Switzerland

• Switzerland asks Chinese media to remove Covid-19 quotes from 'fake' citizen (SCMP)
• Bank of Mongolia signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (Montsame)
• Serving world with high-tech, green solutions (China Daily)

Foreign Policy

• Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang meets with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State (Xinhua)
• Intl meeting begins on Afghan peace; China could play 'bigger role' to mediate (Global Times)
• Chinese court sentences Canadian Michael Spavor to 11 years after finding him guilty of spying (SCMP)
• China decides to recall its ambassador to Lithuania (People's Daily)
• China says U.S. not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on South China Sea issue (Xinhua)
• Xiplomacy: Xi calls for international vaccine cooperation (China Daily)
• Ready, set, fire: China and Russia get back to testing each other's military tactics (SCMP)
• China's new ambassador to U.S. calls for anti-pandemic cooperation (Xinhua)

Domestic Policy

• Rainstorms bring floods along Yangtze River (China Daily)
• China hits human rights milestone in achieving moderate prosperity (Xinhua)
• China protects civil, political rights with law, governance: white paper (Xinhua)
• Individual Tutors Become Latest Target in China's After-School Education Crackdown (Caixin)
• National Crackdown on Online Spying Sees Dozens Arrested (Caixin)
• Coronavirus amplifies China's regional economic divide, as some provinces struggle to reset consumption (SCMP)
• Chinese authorities congratulate athletes on Olympic achievements (People's Daily)
• Police probe assault case after rape allegation against Alibaba senior staff (Global Times)

Beijing

• President Xi on 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics (China Daily)
• Beijing Prosecutor Mulls Civil Action Against Tencent for Alleged Harm to Youth (Caixin)

Shanghai

• Pudong will lead higher level of reform, opening-up (China Daily)

Guangdong

• 20 officials in Guangzhou punished for slack response to COVID-19 outbreak in May; Chinese discipline watchdog urges strict inspection (Global Times)

Tibet

• Panchen Lama visits Tashilhunpo Monastery in Xigaze, China's Tibet (Global Times)

Xinjiang

• Xinjiang residents use personal experiences to refute human rights violation lies (Xinhua)

Hongkong

• Hong Kong experiences 'alarming' population drop, but government says not all 90,000 leaving city because of national security law (SCMP)

Taiwan

• China wary of Lithuanian domino effect over de facto Taiwan embassy (SCMP)

Economy

• China Expands Scrutiny of Online Insurance Sector (Caixin)
• China Telecom eyes mega Shanghai IPO (Global Times)
• China Issues Sweeping New Rules for Credit Rating Companies (Caixin)

DPRK

• DPRK urges U.S. to leave South Korea, halt military drills (Xinhua)

Mongolia

• 1443 new cases and 6 deaths reported (Go Go Mongolia)
• President confers state orders and medals on peacekeepers (Montsame)
• Deputy Foreign Minister participates in ARF ministerial meeting (Montsame)

^ top ^

Switzerland asks Chinese media to remove Covid-19 quotes from 'fake' citizen (SCMP)
2021-08-12
Several Chinese newspaper websites have removed comments about the coronavirus pandemic that were "wrongly presented" as coming from a Swiss biologist who does not appear to exist, Switzerland's foreign ministry said Wednesday. The press and social media comments attributed to a biologist identified as Wilson Edwards took aim at alleged US pressure on researchers amid the pandemic. Chinese authorities and state media outlets have led an aggressive pushback against criticism abroad of China's handling of the Covid-19 outbreak. The Swiss embassy in Beijing highlighted its suspicions about the quoted scientist on Tuesday with a Twitter post: "Looking for Wilson Edwards, alleged [Swiss] biologist, cited in press and social media in China over the last several days." "If you exist, we would like to meet you!" the embassy tweeted. A message inserted with the post, written in English and Chinese, said no Swiss citizen named Wilson Edwards appeared on registries or academic articles from the biology field. It said the Facebook account where comments attributed to Wilson were published was opened on July 24. The embassy said that while it appreciated Switzerland receiving attention, it "must unfortunately inform the Chinese public that this news is false". "While we assume that the spreading of this story was done in good faith by the media and netizens, we kindly ask that anyone having published this story take it down and publish a corrigendum," the embassy post said. Pierre-Alain Eltschinger, a spokesman for the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, said the comments were "wrongly presented as coming from a Swiss biologist". "Several Chinese newspapers have since pulled down those comments," he said in an email, without specifying. An authenticated Facebook account of China's People's Daily newspaper still had an English language reference to an article from CGTN, the international arm of the Chinese state broadcaster, quoting Wilson. In the CGTN article, Wilson was quoted as saying he and fellow researchers had faced pressure and intimidation from the US and some media outlets for supporting conclusions in a joint study by China and the Geneva-based World Health Organization on the origins of Covid-19. The study, released publicly in March, presented several hypotheses about how the pandemic started but no firm conclusions. Meanwhile, the Swiss government plans to halt most free Covid-19 testing for people who are not vaccinated now that nearly half the population has got the jabs, it said on Wednesday. "For the government, protecting hospital structures now has priority, no longer protecting the non-vaccinated population," it said while keeping in place scaled-back curbs on public life it adopted in June as new cases were on the decline. New cases have since rebounded to more than 2,000 a day. More than 730,000 people in Switzerland and tiny neighbour Liechtenstein have had confirmed infections and around 10,400 have died of the disease since the pandemic broke out last year. ^ top ^

Bank of Mongolia signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (Montsame)
2021-08-09
The Bank of Mongolia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Swiss State Secretariat of Economic Affairs (SECO) concerning a technical assistance in selected areas of central bank operations. The MoU enables the Bank of Mongolia to benefit from the Programme for Bilateral Assistance and Capacity Building for Central Banks (BCC), which is implemented by SECO. The Programme will contribute to strengthening capacities of Bank of Mongolia in monetary policy analysis and implementation, macroeconomic accounting and statistics, and bringing it up to the international benchmarks. SECO is implementing BCC since 2013 in emerging countries to develop the analytical and technical capacities of central banks, e.g. in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Columbia, Morocco, Peru, Tunisia and Ukraine. The MoU was signed by B. Lkhagvasuren, Governor of Bank of Mongolia, and Stefanie Burri (PhD), Head of Cooperation and Consular Section (on behalf of SECO). ^ top ^

Serving world with high-tech, green solutions (China Daily)
2021-08-09
[…] With its high-quality and efficient consultation services, Shenzhen Bus in November won the bid of offering consultancy services to Switzerland-based Vitol Group －one of the world's largest energy trading companies, in the project of updating the capital transportation system in Bogota, Colombia, and generated a revenue of nearly 400,000 yuan ($61,920). The cooperation laid a solid foundation for Shenzhen Bus' subsequent development. […] ^ top ^

Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang meets with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State (Xinhua)
2021-08-13
Chinese Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang met with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman on Thursday. Sherman expressed welcome to Qin for assuming office and stated that the Department of State will provide convenience and support for the ambassador's performance of duties in the United States. Qin thanked the U.S. side for providing support and assistance for him. He pointed out that the China-U.S. relationship is at a new crossroads. He will follow the spirit of the telephone conversation between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden on the eve of Chinese New Year, enhance communication and dialogue with the U.S. side, and work to promote a rational, stable, manageable and constructive China-U.S. relationship. The two sides exchanged views on issues of mutual interest and agreed to maintain close dialogue and communication. ^ top ^

Intl meeting begins on Afghan peace; China could play 'bigger role' to mediate (Global Times)
2021-08-11
The Afghan government and the Taliban were trading blame over the issue of "seriousness" for peace talks at the extended troika meeting attended by diplomats from China, Russia, Pakistan and the US, which kicked off in Doha, Qatar on Wednesday. Analysts said intra-Afghan peace talks may face a long stalemate with no party willing to compromise, which needs the international community for better mediation. A member of the Afghan government delegation at the Doha negotiations told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that having a mediator at the talks is necessary and the Taliban has no interest in negating but rather achieving its goals with violence. The delegation member also urged the international community to pressure the Taliban to show seriousness. However, a spokesperson for the Taliban told the Qatar-based broadcaster that the Afghan government had "rejected the principle of a mediator." The spokesperson said that the Taliban is committed to the negotiations and does not want it to fall apart. The "battle of words" took place before meetings on Afghan negotiations of the Troika Plus - China, Russia, Pakistan and the US and the Taliban-Afghan government delegates - were held in Doha, Qatar to achieve a political solution for a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan. Analysts said it shows how difficult it would be for the intra-Afghan peace process. It seems that the scale has tilted toward the Taliban in the battlefield in Afghanistan with the latter reportedly having taken nine provincial capitals. […] The Taliban earlier captured six other provincial capitals in the country in less than a week, including Kunduz in Kunduz province - one of the country's largest cities. Qian said that given the distrust between the Afghan government and the Taliban as well as the current sticky situation of the domestic battlefield, no side would easily compromise, which makes intra-Afghan peace talks difficult and calls for more efforts from the international community to mediate. The US has been incapable of handling the current situation in Afghanistan since its withdrawal, and its recent air raid on the Taliban to stop the latter from taking more cities and to urge it to go back to the negotiating table is not as useful as it had thought, analysts said. The US sent B-52 bombers and Spectre gunships from an airbase in Qatar, hitting targets around Kandahar, Herat, and Lashkar Gah in Helmand province in a bid to stop the Taliban, who were marching toward three key cities, local media reported on Saturday. US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad brought a warning to the Taliban on Tuesday that any government that comes to power through force in Afghanistan won't be recognized internationally. Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at Lanzhou University, thinks that the US' tactics to pressure the Taliban with international reorganization have failed and it is hard to make the Afghan government and the Taliban engage in a ceasefire. "Afghanistan may enter into the period with the 'Syrian style' - battles will continue until one side wins," Zhu told the Global Times on Wednesday. But Sultan Baheen, former Afghan ambassador to China, is expecting more from the extended troika meeting as it could be the best mechanism for including the big powers interested in peace in Afghanistan and the most relevant parties, too. "They should echo the voice of Afghanistan that war is not the solution and support an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process. Time is crucial for Afghanistan," Baheen told the Global Times on Wednesday, noting that China, as a neighbor, a good friend and a big power, could do something to help mediate between the Taliban and the Afghan government to help them go back to the negotiating table. When asked about the potential outcomes of the meetings, Yue Xiaoyong, Chinese special representative on Afghanistan, was quoted by Doha News as saying that it was only the beginning and both sides previously agreed that there can only be a political solution to the ongoing war. Insisting that Afghan affairs should be solved by Afghan people, China has played an active role in promoting peace talks in Afghanistan, Qian said, saying that although the future of Afghanistan is unclear, the international community has reached a consensus on not letting it be battered by wars, terror attacks and drugs, and it needs different countries to work together. ^ top ^

Chinese court sentences Canadian Michael Spavor to 11 years after finding him guilty of spying (SCMP)
2021-08-11
A Chinese court has sentenced Canadian businessman Michael Spavor to a harsher-than-expected 11 years in prison for espionage, five months after a closed hearing in a case that helped plunge China-Canada relations to their lowest point in decades. Diplomats in Beijing from 25 countries convened ahead of the verdict. Canada 's ambassador Dominic Barton was in court in northeastern China's Dandong on Wednesday to hear the decision, while top diplomats including the ambassadors from Britain and Australia and the US charge d'affairs were in the Canadian embassy in the Chinese capital. Spavor was accused of "spying and illegal provision of state secrets abroad" and faced a closed-door trial in March in Dandong. Canadian diplomats were refused access to the court proceedings. The verdict comes only one day after a Chinese high court rejected Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg's appeal against being sentenced to death after being convicted of drug smuggling. Barton travelled to Dandong on Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of the Wednesday morning verdict. After hearing Schellenberg's verdict in Shenyang on Tuesday morning, he told reporters that his priority was still to secure the release of the two Michaels – Spavor and former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig – and to seek clemency for Schellenberg. "There is obviously a long ways to go here, but this is by no means done," Barton said. "This is part of the process, the geopolitical process of what's been happening, and we have to stay focused. "We are continuing to push on the range of initiatives that we have on all three cases." Spavor was arrested in China in December 2018, along with Kovrig, only days after Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou was detained in Canada on a United States extradition request. The latest developments for the cases of the detained Canadians in China comes as Meng has reached the final phase of her extradition hearing in Vancouver, where a judge will determine whether to approve her extradition to the US to face charges of bank fraud. Her team will almost certainly appeal to a higher court if she loses. Ottawa has condemned Spavor and Kovrig's cases as "arbitrary detention" and "coercive diplomacy", and said that their immediate release remained a top priority for the Canadian government. The US has also been vocal on the issue, with US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman pressing for the release of Americans and Canadians detained in China during her trip to Tianjin last month and US President Joe Biden raising the cases during a call with Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week. Beijing has accused Canada of having "grossly interfered in China's judicial sovereignty" regarding the cases of the two Michaels and said that Meng was "arbitrarily and unreasonably detained" by Canada. The withdrawal of the US extradition request for Meng was one of the demands Chinese vice-minister Xie Feng made during the talks with Sherman in July. ^ top ^

China decides to recall its ambassador to Lithuania (People's Daily)
2021-08-10
China has decided to recall its ambassador to Lithuania and demanded the Lithuanian government recall its ambassador to China, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday. Recently, the Lithuanian government, in disregard of China's repeated representations and articulation of potential consequences, has announced its decision to allow the Taiwan authorities to open a "representative office" under the name of "Taiwan," the spokesperson said. The Lithuanian government's decision brazenly violates the spirit of the communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Lithuania, and severely undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, the spokesperson noted. "The Chinese government expresses its categorical opposition to this move. China has decided to recall its ambassador to Lithuania and demanded the Lithuanian government recall its ambassador to China," the spokesperson said. The Chinese side warns the Lithuanian side that there is only one China in the world and the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. The one-China principle is a widely recognized norm of international relations and common consensus of the international community. It is the political foundation for China to develop bilateral relations with other countries, the spokesperson said. "The Chinese government and people have unswerving determination to achieve reunification of the country. The red line of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity shall not be crossed," the spokesperson said. "We urge the Lithuanian side to immediately rectify its wrong decision, take concrete measures to undo the damage, and not to move further down the wrong path. We also warn the Taiwan authorities that 'Taiwan independence' is a dead end and any attempt at separatist activities in the international arena is doomed to fail," the spokesperson said. ^ top ^

China says U.S. not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on South China Sea issue (Xinhua)
2021-08-10
China said on Monday the United States is not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on the issue of South China Sea. "The United States itself is not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on the issue of South China Sea," Dai Bing, charge d'affaires of China's permanent mission to the United Nations, told the Security Council meeting on maritime security. "I also wish to point out that the Security Council is not the right place to discuss the issue of the South China Sea. The United States just mentioned the South China Sea issue, and China firmly opposes this act," said Dai. "At present, with the joint efforts of China and ASEAN countries, the situation in the South China Sea remains generally stable. All countries enjoy freedom of navigation and overflight in accordance with international law. China and ASEAN countries are committed to fully and effectively implementing the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and strive to reach the code of conduct in the South China Sea at an early date," said the envoy, adding that "we are determined and able to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea." The ambassador noted that the United States has been stirring up trouble out of nothing, arbitrarily sending advanced military vessels and aircraft into the South China Sea as provocations and publicly trying to drive a wedge into regional countries, especially countries concerned. "This country itself has become the biggest threat to peace and stability in the South China Sea," he said. "The U.S. itself does not join UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea), but considers itself a judge of the convention, pointing fingers at other countries and interfere arbitrarily. It has no credibility on maritime issues," said Dai. "The U.S. hype in the Security Council is entirely politically motivated. The South China Sea arbitrary tribunal violated the principle of state consent and tried ultra vires. There were obvious errors in the determination of facts and application of the law and its award was invalid and without any binding force," the envoy pointed out. The Security Council on Monday held a videoconference open debate on maritime security. The meeting, which is one of India's signature events during its August presidency, was chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. ^ top ^

Xiplomacy: Xi calls for international vaccine cooperation (China Daily)
2021-08-09
Chinese President Xi Jinping attaches great importance to the fair and reasonable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across the globe as they are crucial to the fight against the pandemic still raging worldwide. Xi has been leading China to fulfill its responsibility as a major country and promoting global vaccine cooperation. China has been donating vaccines to more than 100 countries and exporting vaccines to more than 60 countries, with the total amount exceeding 770 million doses, ranking first in the world. Xi has, on various bilateral and multilateral occasions, called for closer international vaccine cooperation. The following are some highlights of his remarks in this regard. May 18, 2020 When addressing the opening of the 73rd session of the World Health Assembly via video link, Xi said "COVID-19 vaccine development and deployment in China, when available, will be made a global public good." "This will be China's contribution to ensuring vaccine accessibility and affordability in developing countries," he added. Nov. 21, 2020 Addressing the Group of 20 (G20) Riyadh Summit via video link, Xi said that China actively supports and participates in international cooperation on COVID-19 vaccines, has joined the COVAX facility and stands ready to step up cooperation with other countries on the research and development, production and distribution of vaccines. "We will honor our commitment of giving assistance and support to other developing countries, and work to make vaccines a global public good accessible and affordable to people around the world," he said. May 21, 2021 In a speech delivered at the Global Health Summit via video in Beijing, Xi said, "A year ago, I proposed that vaccines should be made a global public good. Today, the problem of uneven vaccination has become more acute." "It is imperative for us to reject vaccine nationalism and find solutions to issues concerning the production capacity and distribution of vaccines, in order to make vaccines more accessible and affordable in developing countries," he added. July 16, 2021 Addressing the Informal Economic Leaders' Retreat of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation via video link in Beijing, Xi said that overcoming the challenges of its own mass vaccination program, China has provided more than 500 million doses of vaccines to other developing countries, and will provide another 3 billion U.S. dollars in international aid over the next three years to support COVID-19 response and economic and social recovery in other developing countries. Aug. 5, 2021 In a written message to the first meeting of the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation, Xi said that China will strive to provide 2 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to the world throughout this year and offer 100 million U.S. dollars to COVAX, the global COVID-19 vaccine equity scheme, for the distribution of vaccines to developing countries. "We are willing to work with the international community to promote international vaccine cooperation and build a community with a shared future for humanity," he said. ^ top ^

Ready, set, fire: China and Russia get back to testing each other's military tactics (SCMP)
2021-08-08
Joint military activities between China and Russia are poised to get back into full swing, according to announcements that observers said also suggest Beijing and Moscow are stepping up efforts to learn from each other in dealing with the US. More than 10,000 Chinese and Russian troops are expected to join a five-day drill in a combined tactics training base in China's inland Ningxia Hui autonomous region from Monday, in what Beijing has described as part of deepening pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries. This would be the first joint drill hosted by China since the pandemic began. While the Chinese defence ministry said the exercise would focus on counterterrorism and security, it would also involve the establishment of a joint command centre as well as training to improve joint reconnaissance, early warnings, electronic and information attacks, and joint strikes. Later this month, it will be time for the northwestern region of Xinjiang to host three competitions under the Russia-led International Army Games, the Chinese defence ministry announced earlier. The Chinese military is expected to join counterparts from Russia, Belarus, Egypt, Iran, Venezuela and Vietnam in the games to sharpen their skills in combat vehicle operation, portable anti-aircraft missiles launches, and nuclear, biological and chemical reconnaissance. Next month, China is expected to once again join Russia, this time alongside India, Pakistan and the central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, in a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation anti-terror exercise. The SCO "Peace Mission-2021" exercises will take place at the Donguz training ground in southwest Russia's Orenburg region. The latest drills come after a period when Beijing and Moscow downgraded joint military activities because of the pandemic, according to Vasily Kashin, a military and China specialist at the Higher School of Economics, a research university in Moscow. But even during the pandemic, China managed to take part in the Kavkaz-2020 strategic command-post exercise in Russia last year. That was the third Russian strategic manoeuvre joined by China, after Vostok-2018 and Tsentr-2019, Kashin noted. "It could be expected that, according to usual practice, at some point the Russians would start participating in similar kinds of exercises on Chinese soil," Kashin said. As part of efforts to increase mutual trust, Chinese and Russian forces have been regularly doing drills together, bilaterally or on multilateral platforms since 2005. That was when the Chinese People's Liberation Army, for the first time, sent some 8,200 troops to take part in the "Peace Mission 2005" exercises alongside about 2,000 Russian soldiers, to practise air and naval blockades, an amphibious assault and a seizure operation. Since then, the two sides have firmly increased interaction: joint naval manoeuvres have been held every year since 2012, and the Peace Mission was in 2007 expanded into a biennial anti-terrorist command and staff exercise under the then six-member SCO. Growing acrimony with the US, as well as shared concerns over the destabilisation of central Asia – Moscow's traditional geopolitical backyard that is seeing the increasing economic presence of China – were pulling the two militaries closer, Kashin sald. "They are also sending a powerful signal to the US about their ability and willingness to operate together, which serves as a deterrent." Joint exercises could be particularly important to China, which has not been involved in any real armed conflicts since the 1980s while their Russian counterparts have carried out military operations in a number of regions, from the North Caucasus and Georgia to Ukraine and Syria. "Exercising with the Russians is useful because the Russian military has been engaged in combat operations for the last several decades almost without any rest," Kashin said. Such regular joint exercises had become "a foundational tool for institutionalising bilateral defence ties without a formal military alliance", even though officials with China and Russia had rejected the idea to form a military alliance, said Richard Weitz, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington. […] While Beijing and Moscow have repeatedly affirmed that the joint exercises were not targeting a third party, their more frequent joint exercises have been greeted with suspicion from the West. In a move that unnerved Japan and South Korea, the Chinese and Russian air forces conducted their first joint strategic aviation patrol in July 2019, when two Chinese warplanes and two Russian bombers flew into the overlapping Japanese and South Korean air defence identification zones over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan. Another joint patrol was carried out in the Sea of Japan in December 2020, prompting Japan and South Korea to scramble fighter jets. Countries like Japan, which had territorial disputes with both China and Russia, were deeply concerned by the trend of deepening military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow, said James Brown, an associate professor with Temple University in Tokyo. "Deepening Sino-Russian military cooperation at sea, on land, and with regard to launch notification for ballistic missiles is a concern for Japan," he said. "The worst-case scenario for Tokyo would be for China and Russia to forge a military alliance and to support each other with respect to each other's territorial disputes with Japan." Weitz said it was worth watching if the PLA would join the Russia-led Zapad 2021 exercise, which is scheduled next month in Belarus and Russia and could cause alarm for Nato. "In any case, US public messaging should cite the Sino-Russian exercises to emphasise to Europeans the importance of addressing China as a military threat, at least as a supporting player to Russia," he wrote in the CSIS paper. ^ top ^

China's new ambassador to U.S. calls for anti-pandemic cooperation (Xinhua)
2021-08-08
New Chinese ambassador to the United States Qin Gang has called on the two countries to join hands to combat the still-spreading COVID-19 pandemic. "How about our two countries working together on solutions, e.g. more effective vaccines & helping other countries?" Qin tweeted on Friday. The diplomat arrived in Washington in late July and is in a 14-day self-quarantine in his residence. He said he is "fine in quarantine," but the rampant spread of the Delta variant is "concerning." So far, the world has registered more than 200 million COVID-19 infections and nearly 4.3 million deaths, according to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University. ^ top ^

Rainstorms bring floods along Yangtze River (China Daily)
2021-08-13
Rainstorms will batter areas along the Yangtze River until Saturday, bringing floods as well as autumn coolness, the National Meteorological Center said on Thursday. East and Central China, including Shanghai and the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Hubei and Anhui, are forecast to see strong rainstorms for the next two days. Some parts of North China will also be affected. On the weekend, Beijing will experience scattered, short but intense showers that may cause geological disasters. Its meteorological service warned against taking part in activities in mountain areas. On Thursday, five cities in Hubei triggered red alerts for heavy rain, the top level in a four-tier system. In Suizhou, electricity and water supply were cut off due to flooding. A video showed floodwater reaching the second story of some buildings. In Yicheng, 400 millimeters of precipitation within a day shattered the city's record, and in Xiangyang, firefighters rescued 84 residents from flooding, local media reported. Extreme weather conditions have affected 108,700 people in 13 county-level regions, damaged 8,110 hectares of crops and damaged or leveled over 3,600 houses, causing direct economic losses of 108 million yuan ($16.7 million), according to the province's emergency management department. Hubei's meteorological service warned that rain was expected during peak traffic hours and people who commute should be cautious when traveling across low-lying areas. It decided to raise its response level for the rainstorm from Level IV to III. China's emergency management watchdog has dispatched a working team to Hubei to help coordinate rescue and disaster relief work. ^ top ^

China hits human rights milestone in achieving moderate prosperity (Xinhua)
2021-08-13
China has hit another milestone in human rights as all-round moderate prosperity is achieved in the country with a population about one-fifth of the world's total, a white paper said Thursday. China's realization of all-round moderate prosperity, as declared in July, represents comprehensive progress in ensuring universal human rights in China, and a new contribution to the world's human rights cause, the document issued by the State Council Information Office said. Under the Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership, the Chinese people "completed the historic transformation from poverty to secure access to food and clothing, to a decent life, and finally to moderate prosperity," read the white paper titled "Moderate Prosperity in All Respects: Another Milestone Achieved in China's Human Rights." The goal of achieving moderate prosperity, articulated by China as it started reform and opening up some four decades ago, demonstrated the country's concern for improving the people's wellbeing and commitment to promoting human rights, it said. Moderate prosperity in China, according to the document, is evident in all respects: a buoyant economy, political democracy, a flourishing culture, social equity, and healthy ecosystems; balanced development between urban and rural areas to the benefit of all the people; and high respect for and comprehensive protection of human rights. "China's approach and experience have provided a distinctive path forward for human progress," read the white paper. It explored the topics by examining the facts and figures in various aspects, including ending extreme poverty and securing the people's right to an adequate standard of living, putting life above all else in fighting COVID-19, ensuring equitable and accessible health services, improving the environment, protecting civil and political rights, and promoting social equity. "Poverty is the biggest obstacle to human rights," said the white paper. By eliminating extreme poverty China has won the biggest and toughest battle against poverty in human history, to the benefit of the largest number of people. The document noted that by the end of 2020, by China's current poverty threshold, all of the 99 million rural poor, had emerged from poverty. On COVID-19, it highlighted that China has put the people's interests first, adopted thorough, rigorous and effective prevention and control measures, and turned the tide in the battle against the virus. […] The route to all-round moderate prosperity coincides with comprehensive progress in human rights in China, according to the white paper. "The right to subsistence comes first among all human rights," it said, calling visible progress in securing basic needs and remarkable improvements in living standards the natural results of realizing all-round moderate prosperity. "All-round moderate prosperity means all the people enjoy human rights," the white paper added. In the process of creating this society, China has built a system guaranteeing social equity with equal opportunities, equal rules and equal rights, in which all can participate in, contribute to, and enjoy development, it said. In summing up China's experience in promoting human rights in the process, the document highlighted that China has applied the principle of universality of human rights in China's context, and taken a people-centered approach to human rights. China has taken protecting the rights to subsistence and development as the primary task and has been promoting human rights through development, with a happy life for the people as the ultimate goal, it said. "There is no end to improving human rights. Moderate prosperity is a new starting point on China's quest for human rights," the white paper said, vowing that China will make a greater contribution to global human rights. ^ top ^

China protects civil, political rights with law, governance: white paper (Xinhua)
2021-08-12
China had taken vigorous measures protecting civil and political rights with law and governance in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, said a white paper Thursday. Titled "Moderate Prosperity in All Respects: Another Milestone Achieved in China's Human Rights," the white paper was released by the State Council Information Office. The Communist Party of China and the Chinese government have pursued a people-centered development philosophy, and adopted vigorous and practical measures to develop whole-process people's democracy, uphold social equity and justice and ensure by law that people enjoy more extensive rights and freedoms, said the white paper. China ensures the principal status of the people and expands people's democratic rights, noted the white paper, adding that the country does so by implementing orderly democratic election processes, steadily advancing socialist consultative democracy, improving community-level self-governance, and protecting the rights to know, to participate, to express views and to supervise the exercise of power. On protecting personal rights, the white paper underscored China's efforts to respect and protect personal liberty, facilitate the movement of people, secure personal information and privacy by law, and protect the lawful rights and interests of detainees and prisoners. The country also attaches great importance to the protection of individual property rights, and improves it with fairness as the core principle. It has provided legal guarantee for optimizing the business environment and strengthened the protection of intellectual property rights, the white paper noted. China has also reinforced judicial guarantee for human rights by steadily advancing judicial reform, improving protection for judicial personnel to perform their duties, as well as preventing and redressing miscarriages of justice, according to the white paper. In addition, China has also strengthened the protection of lawyers' practicing rights, increased transparency in the administration of justice and improved the legal aid system. The country has also taken concrete measures to protect freedom of religious belief, said the white paper. ^ top ^

Individual Tutors Become Latest Target in China's After-School Education Crackdown (Caixin)
2021-08-11
Authorities in China have increased scrutiny of after-school tuition offered by individuals, as tutoring service providers change tactics amid high demand and a government crackdown on private education enterprises. During a recent inspection, one individual and six institutions were punished for offering unlicensed after-school tutoring that violated government regulations, the Beijing Municipal Education Commission said in a statement Monday. The individual, surnamed Gong, was found "organizing unauthorized tutoring on curriculum subjects" in a cafe in the city's Pinggu district, the statement said. Last month, the State Council, China's cabinet, issued new rules ushering in sweeping changes to the after-school tutoring industry to reduce academic burdens on students from school and additional tutoring, known as "double reduction." However, as parents still feel the need to provide their children with additional teaching resources, some have turned to those who offer one-on-one courses or small group tutoring. The new government rules bar local authorities from approving new private education firms that offer tutoring on curriculum subjects to elementary and middle school students and require existing ones to register as nonprofit entities. After-school tutoring courses should not be held on weekends or national holidays, the State Council said. The strict rules have plunged the private tuition industry into turmoil, with some companies laying off employees and others closing their doors. However, some private tutoring providers have switched to small-scale tuition to meet the demand from parents, who are willing to pay high prices for additional courses for their children. A tutor who holds a master's degree from the Harbin Institute of Technology told Caixin that he usually charges 1,500 yuan to 2,000 yuan for a two-hour session, while some popular tutors with an education background from top universities could charge fees as high as 4,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan for a class. The crackdown carries the risk of driving tuition providers underground, making it more difficult for authorities to supervise the sector and for low-income families to access such services, said Tian Zhilei, a researcher at the China Institute for Educational Finance Research. Dong Shengzu, dean of the Non-Government Education Research Institute of the Shanghai Academy of Educational Sciences, told local media in a recent interview that one-on-one tutoring should be closely regulated to prevent it from becoming a new norm. Education authorities have also increased scrutiny of school teachers, barring them from organizing after-school classes or taking part-time jobs at private tutoring institutions, according to the Ministry of Education. However, Ma Xuelei, vice president of the research branch of the China Association for Non-Government Education, noted that besides the crackdown on after-school tutoring, it is also important to solve other core problems in compulsory education such as unequal distribution and access to educational resources, as well as intense competition in school admissions. "If the strong demand for tutoring on curriculum subjects still exists, the 'double reduction' policy would certainly fail to meet its goal," he said. ^ top ^

National Crackdown on Online Spying Sees Dozens Arrested (Caixin)
2021-08-10
A national crackdown on illegal surveillance led by departments including the cyberspace watchdog and police has resulted in dozens arrested and more than 25,000 illegal webcams seized. The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a notice Monday that the three-month campaign aimed at activities including the illegal use of cameras to spy on people, the trading of such private videos and the passing on of spying techniques. The CAC ordered its local branches to purge information related to surveillance from a variety of content platforms, with those operated by internet majors Baidu Inc., Tencent and Alibaba coming in for particular scrutiny. It said that this led to more than 8,000 pieces of harmful information being removed and 134 accounts being punished. On e-commerce sites such as JD.com Inc., Alibaba's Taobao and its second-hand platform Xianyu, CAC officials ordered the removal of more than 1,600 pieces of camera equipment, deleted more than 12,000 pieces of illegal information and punished more than 3,700 accounts. Officials also identified and held talks with 14 video surveillance app vendors. The cyberspace watchdog said it had been working along with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security and State Administration of Market Regulation on the campaign since May. The Ministry of Public Security organized a clampdown on camera hacking, as well as the manufacturing and selling of eavesdropping equipment and easily concealable cameras. A total of 59 people have been arrested and more than 25,000 illegally controlled webcams were seized, the notice said. More than 1,500 sets of listening devices and camera equipment were also confiscated. The announcement is part of a widening regulatory campaign from the government to rein in China's tech giants, targeting areas from antitrust to data security. A similar action by the CAC saw tech companies including Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. fined last month for not removing explicit content involving children. ^ top ^

Coronavirus amplifies China's regional economic divide, as some provinces struggle to reset consumption (SCMP)
2021-08-10
This summer, Zhang Luoluo's cafe fashioned out of an abandoned shipping container celebrated its 10th birthday with little fanfare and few customers. Located in an art district of Wuhan, the provincial capital of Hubei province in central China, the pink cafe is the only bright spot – and one of the few businesses still operating – in an area that was once jam-packed with stores and crowds. The district, ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic that broke out in the city in late 2019, is now desolate, Zhang said. Since reopening last April following a three-month lockdown, her hopes of a quick return to normality have been dashed as former tenants, one after the other, have relocated or shut their businesses permanently. The impact of the pandemic on economic growth might be longer than we originally anticipated "Young people working in those companies used to be the foundation of our business, but now they've all gone," Zhang said. "We've tried doing takeaways, we've tried promotions, we've redecorated the space, but our persistence, struggles and efforts are worthless." To many small business owners like Zhang, the Wuhan they remember has never really returned. Just as some people infected by the virus continue to suffer from its symptoms months after an initial infection – a phenomenon known as "long Covid" – many regional economies in China are suffering a similar fate. China was the first major economy to bounce back from the pandemic, but the recovery has been patchy, and data indicates the economic divergence between regions is closely correlated to a rebound in consumer spending in better-off provinces and lacklustre consumption in poorer ones. "The impact of the pandemic on economic growth might be longer than we originally anticipated," said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. "People used to think the pandemic had ended and everything would come back to normal. But now we can see that this is not the case." Mass Covid-19 testing under way across China amid rising infections fuelled by Delta variant Sporadic outbreaks of the Delta variant have spread across the country in recent weeks, leading local authorities to impose restrictions that have affected both consumers and businesses. Regions with a better immune system, that is stronger and more balanced economic fundamentals, may weather the storm better. The economic divergence is evident in provincial growth numbers, with 29 out of China's 31 provincial-level jurisdictions having published official figures for the first half of 2021. Using average growth figures for the past two years to remove coronavirus distortions, national gross domestic product (GDP) rose 5.3 per cent in the first half, while retail sales – a key gauge of consumer spending – increased 4.4 per cent. Even under the guidance of President Xi Jinping's new "dual circulation" strategy, which seeks to tap China's huge domestic market to power future growth, local consumption is recovering more slowly than exports, as foreign demand for Chinese goods surged during the pandemic. Based on an analysis by the South China Morning Post, the GDP growth of each province is strongly correlated with its recovery in retail sales. Six of the top eight provinces based on two-year average GDP growth rates – seven of which are in southern China – reported growth in retail sales higher than or equal to that of the first half in 2019. The exceptions were Zhejiang, where strong exports helped power its economic recovery, and Tibet, which did not report a two-year average growth in retail sales. Hainan, the 35,000 sq km island in China's south that was given duty-free shopping status last June, recorded the second highest two-year average GDP growth rate, expanding 7 per cent - 0.1 percentage points shy of Tibet - thanks to a 10.7 per cent two-year average increase in consumption. At the same time, all five of the slowest-growing provinces reported negative growth in retail sales in the first half compared with the same period in 2019. They were pandemic-stricken Hubei, northeastern rust belt provinces Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia, and the northern province Hebei. Retail sales in Hubei – still a province with strong economic potential – have almost returned to their pre-pandemic levels, shrinking only 0.5 per cent compared to the first half in 2019. But the three rust belt provinces all recorded declines in retail sales of more than 30 per cent, with Hebei also contracting over 20 per cent, according to the Post's calculations. The negative growth in consumption in Hebei, Heilongjiang and Liaoning can be attributed in part to the coronavirus outbreaks in the first quarter of the year and accompanying partial lockdowns. But Guangdong, China's richest province which also saw an outbreak in May and whose economic growth slowed temporarily as a result, still had higher retail sales compared to its pre-pandemic level. The growing disparity in wealth between the north and south is not a new issue in China, but Pinpoint's Zhang said the divergence in regional consumption is a new and worrisome trend. "Consumption growth in China had been stable before the pandemic and had never fluctuated much," Zhang said. "Though there were regional divergences in consumption, they were still all positive growth. Even though a year and a half has passed since the pandemic hit, some places still haven't recovered to their pre-pandemic levels "Even though a year and a half has passed since the pandemic hit, some places still haven't recovered to their pre-pandemic levels and so experienced negative growth. This is actually quite surprising." Behind the differing consumption levels is a divergence in employment and income, analysts said. Since the pandemic hit, the income growth rate of poor families has been much lower than average, and this widening gap is likely one of the main reasons for current weak consumption, Zhang said. In the first half of the year, the average per capita disposable income of urban households in China rose by 11.4 per cent compared to a year earlier, while the median increased by only 9.7 per cent. The 1.7 percentage point gap was the largest in years. China under pressure as Nanjing airport coronavirus cluster spreads to 15 cities Local job markets are also patchy. In the second quarter, the number of jobs available exceeded the number of applicants in eastern, central and western China, indicating an easier environment for jobseekers. But in the northeast and most other major northern cities such as Beijing and Tianjin the opposite was true, according to a survey conducted by the China Institute for Employment Research at Renmin University of China and job search website Zhaopin. […] Analysts said more challenges await in the second half, as the pandemic-triggered consumption frenzy in other countries fades amid slowing fiscal spending. When the economy is facing downward pressure, we cannot have too much hope for consumption. The recovery of foreign manufacturing bases and supply chains will also make it harder for China's exports to maintain the especially strong growth seen in the first half of the year. Most importantly, full recovery of consumption relies on no more major virus outbreaks, a scenario that is looking increasingly shaky as China contends with its most serious outbreak since the first in Wuhan last year. With this in mind, analysts said there was no escaping from the gloomy outlook on domestic consumption. "Consumption is a pro-cyclical kinetic energy. When the economy is facing downward pressure, we cannot have too much hope for consumption," Li said. ^ top ^

Chinese authorities congratulate athletes on Olympic achievements (People's Daily)
2021-08-09
China's central authorities sent a congratulatory message to the country's Olympic delegation on Sunday for their accomplishments and sportsmanship at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. "You have won immense glory for your country and people, and we extend warm congratulations and heartfelt compliments to you," read a message jointly sent by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council, China's cabinet. "You've overcome severe challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, and fulfilled your mission wonderfully," said the message. "Over the past 16 days, the motherland and people have kept a close eye on your wonderful performance, and felt happy and proud for every achievement that you made." "You've displayed great prowess as well as high-spirited morale, which vividly interprets the Olympic spirit and the Chinese sportsmanship." "You compete and communicate with athletes all over the world, promoting exchanges and enhancing friendship. Your excellent performance will further spur patriotism from all Chinese descendants around the world," added the message. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council called on athletes to refrain from complacency and make persistent efforts to further improve the strength of Chinese sports and their abilities to win greater honors for the motherland. They also said that they hoped the athletes would inspire more people, especially younger generations, to engage in sports to improve the nation's health, and make new contributions to build China into a leading sports nation and to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. China finished second in the overall medal table at Tokyo 2020, with 38 gold, 32 silver and 18 bronze medals. ^ top ^

Police probe assault case after rape allegation against Alibaba senior staff (Global Times)
2021-08-09
Police in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province have launched a probe into a sexual misconduct case involving a female employee working at Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, who reported she was sexually assaulted and raped by a senior employee during a business trip. The firm's response came after Chinese social media was ignited after the claim-to-be victim alleged online that during a business trip to Jinan on July 27, a senior colleague, surnamed Wang together with Zhang, an employee from Jinan Hualian Supermarket, had forced her to drink to excess and that Wang had gone on to rape her while she was drunk at a hotel. The sexual allegations pushed Alibaba to the forefront of public comment starting from late Saturday. At least eight most read stories on Twitter-like social media platform Sina Weibo are related to Alibaba. One of the hashtags "Alibaba" has garnered nearly 2 billion views over the weekend. Amid public opinion brewing online, Alibaba's CEO Zhang Yong, also known as Daniel Zhang, replied that he was "shocked, angry and shameful" over the scandal. He vowed to fully investigate the case, with its results to be made available to all Alibaba staff. Alibaba has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct and has established an internal task force to investigate the issue, Alibaba told the Global Times on Sunday. It said the accused employee had been suspended, and the company will fully cooperate with local police. According to The Beijing News, the independent investigation team within Alibaba believed relevant leaders and HR showed a lack of empathy and misjudged the most appropriate course of action. Apart from Wang, another four employees were also suspended from work while the investigation remains ongoing. Police in Jinan said on Sunday that the investigation of the sexual misconduct case involving Alibaba employees is underway, and the result will be made public at the earliest available opportunity. However, before any authorities revealed the truth, a lot of netizens weighed in on social media commenting on the controversy. The drinking culture at workplace especially internet companies was targeted. Some said the core of the drinking culture is to persuade or force people to drink, which is a form of bullying and should be banned. Some say the allegations if true trample over the company's core values, which have played a key role in company operations, employee performance review and recruitment. Its core values places "customer at the first, employees the second and shareholders the third" place. Many also criticized Alibaba for its slow response to serious allegations. Some said they were surprised that as one of the most influential internet companies in China, Alibaba appears to not have a department to deal with employee misconduct. Zhang Yong's reply also did not quell down the doubts from netizens targeting Alibaba. The 8,000-word long self-exposure posts from the allegedly victim on Saturday comes two weeks after the allegedly sexual assault and rape occurred on July 27, and also six days since the woman firstly reported her experience to her upper management but received no meaningful response. The female employee said she wanted the company to immediately dismiss Wang. In an attempt to get noticed and receive a response, the woman had also posted her experience to their company's group chat and once took louder speaker and sent out flyer in canteen of Alibaba in Hangzhou, according to her posts. Observers said this incident is a huge blow to Alibaba's reputation but the case should not cause severe legal responsibility against the company. After the incident, Alibaba should rethink how to reestablish its image as a responsible company. According to the posts wrote by the claim-to-be victim, she accused Wang of forcing her to drink to excess during a business meal with Zhang and several others on July 27 in Jinan. She alleged that after she lost consciousness Zhang firstly sexually assaulted her at table and brought her to a room where she was further assaulted. She claimed that she watched the surveillance in accompany with police and learned that her superior Wang entered her hotel room four times and is suspected to have raped her after she lost consciousness. According to the woman, Wang was a team leader from northern China department of Taoxianda, which is a food distribution platform affiliated with Alibaba. On Sunday, Jinan Hualian Supermarket released a statement amidst controversy, saying it had suspended the relevant employee and started investigation. However, Zhang the suspect was quoted by Chinese media Wuhan Chenbao on Sunday, denied he had acted inappropriately with the woman. Mao Lixin, a Beijing-based lawyer, told the Global Times if what the woman alleged was true, Wang was suspected of forcible indecency or rape and Zhang was suspected of forcible indecency. China's Criminal Law stipulates that rape carries a term of imprisonment of between three years and 10 years. Those who abuse others or insult women by force, coercion or other means face five years in prison or criminal detention, the law says. ^ top ^

President Xi on 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics (China Daily)
2021-08-11
The Olympic flame, which has just extinguished in Tokyo, will burn again in six months when Beijing hosts the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. President Xi Jinping has placed great emphasis on developing China's winter sports by hosting the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The following are some of his remarks in this regard. "Hosting the Winter Olympic Games will inspire over 300 million Chinese to participate in winter sports, which will contribute greatly to the development of the international Olympic cause." "We should vigorously develop mass winter sports to improve people's physical health." "China will work tirelessly to stage a green, inclusive, open and corruption-free Winter Olympic Games for the world." "Hosting the Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics is an important job for the Party and the country, and is a solemn promise China has made to the international community." "New technologies such as information technology and big data should be used to better serve the Games." "We should develop sports while preserving the natural environment, and integrate sports facilities into the natural scenery in a harmonious way." ^ top ^

Beijing Prosecutor Mulls Civil Action Against Tencent for Alleged Harm to Youth (Caixin)
2021-08-07
Tencent said it would closely review the functions of its WeChat app after a Beijing procuratorate announced it was exploring a public-interest civil suit against the firm, amid claims its "youth mode" breaches a national law protecting minors. Under Chinese law, the announcement of the suit gives stakeholders 30 days to respond before it can move forward. The announcement from Beijing Haidian People's Procuratorate, which was posted on state-owned legal news website JCRB.com Friday, alleges WeChat-owner Shenzhen Tencent Computer Systems Co. Ltd. is violating the Law on the Protection of Minors (link in Chinese), without specifying how. Chinese procuratorates were granted the power to file public-interest civil lawsuits on the issues concerning teenager rights protection by that law after it was amended last year (link in Chinese). WeChat launched its "youth mode" in October and the latest version allows parents to block access to online games, credit card, livestreaming and streamer tipping, Tencent said in a response. It can also show teenagers exclusive content in WeChat's video section. WeChat had over 1.2 billion active users by the end last year, according to the annual report of the tech conglomerate's Hong Kong-listed platform Tencent Holdings Ltd. Regulators have directed tech companies to take measures that protect young people against internet addiction, with online games being a prime target. Last month, the Cyberspace Administration of China launched a campaign to crack down on online activity that endangers the physical and mental health of teenagers, with one measure demanding online platforms to fix loopholes in their youth modes. In June, a Beijing-based non-profit said it would file a separate public interest suit against Tencent, accusing its popular online mobile game Honor of Kings (王者荣耀) of infringing teenager rights. Chinese tech giants have been caught up in a regulatory storm that prompted massive sell-offs of U.S.-listed Chinese companies. ^ top ^

Pudong will lead higher level of reform, opening-up (China Daily)
2021-08-09
Detailed plans have been carried out in Shanghai's Pudong New Area to make firm steps toward realizing the central government's blueprint for the area. Officials and experts said Pudong should courageously embrace the rest of the world. Companies and institutions in the area should learn from the best, and compete with the strongest and the fastest. To that end, the global operation program was launched at the end of last year, in order to better facilitate Pudong-based multinational companies in reaching to rest of the world. The first group of 41 companies enrolled in the plan－including Panasonic Procurement (Shanghai) and Sinopharm Group－have seen the size of their business grow by an average of more than 40 percent year-on-year during the first half. A second group of 52 companies are awaiting their turn. Meanwhile, 14 multinational companies set up their regional headquarters in Pudong in the first half－a number nearly half of the city's total in that period. Over time, 373 multinational companies have situated their regional headquarters in Pudong. On July 19, German chemicals giant Covestro represented the 30,000 plus multinationals in Shanghai to attend a meeting organized by the local government at which officials, academics and industry experts brainstormed on how best to implement the central government's guideline. Pudong's highly efficient local government and extensive services provided to companies have helped Covestro make the move to the area, said Holly Lei, president of Covestro China. "We consider China a local market for Covestro. And we are willing to contribute to Pudong's higher-level opening-up, high-quality development and innovations," she said. Innovation is stressed not only by Covestro but also highlighted in Pudong's development for the following years. On July 29, the local government released its Group Open Innovation plan, which encourages industry leaders to set up open innovation platforms in Pudong. Pudong's Deputy Director Wu Qiang said the GOI plan is the area's latest initiative to build itself into an innovation hub with global influence, and it will help foster a group of leading small and medium-sized tech enterprises and improve the environment for scientific research, technological innovation and entrepreneurship in Pudong. Looking ahead, he said, Pudong will provide strong support for large enterprises to establish open innovation centers and boost the development of tech SMEs. More efforts will also be made to strengthen the industrial and innovation chain, better serve innovation platforms and SMEs, continuously carry out institutional reforms and make breakthroughs in research and development of technological innovation. Major pharmaceutical company Roche was among the first 20 companies to join the GOI plan. In May, Roche launched its first in-house accelerator, or innovation center, globally in Shanghai. The accelerator will provide tailor-made support for startups in pharmaceutical, diagnostics, personalized healthcare, and digital and AI-driven healthcare sectors. "Roche wants to help build up the ecosystem, such as the Roche Accelerator. And the purpose is to collaborate with the government, with venture capital, with local biotic companies to bring our biotech to the next level," said Shen Hong, head of Roche Innovation Center Shanghai. Citing the recently released guideline to build Pudong into a pioneer for socialist modernization, Shen said Roche will play a significant role in the initiative and will also benefit from the policy. "We're very excited about the new policies for Pudong, such as enhancing innovation capabilities and generating an innovation ecosystem," Shen said. "We believe that this will only foster collaboration between multinational companies and local companies, traditional domestic companies and startups." The Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council, China's Cabinet, released a guideline on July 15 saying that Pudong New Area should pioneer the country's socialist modernization. It should lead China's higher level of reform and opening-up, serving as a strategic link between domestic and international markets, according to the guideline. Wang Xinkui, chairman of the Shanghai WTO Affairs Consultation Center, spoke highly of the guideline, saying building Shanghai into an international financial center and a key innovation hub with global influence will inject new impetus into both the municipality and the country's future development. He said more efforts should be made to deepen institutional reforms and opening-up, boost the development of key fields, such as integrated circuits and artificial intelligence, and increase the active allocation of global financial resources. While accommodating Lujiazui, Shanghai's financial center, Pudong will step up efforts to attract more industry leaders and enrich the financial product portfolio, said Zhang Hong, head of the Pudong financial bureau. The global institutional investor cluster plan was released in July to attain that goal. Financial institutions have moved quickly. Nine well-known global asset management companies－including T. Rowe Price, Charles Schwab and Alter Domus－signed agreements with the Pudong local government to set up offices in Lujiazui. ^ top ^

20 officials in Guangzhou punished for slack response to COVID-19 outbreak in May; Chinese discipline watchdog urges strict inspection (Global Times)
2021-08-12
Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, on Thursday announced punishments for 20 officials for their neglect of duty in dealing with the local COVID-19 outbreak in May and June, including the firing of director of the city health commission and district-level Party chief. Guangzhou's announcement came after China's national discipline watchdog, the Party Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, issued a statement on Thursday urging a strict inspection and punishment for dereliction of duty of officials in the country's anti-epidemic work. Among the 20 officials punished, 11 were removed or dismissed from their posts, including Huang Guanglie, director of the Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission; Chen Xiaohua and Bi Ruiming, the Party chief and the deputy Party chief, respectively, of Guangzhou's Liwan District where the epidemic first started in May; and Zou Jianzeng, Party chief of Liwan Central Hospital. The other nine people were also given warnings, an executive record a serious demerit or faced an adjustment of their posts. Prior to Guangzhou's action, more than 40 officials in multiple places, such as East China's Jiangsu and Shandong provinces and Central China's Henan and Hunan provinces, had already been punished for slack response and ineffective management in local anti-epidemic work. The national discipline watchdog urged discipline inspection organs at all levels across the country to strictly punish those public post holders who fail to fulfill epidemic prevention and control. In particular, Jiangsu Province, home to Nanjing and Yangzhou -- the two hardest-hit cities in China's latest outbreak -- issued a special inspection plan in the local anti-epidemic work. The inspection will mainly focus on whether the quarantine measures in key regions are being followed, if there are significant omissions in nucleic acid testing or false reporting of test results, if the protection of high-risk groups is ensured and if Party members or officials fail to perform their duty and shirk their responsibility. ^ top ^

Panchen Lama visits Tashilhunpo Monastery in Xigaze, China's Tibet (Global Times)
2021-08-10
The 11th Panchen Lama, Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, also a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, vice president of the Buddhist Association of China and president of the association's Tibet branch, visits the Tashilhunpo Monastery in Xigaze, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Aug. 9, 2021. The 11th Panchen Lama visited the Tashilhunpo Monastery on Sunday and Monday. ^ top ^

Xinjiang residents use personal experiences to refute human rights violation lies (Xinhua)
2021-08-10
Residents of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on Monday used their personal experiences to debunk the lies of politicians from certain Western countries concerning human rights violations in the region. At a press conference held in Urumqi, the regional capital, several individuals from the region's ethnic minority groups shared their stories and said that their lives and health have been well protected with the rapid development of the region's public health cause in recent years. Aynur Ablikem, an obstetrics nurse with the Urumqi Maternal and Child Health Hospital, said at the conference that over the nine years she has worked at the hospital, she has ensured that patients from all ethnic groups receive timely and effective treatment. "Whichever ethnic group a patient is from, we will do our best to ensure their health. I have never seen or heard anyone experience so-called forced sterilization at my hospital," she said. Turgun Emer, a 70-year-old doctor at the Xinjiang regional Uygur medicine hospital, said he has practiced Uygur medicine for nearly 50 years and witnessed its great development, which has only been made possible with the country's massive investment. "Large investments have been made to protect the health of people from all ethnic groups in Xinjiang," he said. Rozegul Bekir, a farmer from southern Xinjiang's Hotan Prefecture, said her husband was diagnosed with valvular heart disease in 2019 and has recovered after treatment thanks to favorable policies such as medical insurance. "My husband's medical bills exceeded 110,000 yuan (about 17,000 U.S. dollars), but we only paid a little more than 1,000 yuan and the rest of the fees were reimbursed," she said. The average life expectancy of Xinjiang residents rose from 30 years in 1949 to 74.7 years in 2019 with the development of the region's public health cause, according to data provided by Mubarak Mugeti, the moderator of the press conference. "Some politicians from Western countries have turned a blind eye to the achievements of Xinjiang's public health cause, and concocted fake claims such as 'genocide' and 'forced sterilization.' These claims are downright lies," Mubarak Mugeti said. ^ top ^

Hong Kong experiences 'alarming' population drop, but government says not all 90,000 leaving city because of national security law (SCMP)
2021-08-12
Nearly 90,000 residents have left Hong Kong amid a wave of emigration in the year after the national security law was imposed, leading to a significant 1.2 per cent drop in the city's population. The decline to 7.39 million people is the biggest since the local population saw the first signs of a decreasing trend in the middle of 2020, by 0.3 per cent year on year. Before that there had always been steady growth since mid-2003, with an increase rate ranging from 0.2 to 1.1 per cent leading to a population of 7.5 million by the middle of last year. A government spokesman said the number of residents leaving Hong Kong was "conceptually different" from emigration, as some might be going for work or study. He also blamed the population decline partly on stringent border controls and quarantine measures amid the coronavirus pandemic, which had resulted in a low influx of people. But Paul Yip Siu-fai, chair professor in social work and social administration at the University of Hong Kong, called the trend "alarming", and said part of the decline was because of a sharp increase in net migration, on top of a low birth rate. "Of course many people could be leaving Hong Kong to work and study, every year there are people doing so. But what is the reason that this year saw such an increase [from 20,900 to 89,200], the government needs to find out," said Yip, adding authorities should also look into how emigration would affect the city's long-term population changes. "Some people are worried about changes in freedom of speech, as well as the city's education system, while the [red lines] are unclear. Amid fears, if they had a choice, they might choose to emigrate. The government should try to address their concerns." Yip, a former member of the government's steering committee on population policy, also expected the city to experience a continuous drop in overall population over the coming one to two years, mainly attributing that to high net migration. But he said he believed the number of people emigrating could become steadier after that. The government should also consider more incentives in trying to boost the city's birth rate, such as providing housing priorities for couples with newborns. Separately, the latest annual report from the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority showed the total amount of early fund withdrawals on the grounds of permanent departure from Hong Kong last year reached a record HK$6.6 billion (US$850 million), a 27 per cent jump from the previous financial year. Over the period, there was a net outflow of about 89,200 Hong Kong residents, outnumbering the arrival of 13,900 one-way permit holders from mainland China. There were about 38,500 newborns and 50,400 deaths in the city between the middle of last year and this year, according to the latest data. Between the period of mid-2019 and mid-last year, the net migration figures of city residents was 20,900, while the inflow of one-way permit holders from the mainland was 22,100 – a year-on-year drop of 37 per cent. "The inflow of people into Hong Kong, including one-way permit holders, domestic helpers and those coming to work or study in Hong Kong under various admission schemes has remained at a low level [amid the pandemic]," the government spokesman said. He added that net migration included Hong Kong residents leaving for various purposes, such as work and study, which was "conceptually different from immigration and emigration". "Being an international city, Hong Kong's population has always been mobile," he said. "During the past 10 years, net outflows of Hong Kong residents other than one-way permit holders were recorded for most of the years." The spokesman, meanwhile, did not touch on the recent trend of Hongkongers considering emigrating after the sweeping security law took effect on June 30 last year, banning acts of subversion, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. In a report last September, the Census and Statistics Department's projections showed the city's population was expected to drop to about 7.35 million within 50 years, with nearly 40 per cent of those being elderly people, reflecting an ageing society. ^ top ^

China wary of Lithuanian domino effect over de facto Taiwan embassy (SCMP)
2021-08-12
China's strong reaction to Lithuania's decision to allow Taiwan to open a de facto embassy is due to a deep concern that more countries will follow the Baltic state's lead, setting off a domino effect in Europe, China observers said. China recalled its Lithuanian ambassador on Tuesday in response to Vilnius' move to allow the self-ruled island – which Beijing regards as part of its territory – to set up a representative office under the name of "Taiwan". Beijing said the decision was a violation of the one-China policy, a key cornerstone of Chinese policymaking and diplomacy. It was the first time China had recalled an ambassador from an EU member state since the bloc was established in 1993. But observers said Beijing may not achieve its desired outcome this time. Hours after Beijing's announcement, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that as a sovereign country, Lithuania would decide its foreign policy for itself and urged Beijing to change its decision. "Sino-Lithuanian relations should be based on the principle of mutual respect. Otherwise, the dialogue turns into one-sided ultimatums, which is unacceptable in international relations," he told the Baltic News Service. "At the same time, as a sovereign state, Lithuania itself decides with which states or territories to develop economic and cultural relations, without violating its international obligations." In the absence of formal ties, Taiwan has established representative offices, under the name of the capital Taipei, as de facto embassies. Zhu Songling, a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Beijing Union University, said allowing an office to use the name of Taiwan was interpreted as support for Taiwanese independence, which was bound to rile Beijing. "The change of the office name is part of efforts by the Taiwanese government to seek a breakthrough [in its diplomatic recognition], and Lithuania is seeking to please both sides, which is not acceptable to China." "Lithuania's move must be stopped, otherwise some Western countries may follow suit and this could cause a domino effect," Zhu said. "To China, there is no room for bargaining." Pang Zhongying, an international relations expert at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao, said Beijing had reason to worry – in February, Lithuania was among the countries that snubbed Beijing's invitation to attend President Xi Jinping's summit with 17 Central and Eastern European countries. Three months later, Lithuania announced it was quitting the group, known as 17+1, and called on other nations to do the same. "This is also a message to other countries that if they push forward their relations with Taiwan like Lithuania, this would be the consequence," Pang said. The diplomatic escalation follows months of flaring tensions between China and the European Union over claims of human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, as well as the emergence of Taiwan as a dangerous flashpoint between Beijing and Washington. US President Joe Biden appears to be taking a similar approach to the Taiwan issue as his predecessor Donald Trump, who significantly deepened ties with the island. In January, representatives from Taiwan attended Biden's inauguration and in May the ambassador to Palau, John Hennessey-Niland, became the first sitting US envoy to travel to Taiwan in an official capacity since 1979, when Washington cut formal ties with Taipei in favour of Beijing. Zhu said that by recalling its ambassador rather than cutting off diplomatic ties, Beijing was "leaving some buffer space for political manoeuvres in Lithuania so that its politicians can debate how to deal with its relations with China". "But over the Taiwan issue, there's no room and possibility for China to compromise," he added. Observers in China and Europe agreed that Beijing was unlikely to change its overall foreign policy. "Lithuania, like almost all the Central and Eastern European countries, is too small to provoke or incentivise a change in China's foreign policy. Especially as it involves Taiwan, China isn't open to such changes," said Andreea Brinza, vice-president of the Romanian Institute for the Study of the Asia-Pacific. However, there remains a question whether Beijing's "strong measures" will be effective, or become "counterproductive" because of the common foreign policy approach by the EU, Pang said. "The European Union will need to respond, and this could make those countries that were previously reluctant to touch the Taiwan issue take a step forward." Una Aleksandra Berzina-Cerenkova, head of the China Studies Centre at Riga Stradins University in neighbouring Latvia, said that Beijing may be carefully watching which path other Baltic countries, including Estonia and Latvia, may choose. "China will try to incentivise them to not budge, or at least pursue a quiet withdrawal without an immediate turn towards Taiwan. That is not least why China has decided to make an example out of Lithuania – they feel a slight indecisiveness on the part of the other two Baltic states." This is not the first time Beijing has recalled an envoy over the Taiwan issue. In 1981, China recalled its ambassador to the Netherlands after Amsterdam allowed a Dutch company to sell submarines to Taiwan. At that time, the Chinese government also asked the Dutch to recall their ambassador to China, and ties between the two countries dropped to charge d'affaires level, before they returned to normal in 1984. The most recent recall took place in 1995, when Washington allowed Taiwan's former president Lee Teng-hui to visit the US. The Chinese ambassador Li Daoyu resumed his post after the US promised to abide by the one-China policy. ^ top ^

China Expands Scrutiny of Online Insurance Sector (Caixin)
2021-08-12
China's banking and insurance regulator is stepping up scrutiny of the nation's online insurance platforms, further expanding the government's crackdown on the internet sector. The China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) ordered insurers to curb improper marketing and pricing practices and step up user privacy protection, the commission said Wednesday in a notice on carrying out rectification work for online insurance violations. Insurers were ordered to conduct self-checks, make immediate corrections and hold responsible personnel accountable. Local CBIRC bureaus will select for further inspection insurers with prominent problems that fail to conduct serious self-checks, the agency said. ZhongAn Online P&C Insurance Co. Ltd., China's first internet-only insurer, was fined 1.45 million yuan ($223,800) for deceiving policyholders, breaking the limits of insurance premiums and compiling false statements and data. In 2019, the CBIRC received 19,900 complaints from internet insurance consumers, up 88.6% from the previous year. Among the complaints, misleading sales practices and disguised forced tie-in sales were prominent problems. ^ top ^

China Telecom eyes mega Shanghai IPO (Global Times)
2021-08-10
China Telecom, one of the country's three major telecom operators that exited the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year, began taking subscriptions on Monday for a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, in what would be the world's biggest IPO so far in 2021. It would also make the company one of the first US-listed Chinese firms to return to the A-share market amid Washington's "decoupling" push, which extends from technology to the financial sector. Industry insiders said that China Telecom's IPO underscores an accelerated "home-coming" streak among Chinese companies listed in the US - where mounting policy uncertainty is reducing the attractiveness of listing there - while Chinese investors' deep pockets and improved capital infrastructure are giving the trend a leg up. China Telecom aims to raise 47.1 billion ($7.3 billion) according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Friday. The shares will be priced at 4.53 yuan. If an over-allotment option was exercised, the Shanghai IPO would raise more than 54 billion yuan, market analysts said. The offering marks the world's largest new listing in more than a year, exceeding the $6.3 billion IPO by short video platform Kuaishou in February. It will also be the fifth-largest IPO in the history of the A-share market, highlighting the deep pool of domestic capital the telecom operator is able to access. In 2002, China Telecom became one of the first state-owned enterprises to list in the US. In March, China Telecom said in a filing that it would seek an IPO in the A-share market, after the telecom operator, along with China Mobile and China Unicom, were delisted by the New York Stock Exchange in January following an executive order signed by former US president Donald Trump on Washington's accusation that the operators have links with the Chinese military. China Mobile also announced in May that it plans to issue up to 964.8 million shares in the A-share market. "China Telecom's Shanghai IPO comes at a delicate time, and it is set to play an exemplary role for Chinese companies listed in the US, which have already been jolted by US stock regulators' increasingly hostile attitude toward Chinese companies" and lingering political tensions between the world's two largest economies, a senior executive of a US-listed tech firm, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Global Times on Monday. According to the executive, discussions on "home-coming" have been going for some time among US-listed Chinese companies, in particular in "sensitive sectors" that handle Chinese residents' data. "It is too costly and time-consuming for us to directly quit the US market, so a more likely choice is to hedge with a second listing in Hong Kong, whose Class A ordinary shares are convertible with American depositary shares on the US stock exchanges," the executive said, describing the second listing as a transitional strategy and a "way out". This year, a group of US-listed Chinese enterprises, including electric car producers Xpeng and Lixiang, video platform Blibli, tech giant Baidu, Autohome and Yidu Tech all launched secondary listings in Hong Kong. The US Securities and Exchange Commission said in July that for IPOs, China-based operating companies need to provide additional risk disclosures. Reuters reported earlier that the US securities regulator will halt processing Chinese company listings. In December 2020, the US enacted the "Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act," which contains measures that would force foreign companies to adhere to US securities law, while some of the act's content explicitly targets Chinese firms. The China-US stand-off, plus Chinese regulators' stepped-up supervision of overseas-listed technology firms, has led to a decline of valuation of many Chinese companies, and this in turn prompts them to raise money in Chinese capital market, where markets are relatively stable and investors understand their values better, according to the executive. "In the past, many cash-hungry Chinese start-ups had no choice but to list abroad. If they had sought to launch IPO in China, they were required to show profits for three consecutive years. "The process for Chinese regulators to accept IPO documents needed a longer time," Wang Peng, an assistant professor at the Gaoling School of Artificial Intelligence at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Monday. But now China's financial infrastructure has basically matured with the launch of the Nasdaq-style ChiNext and registration-based STAR market, which makes the market more attractive for Chinese companies, Wang said, stressing that the shifting tide also mirrors the stable growth of the Chinese economy. As of May 5, there were 248 Chinese companies listed on US exchanges with a total market capitalization of $2.1 trillion, according to data released by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. ^ top ^

China Issues Sweeping New Rules for Credit Rating Companies (Caixin)
2021-08-07
China issued sweeping new regulations for credit rating businesses in a key step toward bringing the scandal-plagued industry under better oversight. The rules, jointly issued by five central government bodies including the central bank and the top economic planner, spell out requirements for rating companies' business operations, corporate governance and disclosure, as well as punishments for industry malpractice. The rules require companies to score creditworthiness based on the probability of default and reduce the proportion of highly rated bond issuers to a "reasonable range," enabling investors to better differentiate among bonds. The rules also require that rating bureaus do more to avoid conflicts of interest, urging them to strengthen efforts to insulate credit rating departments from other operations. The document gives rating businesses a grace period to comply with the new rules by the end of 2022. The domestic credit rating industry has engendered doubts about the reliability of credit scores. A wave of bond defaults by highly rated state-owned enterprises (SOEs) rattled China's bond market last year and led to accusations that rating businesses were handing out excessively optimistic scores to secure clients. Flawed rating methodology, conflicts of interest and corruption have all played a role in the industry's recent failures, experts said. Last month, Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. Ltd., one of China's largest debt rating companies, was ordered to fix its operations after allegedly failing to adequately scrutinize or inspect the businesses it was evaluating. ^ top ^

DPRK urges U.S. to leave South Korea, halt military drills (Xinhua)
2021-08-10
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Tuesday urged the U.S. military to leave South Korea, pledging to build up the DPRK's nuclear weapons in response to the upcoming joint U.S.-South Korea military drills. Kim Yo Jong, vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea of the DPRK, said in a statement released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that the United States and South Korea desperately started joint military exercises, further accelerating the unstable situation "despite the unanimous denunciation and rejection at home and abroad." "They are the most vivid expression of the U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK, designed to stifle our state by force, and an unwelcoming act of self-destruction for which a dear price should be paid as they threaten the safety of our people and further imperil the situation on the Korean peninsula," said Kim, who is also the younger sister of the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un. The joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises include an "exercise of the staff for crisis control" on Aug. 10-13 and a "combined command exercise" on Aug. 16-26, according to the KCNA. "The dangerous war exercises pushed ahead by the U.S. and the South Korean side disregardful of our repeated warnings will surely make them face more serious security threat," she warned. She urged the United States to withdraw its troops from South Korea, saying "for peace to settle on the peninsula, it is imperative for the U.S. to withdraw its aggression troops and war hardware deployed in South Korea." As long as the U.S. forces stay in South Korea, "the root cause for the periodic aggravation of the situation on the Korean peninsula will never vanish," Kim said. ^ top ^

1443 new cases and 6 deaths reported (Go Go Mongolia)
2021-08-13
In the last 24 hours, 1443 new cases of Covid-19 registered in Mongolia; 442 in Ulaanbaatar city and 1001 in rural areas. 6 death cases registered and total death cases reached 869. Currently, 8766 patients are under treatment including 1589 children and 213 pregnant women. 8153 patients are under home treatment. In the last 24 hours, 2000 patients were recovered. As for the 1001 new cases in rural areas, 288 registered in Bayan-Ulgii province and 121 in Khovd province. Currently, 2,210,968 citizens got their first dose of Covid-19 vaccines, and 2,006,887 citizens got their second dose. ^ top ^

President confers state orders and medals on peacekeepers (Montsame)
2021-08-11
On August 10, President of Mongolia and Commander-in-Chief of the Mongolian Armed Forces U. Khurelsukh presented state orders and medals to the servicemen of Mongolian contingent, who have served in the peacekeeping missions in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. President U. Khurelsukh highly commended the active participation of Mongolian military personnel in UN peacekeeping and international operations, raising the reputation of the country and the Mongolian military. He noted that Mongolian military personnel have performed their duties in the Islamic State of Afghanistan during the past 18 years, and for the first time, they also have trained foreign military personnel in helicopters and artillery. The President also said he is confident that the experience gained by the Mongolian military personnel would greatly contribute to the development of the Armed Forces. At the end of his speech, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Mongolian Armed Forces, U. Khurelsukh expressed gratitude to the servicemen, who became an example to other countries' servicemen with their skills, courage, endurance, discipline and performance in difficult weather conditions, as well as to their families.  ^ top ^

Deputy Foreign Minister participates in ARF ministerial meeting (Montsame)
2021-08-08
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs B.Munkhjin took part in a ministerial meeting at the 28th ASEAN Regional Forum held on August 6, via videoconference under Brunei Darussalam's 2021 ASEAN Chairmanship. In his remarks during the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister B.Munkhjin presented Mongolia's stance on issues of regional and international security. The ARF has 27 members and is one of the largest gatherings in the region to discuss security issues in the Asia-Pacific area. Mongolia has been its member since 1998. ^ top ^

Embassy of Switzerland