Mao was speaking to an audience of Chinese industrialists and merchants at a time when the country was desperately poor, its resources stretched by decades of Japanese invasion, civil war with the nationalist Kuomintang, and ongoing US aggression in Korea, where China had intervened in support of the forces of national liberation.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Tricontinental Asia.

 Despite opposing imperialism, a tendency in the Western left is to recycle Western anti-China narratives that liken Chinese trade relations to Western imperial conduct, as in Sri Lanka and the Congo. Others have written of Chinese investments in the Occupied West Bank, and even criticize China for lack of aid to Cuba – clearly not issues the Western powers have problems with. 

 The US empire has at least 750 military bases in 80 countries. China has just one, in Djibouti – part of a UN mission against piracy. The US has continued wars against other countries on a non-stop basis, while China has invaded no country nor started any wars in close to half a century. The US instigated over 25 coups and coup attempts in Latin America just between 2000 and 2020. China has sponsored no coup attempts on any government. The US imposes blockades and “sanctions” warfare on at least 39 nations. China imposes no sanctions on anyone. The US regularly launches drone attacks on the people of other countries. China has launched no drone attacks on anyone. China is no imperial superpower, but a peaceful one. 

China is the outstanding example of a Third World country developing into a superpower despite the West’s centuries-long efforts to torpedo its progress. China engages in “win-win” economic relations with other nations. Its loans and investment are carried out based on equality, consensus and joint benefit, unlike the predatory behavior of the IMF and Western lending institutions. China is helping other countries of the Global South break out of the underdevelopment that colonialism and imperialism have imposed on their countries for 500 years.

Third World Leaders Praise China’s World Role

 At present, over 150 countries have chosen to participate in China’s economic program called the Belt and Road Initiative. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega explained why:

The People’s Republic of China has brought progress, benefits, development to peoples who were colonized, and later became independent, but who were then subjugated under the boot of the interests of the powers that had colonized them, leaving those peoples in poverty, with people in misery, people going hungry, people in illiteracy, with infant mortality, in Africa, in Asia. And the People’s Republic of China has been developing a policy bringing benefits to developing countries, without setting any conditions… The powers that have been colonialists and neocolonialists, like the US, like Europe… have not stopped being colonialists. They still are neocolonialists. They have not stopped being criminals. They still are criminals. They still are killers. 

China’s role in helping other countries to develop has been noted by several anti-imperialist leaders. Fidel Castro rejected the notion that China was an imperial power. “China has objectively become the most promising hope and the best example for all Third World countries. I do not hesitate to say that it is already the main engine of the world economy… The role that China has been playing in the United Nations, including the Security Council, is an important element of balance, progress and safeguard of world peace and stability.” Of the Chinese leader he said, “Xi Jinping is one of the strongest and most capable revolutionary leaders I have met in my life.”

Present Cuban President Diaz-Canel also had high praise for Xi Jinping.

Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez likewise said, “one of the greatest events of the 20th century was the Chinese Revolution.” Chavez considered that an alliance with China constituted a bulwark against imperialism — a “Great Wall against American hegemonism… China is large but it’s not an empire. China doesn’t trample on anyone, it hasn’t invaded anyone, it doesn’t go around dropping bombs on anyone.” 

 Bolivian President Arce said: “We have built bridges of trust between the two countries and maintain a very positive bilateral relationship.” Evo Morales, the former president, said Bolivia and China “maintain a relationship characterized by wide-ranging and diverse cooperation and reciprocity.” China “works in a joined-up way with other countries and benefits the peoples of the world; the opposite to what was imposed on us for decades by the US, where predatory, individualistic and competitive capitalism looted our people’s resources for the benefit of transnational corporations.” “China develops, and helps, invests, without any conditions, just to support our development. China is always ready to cooperate unconditionally.”

 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared, “Between China and Venezuela there is a model relationship, a model of what should be the relationship between a superpower like China, the great superpower of the 21st century, and an emerging, heroic, revolutionary and socialist country like Venezuela… China has inaugurated a new era of the emergence of non-colonialist, non-imperialist, non-hegemonic superpowers.”

 Former Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa spoke highly of Chinese aid to the Citizens Revolution. China’s assistance is “an example for Latin America and for the rest of the world.”

 Burkina Faso revolutionary President Ibrahim Traoré said Chinese aid was a “testament to a mutually beneficial partnership.”

 Even President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia recently said at the ASEAN summit, “China has consistently defended the interests of developing countries. They consistently oppose oppression, oppose imperialism, oppose colonialism, oppose apartheid, The People’s Republic of China defends liberation struggles in countries that are still oppressed by imperialism and colonialism.” 

 Recent Western Left anti-China Stories

Yet, despite the testimonies of these anti-imperialist Third World leaders, some progressives still highlight West’s anti-China narratives, such as in Sri Lanka and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Sri Lanka

The China debt-trap myth arose from Sri Lanka’s port Hambantota, that China lent money to the country to build the port, knowing Sri Lanka could not make it viable. This led Sri Lanka to default on the loans, and Beijing demanded the port as collateral. Chatham House and The Atlantic, both organs of the ruling elite, debunked this. First, the Hambantota Port project was not proposed by China, but by Sri Lanka. Second, Sri Lanka’s debt crisis resulted not from Chinese lending, but from Western loans. Third, there was no debt-for-asset swap. Rather, China leased the port for $1.1 billion, money Sri Lanka then used to pay down debts to the West. Chatham House concludes, “Sri Lanka’s debt trap was thus primarily created as a result of domestic policy decisions and was facilitated by Western lending and monetary policy, and not by the policies of the Chinese government.”

 China in Africa

Liberia’s former minister of public works, W Gyude Moore noted that under European colonialism “there has never been a continental-scale infrastructure building program for Africa’s railways, roads, ports, water filtration plants and power stations…China has built more infrastructure in Africa in two decades than the West has in centuries.”

 At the most recent Forum on China–Africa Cooperation in 2024, 53 of the 54 African countries chose to attend. China pledged $50 billion over the next three years on top of the $40 billion already invested.

 Dee Knight took up the issue of China’s exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo propagandized in the book Cobalt Red. He drew on Isabelle Minnon’s report, “Industrial Turn-Around in Congo?” She wrote, “China has responded to the DRC’s need to have partners who invest in industrialization.” The West had bled Congo dry through debts that prevented its development. China brought large-scale investment on a new basis, combining financing for industrial mining and public infrastructure – roads, railroads, dams, health and education facilities.

 Minion stated the result: “After decades of almost non-existent industrial production, the country became and remains the world’s leading producer of cobalt and, by 2023, became the world’s third largest producer of copper.” This “puts an end to the monopoly of certain Western countries and their large companies,” which just plundered the Congo. Furthermore, China cancelled $28 million in interest-free loans, and gave $17 million in support to the DRC.

 During the Covid pandemic, China announced that it also forgave 23 interest-free loans for 17 African nations.  This is in addition to China’s cancellation of more than $3.4 billion in debt and restructured $15 billion of debt in Africa between 2000 and 2019.

 Chinese investments in Israel

Chinese trades with Israel, as with all other countries, to establish mutually beneficial economic relations, to counter the US goal of turning countries against China. China’s trade with Israel is qualitatively different from that of the US, Britain, France, Germany and others since China does not export weaponry to Israel used to slaughter Palestinians and peoples in surrounding countries. 

Some have written of Chinese business involvement in the occupied West Bank. The report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese (which brought US sanctions on her) substantiates one such instance. China’s role contradicts its vote in favor of the 2024 UN General Assembly resolution calling for no trade or investments with Israeli operations in the occupied territories. 

 Yet China worked hard to unite the divided Palestinian resistance with the recent Beijing Declaration. China has continually denounced the US and Israel in Gaza, upholds the Palestinian right to resist occupation, and has never condemned the October 7, 2023 Hamas breakout attack. China is also a participant in the present The Hague Group calling for “concrete measures” against Israel.

 China and Cuba

Some Western leftists have criticized China for lack of support for Cuba, suffering under a now worsening US blockade. However, China is working to build 55 solar installation complexes there this year, covering Cuba’s daytime shortfall, and another 37 by 2028, for a total of 2,000 megawatts. This aid would meet nearly two-thirds of Cuba’s present-day demand. China has long been a partner of Cuba in terms of trade and investment, participating in the Mariel Special Development Zone, and in projects in the production of medicines, biotechnology and agriculture.

 China, A Superpower that Supports Third World Development

It is a contradiction that many on the Western left are not supportive of China, given that the US rulers have long called China the primacy threat to imperialist domination. 

Recognizing the US’s continued economic and military power, if not superiority, China seeks to avoid a major destructive direct confrontation. China counters the US and Western isolation strategy by fostering a world based on cooperation with all countries, even with the US and its close allies. It focuses on obtaining essential resources for its industry and for economic self-sufficiency to fortify itself in self-defense against the US strategy to isolate it economically and politically, and on meeting countries’ desire for its cheaper goods and investments. As the Third World leaders above say, most of China’s foreign loans are not capitalist investments, but government funds that have been used to free countries from the grip of imperialism.

 That has made it impossible for the West to isolate China. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, Chinese investments in schools, roads, railroads, and other needed infrastructure are generally seen as a welcome change from the neglect and underdevelopment imposed by the imperial First World.  

 Consequently, every year China becomes more and more a world power in relation to the imperialist countries.

 China’s significance for the world lies in being a singular example of a Third World country developing despite the West’s goal to thwart its rise. This is a model for other Third World countries that seek to assert their independence of the West and make their own path.

 In this process, China, which just 75 years ago, had an illiteracy rate of 80%, has just ended poverty for 800 million people, which no capitalist group of countries ever accomplished. China has achieved the fastest growth in living standards of any country in the world. It achieved this without invading, massacring, colonizing and looting other countries, but peacefully, without threatening any other people, and in cooperation with them.

 As Daniel Ortega said:

The self-same ideologues of imperialism state that what worries them is that they see the People’s Republic of China bringing benefits to these Peoples and they feel that there they are losing the power to keep these peoples enslaved…They are upset, outraged, because the People’s Republic of China is making available billions in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America. These are investments for the development of our peoples. They see that as bad for themselves, but why can’t they do the same? Why have they never brought investment with the same conditions that the People’s Republic of China is making available?

The West, with the US at its head, seeks to maintain so-called “Western civilization,” the rule of the white colonizer over the rest of the world. It regards China and Russia as the two major threats to its continued domination and seeks to disable both. China and Russia are drawn into a struggle, where their continued growth, if not existence, is at stake. The more they can neutralize the West’s goal, the more this is a victory for all the oppressed people of the world.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Stansfield Smith.

 Despite opposing imperialism, a tendency in the Western left is to recycle Western anti-China narratives that liken Chinese trade relations to Western imperial conduct, as in Sri Lanka and the Congo. Others have written of Chinese investments in the Occupied West Bank, and even criticize China for lack of aid to Cuba – clearly not issues the Western powers have problems with. 

 The US empire has at least 750 military bases in 80 countries. China has just one, in Djibouti – part of a UN mission against piracy. The US has continued wars against other countries on a non-stop basis, while China has invaded no country nor started any wars in close to half a century. The US instigated over 25 coups and coup attempts in Latin America just between 2000 and 2020. China has sponsored no coup attempts on any government. The US imposes blockades and “sanctions” warfare on at least 39 nations. China imposes no sanctions on anyone. The US regularly launches drone attacks on the people of other countries. China has launched no drone attacks on anyone. China is no imperial superpower, but a peaceful one. 

China is the outstanding example of a Third World country developing into a superpower despite the West’s centuries-long efforts to torpedo its progress. China engages in “win-win” economic relations with other nations. Its loans and investment are carried out based on equality, consensus and joint benefit, unlike the predatory behavior of the IMF and Western lending institutions. China is helping other countries of the Global South break out of the underdevelopment that colonialism and imperialism have imposed on their countries for 500 years.

Third World Leaders Praise China’s World Role

 At present, over 150 countries have chosen to participate in China’s economic program called the Belt and Road Initiative. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega explained why:

The People’s Republic of China has brought progress, benefits, development to peoples who were colonized, and later became independent, but who were then subjugated under the boot of the interests of the powers that had colonized them, leaving those peoples in poverty, with people in misery, people going hungry, people in illiteracy, with infant mortality, in Africa, in Asia. And the People’s Republic of China has been developing a policy bringing benefits to developing countries, without setting any conditions… The powers that have been colonialists and neocolonialists, like the US, like Europe… have not stopped being colonialists. They still are neocolonialists. They have not stopped being criminals. They still are criminals. They still are killers. 

China’s role in helping other countries to develop has been noted by several anti-imperialist leaders. Fidel Castro rejected the notion that China was an imperial power. “China has objectively become the most promising hope and the best example for all Third World countries. I do not hesitate to say that it is already the main engine of the world economy… The role that China has been playing in the United Nations, including the Security Council, is an important element of balance, progress and safeguard of world peace and stability.” Of the Chinese leader he said, “Xi Jinping is one of the strongest and most capable revolutionary leaders I have met in my life.”

Present Cuban President Diaz-Canel also had high praise for Xi Jinping.

Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez likewise said, “one of the greatest events of the 20th century was the Chinese Revolution.” Chavez considered that an alliance with China constituted a bulwark against imperialism — a “Great Wall against American hegemonism… China is large but it’s not an empire. China doesn’t trample on anyone, it hasn’t invaded anyone, it doesn’t go around dropping bombs on anyone.” 

 Bolivian President Arce said: “We have built bridges of trust between the two countries and maintain a very positive bilateral relationship.” Evo Morales, the former president, said Bolivia and China “maintain a relationship characterized by wide-ranging and diverse cooperation and reciprocity.” China “works in a joined-up way with other countries and benefits the peoples of the world; the opposite to what was imposed on us for decades by the US, where predatory, individualistic and competitive capitalism looted our people’s resources for the benefit of transnational corporations.” “China develops, and helps, invests, without any conditions, just to support our development. China is always ready to cooperate unconditionally.”

 Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared, “Between China and Venezuela there is a model relationship, a model of what should be the relationship between a superpower like China, the great superpower of the 21st century, and an emerging, heroic, revolutionary and socialist country like Venezuela… China has inaugurated a new era of the emergence of non-colonialist, non-imperialist, non-hegemonic superpowers.”

 Former Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa spoke highly of Chinese aid to the Citizens Revolution. China’s assistance is “an example for Latin America and for the rest of the world.”

 Burkina Faso revolutionary President Ibrahim Traoré said Chinese aid was a “testament to a mutually beneficial partnership.”

 Even President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia recently said at the ASEAN summit, “China has consistently defended the interests of developing countries. They consistently oppose oppression, oppose imperialism, oppose colonialism, oppose apartheid, The People’s Republic of China defends liberation struggles in countries that are still oppressed by imperialism and colonialism.” 

 Recent Western Left anti-China Stories

Yet, despite the testimonies of these anti-imperialist Third World leaders, some progressives still highlight West’s anti-China narratives, such as in Sri Lanka and in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Sri Lanka

The China debt-trap myth arose from Sri Lanka’s port Hambantota, that China lent money to the country to build the port, knowing Sri Lanka could not make it viable. This led Sri Lanka to default on the loans, and Beijing demanded the port as collateral. Chatham House and The Atlantic, both organs of the ruling elite, debunked this. First, the Hambantota Port project was not proposed by China, but by Sri Lanka. Second, Sri Lanka’s debt crisis resulted not from Chinese lending, but from Western loans. Third, there was no debt-for-asset swap. Rather, China leased the port for $1.1 billion, money Sri Lanka then used to pay down debts to the West. Chatham House concludes, “Sri Lanka’s debt trap was thus primarily created as a result of domestic policy decisions and was facilitated by Western lending and monetary policy, and not by the policies of the Chinese government.”

 China in Africa

Liberia’s former minister of public works, W Gyude Moore noted that under European colonialism “there has never been a continental-scale infrastructure building program for Africa’s railways, roads, ports, water filtration plants and power stations…China has built more infrastructure in Africa in two decades than the West has in centuries.”

 At the most recent Forum on China–Africa Cooperation in 2024, 53 of the 54 African countries chose to attend. China pledged $50 billion over the next three years on top of the $40 billion already invested.

 Dee Knight took up the issue of China’s exploitation in the Democratic Republic of Congo propagandized in the book Cobalt Red. He drew on Isabelle Minnon’s report, “Industrial Turn-Around in Congo?” She wrote, “China has responded to the DRC’s need to have partners who invest in industrialization.” The West had bled Congo dry through debts that prevented its development. China brought large-scale investment on a new basis, combining financing for industrial mining and public infrastructure – roads, railroads, dams, health and education facilities.

 Minion stated the result: “After decades of almost non-existent industrial production, the country became and remains the world’s leading producer of cobalt and, by 2023, became the world’s third largest producer of copper.” This “puts an end to the monopoly of certain Western countries and their large companies,” which just plundered the Congo. Furthermore, China cancelled $28 million in interest-free loans, and gave $17 million in support to the DRC.

 During the Covid pandemic, China announced that it also forgave 23 interest-free loans for 17 African nations.  This is in addition to China’s cancellation of more than $3.4 billion in debt and restructured $15 billion of debt in Africa between 2000 and 2019.

 Chinese investments in Israel

Chinese trades with Israel, as with all other countries, to establish mutually beneficial economic relations, to counter the US goal of turning countries against China. China’s trade with Israel is qualitatively different from that of the US, Britain, France, Germany and others since China does not export weaponry to Israel used to slaughter Palestinians and peoples in surrounding countries. 

Some have written of Chinese business involvement in the occupied West Bank. The report of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese (which brought US sanctions on her) substantiates one such instance. China’s role contradicts its vote in favor of the 2024 UN General Assembly resolution calling for no trade or investments with Israeli operations in the occupied territories. 

 Yet China worked hard to unite the divided Palestinian resistance with the recent Beijing Declaration. China has continually denounced the US and Israel in Gaza, upholds the Palestinian right to resist occupation, and has never condemned the October 7, 2023 Hamas breakout attack. China is also a participant in the present The Hague Group calling for “concrete measures” against Israel.

 China and Cuba

Some Western leftists have criticized China for lack of support for Cuba, suffering under a now worsening US blockade. However, China is working to build 55 solar installation complexes there this year, covering Cuba’s daytime shortfall, and another 37 by 2028, for a total of 2,000 megawatts. This aid would meet nearly two-thirds of Cuba’s present-day demand. China has long been a partner of Cuba in terms of trade and investment, participating in the Mariel Special Development Zone, and in projects in the production of medicines, biotechnology and agriculture.

 China, A Superpower that Supports Third World Development

It is a contradiction that many on the Western left are not supportive of China, given that the US rulers have long called China the primacy threat to imperialist domination. 

Recognizing the US’s continued economic and military power, if not superiority, China seeks to avoid a major destructive direct confrontation. China counters the US and Western isolation strategy by fostering a world based on cooperation with all countries, even with the US and its close allies. It focuses on obtaining essential resources for its industry and for economic self-sufficiency to fortify itself in self-defense against the US strategy to isolate it economically and politically, and on meeting countries’ desire for its cheaper goods and investments. As the Third World leaders above say, most of China’s foreign loans are not capitalist investments, but government funds that have been used to free countries from the grip of imperialism.

 That has made it impossible for the West to isolate China. In Africa, Asia and Latin America, Chinese investments in schools, roads, railroads, and other needed infrastructure are generally seen as a welcome change from the neglect and underdevelopment imposed by the imperial First World.  

 Consequently, every year China becomes more and more a world power in relation to the imperialist countries.

 China’s significance for the world lies in being a singular example of a Third World country developing despite the West’s goal to thwart its rise. This is a model for other Third World countries that seek to assert their independence of the West and make their own path.

 In this process, China, which just 75 years ago, had an illiteracy rate of 80%, has just ended poverty for 800 million people, which no capitalist group of countries ever accomplished. China has achieved the fastest growth in living standards of any country in the world. It achieved this without invading, massacring, colonizing and looting other countries, but peacefully, without threatening any other people, and in cooperation with them.

 As Daniel Ortega said:

The self-same ideologues of imperialism state that what worries them is that they see the People’s Republic of China bringing benefits to these Peoples and they feel that there they are losing the power to keep these peoples enslaved…They are upset, outraged, because the People’s Republic of China is making available billions in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America. These are investments for the development of our peoples. They see that as bad for themselves, but why can’t they do the same? Why have they never brought investment with the same conditions that the People’s Republic of China is making available?

The West, with the US at its head, seeks to maintain so-called “Western civilization,” the rule of the white colonizer over the rest of the world. It regards China and Russia as the two major threats to its continued domination and seeks to disable both. China and Russia are drawn into a struggle, where their continued growth, if not existence, is at stake. The more they can neutralize the West’s goal, the more this is a victory for all the oppressed people of the world.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Stansfield Smith.

China could also potentially have as many intercontinental ballistic missiles as either Russia or the United States by the turn of the decade.

Those findings are in the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) annual assessment of armaments, disarmament and international security, released Monday.

SIPRI concludes that nearly all of the nine nuclear-armed states - the U.S., Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel - continued intensive nuclear modernization programs in 2024, upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions.

It highlights the rapid growth of China’s arsenal, now estimated to have at least 600 nuclear warheads. It says it has grown by about 100 new warheads a year since 2023.

By January 2025, China had completed or was close to completing around 350 new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos in three large desert fields in the north of the country and three mountainous areas in the east, SIPRI says.

“Depending on how it decides to structure its forces, China could potentially have at least as many ICBMs as either Russia or the USA by the turn of the decade,” the report says.

In December, the U.S. Department of Defense offered a similar estimate of China’s warhead count, tripling its estimated arsenal in just four years.

However SIPRI adds that even if China reaches the maximum projected number of 1,500 warheads by 2035, that will still amount to only about one third of each of the current Russian and U.S. nuclear stockpiles.

Russia and the U.S. together possess around 90 per cent of all nuclear weapons. Both have about 1,700 deployed warheads and more than that each in storage.

On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun was asked about the SIPRI report, and said China follows a nuclear strategy that focuses of self-defense.

“China always keeps its nuclear capabilities at minimum level required by national security, and never engages in arms race,” Guo told a Beijing news briefing, adding that China has a ‘no first use’ policy on nuclear weapons.

SIPRI estimates that North Korea has assembled around 50 warheads and possesses enough fissile material to produce up to 40 more warheads and is accelerating the production of further fissile material.

It says North Korea “continues to prioritize its military nuclear program as a central element of its national security strategy,” also noting that leader Kim Jong Jun in November called for its “limitless” expansion.

Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

According to the report by Hague-based rights group Global Rights Compliance, 77 companies and downstream manufacturers of critical minerals-based products operate in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), placing them at risk of participation in the labor transfer programs in the lithium, titanium, beryllium, and magnesium industries.

The findings are likely to add to the due diligence concerns of foreign and multinational companies that source those products. Forced labor is on a long list of serious human rights problems that have been documented in Xinjiang, where the U.S. government determined in 2021 that China was committing genocide against the Uyghurs.

The Uyghur region is a major source of four critical minerals. It is the top source of beryllium, crucial for nuclear applications and advanced electronics, and one of the five province-level jurisdictions that produces raw magnesium. The region is also seeing a surge in lithium exploration, mining, and battery production to feed the electric vehicle industry, and accounts for 11.6% of the world’s titanium sponge, a key input in titanium metal that is used in aerospace and defense.

Over the past decade, Beijing has expanded exploration, mining, processing and manufacturing of critical minerals in the XUAR, transforming the region into a major “extractive hub,” Global Rights Compliance said in its report titled “Risk at the Source: Critical Mineral Supply Chains and State-Imposed Forced Labor in the Uyghur Region.”

China dominates global mineral production. The country leads production of 30 out of the 44 minerals that the U.S. government has designated as critical.

(Global Rights Compliance)

“The emergence of the region as an extractive hub relies, in part, on state-imposed forced labor transfer programs, targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic groups,” the rights group said.

The report highlights the “substantial influence” that these critical minerals – found abundantly in XUAR – have on global supply chains and multinational brands, including leading paint companies, aerospace applications, thermos producers, and defense and nuclear tools and components.

It uncovers 15 companies with documented sourcing directly from Uyghur region-based companies in the last two years and 68 downstream customers of Chinese producers who source inputs from the Uyghur region, highlighting the risk of companies’ direct and indirect participation in the forced labor programs.

“The XUAR’s systemic forced labor practices are not only a means to subsidize operating costs but also facilitate the government’s persecution of the Uyghur population through familial separation, land expropriation, and forced re-education,” Global Rights Alliance said.

The report highlights that China’s practices in the Uyghur region create unfair competitive advantages and trade and environmental violations that extend beyond human rights concerns.

Lax environmental standards and heavy dependence on coal have also made the region the epicenter of the energy-intensive mineral mining and processing industry and have enabled goods to enter global markets at artificially low prices, it said.

“Minerals mined and/or refined in the region routinely enter global supply chains through unregulated or opaque mineral distribution channels. As a result, significant portions of the world’s economy are potentially exposed to products tainted by forced labor and high carbon footprints,” the rights group added.

The report’s findings were based on analyses of state media, shipping records, and marketing and corporate annual reports.

Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema for RFA.

Bougainville, an autonomous archipelago currently part of Papua New Guinea, is determined to become the world’s newest country.

To support this process, it’s offering foreign investors access to a long-shuttered copper and gold mine. Formerly owned by the Australian company Rio Tinto, the Panguna mine caused displacement and severe environmental damage when it operated between 1972 and 1989.

It also sparked a decade-long civil war from 1988 to 1998 that killed an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 civilians and caused enduring traumas and divisions.

• READ MORE: 28 years later: NZ to host Bougainville talks for a peaceful future
• Burnham Camp – the spiritual home of Bougainville peace process – Marape
• Other Bougainville reports

Industry players believe 5.3 million tonnes of copper and 547 tonnes of gold remain at the site. This is attracting foreign interest, including from China.

Australia views Bougainville as strategically important to its “inner security arc”. The main island is about 1500 km from Queensland’s Port Douglas.

Given this, the possibility of China’s increasing presence in Bougainville raises concerns about shifting allegiances and the potential for Beijing to exert greater influence over the region.

Australia’s tangled history in Bougainville
Bougainville is a small island group in the South Pacific with a population of about 300,000. It consists of two main islands: Buka in the north and Bougainville Island in the south.

Bougainville has a long history of unwanted interference from outsiders, including missionaries, plantation owners and colonial administrations (German, British, Japanese and Australian).

Two weeks before Papua New Guinea received its independence from Australia in 1975, Bougainvilleans sought to split away, unilaterally declaring their own independence. This declaration was ignored in both Canberra and Port Moresby, but Bougainville was given a certain degree of autonomy to remain within the new nation of PNG.

The opening of the Panguna mine in the 1970s further fractured relations between Australia and Bougainville.

Landowners opposed the environmental degradation and limited revenues they received from the mine. The influx of foreign workers from Australia, PNG and China also led to resentment. Violent resistance grew, eventually halting mining operations and expelling almost all foreigners.

Under the leadership of Francis Ona, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) fought a long civil war to restore Bougainville to Me’ekamui, or the “Holy Land” it once was.

Australia supported the PNG government’s efforts to quell the uprising with military equipment, including weapons and helicopters.

After the war ended, Australia helped broker the Bougainville Peace Agreement led by New Zealand in 2001. Although aid programmes have since begun to heal the rift between Australia and Bougainville, many Bougainvilleans feel Canberra continues to favour PNG’s territorial integrity.

In 2019, Bougainvilleans voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum. Australia’s response, however, was ambiguous.

Despite a slow and frustrating ratification process, Bougainvilleans remain adamant they will become independent by 2027.

As Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama, a former BRA commander, told me in 2024:

“We are moving forward. And it’s the people’s vision: independence. I’m saying, no earlier than 2025, no later than 2027.

“My benchmark is 2026, the first of September. I will declare. No matter what happens. I will declare independence on our republican constitution.”

Major issues to overcome
Bougainville leaders see the reopening of Panguna mine as key to financing independence. Bougainville Copper Limited, the Rio Tinto subsidiary that once operated the mine, backs this assessment.

The Bougainville Autonomous Government has built its own gold refinery and hopes to create its own sovereign wealth fund to support independence. The mine would generate much-needed revenue, infrastructure and jobs for the new nation.

But reopening the mine would also require addressing the ongoing environmental and social issues it has caused. These include polluted rivers and water sources, landslides, flooding, chemical waste hazards, the loss of food security, displacement, and damage to sacred sites.

Many of these issues have been exacerbated by years of small-scale alluvial mining by Bougainvilleans themselves, eroding the main road into Panguna.

Some also worry reopening the mine could reignite conflict, as landowners are divided about the project. Mismanagement of royalties could also stoke social tensions.

Violence related to competition over alluvial mining has already been increasing at the mine.

More broadly, Bougainville is faced with widespread corruption and poor governance.

The Bougainville government cannot deal with these complex issues on its own. Nor can it finance the infrastructure and development needed to reopen the mine. This is why it’s seeking foreign investors.

Open for business
Historically, China has a strong interest in the region. According to Pacific researcher Dr Anna Powles, Chinese efforts to build relationships with Bougainville’s political elite have increased over the years.

Chinese investors have offered development packages contingent on long-term mining revenues and Bougainville’s independence. Bougainville is showing interest.

Patrick Nisira, the Minister for commerce, Trade, Industry and Economic Development, said last year the proposed Chinese infrastructure investment was “aligning perfectly with Bougainville’s nationhood aspirations”.

The government has also reportedly made overtures to the United States, offering a military base in Bougainville in return for support for reopening the mine.

Given American demand for minerals, Bougainville could very well end up in the middle of a struggle between China and the US over influence in the new nation, and thus in our region.

Which path will Bougainville and Australia take?
There is support in Bougainville for a future without large-scale mining. One minister, Geraldine Paul, has been promoting the islands’ booming cocoa industry and fisheries to support an independent Bougainville.

The new nation will also need new laws to hold the government accountable and protect the people and culture of Bougainville. As Paul told me in 2024:

“[…]the most important thing is we need to make sure that we invest in our foundation and that’s building our family and culture. Everything starts from there.”

What happens in Bougainville affects Australia and the broader security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific. With September 1, 2026, just around the corner, it is time for Australia to intensify its diplomatic and economic relationships with Bougainville to maintain regional stability.

Dr Anna-Karina Hermkens is a senior lecturer and researcher in anthropology, Macquarie University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Bougainville, an autonomous archipelago currently part of Papua New Guinea, is determined to become the world’s newest country.

To support this process, it’s offering foreign investors access to a long-shuttered copper and gold mine. Formerly owned by the Australian company Rio Tinto, the Panguna mine caused displacement and severe environmental damage when it operated between 1972 and 1989.

It also sparked a decade-long civil war from 1988 to 1998 that killed an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 civilians and caused enduring traumas and divisions.

• READ MORE: 28 years later: NZ to host Bougainville talks for a peaceful future
• Burnham Camp – the spiritual home of Bougainville peace process – Marape
• Other Bougainville reports

Industry players believe 5.3 million tonnes of copper and 547 tonnes of gold remain at the site. This is attracting foreign interest, including from China.

Australia views Bougainville as strategically important to its “inner security arc”. The main island is about 1500 km from Queensland’s Port Douglas.

Given this, the possibility of China’s increasing presence in Bougainville raises concerns about shifting allegiances and the potential for Beijing to exert greater influence over the region.

Australia’s tangled history in Bougainville
Bougainville is a small island group in the South Pacific with a population of about 300,000. It consists of two main islands: Buka in the north and Bougainville Island in the south.

Bougainville has a long history of unwanted interference from outsiders, including missionaries, plantation owners and colonial administrations (German, British, Japanese and Australian).

Two weeks before Papua New Guinea received its independence from Australia in 1975, Bougainvilleans sought to split away, unilaterally declaring their own independence. This declaration was ignored in both Canberra and Port Moresby, but Bougainville was given a certain degree of autonomy to remain within the new nation of PNG.

The opening of the Panguna mine in the 1970s further fractured relations between Australia and Bougainville.

Landowners opposed the environmental degradation and limited revenues they received from the mine. The influx of foreign workers from Australia, PNG and China also led to resentment. Violent resistance grew, eventually halting mining operations and expelling almost all foreigners.

Under the leadership of Francis Ona, the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) fought a long civil war to restore Bougainville to Me’ekamui, or the “Holy Land” it once was.

Australia supported the PNG government’s efforts to quell the uprising with military equipment, including weapons and helicopters.

After the war ended, Australia helped broker the Bougainville Peace Agreement led by New Zealand in 2001. Although aid programmes have since begun to heal the rift between Australia and Bougainville, many Bougainvilleans feel Canberra continues to favour PNG’s territorial integrity.

In 2019, Bougainvilleans voted overwhelmingly for independence in a referendum. Australia’s response, however, was ambiguous.

Despite a slow and frustrating ratification process, Bougainvilleans remain adamant they will become independent by 2027.

As Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama, a former BRA commander, told me in 2024:

“We are moving forward. And it’s the people’s vision: independence. I’m saying, no earlier than 2025, no later than 2027.

“My benchmark is 2026, the first of September. I will declare. No matter what happens. I will declare independence on our republican constitution.”

Major issues to overcome
Bougainville leaders see the reopening of Panguna mine as key to financing independence. Bougainville Copper Limited, the Rio Tinto subsidiary that once operated the mine, backs this assessment.

The Bougainville Autonomous Government has built its own gold refinery and hopes to create its own sovereign wealth fund to support independence. The mine would generate much-needed revenue, infrastructure and jobs for the new nation.

But reopening the mine would also require addressing the ongoing environmental and social issues it has caused. These include polluted rivers and water sources, landslides, flooding, chemical waste hazards, the loss of food security, displacement, and damage to sacred sites.

Many of these issues have been exacerbated by years of small-scale alluvial mining by Bougainvilleans themselves, eroding the main road into Panguna.

Some also worry reopening the mine could reignite conflict, as landowners are divided about the project. Mismanagement of royalties could also stoke social tensions.

Violence related to competition over alluvial mining has already been increasing at the mine.

More broadly, Bougainville is faced with widespread corruption and poor governance.

The Bougainville government cannot deal with these complex issues on its own. Nor can it finance the infrastructure and development needed to reopen the mine. This is why it’s seeking foreign investors.

Open for business
Historically, China has a strong interest in the region. According to Pacific researcher Dr Anna Powles, Chinese efforts to build relationships with Bougainville’s political elite have increased over the years.

Chinese investors have offered development packages contingent on long-term mining revenues and Bougainville’s independence. Bougainville is showing interest.

Patrick Nisira, the Minister for commerce, Trade, Industry and Economic Development, said last year the proposed Chinese infrastructure investment was “aligning perfectly with Bougainville’s nationhood aspirations”.

The government has also reportedly made overtures to the United States, offering a military base in Bougainville in return for support for reopening the mine.

Given American demand for minerals, Bougainville could very well end up in the middle of a struggle between China and the US over influence in the new nation, and thus in our region.

Which path will Bougainville and Australia take?
There is support in Bougainville for a future without large-scale mining. One minister, Geraldine Paul, has been promoting the islands’ booming cocoa industry and fisheries to support an independent Bougainville.

The new nation will also need new laws to hold the government accountable and protect the people and culture of Bougainville. As Paul told me in 2024:

“[…]the most important thing is we need to make sure that we invest in our foundation and that’s building our family and culture. Everything starts from there.”

What happens in Bougainville affects Australia and the broader security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific. With September 1, 2026, just around the corner, it is time for Australia to intensify its diplomatic and economic relationships with Bougainville to maintain regional stability.

Dr Anna-Karina Hermkens is a senior lecturer and researcher in anthropology, Macquarie University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

On Sunday, China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs released its fifth batch of “standardized” names for over 27 places in Arunachal Pradesh – including mountains, mountain passes, rivers, residential areas, and a lake – in its latest attempt to bolster its claim over the territory that Beijing claims is Chinese territory and part of historical Tibet.

“We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.

“Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically. Creative naming will not alter the undeniable reality that Arunachal Pradesh was, is, and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India,” Jaiswal added.

China’s latest move to rename places in the Indian border state comes despite recent attempts by both nations to improve diplomatic ties, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Russia last October shortly after their governments reached an agreement over a disputed area along their shared border.

That came after prolonged tensions, when thousands of Indian and Chinese troops faced off in June 2020 at three or four locations in the western Himalayas. India accused Beijing’s forces of intruding into Indian territory, although China denied it.

The two countries fought a border war in 1962, and China has mounted a long-standing campaign to assert its claim over areas held by India.

In 2017, China released its first list of standardized names for six places. Thereafter, it has carried out three more such renaming attempts, with new names for 15 places released in 2021, for 11 places in 2023, and 30 places in 2024.

In response to India’s condemnation of China’s latest move, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the Chinese government’s efforts to “standardize” the names of certain places in the region “is fully within China’s sovereignty.”

“The Zangnan region belongs to China,” Lin said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

India and China have made competing claims on territory along the disputed 1,130-kilometer (700-mile) border, known as the McMahon Line, between Tibet and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

India recognizes the McMahon Line, a boundary line drawn between Tibet and British India as agreed during the Simla Convention in 1914, as the international border. China, on the other hand, maintains that the boundary with India has never been delimited and claims areas south of the McMahon Line in Arunachal Pradesh as southern Tibet.

(Money Sharma/AFP)

Sriparna Pathak, professor of China studies at the O.P. Jindal Global University in Haryana, India, and a former consultant at India’s foreign ministry, characterized China’s effort to change names as “cartographic aggression” - an attempt to boost its claims and normalize its occupation of regions it claims as its own.

Kalpit Mankikar, fellow for China Studies at the New Delhi, India-based Observer Research Foundation, highlighted China’s recent attempts to push its allies to use “Xizang,” instead of Tibet, to refer to the formerly independent country it annexed in 1950.

He said it is another example of Beijing’s strategy to rename places and ensure their consistent usage to erase Tibetan identity and further its narrative that Tibet has always been a part of China.

“This has been the fifth time that China has renamed places in Arunachal. And this is also part of the larger scheme of things, where it calls Tibet ‘Xizang’... so this is a long, long-drawn strategy,” Manikar said.

Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Pema for RFA.

Led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the project, China Targets, brought together more than 100 journalists from 42 media organizations, including Radio Free Asia.

Over a 10-month period, reporters interviewed 105 individuals across 23 countries who had been pursued, harassed, or threatened by Chinese authorities - often for merely expressing dissent online or engaging in peaceful activism.

Targets include pro-democracy advocates from China and Hong Kong, as well as Uyghur and Tibetan exiles. Many described experiences of digital surveillance, threats to family members still in China and transnational pressure campaigns carried out through diplomatic or legal channels.

China Targets documents how protests were suppressed during Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s foreign visits. Since 2019, at least seven of Xi’s 31 trips saw local police detain or harass protesters.

The investigation also found that Beijing has weaponized international organizations such as Interpol - abusing its Red Notice system to target dissidents - and co-opted parts of the United Nations to surveil and intimidate human rights advocates, particularly those speaking out about abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet.

In one high-profile case, documents reviewed by RFA show that Chinese authorities enlisted billionaire Jack Ma to try to personally persuade a Chinese businessman whose extradition was being sought from France to return to China.

The revelations come amid mounting international concern over Beijing’s efforts to reshape global norms and institutions in line with its political interests. Critics warn that these moves are undermining international frameworks originally designed to protect fundamental rights and the rule of law.

Edited by Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jane Tang for RFA and ICIJ.

DeepSeek’s chatbot app once became the most downloaded on Apple’s iPhone, surpassing U.S. company OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While praised for efficiency, it raised concerns over censorship of sensitive topics, data privacy and ties to the Chinese government, with some governments, including South Korea, banning the app.

DeepSeek transferred user data to three companies in China and one in the U.S. between Jan. 15 and Feb. 15, 2025, when the service was temporarily suspended following privacy controversies, the Personal Information Protection Commission, or PIPC, announced.

The Chinese service neither obtained user consent for these international transfers nor disclosed this practice in its privacy policy. With approximately 50,000 daily users during its one-month service period, the PIPC estimated that information from around 1.5 million users may have been improperly transferred overseas.

The commission also found that DeepSeek sent not only device, network, and app information but also the content that users entered into AI prompts to Volcano, one of the three Chinese companies and an affiliate of ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company.

DeepSeek acknowledged the transfers to Volcano but said it used the company’s cloud services to improve security vulnerabilities and the user experience. The PIPC told DeepSeek that transferring prompt inputs was unnecessary and confirmed that the company has blocked transfers since April 10.

“DeepSeek explained that although Volcano is affiliated with ByteDance, it operates as a separate legal entity unrelated to ByteDance operations,” said the PIPC in a statement.

“They assured that the processed information would only be used for service operation and improvement, not for marketing purposes, and promised to strictly protect personal information in compliance with legal requirements.”

The investigation also found DeepSeek lacked an “opt-out” function that would allow users to prevent their prompt inputs from being used for AI training and development. This feature was only implemented after the PIPC pointed out the deficiency.

Although DeepSeek claimed not to collect personal information from children under 14, it had no age verification process during registration.

The company has since established age verification procedures during the inspection process.

The privacy policy, available only in Chinese and English, also omitted required information about data deletion procedures, methods, and security measures mandated by South Korean privacy law.

The PIPC recommended that DeepSeek immediately delete user prompt content transferred to Volcano and implement several improvements, including appointing a domestic representative in South Korea and enhancing overall security measures for its personal information processing systems.

If DeepSeek accepts these recommendations within 10 days, it will be considered equivalent to receiving an official correction order under relevant laws, requiring the company to report implementation results to the PIPC within 60 days.

DeepSeek had previously acknowledged its insufficient consideration of South Korean privacy laws when it temporarily suspended new downloads in domestic app markets following the start of the PIPC investigation.

While the commission did not specify when DeepSeek might resume services in South Korea, the company is expected to restart operations soon, as it claims to have addressed most of the identified issues.

DeepSeek has not commented on South Korea’s findings.

Communist Party ‘enforcer’

The South Korean investigation came a week after the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, said up to 85% of responses on DeepSeek were altered or suppressed to cater to the CCP’s narrative.

The chatbot uses automated filtering of responses and built-in biases to serve as a “digital enforcer of the CCP,” manipulating information pertinent to democracy, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Chinese human rights abuses, the committee said in a report released on April 16.

The investigation found that DeepSeek channels information from U.S. users directly to the CCP via backend infrastructure connected to China Mobile, listed as a Chinese military company by the U.S. government.

Millions of U.S. users’ data therefore serves as a “high-value open-source intelligence asset for the CCP,” it said.

Edited by Mike Firn and Stephen Wright.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.

Photograph Source: Dan Scavino – Public Domain

The International Monetary Fund just released its growth projections for 2025, as well as the next five years. It’s not a very good picture for Donald Trump’s economic plans. The I.M.F. projects the US economy will grow just 1.8 percent from 2024 to 2025. It looks even worse for next year, with growth projected to slow further to 1.7 percent.

It’s also important to remember that these are full year averages, so most of the growth from 2024 to 2025 was actually in the second half of 2024, when Biden was in the White House and the US economy grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate.

The story looks even worse if we compare our projected growth to the growth projected for Donald Trump’s arch nemesis, China. The I.M.F. is projecting that China will grow 4.0 percent from 2024 to 2025 and again from 2025 to 2026.

This difference is even more striking if we look at the absolute amount each country is projected to add to its GDP over this two-year period. (These numbers use purchasing power parity measures of GDP, which applies a common set of prices to the goods and services produced in both countries.)

China is projected to add almost $5.1 trillion to its GDP between 2024 and 2026. The United States is projected to add just over $2.5 trillion. China’s GDP first passedUS GDP in 2016, but it has added to the gap rapidly in the intervening years so that its economy is now more than 30 percent larger. It looks like Donald Trump’s trade policies will increase the gap even more rapidly.

To be clear, China getting wealthier is not a bad thing for the United States and the world. It has made trillions of dollars of goods available at a lower cost than they otherwise would be, raising living standards of people around the world. We certainly could have structured our trade with China differently so that our imports did not have as negative effect on the working class here, but that was our policy choice.

But there is no reason for us to view rapid growth going forward in China negatively, especially since a big part of it is a conversion to a green economy with EVs and clean energy. We should be unhappy that the Trump administration’s policies are preventing us from keeping pace.

This first appeared on Dean Baker’s Beat the Press blog.

The post China’s Growth Leaves Trump’s MAGA USA in the Dust appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Dean Baker.

Soybeans – which feed the production of China’s 435-million-strong pig industry – remains America’s top agricultural export, selling more than 27 million metric tons or over half of the $24.6 billion in total U.S. agricultural products Beijing imported in 2024.

The steep tariff hikes on agricultural products like soybeans and corn, both major components of hog feed, will drive up the cost of breeding livestock and translate into higher food prices for ordinary consumers for China – the world’s largest producer and consumer of pork, industry insiders said.

On April 11, China announced 125% tariffs on U.S. imports, in retaliation to U.S. President Donald Trump’s increase of duties on Chinese imports to 145%. With this, the total tariff on U.S. soybean imports rose to 135%, after adding in the 10% duty China imposed on certain U.S. agricultural products in March.

At an estimated 125% tariff hike, the CIF – cost, insurance, and freight – price of U.S. soybean imports will rise to $1,026 per metric ton, nearly double that of Brazilian soybeans at about $580 per metric ton, prompting China to increase its soybean shipments from Brazil, said the derivatives marketplace operator, CME Group.

(China Stringer Network via Reuters)

Ever since the world’s two largest economies engaged in an earlier trade war in 2018 during Donald Trump’s first term as U.S. president, China has been turning to countries like Brazil to meet its demand for farm goods. It has also made a push for more self-sufficiency, reducing its reliance on imports of U.S. agricultural products.

Today, China has significantly increased its reliance on Brazil, the world’s top soybean producer, importing 72.5 million metric tons of Brazilian soybeans in 2024, up from 19 million metric tons in 2010. In comparison, U.S. soybean imports stood at 27.2 million metric tons in 2024, largely unchanged from its 2010 levels.

China is now making a similar push to import more of the protein- and oil-rich seeds from Brazil to meet the demand of its hog industry, but hog farmers believe this won’t be enough to stem the impact of high tariffs on U.S. agricultural imports.

“For soybeans and corn, they (the government) can import from wherever they want. We ordinary people have no choice,” said Sun Jun, a hog farmer in China’s southwestern province of Sichuan.

To be sure, the composition of soybeans and corn is high in feed for livestock, including pigs, poultry, and cattle.

Sun estimates that an animal feed weighing 100 kilograms (220.5 pounds) would typically contain around 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of corn and wheat, and 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of soybean meal, a by-product of oil extraction from soybean seeds.

“Once the price rises, it will directly push up the breeding cost,” said Sun.

Sun now buys about 3 metric tons of hog feed every month, which costs about 14,000 yuan (US$1,915) per month, he said.

That’s already a one-third increase from an estimated 10,500 yuan (US$1,436) in cost he would have incurred for the same amount of hog feed a week earlier, based on the price of 3.46 yuan (49 U.S. cents) per kilogram (2.2 pounds), as listed by Chengdu Development and Reform Committee then.

(Florence Lo/Reuters)

The impact of rising feed costs will be felt by ordinary consumers through higher food and meat prices, said industry insiders.

“The breeding costs of the livestock industry are already very high … The price of meat (as a result) has been rising for more than half a month and is bound to increase,” Lu, a resident of Linyi, Shandong, told RFA.

Lu, like some of the other industry insiders RFA interviewed for this story, provided only her first name for safety reasons.

“The tariff increase will ultimately be borne by consumers,” she added.

From a macro perspective, China remains highly dependent on agricultural product imports, said Li Qiang, who previously worked at the Agricultural Product Pricing Bureau.

“25% of the food needed by mainlanders depends on imports, and mainly comes from the United States, mainly wheat and soybeans,” added Li, who is a resident of Qingdao prefecture-level city in Shandong province.

Shandong, which is a key player in China’s hog breeding industry, has seen the construction of multi-story pig farms that are at the center of the country’s efforts to ramp up domestic production to cut its reliance on pork imports.

But China’s food and catering sector, which imports much of its pork and beef from the U.S., will not be spared the effects of the tariff hikes, say industry insiders.

Since the start of April, the price of high-end steaks has increased by 30% to 50%, said Geng, the head of a restaurant in Wuhan city in Hubei province.

His company purchases beef from Inner Mongolia, but high-quality steaks still need to be imported from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, said Geng.

“If tariffs are added, the price will be even more expensive,” he added.

Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.

It’s a phenomenon sweeping across China’s export-driven provinces like Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu, where manufacturers – weighed down by a large backlog of unsold merchandise – are issuing a flurry of “holiday notices” to announce they are suspending operations at factories.

To clear large piles of inventory, companies are now resorting to selling the leftover export goods through social commerce platforms, such as TikTok and Taobao, at heavily marked-down rates.

Merchandise ranging from yoga pants and footwear to home appliances and blankets — originally intended to be exported to the U.S. — are now being sold online by Chinese export companies or their employees at bargain prices, multiple videos reviewed by RFA on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, show.

The world’s two largest economies have been engaged in an escalating tariff war that threatens to roil global trade and upend supply chains, while sparking growing concerns over a full U.S.-China decoupling.

U.S. President Donald Trump has levied duties of 145% on imports from China - and up to 245% on some products. Beijing has retaliated with a 125% tariff on U.S. goods.

On Thursday, Trump struck a more conciliatory tone, expressing confidence that Washington and Beijing could reach a deal on tariffs “over the next three to four weeks.”

(Alex Brandon/AP)

This follows the U.S. administration’s move to exempt certain products, including smartphones and laptops, from the recently announced duties.

But in China’s top tech-oriented export strongholds like Dongguan city in Guangdong province, Suzhou in Jiangsu, and Jiaxing in Zhejiang, the immediate fallout of the trade dispute is apparent in factory floors filled with towering stockpiles of unshipped goods.

Stockpiles of unsold goods

In a sprawling 20,000-square-meter warehouse in Jiaxing – a prefecture-level city where exports made up 75% of the total trade volume of 481.84 billion yuan (US$66.51 billion) in 2024 – heaps of merchandise originally meant to be exported now lie abandoned, according to a video posted by an unnamed Douyin user.

He noted that products once valued at over US$100 in the U.S. market now struggle to sell even at deeply discounted rates of a few dollars.

“The tariff war has caused a lot of foreign-trade leftover goods,” he said.

“Any piece of clothing here can sell for US$100 dollars (in the U.S.), but now it is being sold by tons, and the average price of one piece is only a few cents, and still no one is buying it … It’s impossible to survive.”

U.S. footwear brand Crocs’ signature rubber clogs – which typically retails for $30-$70 a pair in the U.S. – are now being offloaded for mere pennies in China, the vlogger said.

Crocs has production facilities in China. In February, it projected Chinese imports will account for about 15% of its inventory and that its fiscal 2025 profits could decline by about $11 million due to tariff headwinds.

But even products that have historically been targeted solely for the domestic market have not been spared, as U.S. tariffs threaten China’s slow and still-fragile consumer sentiment recovery, buoyed by a slew of stimulus measures to drive consumption.

Take the case of the iconic 400-year-old traditional Chinese knife brand Zhang Xiaoquan. Exports account for less than one percent of the Hangzhou, Zhejiang-based company’s annual sales, but its knives are being sold by the tons at the price of just a few cents per knife, the vlogger said in a video post on Douyin.

Pivot to social commerce

Further north in Jiangsu’s Suzhou city – where foreign trade volume hit a record 2.62 trillion yuan (US$358.9 billion) in 2024 – one factory is pushing its employees to sell its overstocked blankets online, another video posted on Douyin by an employee showed.

According to the employee of Suzhou Lively Home Textiles Factory who posted the video, a factory manager managed to sell more than 60 blankets by tapping his own relatives, friends, and acquaintances to whom he made half those sales.

At the same factory, which mainly produces blankets, employees were also informed that their working hours will be reduced and that only their basic wages would be paid, due to the challenges in exporting to the U.S.

“We are now facing a trade war, which has affected our orders ... If you have a good job outside, you can leave,” the factory manager can be seen telling nearly 100 female employees, in the same video posted on Douyin.

As more people take to selling online, e-commerce companies say they are finding it hard to compete with heavily discounted prices of leftover export goods being sold via social commerce platforms.

“With the new tariffs in the trade war, it is impossible to make a profit. In general, business in all sectors is not good this year,” Zhang, an e-commerce entrepreneur in Yangzhou, Jiangsu, told RFA.

Like the other businessmen and experts RFA interviewed, Zhang provided only his first name for safety reasons.

Reliance on exports

China’s so-called “troika” of consumption, investment, and trade that drives the country’s economic growth actually only has one left: foreign trade, Chen, a Guangdong-based scholar, told RFA.

“China has little domestic demand because the average income of Chinese people accounts for too low a proportion of GDP, so their consumption capacity is not good. China cannot afford to lose the U.S. market,” he added.

To be sure, the intensifying tariff war has put to the test Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “dual circulation” strategy – which designated China’s domestic market as the mainstay of its economy and emphasized a reduction in traditional reliance on export-led growth.

Experts argue that China remains highly reliant on the U.S., its top export market, to which it exported goods worth $438.9 billion in 2024.

“I have worked in the manufacturing industry for more than 10 years and I understand clearly the ratio of China’s population to manufacturing. This economic situation (now) can be said to be unprecedented (and not seen) in decades,” said Chen Xiang, who previously worked as a manager in export factories in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong – where many have now issued “holiday notices.”

One clothing export company in Jiangsu province issued a holiday notice announcing a suspension in production from mid-April until end-June.

Meanwhile, an electrical appliances manufacturer in Guangdong’s Dongguan city announced a one-month shutdown citing a lack of orders.

RFA also found that dozens of companies in Zhejiang – where exports accounted for 70% of the province’s gross domestic product in 2024 – had posted holiday notices.

In Zhejiang, more than 50% of its export companies are expected to stop production and take a “long holiday,” after the Labor Day public holiday on May 1.

“It’s like this in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, with even more factories in Guangdong now closed. People in some places can hardly survive. With tariffs increased to this extent, China-U.S. trade is almost decoupled,” Chen told RFA.

In 2024, China’s total manufacturing output reached 40.5 trillion yuan (US$5.65 trillion). Foreign trade volume - exports and imports - was 43.85 trillion yuan (US$6.1 trillion), of which exports accounted for 25.45 trillion yuan (US$3.49 trillion).

Edited by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.

I remember those days vividly. My father would gather us in the dead of night and begin tuning our old radio, searching for foreign broadcasts to find out what was happening in our homeland, where we lived. Due to the Chinese Communist Party’s strict media control and harsh punishment for those who sought outside information, this was an act of defiance.

At the time, the only source of information for the Uyghur people was propaganda in the state-run media. Yet, despite the risks, we longed to hear the truth. In our home in the capital, Urumqi, we had a microwave-sized radio with glowing tubes inside. My father would carefully fine-tune it by hand each night. Sometimes the signal was clear; other times it was full of static. But it was the only source of free news from the outside world.

He always told us to stay quiet and warned us never to mention to anyone that we listened to foreign broadcasts. “If the Chinese communists find out,” he said, “we will be severely punished.”

We thought we were alone in this. But by the late 1980s, we learned that many Uyghur families were secretly doing the same - tuning in to foreign voices in the dark.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, communist China not only survived but thrived, largely due to the failure of America and its Western allies to grasp the colossal threat this regime posed. Today, China has become a global superpower, and perhaps the most serious national security threat to the United States and the democratic world.

Like all totalitarian regimes, communist China rules through brute force and carefully curated propaganda designed to suppress the truth. From the Tiananmen Square Massacre to the COVID-19 pandemic, China manipulates public perception and rewrites history. For the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, information is both a weapon and a shield. Its total control over media ensures its rule remains unchallenged. But there is one thing the regime fears most: the truth.

The CCP does not just use propaganda to brainwash its people. It weaponizes it against perceived enemies, foreign and domestic. The success of its rule over 1.4 billion people for more than 75 years lies in its ability to craft and control the narrative.

(Gemunu Amarasinghe/RFA)

That is why the establishment of the Uyghur Service at Radio Free Asia (RFA) in November 1998 was such a historic moment. At last, the long-suffering Uyghur people had a voice - one that could tell the world about the atrocities they had endured under communist Chinese rule since 1949. Uyghurs in the homeland rejoiced, seeing in America - the leader of the free world - a beacon of hope and justice. Unsurprisingly, China condemned this move, with its Foreign Ministry denouncing the creation of the first independent international Uyghur broadcasting service.

Under China’s brutal rule, the Uyghur people have never been allowed an independent voice. Anyone who dared to speak out against the communist regime was quickly silenced - labeled a “separatist,” “extremist,” or “terrorist,” and disappeared.

This has been especially true since 2017, when China began detaining an estimated 1.8 million Uyghurs in concentration camps and forcibly separating children from their parents to be sent to Chinese-run boarding schools. This systematic targeting of an entire ethnic group was eventually labeled as genocide and crimes against humanity by the first Trump administration. The European Parliament echoed this condemnation, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights published a report stating that China’s actions may constitute crimes against humanity.

Much of this international recognition was made possible by the groundbreaking reporting of the RFA Uyghur Service. Despite the threat of retaliation against their families in China, Uyghur journalists at RFA fearlessly investigated and exposed the Orwellian surveillance state Beijing had imposed on their people.

The United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) has recognized the tremendous contributions made by the brave RFA Uyghur journalists. USAGM states on its website:

“Radio Free Asia’s Uyghur Service was the first to report on the implementation of a vast, high-tech security state in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) and the mass arbitrary detentions there sweeping up the mostly Muslim Uyghur population and other ethnic groups in the region in early 2017, when much of the world was unaware of the situation. Since then, RFA Uyghur has diligently and tirelessly continued to break key stories that bring to light major events, aspects, and developments of a massive humanitarian crisis. This crisis has undoubtedly achieved global notice and notoriety, in large part because of RFA’s Uyghur Service’s courageous journalism, despite risks and threats. RFA’s Uyghur Service has risen above and beyond and continues to stay on top of one of the most difficult, complex, and important stories of our lifetimes.”

The closure of the RFA Uyghur Service would be a tragedy. For a people still suffering under an ongoing genocide, it would extinguish a vital light of hope. China would seize the moment to tell Uyghurs: “You are forgotten. No country, not even America, cares anymore.” This would be a powerful psychological blow, not just to the Uyghurs, but to millions across China who have looked to the United States as a symbol of justice, democracy, and freedom.

If America lets the RFA Uyghur Service disappear, it risks abandoning an entire people and ceding the information war to a regime that thrives on lies.

The RFA Uyghur Service is worth saving - and worth every penny America has spent since its creation. Preserving it allows the U.S. to stand on moral high ground and push back against China’s disinformation campaigns. It ensures the truth can still be told about the genocide, the repression, and the resilience of a people who refuse to be erased.

Dr. Rishat Abbas is a pharmaceutical scientist based in the United States and president of Uyghur Academy International. The academy is a a global network of Uyghur intellectuals who raise awareness about the Uyghur genocide, and seek to counter CCP influence abroad, and preserve Uyghur language, culture and identity. The views expressed in this commentary are Dr. Abbas’ own.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by commentator Rishat Abbas.

Xi was welcomed in Hanoi on Monday by Vietnam’s top leader To Lam. He also held talks with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The two countries signed 45 agreements including on enhancing supply chains and on cooperation over railways, Reuters reported.

(Luong Thai Lin/Reuters)

In an editorial published in state media, Xi called for the two communist neighbors to “resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment.”

“There are no winners in a trade war, or a tariff war,” he wrote.

His visit comes as Beijing faces 145% U.S. duties and shows little sign of backing down on its own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods despite the impact the standoff will have on an export-dependent Chinese economy.

Vietnam, meanwhile, is negotiating with the Trump administration to forestall U.S. tariffs of 46% taking effect in July.

Vietnam ran the third-largest trade surplus with the United States in 2024, only behind China and Mexico. Vietnam is under pressure from Washington to ensure that goods originating in China aren’t just transshipped through Vietnam.

Trump views tariffs as a means to boost U.S. revenues and incentivize American manufacturers. U.S. officials have long accused China of massive state subsidies of domestic companies.

Critics, however, say the sudden imposition of tariffs and uncertainty over the direction of U.S. policy could trigger not just a trade war but a recession.

A commentary in the Chinese communist party mouthpiece, China Daily, described Xi’s Southeast Asia tour as “providing more certainty for regional economic development amid the chaos brought by the United States’ launch of a tariff war.”

(Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

Xi is making his second visit to Vietnam in two years. He travels later this week to Malaysia and Cambodia.

Ahead of Xi’s two-day stop in Hanoi, Vietnamese authorities stepped up surveillance of local dissidents and their families.

Do Thi Thu, wife of incarcerated land rights activist Trinh Ba Phuong, said a Hanoi police investigator called her last Thursday then visited her at her house in person, inquired after her family and suddenly asked: “President Xi Jinping is coming to Vietnam. Are you going anywhere?”

On Monday, she said that police took turns guarding in front of her house. “Two people in the morning, two people at noon, one person in the afternoon, and one more person in the evening,” she told RFA Vietnamese.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Vietnamese.

China’s Xi is also heading to Malaysia and Cambodia next week, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, as Beijing courts Southeast Asian allies in the face of 145% U.S. tariffs.

Vietnam is the fourth-largest exporter to China, while China has been Vietnam’s largest trading partner for 20 years. Last year, their trade rose to a record US$205.2 billion, Vietnam said.

China invested US$25 billion in Vietnam in 2023, the fourth largest investor in the country, according to Vietnamese data.

The two sides agreed in August last year to strengthen their top-level “comprehensive strategic partnership” with further trade and investment deals, during a visit by To Lam, general secretary of Vietnam’s communist party, to Beijing.

Vietnam also has a comprehensive strategic partnership with the U.S. and has been locked in top-level talks on a trade deal and ways to reduce its record trade surplus with America.

On Wednesday, the U.S. imposed 46% tariffs on Vietnamese goods, some of the highest in the latest round of Trump-imposed import duties. That was cut to 10% within 24 hours in spite of presidential adviser Peter Navarro calling To Lam’s offer to cut tariffs on U.S. goods “meaningless.”

Navarro said the move wouldn’t dent Hanoi’s trade surplus and accused Vietnam of “cheating” by re-exporting Chinese goods as its own, stealing intellectual property and raising non-tariff barriers.

Vietnam has been hosting a series of foreign leaders as it looks to expand non-U.S. trade. In the past week it agreed deals with Belgium and Spain after the former’s king and latter’s prime minister visited Hanoi. Next month European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visits the country.

Edited by Stephen Wright.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Mike Firn for RFA.

“We received 1,196,273 applications” for “1,730 core positions,” China National Nuclear Corp (CNNC) said on Saturday in a WeChat post, complete with a starry-eyed emoji.

(China Daily via Reuters)

The announcement inadvertently exposed the harsh reality confronting young Chinese jobseekers, who face fierce competition as millions vie for limited available positions, despite Beijing’s attempts to paint a rosy picture about its economy, experts said.

CNNC’s post drew immediate backlash on Chinese social media as netizens criticized the nuclear energy giant for being insensitive and using the struggles faced by job seekers as a key performance indicator (KPI) – or a quantifiable measure of success – that it can boast about.

“When I saw the post, my first reaction was despair. Have the pressures in finding employment become so great?” said one netizen named Zhang Zhang on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

“I worked so hard in school, carefully revised my resume, and applied seriously, but to you, I’m just a number – an insignificant one among 1.19 million people,” she said.

“It feels like I am being ridiculed. This feels like a public execution where you’re telling me I’m a failure and that there are so many other losers just like me.”

Others questioned the numbers, suggesting CNNC had exaggerated them.

(China Daily via Reuters)

CNNC later clarified in a separate post on Sunday that the 1,730 figure referred to job categories, not positions. It also said it would hire about 8,000 people from the total 425,284 individual applicants. Each applicant can apply for up to 20 positions, it said.

The open positions were in job categories such as nuclear science, geology and minerals, construction and engineering, and environment and chemicals, CNNC said.

CNNC’s recruitment drive was conducted at 12 top universities across 10 cities, with more than 3,100 students attending the career fairs, according to the company’s original WeChat post, which it quickly took down amid the public outcry online.

Contrary to China’s claims that its overall job market remained “generally stable" in 2024, rampant youth unemployment has left millions floundering, living at home, relying on delivery jobs, or, in what has become a growing trend, “pretending to go to work.”

The situation has spawned a hashtag on social media, #IPretendedToGoToWorkToday, with young people posting short videos to Douyin about what they do all day.

China’s jobless rate for 16-to-24-year-olds, excluding students, rose to 16.9% in February from 16.1% in January, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Youth unemployment levels hit a record 21.3% in June 2023, after which China stopped reporting the closely watched benchmark, publishing it only in December that same year after it revised its methodology to exclude students.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, China’s youth jobless rate averaged 11.9% in 2019.

Reality of China’s job market

Against that backdrop, companies are typically flooded with more resumes than they can handle for posted vacancies.

“1.2 million people applied for 8,000 positions, which is about a ratio of 150 to 1. This is actually very normal in the current recruitment market,” said one influencer named Bole Talks Technology.

He said he’s met job-seekers who have sent out thousands of applications and without getting a single interview. He called the current job environment “cruel.”

His own company recently advertised a developer position and received more than 1,000 resumes within a few hours, forcing them to stop accepting applications the same day, he said.

(Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Chinese social media platforms are flooded with videos of young job seekers talking about their woes in finding or holding on to a job.

“I didn’t expect reality to slap me in the face so quickly,” said one Douyin user named Yangxiguapi. “I’ve applied for jobs where there were a few thousand applicants, but some companies, including listed ones, ended up hiring only one or two people,” she said in the video.

“I’ve had three jobs in the past two years,” said another. “Either the company laid me off, or it ran out of money and couldn’t pay me. I’m struggling to live in Beijing,” she said.

He Fan, a young man who works at an internet company in Shanghai, told RFA that some of his colleagues who were laid off last year still haven’t landed a job.

“There are fewer positions. In the past, you might receive five interviews a week after submitting your resume, but now you may only receive one or two,” He said.

The rise of Chinese artificial intelligence firm DeepSeek has led to some improvement in job prospects in the tech sector, but the challenges of a fiercely competitive job market and a slowing economy remain, He said.

He said that news that CNNC drew 1.2 million applications has only deepened his pessimism about the job market and added to his fears about future prospects.

Jerry, a master’s degree student in China, said students are increasingly giving up their dreams of becoming entrepreneurs. Many rely on their parents’ connections and influence to land regular office jobs.

“The entire job market can be said to have gone from bad to worse. All office positions, without exception, are obtained through the connections of parents,” Jerry said.

Impact of US-China ‘tariff war’

Analysts expect the current job market challenges to be further exacerbated by the ongoing ‘tariff war’ between China and the United States.

“There are no jobs to begin with. The employment rate of college graduates is less than 30%. In other words, only 1 out of 5 people find a job,” said current affairs commentator Wang Jian.

“Even without the tariff war, it is expected that it will be more difficult for graduates to find jobs this year compared to last year. If you add the tariff war now, there is no doubt that the (Chinese) economy will be worse,” Wang added.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump raised tariffs on imports from China to 125% from 104%, just hours after China hiked its retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. to 84% and vowed to take “resolute and forceful” measures to protect its own interests. Trump took that step even as he announced a 90-day pause on ‘reciprocal’ tariffs for other countries.

(Pedro Pardo/AFP)

With the private sector set to take a beating due to the ongoing Sino-U.S. trade war, more and more people are likely to seek out jobs at state-owned enterprises, viewing these as a safe haven, said analysts.

“Scenes like the CNNC receiving millions of resumes may become the new normal in the near future,” economist Si Ling told RFA.

“Chinese state media have been relentlessly painting a bright picture about the economy from 2024 to 2025, but CNNC’s spring recruitment figures directly contradict that narrative, revealing the economic optimism to be little more than a facade,” he said.

China set its official growth target at around 5% for 2025, but economists expect escalating trade tensions with the U.S. to hurt the world’s second-largest economy.

Editing by Tenzin Pema and Mat Pennington.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Zifei Chen for RFA Mandarin.

Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos, accusing them of working for the Philippine intelligence agency to gather classified information on its military, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported last week, citing state security officials. It said the three had confessed to the crime.

The Philippine National Security Council, or NSC, rejected China’s espionage accusations, describing the detainees as “ordinary citizens with no military training” or intelligence background.

“They are law-abiding citizens with no criminal records and were vetted and screened by the Chinese government prior to their arrival there,” NSC Assistant Director-General Jonathan Malaya said in a statement.

Malaya explained that the three were former recipients of a government scholarship program created under an agreement between the southern Chinese province of Hainan and the western Philippine province of Palawan. He described the incident as possibly retaliatory and politically motivated amid escalating tensions between the two countries.

“The arrests can be seen as a retaliation for the series of legitimate arrests of Chinese agents and accomplices by Philippine law enforcement,” Malaya said.

In recent months, the Philippines has detained several Chinese nationals suspected of espionage, which officials say may have prompted Beijing’s response.

In March, for instance, Philippine authorities arrested six Chinese nationals and one Filipino near Subic Bay for allegedly conducting covert surveillance under the guise of fishing. The group was found collecting sensitive defense data, with intelligence-gathering equipment seized.

Separately, in January, a Chinese software engineer and two Filipinos were arrested for reportedly mapping critical infrastructure, including military bases accessible to U.S. forces. Authorities found advanced navigation and data tools.

Recent actions between Manila and Beijing appear to be tit-for-tat responses as tensions continue to rise over disputed territories in the South China Sea. The region – believed to be rich in natural resources and a vital route for global trade – has long been a source of conflict between the two nations.

In recent years, the Philippines and China have faced off in several high-stakes encounters in contested areas like Scarborough Shoal. These confrontations have intensified in 2024 and 2025.

For example, a Chinese military helicopter recently flew within just three meters (10 feet) of a Philippine patrol plane, an act the Philippines called dangerous and unprofessional.

The Philippines has also joined joint naval drills with the United States and Japan near disputed waters, moves closely watched by Beijing.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.

Chinese authorities arrested the Filipinos, accusing them of working for the Philippine intelligence agency to gather classified information on its military, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported last week, citing state security officials. It said the three had confessed to the crime.

The Philippine National Security Council, or NSC, rejected China’s espionage accusations, describing the detainees as “ordinary citizens with no military training” or intelligence background.

“They are law-abiding citizens with no criminal records and were vetted and screened by the Chinese government prior to their arrival there,” NSC Assistant Director-General Jonathan Malaya said in a statement.

Malaya explained that the three were former recipients of a government scholarship program created under an agreement between the southern Chinese province of Hainan and the western Philippine province of Palawan. He described the incident as possibly retaliatory and politically motivated amid escalating tensions between the two countries.

“The arrests can be seen as a retaliation for the series of legitimate arrests of Chinese agents and accomplices by Philippine law enforcement,” Malaya said.

In recent months, the Philippines has detained several Chinese nationals suspected of espionage, which officials say may have prompted Beijing’s response.

In March, for instance, Philippine authorities arrested six Chinese nationals and one Filipino near Subic Bay for allegedly conducting covert surveillance under the guise of fishing. The group was found collecting sensitive defense data, with intelligence-gathering equipment seized.

Separately, in January, a Chinese software engineer and two Filipinos were arrested for reportedly mapping critical infrastructure, including military bases accessible to U.S. forces. Authorities found advanced navigation and data tools.

Recent actions between Manila and Beijing appear to be tit-for-tat responses as tensions continue to rise over disputed territories in the South China Sea. The region – believed to be rich in natural resources and a vital route for global trade – has long been a source of conflict between the two nations.

In recent years, the Philippines and China have faced off in several high-stakes encounters in contested areas like Scarborough Shoal. These confrontations have intensified in 2024 and 2025.

For example, a Chinese military helicopter recently flew within just three meters (10 feet) of a Philippine patrol plane, an act the Philippines called dangerous and unprofessional.

The Philippines has also joined joint naval drills with the United States and Japan near disputed waters, moves closely watched by Beijing.

Edited by Taejun Kang and Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.

Trump administration officials have been working on an agreement to sell the popular social media app, owned by China-based ByteDance, to an American buyer, as required by a bipartisan law enacted in 2024. But this also requires China’s approval.

“We had a deal pretty much for TikTok – not a deal but pretty close – and then China changed the deal because of tariffs,” Trump told reporters. “If I gave a little cut in tariffs they would have approved that deal in 15 minutes, which shows the power of tariffs.”

Trump on Wednesday signed a far-reaching “reciprocal tariff” policy at the White House, in which he imposed a 34% tariff rate on China. Coupled with the existing 20% tariffs on Chinese imports, the true tariff rate on China is now 54%.

China on Friday announced it was retaliating, with its own 34% tariff on all imports from the U.S. starting April 10. It also announced plans to restrict exports of some rare earth items.

Before Trump announced widespread tariffs, the TikTok deal was reportedly close, advanced by a consortium of U.S. investors, but Trump said China’s objections impeded the pact. The Washington Post reported earlier that Trump’s moves to heighten tariffs on China stalled the talks.

Trump previously said he may consider reducing China tariffs to help facilitate a TikTok deal.

The U.S. Congress had initially mandated that the short-video platform find a new, non-Chinese owner by Jan. 19 for national security reasons, with Trump later extending the deadline until April 5.

During his first term as president, Trump had tried to ban TikTok, but a U.S. federal judge ruled the president did not have the authority to ban the app. Following that judicial rebuke, Congress passed the bill calling for TikTok’s sale, which then-President Joe Biden signed.

Some lawmakers in the U.S. said that China could gain access to TikTok’s personal data for the purpose of influencing political opinion in the country, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said the country’s government has never asked companies to “collect or provide data, information or intelligence” held in foreign countries.

TikTok, which has offices in Singapore and Los Angeles, has said it prioritizes user safety.

(Mandel Ngan/AFP)

Trump said that he would maintain tariffs on foreign nations unless the trade deficits the U.S. faces with various countries, including China, were eliminated.

“Hundreds of billions of dollars a year we lose with China,” Trump told reporters on Sunday

“And unless we solve that problem, I’m not going to make a deal,” said Trump, adding that he was “willing to deal with China, but they have to solve their surplus.”

The 10% baseline tariff imposed by Trump on almost all trading partners became effective Saturday morning, with a second wave of tariffs set to take effect Wednesday morning. These new measures, combined with recently implemented tariffs on foreign metals, automobiles, and goods from Canada, Mexico, and China, have increased U.S. import tariffs by nearly ten times their previous levels.

Trump’s trade policies have sparked widespread opposition, drawing criticism even from U.S. allies.

China responded with a series of aggressive countermeasures, while other countries are attempting to negotiate reduced rates.

Vietnam, which faces one of the highest proposed tariff rates at 46%, for instance, is requesting a 45-day postponement and has offered to eliminate its own tariffs.

Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, on Sunday offered zero tariffs as the basis for talks with the U.S., pledging to remove trade barriers and saying Taiwanese companies would increase their U.S. investments.

Asian markets plunged on Monday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei falling by more than 8% shortly after opening.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped by 9% in early trade, with shares in Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent falling more than 8%.

In South Korea, trading on the Kospi index was halted for five minutes at 9.12 a.m. as stocks plummeted.

Taiwan’s stock exchange fell almost 10% on the Monday open, the first day of trading since the tariffs were announced due to a two-day holiday last week. Falls were driven by the world’s largest chipmaker TSMC and the world’s largest contract manufacturer Foxconn, and marked the largest daily point and percentage loss on record, according to local media.

Trump said he had spoken to leaders from Europe and Asia over the weekend, who hope to convince him to lower tariffs that are as high as 50% and due to take effect this week.

“They are coming to the table. They want to talk but there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis,” he said.

Separately, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said more than 50 nations had started negotiations with Washington since last Wednesday’s announcement.

“He’s created maximum leverage for himself,” Bessent said on NBC News’ Meet the Press, referring to Trump.

Bessent added there was “no reason” to anticipate a recession, citing stronger-than-anticipated U.S. jobs growth last month, before the tariffs were announced.

Neither Trump nor Bessent named the countries or offered details about the talks.

Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.

But the claim is false. A review of footage captured from multiple angles reveals that Iwaya was standing a considerable distance away from Wang.

The claim was shared on Weibo on March 23.

“Tokyo, March 22, 2025. Japan’s foreign minister is helping China’s foreign minister by pulling out a chair,” the claim reads.

It was shared alongside the 14-second video that shows a man in a suit pulling out a chair for Wang at what appears to be a conference room.

Some users commented to say it showed a “power dynamic” between the two officials.

“He [Iwaya] can’t even look at Wang … afraid of authority,” one user said.

(Weibo)

The claim began to circulate online after foreign ministers from Japan, China and South Korea met in Tokyo on Saturday, seeking common ground on East Asian security and economic issues amid escalating global uncertainty.

It was the first gathering of the countries’ foreign ministers since 2023.

The three agreed to accelerate preparations for a trilateral summit in Japan this year that would also include talks on how Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul can tackle declining birthrates and aging populations.

But the claim about the video is false.

A reverse image search found that the video circulated online does show the trilateral meeting held on Saturday.

But a closer look at the video taken from different angles shows that Iwaya was standing a considerable distance away from Wang.

Photos and videos from the summit show that the tie Iyawa was wearing was different from the one worn by the man who pulled out the chair for Wang. Additionally, Iyawa’s suit appeared darker than the other man’s.

Edited by Taejun Kang.

Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Zhuang Jing for Asia Fact Check Lab.

The Rundown

China’s National Health Commission is exploring avenues to combat a burgeoning obesity problem, including adding scales to hotel rooms, developing region-specific healthy recipes and hiring Olympic athletes to promote weight management. One of the chronic, non-communicable diseases that Chinese health officials are concerned about is diabetes, which has spread in an unusual way compared to the rest of the world. Diabetes has developed in a shorter time, in a younger age group and in people with lower body mass indexes (BMIs). The reason? Studies have shown that Asians hold a higher body fat percentage compared to their Caucasian counterparts, making them more susceptible to chronic diseases like diabetes are relatively lower BMIs.

In North Korea, citizens are being urged to give their children more “revolutionary” names. However, some residents told RFA that the actual motive behind the order is to discourage people from using names that sound too South Korean. The move is another example of pushback against what Pyongyang regards as an infiltration of South Korean capitalist culture, but also reflects recent declarations from the DPRK that South Korea is no longer considered part of the same country. The North Korean government has suggested names with meanings that convey the party’s eternal love for the people, like Eun Hye (grace), Eun Dok (benevolence) and Haeng Bok (happiness), as well as names that reflect party loyalty, like Chung Song (loyalty), Chung Sil (sincerity) and Chung Bok (devotion).

Podcast Free Asia

And with that, RFA Insider goes on indefinite hiatus as Radio Free Asia weathers the termination of federal grants that fund RFA and its partner networks. We thank you for tuning in over this past year, and hope to meet you on air again.

BACK TO MAIN

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Amy Lee for RFA Insider.

Police in Anhui’s Fuyang city raided the Wheatseed Reform Church on March 10, holding two of its members under administrative detention for “using cult activities to endanger society,” the Weiquanwang rights website reported on Saturday.

The two detained church members have engaged lawyers and filed an administrative review, but the Fuyang municipal government has neither accepted nor rejected the review, it said.

The U.S.-based Christian rights group China Aid also reported the incident.

A Fuyang-based Christian who gave only the surname Wang for fear of reprisals confirmed the report.

“Two church members were recently given administrative sentences of 15 days in detention for ‘using cult activities to endanger society’,” he said.

(Kim Kyung Hoon/Reuters)

Local Christians said the move was likely linked to the church’s refusal to join the ruling Communist Party’s Three-Self Patriotic Association of approved Protestant organizations.

Under President Xi Jinping, officials have engaged in a nationwide crackdown on Muslim, Christian and Tibetan Buddhist religious activities and venues since 2017.

Three-Self Patriotic churches

Protestant churches are allowed to function if they are part of the government-backed Three-Self Patriotic Association. The three “selfs” refer to self-governance, self-support and self-propagation –- essentially rejecting any foreign influence –- and the “patriotic” refers to loyalty to the Chinese government.

China has many unauthorized “house churches” across the country, which are frequently raided by authorities, and some “Three-Self” churches have also been targeted at times, too.

Pastor Wang said more than a dozen church members have been targeted by police in recent years, either receiving warnings or being detained.

“This has happened a lot over the past three or four years,” Wang said. “The state security police have warned church members that any church that doesn’t join the Three-Self Association is a cult.”

Repeated calls to the local police station and to the Fuyang municipal religious and ethnic affairs bureau rang unanswered during office hours on Tuesday.

Local Christians said the Wheatseed Reform Church has always refused to join the Three-Self Patriotic Association, and has been vocal in support of religious freedom, making them an ongoing target for harassment and detention by the authorities.

At least 19 of its members have been detained over the past three years, while some were forced to move out of their homes. Police also physically attacked some members after they led a meeting with children present, they said.

“They’ve been hit hard,” a local pastor who gave only the surname Zhang for fear of reprisals told RFA Mandarin on Tuesday. “Churches are targeted because they refuse to join the Three-Self Patriotic Association.”

“If they don’t join, they say you are a cult, and also engaging in fraud,” he said. “Cult activity is a catch-all charge used to target anyone who is religious.”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.

It’s the second mass protest in in five weeks at the site near the Tower of London. Organizers estimated that 6,000 people participated.

The protesters dispersed peacefully after the rally and no one was arrested.

The Chinese government purchased the historic building in 2018 with plans to build what would become Beijing’s largest diplomatic facility globally.

An architect working on the project revealed some of the details of the project, including a tunnel connecting two of the former Royal Mint buildings, basement rooms and accommodation for hundreds of staff.

(Matthew Leung/RFA Cantonese)

(Ka Kit Chan/RFA Cantonese)

(Matthew Leung/RFA Cantonese)

(Ka Kit Chan/RFA Cantonese)

(Matthew Leung/RFA Cantonese)

(Ka Kit Chan/RFA Cantonese)

(Ka Kit Chan/RFA Cantonese)

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Matthew Leung, Ka Kit Chan and Jasmine Man for RFA Cantonese.

The United States has imposed tariffs of 20% on Chinese goods since President Donald Trump took office –- 10% last month and a further 10% coming into effect on March 4.

“Export volume has shrunk, and business has been snatched away by competitors from other countries,” according to the head of an electronics trading company in Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong, who gave only the surname Ge for fear of reprisals.

China’s exports grew 2.3% year-on-year in January and February, lower than the expected 5% rate, according to the latest government figures. That’s down from the 5.4% growth rate for all of last year.

Previous tariffs imposed during the first Trump administration from 2017-2021 have already prompted many businesses to move production to other countries such as Vietnam.

‘Workshop of the world’ is quieter

Once the “workshop of the world,” Guangdong province in the south has become quieter and is now home to fewer factories and more trading companies, which handle orders but don’t actually make anything, Ge said.

“There are no factories in Guangdong hiring workers right now, and many factories have moved to Vietnam, Thailand and other places,” she said.

(Reuters)

“Trading companies mainly receive orders and place them with factories, which then fulfill them, so the operating costs aren’t too high, but the factories are in the most trouble,” she said.

“It’s hard for them to keep going with no orders, because they have so many fixed costs like their premises, equipment, wages and materials.”

The United States is still the biggest market. “There are orders from Europe, but demand isn’t as high as from the United States,” Ge said.

Zhu Zhiqiang, an exporter based in the eastern city of Jiangsu, said China’s manufacturing industry relies on exports, particularly from the United States, he said. “If we don’t resolve this problem, we are doomed.”

Guizhou-based economist Wang Ting said manufacturers are still reeling from the tariffs imposed on Chinese goods during the first Trump administration.

“The increase in tariffs in his second term has made things worse, accelerating the relocation of manufacturing outside of China,” Wang said.

“China’s economy is now in recession, the unemployment rate remains high, and all sectors are in a state of internal competition,” he said.

Meanwhile, business confidence remains at a low ebb.

“Most Chinese people are waiting and watching,” Wang said.

The impact of tariffs is two-fold, according to Wang, with manufacturers of furniture, electronics and clothing likely to raise prices to cover the cost of tariffs, reducing their appeal for consumers in the United States.

E-commerce companies could also seek to reduce their reliance on the American market and expand into Europe, Southeast Asia and Latin America via platforms like Lazada and Shopee.

“This trend could accelerate in future,” Wang said.

(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Even in e-commerce, former business owners are staying on the sidelines in the hope that things improve.

“This year, a friend of mine stopped doing [e-commerce] and is now just staying home,” Zhu said. “Some e-commerce operators can no longer sell their products overseas because of the increase in tariffs.”

He said part of the problems is that Chinese exporters have typically competed on price rather than quality.

“Increasing tariffs eliminates that advantage, making us unable to compete,” he said.

Financial commentator Cai Shenkun said the tariffs come amid a boom in cross-border e-commerce from China.

“Once a trade war breaks out, including the cancellation of the tax-free quota for small packages in the future, this will have a huge impact, and mid- and low-end manufacturing will be affected,” Cai said.

He said e-commerce businesses typically run on profit margins of less than 10%.

“If tariffs rise to 25%, e-commerce will no longer be profitable,” he said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.

Delegates also shed light on Beijing’s intentions for Tibet and revealed for the first time that U.S. sanctions on companies in Xinjiang using Uyghur forced labor are hurting business.

Here are five takeaways:

China aims to spur consumer spending amid looming trade war with US

In his March 5 work report, Premier Li Qiang pledged to boost domestic consumption as the driving force for economic growth, which he set at 5% for the coming year -- a target experts say is highly questionable and likely concocted for political reasons.

For years, exports have driven China’s growth. But leaders have tried to shift the focus to consumer spending after three years of COVID-19 restrictions and a slew of U.S. tariffs prompted manufacturers to move away from China and spooked foreign investors. And now President Donald Trump has imposed additional tariffs on Chinese exports to America.

To shore up the economy, the government plans to boost fiscal spending by 1.2 trillion yuan (US$165 billion) to 29.7 trillion yuan (US$4.16 billion), Li said -- but gave few details of how that money would be spent.

He also pledged to implement “an appropriately accommodative monetary policy” in the coming year.

“The impact of this National People’s Congress on the Chinese people is that their economy is now moving from strength to weakness, and this weakness will be long term,” social economist Ji Rong told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview.

(Pedro Pardo/AFP)

One proposal discussed by delegates to the 10-day National People’s Congress in Beijing was shortening the working week to four-and-a-half days to give people more leisure time.

The government will also further cut the personal income tax rate in a bid to boost purchasing power among middle- and low-earners.

An economic commentator who gave only the surname Hong for fear of reprisals said changes to the working week could prove effective, but that Li’s work report contained few other practical measures.

AI and high-tech seen as key sources of growth

Li Qiang also vowed to “unleash the creativity of the digital economy,” particularly through the use of AI.

“We will support the extensive application of large-scale AI models and vigorously develop new-generation intelligent terminals and smart manufacturing equipment, including intelligent connected new-energy vehicles, AI-enabled phones and computers, and intelligent robots,” he told delegates.

(Wang Zhao/AFP)

Li was speaking weeks after China’s launched its DeepSeek AI model, in what some called a “Sputnik moment” for the country.

Li also promised increased funding for AI, biomanufacturing, quantum technology and 6G, without giving further details.

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But experts said China will continue to be hampered by U.S. export and high-tech bans, including for cutting-edge semiconductors.

China’s increasingly powerful AI surveillance systems use facial recognition and combine data streams to create sophisticated “city brains” that can track events in real time, and are increasingly being exported around the world, according to a recent report.

The technology is also raising concerns about its use to treat patients by medical professionals, as well as to aid cheating in competitions (in Chinese).

Tibetan officials vow to expand ideological education and Sinicize Tibetan Buddhism

The Tibet Autonomous Region delegation vowed to strengthen efforts to fight “separatism” and prioritize “long-term stability” by expanding ideological education, as well as accelerate the Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism, which they said was key to “changing the face of Tibet.”

The delegates emphasized their commitment to ideological education guided by the “Three Consciousnesses,” a phrase used in Chinese propaganda to refer to national -- or Han Chinese -- consciousness, civic duties and the rule of law.

(Greg Baker/AFP)

“I believe this kind of education is highly effective,” said Karma Tseten, deputy head of the delegation and Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region, or TAR. “Despite its value, it is constantly smeared and disrupted by the Dalai Lama and his group. But we will not be swayed.”

The rhetoric was a clear sign, experts said, that Beijing intends to continue to impose its repressive policies in Tibet under the guise of maintaining stability and combating separatism.

“Regardless of what policies China implements in Tibet, their stated goal of ‘maintaining stability’ fundamentally reveals that Tibetans do not trust the Chinese government,” Dawa Tsering, director at the Tibet Policy Institute, told Radio Free Asia.

Delegates said at a media briefing on Thursday that more than 90 percent of community leaders in Tibet now had basic knowledge of Mandarin.

They also emphasized that they will continue to focus on promoting in Tibet what China calls the “four major events” -– border security, environment, stability and economic and social development.

Top official from Uyghur region admits US sanctions are hurting businesses

During the congress, the Chinese government acknowledged for the first time that U.S. sanctions over the use of Uyghur forced labor have affected more than 100 companies in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region, or XUAR, proving that international sanctions do have bite.

Ma Xingrui, the XUAR party secretary, told delegates that “the United States, relying on fabricated evidence, has imposed sanctions on Xinjiang businesses based on allegations of genocide and forced labor, affected more than 144 companies,“ according to the China Daily.

Sanctions “over accusations of ‘forced labor’ have become one of the biggest challenges in the region’s development,” Ma said during a panel discussion Friday at the NPC, according to the report.

While Ma didn’t elaborate on which companies were affected, this marks the first time the region’s highest party official admitted the sanctions were hurting businesses.

The United States and nearly a dozen Western parliaments have accused China of committing genocide and crimes against humanity against the 13 million Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples living in Xinjiang.

In 2021, the U.S. government has passed the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which bans U.S. companies from doing business with Chinese businesses judged to be using Uyghur forced labor. Since then, some 144 companies have been blacklisted.

These sanctions are undermining the economic development of Xinjiang, which is a chief way that Beijing “wants to extend the legitimacy of its rule,” said Raymond Kuo, a China expert at Rand Corporation, a Washington think tank.

“Ultimately, the economic benefits that come from [Beijing’s] rule are going to be the key thing to increase the legitimacy of its rule as well as win over the population,” he said. “Western sanctions inhibit that.”

The sanctions are “particularly politically important for Xinjiang,” Kuo added. “They’re clearly having some impact, right?”

China to boost military spending by 7.2%

China is increasing its 2025 defense budget by 7.2% to US$246 billion amid growing rivalry with the United States and tensions over Taiwan, marking the fourth consecutive year of more than 7% growth in defense spending.

Li said Beijing would continue to “resolutely oppose separatist activities” in democratic Taiwan, as well as what he termed “external interference.”

China has ramped up military activities around Taiwan, conducting frequent air and naval incursions into the island’s air defense identification zone and staging large-scale drills near its waters. Beijing views Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory and insists on eventual unification, by force if necessary.

(Pedro Pardo/AFP)

Yet Li also vowed a soft power charm offensive to push for what Beijing calls “peaceful unification.”

“We will improve institutions and policies for promoting economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait and advance integrated cross-Strait development,” he said. “We will firmly advance the cause of China’s unification.”

Military expert Pang Xinhua said China’s neighbors in the region are also worried about escalating military tensions.

“As China increases its military activities in the South China Sea, East China Sea and other regions, neighboring countries may worry about rising regional tensions leading to an escalating arms race,” Pang told RFA Mandarin.

“That could in turn lead to an escalation of the situation in the Taiwan Strait, as China’s continued strengthening of its military capabilities is interpreted as pressure on Taiwan,” he said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin, Yitong Wu and Ha Syut for RFA Cantonese.

Chinese Human Rights Defenders, or CHRD, a non-government organization of domestic and overseas Chinese rights activists, said the scope and scale of wrongful detention by Chinese authorities may constitute crimes against humanity.

“They were sentenced and imprisoned on charges that stem from laws that are not in conformity with the Chinese government’s domestic and international human rights obligations,” the group said in a report.

“Their cases proceeded through the full criminal justice system, with police, prosecutors, and courts arbitrarily depriving them of their liberty in violation of their human rights.”

Prisoners of conscience have faced severe penalties, with an average sentence of six years, increasing to seven for national security charges.

Three people, identified as Tashpolat Tiyip, Sattar Sawut and Yang Hengjun, were sentenced to death, while two, Rahile Dawut and Abdurazaq Sayim, received life sentences, the group said, adding that 48 were jailed for at least a decade.

(CHRD)

Among the convicted, women activists and marginalized groups, including ethnic Tibetans and Uyghurs, were disproportionately represented among those wrongfully detained, the group said.

Out of all the prisoners of conscience aged 60 or older, two-thirds were women, it added.

“Human rights experts and international experts have raised that people over the age of 60 should generally not be held in custody due to the effects on their physical and mental health,” Angeli Datt, research consultant with CHRD, told journalists in a press briefing Wednesday.

“That two-thirds of them are women was really shocking to me,” she said.

“Worse still, the impunity Chinese government officials enjoy at home emboldens them to commit abuses abroad,” the group said.

China dismissed a Swiss report last month alleging that it pressures Tibetans and Uyghurs in Switzerland to spy on their communities.

‘Endangering national security’

The CHRD said that under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the scope and scale of the use of arbitrary detention to silence critics and punish human rights personnel had grown.

The organization documented a total of 58 individuals known to have been convicted of “endangering national security.”

“The overall average prison sentence for a national security crime is 6.72 years, though this figure excludes those sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve or life imprisonment,” it said.

In Hong Kong, more people were convicted of “subversion” and “inciting subversion” — terms that the U.N. describes as “broad and imprecise, making them prone to misapplication and misuse.”

In one 2024 case, authorities convicted 45 people for participating in a primary election, an act fully protected under both domestic and international law. Subversion charges accounted for 37% of all prisoners of conscience sentenced in Hong Kong during this period.

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China also punishes individuals for political activities related to Taiwan under broad judicial guidelines that criminalize discussions on Taiwan’s status, advocacy for referendums, and support for its international participation. These rules allow trials in absentia and the death penalty, instilling fear among Taiwanese citizens who uphold democratic freedoms.

In August 2024, for instance, a Zhejiang court sentenced former Taiwanese activist Yang Chih-yuan, 34, to nine years for separatism.

A former Taiwanese politician turned pro-independence advocate, he moved to China in 2022, avoiding politics to teach a strategy game.

Despite this, he was detained in August, placed under “residential surveillance,” and arrested in April 2023 – reportedly the first Taiwanese convicted under China’s new rules targeting Taiwan-related political activities.

“When defenders are imprisoned for this work and silenced, people and governments around the world are left without information about domestic developments, and without allies for reform,” said CHRD.

Edited by Taejun Kang.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.

In the latest incident, on Feb. 19, a Chinese naval helicopter flew within 9 meters (yards) of a small low-flying Cessna Caravan turboprop over Scarborough Shoal that belongs to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Situated 120 miles (192 kilometers) from Luzon, Scarborough Shoal is well within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone.

The previous week, a Chinese J-16 jet fighter made an “unsafe and unprofessional interaction”, releasing at least four flares, 30 meters in front of a Royal Australian Air Force P–8A Poseidon anti submarine aircraft that was flying near the Paracel Islands.

China claims the Australian aircraft “intentionally intruded” into Chinese airspace. A Chinese described the response as “completely reasonable, legal and beyond reproach,” and “a legitimate defense of national sovereignty and security.”

(U.S Indo-Pacific Command)

In violation of international law, China has drawn straight baselines around the Paracel and Spratly Islands; something that only archipelagic states are allowed to do under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.

Countries routinely challenge these excessive maritime claims through naval and aerial freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs).

We have seen a pattern of aggressive behavior from Chinese pilots. An October 2023 report by the U.S. Department of Defense documented some 180 unsafe aerial encounters by Chinese pilots in the previous two years, and over 100 additional encounters with the aircraft of U.S. allies and partners.

That tally was more than all such incidents in the previous decade combined.

Creating unsafe situations

Most U.S. Navy aircraft are now equipped with external cameras to document dangerous Chinese encounters.

One should recount that the April 2001 EP3 incident that caused the emergency landing and a hostage-like situation for the 24 member U.S. Navy crew, was caused by a Chinese pilot who was unaware of the concept of propellers. The J-8II pilot was killed in the crash.

While Chinese pilots are famously aggressive and routinely fly at unsafe and unprofessional close quarters over the South China Sea, the dropping of flares was unseen until around 2022.

While using flares to signal an unresponsive airplane at a safe distance is lawful and a signal of escalatory actions, how the Chinese pilots are employing them now is dangerous, unprofessional, and dramatically escalates the potential for the loss of life.

(Courtesy of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co./US Navy via Getty Images)

On Oct. 5, 2023, a Canadian CP-140 reconnaissance helicopter conducting patrols in support of a UN Security Council-authorized sanctions monitoring against North Korea in the Yellow Sea experienced “multiple passes” at five meters (yards).

Three weeks later, a pair of PLA-Navy J-11 fighters made multiple passes at a Canadian helicopter that was conducting routine patrols as the HMCS Ottawa was conducting a FONOP near the Paracel Islands.

The Chinese pilots ejected flares during the second flyby, forcing the Canadian pilot to take evasive action.

In May 2024, PLA-Air Force pilots deployed flares in front of an Australian MH-60-R helicopter that was flying in international waters in support of UNSC-authorized sanctions monitoring against North Korea. The helicopter had to take evasive actions to avoid the flares.

The following month, a Dutch helicopter flying above its destroyer, also in support of the UN sanctions monitoring in international waters in the Yellow Sea, was approached by two Chinese jets and a helicopter, which “created a potentially unsafe situation.”

Flares present risks

There are major risks from using flares. The first is proximity: If a Chinese pilot is close enough to deploy flares in a way that could cause damage, his plane is already flying at an unsafe distance.

Most of the flares used are pyrotechnic magnesium, i.e. a dense mass of inflamed metal that burns at very high temperatures – to perform as decoys for heat-seeking missiles.

(AFP)

These flares pose multiple risks to planes that could lead to the loss of human life.

For planes such as a P-8, they can be sucked into a jet engine intake. For propeller driven planes, such as a P-3 or smaller surveillance craft, a direct hit on the engine could irreparably damage the propeller.

Though the four-engine P-3s and P-8s are both able to fly on one engine, it’s still a risk.

There is a greater threat to the helicopter rotors. Though it is unlikely they could get through the rotor blades and into the filtered intake, it’s not impossible.

Moreover, the skin of many military helicopters is made of magnesium alloys and is itself highly flammable.

(Jam Sta Rosa/AFP)

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Many surveillance and anti-submarine helicopters fly with open doors, and the last thing the crew wants is a flare, ejected out of a plane at an angle, getting inside an aircraft.

Another concern is an escalatory threat. To some sensors on aircraft, the flares can appear as missiles. This is in an already tense operating environment, when an aircraft’s counter-measures are being controlled automatically in response to its sensors.

Pilots’ perverse incentive structure

There is no need to use flares in this way, but someone, somewhere, in the PLA decided that this is tactically a good idea – and a natural escalatory step from the “thumping” tactics that their pilots routinely conduct.

The use of flares is tied to the aggression that we have long seen from Chinese pilots. In their system, aggressive and unprofessional flying is not only not discouraged, but is actually encouraged.

While there’s no evidence that there’s a PLA-AF directive that requires pilots to make unsafe encounters, it is clearly what is considered “commanders intent” to defend China’s “historical waters and airspace.”

In Chinese military doctrine, this is referred to as “using the enemy to train the troops.”

(U.S. Indo-Pacific Command via Reuters)

According to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Center for the Study of the PLA-AF, there is not a single incident that they can point to where a Chinese pilot has faced disciplinary action for aggressive flying.

In short, behavior that would cost a U.S. pilot his or her wings is encouraged by the PLA leadership.

The Chinese Navy and Air Force will continue their coercive and risky operational behavior in the East and South China Seas as they seek to enforce Beijing’s excessive maritime claims, impinging on the sovereign rights of other states or making illegal assertions in international waters and airspace.

A flotilla of PLA-N ships has been sailing some 150 nautical miles east of Sydney, Australia. While such passages are lawful, China’s unprofessional and aggressive tactics are meant to raise the costs to deter other states from flying or sailing where international law permits.

The law for me, not for thee.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or Radio Free Asia.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by commentator Zachary Abuza.

In the latest incident, on Feb. 19, a Chinese naval helicopter flew within 9 meters (yards) of a small low-flying Cessna Caravan turboprop over Scarborough Shoal that belongs to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Situated 120 miles (192 kilometers) from Luzon, Scarborough Shoal is well within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone.

The previous week, a Chinese J-16 jet fighter made an “unsafe and unprofessional interaction”, releasing at least four flares, 30 meters in front of a Royal Australian Air Force P–8A Poseidon anti submarine aircraft that was flying near the Paracel Islands.

China claims the Australian aircraft “intentionally intruded” into Chinese airspace. A Chinese described the response as “completely reasonable, legal and beyond reproach,” and “a legitimate defense of national sovereignty and security.”

(U.S Indo-Pacific Command)

In violation of international law, China has drawn straight baselines around the Paracel and Spratly Islands; something that only archipelagic states are allowed to do under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea.

Countries routinely challenge these excessive maritime claims through naval and aerial freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs).

We have seen a pattern of aggressive behavior from Chinese pilots. An October 2023 report by the U.S. Department of Defense documented some 180 unsafe aerial encounters by Chinese pilots in the previous two years, and over 100 additional encounters with the aircraft of U.S. allies and partners.

That tally was more than all such incidents in the previous decade combined.

Creating unsafe situations

Most U.S. Navy aircraft are now equipped with external cameras to document dangerous Chinese encounters.

One should recount that the April 2001 EP3 incident that caused the emergency landing and a hostage-like situation for the 24 member U.S. Navy crew, was caused by a Chinese pilot who was unaware of the concept of propellers. The J-8II pilot was killed in the crash.

While Chinese pilots are famously aggressive and routinely fly at unsafe and unprofessional close quarters over the South China Sea, the dropping of flares was unseen until around 2022.

While using flares to signal an unresponsive airplane at a safe distance is lawful and a signal of escalatory actions, how the Chinese pilots are employing them now is dangerous, unprofessional, and dramatically escalates the potential for the loss of life.

(Courtesy of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co./US Navy via Getty Images)

On Oct. 5, 2023, a Canadian CP-140 reconnaissance helicopter conducting patrols in support of a UN Security Council-authorized sanctions monitoring against North Korea in the Yellow Sea experienced “multiple passes” at five meters (yards).

Three weeks later, a pair of PLA-Navy J-11 fighters made multiple passes at a Canadian helicopter that was conducting routine patrols as the HMCS Ottawa was conducting a FONOP near the Paracel Islands.

The Chinese pilots ejected flares during the second flyby, forcing the Canadian pilot to take evasive action.

In May 2024, PLA-Air Force pilots deployed flares in front of an Australian MH-60-R helicopter that was flying in international waters in support of UNSC-authorized sanctions monitoring against North Korea. The helicopter had to take evasive actions to avoid the flares.

The following month, a Dutch helicopter flying above its destroyer, also in support of the UN sanctions monitoring in international waters in the Yellow Sea, was approached by two Chinese jets and a helicopter, which “created a potentially unsafe situation.”

Flares present risks

There are major risks from using flares. The first is proximity: If a Chinese pilot is close enough to deploy flares in a way that could cause damage, his plane is already flying at an unsafe distance.

Most of the flares used are pyrotechnic magnesium, i.e. a dense mass of inflamed metal that burns at very high temperatures – to perform as decoys for heat-seeking missiles.

(AFP)

These flares pose multiple risks to planes that could lead to the loss of human life.

For planes such as a P-8, they can be sucked into a jet engine intake. For propeller driven planes, such as a P-3 or smaller surveillance craft, a direct hit on the engine could irreparably damage the propeller.

Though the four-engine P-3s and P-8s are both able to fly on one engine, it’s still a risk.

There is a greater threat to the helicopter rotors. Though it is unlikely they could get through the rotor blades and into the filtered intake, it’s not impossible.

Moreover, the skin of many military helicopters is made of magnesium alloys and is itself highly flammable.

(Jam Sta Rosa/AFP)

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Many surveillance and anti-submarine helicopters fly with open doors, and the last thing the crew wants is a flare, ejected out of a plane at an angle, getting inside an aircraft.

Another concern is an escalatory threat. To some sensors on aircraft, the flares can appear as missiles. This is in an already tense operating environment, when an aircraft’s counter-measures are being controlled automatically in response to its sensors.

Pilots’ perverse incentive structure

There is no need to use flares in this way, but someone, somewhere, in the PLA decided that this is tactically a good idea – and a natural escalatory step from the “thumping” tactics that their pilots routinely conduct.

The use of flares is tied to the aggression that we have long seen from Chinese pilots. In their system, aggressive and unprofessional flying is not only not discouraged, but is actually encouraged.

While there’s no evidence that there’s a PLA-AF directive that requires pilots to make unsafe encounters, it is clearly what is considered “commanders intent” to defend China’s “historical waters and airspace.”

In Chinese military doctrine, this is referred to as “using the enemy to train the troops.”

(U.S. Indo-Pacific Command via Reuters)

According to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Center for the Study of the PLA-AF, there is not a single incident that they can point to where a Chinese pilot has faced disciplinary action for aggressive flying.

In short, behavior that would cost a U.S. pilot his or her wings is encouraged by the PLA leadership.

The Chinese Navy and Air Force will continue their coercive and risky operational behavior in the East and South China Seas as they seek to enforce Beijing’s excessive maritime claims, impinging on the sovereign rights of other states or making illegal assertions in international waters and airspace.

A flotilla of PLA-N ships has been sailing some 150 nautical miles east of Sydney, Australia. While such passages are lawful, China’s unprofessional and aggressive tactics are meant to raise the costs to deter other states from flying or sailing where international law permits.

The law for me, not for thee.

Zachary Abuza is a professor at the National War College in Washington and an adjunct at Georgetown University. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of the U.S. Department of Defense, the National War College, Georgetown University or Radio Free Asia.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by commentator Zachary Abuza.

As concerns continue to emerge over China’s “unusual” naval exercises in the Tasman Sea, raising eyebrows from New Zealand and Australia, the Cook Islands government was questioned for an update in Parliament.

This follows the newly established bilateral relations between the Cook Islands and China through a five-year agreement and Prime Minister Mark Brown’s accusations of the New Zealand media and experts looking down on the Cook Islands.

A Chinese Navy convoy held two live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand on Friday and Saturday, prompting passenger planes to change course mid-flight and pressuring officials in both countries.

• READ MORE: Eugene Doyle: Yellow Peril! Red Peril! ‘We cannot hide anymore’. Chinese warships in the Tasman Sea.
• Cook Islands needs to ‘stand on our own two feet,’ says Brown – wins confidence vote
• Other China in Pacific reports

Akaoa MP Robert Heather queried the Prime Minister whether the government had spoken to Chinese embassy officials in New Zealand for a response in this breach of Australian waters?

“One thing I do know is that just in the recent weeks, New Zealand navy was part of an exercise with the Australians and Americans conducting naval exercises in the South China Sea and perhaps that’s why China decided to exercise naval exercises in the international waters off the coast of Australia,” he said.

“And I also know that in the last two weeks, the government of Australia and China signed a security treaty between the two countries.

“However in due course, we may be informed more about these naval exercises that these countries conduct in international waters off each other’s coasts.”

According to Brown, he had not been briefed by any government whether it’s New Zealand, Australia, or China about these developments.

Asking for an update
He added that while the Minister of Foreign Affairs Elikana was currently in the Solomon Islands attending a forum on fisheries together with other ministers of the Pacific Region, he would ask him about whether he could make any inquiries to find out whether the government could be updated or briefed on this issue.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, that lack of sufficient warning from China about the live-fire exercises was a “failure” in the New Zealand-China relationship.

A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defence, Wu Qian explained that China’s actions were entirely in accordance with international law and established practices and would not impact on aviation safety.

He added that the live-fire training was conducted with repeated safety notices that had been issued in advance.

Republished with permission from the Cook Islands News.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

“Online healthcare providers must be connected to the provincial medical insurance electronic prescription center and circulate electronic prescriptions in accordance with regulations,” health authorities in Hunan province said in a statement dated Feb. 25.

“It is strictly prohibited to use artificial intelligence and other automated methods to generate prescriptions,” it said.

The ban comes as healthcare providers around the country rush to embrace DeepSeek and other homegrown AI tools, potentially eroding trust in an already corrupt healthcare system.

Under current regulations, doctors in China are allowed to use AI tools to aid them in their work, including reading medical images, organizing data and formulating treatment plans, AI ​​Hospital Operation and Management Research Institute director Wei Zining told the Chengdu Business Daily newspaper on Feb. 23.

“It’s hard to say how things will be in 100 years' time, but [for now], AI is only allowed to assist doctors, not replace them,” Wei said.

Doctors working for online prescribing services must also undergo real-name authentication before seeing patients, to ensure that the medical services are provided by them alone, and are banned from using human or AI substitutes, the paper said.

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State media have published a slew of recent reports about healthcare providers who use China’s newly emerging homegrown generative AI tools, including DeepSeek, in their treatment of patients.

The Fuyang People’s Hospital in the eastern province of Anhui announced on Feb. 21 it would be using DeepSeek to “analyze cases, discover potential patterns of disease, and to assist in optimizing diagnosis and treatment plans,” according to a report published on the Anhui provincial government website.

‘Consultation guidance system’

The model is also being used to carry out medical triage and signposting, the article said.

“The DeepSeek consultation guidance system can understand the symptoms described by patients through natural language processing technology, recommend appropriate departments and doctors, and provide the best appointment options based on doctor schedules and patient time preferences,” it said.

The ban comes as state media outlets including state broadcaster CCTV have been quick to laud the use of AI in medical settings.

“Patients only need to open our hospital’s WeChat official account and ask in voice or text, ‘What should I do if I have stomach pain?’ or ‘Which department should I go to for a headache?,’ and AI can quickly give thoughtful advice and medical guidance,” it quoted Fu Qihua, deputy director of Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital as saying.

“Some automated tasks, like intelligent medical guidance, drug distribution and other repetitive and mechanical nursing tasks, are being replaced by automated systems,” Kang Dan, a nurse at the Huaihua No. 2 People’s Hospital, told the station.

“Be we also need to be particularly vigilant about issues such as nursing ethics, nursing data security and patient privacy protection,” Kang said.

China’s recent advances in AI and big data, including its recently launched DeepSeek AI model, will also likely boost the government’s surveillance capabilities, given its widespread access to personal and private data on its citizens, according to Feb. 11 report from the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy.

Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Cantonese.

The fact is, China’s AI companies’ “embrace of open source” has not only paved new paths for their own growth but has also spurred demand for cross-border AI collaborations among enterprises. It is driving the global AI ecosystem to transform toward “open-source inclusivity.”

By offering some of its models for free, DeepSeek has ensured that the digital dividends of the AI era are shared equitably among all internet users. This decentralized, open-source strategy stands in stark contrast to the closed ecosystems, high resource barriers, and monopolization by a few players that have characterized AI technology in Western countries. It aligns with the global process of technological democratization. Silicon Valley venture capitalist Marc Andreessen wrote on social media platform X that as open-source, DeepSeek R1 is “a profound gift to the world.”

In recent years, China has been actively developing multiple national-level AI open innovation platforms, providing open access and shared computing resources. It can be said that the success of “open-source” large models is deeply rooted in the rich soil of “open source.” We observe that the development of AI technology follows a spiral progression of “open source-innovation-iteration,” a logic that also underpins global technological and economic development.

Today, from DeepSeek’s open-source ecosystem to Baidu’s Apollo autonomous driving open platform, from cost reduction and efficiency improvement in the pharmaceutical industry to collaborative innovation among multinational enterprises, these practices collectively illustrate a fundamental truth: The future of AI belongs to openness and sharing. Open source and inclusivity can certainly become a model for collaborative win-win scenarios in the global AI field, empowering and promoting sustainable development in the era of intelligence.

On February 12, The Conversation, a news website based in Australia, published an article stating that Chinese enterprises’ embrace of open-source AI “promises to reshape the AI landscape almost overnight.” The key drivers behind China’s rise in AI, in addition to being “fast” and “collaborative,” also include being “market-driven.” Thanks to China’s robust industrial supply chain, AI technology is being implemented at an astonishing pace. This is evident in the recent wave of adoption sparked by DeepSeek in China: Over a dozen local cloud-based AI chip manufacturers have announced compatibility or launched DeepSeek model services, several cloud computing giants have pledged support for DeepSeek, and industries such as telecommunications, automotive, brokerage, and education are rapidly integrating DeepSeek. This signifies that AI will play a leading role in driving the development of new quality productive forces, acting as a catalyst for broader innovation and overall economic quality improvement in China. It will also create new opportunities and possibilities for international cooperation.

At the recent Paris AI Action Summit, representatives from over 60 signatories, including China, jointly released a document titled “Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet.” Notably, only the representatives from the US and the UK did not sign. This indicates that the self-centered, exclusive and hegemonic logic of AI development has little market appeal internationally, while China’s advocated concept of open, inclusive, mutually beneficial and equal AI governance is recognized and accepted by the vast majority of global members.

Isolating oneself to pursue development without an environment for communication and competition risks being replaced by entirely new pathways, regardless of how high computational power is amassed. Only through open collaboration can we address global issues such as the distribution of computational power and the establishment of ethical standards. Attempting to maintain a competitive advantage in the AI era by digging “moats” is akin to dreaming, let alone opening the “interstellar gate.”

Moreover, closing the door on China means losing opportunities for exchanges involving advanced technologies. Some media outlets have pointed out that American companies’ further utilization of China’s open-source technology potential may be constrained by domestic political barriers.

Currently, the global development of AI is at a crossroads. Should we continue to rely on the hegemony of computing power to build technological barriers, or should we strive for common prosperity through inclusive cooperation? China’s answer is to promote innovation through open-source initiatives and seek development through inclusivity. As China integrates into the global technology network with a humble and open attitude, the world becomes more vibrant due to the convergence of diverse forces. The future of AI development may be defined by “symbiosis in competition.” The dawn of technological equality is beginning to emerge, and China looks forward to joining hands with the world to create a more inclusive era of intelligence.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Global Times.

China tops the world when it comes to cases of lung adenocarcinoma, a form of cancer that is becoming more prevalent, possibly due to particulate air pollution, according to a recent report from a body linked to the World Health Organization.

Lung adenocarcinoma has emerged as the predominant form of lung cancer around the world in recent years, with increasing risks observed among younger generations, particularly females, in most countries, according to a recent study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer.

Published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, the study “highlights that the largest burden of lung adenocarcinoma attributable to ambient particulate matter pollution was estimated in East Asia, particularly China,” the agency said in a statement marking World Cancer Day.

In 2022, more than 68% of global adenocarcinoma cases in men were in China, while Chinese women accounted for more than 70% of global cases in women.

(Andy Wong/AP)

The study authors think there could be a strong link to particulate air pollution.

“We examine changes in risk in different countries across successive generations and assess the potential burden of lung adenocarcinoma linked to ambient PM pollution,” study lead author Freddie Bray said.

“The results provide important insights as to how both the disease and the underlying risk factors are evolving, offering clues as to how we can optimally prevent lung cancer worldwide.”

Shift to another form of cancer

The study analyzed global, population-based cancer data for 2022, and found that adenocarcinoma was now the predominant form of lung cancer, a shift away from squamous cell carcinoma.

It said the shift was likely linked to changes in smoking patterns and exposure to environmental pollutants, estimating that 114,486 cases in men and 80,378 in women were related to air pollution, with East Asia, especially China, being the most affected region.

Global ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution is responsible for millions of annual premature deaths and trillions of US dollars of social costs.

There has been a marked post-2011 decrease in particulate pollution, largely driven by decreasing PM2.5 exposure in China, Nature Communications reported in 2023, adding that India has become the leading contributor to global ambient PM2.5 exposure since 2015.

But some 99% of the global population lives in an area where air quality doesn’t meet international standards for good health, currently set at 5 micrograms per cubic meter for the smallest and most lethal particle, PM2.5.

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In 2017, more than 30% of Chinese households still used solid fuels for heating and cooking, suggesting that indoor air pollution could also be a driving factor behind this type of cancer.

Charles Swanton, clinical professor at the Francis Crick Institute, a British biomedical research institute, discovered in 2022 that EGFR genetic mutations cause lung cancer in non-smokers.

He told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview that the EGFR mutation is a common driver mutation associated with lung adenocarcinoma.

“We don’t know why EGFR mutant lung cancer is so prevalent in Asia,” Swanton said. “One of the theories that we have is that air pollution is a contributor to the prevalence of these mutations.”

“Data from our lab shows that, in normal tissue that’s been exposed to air pollution, it’s easier to identify EGFR mutant clones- suggesting that these clones expand preferentially in lung damaged by particulate matter,” he said.

“In other words, the air pollution creates a fertile soil upon which the seed, which is the EGFR mutation, can grow.”

But he said the biggest risk factor for lung cancer is still smoking.

“[Smoking] puts you at about a 30-fold increased risk of lung cancer,” he said. “The risk of air pollution... is a lot less, probably less than threefold, (or at least 10 times lower than tobacco exposure) depending on the area you live in on the planet.”

“The reason why it’s such a problem is that so many more people are exposed to air pollution than they are to tobacco smoke,” Swanton said.

Cases of never-smokers

As smoking rates decline in many countries around the world, the proportion of lung cancer cases in people who have never smoked has increased, making it the fifth most common cancer to cause death.

Almost all cases in never-smokers are lung adenocarcinoma, which is also the most common form of lung cancer in women and residents of East Asia.

While CAT scans have boosted survival rates with better imaging allowing cancers to be detected sooner, Swanton said his lab is also working on ways to screen non-smoking populations for lung cancer, and that concrete progress could be seen in as little as 18 to 20 months.

The number of smokers in China has fallen significantly since the 1990s, but lung cancer edged out liver cancer as the top cancer killer in China in 2012.

Smoking rates among Chinese adults fell from 28.1% in 2010 to 24.1% in 2022. In 2019, the smoking rate among Chinese men aged 15 and over was 49.7%, a fall of 18.2% from 1990, while the smoking rate among women was 3.5%, down 20.9% from 1990.

A 2022 report from China’s National Cancer Center showed that of the 2.5742 million people who died of cancer that year, 733,300 died from lung cancer and 316,500 from liver cancer.

Norman Edelman, Professor of Preventive Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Physiology and Biophysics at the State University of New York, said the change in lung cancer types was “a kind of conundrum.”

“The evidence is pretty strong that particulate air pollution is a risk factor for lung cancer,” he said. “And it is true we’re beginning to see more women, especially young women, have lung cancer even though they haven’t smoked.”

“The prevailing hypothesis about the cause of many cancers is the so-called inflammation hypothesis, so things that get into the lung and cause inflammation and cause outpouring of all kinds of chemicals and response to the inflammation... which applies to both cigarette smoke and air pollution,” Edelman said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Lucie Lo for RFA Mandarin.

The Chinese government purchased the historic Royal Mint in 2018 -- near the Tower of London -- with plans to build what would become Beijing’s largest diplomatic facility globally. Rights groups and protesters warned that the facility would facilitate espionage and Beijing’s "long-arm" law enforcement.

On the first day of a 12-day planning inquiry, Morag Ellis KC, a lawyer acting on behalf of Tower Hamlets Borough Council, said the council wouldn’t be offering any evidence opposing the plan, despite having previously rejected the Chinese government’s planning application on two occasions.

She said the main reason was the withdrawal by the city’s Metropolitan Police of its objections to the project.

“In the light of the Metropolitan Police services changed position and the external transport advice, which mirrored that of the statutory highway authorities, it would have been irresponsible to seek to pursue the putative reason for refusal,” Ellis told the hearing on Tuesday.

The hearing was packed with observers in the public gallery, with groups of people speaking Mandarin lining up early to get a seat. At least a dozen would-be observers were turned away after the venue reached capacity.

(RFA)

Ellis also cited advice by transportation consultants iTransport, and that of government highway authorities.

“On the 12th of January this year, the Borough issued its revised statement of case, explaining why it was no longer in a position to present evidence in support of the putative reason for refusal,” Ellis said.

Safety and security concerns

China resubmitted its application to build the massive new facility in London despite being rejected in 2022 amid a vocal campaign by rights groups.

The Metropolitan Police had earlier spoken against the planned embassy due to safety and security concerns, particularly relating to expected large-scale protests outside the facility, which includes plans for offices, residential quarters and cultural venues.

“The Metropolitan Police Service’s Public Order Command are content that, on balance, there is sufficient space for future protests to be accommodated without significantly impacting the adjacent road network,” the force said in a Jan. 17 letter confirming its change of position, which it said was based on a three-year-old council document.

The U-turn sparked allegations that the plan is being pushed through by strong political pressure from the highest levels of government.

Simon Bell, a lawyer speaking on behalf of the neighboring Royal Mint Court Residents Association, which opposes the plan, said it was “clear that there has been a political pre-determination of these applications at some of the highest levels of central Government.”

He said a three-year-old assessment by the council couldn’t predict the size of future demonstrations, and cited the Met Police’s failure to contain Saturday’s protest at the proposed site.

“Roads were blocked and considerable police presence confirmed the residents’ fear for their safety and security,” Bell told the hearing. ”If this is a taste of what is to come in respect of a proposed embassy, one can only imagine how the adverse effect of protests will impact on the residents’ safety and security, during any construction period, let alone after the embassy has come forward.”

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Luke de Pulford, executive director of the cross-party Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said the police appeared to have been “influenced by forces other than the merits of the application.”

“The public understanding is that the police are operationally independent and that their decisions regarding public safety ought to brook no interference,” he said.

Infiltration and attacks

The planning application comes amid growing concerns over Chinese Communist Party infiltration of all aspects of British life, and warnings from Hong Kongers in exile over growing acts of violence by Beijing supporters and officials alike.

Overseas activists frequently report being targeted by agents and supporters of the Chinese state, including secret Chinese police stations in a number of countries.

Simon Cheng, co-founder of the advocacy group Hongkongers in Britain, said the proposed embassy posed a “serious risk to public safety, local infrastructures, and fundamental democratic freedoms,” and warned that it would become a “flashpoint of large-scale protests against Chinese Communist Party human rights abuses.”

(Tower Hamlets Borough Council)

“This embassy will ... be an extension of Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian reach into Britain,” Cheng said. “We have already seen the evidence of Chinese diplomatic outposts being used for, for example, monitoring and intimidating exile activists like Hong Kongers, Tibetans, Chinese dissidents in the UK [and] Uyghurs.”

“This embassy will make it even easier for Chinese authorities to track, intimidate, and suppress critics of such a regime.”

Cheng said the embassy could also empower efforts to suppress free speech on British soil.

“The Chinese government has a history of pressuring businesses, universities, and local institutions to align with its interests,” he said. “It is about whether Britain is willing to host and legitimise an embassy that will serve as a hub for authoritarian influence.”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Matthew Leung for RFA Cantonese.

Sam Brownback, a former U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, has urged the American government to recognize China’s actions in Tibet as genocide and to oppose Beijing’s efforts to control the Dalai Lama’s succession, to told Radio Free Asia in an interview.

Brownback also called for banning any form of Chinese Communist Party lobbying in the U.S. capital.

The Chinese government has stepped up its repressive rule in Tibet in an effort to erode Tibetan culture, language and religion, said Brownback, 68, who served in that role 2018 to 2021 — the fifth person to hold the position.

Brownback said the decades-long repression of Tibetan culture and religion by the Chinese government meets the legal definition of genocide, and that Tibet should be formally recognized as a site of genocide.

“(What) needs to take place now is to declare genocide in Tibet,” he told RFA. “The genocide definition is about targeting a specific group of people for annihilation and that’s what’s taking place in Tibet, and it’s been happening over a 70-year time period… and it needs to be talked about and doesn’t get discussed near enough.”

Appointed by U.S. President Donald Trump during his first administration, Brownback was tasked with promoting religious freedom as a key objective of U.S. foreign policy while monitoring religious persecution and discrimination around the world.

He made the comments during an interview with RFA on Feb. 5 on the sidelines of the 2025 International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington, which he co-chaired.

Calls for no CCP lobbying

At the conference, members of the international religious community released a white paper with a series of policy recommendations for the Trump administration to undertake to advance religious freedom globally.

“The lead recommendation we make is no lobbying by the CCP in Washington,” said Brownback, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

“We see so much lobbying against the interests of people in Tibet, people in Xinjiang, the Christians, the Falun Gong … and we’ve got to get them [the CCP] out of the halls of Congress and trying to influence us in Washington,” he said.

(Passang Dhonden/RFA)

“This is a major issue… and [they’re] pushing for things that are in China’s interest but really are against American interest,” said Brownback, a former U.S. senator and state governor of Kansas.

Also at the summit, Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow and director of China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, urged the United States and its allies to impose Magnitsky sanctions on top Chinese officials responsible for human rights abuses in Tibet.

The sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act, imposed by the Treasury Department, prevent those listed from accessing the U.S. financial system and prohibit American citizens from conducting business with them.

“Under [Chinese President] Xi Jinping, religious oppression continues to get worse,” Zenz said, while highlighting China’s increasing ideological crackdown and crushing of religious freedom in Tibet. “There’s no improvement and none is in sight.”

When U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance addressed the 1,500 religious freedom advocates at the summit, he highlighted the Trump administration’s commitment to combating religious persecution worldwide.

The administration believes it must stand for religious freedom “not just as a legal principle” but “as a lived reality, both within our own borders and especially outside our borders,” Vance said.

Dalai Lama succession

On China’s efforts to control the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, Brownback dismissed Beijing’s claim to having the authority to appoint a successor to the 89-year-old spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism as a “fraud.”

He emphasized that the U.S. government must make clear — again — that it will not support any such recognition by the Chinese government and that there will be consequences should Beijing attempt to interfere in the process.

Brownback noted that when he was the ambassador-at-large, he traveled to Dharamsala, India, the residence of the Dalai Lama and headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile, to announce that the U.S. government would not recognize attempts by the Chinese government to select the next Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader.

“We need to step back up and say that again,” he told RFA.

“We also need to put teeth in it, saying that there will be consequences if the Chinese government attempts to do that,” he said. “The big thing really right now is to announce to the world that this is a fraud if the Chinese government attempts to do this.”

The Dalai Lama, who turns 90 in July, has been the face and symbol of the Tibetan freedom struggle for over seven decades, having fled Tibet into exile in India amid a historic Tibetan national uprising that took place on March 10, 1959, against Chinese rule in Tibet.

(Andrew Harnick/Reuters)

The Dalai Lama, who is expected to outline his succession plan this year when he turns 90, has said Beijing will have no say in who will succeed him as Tibet’s spiritual leader if he decides the tradition should continue.

“The Dalai Lama has been picked for hundreds of years by the process set forth by Tibetan Buddhists,” Brownback said. “And the Chinese government’s going to step in and declare itself the wise person to choose? This is a complete fraud by the Chinese government.”

American support for Tibetans

Rashad Hussain, another former U.S. ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom, told RFA that despite ongoing concerns over religious freedom in Tibet, he was optimistic that U.S. bipartisan support for protecting religious freedom would continue with the Trump administration.

“We’ve been very, very clear about the right to succession and that the people of Tibet should have the sole authority to choose a successor,” he said. “I am confident that we will continue to reinforce this point.”

The Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020, which outlines U.S. policy on Tibet, says the Dalai Lama’s succession is solely a religious matter to be decided by him and the Tibetan Buddhist community, without interference from China.

Under this law, any Chinese officials attempting to appoint a future Dalai Lama will face sanctions, including asset freezes and visa bans.

Additionally, the U.S. State Department is mandated to collaborate with like-minded nations to counter Beijing’s attempts to control Tibetan religious affairs — a policy that aligns with Brownback’s warnings at the summit about China’s interference in the Dalai Lama’s succession and his call for Tibet to be recognized as a site of genocide.

“The cavalry is coming,” said Brownback as he urged Tibetans inside Tibet to not give up hope.

“You’re seeing more and more people in the world standing up for religious freedom,” he said, “and that means Tibetan Buddhists will be able to practice their faith freely and carry on their traditions.”

Additional reporting by Passang Dhonden for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tenzin Dickyi and Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan.

Organizers said around 4,000 people joined the protest at the proposed site of the embassy at the historic former Royal Mint Court – near the Tower of London – just days ahead of a crucial inquiry session to start on Tuesday. Police did not respond to requests for a crowd size estimate.

The Chinese government purchased the historic building in 2018 with plans to build what would become Beijing’s largest diplomatic facility globally. Plans show that it is expected to be 10 times the size of a regular embassy and house cultural exchange centers and 225 apartment units.

Nearly 30 different rights groups came together for the protest, organizers said. Many were masked and dressed in black. They waved flags and carried placards that said, “UK Government, don’t reward repression. Say no to China’s super embassy,” “Stop Chinese secret policing in the UK” and other slogans.

Police could be heard shouting for order as large crowds spilled out across the intersection by the Mint, and several protestors wrestled with and shouted at a line of police officers. About halfway through the protest, officers could be seen dragging a woman to a police van, prompting protestors to block the van and shout for her release.

(Matthew Leung/RFA)

At least two people were arrested on suspicion of breaching Section 14 conditions, which require that protesters stay within a designated area, Tower Hamlets Police said.

No counter-protests from Chinese nationalists were seen.

Twice rejected

The local Tower Hamlets Council has twice rejected the planning application, putting the embassy plan on hold.

In October, British Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State Angela Rayner announced that she would take over the decision-making of the embassy’s fate.

A public inquiry will be held in front of a planning inspector from Feb. 11-18, after which Raynor will decide whether or not permission should be granted, the council said in a statement.

(Matthew Leung/RFA)

Previously, the Metropolitan Police had objected to Beijing’s plans to redevelop the former Royal Mint Court site into the Chinese Embassy, citing a lack of space to safely accommodate protestors. However, in January 2025, they withdrew their objection, citing a Beijing-sponsored report that claims the site surrounding the proposed embassy can safely fit up to 4,500 people.

“Chinese embassies are like a watchdog and serve as a base to control so-called minorities like Tibetans, Uyghurs, Hong Kongers and also to human rights defenders and other Chinese dissidents,” said Tsering Passang, founder and chair of the U.K.-based Global Alliance for Tibet & Persecuted Minorities, or GATPM.

“To have our voices and concerns heard, we have gathered here ahead of the public inquiry session,” Passang said. “We are also demonstrating that the site is inappropriate for an embassy, as there is not enough space for safe demonstrations at the site.”

‘Spy base’

At Saturday’s protest, several British politicians, including former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, Labour parliamentarian Blair McDougall, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, spoke out in solidarity with the protestors, saying it would be a “grave mistake” if permission was granted to build the embassy.

They warned that British intelligence services have indicated the Chinese Embassy would become a massive “spy base,” threatening not only exile communities of Hong Kongers, Tibetans and Uyghurs, but also local residents and British national security.

They criticized the U.K. government for their apparent support for the project and disregarding public opinion.

(Matthew Leung/RFA)

“Tower Hamlet came out this morning and said they stand by their original objection. That means that the local council didn’t approve it, no local residents wanted it, and a large number of politicians in Westminster do not want it either,” Smith told RFA.

“So the government is now using its powers to bully all the organizations to get the decision that they want,” he said.

Smith went on to say that the U.K. government’s apparent support for the embassy approval was “promised” by Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Chinese President Xi Jinping at their meeting on Nov 18, 2024, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“I think it’s an act of self-harm and a betrayal of the British people to have it here,” he said.

‘We will continue our protest’

Rahima Mahmut, U.K. project director of the World Uyghur Congress, said it was perhaps the largest protest in London against the Chinese regime in recent history.

Due to the large turnout, the protest spilled out across most of the junction between Tower Bridge Road and Tower Hill. This prompted the police to close the intersection, forcing vehicles to turn back and find alternative routes and temporarily paralyzing traffic.

(Matthew Leung/RFA)

A local resident named Nas, who didn’t want his full name used for security reasons, said the blockage of traffic shows why the site is unsuitable.

He also noted that the area has one of Britain’s largest Muslim communities, raising fears among the local community that the Chinese government would impose its values on the area and impact local mosques, if the plan is approved.

“We are not here just for today, we will continue our protest,” Passang said. “With the collaboration of local residents we are showing a clear message to the U.K. government and also letting the Chinese government know that oppression of religious freedom, freedom of speech and human rights will not be tolerated.”

Additional reporting by Alim Seytoff for RFA Uyghur, Passang Dhonden for RFA Tibetan. Edited by Kalden Lodoe and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Jasmine Man for RFA Mandarin, Matthew Leung for RFA Cantonese, Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan.

“Certain traps that endanger national security can enter our lives unannounced,” the Ministry of State Security said in a Jan. 28 post to its official WeChat account, the day most people would be gathering back at their family home to eat a meal and welcome in the Year of the Snake.

The much-feared Ministry has been cranking up propaganda warning of foreign “spies” in recent months, in a bid to get more people to inform on each other and steer clear of anything linked to the West.

The post called on people to enjoy the New Year as usual, but to be mindful of “ulterior motives to spy and steal state secrets,” particularly when attending gatherings and making visits.

“Don’t let your guard down when it comes to security and confidentiality,” the notice warned. “The public is warned to beware of people using the exchange of news ... and other normal exchanges and interactions to acquire state secrets.”

“We must be vigilant against foreign spy agencies who collect and steal secrets both online and through secret infiltration,” it said.

(Aaron Favila/AP)

U.S.-based lawyer Gao Guangjun said such notices have become common over the festive period in recent years, and has coincided with China’s growing sense of isolation from the international community.

He said such notices rarely define a “state secret,” leaving the authorities free to “enforce the law at will.”

What’s a state secret?

The Chinese authorities have typically employed a highly elastic definition of what constitutes a state secret, and national security charges are frequently leveled at journalists, rights lawyers and activists, often based on material they post online.

Article 14 of China’s Law on Safeguarding State Secrets, which was amended last year, divides state secrets into three categories: top secret; confidential and secret.

Which information falls into which category is left to the authorities to decide, according to Article 15.

The lack of definition makes “endangering state security” an easy crime to pin on anyone sharing information the government doesn’t like, Gao said.

The Ministry also called on people to “avoid military restricted zones, confidential scientific research institutions, communications bases and key power facilities” when going out to have fun.

It also called on social media users to be careful what they say online.

“Beware of spy agencies using social media comment areas to collect and steal state secrets and information,” it said.

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U.S.-based political scientist Wang Juntao said the notice was “absurd.”

“It’s getting more and more ridiculous and over the top,” he said of the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s obsession with security.

He said the authorities are nervous because people typically gather and exchange news over the Lunar New Year holiday, making it a time of potential unrest in their eyes.

“There are large movements of the population around Spring Festival, when people go back to their family home,” Wang said.

(Go Nakamura/Reuters)

“As the migrant workers go back home, they’ll take with them news of everything they saw and heard in Shanghai, Shenzhen and other places,” he said. “So the authorities will want to control people’s speech and thoughts around this time.”

“They don’t want people to start saying stuff that is different from the government line.”

Meanwhile, China’s Cyberspace Administration named and shamed a number of “illegal and irregular” online news and information service providers in a Jan. 19 announcement, according several organizations of peddling “fake news.”

Websites including the China International News Network, Heilongjiang Online, Huaxia Morning News on Netease and the video account Xinxi Xinbao were all accused of “compiling and publishing false and untrue information and misleading the public,” the notice said.

Others had run news operations without a license, and “illegally recruited reporters,” and carried out reporting and publishing of “so-called” news, it said.

The agency said the “rectification” campaign would continue in 2025.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Lin Yueyang for RFA Mandarin.

The open-source artificial intelligence model founded by 40-year-old Liang Wenfeng knocked a US$1 trillion-sized hole in an AI-fueled rally on global stock markets on Monday when it topped app charts ahead of ChatGPT, in what many saw as a challenge to American dominance in the sector.

DeepSeek’s popularity roiled tech shares around the world, knocking US$1 trillion off their value, while near-monopoly holder Nvidia lost nearly US$600bn in market capitalization after its shares plummeted 17% on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump said DeepSeek should serve as a “wake-up call” to the U.S. industry, which needed to be “laser-focused on competing to win.”

Trump last week announced the launch of a US$500 billion AI initiative led by OpenAI, which is behind the generative AI service ChatGPT, Texas-based Oracle and Japan’s SoftBank.

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DeepSeek’s meteoric emergence hasn’t been without its problems, however.

The company was hit by “degraded performance” due to a cyberattack that has “temporarily limited” who can register to use the app, according to its status page on Tuesday.

“Due to large-scale malicious attacks on DeepSeek’s services, we are temporarily limiting registrations to ensure continued service,” the update said. “Existing users can log in as usual. Thanks for your understanding and support.”

Party links

The app’s sudden success comes after OpenAI suspended services to China, Hong Kong and Macau last July, and despite ongoing export bans on high-end computer chips by the United States.

A recent investigation by RFA Cantonese found that the company has strong connections with the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which has thrown its full political weight behind developing AI.

(Reuters)

DeepSeek’s founder and backer Ningbo High-Flyer Quantitative Investment Management Partnership was listed as a National High-tech Enterprise by authorities in its home province of Zhejiang in December 2023.

Such companies enjoy preferential tax policies, as well as state subsidies to carry out research and development, suggesting that DeepSeek’s rise to prominence has the support of the Chinese government at the highest level.

Liang was recently invited to Beijing to give his “opinions and suggestions” to Chinese Premier Li Qiang on his draft government work report, which will be delivered to the National People’s Congress in March, the Communist Party newspaper the People’s Daily reported in a Jan. 21 report on its front page.

The move puts Liang’s company at the heart of the government’s vision for an economic recovery driven by high-tech innovation.

On Jan. 20, Li chaired a symposium of experts, entrepreneurs and representatives from the fields of education, science, culture, health and sports to hear their comments, the article said.

Afterwards, Li told the meeting: “It is necessary to use technological innovation to promote the conversion of old and new driving forces [and] concentrate on breakthroughs in key core technologies and cutting-edge technologies.”

US restrictions

Beijing’s sense of urgency stems at least in part from U.S. restrictions on the export of high-end components to China.

Last month, Washington announced a new semiconductor export control package against China, curbing exports to 140 companies, the latest in a slew of measures aimed at blocking China’s access to and production of chips capable of advancing artificial intelligence for military purposes.

According to a Jan. 22 report by state-backed Chinese media outlet The Paper, DeepSeek’s Firefly-2 computer was equipped with 10,000 A100 GPU chips that were similar in performance to Nvidia’s DGX-A100 chips, but cost only half, and used 40% less energy.

“All of that requires extremely strong financial backing,” the paper said, but quoted Liang as saying that the company has “no financing plan for the short term,” and that its main problem is a shortage of high-end chips, not cash.

It cited reports that Liang had stockpiled more than 10,000 Nvidia A100 chips before the U.S. banned their export to China, and quoted AI consultant Dylan Patel as saying that the true number was closer to 50,000.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alice Yam and Ha Syut for RFA Cantonese.

The app’s emergence has roiled financial markets, hitting tech shares and causing the Nasdaq to fall more than 2% in Monday trading.

It comes after OpenAI, which is behind the generative AI service ChatGPT, suspended services to China, Hong Kong and Macau last July amid ongoing technology wars between the United States and China.

According to the state-backed China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, there are now 1,328 AI large language models in the world, 36% of which were developed in China, placing the country second only to the United States.

DeepSeek offers a user interface much like its rivals, but, like other Chinese-developed AI, remains subject to government censorship.

It likely won’t be engaging in any kind of discussion about the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre, for example, or engaging in debate about whether democratic Taiwan has a right to run its own affairs.

And there were some emerging technical glitches on Monday too, as repeated attempts to log into the app using Google were unsuccessful. The company said it was “investigating” why only users with a mainland Chinese mobile phone number could currently access the service.

Building artificial general intelligence

Developed by Hangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence, the app uses an R1 reasoning model, which makes it slightly slower than its competitors, but means it delivers a step-by-step breakdown showing how it arrived at its answers, according to media reports.

Founded in July 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, an alumnus of Zhejiang University with a background in information and electronic engineering, the venture was backed by the High-Flyer hedge fund also founded by Liang a decade earlier, according to a Jan. 24 report in MIT’s Technology Review journal.

It said Liang’s ultimate goal is to build artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a form of AI that can match or even beat humans on a range of tasks.

According to the article, there was a direct link between High-Flyer’s decision to venture into AI and current U.S. bans on the export of high-end semiconductor chips to China, and that Liang has a “substantial stockpile” of Nvidia A100 chips that are no longer available to China, which he used to develop DeepSeek.

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While the DeepSeek app experienced a partial outage after shooting to the top of the charts on Monday, its rapid rise had already “wobbled” investors' faith in the profitability of AI and the sector’s voracious demand for high-tech chips," Reuters reported on Monday, adding that European Nasdaq futures and Japanese tech shares had fallen on the back of the news.

“It’s a case of a crowded trade, and now DeepSeek is giving a reason for investors and traders to unwind,” the agency quoted Wong Kok Hoong, head of equity sales trading at Maybank, as saying.

‘AI’s Sputnik moment'

While little is known about the details of DeepSeek’s development and the hardware it uses, the model has spooked investors in what venture capitalist Marc Andreessen described on X on Sunday as “AI’s Sputnik moment,” in a reference to the former Soviet Union’s surprise 1957 launch of its Sputnik satellite that triggered a space race with the United States.

“The idea that the most cutting-edge technologies in America, like Nvida and ChatGPT, are the most superior globally, there’s concern that this perspective might start to change,” Masahiro Ichikawa, chief market strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, told Reuters on Monday, adding: “I think it might be a bit premature.”

But Yann LeCun, Chief AI Scientist at Meta, said the real story wasn’t about rivalry between two superpowers.

“To people who see the performance of DeepSeek and think: ‘China is surpassing the US in AI,’ you are reading this wrong,” Yann wrote in a Jan. 25 LinkedIn post.

Instead, the emergence of DeepSeek means that “open source models are surpassing proprietary ones,” he said.

He said DeepSeek profited from open research and open source tools like PyTorch and Llama from Meta, then “came up with new ideas and built them on top of other people’s work.”

“Because their work is published and open source, everyone can profit from it,” he said. “That is the power of open research and open source.”

Privacy concerns

Like TikTok, which is currently waiting to hear its fate under the Trump administration, DeepSeek is likely to raise privacy concerns, given its location under the jurisdiction of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

Its privacy policy warns users that it collects user information like date of birth, username, email address or phone number and password. Like other models, it also remembers what you ask it to do.

“When you use our Services, we may collect your text or audio input, prompt, uploaded files, feedback, chat history, or other content that you provide,” according to the policy, which was last updated on Dec. 5, 2024.

It also remembers your IP address, your device model and operating system and system language.

And while it doesn’t store that data alongside your name, like TikTok, the app records each user’s highly individual “keystroke patterns or rhythms.”

That information is used to protect accounts from “fraud” and other illegal activity. Similar phrasing has sparked concerns over the use of user data by TikTok, although the company has dismissed such concerns as unfounded.

The company may also use user data to allow it to “comply with our legal obligations, or as necessary to perform tasks in the public interest,” the policy states, without specifying what “the public interest” might mean.

“We store the information we collect in secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China,” the Policy states, meaning that such data could be used by the Chinese government if it saw fit.

Edited by Joshua Lipes.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Luisetta Mudie.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Ma. Theresa Lazaro led the Philippine delegation in the 10th Bilateral Consultation Mechanism on the South China Sea, or BCM, which took place on Thursday in the Chinese city of Xiamen.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong headed the Chinese delegation in the BCM, a series of bilateral talks that were started in 2017 with the aim of lowering tensions between the two countries – rival claimants – over the contested waterway.

The Philippine side expressed “serious concern” about the presence and activities of China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels lately within Manila’s exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, including the 12,000-ton ship, dubbed “The Monster.”

CCG 5901, the world’s largest coast guard ship, had been spotted patrolling the resource-rich Scarborough Shoal area in recent days and waters off the coast of Luzon, the main island in the Philippines.

Manila had already lodged protests and diplomatic complaints about the ship’s intimidating presence in Philippine-claimed waters.

Earlier this week, a Philippine National Security official said China was “pushing us to the wall” as he indicated that Manila was considering pursuing a new lawsuit against Beijing over the South China Sea.

While CCG 5901 had not carried out any dangerous maneuvers so far, Philippine officials said its activities within Manila’s waters were not backed by any international law, according to a statement from the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs.

“Our position is clear and consistent, but so is our willingness to engage in dialogue. We firmly believe that despite the unresolved challenges and differences, there is genuine space for diplomatic and pragmatic cooperation in dealing with our issues in the South China Sea,” the statement quoted Lazaro as saying at the meeting.

China’s actions were “inconsistent” with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS, which both Manila and Beijing had signed, and the recently passed Philippine Maritime Zones Act, according to the Philippine foreign office.

Beijing earlier said that the presence of its ships in Scarborough was “fully justified,” reiterating its jurisdiction over the shoal.

“We call on the Philippines once again to immediately stop all infringement activities, provocations and false accusations, and stop all its actions that jeopardize peace and stability and complicate the situation in the South China Sea,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday.

(Philippine Coast Guard)

Located about 125 nautical miles (232 km) from Luzon island, Scarborough Shoal – known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines – has been under China’s de facto control since 2012.

Beijing’s possession of the shoal forced Manila to file a lawsuit at the world court in The Hague.

Four years later, an international arbitration tribunal ruled in Manila’s favor but Beijing has never acknowledged that decision, insisting on its historical claims over the waterway.

Another flashpoint

At Thursday’s meeting, the two sides also agreed to keep implementing a “provisional understanding” regarding Philippine resupply missions to the BRP Sierra Madre, a decrepit World War II-era military ship stationed in Second Thomas (Ayungin) Shoal, another disputed South China Sea feature.

CCG vessels had been regularly blocking Philippine ships carrying supplies and troops to the shoal. But the two countries arrived at a provisional agreement in July, following a dramatic standoff the previous month between Filipino servicemen and CCG personnel at Second Thomas Shoal, during which a Philippine serviceman lost a finger.

Philippine and Chinese officials, however, have not yet publicly disclosed the official document of the agreement or its details, with both sides making their own claims about the deal’s contents.

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At the talks on Thursday, both sides acknowledged the deal’s “positive outcomes” and “agreed to continue its implementation to sustain the de-escalation of tensions without prejudice to respective national positions,” Manila’s foreign office said.

Both sides also “agreed to reinvigorate the platform for coast guard cooperation” but no specific details were provided.

In 2016, under then-President Rodrigo Duterte who adopted a pro-Beijing policy, the two nations’ coast guards formed the Joint Coast Guard Committee (JCGC), establishing a hotline between the two maritime law enforcement agencies.

In January 2023, amid increasing tensions in the disputed waters, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to set up a communication line between their foreign ministries.

But a few months later, Manila officials said that China could not be reached in times of high tensions at sea.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news organization.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Camille Elemia for BenarNews.

At least five of the huge barges have been spotted under construction at Guangzhou Shipyard International, or GSI, on China’s Longxue Island, a facility known for producing unconventional vessels, according to the Naval News defense and technology publication.

A barge is a long flat-bottomed boat for carrying freight on canals and rivers, either under its own power or towed by another.

“I would interpret these barges as another signal that Xi Jinping and the CCP are indeed serious about annexing Taiwan and that the use of force to do so very much remains on the table,” Michael Hunzeker, associate director of the Center for Security Policy Studies at George Mason University, told Radio Free Asia, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

The barges feature unusually long road bridges – spanning more than 120 meters (393 feet) – that extend from their bows, Naval News reported.

This design allows them to reach coastal roads or hard surfaces beyond beaches, enabling efficient offloading of trucks and tanks from ships.

Some barges are equipped with “jack-up” pillars, which can be lowered to provide a stable platform in adverse weather.

Chieh Chung, a research fellow at the Association of Strategic Foresight in Taiwan, told RFA that China had spent more than 20 years enhancing its capability of “pier-free unloading.”

“China intends to develop a comprehensive set of technologies that allow forces to quickly unload onto Taiwanese soil, whether at heavily damaged ports or standard beachheads,” he said.

Chieh said that previously, China’s pier-free unloading, primarily featuring floating bridges and artificial piers, had faced problems in exercises since its operations are heavily restricted in rough seas.

“The waters around Taiwan are often rough and difficult to navigate,” he said.

“However, the ships being constructed in Guangzhou are flat-bottomed, which allows them to operate closer to shore. Additionally, the road bridges are supported by pillars, which help mitigate issues caused by rough sea conditions,” he said.

Beijing regards Taiwan as its territory and has never ruled out the use of force to take it.

Moving heavy equipment quickly

Naval News said that it was possible though unlikely that the barges were being built for civilian or commercial purposes.

“The construction of so many, much larger than similar civilian vessels seen before, makes this implausible,” it said.

“These vessels are only suited to moving large amounts of heavy equipment ashore in a short period of time. They appear greatly over-spec for civilian uses,” the publication reported.

The Association of Strategic Foresight’s Chieh said China has been practicing a concept of “military-civil fusion” meaning they would be used by the military if needed.

“You can see in their recent exercises that they’ve mobilized roll-on/roll-off cargo ships, which are commercial vessels only during peacetime. So regardless of whether these ships were ordered by the military, they will inevitably be requisitioned for military use in times of war,” he said.

“Through civil-military fusion, China primarily aims to address the military’s limited capacity for transporting large amounts of cargo in a single operation, so it mobilizes a significant number of civilian maritime vessels to increase tonnage,” Chieh explained.

Hunzeker said Taiwan should not underestimate China’s ability to employ its military and civilian assets as part of a broader coercive strategy that includes so-called gray-zone tactics to achieve its objectives without triggering open conflict.

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But such tactics were not the most critical threat facing Taiwan.

“The CCP cannot realize its overarching objective like achieving political control over Taiwan via gray zone provocations alone,” he said. “Thus, Taipei and Washington need to prioritize the real threat: a large-scale military attack on Taiwan.”

Chieh also noted the barges did not signal an imminent invasion.

In the event of an invasion, the barges would only be deployed after the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, was able to successfully land and secure a beachhead, he said.

“Deploying civilian ships depends largely on the success of the PLA’s successful landing,” he said, meaning Taiwan’s key focus would be on repelling an initial assault.

Hunzeker shares a similar view.

“I would not interpret these barges as a signal that an invasion is imminent, if for no other reason than the fact that five barges will neither fundamentally change the military balance nor give the PLA a decisive military advantage,” Hunzeker said.

The U.S. Department of Defense maintains that China lacks sufficient amphibious shipping to invade the island of 23 million people, he added.

Edited by Taejun Kang.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alan Lu for RFA.

Styling themselves “TikTok refugees,” many young Americans, seeking an alternative to TikTok, are flocking to join RedNote’s 300 million existing users -- who are mostly in China -- taking what they see as refuge from the ban, which could be enforced on Jan. 19.

On Wednesday, Xiaohongshu, which literally means “Little Red Book” -- a reference to the famous book of quotes from Mao Zedong, the founder of communist China -- topped the list of most popular free downloads on the Apple Store and the Google Play store for Android users in the United States.

RedNote allows users to share videos, photos and text posts, along with various shopping features. Known as China’s version of Instagram, it is particularly popular for sharing travel, makeup and fashion tips.

It is owned by Shanghai-based Xingyin Information Technology.

(Adek Berry/AFP)

More than 700,000 new users joined the app, a person close to the company told Reuters, although the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Estimates from app data research firm Sensor Tower showed that U.S. downloads of RedNote up by more than 200% year-on-year this week and 194% higher than the previous week, Reuters reported.

The apparent exodus comes ahead of a Jan. 19 deadline for the banning of TikTok in the United States under a bipartisan bill, should its Chinese parent ByteDance not have sold it by that time.

In April, U.S. President Joe Biden signed the bill amid concerns that China’s government was using TikTok both to collect sensitive data about Americans and feed them propaganda.

Lawyers for Chinese-owned TikTok asked the Supreme Court on Jan. 10 to postpone implementation of the ban, which takes effect the day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Navigating in Chinese

Since RedNote uses Mandarin Chinese, new users were using translation tools to navigate the site. Some were confused; others were gleeful.

“I have no idea what I’m doing here,” commented Elle Belle from the United States under the video that cited a desire to avoid platforms run by Zuckerman. “I can’t even read the RULES.”

“I’m literally emotional right now bc we are so freaking awesome,” wrote @Unty Tan.

(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Some hoped to relocate entire communities that existed on TikTok, while others said the move is a form of protest, or a way to avoid using platforms owned by Meta.

“I would rather stare at a language I can’t understand than to ever use a social media [platform] that Mark Zuckerberg owns,” says one former TikToker in a video posted to the platform on Jan. 13, referring to the Facebook CEO.

The aversion to Meta was apparently linked to reports that the company had paid online activists to boost messages calling TikTok a threat to American children.

‘Give me all your datas’

But the surge of new RedNote users from the United States prompted a series of jokes and memes by long-term Chinese Xiaohongshu users, riffing on fears of spying and data collection.

“Welcome to spy station, give me all your datas,” quipped user @BubbleTea from Guangdong on Jan. 14, in a comment reposted to social media app Bluesky, accompanied by a cat photo. “American datas!” replied another user, also with a cat photo.

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Meanwhile, Xiaohongshu user BigTooth donned a cowboy hat to address new arrivals in a broad Texas accent, teaching them how to comment on Chinese posts.

“You came over to this app, wanting to learn some Chinese, but you ain’t even got a Chinese keyboard on your phone,” he says. “But it’s OK. Don’t worry about that.”

“I’m gonna teach you three Chinese expressions, and you can even type them out with your English keyboard,” he adds, suggesting “6,” “66” or “666” to indicate approval, XSWL, “Dying laughing,” and NB, a somewhat rude expression that nonetheless means something is admirable.

American users started putting the tips into practice in comments.

“66 (am I doing it right?),” commented U.S.-based RedNote user @KotaGibbs, gaining more than 1,000 likes. “You’re missing one 6, should be 666,” answered user @Cold from Canada.

Comparing notes

Many users compared notes about each other’s countries, according to screenshots of conversations posted to Bluesky on Jan. 15.

“Can you guys tell us what’s wrong with our country, looking at it from your perspective outside of America?” asks one user.

“Just wondering if it is true that Americans need to have 2-3 jobs to survive?” @momo_yu wanted to know.

“yes, the economy is not great so people work multiple jobs just to live,” user @ally replied from the United States.

“People have guns and shoot children for no reason,” answered @thisisjiaming from Beijing. “Sadly this is true,” commented @kimkimchii from the United States.

“You people still believe election can improve your life,” wrote @Vivianfunny from Hong Kong, where only “patriots” approved by Beijing are allowed to run in elections.

(Adek Berry/Reuters)

Some American users embraced the new experience.

“I’m having a lot of fun over there, we share a sense of humor and beefs with our governments,” Bluesky user ‪DarbyMae Shaw‬ ‪commented on Jan. 15.

But others weren’t too sure.

“ less funny is that it censors posts from people of color and the lgbt community,” user @kluggin responded, in a reference to the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s far-reaching social media censorship.

Can you add a translation feature?

According to a Jan. 13 article on the website Advocate.com, one “TikTok refugee” reported being banned for posting content about transgender people.

While some memes and videos crossed the language barrier by using subtitles, other users were crying out for automatic translation, according to a comment on the Apple Store.

“Please please please!!! I love this app so so so much but I only speak english,” said a review by Sour_emy. “A lot of people in the us are moving to this app ... so I was hoping there could be a translation feature added for things like comments and descriptions!!”

“It would bring a lot of new people coming from tiktok,” the review said.

Users seemed relatively unworried by the security concerns that also surround Xiaohongshu.

The government of democratic Taiwan banned its officials from using Xiaohongshu, Douyin and TikTok amid concerns that the Chinese-owned platforms could compromise the island’s security.

Meanwhile, a Chinese journalist now living in the United States who declined to be named for fear of reprisals said the exodus seemed ironic to him.

“It’s hilarious that they’re escaping from an American prison run by the Chinese to a Chinese prison that’s also run by the Chinese,” the journalist said.

Additional reporting by Wang Yun for RFA Mandarin. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Luisetta Mudie.

Chinese exports to the U.S. rose by 15.6% in December compared to the same time last year, while exports to the European Union rose by 8.8%. Outbound shipments to Southeast Asia rose by nearly 19%.

Total exports rose by 10.7% in dollar terms, compared with the same month in 2023, the General Administration of Customs reported on Jan. 13, while imports rose by just 1%.

(REUTERS)

Xi has said he’s ready to work with the Trump administration, but has also warned that both countries stand to “lose from confrontation,” as Trump announced plans to impose tariffs of at least 60% on Chinese imports.

China’s exports are likely to remain strong in the near-term as businesses try to “front-run” potentially higher tariffs, analysts said.

“The external environment is more complex right now, with more uncertainty and unstable factors,” the administration’s deputy director Wang Lingjun told a news conference in Beijing.

“There is increased impact from geopolitical factors, unilateralism and protectionism,” Wang said, in a reference to President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to impose tariffs of 60% on Chinese goods across the board.

“There are severe challenges to stable foreign trade growth,” he added.

Companies face pressure

Chen Soong-hsing, adjunct professor at the Institute of National Development at Taiwan’s Chinese Culture University, said Chinese exports surged in the second half of 2024, as companies rushed to get their goods into the U.S. before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

“The Trump administration is about to take office, and the United States may implement new tariffs,” Chen said. “There is also the psychological expectation that Congress will pass a bill canceling China’s normal trading status.”

Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, introduced the Restoring Trade Fairness Act to the House in November, seeking to suspend China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate earlier in the year by Senators Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio and Josh Hawley.

Yet prices charged by exporters have remained low, Chen said.

“[This] shows that many Chinese companies are still facing pressure to cut prices and destock,” he said.

“Trade front-loading became more visible in December as a result of both Chinese New Year effects and Donald Trump’s inauguration,” said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told Reuters, in a reference to the Lunar New Year, which runs from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.

“Import growth could be underpinned by stockpiling of commodities like copper and iron ore, as part of (China’s) ‘buy low’ strategy,” he added.

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China’s cumulative trade surplus with the United States will be US$270.4 billion in 2024, according to November figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, compared with US$279.1 billion for the whole of 2023, and US$382.1 billion in 2022.

Auto exports

Meanwhile, China’s auto exports are estimated to slow notably this year after holding the export crown for a second year in 2024, with no growth predicted for electric vehicle exports, Reuters reported on Jan. 9.

With car exports up 25% to 4.8 million units, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association data, China probably ranked as the world’s largest auto exporter ahead of Japan for a second consecutive year in 2024 despite additional tariffs on China-made electric vehicles the European Union introduced in late October, the report said.

“Outbound shipments are likely to stay resilient in the near-term, supported by further gains in global market share thanks to a weak real effective exchange rate,” the Associated Press quoted a note from Zichun Huang of Capital Economics as saying.

But exports will likely weaken later in the year if Trump follows through on his threat to impose tariffs, Huang said.

Chen said yuan depreciation could help exports, but that the People’s Bank of China has been issuing bonds in Hong Kong to mop up some of the “hot” speculative funds and cracking down on short selling of the yuan, to keep the currency within its desired range.

“Future China-U.S. trade negotiations will involve exchange rate issues,” Chen told Radio Free Asia. “During the negotiations, the United States will be concerned about whether China is expanding exports through deliberate devaluation and unfair subsidies.”

(AFP)

“This may prompt China to slow down relevant policy adjustments to avoid greater impact on external export competition,” he said, adding that yuan depreciation also puts pressure on the currencies of other export-oriented economies in Asia like Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

Manufacturing capacity

The U.S. will also continue to press China on concerns of excess manufacturing capacity, accusing Beijing of " flooding" markets by heavily subsidizing products like electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar panels to revive economic and export growth, according to Chen.

Beijing has repeatedly denied the claims.

“There is no China overcapacity issue — that is a false proposition,” Wang Lingjun told the Jan. 13 news conference in Beijing.

Chung Chih-tung, assistant researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said China’s economy has been largely created and stratified by government policy, which has plowed huge resources into specific industries, particularly green energy and electric vehicles, as well as cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

“Such a system also exposes them to downside risks, such as the failure to achieve their goals despite huge investments in semiconductors,” Chung said. “This is due to corruption in the system, and errors in policy.”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin.

Chinese exports to the U.S. rose by 15.6% in December compared to the same time last year, while exports to the European Union rose by 8.8%. Outbound shipments to Southeast Asia rose by nearly 19%.

Total exports rose by 10.7% in dollar terms, compared with the same month in 2023, the General Administration of Customs reported on Jan. 13, while imports rose by just 1%.

(REUTERS)

Xi has said he’s ready to work with the Trump administration, but has also warned that both countries stand to “lose from confrontation,” as Trump announced plans to impose tariffs of at least 60% on Chinese imports.

China’s exports are likely to remain strong in the near-term as businesses try to “front-run” potentially higher tariffs, analysts said.

“The external environment is more complex right now, with more uncertainty and unstable factors,” the administration’s deputy director Wang Lingjun told a news conference in Beijing.

“There is increased impact from geopolitical factors, unilateralism and protectionism,” Wang said, in a reference to President-elect Donald Trump’s pledge to impose tariffs of 60% on Chinese goods across the board.

“There are severe challenges to stable foreign trade growth,” he added.

Companies face pressure

Chen Soong-hsing, adjunct professor at the Institute of National Development at Taiwan’s Chinese Culture University, said Chinese exports surged in the second half of 2024, as companies rushed to get their goods into the U.S. before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

“The Trump administration is about to take office, and the United States may implement new tariffs,” Chen said. “There is also the psychological expectation that Congress will pass a bill canceling China’s normal trading status.”

Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, introduced the Restoring Trade Fairness Act to the House in November, seeking to suspend China’s Permanent Normal Trade Relations. A similar bill was introduced in the Senate earlier in the year by Senators Tom Cotton, Marco Rubio and Josh Hawley.

Yet prices charged by exporters have remained low, Chen said.

“[This] shows that many Chinese companies are still facing pressure to cut prices and destock,” he said.

“Trade front-loading became more visible in December as a result of both Chinese New Year effects and Donald Trump’s inauguration,” said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told Reuters, in a reference to the Lunar New Year, which runs from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.

“Import growth could be underpinned by stockpiling of commodities like copper and iron ore, as part of (China’s) ‘buy low’ strategy,” he added.

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Xi Jinping’s talk of ‘rainbows’ belies simmering public anger over China’s economy

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China’s cumulative trade surplus with the United States will be US$270.4 billion in 2024, according to November figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, compared with US$279.1 billion for the whole of 2023, and US$382.1 billion in 2022.

Auto exports

Meanwhile, China’s auto exports are estimated to slow notably this year after holding the export crown for a second year in 2024, with no growth predicted for electric vehicle exports, Reuters reported on Jan. 9.

With car exports up 25% to 4.8 million units, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association data, China probably ranked as the world’s largest auto exporter ahead of Japan for a second consecutive year in 2024 despite additional tariffs on China-made electric vehicles the European Union introduced in late October, the report said.

“Outbound shipments are likely to stay resilient in the near-term, supported by further gains in global market share thanks to a weak real effective exchange rate,” the Associated Press quoted a note from Zichun Huang of Capital Economics as saying.

But exports will likely weaken later in the year if Trump follows through on his threat to impose tariffs, Huang said.

Chen said yuan depreciation could help exports, but that the People’s Bank of China has been issuing bonds in Hong Kong to mop up some of the “hot” speculative funds and cracking down on short selling of the yuan, to keep the currency within its desired range.

“Future China-U.S. trade negotiations will involve exchange rate issues,” Chen told Radio Free Asia. “During the negotiations, the United States will be concerned about whether China is expanding exports through deliberate devaluation and unfair subsidies.”

(AFP)

“This may prompt China to slow down relevant policy adjustments to avoid greater impact on external export competition,” he said, adding that yuan depreciation also puts pressure on the currencies of other export-oriented economies in Asia like Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

Manufacturing capacity

The U.S. will also continue to press China on concerns of excess manufacturing capacity, accusing Beijing of " flooding" markets by heavily subsidizing products like electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and solar panels to revive economic and export growth, according to Chen.

Beijing has repeatedly denied the claims.

“There is no China overcapacity issue — that is a false proposition,” Wang Lingjun told the Jan. 13 news conference in Beijing.

Chung Chih-tung, assistant researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said China’s economy has been largely created and stratified by government policy, which has plowed huge resources into specific industries, particularly green energy and electric vehicles, as well as cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence and semiconductors.

“Such a system also exposes them to downside risks, such as the failure to achieve their goals despite huge investments in semiconductors,” Chung said. “This is due to corruption in the system, and errors in policy.”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin.

State media have also reported that local officials have investigated the death of a student at a vocational college following a “verbal and physical altercation” with a roommate, after thousands of angry citizens gathered outside the school, sparking clashes with police.

Officials in Shaanxi’s Pucheng county have launched a probe into the Jan. 2 death of a Pucheng Vocational Education Center student identified only by the surname Dang, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Jan. 6, after large crowds gathered a day earlier.

People in China frequently challenge those in power, despite pervasive surveillance, a "grid" system of law enforcement at the neighborhood level and a targeted "stability maintenance" system aimed at controlling critics of the government before they take action.

But public responses to official decisions are often swiftly erased from social media platforms, and those who take part warned off further speech or action.

Video clips uploaded to the X accounts “Mr. Li is not your teacher” and “DiplySync” showed large crowds of people chanting outside the school, and rocking an ambulance after the school’s vice principal hid in it, according to an accompanying post.

陕西蒲城职教中心事件
网传死亡学生是被同学群殴打死，坠楼是假象，学校掩盖真相，不允许家属看孩子的身体，不让看案发现场；该职教中心还发生7名男同学轮奸1名女同学、12名女学生群殴2名女学生等恶性事件。https://t.co/jlucVcVnnV https://t.co/DZbqe8PU6A

— 向右看齐 (@DiplySync) January 7, 2025

“[The victim’s] family suspected that the deceased had been bullied on campus and accused the school of concealing the truth,” according to a DiplySync post.

‘Verbal and physical altercation'

According to the CCTV report, Dang had gotten involved in a “verbal and physical altercation” at about 10 p.m. on Jan. 1 after he complained that two roommates were talking too loudly and stopping him from sleeping.

Dang reported his roommates to the college “political education department,” then returned to his dorm.

“At about 3 a.m. on Jan. 2, Huang, who shared a dormitory with Dang, found a wooden stool under the balcony window of the dormitory when he went to the toilet,” the report said.

“The sliding window was open and the mesh screen on the window had been removed. Dang was down below, outside,” it said.

Police determined that the student had “died from falling from a height,” and that no foul play was suspected, the report said.

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Now, the school is reportedly under “stability maintenance” measures, according to a copy of a notice to students leaked to the citizen journalist X account “Mr. Li is not your teacher.”

At least some students have “taken leave for personal reasons” in the wake of the protests, under strict instructions not to make further trouble for the authorities.

“We put forward clear requirements for students who are on leave at home for personal reasons ... to study at home and respect the three days of restrictions,” the notice, which RFA was unable to verify independently, said.

“Do not make contact with other students or members of the public to gather in the restricted area,” it said.

In a move that echoed the official response to the hanging death of teenager Hu Xinyu in February 2023, the notice warned students: “Do not speak publicly, do not post, comment on or like any related content on online platforms, and do not start, give credence to or spread rumors.”

The citizen journalist behind “Mr. Li is not your teacher” told RFA Mandarin that they post content that has been directly submitted by people on the ground, as well as content that has also appeared on other social media platforms.

目前，蒲城职教前来讨说法的民众和警方的冲突进一步升级。民众们向警方投掷石头，还有人持灭火器向警方喷射。期间数名警察持警棍殴打倒在地上的民众，多位民众在冲突中受伤，还有一名警察被民众殴打倒地不起。 pic.twitter.com/D8NUsf0AGr

— 李老师不是你老师 (@whyyoutouzhele) January 6, 2025

The account noted in an X post on Tuesday that video from the Jan. 5 protests had largely disappeared from the video-sharing platform Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jenny Tang for RFA Mandarin.

In China’s tightly controlled social media environment, comments are widely deleted if deemed politically taboo, but also written to order by an army of pro-government commentators hired to deliver “public opinion” that suits the Communist Party’s political priorities.

The social media accounts of Western embassies and consulates in China have long been a focus for the country’s “little pink” nationalists, and an opportunity for Chinese to vent their frustrations at foreign governments.

But a New Year’s Day article from the U.S. Embassy looking back at the bilateral relationship since 1979 suddenly garnered several hundred comments mentioning “Sino-U.S. friendship” instead, suggesting that the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s “public opinion management” system has switched priorities ahead of Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

“The China-U.S. relationship is the greatest in human history,” gushed one comment under the Weibo version of the article. Another said, “Sino-U.S. friendship will last forever,” and another said the countries wielded “unprecedented and far-reaching influence” in the world.

Comments underneath a U.S. Embassy Weibo post about the death of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter also took a more positive tone.

“I hope China and the U.S. will put the interests of their two peoples first, respect and understand each other,” said one comment.

‘American devils’

The comments were in stark contrast with previous comments on U.S. Embassy posts, which would once typically say something like: “Enjoy the holiday, American devils, and don’t interfere with China.”

Chinese state media recently launched a campaign to highlight friendly cooperation with the United States in an attempt to improve turbulent ties as Trump prepares to take office, an analyst said.

(U.S. Embassy/Sina Weibo)

The state-run People’s Daily and Global Times, which often carry searing criticism of the United States, called on Dec. 25 for written work, photos and videos from people and organizations around the world with the aim of “bridging cultural differences and fostering friendship and trust” with the United State.

Xi has said he’s ready to work with the Trump administration, but has also warned that both countries stand to “lose from confrontation,” as Trump announced plans to impose tariffs of at least 60% on Chinese imports.

The new president also recently nominated several China hawks to top foreign policy positions, amid concerns that a Trump administration could be further bad news for China’s flagging economy.

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U.S.-based legal scholar Teng Biao said the shift in tone is almost certainly the result of orders from the top.

“Under China’s media [and social media] controls, all directions taken by its nationalism are laid down by the Chinese Communist Party,” Teng told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview, adding that China has been internationally isolated for several years.

“That isolation will make things harder and harder in China, so the Chinese Communist Party has a political need to manipulate an apparently positive nationalistic mood, in order to ease ties with the U.S. or Japan,” Teng said.

“The relationship between China and the United States is a bit of a paradox for the Chinese government,” Teng said. “If it’s managed well, it will be beneficial to the Chinese Communist Party, and enable China’s economy to grow better.”

“But exchanges with the West will also bring in ideas of freedom and openness that Beijing doesn’t want to see,” he said.

‘50-cent-army’

China deploys thousands of internet commentators dubbed the “50-cent army” to generate pro-government posts on social media.

Their exact numbers are unknown, but their job is to try to swing the opinions of Chinese netizens in the direction of the status quo and to deflect criticism and dissent among the country’s 900 million internet users.

U.S.-based current affairs commentator Zang Zhuo said the comments were almost certainly manufactured.

“I have seen various comments on Weibo, which seem to be a 180-degree turnaround in Chinese netizens' attitude towards the United States,” Zang said. “But these aren’t the real voices of the people ... because they are all directed by the government.”

“Chinese online opinion does as it is told.”

Zang said it’s unlikely to be an effective way to ease ties with Washington.

“Does this change in attitude mean that Sino-U.S. relations will ease, or get closer and more cooperative?” Zang said. “I don’t think so.”

“The international environment has completely changed ... so unless the Communist Party loses power, I don’t think there’s much hope of that.”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Yitong Wu and Pan Jiaqing for RFA Cantonese.

The earthquake hit at 9:05 a.m. (20:05 ET on Monday) at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) in Dingri County in the Shigatse prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region, near the border with Nepal, said the China Earthquake Networks Centre, which recorded a magnitude 6.8 quake.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported the earthquake was of magnitude 7.1. Multiple aftershocks of magnitudes of more than 4 struck the region.

“Fifty-three people have been confirmed dead, and 62 injured as of Tuesday noon,” China’s state-owned media agency Xinhua said. More than 1,000 buildings were destroyed in one county alone.

Rescue teams have been deployed, Chinese media reported.

(Xinhua via AP)

Radio Free Asia attempted to contact sources in Tibet but communication was difficult due to disrupted internet and electricity services. Sources in neighboring Nepal told RFA that many people in Tibet were believed to be trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings.

In video footage sourced by RFA, significant damage can be seen, with many buildings reduced to rubble. In one video, a Tibetan woman can be heard crying out for trapped family members.

Dingri County has a population of about 60,000, according to a 2020 census. Within 5 kilometers of the epicenter are the villages of Tangren, Xuezhu, Garegoji, and Meiduo, while Tsosang and Chulho townships are within 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) of the impact zone, Chinese state media reported.

Tremors were also felt in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu some 400 kilometers (250 miles) away, where residents ran from their houses, Reuters news agency reported.

“We felt a very strong earthquake. So far we have not received any report of injuries or physical loss,” said Anoj Raj Ghimire, chief district officer of Solukhumbu district in Nepal, cited by Reuters.

The earthquake also hit Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan, and the northern Indian state of Bihar which borders Nepal, said Reuters.

(The U.S. Geological Survey)

Southwestern parts of China and Nepal have been hit frequently by earthquakes.

A huge earthquake in China’s Sichuan province in 2008 killed almost 70,000 people, while in 2015, a magnitude 7.8 quake, Nepal’s worst, hit near Kathmandu, killing about 9,000 people and injuring thousands.

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake can cause extensive structural damage, severe ground shaking, landslides and fatalities, particularly in densely populated or poorly constructed areas, with risks of power outages, gas leaks, and tsunamis if near the coast.

There have been 29 earthquakes with magnitudes of 3 or higher within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of the epicenter of Tingri in the past five years, according to China’s state-run broadcaster CCTV.

Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Tashi Wangchuk, Dolkar, Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan and Taejun Kang for RFA.

The 12,000-ton China Coast Guard vessel 5901, known as “The Monster” for its sheer size, was last seen on Saturday about 54 nautical miles from Capones, a Philippine island in the South China Sea close to the coast of western Zambales province.

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has been shadowing CCG 5901 and transmitting radio messages asking it to leave Philippine waters, said Jonathan Malaya, assistant director general of the National Security Council.

“Obviously, this is an act of intimidation, coercion and aggression against the Philippines,” Malaya told a press briefing on Monday.

“We have all our assets pointed at this monster ship. At the moment it does something bad in the sense that it would provoke actions, there will be appropriate action from the government,” Malaya said, without elaborating.

The Chinese ship arrived last week at Scarborough Shoal, a disputed South China Sea feature within the Philippines’ EEZ, an analyst told Radio Free Asia, a news service affiliated with BenarNews.

Malaya dismissed a Chinese government statement saying that its vessel was merely conducting a patrol within its jurisdiction.

China’s embassy in Manila has not responded to media requests for comment, but has repeatedly asserted Beijing’s jurisdiction over Scarborough Shoal, also known as Bajo de Masinloc in the Philippines.

The shoal, located 125 nautical miles (232 kilometers) from the main Philippine island of Luzon, has been under Beijing’s de facto control since 2012. It is claimed by China, the Philippines and Taiwan. The shoal is a traditional fishing ground for Filipino fishermen but Chinese vessels have restricted their access in recent years.

While CCG 5901 has not carried out any dangerous maneuvers so far, Malaya said its activities within Manila’s waters were not backed by any international law.

“And given that we do not want to be the precursor of any provocative action, we’re just monitoring and shadowing it as of now,” he said.

On Sunday, the Philippine Coast Guard said that one of its ships, the BRP Cabra, and its aircraft were tailing the huge Chinese ship and issuing radio challenges.

As of 7 p.m. Monday, the BRP Cabra had kept on the heels of the foreign ship for a third straight day, said Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesman for the West Philippine Sea – Manila’s name for South China Sea waters within its exclusive economic zone.

CCG 5901’s “erratic movements” indicated that it was not engaged in “innocent passage” in Philippine waters, but was actually conducting “a law enforcement operation” in Manila’s territorial waters, Tarriela said.

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In November, Beijing announced baselines of its territorial sea around the Scarborough Shoal to strengthen its claim over the South China Sea feature, a move that Manila rejected.

Last month, confrontations heated up between Beijing and Manila around the area, with both claimants accusing each other of instigating trouble.

Beijing said Manila was encroaching in what it claimed as its jurisdiction, forcing it to take measures. The PCG accused its Chinese counterpart of firing a water cannon and of sideswiping a government fisheries ship patrolling the area.

In 2012, China took possession of the shoal, forcing the Philippines to file a lawsuit before a world court. Four years later, an international arbitral tribunal ruled in Manila’s favor.

Beijing has refused to acknowledge the ruling.

BenarNews is an online news outlet affiliated with Radio Free Asia.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Jason Gutierrez for Benar News.

Meanwhile, the Chinese navy has been conducting a New Year carrier-based helicopter training exercise in the airspace over the South China Sea, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The 12,000-ton CCG 5901 arrived at Scarborough Shoal on Wednesday, said Ray Powell, director of the SeaLight project at Stanford University, who tracks the ship’s movements.

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There are at least three other Chinese coast guard ships - CCG 3106, 3302 and 3305 – as well as seven militia ships, already present at the shoal, Powell told Radio Free Asia.

The aim of their mission is to boost Beijing’s control over the maritime area just 125 nautical miles (232 kilometers) from the main Philippine island of Luzon, he said.

Scarborough Shoal is known in the Philippines as Bajo de Masinloc and has served as a traditional fishing ground for Filipino fishermen but their access has been restricted by Chinese vessels in recent times, which hold de-facto control of the area.

It is well within the area under the jurisdiction of the Philippines, where it has exclusive rights to resources in the waters and on the seabed.

“The Monster” is not only large in size, it is also armed with heavy machine guns and has a helicopter platform.

It is unclear whether the ship carries any helicopter unit on this mission but last week, the Chinese coast guard conducted a carrier-based helicopter training exercise, also at Scarborough Shoal, using another coast guard vessel.

Control of airspace

Chinese authorities “are now paying more attention to the deployment of airpower” in relation to the South China Sea disputes, Yang Xiao, a maritime expert at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said on an influential blog with nearly three million followers on Sina Weibo.

The U.S. and Philippine militaries have been deploying reconnaissance aircraft and drones to the Scarborough Shoal, a strategically located chain of reefs south of Bashi channel between Taiwan and the Philippines, Yang said, adding that China now has to gain air control, especially after it announced baselines to form territorial sea and airspace around the shoal in November.

The carrier-based aircraft training is to send a warning to the Philippines and its ally the U.S. that they should think twice before “entering China’s airspace,” the Chinese expert said.

The Chinese coast guard’s training exercise on Dec. 27 was similar to current drills by a helicopter unit of the Southern Theater Command navy’s carrier-based aviation force, conducted at an unspecified location in the South China Sea.

(X: Ray Powell)

According to CCTV, on Wednesday and Thursday, various types of carrier-based helicopters carried out multi-subject practical training including search and rescue, alert control, and sea landing, “further improving the unit’s coordinated combat capabilities.”

The aircraft also carried out reconnaissance patrol and alert control training exercises at high altitude in a “target sea area,” CCTV said without identifying the location.

(CCTV)

In recent weeks, China’s military has been ramping up combat readiness exercises at Scarborough Shoal.

On Sunday, its Southern Theater Command staged large-scale patrols around the shoal, with both navy and the air force taking part.

Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

A movie that has been dubbed “China’s Barbie” has turned out to be a huge box-office hit, grossing more than 680 million yuan (US$93 million) since it opened on Nov. 22 and sparking heated social media debate about gender roles and feminism.

The romantic comedy “Herstory” follows the life and loves of Shanghai single mother Wang Tiemei as she starts a new life after losing her job.

Directed by Shao Yihui, the fast-paced drama focuses on Wang’s friendship with a troubled new neighbor, taking in challenges that include dating setbacks, stalking and an abusive ex.

Described by China’s New Weekly outlet as “a healing work dedicated to urban drifters,” the movie includes a scene where two men compete for a woman’s affection by listing all of the books they’ve read by Japanese feminist writer Chizuko Ueno.

(Maxtimes Pictures)

The movie comes at a time of plummeting marriage rates in China, flagging births and a rapidly aging population.

President Xi Jinping wants the country’s women to step up and embody “the traditional virtues” of marriage and raising children in a bid to “rejuvenate” the nation.

When Xi took power in 2012, China ranked 69th in the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, which measures policies and suggests measures to address gender inequality. By 2023, the country had fallen to 107th place.

Chinese women face major barriers to finding work in the college graduate labor market and fear getting pregnant if they do land a job out of concern their employer will fire them, a common concern despite protection on paper offered by China’s labor laws.

And the authorities have cracked down hard on women’s rights groups and #MeToo activists, detaining five feminists as they planned a campaign against sexual harassment on public transport ahead of International Women’s Day 2015 and recently jailing feminist journalist and #MeToo researcher Sophia Huang for “incitement to subvert state power.”

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While “Herstory” has been largely welcomed by Chinese women on social media as a refreshing take on women’s lives, and hailed as the Chinese equivalent of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” about the iconic Mattel doll, there has been some political backlash against the film’s rather moderate message of female empowerment.

When some social media comments complained that one of the publicity posters for the movie only showed the male characters, others jumped in to warn against “gender confrontation,” a buzzword often used by pro-government “little pink” commentators to suggest that support for women’s rights has crossed lines laid down by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s “public opinion management” operations.

“Congratulations on 600 million,” wrote Weibo user “A_Guide_To_Not_Growing_Up commented from the eastern province of Jiangsu on Dec. 14. “I want to see the female characters on the poster next time.”

“Don’t do this again,” @Look_up_at_the_sky_and_don’t_think added from Guangxi, while @RachelCe added: “I seem to remember that the main characters in your movie were three women,” adding a “shocked” emoji.

(Maxtimes Pictures)

But @Cabbage from Jiangsu wrote: “Some people in the comment area started to create gender antagonism. Anyone in this movie can be on the poster, even the building security guard.”

@iamloooopy wrote: “Most of the laughs in this movie were provided by the male actors,” while @Elaineeeee countered: “The jokes were provided by the screenwriter, thanks.”

But others were too busy celebrating the film’s success.

“It’s important for women to be subjects, not just objects,” read one social media comment, while another said: “I laughed and cried at the same time.”

Another wrote: “May we all have the courage to pursue true freedom.”

Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Kitty Wang for RFA Mandarin.

The Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department is counting on a new ally in the fight to persuade Taiwan’s 23 million people to give up their democratic way of life to be ruled by Beijing -- Cheng Huang, the god of cities.

Officials in the southeastern province of Fujian, just across the Taiwan Strait from self-ruled Taiwan, invited hundreds of Taoists, temple representatives, scholars and experts to a lavish cultural exchange event last month, according to the provincial government’s official website.

The event included seminars on Cheng Huang temples across Fujian as well as beliefs around the god in Taiwan, particularly in smaller towns on the island, the Nov. 14 report said.

Cheng Huang isn’t the first supernatural being to be enlisted by the Chinese Communist Party in pursuit of its political goals, in this case, to control Taiwan, whether by soft power and propaganda or by military force if necessary.

China has already tried to co-opt the sea goddess Matsu, widely revered in Taiwan, as part of a United Front operation targeting millions of voters.

And it has also encouraged the worship of the controversial Tibetan dharma protector Shugden, a move at loggerheads with the Tibetan Buddhist Gelugpa sect of the exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

(Sam Yeh/AFP)

The United Front is a shadowy government agency in charge of seeking Chinese influence outside the country through individuals and often innocuous-sounding organizations.

The Chinese Communist Party embraces atheism and exercises tight controls over any form of religious practice among its citizens, requiring them to join government-backed governing bodies and to display the Chinese flag, along with other demonstrations of loyalty to Beijing.

But apparently it isn’t opposed to using religion to further its political objectives.

Religious cross-straits links

Cheng Huang emerged in Chinese folk belief as a spirit protector of city walls and moats, and later diversified into a more complex deity with his own following and underworld bureaucracy mirroring structures found in the land of the living.

“Cheng Huang culture is one of the important links connecting compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” the report quoted Cheng Ming-hui of Taiwan’s Wuji Sanching Temple as saying.

“I hope we can to hold more such activities in the future to further enhance the understanding and friendship between believers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” Cheng said.

(Pichi Chuang/Reuters)

Taiwan has never been ruled by Beijing and is formally governed by the Republic of China government, formed after the 1911 fall of the Qing Dynasty under Sun Yat-sen, that later fled to Taipei after losing the civil war in 1949 to Mao Zedong’s communists on the mainland.

While China insists on eventual “unification” with Taiwan, by armed invasion if necessary, the majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people have no wish to give up their democratic way of life to submit to Chinese rule.

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Ho Cheng-Hui, who heads Taiwanese civil defense organization the Kuma Academy, said China likes to cash in politically on religious devotion of any kind, citing its involvement in the cult of Matsu as an example.

“They are catering to the customs of the Taiwanese people, but with other motives behind it,” Ho said. “They call it religious exchange, but actually it’s a United Front operation -- scholars have defined it as the warfare of influence in recent years.”

“Some Taiwanese take part in these so-called exchanges because of their religious feeling, or sense of the historical origins [of their beliefs],” he said. “But that’s not what’s happening here.”

He called on religious believers in Taiwan to become more aware of China’s motives, “so as not to be used” by Beijing.

‘Living chess pieces’

Wu Se-Chih, a researcher at Taiwan’s Cross-Straits Policy Association, agreed.

“There is also a certain degree of United Front motivation,” he said. “China will always try to leverage any United Front gains from the people of Taiwan.”

Wu said the “deep connection between folk beliefs and local politics” in Taiwan also offers a channel for funds to flow into -- and influence -- the island’s messily democratic political life.

The Chinese government has acquired a number of local temples in Taiwan in recent years, which he described as “living chess pieces” in Beijing’s hands, to boost its influence in Taiwanese politics at a local level.

“These interest groups haven’t been subjected to enough supervision,” Wu said. “That’s the main reason the Chinese Communist Party targets local temples.”

And there are also personal risks involved for any religious believers traveling to China, according to Wu, who cited the recent detention of three elderly Taiwanese members of the I-Kuan Tao religion in Zhongshan city.

“Sometimes the red lines aren’t very clear ... so people need to think twice and be vigilant, which is the best way to protect themselves,” Wu said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin.

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Macau on Friday after a three-day ceremonial visit to mark the 25th anniversary of the former Portuguese enclave’s handover to Chinese rule, after laying out his vision for the role the gambling hub will play in his plans to boost China’s flagging economy.

“Macau is a shining pearl inlaid on the coast of the South China Sea and a treasured part of our great motherland,” Xi said in his keynote speech marking Friday’s anniversary, and inaugurating the next city government.

“The earliest Chinese students to go overseas went out to the world from here, many Chinese classics were translated and spread to the West, and modern Western science, technology and culture were introduced to mainland China via Macau,” he said.

“At different times in history, Macau has played an important role and made unique contributions,” Xi said.

Xi said Macau’s economic growth is now seven times what it was at the 1999 handover.

The city’s key task is now to “actively integrate into overall national development,” he said.

What does that mean in practice?

Xi wants the city to “actively participate” in his signature Belt and Road global infrastructure and supply chain project, as part of the “Greater Bay Area” integrating the city with neighboring Guangdong province and the former British colony of Hong Kong.

In 2021, the ruling Chinese Communist Party launched a semi-conductor research and development base jointly administered by authorities in the southern province of Guangdong and the formerly Portuguese city of Macau on Hengqin Island, paving the way for a blurring of the border between the two jurisdictions.

The “cooperation zone” on Hengqin Island is jointly administered by Guangdong and Macau, with a Communist Party, police, state security police and government presence.

The aim is to fast-track semiconductor chip designs and other high-tech research and development projects including new energy, big data, artificial intelligence and biomedical industries.

(Anthony Kwan/Reuters)

Beijing wants relatively cash-rich Macau to move away from its status as a gambling hub and plow funding into the Hengqin project and boost the mainland Chinese economy through innovation.

Xi also said Macau has “more prominent” advantages when it comes to acting as a platform for “China-foreign cultural exchange and cooperation.”

What does it mean for Hong Kong?

Xi’s description of Macau as “a higher-level platform for opening-up” suggests that Beijing now favors the city as its gateway to the rest of the world, a role held by Hong Kong for more than a century.

But Macau journalist Roy Choi said the city lacks Hong Kong’s advantages.

“Firstly, Macau’s financial system and laws aren’t up to level of Hong Kong’s, which is a common law jurisdiction, and secondly, it doesn’t have a large port, so it won’t be able to replace Hong Kong in terms of infrastructure.”

“But Beijing is anxious right now, so it thinks Macau is the way to go.”

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Political commentators say China is rewriting its idea of the “one country, two systems” framework under which Hong Kong and Macau were returned to mean that the two former colonies can keep their separate jurisdictions only insofar as it benefits China as a whole.

“It ... means that the mainland is the foundation, and Macau and Hong Kong are branches and are there to serve the mainland,” political analyst Chen Daoyin told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview. “The main point is that Hong Kong and Macau must be integrated into the overall framework of China’s modernization and must not create anything unique to them.”

What about the promises of autonomy?

Xi’s Macau visit coincided the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, which promised Hong Kong a “high degree of autonomy” for at least 50 years after the 1997 handover.

The last British governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, hit out at Beijing’s “flagrant disregard” of its commitments in the U.N.-registered treaty in a newspaper article on Thursday, accusing it of comprehensively crushing the city’s freedoms under two national security laws that followed the 2019 protest movement, and calling for sanctions from London in response.

(Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Xi’s singling out of Macau as a favored location for global exchanges is in keeping with the fact that the city has never mounted any serious political challenge to the will of Beijing, and, unlike Hong Kong, was never promised fully democratic elections in the first place.

The city’s political and financial elite, exemplified by mainland-born incoming Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai, have always been more closely aligned with Chinese political goals than the former British colony of Hong Kong, and have never really wanted democracy, experts say.

In that sense, the city is living up to its reputation as the “well-behaved child,” while Hong Kong remains in a cycle of political repression following waves of mass popular protest since its handover to Chinese rule.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Chen Zifei for RFA Mandarin.

Chinese exports of tomatoes, chili peppers, marigolds and other farm products grown in the far-western region of Xinjiang are tainted by forced labor as well as the coercive transfer of land from Uyghur peasants to Chinese businesses, new research shows.

The growing of these goods is also tainted by the forced assimilation and political indoctrination of Uyghur workers, according to 136-page report by Adrian Zenz and I-Lin Lin of the Washington-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

Dozens of Western companies, including Kraft Heinz, Nestlé, Del Monte, PepsiCo, McCormick, Unilever and L’Oreal, are importing these goods, although they often enter supply chains through intermediaries, blurring their origin, the report found.

The report identified 72 international companies and 18 Chinese firms with production in Xinjiang or supply chain links, or a risk of such links, to the region’s agricultural products.

“It means that we have a much bigger system of forced labor and forced land transfer that is affecting many agricultural communities in Xinjiang and is directly serving the political goals of the regime to achieve political long-term transformation of these populations and taint the supply chains as a result,” Zenz told Radio Free Asia in an interview.

Sources of information

The investigation used planning documents from various Chinese administrative levels, state reports, budgets, academic papers, propaganda narratives and witness reports.

It was also based on internal state documents, corporate documents, information from the Made-in-China website, data from e-commerce platforms, the global supply chain intelligence platform Sayari and the U.S. customs database ImportInfo.

(Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Chinese companies implicated in Uyghur forced labor included COFCO Tunhe Tomato, Xinjiang Chalkis, which processes tomatoes and fruits, and Chenguang Biotech Group, a high-tech firm that specializes in the extraction and application of plant active ingredients.

The three companies operate subsidies in the United States or Europe and have been implicated in rights abuses in Xinjiang, the report says.

The report singles out U.S. ketchup-maker Kraft Heinz for ongoing collaboration with China’s COFCO Tunhe Tomato, providing the Chinese company with tomato seeds and technical collaboration.

It also says cosmetics maker L’Oreal buys products from non-Chinese-based intermediaries in Asia whose supply chains are connected to Chinese-based companies or to suppliers of products whose domestic goods are sold in Western supermarkets.

Unilever Pakistan Foods, a Unilever subsidiary, buys tomato products from COFCO Tunhe Tomato and exports them to the U.S. Canada and the United Kingdom.

Abuses in Xinjiang

The Chinese government has come under attack in recent years for abuses in Xinjiang that include the mass detainment of the mostly Muslim Uyghurs who live in Xinjiang and the use of Uyghur forced labor there.

“Xinjiang operates the world’s largest contemporary system of state-imposed forced labor, with up to 2.5 million Uyghurs and members of other ethnic groups at risk of coerced work,” the report says.

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The report also cites pressure on Uyghurs to give up the right to farm their land to commercial operators who coerce them into wage labor in processing bases operated by Chinese agribusinesses.

The report’s findings show that land-use transfer shares in Xinjiang grew nearly 50-fold between 2001 and 2021, indicating a “staggering scale at which ethnic peasants were rendered landless and then pushed into state-mandated work.”

“This is resulting in profound livelihood changes and [the] tearing apart of organic communities, ensuring that Uyghurs are more easily and thoroughly controlled, surveilled, and assimilated,” it says.

The U.S. government and over 10 Western parliaments have declared that the abuses in Xinjiang amount to genocide and crimes against humanity. The Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act, which took effect in the U.S. in June 2022, prevents companies from importing any goods produced in Xinjiang unless they can prove forced labor was not used.

‘Vicious lie’

When asked to comment on the report, Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said China has “repeatedly emphasized that the so-called ‘forced labor’ issue is a vicious lie fabricated by anti-China forces.”

“Xinjiang implements proactive labor and employment policies, effectively safeguarding the basic employment rights of people from all ethnic groups,” he said via email.

(Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Liu accused the U.S. of repeatedly spreading rumors and stirring up trouble regarding Xinjiang by using human rights to engage in political manipulation and economic bullying in an attempt to undermine the region’s prosperity and stability and curb China’s development.

Liu further said that Zenz, known as Zheng Guoen in China, is a member of a far-right organization established by the U.S. government, and a key member of an anti-China research institution set up and manipulated by U.S. intelligence agencies.

“He makes a living by fabricating anti-China rumors and slandering China,” Liu said. “His so-called report has no credibility, academic value, or academic integrity.”

Company responses

Zenz and Lin said they contacted the companies named in the report with detailed requests for comment, but several could not be reached, while others provided invalid email addresses.

Some did respond. U.S. ketchup-maker Kraft Heinz said it used COFCO-supplied tomato products only in China and Central Asia, despite information by the researchers that its subsidiaries in Indonesia and India also bought tomato paste from COFCO in 2023 and 2024.

French cosmetics manufacturer L’Oreal denied a direct supply chain relationship with suppliers linked to Xinjiang, but did not address the indirect supply chain ties outlined in the report.

(Gou Lifeng/Xinhua News Agency/Reuters)

U.S. spice-maker McCormick didn’t comment on specific allegations, but said its policy prohibits the use of forced labor in its supply chain.

American fruits and vegetables distributor Del Monte said its multiple COFCO Tunhe suppliers certified that they did not use forced labor.

Concern over findings

Rushan Abbas, executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, said the research findings present the most comprehensive evidence of the Chinese Communist Party’s genocide against the Uyghurs extending deep into the agricultural sector, affecting global supply chains, and implicating major international brands.

“The forced transfer of land rights from Uyghur farmers to Chinese corporations, combined with coercive labor practices and political indoctrination, represents yet another facet of the regime’s systematic assault on Uyghur rights and identity,” she said in a statement.

“Of particular concern is the ongoing strategic relationship between Kraft Heinz and COFCO, a state-owned enterprise in East Turkistan that actively participates in the surveillance of Uyghur households and enforces policies linked to cultural assimilation and forced labor,” Abbas said, using Uyghurs’ preferred name for Xinjiang.

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a ‍group of international lawmakers from democratic countries focused on relations with China also raised concern over the report’s findings.

“Disturbingly, goods linked to forced labor are being sold worldwide under trusted, household brand names deceiving consumers and perpetuating the cycle of exploitation,” 46 lawmakers from the group said in a statement.

Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Mettursun Beydulla for RFA Uyghur.

Karoline Leavitt told the hosts of Fox and Friends that inauguration officials are making plans for other foreign dignitaries to attend too.

Her comments confirmed an earlier report by CBS News, which quoted sources as saying that Trump invited Xi in early November, shortly after the election, adding that it was unclear what’s Xi’s response was.

Xi has said he’s ready to work with the Trump administration, but has also warned that both countries stand to “lose from confrontation,” as Trump announced plans to impose tariffs of at least 60% on Chinese imports.

If confirmed, the invitation to Xi would be unprecedented, as foreign leaders haven’t attended U.S. presidential inauguration ceremonies since 1874, but could offer China the chance to negotiate with the new president, who recently nominated several China hawks to top foreign policy positions, analysts told RFA Mandarin.

According to CBS, Hungary’s far-right leader Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, described by the station as having “a warm relationship with Trump,” has yet to respond to his invitation.

“World leaders are lining up to meet with President Trump because they know he will soon return to power and restore peace through American strength around the globe,” the station quoted Leavitt as saying.

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The report comes after Trump nominated outspoken China critic Marco Rubio for his Secretary of State, Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida for national security adviser, and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York as ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump then announced on Dec. 9 he had picked three China trade hawks for top roles at the State Department, including Michael Anton, who has previously argued it is not in U.S. interests to defend Taiwan from an invasion by China.

‘Preferring one-to-one summits’

But Li Da-Jong, director of the Institute of International Affairs and Strategy at Taiwan’s Tamkang University, told RFA Mandarin, the invitation to Xi, if confirmed, wasn’t an indicator of a more pro-China foreign policy than had previously been expected.

“If Trump made a formal invitation to Xi Jinping from the outset ... it’s not a sign of weakness, of compromise, or a concession to China,” Li said. “It’s in line with his past style of preferring one-to-one summits ... leader-to-leader, to create the political energy to break through the status quo.”

Ming-shih Shen of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research said Trump considers Xi a personal friend, and the reported invitation would seem natural from that perspective.

He said Xi is very unlikely to accept any invitation, however.

“Given the current situation in China, and the People’s Liberation Army’s large-scale exercises in the Taiwan Strait and Western Pacific right now, I don’t think Xi would go anyway,” Shen said.

“The main question would be who does represent China, which could be the vice president or another member of the Politburo Standing Committee,” he said, adding that he believes Trump’s stated policy of imposing 60% tariffs on Chinese imports across the board is an opening gambit for negotiations, rather than a final policy.

“China will act tough and declare that it won’t comply, but it will devalue the yuan to protect trade,” Shen said. “China often appears to draw a line in the sand, but then makes concessions.”

Taiwan issue

Yi-feng Tao, associate professor of politics at National Taiwan University said China could also stop short of bringing Taiwan into any negotiations with Trump.

“Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is a high consensus issues across the United States, and also across all of the U.S.' allies and Asia-Pacific countries,” Tao told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview. “So Beijing may not directly touch on that issue in a moderate interaction with Trump.”

He said China will more likely continue to reiterate its core interests, particularly the “thorny issue” of tariffs and high-tech bans.

Reuters reported on Thursday that two senior members of Taiwan’s government are in the United States to meet people connected to Trump’s transition team, in a bid to establish ties with the incoming administration.

Lin Fei-fan and Hsu Szu-chien, both deputy secretaries-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council and several of their staff are in Washington for meetings through this week, the agency cited multiple sources as saying.

Their visit came as China deployed an “unprecedented number” of naval vessels in the Taiwan Strait and announced extensive reserved airspace zones in a display of its capability to project power into the Pacific, a senior Taiwanese defense official said on Wednesday.

The show of force, which has yet to include any military exercises, comes days after Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, visited the U.S. state of Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam during a tour to reinforce ties with the island’s Pacific allies.

One-China principle

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning called on the United States not to do anything to undermine Beijing’s territorial claim on Taiwan, which it terms the “one-China principle.”

“China’s position on the Taiwan issue is consistent and clear,” Mao told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Thursday. “We urge the U.S. to abide by the one-China principle ... handle the Taiwan issue prudently, and not send any wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.”

Taiwan has never been ruled by Beijing, nor formed part of the People’s Republic of China, and is formally governed by the Republic of China government formed after the 1911 fall of the Qing Dynasty under Sun Yat-sen, that later fled to Taipei after losing the civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists on the mainland.

While China insists on eventual “unification” with Taiwan, by armed invasion if necessary, the majority of Taiwan’s 23 million people have no wish to give up their democratic way of life to submit to Chinese rule.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Huang Chun-mei for RFA Mandarin.

China’s borderlands, spanning five provinces and four autonomous regions, including Tibet, Xinjiang Uygur and Inner Mongolia, are culturally and linguistically diverse and have seen opposition to Beijing’s efforts to assimilate ethnic minorities into the majority Han culture.

While Mandarin is China’s official language, efforts to promote it have sparked controversy, with critics warning of harm to ethnic languages and cultural identities.

“We should continue to deepen efforts on ethnic unity and progress, actively build an integrated social structure and community environment, and promote the unity of all ethnic groups – like pomegranate seeds tightly held together,” said Xi, addressing a Politburo study session on Monday.

Xi also said Mandarin, colloquially known as Putonghua, and its writing system should be comprehensively popularized in border regions, and the use of national textbooks compiled under central guidance should be fully implemented, the state-run People’s Daily newspaper reported.

He told members of the ruling party’s top policymaking body that it was necessary to guide all ethnic groups in border regions to “continuously enhance their recognition of the Chinese nation, Chinese culture and the Communist Party”.

The Chinese leader added that maintaining security and stability was the “baseline requirement” for border governance, noting that efforts should be made to improve social governance, infrastructure and “the overall ability to defend the country and safeguard the border”.

China’s Politburo regularly holds sessions, with discussion usually led by an academic – Monday’s session was led by Li Guoqiang, vice-president of the Chinese Academy of History.

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Xi’s latest remarks come amid a broader push in recent years by authorities to promote Mandarin-language education as part of a nationwide effort to assimilate ethnic minorities into the majority Han culture.

In Inner Mongolia, the 2020 introduction of Mandarin as the primary language of instruction for core subjects led to widespread protests, school boycotts, and demonstrations by ethnic Mongolians, who fear the erosion of their native language and identity.

Similarly, in Tibet, the increasing use of boarding schools where children are taught primarily in Mandarin has been condemned by rights groups as a strategy to weaken Tibetan cultural ties and instill loyalty to Beijing.

In Xinjiang, the strict enforcement of Mandarin education has been linked to broader campaigns targeting Uyghur Muslims, including reports of mass detentions and forced assimilation – which Beijing denies – raising alarm over the systematic suppression of Uyghur language and traditions.

On Dec. 28, 2021, China’s Ministry of Education, the National Rural Revitalization Bureau and the National Language Commission issued a plan to promote Mandarin.

By 2025, it aims for Mandarin to be spoken and understood in 85% of the country as a whole and in 80% of rural areas.

Edited by RFA Staff.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.

Over the past year in China, 45 pro-democracy activists and former lawmakers in Hong Kong were jailed for “subversion” after organizing a democratic primary, prominent dissident Xu Zhiyong held a hunger strike to protest his treatment in prison and a journalist was jailed for having lunch with a Japanese diplomat.

The ruling Communist Party has stepped up its suppression of public speech, organized religion and personal freedoms, while continuing to persecute anyone agitating for change, rights activists told RFA Mandarin in recent interviews.

On this day in 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which proclaimed the inherent, inalienable rights of every person “without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

Some of that language is echoed in China’s Constitution.

Article 34 guarantees citizens “the right to vote and stand for election,” while Article 35 guarantees “freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, procession and demonstration.”

Article 36 promises them freedom of religious belief.

But activists say there is less and less protection for anything resembling those rights in China today.

“Right now, we don’t feel that human rights have improved,” Shandong-based rights activist Lu Xiumei told RFA Mandarin. “Controls have become more severe, and there are more rules and regulations.”

1,700 prisoners of conscience

According to the China Political Prisoner Concern Database, there are more than 1,700 known prisoners of conscience behind bars.

While many once believed that the internet would be impossible for the authorities to control, eventually leading to greater freedom of speech in China, the government has spent the last 30 years perfecting its control of online spaces.

“On social media platforms like WeChat and TikTok, it is almost impossible to post comments that have a negative impact on the government,” Jiangsu-based rights activist Lu Jianrong told RFA Mandarin. “You can only praise the government.”

Police have targeted young people who dress up for Halloween, particularly if their costumes had a satirical twist, while online censors have been going after social media accounts that use “unauthorized” language, including puns and homophones, to get around censorship.

Meanwhile, life is getting harder for women and for the LGBTQ+ community.

The party is also cracking down on its own officials if they’re found in possession of banned books, and taking direct control over the running of the country’s universities.

And it’s training up the next generation of religious leaders under President Xi Jinping’s “sinicization” of religion policy, to ensure that they put loyalty to the government ahead of the requirements of their faith.

A Protestant pastor from the central province of Henan who gave only the surname Li for fear of reprisals told Radio Free Asia: “There is almost no religious freedom; they don’t want to give believers any room to breathe at all.”

“A lot of churches have been banned, and are still being banned,” he said.

No criticism allowed

Even pursuing complaints against the government using its own official channels can get a person in hot water.

“Take Xu Weibao for example, a petitioner from Taizhou,” Lu Jianrong said. “He has been persecuted to the point that he can no longer survive in his hometown, and has had to move somewhere else.”

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Many who complain about official wrongdoing are targeted for harassment, extrajudicial detention and even physical violence, or locked up in a psychiatric institution for “mental illness.”

“There’s another petitioner from Taixing who was held in a psychiatric hospital for three years,” Lu said. “He’s still under surveillance, and has no freedom at all.”

A human rights lawyer who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals said that prior to the 2015 crackdown on public interest law firms and rights lawyers, the profession wasn’t generally regarded as a threat to the ruling party.

Now, they’re seen as a natural enemy of the Chinese Communist Party, he said.

“Many have had their licenses revoked, and some have also been sent to prison,” he said.

Heavier sentences

Lawyer Li Fangping, who represented the jailed Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti said rights protections are getting weaker across the board in China.

“There’s a serious regression,” Li said. “We are seeing cases getting much heavier sentences now, especially for people who try to speak out, which is getting harder and harder.”

He said there has been scant information about the status of Ilham Tohti in prison.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning hit out on Tuesday at criticisms of China’s human rights record, saying the government had massively advanced its citizens' social and economic rights.

“Some countries have used human rights as a weapon to serve their political agenda,” Mao told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

“We also hope that certain countries will discard megaphone diplomacy and stop interfering in other countries’ internal affairs under the pretext of so-called human rights issues,” she said.

Also in Beijing, independent journalist Gao Yu said local police had once more taken steps to stop her from speaking out on Dec. 10.

“The police came to my house on Human Rights Day,” Gao said in a post to her X account, adding that she had used the day to commemorate late Nobel peace laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo, whose subversion trial was held on Dec. 10, 2009.

Liu, who co-authored the Charter 08 manifesto calling for sweeping political change, died of liver cancer in prison in 2017 despite multiple applications for medical parole.

“I climbed up a ladder and tied a yellow ribbon to the window railing in front of them,” Gao wrote, adding that the local state security police were once more keeping watch outside her apartment building in a vehicle now very familiar both to Gao and her neighbors.

“Today is the 74th Human Rights Day, and the seven-seater Buick is here again,” she wrote.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

The city, which recently fired its top tourism and travel officials without giving a reason, now ranks 21st in the Euromonitor Top 100 City Destinations Index 2024, compared with 17th in 2023.

Like the rest of China, Hong Kong’s economy has struggled to bounce back in the wake of the three years of zero-COVID restrictions and travel bans.

The city even handed out free plane tickets in a bid to boost visitor numbers after the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

Yet all is clearly not well in the city that was once known for its vibrant night-life, iconic harbor, packed restaurants and bustling malls and markets.

Chief Executive John Lee last week fired Culture, Sports and Tourism Secretary Kevin Yeung and Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung.

Now, he seems to be hoping that giant pandas An An and Ke Ke will attract both patriotic visitors from mainland China and international tourists to spend their cash and boost the local economy.

Lee attended a lavish “Giant Panda Greeting Ceremony” at the HK$498- (US$64-) per-person Ocean Park theme park panda attraction alongside Zhou Ji, a top ruling Chinese Communist Party official in charge of Hong Kong, on Saturday.

“Hong Kong is honored to be keeping the largest number of giant pandas outside of mainland China,” Lee told the gathering. “These giant pandas ... demonstrate the Central Government’s support and care for Hong Kong.”

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With Rosanna Law now in the driving seat as Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, the government has also scattered 2,500 sculptures of pandas in different poses across the city in a series of “exhibitions” it terms the Panda Go! Fest.

It will auction special editions of the pandas off for charity with musician Pharrell Williams, actor Huang Bo, and supermodel Du Juan as guest stars, according to the official website.

Law told reporters that 145,000 people visited Hong Kong on Saturday from mainland China, 28.5% more than that daily average for November.

Yet government statistics show that overnight visits didn’t also spike, suggesting that those visitors were mostly day-trippers, and didn’t stay long.

Mainland Chinese visitors typically spent around HK$5,100 (US$656) a head on trips to Hong Kong in the first half of this year -- slightly less than the HK$5,800 (US$746) they spent in the second half of 2023, and far below the HK$7,000 (US$900) they spent in 2018.

But day-trippers consume far less than that, spending an average of HK$1,300 (US$167) a head in the first half of 2024, compared with HK$2,400 (US$308) in 2018.

Fewer mainland shoppers

Store owners in the New Territories town of Sheung Shui, close to the border with mainland China, said there are still some mainland shoppers -- who stand out because they typically bring trolleys to cart their hauls back over the border -- on the streets these days thanks to a multiple-entry permit rolled out by the authorities that saw 30,000 people cross into Hong Kong last week.

But they’re coming in far fewer numbers than before the pandemic, and they’re spending far less, business owners said.

“I mainly come her to buy infant formula for my kids, because the quality control is probably better here,” a shopper from Shenzhen who gave the surname Li told RFA Cantonese on Sunday.

Two other shoppers said they came for lip balms and other skincare products, which are slightly cheaper in Hong Kong.

But shoppers told RFA Cantonese that they don’t come that often. “This is my first time since the pandemic,” a shopper from Shenzhen said. Two others said they come about once a month.

It’s a far cry from the days when bulk traders thronged the streets with their trolleys, buying up jade and gold. The jewelry store in the same street remained empty on Sunday afternoon.

“It’s not really helping our industry,” a gold store owner surnamed Cheung told Radio Free Asia.

Pharmacy owners said their turnover has also plummeted, with one estimating it at one-tenth of pre-pandemic levels.

Tourism chief’s departure

Meanwhile, in the absence of official comment on the sacking of former tourism chief Kevin Yeung, Hong Kongers were left speculating on the reasons for his early departure.

A college student who gave only the surname Kwun for fear of reprisals said many believe the authorities were unimpressed by the last-minute cancelation of a drone show planned for Victoria Harbor in September to mark Mid-Autumn Festival.

“Kevin Yeung didn’t do a good job with the drone show, which got canceled for no reason on the day it was supposed to happen,” Kwun said.

Authorities said at the time that intense solar activity had interfered with the navigational equipment controlling the drones.

A student nurse who gave only the surname Lee for fear of reprisals said Yeung’s attempts to boost Hong Kong’s nightlife had also fallen flat.

“He didn’t do much to promote local events or nightlife, and he didn’t succeed in boosting Hong Kong’s economy, which has actually gotten worse,” Lee said.

“I don’t think anyone in government is doing much about it,” Lee said, adding that he has scant hope that Yeung’s replacement will be any better.

During Yeung’s tenure, Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Cruise Terminal remained largely empty of ships, while Inter Miami soccer legend Lionel Messi failed to turn out to play in a much-vaunted exhibition match in February.

Yeung was also held to account for failing to roll out a government “blueprint” to revitalize the arts, culture and creative industries in time for the Chief Executive’s policy address in October.

Yeung eventually launched the measures, which he said aimed to “enhance the appeal of Hong Kong’s culture ... and further consolidate Hong Kong’s position as an East-meets-West center for international cultural exchanges” on Nov. 26.

While Lee declined to say why Yeung and Lam were fired, he did praise their successors Rosanna Law and Mable Chan for their “leadership, articulation skills, and also their proactiveness.”

“This is exactly what I need in the years to come, to ensure that we will reap the best results,” Lee told journalists on Dec. 5, adding that he wanted to regain time lost due to the pandemic and the 2019 protests.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Luk Nam Choi, Wei Sze, Edward Li and Matthew Leung for RFA Cantonese.

The Tibetan, Uyghur, Mongolian and Chinese activists said that while the United States once stood as a bastion of free speech and a redoubt of cultural preservation for groups targeted by the Chinese Communist Party, many now feared Beijing’s extensive reach.

Rishat Abbas, the president of the U.S.-based Uyghur Academy, told the hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China that his sister Gulshan had been jailed in China on a 20-year sentence due to his and other family member’s anti-government activism abroad.

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The U.S. government says China’s government is carrying out a “genocide” against the mostly Muslium Uyghur minority in the country’s far-west. Many Uyghurs abroad actively campaign to end the genocide and to do what they can to preserve their language and culture.

But many look to the treatment of the family members, still trapped in China, of those Uyghurs who choose to speak out, and decide it’s safer not to provoke the Chinese Communist Party, even from abroad.

“My sister’s imprisonment is a clear action of retaliation,” he said. “Her detention exposes the CCP’s aggressive policies that target Uyghurs simply for their identity and for the activism of their relatives abroad.”

“She has never engaged in any form of advocacy in her life,” he said.

Abbas said he was nonetheless not deterred, and hoped to one day bring a Uyghur-language textbook developed in the United States back to China’s Xinjiang region, where Uyghurs live under surveillance.

Lawfare

It’s not only Uyghur immigrants who have been targeted.

In years gone by, American higher education institutions like Stanford University fearlessly curated U.S.-based historical archives about events censored by the Chinese government, said Julian Ku, a constitutional law professor at New York’s Hofstra University.

But things have changed.

Ku pointed to a lawsuit brought in the United States by the Beijing-based widow of the late Li Rui – a former secretary to Mao Zedong and later dissident who donated diaries to Stanford.

Stanford says Li Rui donated the diaries through his daughter, fearing that they would be destroyed by Chinese officials if left in China. But Li Rui’s widow says they are rightfully hers and wants them returned.

The widow, Ku explained, was inexplicably being represented by “some of the most expensive law firms in the United States,” and had likely already racked up legal fees in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars – and probably more – on a widow’s Chinese state pension.”

Describing the tactic as “lawfare,” he suggested that the widow had powerful backers funding the battle, who may not even care if the litigation is ultimately successful.

The nearly four years of costly legal battles sent a message to other U.S. universities, museums or nonprofits to avoid any contentious documents that might attract the attention of Beijing, Ku said.

“They might think, ‘Well, maybe I don’t want to acquire that one, because it might subject me to litigation in China and maybe litigation here in the United States,” he said. “It serves as a deterrence for universities, museums and other institutions in the United States.”

Living in fear

Like Uyghurs, many ethnically Han Chinese in America also fear speaking out against Beijing even while in the United States, said Rowena He, a historian of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing who was last year banned from entering Hong Kong.

“It’s very difficult to not to be emotional being in this room again because I remember 5-10 years ago, when I was first invited to testify to Congress,” He recalled. “I was extremely hesitant, because I was so concerned about my family members, and I was so worried.”

“I lived with fear ever since the day I started teaching and researching the topic of Tiananmen,” she explained, citing the “taboo” around the topic in China, where the massacre is not openly acknowledged.

She said increased funding for curriculums with alternate Chinese histories to the one put forward by Beijing could be one way to counter the “monopoly on historiography” held by China’s government.

“If you go to Chinatown, many people are still supporting the CCP, even though they’re physically in the United States,” He said, noting that figures like herself were denigrated as anti-government.

“Sometimes people call us ‘underground historians,’ but I do not like the term ‘underground,’” she said. “We are the historians.”

Government funding

Geshe Lobsang Monlam, a Tibetan monk who authored a 223-volume Tibetan dictionary and helps lead efforts to preserve Tibetan language outside of China, said one of the main obstacles for Tibetans outside China outside of pressure from Beijing was finding needed funds.

“Inside Tibet, the young Tibetans have appeared powerless in their ability to preserve and promote their language,” the monk said, pointing to concerted efforts to erase use of the Tibetan language as young Tibetans grow proficient in using Mandarin through smartphones.

“If there can be assistance by the United States to help procure technological equipment that can enable those of us in exile to continue our work on preservation of Tibetan culture and language and way of life … that would be very useful for us,” he explained.

Temulun Togochog, a 17-year-old U.S.-born Southern Mongolian activist, similarly appealed for more funding for cultural preservation.

Togochog said while the decreased global focus on the plight of Mongolians in China had allowed her family in the United States to openly teach her about Mongolian culture and their native language with little fear of reprisal, resources were few and far between.

Mongolians living in China’s Inner Mongolia were increasingly facing a similar treatment to Tibetans and Uyghurs, she said, with a “systematic oppression and erasure of Mongolian language” taking place in favor of what is called “patriotic education” lionizing the communist party.

In September 2020, many Southern Mongolians protested the policies through coordinated school boycotts and strikes, but there was little news coverage of the ensuing mass arrests, she explained.

“Approximately 300,000 southern Mongolian students joined the movement,” she said. “The Chinese government responded harshly, detaining and placing under house arrest 8-10,000 people.”

The young activist called on Congress to fund Mongolian-language programs on Voice of America, which currently do not exist. She said that would help the “minority within a minority” to more actively “preserve their language, culture and identity” from erasure.

Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alex Willemyns.

China has intensified its efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in the semiconductor sector in recent years, driven by export restrictions on advanced chips and manufacturing tools imposed by the U.S. and other countries. Despite this push, China still lags significantly behind the leading players in the chip industry.

The new package includes curbs on China-bound shipments of high bandwidth memory chips and new curbs on 24 additional chipmaking tools and three software tools, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security on Monday.

The bureau also established new foreign direct product controls for certain semiconductor manufacturing equipment items that originate in foreign countries, but are produced with U.S. technology, software or tools.

While equipment produced in countries such as Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan will be subject to the rule, Japan and the Netherlands will be exempt.

“This action is the culmination of the Biden-Harris Administration’s targeted approach, in concert with our allies and partners, to impair the PRC’s ability to indigenize the production of advanced technologies that pose a risk to our national security,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, referring China to its official name, the People’s Republic of China.

Chinese firms facing new restrictions include nearly two dozen semiconductor companies, two investment companies and more than 100 chipmaking tool makers, including Naura Technology Group, Piotech, ACM Research and SiCarrier Technology as well as Swaysure Technology, Si’En Qingdao, and Shenzhen Pensun Technology, which work with China’s Huawei Technologies.

China vowed to take “resolute measures” in response to the new export curbs.

“We have repeatedly made clear our position on this issue. China firmly opposes the U.S.’ overstretching the concept of national security, abusing export controls, and maliciously blocking and suppressing China,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press briefing.

“This type of behavior seriously violates the laws of market economy and the principle of fair competition, disrupts international economic and trade order, destabilizes global industrial and supply chains, and will eventually harm the interests of all countries,” he added.

Tough policy stance on China

The restrictions come as the U.S. President Joe Biden is set to leave office on Jan. 20 with President-elect Donald Trump expected to adopt a tough policy stance on China.

Trump said last month he would impose an additional 10% tariff on all products coming into the U.S. from China on his first day in office as penalties for deadly fentanyl and illegal immigrants, which he said were pouring across borders into the U.S.

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Separately, on Saturday, the president-elect threatened to impose 100% tariffs on the BRICS nations if they were to create a rival currency to the U.S. dollar.

BRICS is an intergovernmental organization comprising nine countries, including China and Russia.

“We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new Brics currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US dollar or they will face 100% tariffs and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US economy,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

Trump’s election victory sparked concern in China, where many expect the next president to take a tougher stand than his predecessor, particularly on trade and economic issues, with negative repercussions for an already struggling Chinese economy.

Edited by RFA Staff.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Taejun Kang for RFA.

Inspectors from China’s State Council have been touring the country in recent weeks in a bid to bring the nation’s lagging fire and workplace safety standards up to scratch, carrying spot checks and under-cover investigations that could land business owners with a big fine.

But store owners and food stall-holders are fighting back by shutting up shop, in an apparent bid to evade an inspection that could wind up costing them dearly in fines.

Photos of shuttered stores in two cities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong were circulating on social media over the weekend.

Some showed humorous notices that read: “Off today due to fear of ghosts.”

“The boss is in a bad mood,” read another, while one notice suggested life was getting too tough for business owners: “The fish are drowning in water.”

Business owners also took to social media to explain the closures.

“These closures have been forced on us; they’re not voluntary,” one business owner commented. “Nobody wants to take the risk of running afoul of the inspection team.”

Reports emerged from Guangdong’s Chaozhou and Shantou cities that night markets, barbecue stalls and street hawkers were shutting up shop ahead of the inspections, for fear of getting hit with a hefty fine.

The “New Hunan” news service reported that stalls that cook on an open flame had been ordered to shut down from Nov. 22-28 by authorities at Shantou’s Longyan South nightmarket.

Social media users from Chaozhou commented: “Never seen so many stores closed,” drawing parallels with the three years of lockdowns under the zero-COVID policy, which ended in December 2022 following nationwide protests.

A social media user from the area city described it as “a ghost town that is especially eerie at night.”

Another comment said the closures were understandable.

“If you close, you only lose a few hundred yuan, whereas you could lose tens of thousands if you open,” read one comment. “If you close, your turnover will be zero, but if you open, it could be negative.”

Official denials

Chaozhao officials responded to the online speculation, which saw the topic trending on Weibo on Saturday, by denying claims that the businesses were closing to avoid inspection, and saying that it was business as usual in the city, local media reported.

But local residents ridiculed the response.

“I would have believed this if I didn’t live locally,” commented one, while another added: “The whole street was shut down.”

Local authorities later issued warnings to businesses that closing down could result in their being targeted for more stringent inspections in future, according to a copy of an official notice sent to the X citizen media account “Mr Li is not your teacher.”

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A business owner from Guangdong who gave only the surname Liu for fear of reprisals said it was rare to see widespread store closures.

“It’s rare in our area to see such large-scale store closures,” he said. “It’s not a good idea to make it so that people are afraid to open for business.”

He said it was the sudden and nationwide nature of the inspections that had made many business owners particularly wary.

The Chaozhou government later issued a notice calling on businesses not to “intentionally close their doors to inspections without justifiable reason.”

A legal professional from Guangdong who gave only the surname Chen for fear of reprisal said many see safety inspections as the government trying to boost revenues when local coffers are empty.

“It’s another way for them to raise money,” Chen said. “Yes, they want to eliminate safety hazards and maintain stability, but they also want to help local governments raise revenues.”

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Qian Lang for RFA Mandarin.

The insurgent Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, or MNDAA, captured the junta’s military headquarters in Lashio in July. In August, it took full control of the town, which serves as an important commercial gateway near the Chinese border.

The MNDAA’s leader, Peng Daxun, traveled to Yunnan province in late October for medical treatment and was later detained by Chinese authorities, according to the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

“He is under detention to negotiate withdrawal of his troops from Lashio,” the source said.

The detention followed a meeting in Yunnan in late October between Peng Daxun and Deng Xijun, the special representative for Asian Affairs at China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, according to another source.

A source close to the military junta regime told RFA that Peng Daxun was being held at a hotel in Yunnan that’s owned by his father.

China’s interests

The MNDAA is part of the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a group of three ethnic minority insurgent forces that launched its highly effective Operation 1027 offensive in October 2023, which has since captured vast swathes of junta-held territory.

A renewal of the offensive in June led to the capture of the junta’s northeastern command headquarters near Lashio – the only one of 14 such regional military command headquarters to fall into rebel hands.

The MNDAA took control of Lashio on Aug. 3, one of the most significant victories for the three-party alliance. Junta efforts to recapture the town have focused on frequent airstrikes and shelling.

China has since tried to protect its interests in the region by brokering several temporary ceasefires between the junta and alliance members.

On Aug. 27, Deng Xijun invited Zhao Guo-ang, the vice-chairman of the United Wa State Party – Myanmar’s largest ethnic army – to Yunnan province to ask for help pressuring for the withdrawal of MNDAA forces.

The UWSA vowed last year to remain neutral as the Three Brotherhood Alliance began its large-scale operation against junta forces. But in July, its troops entered Lashio without incident after MNDAA forces had taken over most of the city.

China has also cut off shipments of fuel, medicine and food items through its border into the MNDAA-controlled areas in Shan state.

In September, the MNDAA said it had cut ties with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government. It said it would work with China to bring peace, but days later the junta bombed Lashio and peace talks never took place.

Beijing has recently stepped up its support for the military junta, and earlier this month, junta leader Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing traveled to Kunming – the capital of Yunnan – for talks with provincial officials.

RFA has reached out via email to the Chinese Embassy in Yangon and the MNDAA’s information team for comments but neither immediately responded.

Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.

Rampant youth unemployment in China has left millions of young people floundering, living at home, relying on delivery jobs or, in a growing trend, “pretending to go to work.”

In posts on the video-sharing platform Douyin, young people are creating a routine where none exists out of sessions spent studying or applying for jobs in libraries and internet cafes.

Some are even paying for “study rooms” to get them out of the house and give structure to their days, sometimes while they study for highly competitive civil service entrance exams, according to state media reports.

The situation has spawned a hashtag on social media, #IPretendedToGoToWorkToday, with young people posting short videos to Douyin about what they do all day.

In one video under the hashtag, one young woman offers a tour of her local county town, including the railway station, local shopping streets and scenic spots, but conceals her identity with a computer-generated animation where her head should be.

In another, a young woman hangs out on the stairwell and roof of her apartment building, apparently hiding from relatives and neighbors who think she’s at work.

Living at home

A Nov. 5 feature in Banyuetan magazine, under the aegis of state news agency Xinhua, found that it’s extremely common for people aged up to 40 in rural areas to still be living back home with their parents, who sometimes hand over money from their pensions to support them.

The situation is at odds with the Communist Party’s pledge to “comprehensively revitalize rural areas,” the report said.

“This phenomenon of relying on one’s parents is ultimately an employment or job security issue,” YouTube commentator Lying Uncle Ping said in a response to the article. “The key is to provide employment, and better quality jobs.”

He said at least rural families who still have land have a way to feed themselves, should they fall on hard times.

A former rural resident of the northern province of Hebei who gave only the surname Wang for fear of reprisals said not everyone in rural areas still has access to land, however.

“In developed areas in the south, people can go back home to work in local factories,” Wang said. “In the north, where I live, there are basically no factories in rural areas, so farming is the only option.”

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Yet some areas have seen most of their agricultural land repurposed for development in recent decades, he said.

“Especially in the central regions, where people have less than one mu of land [per household],” Wang said. “They have no way to support even a basic level of existence from the land.”

A young man from a rural village in the southern province of Guangdong who used the pseudonym Marginal Person told Radio Free Asia in writing that many young people are living off their parents where he lives, because the economy is so bad.

Asked what they’re doing, he replied: “Working as food delivery riders, growing vegetables and playing the lottery.”

“There are several ways to play, and the odds range from 1:9500 to 1:950 to 1:95,” he said. “Some people here have won hundreds of thousands of yuan, bought apartments and gotten married, but there are also people who have lost everything.”

He said many feel embarrassment and shame about their situation, however.

“Takeout deliveries in my town are all being done by young people from other towns, because they’re afraid of running into people they know and being laughed at,” he said.

Renting study space

In a separate article, Banyuetan also interviewed young people in urban areas who are renting out desks in shared study spaces rather than stay home all day doing nothing.

Rented study space is particularly popular among young people preparing for civil service or postgraduate entrance exams, the article said, adding that the market will expand to more than 10 million spaces by next year.

But unemployed young people are also picking up on the trend, and renting spaces just to look busy, and to give themselves a place outside of the family home, away from parental criticism or constant inquiries about how the job hunt is going, it said.

Desks can be rented by the hour, day, month or year, costing around 500 yuan (US$70) a month, and come equipped with chair, lamp, charging sockets and a locker for belongings.

They’re so popular that vacant desks are getting very hard to find, especially in more popular areas, the report said.

The jobless rate for 16-to-24-year-olds in China, excluding students, fell to 17.6% in September, compared with 18.8% in the previous month.

Ruling Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping published an article in the ideological magazine Qiushi on Oct. 31 calling for “full, high-quality employment” to “promote the sense of gain, happiness and security of the majority of workers,” but without offering detailed measures.

But it did highlight youth unemployment as a priority.

“We should insist on the employment of young people like college graduates as a top priority, take multiple measures to promote the employment of migrant workers ... and help groups in difficulty such as the long-term unemployed,” Xi wrote, calling for an end to employment discrimination and unpaid wages.

Worried about unrest

Political commentator Ji Feng said the government is clearly worried that high employment could lead to social unrest.

“Ordinary people were left with a sense of grievance after the economy collapsed,” Ji said. “The Communist Party is worried about that sense of grievance, and about social unrest.”

“But if they don’t make radical changes, they’re going to scare off private and foreign companies,” he said. “If they don’t make a U-turn, they’ll be sunk.”

Financial commentator He Jiangbing also blamed the economic direction taken by China under Xi.

“Private companies are the main employers, and they’re overwhelmed, because state-owned enterprises can’t solve the employment problem,” He said, calling for a return to better trade relations and a return to the export-driven economic growth of the pre-pandemic era.

“If it can’t export, then a company won’t create new job opportunities; it’ll be laying off staff,” he said. “In such a situation, all this talk of employment is just that -- talk.”

Germany-based social media influencer Great Firewall Frog said Xi’s policies have drained vitality from the Chinese economy.

“It’s Xi Jinping himself who’s the problem, the reason the Chinese economy is ruined and the labor market is depressed,” he said. “There’s no freedom or vitality these days ... when a single official document can destroy an entire industry, a wrong word on WeChat can get a person fired or imprisoned.”

“How can he say stuff like ‘promoting high quality, full employment’? It’s hilarious,” he said. “Dude, the guy should do stand-up.”

Translated with additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by .

Myanmar’s junta leader called on China to help bring stability to their common border on his first visit to his northern neighbor, a year after insurgents in north Myanmar border regions launched an offensive that has raised questions about the sustainability of his military rule.

China has extensive economic interests in Myanmar including energy pipelines running across it, from the Indian ocean to southern China’s Yunnan province, and is keen to see an end to the turmoil triggered by a 2001 military coup, when military chief Sen. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing ousted an elected government.

Min Aung Hlaing arrived in the city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, on Tuesday for talks with provincial officials and regional meetings on investment opportunities. Myanmar’s state media has not reported any planned trip to the capital, Beijing.

“The senior general discussed the need to place emphasis on stability of border areas and to accelerate cooperation for stability of border areas so that export and import trade can be conducted,” Myanmar’s military-run Myawady news outlet reported.

A three-party insurgent alliance based in Shan state, on the northeastern border with China, made unprecedented gains against junta forces after launching an offensive on Oct. 27 last year, capturing at least five major border trade crossings.

Insurgent allies in other parts of Myanmar have also been on the offensive, putting the military under unprecedented pressure and raising questions about the prospects of the military holding onto power.

Analysts say China has become frustrated with the junta’s failure to end the chaos and had been reluctant to invite Min Aung Hlaing to visit Beijing, as a mark of its disapproval.

While maintaining ties with the Myanmar junta, China also has contacts with the insurgent groups in northern and northeastern Myanmar battling to end military rule.

China has called on both sides to negotiate and has offered to help the junta organize an election next year saying it hopes it can help encourage reconciliation.

China has also pressed the insurgents to end their war and has closed border crossings to put economic pressure on them. China has also closed its border in some places to civilians fleeing fighting.

In September, one Shan state insurgent group, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, which is part of an alliance responsible for major territorial gains from the junta over the past year, agreed to cooperate with China to reduce conflict and to stop its campaign to capture major cities.

Political analyst Than Soe Naing said China was likely to maintain its pressure on the anti-junta groups.

“I believe China will continue to help the junta and pressure them,” Than Soe told RAdio Free Asika.

“They’ll also probably pressure them not to allow people to participate in the Spring Revolution,” he said, referring to the uprising against military rule triggered by the 2021 coup.

Residents of Shan state said the latest Chinese restrictions were on the stretch of border controlled on the Myanmar side by the United Wa State Army, a powerful militia that has not battled the junta for decades and is known to have close contacts in China.

Residents told Radio Free Asia that China’s closure of the border since Oct. 27 had led to shortages of medicine, fuel, food, electronics and household items causing prices to surge.

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Translated by Kiana Duncan. Edited by RFA Staff.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Burmese.

The Beijing-based South China Sea Probing Initiative, or SCSPI, a government-sanctioned think tank, said on the social media platform X that the fishermen “were detained in April and May” for illegally fishing activities in the waters around the Paracels. It did not provide other details including the number of detainees.

Vietnam, China and Taiwan all claim sovereignty over the island chain, known as Xisha islands in Chinese and Hoang Sa in Vietnam, but Beijing has been controlling the entire area since 1974, after defeating troops of the then South Vietnam government.

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Last week, a Vietnamese foreign ministry spokesperson said Hanoi had “resolutely” protested and demanded China “immediately release all the fishermen and fishing vessels, appropriately compensate them for the damages and stop the harassment against Vietnamese fishermen” without giving any further details.

Vietnam says that the Paracels have been a traditional fishing ground for generations of its fishermen but China has been stopping and expelling Vietnamese vessels from the waters around the islands, and sometimes detaining them and demanding fines.

Last month, Vietnam said Chinese law enforcement personnel boarded a fishing boat from Quang Ngai province and beat the crew with iron bars, seriously injuring four of them, prompting the Vietnamese government to publicly protest.

‘Destructive’ fishing activities

The SCSPI said that the Vietnamese fishermen were detained for “harvesting live corals, electrofishing and other environmentally destructive activities.”

It also published photos that it said showed explosives and detonators used by Vietnamese fishermen in the Paracels.

On Nov. 1, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press briefing in Beijing that China hoped Vietnam would “earnestly raise the awareness of its fishermen and make sure they will not engage in illegal activities in waters under China’s jurisdiction.”

Vietnamese authorities insisted that, as the Paracel islands belong to Vietnam, it is within the fishermen’s rights to operate in the archipelago’s waters.

This year, the Quang Ngai provincial government told media that most of the fishing boats from the province used non-destructive methods such as trawling, line fishing and diving.

The Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative, or AMTI, a U.S. think tank, said as for trawling, “China and Vietnam account for the largest share of overall fish catch in the South China Sea.”

In its report ‘Deep Blue Scars’ from Dec. 2023, AMTI also accused China of causing the most coral reef destruction in the South China Sea through dredging and land fill, burying roughly 4,648 acres (18.8km2) of reefs.” Vietnam came second with 1,402 acres (5.7km2).

Chinese fishermen have also been using an extremely harmful method of “dragging specially made brass propellers” to dig up reef surfaces for giant clam harvesting, AMTI’s report said.

Edited by Mike Firn.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Staff.

Just in the last few months, a former aide to the governor of New York state and her husband were arrested for alleged illicit activities promoting the interests of China; a Chinese democracy activist was arrested and accused of spying for China; and a historian was convicted of being an agent for Beijing.

The three separate cases of former Albany functionary Linda Sun, dissident Yuanjun Tang and author Wang Shujun took place in New York alone. And they were not the first cases of alleged Chinese influence operations targeting immigrants from China in the Big Apple.

Those cases came to light as a detailed investigation by the Washington Post revealed that China’s diplomats and pro-Beijing diaspora were behind demonstrations in San Francisco that attacked opponents during President Xi Jinping’s visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, summit last November.

All bear the hallmarks of China’s “united front” influence operations conducted by government ministries, party operatives and local proxies – but in a veiled manner.

“United front work is a unique blend of influence and interference activities, as well as intelligence operations that the CCP uses to shape its political environment,” said the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party in a report published last November.

What is the United Front Work Department?

Coordinating this overseas influence and interference work is Beijing’s shadowy United Front Work Department, or UFWD, set up in 1942, even before the Communists took over control of China.

Headed by Shi Taifeng, a Politburo member, it seeks to promote China’s political interests through an extensive network of organizations and individuals around the world, experts say.

It spares no effort trying to push Beijing’s view – and crush dissenting opinions – among people in Taiwan and Hong Kong, ethnic minorities such as Mongolians, Tibetans and Uyghurs as well as among religious groups.

How does the UFWD operate?

The United Front Work Department is engaged in a mixture of activities, from interfering in the Chinese diaspora and suppressing dissidents to gathering intelligence, encouraging investment in China and facilitating the transfer of technology, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, or ASPI, said in a report.

It uses quasi-official organizations and civil society groups based overseas to blur the line between official and private, giving China plausible deniability in many cases, witnesses told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which advises Congress on China.

It funds Confucius Institutes – Chinese-language study centers on university campuses around the world – many of which have been shut down in the United States. It also funds diplomats’ engagement with foreign elites and its police force’s perpetration of “transnational repression” – clamping down on dissidents or opponents outside China’s borders, the review commission said in a 2023 report based on expert testimony.

United front groups often have innocuous sounding names, like the Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification or the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. Many appear to be ordinary overseas Chinese community organizations, and are found in business and even in multinational corporations.

Lurking behind or within them, though, are government or party agencies – very often China’s powerful intelligence, security and secret police agency.

“United front groups are used – very specifically – to hide the Ministry of State Security,” said Peter Mattis, head of the non-profit Jamestown Foundation. “This is why I like to think of the United Front Work Department as the tall grass that is sort of deliberately cultivated to hide snakes,” he told RFA.

What is the history of China‘s ’united front’ work?

Under the Moscow-led Comintern in the 1920s, the Chinese Communist Party adapted Soviet revolutionary Vladimir Lenin’s concept of forming a “united front” – forging temporary alliances with friends and lesser enemies in order to defeat greater enemies.

After Mao Zedong’s Communists took power in 1949, united front work focused internally on co-opting Chinese capitalists and intellectuals, who were brought to heel and persecuted in the 1950s under Mao’s vicious ideological campaigns.

Xi Zhongxun, the father of current President Xi Jinping, played a key united front work role with top Tibetan Buddhist figures, trying to influence the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.

What role has Xi played?

While China denies meddling in the affairs of foreign nations, experts say that under President Xi, China’s overseas influence activities have become more aggressive and technologically sophisticated.

In 2017, Xi famously repeated Mao’s description of united front work as a “magic weapon” for the party’s success. But two years before that, he established a “leading small group” to coordinate top-level united front work and carried out a major expansion and reorganization of the UFWD.

“We will build a broad united front to forge great unity and solidarity, and we will encourage all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation to dedicate themselves to realizing the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation,” Xi told the 20th Party Congress in 2022.

That congress saw Xi’s top ideological theorist, Wang Huning, who ranks fourth in the Politburo, appointed to lead the national-level united front system, the House Select Committee report said.

Xi has built up the power and capacity of the UFWD, which controls 11 subordinate government agencies, including the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the State Administration for Religious Affairs, according to Australia’s ASPI.

What are some examples of the UFWD’s efforts in the U.S.?

In New York, prosecutors say that Linda Sun and her husband, Christopher Hu, received millions of dollars in cash, event tickets and gourmet salted duck from the UFWD. In exchange, Sun tried to remove references to Taiwan in state communications, and obtained unauthorized letters from the governor’s office to help Chinese officials travel, prosecutors say.

In California during Xi’s visit in November, the Washington Post reported, the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles paid for supporters’ hotels and meals and directly interacted with aggressive actors who punched and kicked anti-Xi protesters and attacked them with flagpoles and chemical spray. U.S. stopovers by Taiwan leaders have drawn similar protests.

Who are the targets of united front work?

Sun and Hu represent a key demographic in the UFWD’s crosshairs: the Chinese diaspora. The activist Tang had access to the overseas Chinese dissident and pro-democracy community and its network of supporters.

United front pressure and harassment tactics – including threats against family in China – are deployed against diaspora members of China’s persecuted ethnic and religious minorities: Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, and members of the banned Falun Gong movement.

Citizens of Taiwan have for decades been pressured by united front efforts to support unification with the Communist-controlled mainland.

The recent imposition of draconian national security legislation in Hong Kong has made citizens and exiles who oppose those authoritarian steps in formerly free Chinese territory targets of united front pressure.

These targets are not alone and the list is growing, with Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand also grappling with Chinese influence campaigns that smack of united front work.

“There’s no clear distinction between domestic and overseas united front work: all bureaus of the UFWD and all areas of united front work involve overseas activities,” the report from Australia’s ASPI said.

“This is because the key distinction underlying the United Front is not between domestic and overseas groups, but between the CCP and everyone else,” it said.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington told Radio Free Asia that the United Front’s domestic role is to “promote cooperation between the (Communist Party) and people who are not members of it.” Outreach to the diaspora “helps give full play to their role as a bridge linking China with the rest of the world,” the embassy spokesperson’s office said in an e-mailed statement.

“Its work is transparent, above-board and beyond reproach,” it said. “By making an issue out of China’s United Front work, some people are trying to discredit China’s political system and disrupt normal exchange and cooperation between China and the United States.”

Additional reporting by Jane Tang of RFA Investigative. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Paul Eckert for RFA.

Faced with plummeting birth rates, nationwide kindergarten closures and young people who are increasingly choosing to stay single, authorities in China have announced incentives to encourage people to have kids, calling for “a new marriage and childbearing culture.”

China’s cabinet, the State Council, published a slew of measures on Monday, including childbirth subsidies, better healthcare for mothers and children, and comprehensive childcare services.

Officials at all levels of government should “actively build a new marriage and childbearing culture and carry forward the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation, advocating ... marriage and childbearing at the right age,” the announcement said.

Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has called on women to focus on raising families, and the National People’s Congress has been looking at ways to boost flagging birth rates and kick-start the shrinking population, including flexible working policies, coverage for fertility treatment and extended maternity leave.

But young women in today’s China are increasingly choosing not to marry or have kids, citing huge inequalities and patriarchal attitudes that still run through family life, not to mention the sheer economic cost of raising a family.

Officials should “vigorously promote positive views of marriage, relationships, childbearing, and family" and build online matchmaking and dating services to help young people to find partners, while getting rid of “lavish weddings and high bride prices,” the State Council directive said.

The measures come after the Ministry of Education reported a 5% fall in the number of kindergartens last year, with more than 14,800 closures, marking the second year of decline.

Kindergarten enrollments fell by 5.35 million in 2023, a decrease of 11.55% from 2022, the ministry said in figures widely reported by Chinese media.

Live births fell from 17.86 million in 2016 to just 9.02 million in 2023, with birth rates plummeting from 1.77 per woman in 2016 to around 1.0 in 2023, placing the country second from bottom among the world’s major economies.

Global trend

Peng Xiujian, a senior researcher at Australia’s Victoria University, said low fertility rates are part of a global trend, especially in Asia, where young people are generally unwilling to have children.

The new measures “will be slow to take effect, and it is impossible to change people’s willingness to have children all at once,” Peng said.

The State Council said it would extend maternity leave from 98 days to 158 days, which would attract a maternity allowance in more than half of China’s provinces, and allow childcare tax allowances of up to 2,000 yuan (US$280) a month, while calling on local governments to expand and subsidize local childcare services.

But Peng said there are still huge barriers for women in the workplace who want to have families, and that issues like discrimination, flexible working and a working culture that is heavily focused on long hours would need to be addressed first.

Jessica Nisén, a demographer at the University of Turku in Finland, said the latest measures would be “very good” for couples who already have children or who have already decided they want them.

But she added, “building a new marriage and childbearing culture will surely be difficult though,” calling for more radical policies offering the same amount of leave to each parent to encourage shared responsibility.

She said the measures could have a “non-marginal” effect in the long term, but said the government needs to demonstrate it is committed to gender equality rather than just setting top-down targets for how many children should be born.

A millennial who declined to be named for fear of reprisals said that women’s rights in the workplace, affordable medical care and the cost of educating a child all need to be taken into account before more women will even consider having kids.

“The subsidies China is offering right now wouldn’t even make up one-tenth of the total cost of educating a child,” she said. “Perhaps if they covered all of the costs of prenatal checkups and childbirth, it would look as if they were a bit more serious about this.”

Recovery unlikely

Tomáš Sobotka, deputy director of the Vienna Institute of Demography, said the long-term recovery of birth rates looked unlikely in the current economic climate, citing high youth unemployment and “competitive or uncertain labor market prospects for many.”

He said ideological slogans like “a new marriage and childbearing culture” would have little practical effect and could even have the opposite effect.

“Government efforts in trying to exhort younger generations to form a family may meet with resistance from the young people who are alienated by their poor future prospects,” Sobotka told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview.

He said universal benefits like cheap childcare weren’t outlined in the policy, yet tax breaks would only be an incentive for more affluent couples.

“The new policies do not manage to address the broader perception of uncertainty, pressures, and lack of confidence about the future among the young generations today, which are driven by a mix of past experiences (such as COVID lockdowns and uncertainties), ... unaffordable housing in large cities, miserable labor market prospects, and the economic squeeze that is hitting young adults the most,” he said.

“Until these issues are at least partly addressed, birth rates will not recover much.”

Martin Whyte, professor emeritus of sociology at Harvard University, said the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s claim to legitimacy as a government has been undermined by the falling birth rates.

“There was a general assumption that the party and state in China were managing society quite well and successfully, and that the Chinese people were benefiting from that,” Whyte told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview. “And now, I think it’s likely that, if there’s some new campaigns or whatever, people are much more likely to be skeptical or even critical.”

He said the campaigns to create a “new childbearing culture” could also backfire.

“Some of these things Xi Jinping claimed, such as to find ways for women to have more babies, are clearly creating derision in China,” he said. “Young people and women, in particular, think this is absurd, and that Xi Jinping is completely out of touch with reality.”

“The society Chinese are living under does not produce a situation in which it would make sense to have three babies,” Whyte said, adding that the coercive nature of Xi’s three-year zero-COVID policy had undermined his legitimacy in the eyes of many in China.

“[There are] also other things like the housing sector crisis,” he said. “China produced incentives for local governments and developers to build a lot more housing than was actually needed. And then with population shrinking… where is the competence of the party-state in allowing that to happen?”

‘A very different place’

Alicja Bachulska, a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, agreed.

“I would say ... in 2023 we have felt a lot of frustration, a lot of disillusionment,” she said in a YouTube debate with Bonnie Glaser of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “[The] Chinese authorities [are] making quite arbitrary decisions that are not perceived any more in some circles as very rational.”

“I think that the end of the zero-COVD policy, the street protests that took place in China at the end of 2022 made many people realize that the level of frustration related to the way Chinese political elites operate at the moment had started to be really, really big,” she said.

This also has an effect on Beijing’s attempts to boost the birth rate, Bachulska said.

“For China, the solution is to convince most young women in China, well-educated middle class urban women, to have more children, and they are really trying hard to build this positive energy idea of how the demographic crisis in China will be turned into an opportunity,” she said. “But then on the other hand you have a huge crackdown on the feminist movement.”

She said women in China are in “a very different place” despite being unable to organize, and were unlikely to go along with the authorities' campaign for more children.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Roseanne Gerin.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Lucie Lo for RFA Mandarin.

The “patriotic” campaign is the latest wave of anti-Japanese sentiment to sweep the country, which intensified after the Japanese authorities released treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant into the surrounding ocean in 2023, sparking fears of tainted seafood and environmental damage.

There are also growing concerns about anti-Japanese hate in China following the killing of a 10-year-old Japanese boy in the southern city of Shenzhen last month, with the country’s foreign ministry forced to deny that the government teaches its citizens to hate Japan.

“There are so many countries with advanced dairy products and technology – why choose Japan?” one social media user commented from Guangdong, while a comment from Jiangsu said “Consumers are patriotic, and we’re not stupid.”

“Nothing good will come from cooperating with Japan,” wrote someone from Gansu, in a screenshot posted to X by @VOCPEnglish. Another comment appeared to agree: “Best not to have any dealings with them. They have evil intentions and we must be on guard,” it said.

The comments came after Feihe reportedly signed a letter of intent on Oct. 3 to develop a lactoferrin-based infant formula product with Japan’s Kyowa Hakko Biochemical Co. Ltd. via a new research & development facility, prompting a wave of public outrage on social media that propelled Feihe to the top of trending topics last week.

Feihe issued a statement on Oct. 18 which didn’t deny the reported collaboration, but did deny claims on social media that the company would import raw materials for its products from Japan.

“This statement is untrue and has seriously affected our brand’s reputation,” the statement said, adding: “Feihe, as a representative of Chinese national enterprises, shares the same patriotic sentiments as consumers.”

But it warned of possible legal action if social media comments continued to damage its brand.

Limits to nationalism

Anti-Japanese feeling has long been a key weapon in the armory of China’s nationalistic “little pinks,” a hardy staple of Chinese television and cinema and a handy form of clickbait for anyone seeking to boost social media traffic, although Chinese tourists continue to flock to Japan.

The Shenzhen killing wasn’t the first attack this year – a Chinese woman died and a Japanese mother and child were injured in a knife attack in the eastern city of Suzhou in June.

China last week called on Japan to “face and reflect on its history of aggression ... and make a clean break with militarism” after Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba reportedly sent an offering to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine. Tokyo should seek to “earn the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community with concrete actions,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a statement on Oct. 17.

China objects whenever Japanese leaders visit the shrine, saying it honors “14 convicted Class-A war criminals with grave responsibilities for war crimes” committed during World War II in China.

Ishiba, who took office on Oct. 1, made a ritual “masakaki” tree offering under his name as prime minister, Japan’s Jiji Press reported.

Nonetheless, Chinese state media have lined up to support Feihe, which is listed as a key research and development company in China’s 14th Five Year Plan, with an op-ed by state news agency Xinhua claiming the company had been “unreasonably slandered.”

Sun Kuo-hsiang, director of the Asia-Pacific Institute at Taiwan’s Nanhua University, said that China has long used nationalism as a tool to build “unity” in the face of a foreign opponent, but that there are limits on how far Beijing will let it go.

“I think the Chinese Communist Party really does have a limit when it comes to nationalism,” Sun told RFA Cantonese in a recent interview on anti-Japanese sentiment on social media. “When it serves the Chinese government’s foreign or domestic policy goals, they will encourage it.”

“But if it starts to threaten China’s international image or public order at home, they’ll clamp down on it.”

‘Manipulated and brainwashed’

Meanwhile, parents whose children died or were made sick by infant formula tainted with melamine in a scandal that broke in 2008 called for caution.

“Little pinks these days are highly focused on biased food safety information, on hatred of Japan, patriotism and nationalism,” Wang Chenxu, whose sister was made sick by tainted infant formula, told RFA Mandarin in a recent interview.

“They are totally being manipulated and brainwash’ed by government propaganda,” he said. “They believe whatever the government tells them.”

Patriotism is making people blind to potential food safety issues in homegrown products, Wang warned.

Wang’s father Guo Caihong said the melamine scandal had led to the downfall of Sanlu, one of the biggest companies in China at the time, suggesting that tainted milk was rife throughout the industry.

Three executives of the Shanghai Panda Dairy Company were jailed for terms of three to five years in March 2010 for their roles in the production and sale of melamine-tainted dairy products last year.

And in November 2009, authorities in the northern city of Shijiazhuang executed two people for their role in the scandal, which killed at least six children and sickened hundreds of thousands.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Yitong Wu, Ha Syut and Ray Chung for RFA Cantonese.

While Hu is largely remembered in China for being under the political thumb of his predecessor and eminence grise Jiang Zemin, Wen is credited with pumping new life into the economy with a massive stimulus program worth 4 trillion yuan (US$586 billion).