China Watch Thread

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Protests in China are Not Rare – but the Current Unrest is Significant
by Teresa Wright
November 28, 2022

Introduction:

(The Conversation) Street protests across China have evoked memories of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations that were brutally quashed in 1989. Indeed, foreign media have suggested the current unrest sweeping cities across China is unlike anything seen in the country since that time.

The implication is that protest in China is a rarity. Meanwhile, the Nov. 30, 2022, death of Jiang Zemin – the leader brought in after the bloody crackdown of 1989 – gives further reason to reflect on how China has changed since the Tiananmen Square massacre, and how Communist party leaders might react to unrest now.

But how uncommon are these recent public actions? And how do they compare with the massive weekslong demonstrations of 1989?

Having written extensively on protest in China, I can attest that protests in China are not at all uncommon – but that doesn’t make what is happening now any less significant. Alongside similarities between the current street actions and more typical protests of recent years, there are also parallels between the demonstrations today and those in 1989. Yet differences in China’s international status and domestic leadership reduce the chances for liberal democratic transformation now.

The current protests are ostensibly about the Chinese government’s strict “zero COVID” policies. They were triggered by a deadly fire in the northwestern city of Urumqi on Nov. 24, with some residents blaming lockdown rules for hampering rescue efforts. Unrest has since spread to multiple cities, including Beijing and Shanghai.

Read more of The Conversation article here: https://theconversation.com/protests-i ... nt-195622

Read a brief biography and more on the death of Jiang Zemin here: https://www.alternet.org/2022/11/chine ... emin-dead/

[weatheriscool]

China's foreign minister signals deeper ties with Russia
Source: AP

today

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi defended what he said was his country’s position of impartiality on the war in Ukraine on Sunday and signaled that China would deepen ties with Russia in the coming year.

Wang, speaking by video to a conference in the Chinese capital, also blamed America for the deterioration in relations between the world’s two largest economies, saying that China has “firmly rejected the United States’ erroneous China policy.”

China has pushed back against Western pressure on trade, technology, human rights and its claims to a broad swath of the western Pacific, accusing the U.S. of bullying. Its refusal to condemn the invasion of Ukraine and join others in imposing sanctions on Russia has further frayed ties and fueled an emerging divide with much of Europe.

Wang said that China would “deepen strategic mutual trust and mutually beneficial cooperation” with Russia. Warships from the two countries held joint naval drills in the East China Sea last week.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukrai ... 3199a76a5d

[wjfox]

China reopens borders as lunar new year travel kicks off amid Covid surge

Virus outbreaks tipped to worsen as mainland China opens to Hong Kong, ends quarantine for visitors and millions begin holiday-period travel

Sun 8 Jan 2023 01.44 GMT

China has lifted quarantine requirements for inbound travellers, ending almost three years of self-imposed isolation even as the country battles a surge in Covid cases.

On Sunday, mainland China also opened its border to Hong Kong, dismantling the last pillars of a zero-Covid policy that had shielded people from the virus but also cut them off from the rest of the world.

The containment policy had a huge impact on the world’s second-biggest economy and generated resentment throughout Chinese society that led to nationwide protests just before it was eased.

In the final unravelling of those rules, Sunday saw inbound travellers to China no longer required to quarantine, after almost three years of being subject to varying durations of mandatory isolation.

At Shanghai’s Pudong international airport, a woman surnamed Pang told news agency AFP she was thrilled with the change to the rules.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... ovid-surge

[wjfox]

US tracking suspected Chinese surveillance balloon

1 hour ago

The US is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted flying over sensitive sites in recent days.

Defence officials said they were confident the "high-altitude surveillance balloon" belonged to China. It was most recently seen above the western state of Montana.

But military leaders decided against shooting it down as there were concerns over the danger of falling debris.

China has not yet commented.

Canada said on Friday that it was monitoring "a potential second incident" involving a surveillance balloon, but did not say which country could be behind it. It said in the statement that it is working closely with the US to "safeguard Canada's sensitive information from foreign intelligence threats".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64507225



Credit: Reuters

[wjfox]

[ººº]

US tracking suspected Chinese surveillance balloon
1 hour ago

The US is tracking a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted flying over sensitive sites in recent days.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64507225

Credit: Reuters

For some reason I find this oddly funny.

[wjfox]

My Dad's latest blog –

https://richardhfox.wordpress.com/2023/ ... direction/

[caltrek]

Republicans Have Manufactured a Controversy Over the Chinese Spy Balloon
by Pema Levy
February 5, 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) A US military fighter jet shot down the Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina on Saturday, but the Biden administration has a different kind of foe that has yet to be neutralized: attacks coming from Republicans trying to score political points over the floating white orb that appeared in America’s skies.

The balloon first came to the public’s attention as it hovered over Montana early this week. Republicans immediately called on the president to shoot it down. “President Biden should stop coddling and appeasing the Chinese communists,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) tweeted Friday. “It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) weighed in Friday. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) called for an investigation into the balloon and Biden’s response. Even former Donald Trump advised a course of action on his social media platform Truth Social: “SHOOT DOWN THE BALLOON!”

But once the balloon was shot down, Republicans kept up the criticism, unhappy that the administration had waited days to neutralize it. “The President taking it down over the Atlantic is sort of like tackling the quarterback after the game is over,” Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday on “Meet the Press.”

The White House, meanwhile, has been putting out its own version of the story. “I ordered the Pentagon to shoot it down on Wednesday as soon as possible,” President Joe Biden told reporters on Saturday. But the administration opted to wait because the safest course of action was to shoot down the balloon over water.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... -balloon/

[weatheriscool]

China leading US in technology race in all but a few fields, thinktank finds
Source: The Guardian

The United States and other western countries are losing the race with China to develop advanced technologies and retain talent, with Beijing potentially establishing a monopoly in some areas, a new report has said.

China leads in 37 of 44 technologies tracked in a year-long project by thinktank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The fields include electric batteries, hypersonics and advanced radio-frequency communications such as 5G and 6G.

The report, published on Thursday, said the US was the leader in just the remaining seven technologies such as vaccines, quantum computing and space launch systems.

“Our research reveals that China has built the foundations to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains,” the report said.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... tank-finds

[wjfox]

China to increase defense spending 7.2%, sets economic growth target of ‘around 5%’ for 2023

Updated 12:38 AM EST, Sun March 5, 2023

Hong Kong CNN — China has set an official economic growth target of “around 5%” for 2023, as it seeks to revive the world’s second-largest economy after a year of tepid growth because of pandemic measures.

It will also expand its defense budget 7.2%, marking a slight increase over growth the previous year.

Both figures for the coming year were released at the opening of the annual gathering of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s rubber-stamp legislature, which draws nearly 3,000 delegates to Beijing for the next eight days.

“China’s economy is staging a steady recovery and demonstrating vast potential and momentum for further growth,” outgoing Premier Li Keqiang told delegates while delivering a government work report at the opening of the congress on Sunday.

The economy added more than 12 million urban jobs last year, with the urban unemployment rate falling to 5.5%, according to the work report, which emphasized China’s focus on ensuring stable growth, employment and prices amid global inflation and set the GDP target.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/04/econ ... index.html

[weatheriscool]

Taiwan suspects Chinese ships cut islands' internet cables
Source: Associated Press

NANGAN, Taiwan (AP) — In the past month, bed and breakfast owner Chen Yu-lin had to tell his guests he couldn’t provide them with the internet.

Others living on Matsu, one of Taiwan’s outlying islands closer to neighboring China, had to struggle with paying electricity bills, making a doctor’s appointment or receiving a package.

For connecting to the outside world, Matsu’s 14,000 residents rely on two submarine internet cables leading to Taiwan’s main island. The National Communications Commission, citing the island’s telecom service, blamed two Chinese ships for cutting the cables. It said a Chinese fishing vessel is suspected of severing the first cable some 50 kilometers (31 miles) out at sea. Six days later, on Feb. 8, a Chinese cargo ship cut the second, NCC said.

Taiwan’s government stopped short of calling it a deliberate act on the part of Beijing, and there was no direct evidence to show the Chinese ships were responsible.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/matsu-taiwan ... 366d7a7c70

[wjfox]

China leading US in technology race in all but a few fields, thinktank finds

Thu 2 Mar 2023 05.00 GMT

The United States and other western countries are losing the race with China to develop advanced technologies and retain talent, with Beijing potentially establishing a monopoly in some areas, a new report has said.

China leads in 37 of 44 technologies tracked in a year-long project by thinktank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The fields include electric batteries, hypersonics and advanced radio-frequency communications such as 5G and 6G.

The report, published on Thursday, said the US was the leader in just the remaining seven technologies such as vaccines, quantum computing and space launch systems.

It said the findings were based on “high impact” research in critical and emerging technology fields, focusing on papers that were published in top-tier journals and were highly cited by subsequent research.

“Our research reveals that China has built the foundations to position itself as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains,” the report said.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... tank-finds

[caltrek]

^^^Not that this isn't concerning, but it would be interesting to see a China versus rest of the world comparison. Especially versus countries associated with being in or allied to the West. It is not as if Germany, South Korea, Japan, etc. are technological back-waters.

What I came here to post:

Xi Awarded 3rd Term as China’s President
March 10 , 2023

Introduction:

BEIJING (AP via Courthouse News) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping was awarded a third five-year term as the nation's president Friday, putting him on track to stay in power for life at a time of severe economic challenges and rising tensions with the U.S. and others.

The endorsement of Xi's appointment by the ceremonial National People's Congress was a foregone conclusion for a leader who has sidelined potential rivals and filled the top ranks of the ruling Communist Party with his supporters since taking power in 2012.

The vote for Xi was 2,952 to 0 by the NPC, members of which are appointed by the ruling party.

Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/xi-awar ... ing-rule/

Edit: Here is another article on the same subject, some of which is repetitive of the above. Still, there is some added detail: https://www.eurasiareview.com/11032023- ... -jinping/

[weatheriscool]

China will become the global economy's biggest growth driver in the next 5 years, doubling the US
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-be ... 03280.html

China will become the biggest driver of global growth over the next five years and will contribute double what the US adds, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Based on Bloomberg calculations from data in the IMF's World Economic Outlook released last week, China's slice of global gross domestic product expansion will be at 22.6%, India's will be 12.9%, and the US will add 11.3%.

snip

Three-quarters of global growth will stem from 20 countries, and over 50% will come from just China, India, the US, and Indonesia.

The IMF expects growth contributions from Brazil, Russia, India, and China to outpace Group of Seven nations.

[weatheriscool]

China Prioritizes 3 Strategic Technologies in Its Great Power Competition
https://thediplomat.com/2023/04/china-p ... mpetition/
Space, AI, and quantum computing and communication are China’s top technology priorities. How advanced are its capabilities in each?
Namrata Goswami
By Namrata Goswami
April 22, 2023

China recently reconstituted its Ministry of Science and Technology and created a powerful Central Science and Technology Commission in order to ensure that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has more direct oversight over the ministry. This change, which was recommended by the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, recognizes that technology competition with the United States requires direct supervision from the highest level of the party.

This reorganization was carried out during the “Two Sessions,” annual meetings of National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held in Beijing in March of this year. This is where policy direction of the CCP becomes clear as thousands of delegates ratify institutional and personnel changes, legislate, and endorse government budgets in rather ceremonial but important meetings. Dissent is hardly allowed.

The result of endorsing the dominant role of the CCP over China’s technology development in these sessions implies the importance China’s leaders place on the sector. During the Two Sessions, Xi indicated that “enhancing integrated national strategies and strategic capabilities” is key to China’s aim of becoming a global power. In this, the development of key strategic technologies plays a vital and consequent role.

By 2049, China aims to emerge as a global leader in three strategic technologies, identified by President Xi Jinping as critical for China’s national rejuvenation: space, AI, and quantum communications and computing.
Diplomat Brief

In 2019, a white paper on defense, titled “China’s National Defense in the New Era,” issued by the State Council, highlighted the critical importance of competing in key strategic technologies to emerge as a great power. Since then, these technologies have been described as China’s “new infrastructure” or critical infrastructure, to ensure China continues its national rejuvenation – and adds to its great power advantage vis-à-vis the United States.
This is not entirely new; science and technology development was identified as key for China to emerge as a great power as per the Comprehensive National Power (CNP) concept developed under Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s. As Michael Pillsbury noted back in 2000, “CNP (zonghe guoli) refers to the combined overall conditions and strengths of a country in numerous areas,” of which science and technology are perhaps amongst the top.

Given the international environment framed by the State Council as competitive, assuming leadership in these key strategic technologies has been identified as vital. Various strategies have been developed to advance China’s progress, including China’s innovation strategy, as well as “Made in China 2025” strategy. To support the development of strategic technologies, China made important changes to its Politburo and Central Committee during the 20th Party Congress last year as I have argued previously.

So where is China today in terms of these three key strategic technologies?

[weatheriscool]

China world leader in 37 out of 44 critical technologies, Finland out of chart
https://www.helsinkitimes.fi/themes/the ... d's%201%25.
Themes
23 April 2023

Photo: See-ming Lee 李思明 SML Universe
Science and technology


China is dominating the global race for future power, with the country establishing a significant lead in high-impact research across the majority of critical and emerging technology domains, according to a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). The report, called the Critical Technology Tracker, examines 44 critical technologies spanning defence, space, robotics, energy, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, advanced materials and key quantum technology areas.


China's global lead extends to 37 of the 44 technologies tracked, with the country excelling in defence and space-related technologies. Notably, China's strides in nuclear-capable hypersonic missiles reportedly took US intelligence by surprise in August 2021. ASPI's Critical Technology Tracker shows that, for some technologies, all of the world's top 10 leading research institutions are based in China, collectively generating nine times more high-impact research papers than the second-ranked country, most often the US.

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

China bans major chip maker Micron from key infrastructure projects

2 hours ago

China says products made by US memory chip giant Micron Technology are a national security risk.

The country's cyberspace regulator announced on Sunday that America's biggest maker of memory chips poses "serious network security risks".

It means the firm's products will be banned from key infrastructure projects in the world's second largest economy.

It is China's first major move against a US chip maker, as tensions increase between Beijing and Washington.

The announcement is the latest development in a deepening row between the US and China over the technology crucial to economies around the world.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65667746



REUTERS

[weatheriscool]

Hong Kong's 2nd largest pro-democracy party disbands amid political crackdown
Source: AP

HONG KONG (AP) — One of the few remaining pro-democracy parties in Hong Kong voted to dissolve itself on Saturday, joining a growing list of organizations that have disbanded as authorities crack down on dissent.

Civic Party chairman Alan Leong told reporters that the dissolution of the party was a “writing on the wall” as there was no one to take over. None of its members at an extraordinary general meeting filed nominations for executive positions.

Thirty of the 31 members voted to disband, with one person abstaining.

The party, which was founded in 2006, was made up of mostly professionals, lawyers and academics. At its peak, it won six seats in the Hong Kong legislature during the 2012 elections, and was the city’s second-largest pro-democracy party after the Democratic Party.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-ci ... 29b8e1e240