Day: May 31, 2023

US Condemns North Korean Attempted Spy Satellite Launch

Media Library

White House —  Washington strongly condemned the attempted launch of North Korea’s first military spy satellite, a device that Pyongyang says it needs to monitor joint military exercises between the United States and South Korea. “With each and every one of these launches, whether it fails or succeeds, Kim Jong Un and his scientists and engineers — they learn and they improve and they adapt,” John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said in a Wednesday briefing to reporters. A statement published in North Korean state media said…

China’s Xi Jinping calls for greater state control of AI to counter ‘dangerous storms’

Media Library

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and top officials have called for greater state oversight of artificial intelligence as part of work to counter “dangerous storms” facing the country, state media reported. The president and other ruling Communist party officials agreed at a meeting of the National Security Commission to “improve security governance of network data and artificial intelligence”. “We must be prepared for worst-case and extreme scenarios, and be ready to withstand the major test of high winds, choppy waters, and even dangerous storms,” a readout of the meeting from official…

Korea Inc’s big battery bet on Indonesia at risk from US restrictions

Media Library

South Korean companies are relying on the US showing greater flexibility over China’s role in electric vehicle supply chains, as they invest heavily — often with Chinese partners — in battery materials production in Indonesia. A $441mn investment last month by Korean metals giant Posco in a nickel smelting plant on the Indonesian island of Halmahera has taken South Korea’s hard-cash dealmaking in the south-east Asian country to more than $3bn since the start of 2022, the bulk of it being battery-related. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of nickel,…

China’s 11.6m graduates face a jobs market with no jobs

Media Library

With a master’s degree in applied linguistics from one of Australia’s top universities, Ingrid Xie did not expect to end up working in a grocery store. But that was where she ended up after graduating from the University of Queensland in July last year. Xie did her undergraduate degree in China, studying English in the shade of palm trees at Hainan Tropical Ocean University. She went abroad for her master’s because she thought that would help her find a better job. But after working at a Korean supermarket in Brisbane…

The joke can be on Hong Kong comedians if they cross the line

Media Library

How do you survive as a comedian in Hong Kong, the Chinese territory that has slowly seen freedoms eroded since pro-democracy protests in 2019? “Don’t make fun of China,” says Jami Gong, a comedian and founder of the TakeOut comedy club. “You could have a pro-Beijing person in the audience. All you need is one complaint to change everything. We just want happy audiences.” He later emails me to emphasise: “We certainly respect China and love our home or else we wouldn’t be here.”  As a big fan of London’s stand-up comedy,…

China’s weak recovery is turning off foreign investors

Media Library

The writer is chief economist for the Asia-Pacific at Natixis and senior research fellow at the Bruegel Institute The sudden and immediate reopening of the Chinese economy after three years of zero-Covid policies on December 8 last year was accompanied by a rapid positive turn in foreign investors’ sentiment, leading to a surge in portfolio flows, especially equities. This shift was based on the experience of other economies’ pent-up post-pandemic demand. Yet China seems to be following a different pattern. While China’s services demand has been resilient, the sales of…

Ex-UN Chief Ban Calls for More Diplomatic Pressure on Myanmar’s Military Leaders

Media Library

SEOUL, South Korea —  Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday that he was communicating with authorities in military-run Myanmar as well as members of the armed resistance following a surprise visit to the country last month and called for more diplomatic pressure on the ruling generals to end the violence. Ban did not specify the nature of those communications and declined to disclose the details of his conversations with military leaders during their April meetings. He was speaking at a Seoul news conference along with other members of The…

North Korea vows to try again after failed satellite launch

Media Library

On the heels of a failed spy satellite launch on Wednesday, North Korea vowed that a second launch would come soon, state media reported. Taking off from the Sohae Satellite Launching ground at 6:27 a.m., the Malligyong-1 satellite mounted on the new-type Chollima-1 rocket lost thrust over the Yellow Sea, the state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA reported. The second stage of the rocket engine did not ignite properly, the report said, citing remarks made by a spokesperson from the National Aerospace Development Administration. “Scientists, technicians and experts concerned…

US-China tech war: Treasury official says outbound investment review will be ‘narrow and tailored’

Media Library

McHenry argued such restrictions would advance Beijing’s goals of limiting the influence of Western firms in Chinese markets. In March, both Treasury and Commerce sent reports to Congress describing plans to establish a programme addressing outbound investments in “sensitive” technologies that could further the capabilities of US adversaries and threaten national security. Advertisement Without naming sectors, the reports stated the administration would focus on investments that “could result in the advancement of military and dual-use technologies by countries of concern”. They also said Treasury would lead in administering the programme,…

Shangri-La Dialogue: why the US and Chinese defence ministers should meet – and what stands in their way

Media Library

The two countries are also exchanging heated military signals around Taiwan, with the US ramping up its military support despite Beijing’s repeated warnings, and the People’s Liberation Army inching ever closer to the island in its drills. Any meeting in Singapore is likely to be tense but observers say the stakes of the superpowers not talking to each other in the new cold war era are grave. 04:17 China’s military simulates precision strikes on Taiwan after island’s leader returns from US visit Tensions between Beijing and Washington were expected to…