Day: July 17, 2023

Experts: Nonaggression Pact on Sea Feud Likely to Test Beijing’s Commitment to International Law

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The fate of negotiations between China and Southeast Asian nations to reach an agreement governing the disputed South China Sea depends on whether Beijing insists on sticking to its so-called nine-dash line claim rejected by an international tribunal in The Hague, experts said. China uses the U-shaped line — which compromises nine dashes — to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the contested waters. In 2016, the tribunal ruled in favor of the Philippines, which had challenged some of Beijing’s territorial claims. China and of the Association of Southeast…

China jobs: trash inspector with a master’s degree shows how ‘education reform is imminent’

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“The competition turned out to be fiercer than I imagined. There are many applicants even for positions that nobody would have cared to consider in the past few years,” said Liu, who has a master’s degree in tourism management and wants to work for a state-owned enterprise. If civil service does not pan out, she would like to teach at a public college, which tend to be better funded and more stable than private higher-education institutions in China. However, she noted that her lack of a PhD could make it…

Thousands Evacuated as Typhoon Pummels Southern China, Vietnam

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A quarter-million people were evacuated in southern China and Vietnam before a major typhoon roared ashore late Monday bringing fierce winds and rain and forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights and trains. The China Meteorological Administration said typhoon Talim, the fourth typhoon of the year, made landfall on the coast of Guangdong province at around 10:20 p.m. (1420 GMT) local time, bearing maximum winds of 136.8 kilometers (85 miles) per hour. Storm surges and lashing rains also hammered the southern coastline from Guangdong to Hainan provinces on Monday night,…

Cambodian Government Blocks News Sites Before Unopposed Election 

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Phnom Penh, Cambodia —  The Cambodian government has ordered internet service providers (ISPs) to block the websites and social media accounts of nine domains of at least three news outlets, including the Cambodia Daily Khmer and Radio Free Asia, just a week before the uncontested national election on July 23, according to an official letter obtained by VOA Khmer. The letter dated on July 12, issued by the Telecommunications Regulator of Cambodia, an entity under the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, stated that the government ordered ISPs to block the…

Billionaire co-founder of BYD uncertain about China’s ability to create breakthrough tech on par with ChatGPT

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Still, Xia’s investment firm remains cautious when it comes to investing in Chinese start-ups working on large language models (LLMs), the technology that underpins ChatGPT-like services, he said. Advertisement Chinese start-ups hoping to join the generative AI race face an underdeveloped capital market in the country, where most investment institutions and government-backed funds are hesitant to put in billions of dollars or wait more than a decade for the companies to succeed, according to Xia. “It’s difficult for very fundamentally innovative technologies in the field of AI to come out…

The old approach to US-China relations no longer works

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Receive free US-China relations updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest US-China relations news every morning. The writer, a senior fellow at the Yale Law School and former chair of Morgan Stanley Asia, is author of ‘Accidental Conflict: America, China, and the Clash of False Narratives’ US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen’s recent trip to Beijing was the economic policymaker’s carbon copy of Antony Blinken’s earlier diplomatic mission — plenty of talk but no meaningful conflict resolution. The same can be expected from climate envoy John…

Big LNG buyers and producers to tighten methane monitoring

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Receive free Climate change updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Climate change news every morning. Japan, the US, the EU, Australia and South Korea are in final talks on the creation of a mechanism for monitoring methane emissions that will bring together some of the world’s largest buyers and producers of liquefied natural gas to combat global warming. People directly involved in the discussions said the public-private initiative would involve setting up a database of real-time methane pollution data on individual LNG projects,…

Rights group: Myanmar democracy activist, family abducted in Malaysia

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A Myanmar democracy activist and her family, who are U.N. refugee card holders, were kidnapped from their home in Malaysia’s capital earlier this month, Human Rights Watch said Monday, adding that people linked to the Malaysian government may have been involved. Activist Thuzar Maung was targeted because she supported the Myanmar pro-democracy movement against the Burmese junta, but it was a first for holders of United Nations refugee cards, said a source who works with migrant groups in Malaysia. The July 4 abduction in Kuala Lumpur was carried out meticulously,…

John Kerry aims to put China tensions aside at crucial climate talks

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John Kerry, the US climate envoy, has called for more rapid action to confront the climate crisis in a crucial visit to China that is taking place against a fraught backdrop, with both countries currently baking under record heatwaves and Kerry facing hostile opposition from Republicans back home. Kerry’s meeting with Xie Zhenhua, his Chinese counterpart, for three days of formal talks in Beijing is the first substantive summit between the world’s two largest carbon emitters on the climate crisis since relations were frozen last August, when Nancy Pelosi, the…

Harrods to launch private members’ club in Shanghai

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Receive free Harrods Ltd updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Harrods Ltd news every morning. Harrods will open its first private members’ club in Shanghai later this year targeting ultra-high net worth individuals as the luxury department store pins its growth hopes on China.  The new facility will be based in the historic Cha House, built in 1920, and will have a Gordon Ramsay restaurant, a bar and lounge, private dining rooms and terraces for members. Annual fees will start from Rmb150,000 (£16,000). …