Day: September 12, 2023

Contacts of UK Spy Suspect Recount Curious Encounters

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LONDON and WASHINGTON —  Two U.K.-based activists have described troubling interactions with a researcher in the British parliament who was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing. The 28-year-old suspect, whose name has been withheld by British police because he has not been formally charged, worked in the China Research Group in Westminster as a researcher and had a parliamentary pass. He has insisted on his innocence and is currently free on bail. Finn Lau, a Hong Kong human rights activist currently in the U.K. and wanted by the Hong…

China’s newest aircraft carrier prepares to take to the seas

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Smoke rising from the chimney of a huge warship moored at Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai this month was the clearest sign yet that the Fujian, China’s newest aircraft carrier, was getting ready to sail. After sheds on the warship’s deck were dismantled over the past few months, “it has started testing its propulsion system”, said Hsu Yen-chi, a researcher at the Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies think-tank in Taipei. The ship, China’s third aircraft carrier and the first designed domestically, marks a leap in Beijing’s pursuit of projecting armed…

China urged to be more tech savvy with Belt and Road Initiative as developed nations steer clear and US curbs hit hard

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Beijing needs to beef up technological collaborations to underpin and enhance the Belt and Road Initiative, analysts say as the ambitious plan advocated by President Xi Jinping marks its 10th anniversary this year amid growing geopolitical uncertainties. The expert assessments, made at a seminar hosted by the Ministry of Science and Technology at the weekend, came as Beijing’s initiative to link economies into a China-centred trading network still reports an overall low level of technological development and insufficient collaboration with its partners. Technological cooperation is concentrated among just a few…

Hunt for nearly 70 crocodiles that escaped during China floods

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A Chinese city has launched an operation to find a large number of crocodiles that escaped when floods hit the region in recent days, authorities have said. A typhoon brought sustained heavy rains to southern China last week, triggering inundations in Hong Kong and other areas. Deluges around the city of Maoming in Guangdong province caused a lake at a commercial crocodile farm to overflow with over 70 animals escaping, local media reported. Local authorities warned villagers in Peng Cun at one point to stay indoors after crocodiles were seen…

Britain Rejects Calls to Label China a ‘Threat’ After Suspicions of Spying

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London —  The British government has rejected calls to officially label China a threat to its interests. Several lawmakers have called for a tougher line from the government after it was revealed that a researcher in the British parliament was arrested on suspicion of spying for Beijing. Spying suspects British police detained two men in March on suspicion of breaking Britain’s Official Secrets Act. The arrests came to light this week, when the Sunday Times newspaper reported that one of the suspects was a researcher in the British parliament with…

Sustained rift with China would harm UK universities, report warns

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UK universities would be hugely damaged by a sustained diplomatic rift between Britain and China, according to a report that predicts difficulty in replacing the Chinese students who now take up more than one in four PhD places. The study, co-authored by the former universities minister Jo Johnson, found that many leading institutions remain highly dependent on Chinese students for tuition fee income as well as to fill postgraduate research courses in subjects such as economics, science and technology. A sudden inflaming of tensions between the UK and China –…

Chinese developer Country Garden’s Malaysian project in focus amid contagion worries

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The financial woes of a top Chinese property developer, including more than $6bn in first-half losses and a warning of default risk, are reverberating in Malaysia, home to the troubled company’s largest overseas project. Country Garden, one of China’s biggest private real estate developers by sales, is at the centre of the country’s ongoing property sector crisis. The group last month reported a record net loss of Rmb48.9bn ($6.7bn) during the first six months of this year. The turmoil has also hit peers such as China Evergrande Group, which has…

100-metre tall watchtower to survey ocean in East China Sea and help protect Beijing’s ‘maritime rights’: state media

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The project, contracted by China Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd. (CNOOC Engineering), will allow at least 66 diverse types, or 195 sets of observation equipment, to gather environmental and oceanic data. “The platform facilitates real-time, high-resolution three-dimensional observations of the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere,” the report said. Advertisement It said the platform’s devices would continuously monitor environmental data, delivering precise oceanographic big data services crucial for research on climate change and serve as an early warning system for maritime disasters. The large-scale “scanner” will also help safeguard China’s maritime rights…

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to lead delegation to China, Japan and South Korea

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US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to lead delegation to China, Japan and South Korea US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer plans to lead a bipartisan congressional delegation to China, Japan and South Korea soon, an aide to Schumer said on Tuesday. It would be a high-profile trip by Schumer, who has repeatedly urged the United States to take a harder line on China and would follow visits by a series of Biden administration officials including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in August. Punchbowl News reported the trip earlier on…