All posts tagged: China

China, Japan and South Korea, amid regional rivalries, line up leaders’ summit | China

Published by Sam

The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea will meet, possibly next year, in the latest attempt to ease regional tensions heightened by North Korea’s weapons programme and a more visible US military presence. During a meeting in the South Korean port city of Busan on Sunday, the three Asian countries’ foreign ministers agreed to step up cooperation in key areas, including security, and to lay the groundwork for what would be the first leaders’ summit in four years. The weekend’s trilateral meeting – the first between the neighbours’ foreign ministers since 2019 – came soon after the Chinese and US presidents, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden, met on the sidelines of the Apec summit in California. The Asia summit – preparations for which began in September during talks between the countries’ deputy foreign ministers – is in part designed to address Chinese concerns over closer security ties between Japan, South Korea and the US. While not expected to take place this year, the meeting between Xi of China, the South Korean president, Yoon Suk-yeol, …

China’s coal addiction puts spotlight on its climate ambitions before Cop28 | China

Published by Sam

China’s addiction to building new coal-fired power plants is becoming increasingly entrenched, even as the country is on track to reach peak CO2 emissions before its 2030 target. As climate officials from around the world prepare to meet in the United Arab Emirates for Cop28, many are hoping that the recent joint climate agreement between the US and China, released days before Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in California, can lay the groundwork for positive commitments at the UN’s climate conference. The last major breakthrough involving China at Cop was at Cop26 in Glasgow, in 2021. At that conference, China pledged CO2 emissions would peak by 2030. Xi said that China would “strictly control coal-fired power generation projects”. But 2021 was also the year in which severe power outages blighted many parts of China, leading to rationing, closed factories and cold homes as local authorities struggled to cope with sudden shortages of energy. In 2022, further energy crunches in south-west China underlined the importance of stable energy supplies to Chinese officials. That has put …

Respiratory infection clusters in China not caused by novel virus, says health ministry | China

Published by Sam

A surge in respiratory illnesses across China that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. Recent clusters of respiratory infections are caused by an overlap of common viruses such as the influenza virus, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and adenovirus, as well as bacteria such as mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is a common culprit for respiratory tract infections, a National Health Commission spokesperson said. The ministry called on local authorities to open more fever clinics and promote vaccinations among children and elderly people as China grapples with a wave of respiratory illnesses in its first full winter since the removal of Covid-19 restrictions. “Efforts should be made to increase the opening of relevant clinics and treatment areas, extend service hours and increase the supply of medicines,” said the ministry spokesperson, Mi Feng. He advised people to wear masks and called on local authorities to focus on preventing the spread of illnesses in …

EU climate chief: China must help fund rescue of poorer nations hit by disaster | Cop28

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China and other big developing nations must pay into a fund to rescue poor countries stricken by the climate disaster, the EU’s climate chief has said as world leaders prepare to gather in Dubai for a crucial climate summit. Wopke Hoekstra, EU commissioner for climate action, said there was no longer any reason to exclude big emerging economies with high greenhouse gas emissions such as China and petrostates in the Gulf from the obligation to provide aid to the poorest and most vulnerable countries. “We need so much more money that we need basically everyone with the ability to pay to chip in,” Hoekstra said to a small group of journalists, including the Observer. “Climate financing, climate action, will take significantly more money. I’m not talking about 20% or 30% more – incremental amounts – but factors more in the years to come. We need private sector money and we need a lot more public sector money.” The question of finance for poor countries will take centre stage at Cop28, a fortnight-long summit of world …

The fate of US venture capital in China teeters on uncertainty

Published by skeptic

On a weekday afternoon at Red Rock Coffee, the cafe known for spotting venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, one is likely to overhear a few conversations in Mandarin. Since China reopened its border this spring after three years of COVID-19 restrictions, managers of U.S. funds in the country have been flocking to the Bay Area. These trips weren’t unusual before the pandemic, but they now serve a new purpose. USD-denominated funds in China have long been drawing inspiration from Silicon Valley startups, using them as benchmarks for investment targets back home. They would seek out the equivalents of Facebook, Amazon and Uber on the other side of the Pacific Ocean and hope they become winners in the country’s largely untapped internet market. This dealmaking strategy of American funds in China has become less effective in the face of shifting global and domestic landscapes. Driven by a confluence of factors, from China’s crackdown on the tech industry to escalating U.S.-China tensions, these investors are now turning their gaze to opportunities abroad, tracing the footsteps of a …

Australia and Philippines begin joint patrols in South China Sea as regional tensions rise | South China Sea

Published by Sam

Australia and the Philippines have begun joint sea and air patrols in the South China Sea as Pacific nations warily eye an increasingly assertive China. The three-day exercises follow discussions earlier this year on joint patrols to underscore what the countries say is their commitment to closer cooperation and a rules-based order in the region. It also comes days after Manila took similar steps with the US, concluding patrols that started in waters near Taiwan. Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, said the inaugural patrols represent the practical implementation of the strategic partnership signed between the two nations in September. “Australia and the Philippines are firmly committed to a peaceful, secure and prosperous region, where sovereignty and agreed rules and norms are respected,” he said on Saturday in a joint statement with the Philippine national defence secretary, Gilberto C Teodoro Jr. “The first maritime cooperative activity between the Australian Defence Force and Armed Forces of the Philippines demonstrates this important commitment.” The Philippine defence department spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said the patrols would be carried out in …

China supplies data to WHO about clusters of respiratory illness | China

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Chinese health authorities have provided requested data on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The Chinese authorities said there had been no detection of unusual or novel pathogens or unusual clinical presentations, including in Beijing and the north-eastern province of Liaoning, according to a WHO statement. Epidemiologists have warned that as, China heads into its first winter since the lifting of zero-Covid restrictions, natural levels of immunity to respiratory viruses may be lower than normal, leading to an increase in infections. Several countries, including the US and the UK, experienced large waves of respiratory viral infections in the first winter after Covid restrictions were lifted as people had lower natural levels of immunity. For young children, lockdowns delayed the age at which they were first exposed to common bugs. On 13 November, China’s National Health Commission held a press conference about the increase in respiratory disease cases. The health authority said that these cases were linked to pathogens such as influenza and …

Anti-censorship tools are quietly disappearing into thin air in China

Published by skeptic

China — the biggest internet market globally with more than 1 billion users — is no stranger to online censorship. For years, authorities in the country have built out a series of techno-policy restraints, commonly referred to as The Great Firewall, to restrict open access to the internet. But those restrictions have also given rise to a creative industry: circumvention tools used by tens of millions of people to get around the wall and use the internet like others do elsewhere. Yet recently, some of the most popular of these tools have mysteriously started to disappear. Earlier this month, client software Clash for Windows, a popular proxy tool that helps users bypass firewalls and circumvent China’s censorship system, suddenly stopped appearing on GitHub: the repository had been the main route for users to download it and the developer to update it. After deleting the repository, the developer of Clash for Windows, who goes by the pseudonym @Fndroid, posted on X that they would stop updating the tool, with no further detail. “Stopped updating, see you soon????” the …

‘Respect the facts’: Beijing rejects Australian claims China sonar injured navy divers | Australian military

Published by Sam

The Chinese government has accused the federal government of “making trouble” with “rude and irresponsible” claims about the sonar incident that injured Australian navy divers last week. Beijing overnight rebuffed Canberra’s version of the maritime altercation between two warships off Japan’s coast last Tuesday. China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said overnight: “We hope relevant parties will stop making trouble in front of China’s doorsteps and work with China to preserve the momentum of improving and growing China-Australia ties.” The Australian defence minister, Richard Marles, said on Saturday that several divers from the HMAS Toowoomba sustained injuries from sonar pulses emitted by a Chinese warship in international waters off Japan. In a Sky News interview on Monday, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said he was “very concerned” about the incident which he called dangerous and reckless. The PM said Australia had lodged “strong objections”. But the Global Times, a state tabloid newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party, published overnight a denial from the national defense ministry spokesperson Wu Qian who said China had lodged …

Fire in China coal company office kills 26 | China

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A fire that erupted in the office of a coal company in northern China has killed 26 people, state media said on Thursday, the latest in a series of deadly accidents in the coal industry. At least 38 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out at the four-storey Yongju Coal Industry Joint Building in the country’s top coal-producing hub of Shanxi. Calls to the company by the Reuters news agency were not answered. China’s president, on a trip to the United States, urged the authorities to ensure more safety measures are put in place, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. Xi Jinping said there was an “extremely profound lesson” to be learned from the fire. He said local governments must “conduct in-depth investigations of hidden risks in key industries, improve emergency plans and prevention measures”, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Firefighters work to put out the fire. Photograph: Anonymous/AP, Xinhua News Agency Video footage posted on the social media site Weibo showed bright flames and thick black smoke billowing from the building, while …