Author: Chin@Strategy

Chinese Worker in Pakistan Is Arrested on Blasphemy Charges

Chin@Strategy

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Chinese worker on a dam project in northern Pakistan has been arrested and imprisoned on accusations of blasphemy, in a rare case of a foreigner being swept up in Pakistan’s harsh and controversial blasphemy laws. The Chinese man was identified in a Pakistani police report as “Mr. Tian” and described as a transportation supervisor at the Dasu hydropower project, led by China’s Gezhouba Group construction and engineering company. The police report, which was obtained by The New York Times, said the man was on a field…

U.S. Car Brands Will Benefit Most From Electric Vehicle Tax Breaks

Chin@Strategy

American brands like Tesla and General Motors will benefit most from rules that determine which electric vehicles qualify for tax credits starting on Tuesday. Foreign carmakers like Hyundai will be at a significant disadvantage because of restrictions aimed at cutting China out of the supply chain. Only 10 vehicles will initially qualify for tax credits of $7,500, less than a quarter of the battery-powered cars on sale in the United States. But those 10 include many of the most popular models and accounted for two-thirds of electric vehicle sales before…

South Korean-branded rice cookers in Pyongyang show Kaesong complex still functioning

Chin@Strategy

Sleek, modern rice cookers bearing the South Korean brand Cuckoo sell at premium prices in North Korean department stores, but they have not been illegally smuggled into the country, nor are they Chinese-made fakes. They were manufactured in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, an inter-Korean manufacturing zone that was supposed to have been shuttered since 2016, a source in Pyongyang told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity to speak freely. The rice cookers on sale in Pyongyang are evidence that North Korea is running the factories in the Kaesong complex…

US charges two with setting up Chinese ‘secret police station’ in New York

Chin@Strategy

China’s government in 2022 asked Lu to help locate an individual living in California considered a pro-democracy activist, prosecutors said. Lu and Chen are both US citizens who lead a non-profit organisation that lists its mission as providing a social gathering place for people from China’s Fujian province, prosecutors said. Advertisement Prosecutors said the pair had admitted to the FBI that they deleted their communications with a Chinese government official after learning they were under investigation. Also on Monday, prosecutors unveiled charges against 34 Chinese officials for allegedly operating a…

Hong Kongers rally around the world to support defendants in ‘subversion’ trial

Chin@Strategy

Hundreds of Hong Kongers and other supporters turned out in rallies around the world over the weekend to show solidarity with 47 former opposition lawmakers and political activists currently standing trial for “subversion” under a national security law imposed on the city by Beijing. Demonstrators gathered in cities across the United States, Britain and Taiwan in protests that also aimed to warn global governments of the threats posed by Beijing’s attempts to push its authoritarian model of government far beyond China’s borders. In San Francisco, protesters sang the 2019 protest…

Philippine govt, opposition slam Chinese envoy for comments on Manila’s Taiwan policy

Chin@Strategy

The Philippine government and opposition have slammed the Chinese envoy for his statements on Manila’s policy on Taiwan and its workers on the neighboring island, saying they will not brook any attempts at intimidation by Beijing. Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian last week criticized the Philippines granting the United States greater access to military bases fronting Taiwan, advising Manila to “unequivocally oppose” the island’s independence if it cared about the 150,000 Filipinos working there. Opposition Philippine Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to call on Beijing…

Price War Over Electric Cars Erupts in China

Chin@Strategy

A cutthroat price war has erupted in the world’s largest automobile market. Within the span of a week in March, Volkswagen’s Chinese joint venture slashed prices on its ID.3 electric cars by 18 percent. Changan Automobile, one of China’s state-owned car manufacturers, offered $3,000 cash rebates, free charging credits and other incentives for its electric vehicles. BYD, the country’s biggest E.V. maker, unveiled a second round of markdowns in a month for some of its older models. Amid slumping auto sales, car brands are going to extremes to stay competitive,…

China FTA talks on the cards as Uruguayan Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo begins 5-day visit

Chin@Strategy

Lula, a third-time president, has promised to strengthen Mercosur as part of efforts to restore Brazil’s global leadership role, and earlier said a free-trade agreement with China might modernise and open up the South American trade bloc to other regions. Xu Shicheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Latin American Studies, said Bustillo would use his trip to try to speed up negotiations for a Uruguay-China FTA. Formal talks on the deal started last year, after a consensus was reached in 2016 between Chinese President…

Beijing’s Bid to Overhaul China’s Tech-Finance Nexus

Chin@Strategy

Advertisement Since coming to power in 2012, Xi Jinping’s administration has sought to stamp out corruption and reorder China’s political economy. But more than 10 years on, these tasks have received new urgency amid an intensifying rivalry with the United States. Now, to reduce its continued reliance on foreign technology, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is betting on an unproven formula: discipline and control.  Since launching an anti-graft campaign in October 2021, dozens of finance officials have been investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the CCP’s anti-corruption authority.…

Elon Musk’s Starship launch called off over pressure problems

Chin@Strategy

Before the lift-off was aborted, an engineer working on a reusable rocket for a company in Beijing said a successful launch would give the United States at least a 20-year edge in the rocket industry and boost China’s investment in the private space sector and reusable rockets. “I’m really impressed by the fact that both stages of Starship are reusable, which can dramatically reduce launch costs. In China, we are still working to fully master first-stage reusability,” the engineer said, declining to be named due to the sensitivity of the…