Day: January 26, 2024

China Says It Has Imprisoned Ian Stones, a British Businessman, on Spy Charges

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A British businessman who disappeared from public view in China in 2018 was sentenced to five years in prison in 2022, China’s foreign ministry said on Friday, in its first public acknowledgment of the case. The businessman, Ian J. Stones, had lived in China since the 1970s, working for companies such as General Motors and Pfizer. For years after he vanished, there was no public information about his whereabouts, though some in the business community privately discussed his secret detention. A spokesman for the foreign ministry said that Mr. Stones…

China’s Economy, Politics Roil Hong Kong Market, Say Economists

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hong kong/washington/taipei, taiwan —  The Hong Kong Stock Exchange’s benchmark Hang Seng index is having a rocky start to the new year, trading around the same level it was at when the British handed the city to Beijing 27 years ago and losing its place as the fourth-largest capital market in Asia to India. Last year it was the worst-performing major market in the world. The Hang Seng has been trading below 16,000 points, declining in value for about 90% of the trading days so far this year. On January…

Tuvalu’s pro-Taiwan prime minister Kausea Natano loses seat in partial election results

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The pro-Taiwan leader of the Pacific islands nation of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano, has lost his seat according to partial election results. The vote is being closely watched by Taiwan, China and the United States, amid speculation the micronation could be poised to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing. Tuvalu, with a population of about 11,200 spread across nine islands, is one of three remaining Pacific allies of Taiwan, after Nauru cut ties this month and switched to Beijing, which had promised more development help. Kausea Natano had pledged to continue support…

China, Malaysia nearing new durian deal, and an extension of visa-free travel is on the table

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Currently, Thai durians account for about two-thirds of the massive China market, which has captured more than 90 per cent of the global total with 1.4 million tonnes imported last year. Most of the remainder comes from Vietnam and a smattering reaches China from the Philippines. Smell of commerce in the air as China, Malaysia accelerate durian import talks The pricey, pungent and prickly export often called the “king of fruits” has captivated Chinese consumers and is often given a gift for major events such as weddings. China has not…

The Chinese scientists leaving top US universities to take up high-profile roles in China, boosting Beijing in its race for global talent

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3. Star mathematician leaves US for China The 36-year-old Chinese-born geometer has joined the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics. Photo: Zhejiang University Award-winning Chinese-born geometer Sun Song leaves California to take up a position in China. 4. MacArthur ‘genius’ biochemist Kunliang Guan leaves US for new role in China After working in the United States for more than 30 years, biochemist Kunliang Guan is back in China with a full-time chair professor position at Westlake University in the eastern province of Zhejiang. 5. British chair professor…

Wilting fortunes: Wong Kar-wai’s Blossoms Shanghai drama series offers stock investors painful reality check on past glory

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“It is all tears and sorrow now, when people like me look back at the stock market,” said Lu Shunxi, a stock punter since trading first began in Shanghai in November 1990. “The birth of China’s stock market gave an opportunity to novice investors who were drawn to a casino-like market to gamble and prosper.” For a quarter of a century, Shanghai’s stock market rode on China’s economic engine, which roared along at an average of 10 per cent every year from 1994 to 2007. After the 2008 Beijing Olympics,…

Canada Starts Inquiry Into Election Interference by China, Others

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Vancouver, British Columbia —  An official commission is about to get underway in Ottawa as Canada tries to determine to what extent China and other countries interfered in its last two elections. The investigation also will examine whether Russia and India interfered as well. All three countries have denied the allegations. Former Conservative Member of Parliament Kenny Chiu (Canadian House of Commons) Justice Marie-Josee Hogue will oversee the commission, which is the latest attempt to find out how countries — predominately China, Russia and India — may have sought to…

Analysts See New EU Rules Hurting China Exports, Further Straining Ties 

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berlin —  Analysts say new draft regulations announced by the European Union this week are likely to hit Chinese exports when approved and further strain relations between Beijing and Brussels. The regulations, unveiled Wednesday, are intended to protect the bloc’s economy and keep sensitive technology from falling into the hands of geopolitical rivals. A statement accompanying the draft described the regulations as part of an initiative to boost the bloc’s economic security “at a time of growing geopolitical tensions and profound technological shifts.” The package includes measures to strengthen export…

Analysts: China’s Repatriation of North Korean Defectors Supports Pyongyang’s Authoritarian Rule

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washington —  Human rights experts are dismissing Beijing’s latest claim, made again this week, that North Koreans fleeing into China are not political refugees but only illegal migrants seeking economic opportunities. Several experts said they see the claim as simply a way of supporting Pyongyang’s authoritarian system, which is similar to China’s own. “There [are] no so-called DPRK defectors in China. People who illegally entered into China for economic reasons are not refugees,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Wednesday at a press briefing. His remarks came after South…

Samsung to integrate Baidu’s AI model into new Galaxy S24 handsets, as mainland Chinese rivals push new smartphones with similar tech

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Under a strategic partnership between Samsung’s China arm and Baidu AI Cloud, the recently unveiled Galaxy S24 series will deploy the Ernie LLM to perform the handset’s new “Circle to Search” feature that enables users on the mainland to search texts, images or videos via hand gestures, with results provided by the Chinese online search and AI firm, according to an announcement on Thursday. Ernie will also help users translate and summarise texts, as well as transcribe speech in multiple languages via the Note Assistant function, according to Baidu. Globally,…