Day: April 12, 2024

Alibaba, navigating sea change, reorients business towards bread-and-butter e-commerce and AI, pares down overhaul

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By March 2023, Alibaba had lost three quarters of its value from the peak in October 2020, as the e-commerce giant, once seen as China’s answer to Amazon.com, faces questions on whether it can recapture its former glory while dealing with China’s economic slowdown, regulatory scrutiny and fierce competition from old and new rivals. The Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Photo: AFP It was against this backdrop that Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, announced in that same month an overhaul plan to break itself into six…

US says China is boosting Russia’s war machine in Ukraine

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China is backing Russia’s war effort in Ukraine by helping Moscow in its biggest military build-up since the Soviet era, providing drone and missile technology, satellite imagery and machine tools, senior US officials said on Friday. However, the Chinese embassy in the US said it has not provided weaponry to any party, adding that it is “not a producer of or party involved in the Ukraine crisis”. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US President Joe Biden raised the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping in their recent…

How could an Aukus role for Tokyo affect China’s ties with Japan?

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In the end, little changed, with Kishida saying “nothing has been decided at this moment” on Japan’s direct cooperation with Aukus. Nevertheless, Chinese observers say that the direction of travel is clear: Tokyo is tilting more towards US-led security structures. 02:52 China warns Aukus against going down ‘dangerous road’ over nuclear-powered submarine pact China warns Aukus against going down ‘dangerous road’ over nuclear-powered submarine pact Yet, China remains Japan’s biggest trading partner, with US$318 billion in total trade last year, according to Chinese data, and their economies are highly intertwined.…

China supporting Russia in massive military expansion, US says

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China is helping Russia undertake its biggest military expansion since Soviet times, ramping up sales of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for its war against Ukraine, according to a US assessment. US officials are hoping the release of the intelligence will encourage European allies to press China, as the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, heads to Beijing this weekend and G7 foreign ministers meet next week in Italy. Announcing US findings, officials said China was helping Russia in…

US: China strengthens Russian war machine with surging equipment sales

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WASHINGTON —  China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow in turn is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine, according to a U.S. assessment. Two senior Biden administration officials, who discussed the sensitive findings Friday on the condition of anonymity, said that in 2023 about 90% of Russia’s microelectronics came from China. Russia has used those to make missiles, tanks and aircraft. Nearly 70% of Russia’s approximately $900 million in machine tool imports…

Uyghur activist receives Roosevelt freedom of worship award

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A Uyghur activist on Thursday received a Four Freedoms award from the Roosevelt Foundation for years of campaigning for the rights of Muslim Uyghurs in far-western China’s Xinjiang region. Zumretay Arkin, director of global advocacy and chair of the Women’s Committee at the World Uyghur Congress, was presented the Freedom of Worship Award at a ceremony attended by members of the Dutch royal family and Prime Minister Mark Rutte. Zumretay Arkin is awarded the Freedom of Worship medal by the Roosevelt Foundation at a ceremony in Middelburg, the Netherlands, April…

US says China is supplying missile and drone engines to Russia

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The US has accused China of providing Russia with cruise missile and drone engines and machine tools for ballistic missiles, as it urges Europe to step up diplomatic and economic pressure on Beijing to stop the sales. In disclosing previously classified intelligence, senior US officials said Chinese and Russian groups were working to jointly produce drones inside Russia. They said China had also supplied 90 per cent of chips…

Historic Tibetan Buddhist monastery is being moved to make way for dam

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Authorities have begun relocating a 19th-century Tibetan Buddhist monastery in China that is expected to be submerged under water after the completion of the world’s tallest 3D-printed hydropower dam, two sources from the region told Radio Free Asia. The expansion of the Yangqu hydropower station on the Yellow River – known as the Machu River among the Tibetans – in Qinghai province was started in 2022 and will be completed later this year. For the past two years, monks from Atsok Gon Dechen Choekhorling Monastery in Dragkar county, or Xinghai…

China ignores Hague’s South China Sea ruling, blames Philippines for tensions

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At the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s regular news conference on April 3, spokesperson Wang Wenbin commented on rising tensions between the Philippines and China, saying: “The Philippines keeps accusing China of ‘intimidating smaller countries’ without mentioning at all the Philippine occupation and encroachment on China’s territory in Nansha Qundao. That is a real propaganda ‘trap.’ The Ren’ai Jiao issue is not a case of the big bullying small but unfulfilled promises and deliberate provocations …” The comment came amid growing tension between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea.…

2 Laotian teens return home after release from Myanmar scam casino

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Two teenage girls who were held at a Chinese-run casino in Myanmar for more than two years have returned home to Laos after a 40,000 yuan (US$5,500) fee was paid to gain their freedom, they told RFA. The two girls were part of a group of 16 young Laotians trafficked to work as scammers at a place called the “Casino Kosai” in an isolated development near the city of Myawaddy, the scene of recent fighting in Myanmar’s civil war. A group of people helped get them out of the casino…