The U.S. and Vietnam have upgraded their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, putting Washington’s engagement with Hanoi on a par with that of Beijing’s and Moscow’s. The move came during a two-day visit by Joe Biden, the first U.S. president to be invited to the country by a leader of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Biden met with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on Sunday, flying straight to Hanoi from the G20 summit in Delhi. “Vietnam and the U.S. are critical partners at what I would argue is…
Day: September 10, 2023
Chinese scientists mark tech first with underwater survey near South China Sea’s Scarborough Shoal
The team set off on the expedition in early July on board the Shi Yan 6, the newest and one of the most advanced research ships owned by China. Chinese ship asks for Sri Lanka port call, raising possible concerns in India Chinese state media reports on the survey attracted a lot of public attention. But the lead researchers have kept a low profile. Advertisement “It was just a normal exploration [voyage],” Sun Zhen, deputy director of the SCSIO’s Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology told the Post.…
Have we reached peak China? How the booming middle class hit a brick wall
Holding her newborn daughter, Lynne, 33, feels apprehensive about the future. Her elder son, though adorable, is already draining the family coffers and he hasn’t even started school yet. His private kindergarten in Beijing costs 80,000 yuan (US$11,ooo) a year. Extracurricular classes, including 10 hours a week of English, sports, painting and online tutorials, cost another 60,000 yuan (US$8,300). She already knows that his five-month-old sister won’t get the same resources. “I don’t have the energy to jiwa again,” she says, using a Mandarin term for helicopter parenting. She longs…
Beijing warns 4 Chinese provinces over ‘lax’ enforcement of energy-saving goals under 2025 plan
Beijing has warned planning officials from four provinces over “lax” oversight of energy-saving goals, with some regions failing to evaluate the impact of “high emission” and “low quality” projects. The provinces of Hubei, Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai have been warned over slow progress towards energy efficiency goals, economic planning body the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in an online statement released on Saturday. Officials from the body’s environmental resources department held a series of meetings over the past week with local NDRC representatives from the four provinces to…
Blocked Roads, Crumbling Camps as China Moves Xinjiang Detentions Out of Sight
Artux, China — A policeman waves reporters away from a desert prison in Xinjiang, part of a network of detention facilities transformed by China’s shifting policies in the northwestern region. Since 2017, more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been swept into internment camps where human rights abuses are commonplace, researchers, campaigners and members of the diaspora say. Beijing says the facilities were voluntary centers for teaching vocational skills, closed years ago after their inhabitants “graduated” into stable employment and better lives. Analysts counter that some camps have…
Former Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang steps down from cloud unit in surprise move amid leadership transition
Former Alibaba Group Holding chairman and CEO Daniel Zhang Yong is stepping down as head of the e-commerce giant’s cloud division, a move that comes as a surprise the same day he was scheduled to hand the reins of the parent company to co-founder Joseph C. Tsai, who has taken over as chairman. Alibaba’s new CEO Eddie Wu Yongming, who like Tsai assumed his new role on Sunday, has also take over for Zhang as acting chairman and CEO of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence Group on the same day, according to…
Death and debt in China: how a ‘half-baked’ bankruptcy law offers few individuals a fresh start
Shenzhen, the metropolis located a 130km (81-mile) drive from Guangzhou, is the only place in all of mainland China where local residents can file for personal bankruptcy, as a pilot scheme was launched there in March 2021. As China’s household debt creeps upward, IMF’s warning line looms Contending that a bankruptcy law that doesn’t cover individuals is a “half-baked law”, legal professionals have been calling for Shenzhen’s scheme to be extended to the entire nation, giving people the chance to emerge from debilitating debt with a fresh start. Advertisement This…
FirstFT: Vietnam and US boost ties in move to counter China
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. This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get it sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning Good morning. Vietnam has upgraded its relationship with the US to the highest level, bringing the former foes closer in the face of Beijing’s growing assertiveness. The US signed a “comprehensive strategic partnership” with the south-east Asian country…
Biden Forges Deeper Ties With Vietnam as China Mounts Ambition
President Biden cemented a new strategic relationship with Vietnam on Sunday, bringing two historical foes closer than they have ever been and putting the ghosts of the past behind them out of shared worry over China’s mounting ambitions in the region. During a landmark visit to Hanoi by the American president, Vietnam’s Communist Party leadership formally raised the country’s ties to the United States to the highest level in Hanoi’s diplomatic hierarchy, equivalent to those it has with Russia and China. Mr. Biden said the breakthrough was “the beginning of…
Biden: New US-Vietnam Strategic Partnership Not About Containing China
U.S. President Joe Biden has held his highest-level direct talks in months with the Chinese. The talks came during the recent summit of 20 of the world’s largest economies in New Delhi, India. During a historic visit to Vietnam after that, Biden also said a comprehensive strategic partnership between the U.S. and Vietnam is not about containing China. VOA’s State Department bureau chief Nike Ching has more. Voice of America