Day: May 19, 2023

G7 Countries Borrow China’s Economic Strategy

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Midway through his face-to-face meeting with President Biden in Indonesia last fall, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, offered an unsolicited warning. Mr. Biden had in the preceding months signed a series of laws aimed at supercharging America’s industrial capacity and imposed new limits on the export of technology to China, in hopes of dominating the race for advanced energy technologies that could help fight climate change. For months, he and his aides had worked to recruit allied countries to impose their own restrictions on sending technology to China. The effort echoed…

Why nations seeking to hedge between US and China should look to Vietnam, not the Philippines

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Singapore and Malaysia are members of the Five Power Defence Arrangements alongside Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Malaysia also hosts Australian units at its Butterworth airbase, but is nevertheless still trying to hedge between superpowers. Indonesia has been able to maintain neutrality between the US and China, rejecting a 2020 US request to allow its surveillance planes to land and refuel there. 09:10 Between two superpowers: Indonesia’s position in the US-China rivalry Meanwhile, the models for the best and worst approaches to hedging are Vietnam and the Philippines respectively. Advertisement…

Could this flying, diving drone one day help with ocean rescues? Its Hong Kong and mainland China developers say it’s possible

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“Waterproofing is a very challenging task, especially in seawater,” Chen said. “We are still working on the navigation and localisation under water because we don’t have GPS under water. “Once it is under water, communication will be very limited.” Advertisement The hybrid drone is named the TJ-FlyingFish after CHUK’s partner institute – Tongji University’s Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous Systems. Liu Xuchen, a member of the Unmanned Systems Research Group and a PhD Student supervised by Chen at CUHK, said the team aspired to design a drone that could…

Chiding US Impact, China Pledges More Investment in Central Asia

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washington —  During a two-day summit this week in its Silk Road city of Xian, China promised more investment, enhanced security and development assistance to Central Asian states Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, which thanked Beijing for building infrastructure networks in the region, boosting trade and understanding their challenges. “The world needs a stable, prosperous, harmonious and inter-connected Central Asia,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said. “China is ready to help Central Asian countries strengthen law enforcement, defense … and jointly promote peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan.” Addressing a group…

Ukraine war: US at G7 reveals sanctions list targeting hundreds of entities for helping Russia’s invasion

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Its sanctions targeted parties across Russia’s defence, technology, energy and metals and mining sectors, including those involved in sanctions circumvention and evasion. Beijing Lucheng Weiye Technology Development and its China-based subsidiary were designated for supporting SMT-iLogic, a Russian-based tech company involved in procuring foreign technology for the manufacture of Orlan drones. Advertisement Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Links, a microelectronics supplier, and Macau-based Novo Blockchain Consultoria were designated, respectively, for supporting SMT-iLogic and another Russian entity involved in Orlan drone manufacturing. Hong Kong-based IPS Pacific and its China-based subsidiary were sanctioned…

US and Japan seek to unite G7 against China. Should Beijing be worried?

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The summit will be a test of the G7’s unity, as members – which also include Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the EU – are expected to seek consensus on a host of China-related issues, from Taiwan and supply chains to Beijing’s quasi-alliance with Moscow and its alleged economic coercion against other countries. In a move some analysts said was aimed at Beijing, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida invited eight non-member countries to the summit in a bid to expand the US-led coalition’s influence among China’s Asian neighbours and…

Sunak to urge G7 support for collective action against ‘economic coercion’

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The UK and other G7 countries are planning collective action against Russia and China if they threaten trade boycotts for political reasons, announcing a new body to deal with “economic coercion”. Rishi Sunak will urge “bold and pragmatic collective action” against hostile states that stop trading with other countries when they disagree with their geopolitical decisions. He will cite Russia’s stranglehold on European gas supplies last year as a situation that could have been met with a collective response. Other examples include China’s punitive tariffs on Australian wine after Canberra…

G7 prepares unified response to Chinese ‘economic coercion’

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G7 leaders are planning to announce on Saturday measures to respond to Chinese “economic coercion”, as the group of advanced economies seeks to adopt a common approach on Beijing. UK officials said a “platform” would be unveiled at the G7 summit in Hiroshima that would provide a forum for the identification of economic vulnerabilities and co-ordination of protective measures. UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will open a summit session on economic security by noting China’s use of trade measures to coerce countries including Australia and Lithuania over political disputes. “The…

Guangdong court jails veteran dissident for 3 years over foreign media reports

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A court in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on Thursday jailed veteran dissident Wang Aizhong for three years after he retweeted foreign media reports on Chinese social media platforms. The Tianhe District People’s Court handed down the jail term after finding Wang guilty of “picking quarrels and stirring up troubles,” a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party. The court found that Wang had “used social media platforms to quote and repost false reports in the foreign media about China’s political system.” Wang,…