Day: November 27, 2022

China Censors Rare, Nationwide Protests

Chin@Strategy

Shanghai —  China’s censors were working Monday to extinguish signs of rare, social media-driven protests that flared across major cities over the weekend calling for political freedoms and an end to Covid lockdowns. Sunday saw people take to the streets in several major cities across China to call for an end to lockdowns and greater political freedoms, in a wave of nationwide protests not seen since pro-democracy rallies in 1989 were crushed. A deadly fire last week in Urumqi, the capital of northwest China’s Xinjiang region, has become a catalyst…

Coronavirus: as China hits record 40,052 daily cases, can zero-Covid continue?

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Covid-19 infections have been on the rise across China since early October, believed to be driven by new subvariants of the highly infectious but less deadly Omicron strain. The number of severe cases, however, has been comparatively low. Advertisement Professor Benjamin Cowling, head of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Hong Kong, said this needed to be interpreted with caution as there was usually a two-week lag between infection and more severe clinical outcomes. “We need to be careful in interpreting the current mortality rates because it can take…

Vietnamese police dismantle fraud group that stole data and hacked bank accounts

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Police in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Binh have cracked a fraud ring that took control of users’ mobile phones to steal the equivalent of U.S. $1.6 million. The group accessed information on customers who took out bank loans. They used it to gain access to the users’ smart phone SIM cards, recover internet banking passwords and hijack accounts. An estimated 40 accounts were hacked and VND40 billion stolen. The Department of Cyber ​​Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (PA05), operating under the Quang Binh Police Department, launched an investigation …

Taiwan Elections Seen as a Warning to Ruling Party

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The defeat suffered by Taiwan’s pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party in Saturday’s local elections is seen as a warning to President Tsai Ing-wen and her party that voters are not happy with their governance on local issues. Analysts, though, say it is too soon to tell what consequences the loss will have on the presidential race in January 2024 and on relations with mainland China, which wants to reunify with the self-ruled island one day. The party, which had lost half of the cities and counties it had held in…

China petrochemicals sector likely to miss 2030 peak carbon target, but all is not lost, report says

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This is the baseline scenario, the report released last week said. China has not set a peak carbon timetable for the sector. But a joint plan issued by three central government agencies in August required carbon-intensive industries – which includes petrochemicals – to reach peak emissions by 2030. Advertisement President Xi Jinping announced in 2020 that China would aim for peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. 02:38 China launches world’s largest carbon-trading scheme as part of 2060 carbon neutrality goal A decarbonisation push for petrochemicals would…

China: Video shows BBC journalist’s arrest during Covid protest – video

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Video shared on social media shows the moment BBC journalist Edward Lawrence was arrested by Chinese authorities while covering an anti-lockdown protest in Shanghai. Lawrence was dragged away by police shouting “Call the Consulate, now.” Protests over Covid restrictions have spread to several cities across China and were triggered by a deadly fire at a residential high-rise building in the city of Urumqi, in the country’s western Xinjiang region. Videos of the incident posted on social media led to accusations that lockdowns were a factor in the blaze that killed…

Partner of detained Australian journalist Cheng Lei hopeful of ‘compassionate and speedy resolution’

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The Australian journalist detained in China, Cheng Lei, is trying to remain positive despite her “very difficult situation” and is grateful for messages of encouragement from supporters, her partner has said. Cheng’s partner, Nick Coyle, said it was positive that the Australian prime minister, the foreign minister and the deputy prime minister had all raised her case in recent talks with their Chinese counterparts. “We hope that this positive dialogue can lead towards a compassionate and speedy resolution to the current situation,” he told Guardian Australia. Asked whether he was…

How reliable is China’s job data, and who is included in the unemployment rate?

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Independent analysts are particularly critical of the fact it does not fully cover the country’s nearly 300 million rural migrant workers, the most vulnerable group in the Chinese job market. 02:30 Millions of China’s fresh graduates enter bleak job market Does China’s unemployment rate include migrant workers? Partly. But to understand that we need to take a closer look at China’s hukou, a household registration document all citizens must have that controls access to public services based on the place to which the holder belongs. Advertisement Under the system residents…

BBC says Chinese police assaulted and detained its reporter at Shanghai protest

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Chinese police assaulted and detained a BBC journalist covering a protest in Shanghai on Sunday, releasing him after several hours, the broadcaster has said. “The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai,” a spokesperson for the British public service broadcaster said. “He was held for several hours before being released. During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist.” Shanghai is one…

Crowd Angered by COVID-19 Lockdowns Calls for China’s Xi to Step Down

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Advertisement Protesters angered by strict anti-virus measures called for China’s powerful leader to resign, an unprecedented rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled to suppress demonstrations Sunday that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Police using pepper spray drove away demonstrators in Shanghai who called for Xi Jinping to step down and an end to one-party rule, but hours later people rallied again in the same spot. Police again broke up the demonstration, and a reporter saw protesters under arrest being driven…