Prisoner of conscience Bui Tuan Lam, known as ‘Onion Bae,’ is being punished after unsuccessfully appealing his five year sentence, his wife told Radio Free Asia. Lam was convicted of spreading ‘propaganda against the state’ and his sentence was upheld in an appeal last month. His wife, Le Thanh Lam, told RFA Vietnamese that when she visited Lam last week, detention center officials told her all family meetings must be supervised and would therefore take time to arrange. However, following multiple calls to arrange a visit, his wife was told…
Day: September 17, 2023
Taiwan urges China to stop ‘destructive’ military activities as fighter jets cross median line
Taiwan’s defence ministry has urged China to stop “destructive, unilateral action” after reporting a sharp rise in Chinese military activities near the island, warning such behaviour could lead to an increase in tensions. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has in recent years regularly carried out military drills around the island as it seeks to assert its sovereignty claims and pressure Taipei. Taiwan’s defence ministry said that since Sunday it had spotted 103 Chinese military aircraft over the sea, a number it called a “recent high”.…
South Korea’s Yoon Warns Against Russia-North Korea Military Cooperation
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s president said the international community “will unite more tightly” to cope with deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, as he plans to raise the issue with world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week. Worries about Russian-North Korean ties have flared since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia last week for a summit with President Vladimir Putin and to tour a slew of high-profile military and technology sites. Foreign experts speculate Kim could refill Russia’s ammunition inventory drained…
Nippon Paint targets China expansion despite property market slowdown
Receive free Asia-Pacific companies updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Asia-Pacific companies news every morning. Nippon Paint, a company heavily exposed to China’s faltering property market, is betting it can still make “good money” by rapidly expanding its market share even as the country’s developers flirt with default. Nippon Paint’s co-president Yuichiro Wakatsuki said he remains “cautiously optimistic” about China despite investor concerns about the impact of the slowdown for the Japanese group, which makes 35 per cent of its revenues in the…
China’s property revival plan threatened by stand-off over old neighbourhoods
Receive free Chinese business & finance updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Chinese business & finance news every morning. The houses in Dragon Pearl Garden may have cracked pipes and sinking foundations, but the hundreds of people living in this faded neighbourhood in Shanghai have no intention of leaving any time soon. A government offer worth Rmb12mn ($1.6mn) — three Rmb4mn apartments for each household — is nowhere near enough to persuade the residents to leave. “I will stick to my house unless…
Evergrande arrests: China police detain staff at property giant’s wealth management arm
Police in China have arrested several employees at a subsidiary of Evergrande, the troubled property giant that is struggling under debts running into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Employees at Evergrande’s financial subsidiary, Evergrande Wealth Management, were arrested, police in the southern city of Shenzhen said in a statement, without specifying the number of employees or the charges against them. Police in the statement also urged the public to report any cases of suspected fraud to the authorities. Evergrande’s enormous debt has contributed to the country’s deepening property market…
Peak China? Jobs, local services and welfare strain under economy’s structural faults
When finding a job feels as unlikely as winning the lottery, playing the actual lottery may seem like a more productive use of time. In the first half of 2023, faced with a struggling economy, Chinese consumers spent 273.9bn yuan ($37bn/£30bn) on lottery tickets, an increase of more than 50% on the same period in 2022. It’s just the latest symptom of an economy in distress. A record high youth unemployment rate of 21.3% in June prompted the government to stop publishing data on the issue – along with other…
How the rise and fall of an unlikely online influencer triggered a debate about the plight of older Chinese
The case became a talking point nationwide as it brought to light the emotional needs of the vast number of elderly in China’s rapidly ageing society and their vulnerability to financial exploitation online. Xiu Cai’s account was shut down on September 2 – possibly a victim of an ongoing crackdown by the Beijing authorities targeting online influences who are deemed to have a harmful influence on society. There has been no official explanation, but media reports said the tax authorities in Bozhou, Xiu Cai’s home town in Anhui province, had…
FirstFT: US and China officials meet in Malta to try to stabilise ties
Receive free US updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest US 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. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in the latest effort to stabilise US-China relations ahead of a possible meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping in November. The White House said…
Top US and Chinese diplomats meet in Malta to smooth strained relations
Top US and Chinese diplomats met in Malta over the weekend as the world’s two largest economies attempted to smooth strained relations and clear a path for their respective presidents – Joe Biden and Xi Jinping – to meet in November. According to both Beijing and Washington, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met multiple times with China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, in Malta, where – according to separate statements – “candid, substantive and constructive” talks were held. A readout from the White House on Sunday said the two…