kiribati to speed up development and address challenges such as climate change, Mamau said. Kiribati is willing to work with China to improve bilateral ties to benefit both peoples, Mamau said. After the talks, Xi and Mamau witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents in Beijing. Mamau is paying a state visit to China from Jan. 4 to 11. ^ top ^
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China is developing drones that use quantum physics to send unhackable messages (SCMP)
2020-01-10
Chinese scientists say they have developed the world's first fleet of drones equipped with quantum communication technology so that robots can share information securely with each other and human operators. Researchers at Nanjing University, in eastern China, built drones able to generate pairs of "entangled" particles of light that could carry information in quantum states such as charges or polarisations representing 0 or 1, according to their paper published this month in the journal National Science Review. By the laws of quantum physics, disturbing one entangled particle in a pair would affect the other, regardless of distance – meaning that information carried by such particles could not be intercepted without altering the message and alerting the receiver or sender. Quantum communication devices, or quantum nodes, are usually set up in a laboratory with bulky, complex equipment including laser pumps, beam-splitting crystals, mirrors and ultra-sensitive detectors. But Professor Zhu Shining and colleagues at the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures significantly reduced the size of the quantum node and packed it into a drone weighing 35kg (77lbs). "A third of the weight comes from the battery," said Professor Xie Zhenda, a co-author of the paper. "We have built and deployed about 10 drones." With future upgrades, these drones will be able to connect to quantum satellites or a ground-based quantum communication network and provide an "ultimate solution to secure data transfer", the researchers wrote in the paper. Each of the drones could generate 2.4 million pairs of entangled particles of light each second, they said. Existing military drone communication is protected by mathematical encryption. Google announced last year a prototype quantum computer that could complete in 200 seconds a computational task that would take the fastest supercomputers about 10,000 years. The machine could not yet be used to decode information, but it is believed that the technology would eventually produce a code breaker that could work out a password protected by number-based algorithm in seconds. Drones could thus be hijacked and turned against their home base – and the best known way to protect them is using quantum communication. But quantum communication involves many challenges. For instance, the sender – or rather the particle-emitting device that uses a crystal to split a beam of laser light in two, entangling the particles – must be positioned in a straight line of sight from the receiver. Compared with satellites and ground-based stations, drones are not stable platforms and are vulnerable to unpredictable conditions. A gust of wind could make the Nanjing team's drones sway by an arm's length, they found. To keep the airborne drone's entangled particle emitter and the receiver on the ground pointing at each other, Zhu and colleagues used pairs of beacon light beams to coordinate their positions. They reduced the margin of error to about 1.3 microns, smaller than a 50th of the width of a human hair. A medium-sized camera at the drone's belly can also act as a receiver to pick up the entangled light particles, or photons, from the ground station or other drones and pass messages to others in the network. The range of effective communication in the experiment was limited to about 200 metres (656 feet) during their experiment, but the researchers team said they could use a larger drone camera to extend the range to 2km (1.2 miles). The military-grade cameras on high-altitude drones such as China's Rainbow and the United States' Predator series – two of the world's most widely used war drones – had a range of up to 200km, according to their paper. Another challenge during the experiment came from the drone's eight pairs of rotary blades, which generated vibrations that could affect the precision of the quantum devices. The researchers used specially designed rubber absorbers to eliminate the vibrations. Future improvements would be required before the technology could be deployed in battle or other real-life applications. One problem was the low efficiency of photon reception. Although the drone could generate large numbers of entangled photons, only 10 particles per second could be received at the other end, limiting the amount of information that could be carried. China is the global leader in quantum communication technology. It has sent the world's only quantum satellite into orbit. A land-based quantum communication network between Beijing and Shanghai is the longest and most sophisticated on the planet. Chinese researchers recently reduced a building-sized quantum satellite ground station to an 80kg unit that could fit into a family car. ^ top ^
Lunar New Year countdown in China as millions head home for holiday (SCMP)
2020-01-10
Hundreds of millions of people will head home across China for family reunions over the Lunar New Year, in what is the world's largest annual human migration. About three billion trips were expected to be made during this year's Spring Festival travel season, known as chunyun, Zhao Chenxin, deputy secretary general and spokesman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said on Thursday. The 40-day period runs from Friday until February 18, with January 25 marking the beginning of the Year of the Rat. While state media on Thursday reported that investigators had identified a new type of coronavirus as the pathogen behind an outbreak of 59 pneumonia cases in the central city of Wuhan, the transport ministry told travellers it was prepared. Wang Yang, the ministry's chief engineer, said: "Arrangements have been made to focus on disinfection monitoring and protection measures in areas with a large number of passengers, including transport hubs, passenger stations and cargo hub factories." China's railways were expected to carry 440 million passengers during the holiday period, a year-on-year increase of 32.6 million, or 8 per cent, according to the State Council. The rapid expansion of China's transport system, particularly its railways, has completely changed the way the world's largest population moves. With China adding 139,000km (86,400 miles) of rail and building 35,000km for its high-speed rail network – the largest in the world – travel times have fallen substantially for many Chinese who now no longer face slow, uncomfortable journeys home to more remote areas. The fastest running time from Zhangjiakou, a city in northern Hebei province about 200km from China's capital, to Beijing was cut from more three hours to 47 minutes after the high-speed Beijing-Zhangjiakou intercity railway went into service last month. What was once a nine-hour train ride from Hohhot, the capital of northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region, to Beijing now takes a little more than two hours Beginning this year, online booking means e-tickets will cover high-speed and intercity rail, so passengers will not need to collect paper tickets before their trip, Li Wenxin, deputy general manager of China National Railway Corporation, said on Thursday. The online rail ticketing system's hours will also be extended by 30 minutes each day of the Spring Festival travel season from 6am to 11.30pm, and purchases may be verified by facial recognition. Self-service identity verification machines had been set up at high-speed rail stations and other train stops with large passenger flow to ease congestion, Li said. More than 17,000 flights are expected to take to the skies each day, a rise of 13.3 per cent from a year earlier, according to Wan Xiangdong, chief flight officer of China's Civil Aviation Administration. It was not clear if this figure was for domestics flights alone. About 790,000 coaches with a combined capacity of 20.31 million passengers, and 19,000 ships equipped to carry about 830,000 passengers were expected to pick up part of the traffic, said Wang, the transport ministry's chief engineer. "Ten years ago, you'd go to the railway in Guangzhou and it'd be packed solid with people for days on end trying to squeeze on trains," said Geoffrey Crothall, communications director at China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based workers' rights group. Although the travel process was smoother these days, Crothall said many migrant workers had to work through the festivities because they could not afford to return home. He also said that more migrant workers were living closer to home. A report by the National Bureau of Statistics last year showed that of the 173 million who left their homes to take jobs elsewhere in 2018, 810,000 fewer migrated to another province. The report also said 1.6 million migrant workers returned to their home provinces to work. "This sort of traditional picture of migrant workers from small villages in Sichuan or Henan getting on the train in Guangzhou and travelling thousands of kilometres back home over a day or two, it's not really what happens any more," Crothall said. "Those same villagers are more likely to have found a job in a provincial capital … or even closer to home, so they don't need to travel these vast distances any more." ^ top ^
Regulators to improve supervision over TCM (China Daily)
2020-01-10
Authorities will step up supervision this year over the quality of traditional Chinese medicine to ensure the quality of the drugs improves, a top health official said on Thursday. Traditional Chinese medicine regulators across the country will intensify supervision over TCM to be sold at hospitals and clinics, covering the whole chain including purchasing, inspection and storage of the drugs, to prevent fake or substandard medicine being used, said Yu Wenming, head of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. As a major measure to improve quality at the source, the administration will work with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to establish 150 production bases for raw materials in their native areas across China and promote standardized production of raw materials such as herbs, he said at a national conference on TCM in Beijing. The administration will try to work with other government departments to set up a mechanism to jointly supervise enterprises that grow herbs for TCM, and make progress in establishing a tracing system for 50 kinds of raw materials grown in their native places, so the sources and flow of major products can be traceable, and perpetrators involved can be held accountable, Yu said. TCM produced with raw materials from their native places normally have better medicinal effects. On Thursday, Ma Xiaowei, minister of the National Health Commission, also urged TCM authorities across China to improve product quality. A multidepartmental cooperative mechanism will be set up for the purpose, he said. According to a guideline released by the central government last year on promoting the development and innovation of TCM, authorities will establish a trace system that covers production, distribution and use of raw materials and drugs to ensure quality. Local governments should also take more efforts to protect the environment around production areas and to intensify supervision over the use of pesticides and fertilizers, the guideline said. Wei Feng, a TCM researcher at the National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, said although the general quality of TCM drugs in China has been rising in recent years due to improved supervision, problems still exist such as using raw materials polluted by pesticides or other chemicals, and improper storage, which affect the safety of TCM drugs. "Ensuring quality and safety of traditional Chinese medicine is of great significance to the sustainable development of the sector, and emphasis should be put on the sources of TCM production," he said. Yu, head of the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, also said on Thursday that TCM will play a more important role in promoting public health in China this year, and a number of measures will be taken to promote TCM among the public so it contributes more to disease prevention, healthcare and treatment of chronic diseases. ^ top ^
China 'must find source' after identifying Wuhan pneumonia as new virus from Sars family (SCMP)
2020-01-09
The swift discovery of a new strain of coronavirus is a "notable achievement", but more information is needed to understand it, experts said after China identified the mystery pneumonia behind an outbreak in Wuhan that infected 59 people. A top official at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told state news agency Xinhua on Thursday that laboratory tests had identified the new virus and the whole genome sequence had been obtained. Fifteen patients in Wuhan, Hubei province, had tested positive for the virus, which showed "typical coronavirus morphology", according to Xu Jianguo, director of the CDC's National Institute for Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, who headed a group of experts to identify the illness. "The pathogen of these unexplained cases of viral pneumonia was initially identified as a new type of coronavirus," he said, adding that initial identification needed to be followed up with further research. Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause diseases varying in severity from the common cold to the deadly severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars). Of the six previously known human coronaviruses, four were common and caused only minor respiratory symptoms similar to those of a cold. The other two are Sars, which killed more than 700 people worldwide after originating in China, and Middle East respiratory syndrome (Mers), which has killed more than 850 around the world since 2012. Dr Gauden Galea, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to China, described the preliminary identification of the new coronavirus in a short period of time as "a notable achievement" that would help authorities in other countries to detect and respond to outbreaks. But he called for more comprehensive information to understand what triggered the outbreak and how to manage it in the coming weeks. "Further investigations are also required to determine the source, modes of transmission, extent of infection and countermeasures implemented," Galea said. He said the WHO would continue to monitor the situation closely and was ready to provide technical support to China to investigate and respond to the outbreak. Lu Hongzhou, an epidemiologist at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Centre, which helped to identify the coronavirus, said that although scientists were on alert for any mutations, the public had no cause to panic. "The virus appears not to be highly pathogenic or contagious. There have been no fatalities and no cases of medical staff becoming infected," he said. But identifying the virus was only the first step and a huge amount of work was still needed to trace its source, he said. "The CDC has been working on it and any cases that are related to the Wuhan outbreak will be reported," Lu said. Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said a number of important details needed to be established. "Some key information, including which animal is the source of the virus, the incubation period and the transmission route, is still missing," he said. Medical authorities in Wuhan had earlier ruled out Sars, Mers and bird flu as causes of the outbreak. Sars killed hundreds of people in mainland China and Hong Kong, but no deaths have been reported in Wuhan and eight patients, no longer showing pneumonia symptoms, had been discharged from hospital by Wednesday. The Wuhan health authority has said that no human-to-human transmission has so far been detected. There have been 59 reported cases of the mystery virus in Wuhan since last month, many of them involving individuals who worked in a seafood market where wild animals such as pheasants and snakes, as well as rabbit organs, had also been sold. The market has since been closed. Coronaviruses can infect mammals such as pigs, cattle, cats, dogs, camels, bats and mice, as well as humans. The Sars virus probably infected humans after jumping from animals, according to the World Health Organisation. Dr Ho Pak-leung, an infectious disease expert from the University of Hong Kong, said that one area of focus for the investigation should be the supply chain of animals sold in the market, because coronaviruses carried by mammals and some birds could mix, mutate and jump from animals to humans. If the virus came from that supply chain, animals carrying the coronavirus could have reached other locations too, Ho said. "It would be necessary to check the supply chain as soon as possible, and see whether similar [animals] were supplied in other wet markets outside Wuhan," he said. The health authority in Wuhan was still assessing the seafood market and tracing people who had been in close contact with those infected. The city's first case was identified on December 12 and the latest on December 29. CDC official Xu said the laboratory had used genomic sequencing, nucleic acid detection, virus isolation and other methods to analyse samples from patients. Although it is possible to find evidence of a pathogen in a short period of time, it could take years to produce a vaccine. The new virus' identification came a day before Chinese people began travelling in their hundreds of millions for the Lunar New Year holiday, during which 3 billion journeys are expected to be made in about 40 days. Neither the country's civil aviation authority nor its railway authority has reported any unexplained pneumonia cases, but the transport authority said it would monitor the situation closely and take measures to contain any spread of the virus during the busy travelling season. "The emergence of the epidemic may cause everyone to worry about travelling during the Spring Festival, especially in areas with concentrated passenger traffic," Wang Yang, the Ministry of Transport's chief engineer, said. "Arrangements and deployments have been made to focus on disinfection monitoring and protection measures in areas with a large number of passengers, including transport hubs, passenger stations and cargo hub factories." ^ top ^
China's updated Anti-monopoly Law aimed at further protecting foreign firms criticised for not doing enough (SCMP)
2020-01-09
China's proposal to amend its Anti-monopoly Law is aimed at creating a better business environment for private and foreign businesses, but critics say weak and nontransparent enforcement remain a key issue. The amendments, which are under public review during January, include imposing an obligation on China's police to assist in antitrust investigations, while also increasing the penalty for failing to report a merger for review from a maximum of 500,000 yuan (US$72,000) to 10 per cent of the companies' revenue from the previous year. It also includes the setting up of a review process to prevent the government from introducing polices that restrict competition. The amendments follow swiftly after China enacted its new foreign investment law from the start of 2020, as well as publishing a new draft of its export control law. "Amending the monopoly law, in particular, cracking down on the abuse of administrative power to eliminate or restrict competition, and increase antitrust investigations and penalties is to create fair competition in the market," said Zhen Tao, a Shanghai-based lawyer. "It's more important for foreign companies because what foreign companies need most in the domestic market is a fair environment for competition and legal protection." Before the establishment of the State Administration for Market Regulation in March 2018, the enforcement of the law involved a complicated split between three government branches, including the Ministry of Commerce, which weakened the enforcement of the regulation that had been in place since 2008. The law has previously been criticised for targeting foreign companies partly because almost all merger and acquisition cases that the Ministry of Commerce banned or approved with extra conditions were related to foreign companies. This inevitably led to speculation that the authorities were applying different standards, including unconditionally approving cases such as mergers launched by state-owned enterprises. This speculation stemmed from the a lack of public disclosure, with Liu Xu, a researcher from Tongji Intellectual Property and Competition Law Research Centre, claiming that most of 2,142 merger cases unconditionally approved under antitrust reviews from 2008 to the end of June in 2018 were completed without disclosing the full text of decisions and any relevant evidence. The state-run People's Daily reported in 2018 that the authorities imposed 11 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion) of penalties in total for violating the law since its inception in 2008, with two thirds involving four foreign companies, namely Qualcomm, Mercedes-Benz, Tetra Pak and General Motors. "It's hard for China to refute foreign accusations that China's antitrust enforcement is unreasonably preferential," Liu said. The addition of a "fair competition review" that prevent the government from introducing polices that restrict competition though, remains unclear as to who will enforce the amendment and what would be covered, including government subsidies or other preferential conditions offered to local firms. "The Anti-monopoly Law already has provisions prohibiting the abuse of administrative powers, and it is the freedom of the government to check it beforehand. Shouldn't the investigation and disclosure of such cases be the key?" Liu added. Last year, the State Administration for Market Regulation ruled zero case on the abuse of administrative power to limit market competition, based on official reports. At a local level, the Shandong branch of the administration said it investigated five cases without further elaboration. Cases that could be investigated could include officials ordering government purchases only from suppliers recommended by local industry associations. ^ top ^
China cements Communist Party's role at top of its SOEs, should 'execute the will of the party' (SCMP)
2020-01-08
China has implemented a new regulation to officially put Communist Party committees at the centre of power in running state-owned enterprises, a move reflecting Beijing's strong desire to enhance the control of its vast state sector. It is the first time that the Central Committee of China's ruling Communist Party has issued a specific document articulating how a party unit, which answers only to an upper level Communist Party organ and generally cannot be held accountable by courts or regulators, should operate within a company that is exclusively or majority owned by the state. According to the "provisional" regulation which took effect at the end of last week, a state-owned enterprise must include recognition of the Communist Party in its articles of association and a party organ must be created in any state firm that employs more than three Communist Party members. "All major business and management decisions must be discussed by the Communist Party organ before being presented to the board of directors or management for decision," according to the regulation. The party secretary and chairman of the board of a state firm should be "the same person", and the general manager position within a state company must be filled by a deputy party committee secretary, according to the regulation. For those enterprises under the direct control of the central government, the board of directors must include a "special deputy party secretary" who takes no management role and is exclusively responsible for "party building". The first role of the directors or executives who are party members is to execute the will of the party in performing their duties, it added. The regulation, which is intended to "enhance the Communist Party's comprehensive leadership over state-owned enterprises", is more a formally recognition of practices that have been rolled out in the past several years rather than an announcement of new requirements. Dozens of Chinese companies listed in Hong Kong have altered their articles of association since 2016 to explicitly include the Communist Party in their corporate governance structure. The Communist Party has already built up a significant presence in most state-owned enterprises, and according to Communist Party statistics published in 2018, the party had established organs in 93 per cent of state firms as of the end of 2017. Beijing's decision to officially push the Communist Party's role to the forefront of corporate management comes as China's state firms are receiving increasing scrutiny from its trading partners, especially the United States, even though Beijing is trying to sell the idea that China's state-owned enterprises can compete against private and foreign firms on a level playing field, a concept it has dubbed "competition neutrality". Washington has already begun to act on its concerns about Communist Party involvement in firms doing business in the US. The US National Defence Authorisation Act for the 2020 financial year, which US President Donald Trump signed into law last month, would prevent federal funds from being used to purchase passenger railcars or buses from any state-owned or state-controlled enterprises, including those from China. The emphasis on the role of the party in state-owned enterprises also is at odds with Beijing's earlier vision of forging a modern corporate governance system at state firms that centred on the board of directors. ^ top ^
New plan stresses high tech (Global Times)
2020-01-07
China unveiled its ambitious five-year plan for national key projects focused on fundamental and frontier sciences, urging major breakthroughs in core technologies, especially those related to national security and essential competitiveness amid an imminent China-US tech war and possible decoupling. The Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) issued a notice to kick-start a new round of research and development (R&D) demand solicitation for key national projects in the country's upcoming 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), according to a statement published on its website on Monday. The new development plan, compared to previous national key projects during the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-20), included new domains such as information technology (IT) and space technology, urging China's science and technology sphere to make major breakthroughs in technologies related to national security and enhancing core competitiveness. It also gives a hint into the country's future R&D focus as the US-China rivalry expanded into high-tech sector, observers said. The Chinese tech industry experienced a rough 2019, as a trade war between China and the US has been evolving into a tech war, with Washington escalating its crackdown on the rising tech power of the world's second-largest economy. Most recently, the US government took measures to limit exports of artificial intelligence software to China, which is also part of its broader efforts to restrict sensitive technology cooperation with its adversaries like China over economic and national security reasons. "Considering the trade war and tech competition, China has been significantly valuing fundamental frontier research - for example, IT industry, fundamental materials and chipsets, to which Chinese authorities have now attached unprecedented importance," Xiang Ligang, director-general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told the Global Times on Tuesday. The MOST's solicitation covers major strategic foundation frontiers, as well as fields like energy, transport, manufacturing, material and space technologies. The new round of science and technology revolution and industrial revolution are picking up pace, the MOST said. And major breakthroughs have been bred from basic frontier fields. "Each fundamental area mentioned [in MOST's next five-year development plan] is highly crucial, based on which major technology breakthroughs could be made," Xiang said. "For example, from research on fundamental materials, R&D projects could cover chipset materials, space shuttle and deep-sea vehicle materials." The severe US crackdown on Chinese tech firms such as Huawei and ZTE had driven China to strengthen its tech infrastructure and to build self-sufficient supply chains, with some even carrying out a de-Americanization campaign to reduce reliance on core components from the US. And in the 14th Five-Year Plan road map, the MOST urged greater focus on self-reliance and innovation and to work on existing shortcomings, which had not been mentioned in the previous five-year plan. Guo Guoping, an expert on quantum computer development from Hefei-based University of Science and Technology of China, told the Global Times on Tuesday that he had already applied for a semiconductor quantum chip research to the ministry. It's clear China has been accelerating its efforts to catch up with the US in the quantum computing sector, which, however, might lead to more severe measures imposed by the US government to curb China's development, he noted. "However, I am still confident that China could succeed despite of this, as the country and its scientists and engineers are more determined and the authorities have displayed more patience and interest in industry- and application - oriented research," Guo said. "Admittedly, there is gap of around five years between China and US in the quantum computing field, and the US import bans on materials and supply chains, such as integrated circuits and software, could affect China's progress in the field," Guo remarked. While China-US tech decoupling is becoming likely, industry analysts noticed China's urgency in building more competitive technology industry and supply chains. However, how far China could go in some cutting-edge domains without US supply remains a major question. To facilitate the link between R&D and supply chains, the MOST's future plan features the exploration of a new work mechanism, which could be summarized as "those in need raise the problems, and the science and technology circle find the solutions," as the document showed. Such a mechanism requires applicants to fully describe what their demands are, and how specific innovation could address the current problems or to overcome current development bottlenecks, as well as the strategic importance and urgency of potential projects expected to meet such demands and be applied to different scenarios. While there is a gap between fundamental research and the application of technologies, some industry representatives expect more capital from society's emerging enterprises to get involved and narrow the gap from purely research-end to the product-end of these concepts, hastening the industrialization process. Chinese scientists and researchers should also change their mind-sets from going for a pure academic paper to chasing actual applications to their findings, Guo said. ^ top ^
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| Guangdong |
China enlists ex-World Bank economist to help run Guangdong, sparking hopes of Greater Bay Area reform (SCMP)
2020-01-10
China has enlisted a New York-educated former World Bank economist to help run one of its major economic engines, fuelling hopes that greater financial opening could be in store for 2020 and beyond. Zhang Xin, a graduate of Columbia University, has been appointed vice-governor of Guangdong province, over the border with Hong Kong and home to China's ambitious Greater Bay Area project, in a plan to link the economies of 11 cities to create an economic powerhouse on China's southern coast. The 51-year old is seen as a rising star within China's financial system and is former deputy chairman at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE). Zhang is viewed as a reformer, given his experience working with China's yuan liberalisation, financial deregulation and his association with retired central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, a key voice for the reform of China's financial architecture. It is perhaps his previous experience in the US, however, which is most eye-catching. After receiving his doctorate in finance at Columbia Business School in 1997, Zhang worked as a senior financial economist at the World Bank, helping steer the Washington institute's response to the Asian financial crisis in the same year. Among his approaches to the crisis was revamping capital markets in countries with unstable financial systems. Zhang returned to China in 2001 to work at the China Securities Regulatory Commission. In 2004, he was made deputy chief of the financial stability bureau at the People's Bank of China, then promoted to chief a year later. Guangdong analysts said that this track record of pursuing reform both domestically and overseas could help put China's most populous province and primary tech hub on the path to further liberalisation. "It has been common practice in recent years to have at least one experienced financial specialist as Guangdong's deputy governor. Zhang's international finance background is outstanding, which will benefit the Greater Bay Area scheme," said Peng Peng, vice-president of the Guangdong System Reform Research Society, a think tank. It has been mooted in recent months that other Greater Bay Area cities could absorb some of troubled Hong Kong's financial functions. However, significant liberalisation would have to be undertaken, if the region were to be attractive to foreign investors. Along with managing Guangdong's financial risks at a time of slowing national economic growth, this will be one of Zhang's key tasks. "Zhang's experience could help Guangdong lure more foreign capital and promote renminbi internationalisation. If it promotes Guangzhou and Shenzhen's international financial status effectively, it could help the two cities share some of Hong Kong's financial functions," Peng said. Guo Wanda, vice-president at the China Development Institute, a Shenzhen think tank, said that one of the key tasks in Zhang's inbox on day one will be the Hong Kong problem. The city has been beseeched by protests for more than half a year, which have laid ruin to its economy, leaving many to speculate that it will be integrated with the mainland more quickly than expected. "Shenzhen now is responsible for how to solve the problem of financial cooperation with Hong Kong, and at the same time it undertakes the mission of China's future financial innovation," Guo said. ^ top ^
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| Xinjiang |
Two sessions in Xinjiang, Tibet focus on religion, poverty-relief (Global Times)
2020-01-09
China's Xinjiang and Tibet regions will retain religious freedom and poverty alleviation as priorities in 2020, officials said during their local ongoing two sessions. The year of 2020 marks a crucial time point for China as it enters the homestretch in achieving the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. A stable religious situation in Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region and Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region paves the way for their economic boom and poverty relief, said Chinese experts. Representatives and committee members approved at a meeting of the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Tibet Regional Committee on Wednesday that freedom of religious belief in the region is fully guaranteed, but monasteries are never allowed to be turned into illegal places that undermine national unity. Modern monks should elaborate on the rules and doctrines of Tibetan Buddhism in line with the socialist society and social development, so as to give full play to the role of Tibetan Buddhism in spurring people on to higher attainment, Jigme Tsering, a monk of a monastery in Qamdo, said at the session. Zhu Weiqun, former head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC, told the Global Times on Thursday that relevant authorities and religious institutions have severely cracked down on the separatist force hidden in monasteries, and guided the patriotic and religious activities of Tibetan Buddhism for more than a decade, which have achieved good results. The efforts have been welcomed by the majority of monks, Zhu noted. Dzongkha Adan, vice director of Tashilhunpo Monastery in Xigaze, said monks and nuns are Buddhists and first of all they are Chinese citizens. The success of religious work in Tibet has provided valuable experience for Xinjiang and other parts of the country, Zhu said. The government will further implement the Party's policy on religion, strive to build a socialist Xinjiang with Chinese characteristics, and adhere to Sinicization of religion in China, Chen Quanguo, secretary of the Communist Party of China's Xinjiang Regional Committee, said at a meeting with representatives of the two sessions in Xinjiang on Wednesday. "We should give full play to the positive role of patriotic religious personage to guide religious believers in their faith and conduct, and encourage believers to devote more in wellbeing improvement," Chen said. Xinjiang and Tibet have long been the main grounds in China's nationwide campaign against poverty as local ethnic groups mainly dwell in deep mountains with adverse natural environment and backward infrastructure. Both regions are poised to secure a full victory in the anti-poverty battle in 2020. Decisive progress has been made in 2019 in the fight against poverty in Xinjiang where 645,000 people shook off poverty and the poverty rate lowered from 6.1 percent to 1.2 percent, according to the government. Over the past year, the Xinjiang government has allocated 37.567 billion yuan ($5.40 billion) to fund poverty alleviation projects, such as providing safe drinking water for 346,000 poverty-stricken people and safe housing for 9,355 impoverished households. By 2020, the region's governments will lift the remaining 165,000 poor people out of poverty and eliminate absolute poverty based on the current standards. Although absolute poverty in Tibet was basically eliminated by 2019, the Tibet government will continue to focus on poverty alleviation in 2020, Qizhala, chairman of the regional government, said in his government work report delivered Tuesday at the third session of the 11th People's Congress of Tibet. The Tibetan regional government plans to allocate funds of 13.1 billion yuan to further consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation. Life insurance companies in Tibet have also taken part in helping prevent people from falling back into poverty due to accidental injuries, the China News Agency Service reported. Governments in Tibet and Xinjiang say they have also come up with innovative and environmentally-friendly ideas to help locals to shake off poverty in recent years, developing industries such as tourism and e-commerce to help villagers. ^ top ^
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| Hongkong |
Hongkongers suffer divergence, emotional breakdowns amid social unrest (Global Times)
2020-01-10
Over six months of tumultuous riots in Hong Kong have led to a society divided with many families falling apart. With the social climate cooling down, such an experience has become unforgettable for some. A 28-year-old Hongkonger called Basa belongs to the so-called blue ribbons, which usually refer to government and police supporters. He said he clearly remembers the day of Hong Kong's district council elections on November 24 when the pro-establishment camp suffered a big defeat. In a family group chat, many of his cousins insulted him for expressing his hopes that the pro-establishment candidates could win. This forced him to quit not only this group chat but also other family group chats with his peers who oppose the government and the police. "In their eyes, I am an outcast and they doubt my personality, and it is even impossible to argue with them," Basa told the Global Times. Basa said that except for his father who holds the same political view as he does, he has not contacted other family members in Hong Kong since August even though he does not know their political stance. "When family members meet, they would unavoidably talk about social issues and risk turning against each other due to political differences. Therefore, it is better not to even meet," said Basa. Rampage across the city, vandalism, hit-and-runs, arson at MTR train stations, and black-clad rioters have turned Asia's financial and business center into a state of lawless Gotham City, creating a nightmare for many citizens. Some of the violent images from the riots include confrontation between police and protesters, protesters beating up innocent citizens and rioters turning Hong Kong campus into Syria-like warzone. Hong Kong used to be a city that values different opinions where everyone could express their views in a peaceful way. Political differences are now tearing apart families. Some elderly people, who usually strongly support law enforcement, have been avoiding getting into complex political debates with their children, most of whom show more compassion for protesters regardless their radical and violent acts. And some parents who talked with the Global Times expressed growing anxiety over the city's social divides. Allen Wong, 52, a taxi driver who lives in Kowloon District of Hong Kong, told the Global Times that the months-long turmoil in the city has divided his family, and the relationship between him and his son is getting very intense as they totally disagree on the turmoil. He has no solution but to keep distance with his son and not mention anything about politics at home. "When we argued about the current situation my son was like extremely angry and he can't persuade me. And I remember one time he got a knife to threaten me but was stopped by his mom. At that moment my heart was broken into pieces." Wong asked "what turns our children into extremists? Their teachers? Media? Foreigners? I have no idea, but there must be some bad guys manipulating them." Wong said he believes the reason why some young people are excited and even enjoy the protests is because he believes some of them get paid for this. "It is very common. My son got 30 Octopus cards when coming back home from a protest in August." Octopus is a major electronic payment system in Hong Kong, which covers public traffic systems, most super markets, and convenience stores. Each one is worth 250 Hong Kong dollars ($32.2), and on that day, he said to me "look at this old fool. I can earn money now and you don't have the right to lecture me anymore." "He got Octopus cards rather than credit cards or debit cards means he is just nobody in those protesters. He was lucky, as I know, he didn't hurt anyone yet. But what about those who set fire to burn an old man and even threw stones to kill a 70-year-old elderly? They are criminals already. This has nothing to do with democracy, and the young men are just pawns on the chessboard," he said. Hong Kong security chief John Lee Ka-chiu told a LegCo meeting on Wednesday that it's believed that some rioters even received training abroad, and some tactics used by protesters showed they have had outside help, according to media reports. In an exclusive interview with the Global Times, the Hong Kong Red Cross (HKRC) said since mid-June, the organization has provided first aid and psychological support services to people affected by recent social events. As of January 8, the total number of direct beneficiaries of its psychological support service is 1,606 people, according to Eliza Cheung, Clinical Psychologist cum Service-in-charge, from HKRC's Psychological Support Service. Cheung HKRC also provides psycho-education talks and training to empower teachers, parents, community workers, and the general public to respond to the massive mental health needs. More than 2,400 participants had received these trainings since June. "We would not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature, in order to gain trust and acceptance from all parties, so that the Red Cross personnel can provide continuous and effective humanitarian services to people from various backgrounds and with different political stands under any circumstances," Betty Lau, Deputy Secretary General (Services) (Acting) of HKRC, told the Global Times. Patty, a 50-year-old woman who lives in Tseung Kwan O, told the Global Times that she came to live Hong Kong from Central China's Hunan Province since 1997 and married a local resident. "People here used to be very polite, with high moral standards. For example, we did not allow people to post up a number of banners and posters anywhere they wanted," she said, noting that anti-government posters, some of which are even vulgar and offensive could be seen anywhere across the city. Black-clad protesters vandalize a wide range of public facilities including traffic lights and pavement. The repair work can cost up to HK$65 million ($8.4 million), according to media reports. "It's hard to image a civilized society could tolerate such lawlessness," she said, noting that she gets very emotional seeing hardcore protesters act as vigilantes by beating up people who disagree with them. She said she was mentally crashed when she saw a police officer slashed in the neck during a law enforcement operation in October. "When I saw it on TV, I could not stop crying. What's wrong with them [rioters]? This is murder!" she said. When she looked back to what had happened in the past six months, her voice trembled. "I don't have relatives or family members working at the Hong Kong Police Force. The way rioters acted was insane and inhumane," she said. Hong Kong has experienced a large-scale social movement following an extradition bill controversy, which has caused "community trauma," Fabia Shuk Ling Cheung, a Hong Kong-based clinical psychologist consultant, told the Global Times on Tuesday. "There have been obviously growing numbers of people who came to seek consultation, showing symptoms like anxiety and depression," she said, noting that stress has also exacerbated their psychological-related physical symptoms. Symptoms including abnormal heartbeats, headaches, stomach pain, insomnia, and nightmares could occur when they recalled memories of violence and protest-related images, she said. Basa said that after attending a gathering in October sending out Chinese national flags, a typical activity for blue ribbons, he was beaten by rioters. It was the first time he said that he felt scared and that his personal safety was threatened. "I would be extremely careful when I open the WeChat app on my phone to avoid being attacked," said Basa, saying that people who used WeChat are often seen as those who have close relationships with the mainland. He said his scared feeling got entrenched after a 57-year-old man was set on fire following a confrontation with violent protesters in November. "If I were there, I would argue with them as well, and I could be the next one being set on fire," said Basa. Different political stances have caused a divergence among the public, and many Hongkongers do not trust people around them anymore. Danny Lee, 36, is a bartender from a cocktail bar in Causeway Bay. His bar is located at a busy district for shopping and entertaining that is popular among foreign tourists and residents, but was frequently interrupted and damaged by protests and violent incidents. "I used to support the protests to be honest, but now I am not very sure because the whole movement is changing and corrupted by extremism," he said. "Today, in Hong Kong, everyone is still scared. Not because of the government and police, but the extremist views impacting everyone around us," he added. If people say something against the riots or criticize the violence in some public areas, they will be targeted by some radical people, Lee noted. "Once they labeled you as a guy with different opinion and get support from the crowds, then they will find the legitimacy to hurt you, not just words, but with physical harm. This is mad." Cheung, a clinical psychologist consultant, said she has been trying to stand neutral as that she received different patients; some blamed police for beating up protesters, and some cried when they talked about protesters damaging public properties. "I won't judge their values of political stance. Emotion itself cannot be judged right or wrong," she said. However, the overall Hong Kong society has become more radicalized as the social movement has continued, and people expressed more emotional feelings rather than their opinions. "We all need to calm down and try to respect other people and listen to different voices," Cheung said, noting that this process indeed takes time. ^ top ^
US Congress should stop interfering in Hong Kong says government, as it hits back at lawmakers' claims of 'accelerated trend of decreased autonomy' (SCMP)
2020-01-09
US lawmakers should stop interfering in Hong Kong's affairs, the government said on Thursday, as it hit back at congressional claims there had been "an accelerated trend of decreased autonomy" in the city. In its annual report, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) said it had observed a further erosion of Hong Kong's autonomy and fundamental freedoms under the "one country, two systems" framework. "Chinese government influence over the territory, and Hong Kong officials' willingness to comply with the interests of the Chinese government, continued an accelerated trend of decreased autonomy observed in recent years," the report said. But a government spokesman disputed that, and said the city had seen "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" since it returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and had enjoyed a high degree of autonomy. "The one country, two systems principle has been fully and successfully implemented. The Hong Kong government will continue to implement the principle resolutely in accordance with the Basic Law," the spokesman said. On Wednesday, Congress urged the White House to warn Chinese and Hong Kong officials that the erosion of the city's autonomy would threaten its special status under United States law. Lawmakers also accused Beijing of employing disinformation and censorship in an attempt to "shape reporting" on the anti-government protests in the city, and attribute the movement to influence by foreign forces. The commission called on President Donald Trump's administration to fully enact the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act to monitor the state of the city's autonomy, punish human rights violators and reaffirm the US government's support for democracy in Hong Kong. Beijing has said the legislation was an interference in its domestic affairs, while the Hong Kong government said the legislation was "unwarranted, sends an erroneous signal to violent protesters and harms the relations and common interests between Hong Kong and the US." The commission said the trend of decreased autonomy had implications for both the protection of the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong, and for the future of US policy towards the city, which is based on its continued autonomy. Hong Kong police's use of force during the anti-government protests contravened international standards, the commission said. "The Chinese central government employed propaganda, disinformation, and censorship in an apparent attempt to shape reporting on the Hong Kong protests, attributing the protests to influence by ''foreign forces,'' the report said. In the wide-ranging report, the CECC also called on the Trump administration to make Beijing's human rights record a cornerstone of all interactions with China – including negotiations over trade. The report found that Beijing's human rights record deteriorated in a number of areas during the 2019 reporting year – which ran from August 2018 to August 2019 – among them freedom of the press. That year saw the continuation of a crackdown against amateur journalism, the CECC said, citing the cases of three well-known "citizen journalists", who were handed combined jail sentences of 21 years on charges relating to the subversion of state power. The commission devoted about 25 of its 323 pages to the mass internment of Uygurs and other largely Muslim ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, where it said detainees were subject to mistreatment, forced labour and political indoctrination. The report also said the Hong Kong government had prosecuted and sentenced pro-democracy leaders in the 2014 Occupy movement, and disqualified and removed pro-democracy legislators from office. The commission recommended the US administration emphasise in meetings with Beijing and Hong Kong officials that any change in circumstances could see the city lose the special status it enjoys under US law. Under the terms of the US-Hong Kong Policy Act, the city is treated differently from the rest of China in terms of trade, diplomacy and politics. That status has provided much-needed shelter for Hong Kong from the tit-for-tat tariffs Washington and Beijing have levied on each other. The report also urged the Chinese and Hong Kong governments to restart the electoral reform process and work towards attaining universal suffrage in the city. A spokesman for the Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong rejected the US congress report as "talking black into white", "distorting the truth", and a brutal interference with the city's and Chinese domestic affairs. The spokesman said the report was full of absurd and groundless claims, filled with "ignorance, prejudice and arrogance". The spokesman said "one country, two systems", "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong", and high degree of autonomy principles had been implemented comprehensively in the city and it was "internationally recognised". The spokesman also defended the police handling of protests, saying officers had carried out their duties with dedication. The spokesman said US politicians should look at the way their own police officers enforced the law and their own country's "geopolitical bullying", making it the least qualified to comment on Hong Kong police and affairs. The spokesman also said the US report was further evidence that the US was interfering in Hong Kong affairs. ^ top ^
Hong Kong protesters have been receiving training from foreign forces, city's security chief says, while also revealing more than 3,700 phones were seized and broken into (SCMP)
2020-01-08
Hong Kong's security chief raised concerns on Wednesday that some anti-government protesters received training from "non-local" individuals to fuel the social unrest plaguing the city for seven months. John Lee Ka-chiu became the first top official to go beyond speculation about the involvement of foreign forces to cite intelligence and the well-planned nature of the protests in making the allegation. He said there was no evidence linking a recent, protest-related spate of weapon and bomb seizures by police to overseas terrorist organisations, but suggested some protesters were not acting on their own. Lee also revealed police had seized 3,721 mobile phones from protesters in the first five months of unrest and had them broken into to read the contents. Responding to a pro-establishment lawmaker's question in the Legislative Council on Wednesday, the secretary for security said: "Based on the rioters' acts, we definitely believe they received training." He did not name any organisation or individual, but said the assessment was based on the government's investigation and intelligence concerning "how [protesters] were organised" and "the different versions and angles of promotional materials they have". "It seems that in every operation or incident, they will plan in advance with a deliberate plot in a syndicated manner," Lee said. "In terms of resources and mobilisation, we don't believe that a handful of unorganised rioters could orchestrate such events." Lee added that online news had also indicated overseas groups were training individuals to join the movement. Civic Party leader Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu said it was extremely irresponsible for Lee to make such accusations without proof. He said the official was no different from former city leader Leung Chun-ying, who claimed foreign interference was behind the 2014 Occupy movement, but "at the end of the day proved nothing". "Nobody should believe Lee's empty accusation until he can prove his claims," Yeung said. Pro-democracy lawmaker Kenneth Leung, of the Professionals Guild, accused Lee of making "irresponsible and serious accusations" without evidence. "I can't see why creativity demonstrated by protesters has to be linked to overseas training," he said. But pro-Beijing lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin, who is also an adviser to the city's leader in the Executive Council, backed Lee. Wong said he was convinced it would be impossible for protests to roll on for months without foreign manipulation. Lee revealed in the same meeting that police had processed mobile phones belonging to arrested protesters from June to November with search warrants issued by the courts. "Police will only conduct a digital forensic examination on mobile phones after obtaining court warrants," he said, dismissing concerns about abuse of power. Activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung – who was arrested in August in connection with a protest in June – had questioned whether police abused their power by hacking into his mobile phone. He found that some instant messaging records from his locked phone had been admitted as evidence by the prosecution. Wong said in December he had not given up his password during his arrest. Police clarified that it was conducted under a magistrate-issued search warrant. Opposition lawmaker Charles Mok called for more guidelines to prevent possible abuse. "We are talking about [a lot of] phones," Mok said. "You break into the phones and read the contents, all contents, whether they are related to the cases being investigated or not. And no one can know if the phones will have spyware installed after being seized." Icarus Wong Ho-yin, a spokesman for Civil Rights Observer, a concern group, agreed. "It seems it has now become a casual procedure that officers will seize an arrestee's phone and check its contents," he said. He added the risk of possible abuse was getting higher as police had resorted to making mass arrests recently. "We have heard of cases of officers threatening people stopped on the street for questioning to hand over and unlock their phones for officers to check the contents, risking arrest if they do not comply," Wong said. Meanwhile, the government rejected a suggestion by the pro-Beijing camp to introduce legislation to stop demonstrators from "disguising themselves as online media workers" to make it easier for them to carry out illegal acts. Secretary for Home Affairs Lau Kong-wah said that, despite suspected cases of protesters impersonating reporters and participating in illegal and violent acts, the government would not define what constituted a media worker with legislation and had no intention of screening journalists' qualifications to report. Meanwhile, riot police applied pepper spray to disperse protesters after a vigil in Sheung Tak Estate in Tseung Kwan O to mark the two-month anniversary of the death of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) student Chow Tsz-lok. A dozen black-clad protesters laid bricks and other large items on the road outside a car park in the estate where the vigil took place. Officers rushed in to warn participants to leave the illegal assembly, while tear gas warnings were raised. Several protesters were later subdued on the ground at about 10.40pm and officers fired pepper spray to stop others from getting closer. Chow fell from the car park near a police operation on November 4 and died on November 8. The circumstances of the death have not been explained. ^ top ^
HK office's role enhanced (Global Times)
2020-01-06
The liaison office of the Chinese central government in Hong Kong is expected to play a more active role in engaging with Hong Kong society in a more creative way instead of simply being a channel of communication as its new head took office on Monday to help the city engulfed in violent protests to return to the right path. Luo Huining, the new director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, came under the spotlight as he spoke with reporters in Hong Kong on Monday morning for the first time since he was appointed by the State Council, China's cabinet. The 65-year-old, who previously served as Party chief of Northwest China's Qinghai Province and North China's Shanxi Province, is considered politically mature and capable of working with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government to handle the city's dilemma. Located in Sai Wan district, the liaison office was first established as the Hong Kong branch of the Xinhua News Agency. After Hong Kong returned to China, the central government renamed it in 1999 and gave it more functions, such as coordinating authorities like the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Garrison of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, helping relevant authorities to manage Chinese institutions and acting as a bridge to promote cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong in different areas. However, it has come under tremendous pressure since the outbreak of anti-government protests in mid-June 2019. Radical protesters not only defaced and vandalized the office building on July 21, but also challenged Beijing's authority and posed as a blatant threat to safety of all employees of the office. The office, which was criticized for misjudging the situation in Hong Kong, has been blamed for isolating itself from the majority of Hong Kong society, Reuters reported in November 2019. The criticism, which came not only from Hong Kong society but also from the mainland society, also gives a hint to challenges while carrying out the "one country, two systems" principle - a political arrangement with no parallel in history. Dealing with the relations between "one country" and "two systems" has led to major divergences between the mainland and Hong Kong, as the city has been pursuing a higher degree of autonomy while the mainland upholds the country's sovereignty over it, and the liaison office has been exploring how to reach a balance between them, analysts said. Some office employees who talked to the Global Times on condition of anonymity said they have been anxious, heartbroken sometimes, working day and night in the past few months. "A lot of reflection has been done, especially in some areas we have not done enough," an employee said, noting that growing challenges, however, have not deterred them from working together and finding a way out together with the HKSAR government. Another employee said Luo's remarks on Monday morning represented a shared vision and hope of all liaison office staff. At a short press briefing, the new chief expressed strong willingness to get his job done with sincerity and true feelings for the city, firmly believing that the Constitution and the Basic Law are fully enacted in Hong Kong. Luo also noted that "one country, two systems" will be implemented stably in the long run, and the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong will be ensured. Although he has not been engaged in Hong Kong and Macao-related work, Luo has rich experience in local administration, Tang Fei, a member of the Council of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, told the Global Times on Monday. "His assignment shows the central government hopes to make a breakthrough while moving steadily in Hong Kong-related work," Tang noted. Compared to former heads of the liaison office, Luo came to Hong Kong as an "outsider" who has little connection with the city and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, but with abundant experience in political affairs, as the situations in both Qinghai and Shanxi were complicated, especially the latter, which had seen a massive anti-corruption campaign before his tenure, analysts said. While Jiang Enzhu, the first director of the liaison office in the 1990s was a diplomat, which helped facilitate the handover of the city from Britain to China, and Wang Zhimin, Luo's predecessor, who had been dealing with the months-long social unrest, have worked with Hong Kong and Macao-related authorities, Luo is expected to play a more active role in considering Hong Kong affairs from a larger picture by integrating local demands with the motherland's development. "Previously, the liaison office had put too much focus on 'two systems' to ensure the city's high degree of autonomy. It's now time to reiterate 'one country,' as it always goes first," Li Xiaobing, an analyst on Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan studies at Nankai University in Tianjin, told the Global Times on Monday. How to strengthen a relatively weak presence of the liaison office in Hong Kong society also remains a major task for the office's future work. While "one country, two systems" is a new political arrangement, the role of the liaison office could be creative, analysts said. "It will make some adjustments under Luo's leadership, including their changing relationship with the Hong Kong SAR government, for example, to be politically responsible for the government's decision," he said. For example, Hong Kong public servants continue to uphold the principle of 'political neutrality,' which means they are not responsible for any side. This inherited from the British occupation period. Such a political stance could not meet the demands of "Love the Country, Love Hong Kong," as work principles, and the liaison office could give more instructions on this aspect, Li explained. Luo's appointment was also the first personnel change since anti-government protests began, which was hailed as "the most significant one" in media reports. It also signals the central government's system of governance over the city in accordance with the "one country, two systems" principle and the Basic Law. "'One country, two systems' is Hong Kong's biggest advantage," Luo stressed at Monday's press briefing. In some domains where the liaison office has not done enough, including fully reaching out to different social spheres and talking to the young generation, more efforts should be made, analysts noted. "It's necessary to promote national education and engage more Hong Kong youngsters in the development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to increase their sense of national identity," Tang said. ^ top ^
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| Taiwan |
For Taiwan voters, election is about more than Beijing and Washington (SCMP)
2020-01-10
A significant number of Taiwan's voters remain undecided days before Saturday's presidential election, which has become a proxy for the intensifying strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington. Between 15 and 20 per cent of voters have yet to choose their preferred presidential candidate, according to most opinion polls, and a sizeable number of them are scrutinising the two main parties' economic policy platforms and finding them wanting. Incumbent Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), is the preferred US candidate, while her main challenger, the populist Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu from the mainland-friendly Kuomintang (KMT), is seen as Beijing's top choice. The third contender, James Soong of the mainland-friendly People First Party, has been largely ignored in the race. He declared his presidential bid – his fifth attempt – only two months before the election. Chiropractor Wang Wei-yang, 40, is one of Taiwan's undecided voters, and he lamented the lack of focus on economic and social issues in the campaign. "I prefer to have a leader who can really bring us economic prosperity, but apparently neither Tsai nor Han are able to do so," he said. "The 2020 election is dogged by political ideologies rather than economic and public well-being issues as it has been in the past and, worst yet, foreign factors like US and China influences have become more obvious this time." Analysts say the race has become entangled in the increasingly fractious US-China relationship as Washington has thrown its support behind the Tsai government with a range of legislative and other measures, including the Taiwan Travel Act, the National Defence Authorisation Act – which authorises high-level government and military exchanges – and billions of dollars in US arms sales to Taiwan. "With the US throwing its strong support behind President Tsai, the election this time inevitably has been seen as a war between the US and China, which naturally favours a mainland-friendly candidate like Han to be the next Taiwan president," said Yan Jiann-fa, vice-president of the government-funded Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. Beijing considers Taiwan to be part of its territory that must be brought under mainland control, by force if necessary. It has suspended official exchanges with Taiwan, staged a series of war games close to the island and poached seven of Taiwan's diplomatic allies since Tsai's election in 2016 when she refused to accept the one-China principle. A proposal by President Xi Jinping in January last year for cross-strait unification talks under the "one country, two systems" model – which applies in Hong Kong and Macau – backfired, according to observers, who said Beijing had not anticipated the extent of the backlash. Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks on Taiwan Tsai, who until then had appeared likely to serve only one term, sternly rejected the offer, and her stance was strengthened by the anti-government movement in Hong Kong that began in June. The continuing unrest in the city gave her the ammunition she needed for an election campaign warning voters the self-ruled island would become like Hong Kong if Xi's proposal was accepted. "Beijing perceived the negative impact and tried to offer sweeteners or other preferential treatment for Taiwanese living on the mainland, hoping this could reverse the situation and win support from voters in Taiwan, but apparently such a remedy has not been successful," Yan said. In the months of campaigning, concerns have been raised in Taiwanese public debate about the Chinese Communist Party's pressure on Taiwan, despite Beijing's attempts to neutralise the issue with 26 measures making Taiwanese more equal to their mainland peers, announced just two months ahead of Saturday's voting. Meanwhile, Tsai has touted the "record high" strength in ties between Taipei and Washington, and "the best ever relations with the US" under her administration. Analysts said that, although the US-Taiwan relationship was never a key election issue for voters, it had been viewed as part of the political stance on cross-strait relations, with Tsai's supporters generally endorsing her efforts to strengthen ties between Washington and Taipei. "With Tsai's administration scoring significant success in US-Taiwan relations in the past few years, Han's tendency to talk more about relations with China does make some voters feel like this potentially is a decision on Taiwan as a more US-friendly country or a China-friendly one," said Jeremy Huai-che Chiang, a research associate at the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation. Chiang said this had not necessarily been the case under previous Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou, "but with a China-friendly perception of the KMT increasingly emerging – especially among the youth – under Han's candidacy, even some KMT think tanks and politicians have felt the urge to readdress their relationship towards the US to combat that image". While a Han presidency would not pose a setback to US-Taiwan relations, it could mean a return for Taiwan to a "relatively more middle-ground position" between the US and China, maintaining cooperation with the US and focusing on economic cooperation with China, Chiang said. Wu Chong-han, associate professor in the Department of Diplomacy at Taiwan's National Chengchi University, said that in the midst of the prolonged US-China trade war, Washington had offered a lot of security commitments to Taiwan, but that it was "not necessarily a positive thing for cross-strait relations". Wu said the importance of the US for Taiwan was reflected in the "unwritten convention" that Taiwanese politicians held talks with the US before running for president. Han, for instance, took a nine-day trip to the US last April, where he said he discussed investments in Kaohsiung before joining the KMT primary race in June. Foxconn tycoon Terry Gou Tai-ming met US President Donald Trump in May – after seeking the KMT's presidential nomination in April – to talk about the company's investments in Wisconsin and other issues. Gou quit the race in September, after losing out to Han for the KMT's endorsement. "It is known that Taiwan's political candidates will travel to the US to 'do interviews' before they run, and US-Taiwan relations do have a big impact in Taiwan's elections," Wu said. "But while US-Taiwan relations have strengthened under Tsai, this presents a certain level of risk for cross-strait relations, as the US slowly pulls Taiwan in the direction of becoming a diplomatic partner, in terms of what impact it will have on peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. "I would propose that the US government return to its policy of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan from past US administrations … with the prerequisite that relations between Taiwan and the US continue to be strong," Wu said. The US$738 billion National Defence Authorisation Act, signed by Trump in December, included a required review of Taiwan's security and the military balance between Beijing and Taipei, an emphasis on regular US Navy transits through the Taiwan Strait, as well as a mandated report within 45 days of Taiwan's elections on "influence operations conducted by China to interfere in or undermine" the election. David Stilwell, the top US diplomat for Asia, also called on Beijing to not interfere, saying that "the concern always exists for meddling – interfering – in [Taiwan's] internal affairs". Brent Christensen, director of the American Institute in Taiwan, the de facto US embassy on the island, told reporters in November that Washington was working with Taipei to combat Beijing's disinformation efforts through information sharing and by mobilising civil society. Albert Chiu Shihyi, associate professor of political science at Tunghai University in Taichung, said the passing of US laws regarding Taiwan in recent years had been positive for both Tsai and her campaign, although the benefits had recently been decreasing. "We have seen attention in the election shift in recent months towards more internal issues," he said. "Still, the US factor has been, and will continue to be, important in Taiwan's elections." Chiu said one side effect of the dominance of cross-strait issues and US-Taiwan relations earlier in the election had been the passage of the anti-infiltration bill – aimed at curbing Beijing's influence in Taiwanese politics – through the DPP-controlled legislature in December, just weeks ahead of the elections. Taiwan passes law targeting Chinese influence on politics. The law bans donations to political parties and the influencing of elections at the instruction of, or with financial support from, "hostile external forces", referencing Beijing without naming it. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said the Communist Party's infiltration and interference in Taiwan was "serious and was already a widely known reality". "The CCP has accelerated its push in its unification process, differentiating its United Front efforts against Taiwan, which has seriously threatened our country's safety, society's order and the ordinary functioning of democracy, and the recent amendment is all meant to safeguard the country's sovereignty, freedom and democratic order, in order to guide exchange and order," the council said in a statement. But the anti-infiltration law has sparked concerns from Taiwanese living in the mainland – and high-profile businessmen such as Gou – that they could be targeted by its provisions. Lee Cheng-hung, head of the Association of Taiwan Investment Enterprises on the Mainland, said he feared the legislation could "create a serious problem for cross-strait marriages, business, student and academic exchanges as well as cooperation between Taiwan and mainland enterprises". Beijing has also rebuked the law for causing "alarm and panic" among mainland-based Taiwanese businessmen, with Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian accusing the DPP of using it as a tactic meant for "political gain". The Communist Party has been accused of increasing its grass-roots influence in Taiwan in recent years, including through local media, political elites, businesses and religious organisations. According to Jyan Hong-wei, director general of Taiwan's department of cybersecurity, the mainland is also believed to be responsible for around half of an estimated 30 million cyberattacks against the island each month. Recent cases of perceived mainland influence include the indictment of a retired lieutenant colonel and his father on charges of spying for Beijing, as well as the charging of former triad member Chang An-lo – also founder of the Chinese Unification Promotion Party – in August for making illegal gains, with some of his funding originating from the mainland. For Taiwanese voters, however, the tricky landscape the island must navigate in its relationships with Beijing and Washington has simply been part of their political reality, observers said. "Taiwan's well-being could be much better if we can focus more on the healthy development of the nation rather than trying to use the US or China relations to make gains," said senior accountant James Liu, who has decided not to vote on Saturday because of his disappointment in the performance of all three presidential candidates. ^ top ^
Taiwan's foreign minister warns Beijing not to retaliate if it doesn't like election result (SCMP)
2020-01-09
Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu has warned Beijing not to retaliate if it does not like the result of the island's presidential election on Saturday. Wu told reporters on Thursday that Beijing should not "read too much into" Taiwan's elections, and that the government and military would be monitoring any changes to the cross-strait situation after the vote. Beijing considers Taiwan part of its territory, and has proposed bringing the democratic island into its fold through a "one country, two systems" model of semi-sovereignty. "This is our election – it's not China's election," Wu said at a briefing. "If China wants to play with democracies in other countries so much, maybe they can try with their own elections at some point. "If China reads too much into our election and sees that somebody's election victory happens to be its defeat, then there might be likely scenarios that China would engage in military intimidation or diplomatic isolation, or using economic measures as a punishment against Taiwan – that is not what we want to see," he said. The foreign minister's remarks come two days before more than 19 million eligible voters can cast their ballots for presidential and legislative candidates in polls centred on issues of national security and sovereignty – amplified in part by anti-government protests in neighbouring Hong Kong, which has a one country, two systems model with Beijing. President Tsai Ing-wen, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, has campaigned on the need to safeguard Taiwan's sovereignty in the face of Beijing's threats. Her main rival, Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu from the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang party, has advocated for closer ties with mainland China after relations deteriorated under Tsai's administration. Wu also outlined Chinese interference during the election process, which he said took place "virtually every day". He said it took the form of military intimidation, with China's newest aircraft carrier sailing through the Taiwan Strait, economic pressure through restrictions on mainland tourists travelling to Taiwan, attempts to influence the votes of the 1 million Taiwanese businesspeople estimated to work on the mainland, and online misinformation on social media platforms. To counter those efforts, the government had sought to clarify false information in a timely manner, worked with social media companies to screen accounts disseminating misinformation, and cooperated with local media outlets to fact-check information, Wu said. "After all these exercises, I think the effectiveness of the disinformation campaign against Taiwan – [we] have reduced the effectiveness significantly," he added. "But nevertheless, according to the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, Taiwan is the number one target of disinformation campaign, and we take this very seriously." ^ top ^
Beijing 'spy' death threat claims shake up Taiwan's election campaign as race enters final days (SCMP)
2020-01-09
With just two days until Taiwan's presidential election, the island has been roiled by reports that a self-professed mainland Chinese spy seeking asylum in Australia received death threats to retract his claims of Beijing-directed political interference in Taiwan. On Thursday, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and the ruling independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) sought to use the claims and counterclaims to gain political mileage in what has been a fiercely contested race between the DPP's Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking a second term, and her main challenger, populist Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu. Voting will take place on Saturday and also include legislative elections. Self-professed spy William Wang Liqiang made headlines in November when he told Australian news outlets, including The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, that he had worked on behalf of a Beijing-directed foreign interference ring targeting independence and democracy movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Wang was back in the news this week when The Age reported that he was threatened with being sent back to the mainland and killed unless he publicly retracted his claims. According to The Age, Wang, who fled to Australia in May and is seeking political asylum, was told in a series of messages that his family would be spared punishment and the debts he had incurred on the mainland would be repaid in return for a retraction. The report said KMT deputy secretary general Alex Tsai and a mainland businessman surnamed Sun were suspected of coordinating the directives to Wang, who was also given a script and told to record a video message in which he would claim that the DPP had bribed him to lie by offering him "a large sum of money". Wang alleged earlier that Beijing was supporting Han and helped fund his mayoral race in the southern city of Kaohsiung in late 2018. Wang also said that Hong Kong-based China Innovation Investment chairman Xiang Xin and his wife Kung Ching were spies for Beijing. Wang's claims of being ordered to disrupt the elections have become a key issue in the presidential election. Beijing, which considers Taiwan a wayward province that must be brought back to the mainland fold by force if necessary, has publicly denied Wang's claims and said he was a convicted fraudster. On Thursday, the KMT was swift to deny it had threatened Wang or coerced him to record any message attacking the DPP. "I have nothing to do with the [threat]," Alex Tsai said in Taipei. He said the mainland businessman – whom he identified as Sun Tianqun – apparently told Wang he could give him money to help repay his debts so that Wang would retract what Sun saw as a fake account by Wang about Xiang and Kung. Kung and Xiang, whom Sun reportedly described as a close friend, have been detained in Taiwan since they visited the island in late November. Alex Tsai also said that according to Sun, the DPP bribed Wang to accuse Xiang of being a mainland spy. But Tsai admitted that he did not hear the bribery allegations directly from Wang. The DPP responded by flatly dismissing the claims, saying it was not involved in the Australia case. "These people have kept alleging that the DPP is involved in the [Wang Liqiang] case. What exactly do they want to achieve? Is this an attempt to … save Xiang Xin and disrupt the elections?" DPP legislator Kuan Bi-ling said. Deputy justice minister Chen Ming-tang said that his ministry had already sought judicial cooperation with Australia over the Xiang case and that the Australian authorities had responded positively. "We have also received a request for an identification check of [Alex] Tsai from the Australian authorities, and have already provided them with the information they need," Chen said. Security and diplomatic sources in Taiwan had cast doubt on Wang's earlier claims, saying that although his allegations sounded plausible he was too young to be the senior operative he claimed to be. In response to questions about threats against Wang, an Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokesman was quoted by The Age as saying: "The Australian Federal Police is aware of threats made against a man currently residing in Australia. The AFP takes threats of this nature seriously and has commenced an investigation." Analysts said there were various ways the new claims could possibly affect the presidential race. "Both camps have accused each other of using the story to sling mud and this might neutralise the harm for both sides as the story appears to be more like a tall tale," said Wang Kung-yi, a political-science professor at Chinese Culture University in Taipei. "[One way to assess] if the new story will affect the race [is through] the number of supporters showing up in the election rallies … for Han and Tsai [Ing-wen]." ^ top ^
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| Economy |
CPI for 2019 within target (Global Times)
2020-01-09
China's consumer price index (CPI) was below the 3 percent target for 2019 and remained stable in December as pork prices leveled out, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday. Experts said stabilizing inflation and an expected rebound in factory activity are likely to create room for loosening policy. China's CPI was up 2.9 percent for the whole year, under the 3 target set by the government, according to data released by the NBS on Thursday. The CPI was up 4.5 percent year-on-year in December, the same as in November and in line with market expectations. Consumer prices stabilized as China's soaring pork prices began to level off. In December, pork prices skyrocketed by 97 percent year-on-year, contributing 2.34 percentage points to overall CPI growth. On a monthly basis, however, pork prices in December dropped 5.6 percent, compared with a 3.8 percent jump in November. Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute at Wuhan University of Science and Technology, told the Global Times that the CPI is expected to be stable but will remain elevated during the first quarter of 2020, due to the seasonal high demand for pork. "As the Spring Festival approaches, the CPI is unlikely to drop, given the heavy weighting of pork in the calculation of the indicator," Dong said. "However, the CPI for the whole year was still kept below 3 percent," Dong noted. "As pork supplies resume after the Spring Festival, inflation will be less of a consideration for the central bank's monetary policy." China's producer price index (PPI), which measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, also showed a slight sign of recovery as it narrowed from a 1.4 percent drop in November to a decline of 0.5 percent in December, according to the NBS. A drop in the PPI suggests deflation, mirroring weak market demand. The PPI's slower pace of decline indicates that the industrial sector was able to stabilize at the end of the year, and the reading was in line with other indicators for factory activity, according to a report by Yating Xu, senior economist at IHS Markit. Both China's official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) and the Caixin PMI were above the expansion threshold in November and December, suggesting an improvement in domestic supply and demand with strong output and new orders sub-indexes. "Considering rising oil prices, a rebound in infrastructure investment and a low base effect, the PPI is expected to turn positive in the first quarter," Xu said in the report. The ease in deflationary pressure in the industrial sector was supported by increasing prices for manufacturing materials, including petroleum, coal and other fuels. The ferrous metal mining industry increased 8.8 percent year-on-year, and the petroleum and natural gas mining industries increased 5.8 percent, according to the NBS. ^ top ^
China's oil, gas market set for full opening (Global Times)
2020-01-09
China will fully open its petroleum and natural gas exploration and development market, allowing more private and foreign firms to enter the sector, in a move to increase energy supply capacity amid rising tensions in the Middle East. Any domestic or foreign company that is registered in the Chinese mainland and has net assets of more than 300 million yuan ($43.18 million) is qualified to obtain mining rights, said the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Thursday, China Central Television (CCTV) reported. Besides having technological capacities, companies engaged in the energy exploration and development sector should comply with security, environmental protection and other requirements, according to the ministry. The latest move will change the dominance of state-owned enterprises and stimulate market vitality, CCTV reported, citing Yao Huajun, head of the Mining Rights Management Department at the MNR. Liu Yijun, a professor at the Beijing-based China University of Petroleum, said the move is a milestone in the sector, indicating China's firm determination to carry out comprehensive opening-up. "Previously, China's reform of the petroleum and natural gas sector focused on the downstream sector, including oil refining, foreign trade and the wholesale of refined oil. As petroleum and natural gas resources and mining rights are closely related to a country's energy security, China has always maintained a cautious attitude," Liu told the Global Times. In the 2019 version of negative list released in June, China canceled the restrictions that the exploration and development of petroleum and natural gas were limited to Chinese-foreign equity joint ventures or non-equity joint ventures. Raising exploration and development capacity is conducive to reducing China's foreign oil and natural gas reliance, according to experts. Being the world's second-largest economy, China heavily relies on petroleum and natural gas imports. According to a report released by the Economic and Technology Research Institute of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) in 2019, China's foreign oil dependency ratio reached 69.8 percent in 2018 and the foreign natural gas dependency ratio was 45.3 percent. China imported 4.62 trillion tons of crude oil in the first 11 months of 2019, up 10.5 percent year-on-year, showed data from the General Administration of Customs. Imports of natural gas reached 87.11 million tons, up 7.4 percent year-on-year. Freeing up mining rights is unlikely to change the structure of the upstream of China's oil and natural gas sector in the short term, but it would accelerate its marketization and boost industrial competition, Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times. According to China's Mineral Resources Law, companies have to meet certain qualifications to engage in the exploration and development of mineral resources, under which only a handful of state-owned enterprises including CNPC, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp and China National Offshore Oil Corp could qualify. ^ top ^
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| DPRK |
Moon Jae-in hopes Kim Jong-un will visit Seoul despite heightened tensions over weapons testing (SCMP)
2020-01-07
South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday said he hopes to see North Korean leader Kim Jong-un fulfil a promise to visit the South this year and called for the Koreas to end a prolonged freeze in bilateral relations. In his New Year's speech, Moon also reaffirmed his government's commitment to resume inter-Korean economic activities that have been held back by US-led sanctions imposed on the North over its nuclear weapons and missiles programme. Any resumption would depend on progress in the larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea suspended virtually all cooperation with the South during a deadlock in those larger talks, while also pressuring Seoul to break away from Washington and restart the joint economic projects, which would breathe life into the North's broken economy. Moon called for the North to respond to Seoul's efforts to resume bilateral dialogue, saying an improvement in inter-Korean relations would also help induce progress in the nuclear negotiations. He urged the North to refrain from military demonstrations and threats that would potentially hurt the momentum in nuclear negotiations with Washington. "The South and North should work together so to create the conditions for Chairman Kim Jong-un's visit [to South Korea] as soon as possible," Moon said during a nationally televised speech. "I have a willingness to meet again and again and hold ceaseless dialogue. We will continue to invest efforts for the resumption of the Kaesong industrial park and tours to Diamond Mountain." South Korean tours to the North's Diamond Mountain resort were a major symbol of rapprochement between the rivals before they were suspended in 2008 after a North Korean guard fatally shot a South Korean tourist. Seoul's previous conservative government shut down a jointly run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong in 2016 following a North Korean nuclear test. Moon's comments came days after Kim appeared to sideline inter-Korean issues during a key ruling party conference where he declared to strengthen his nuclear deterrent in face of "gangster-like" US sanctions and pressure. The North Korean state media's account of the meeting did not include any mention of South Korea. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said on Tuesday that Kim visited a fertiliser factory recently and reiterated his call for his people to stay resilient in a struggle for economic "self-reliance" in face of sanctions, saying the "fiercer the adverse wind raised by the hostile forces gets, the fiercer our red flag will flutter in high spirits". North Korea also last year dialled up military tensions, conducting 13 rounds of ballistic tests that potentially expanded its abilities to strike targets in South Korea and Japan, including US military bases there. The North also in October demanded that the South clear out its hotels and other properties at the North's Diamond Mountain resort, expressing frustration that the South won't defy international sanctions and resume South Korean tours at the site. The quick erosion in inter-Korean relations been a major setback to Moon, a son of North Korean war refugees who met Kim three times in 2018 while expressing ambitions to reboot inter-Korean economic engagement. In their third summit in Pyongyang in September 2018, Kim and Moon had vowed to restart South Korean tours to Diamond Mountain and normalise operations at the Kaesong factory park when possible, voicing optimism that sanctions could end to allow such projects. Kim also during the meeting promised Moon he'd visit Seoul "in a short time." But without a breakthrough in the nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang, the economic projects remain shelved. No North Korean leader has visited South Korea's capital since the 1950-53 Korean war ended in a ceasefire. Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Centre for North Korean Studies at the Sejong Institute in Seoul, said it was "highly unlikely" the North would respond to Moon's address. "There are some problems with the way the Seoul government perceives the current situation," he said. "There will be no political gain for Kim to visit Seoul at this point in time, given that the North has virtually stated it won't be talking to the US on nuclear issues." Ahn Chan-il, a North Korean defector and researcher in Seoul, said the Moon administration had adopted an approach of "ceaseless unrequited love" to Pyongyang, but had been left with very few options. "The way it has been dealing with the North – in spite of Pyongyang's insults against the South – has not been ideal," he said. "There is virtually nothing the South can do as long as the UN sanctions remain on North Korea." ^ top ^
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| Mongolia |
Election day proposed to be on June 24 (Montsame)
2020-01-09
The General Election Commission of Mongolia sent to the Parliament its proposal on scheduling the regular parliamentary election on June 24, 2020. Based on the statement "A voting day shall be set before 1st of February of the election year" in the Law on Parliamentary Election, the GEC formulated this proposal, reported the GEC chairman Ch.Sodnomtseren. Ch.Sodnomtseren added that GEC also plans to organize regular elections of Citizens' Representatives Khural of aimags and the capital city early October of the year and MNT20 billion was included in the State Budget for organizing the elections. ^ top ^
New members of General Election Commission approved (Montsame)
2020-01-09
On January 8, Parliament convened a regular session where some members of the General Election Commission of Mongolia (GEC) were discharged and new members were appointed. The newly-appointed members are G.Baigalmaa, E.Batbold, D.Bayanduuren, O.Amgalanbaatar and B.Ganbat and all of them hold government administrative and management experience in various areas. Former members B.Bilegt, D.Erdenechuluun and N.Dagva were discharged upon the termination of their job post or moving on to another position. In accordance with the law on central electoral authority, GEC shall be composed of nine members, appointed by the Parliament for a six-year term. Mongolia is awaiting Parliament Elections this year. It has been reported that the General Elections Committee, a central election body mandated to hold Mongolian Parliamentary and Presidential elections and referendums nationwide, has submitted its proposal to organize the polling day of 2020 Parliamentary Elections on June 24, Wednesday and polling of local self-governing bodies - Citizen's Representative Khural elections in 21 aimags and Ulaanbaatar city. Parliament ought to approve the date of Parliamentary elections before February 1. Around 20 billion is budgeted for holding these two elections this year, according to the GEC. ^ top ^
InvesCore Group to partner with China's Alibaba Group (Montsame)
2020-01-09
On January 8, InvesCore Financial Group of Mongolia and China's Alibaba Group signed a cooperation agreement on establishment of Business Center in Mongolia. A launching of the Business Center is scheduled to take place in March, 2020 and it will function in broader range including educating e-commerce traders, providing business consulting and connecting business owners with Chinese market. The Center plans to conduct training on Global e-Commerce Talent Program that runs by Alibaba Business School at first and train professional personnel who will work in directions of e-commerce. Within its mid-term global strategy, Alibaba Group is working to help 10 million small and medium businesses, to have 2 billion customers and to train one million e-commerce specialists until 2023 through its Alibaba Business School. InvesCore Group of Mongolia operates in finance, fintech, AI development and business consulting and it is intending to broaden its operation further and enter into international market. ^ top ^
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Jennia Jin
Embassy of Switzerland
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The Press review is a random selection
of political and social related news gathered from various media
and news services located in the PRC, edited or translated by
the Embassy of Switzerland in Beijing and distributed among Swiss
Government Offices. The Embassy does not accept responsibility
for accuracy of quotes or truthfulness of content. Additionally
the contents of the selected news mustn't correspond to the opinion
of the Embassy.
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