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Smuggling of used cars into North Korea rises amid post-COVID demand

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A recent surge in demand for used cars in North Korea has triggered an increase in car smuggling from China, with dozens of vehicles crossing a shallow section of the Yalu River every day, several sources told Radio Free Asia. The used vehicles include a variety of cars that are often dismantled once they reach North Korea so that their parts can be used for the repair and maintenance of other vehicles, the sources said. Trucks are also among the recent imports, raising the possibility that they’re needed on development…

INTERVIEW: ‘There’s exposure across Wall Street’

Chin@Strategy

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party last week released a report detailing investments by two American financial institutions for Chinese companies “red-flagged or blacklisted” by the United States for advancing China’s military or for rights abuses. The report says two fund providers, in particular, are responsible for funneling billions of dollars invested by regular Americans in their index and retirement funds into the companies – even if it’s all legal. The first, MSCI, which it calls “the world’s foremost index fund provider,” has $3.7 billion invested in…

Chile’s tariffs on Chinese steel products boost local steelmaker CAP’s stock

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The Chilean government’s decision to impose anti-dumping tariffs on two steel products from China boosted shares of the local steelmaker CAP on Monday, which decided to suspend an announced closure of a plant. Shares of the local steel company rose up to 3.1 per cent on Monday morning on the Santiago Stock Exchange. Chile’s finance ministry published a decree over the weekend that imposed a “provisional antidumping duty” of 24.9 per cent on steel bars to manufacture conventional grinding balls with a diameter of less than four inches and 33.5…

Record rainfall hits southern China, triggering mass evacuations

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State media in China say heavy rainfall in the southern part of the country has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate, destroying homes and causing multiple fatalities. China’s Xinhua News Agency says at least four people have died and 10 are missing, adding that the storms hitting the area, once dubbed the factory of the world,” could lead to flooding that hasn’t been seen in a century. As of Monday, Guangdong province’s capital, Guangzhou, received more monthly rainfall in April — about 24 inches — than since record-keeping…

Top Chinese General Takes Harsh Line on Taiwan, Other Disputes at International Naval Gathering

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One of China’s top military leaders took a harsh line on regional territorial disputes, telling an international naval gathering in northeastern China on Monday that the country would strike back with force if its interests came under threat. The 19th biennial meeting of the Western Pacific Naval Symposium opened in Qingdao, where China’s northern naval force is based, providing a vivid backdrop to China’s massive military expansion over the past two decades that has seen it build or refurbish three aircraft carriers. The two-day talks have drawn representatives from partners…

Germany arrests three on suspicion of spying for China, as Britain charges two

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The double whammy comes amid rising anxiety in some European capitals over the threat of Chinese surveillance practices and as authorities mull how to counter foreign interference in democratic institutions, industry and academia. “We are aware of the significant threat posed by Chinese espionage in business, industry and science,” said Nancy Faeser, the German interior minister, in a statement. In Germany, the suspects are accused of gathering sensitive industrial data with military uses, with a view to “expanding China’s maritime combat power”, the prosecutor said in a statement. The arrest…

Three German citizens arrested on suspicion of spying for China

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Three German citizens, a married couple from Düsseldorf and a man from Bad Homburg, have been arrested on suspicion of spying on behalf of China, prosecutors have said, in the second high-profile alleged espionage case reported in the country in days. The three are accused of passing on technical military knowhow to Chinese authorities in return for money. The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency said it could be “just the tip of the iceberg” of spy rings operating in Germany. In one case, prosecutors allege, the trio exported a…

In Myanmar, paying bribes to evade the draft

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Myanmar’s military draft has created a cottage industry of corruption as administrators across the country offer eligible citizens a way out of fighting in exchange for a price, Radio Free Asia has learned. Desperate to shore up its dwindling ranks amid mounting losses to rebel groups and mass surrenders, the junta enacted a conscription law that came into effect in April, three years after the military seized power in a coup d’etat. Now anyone aged 18-35 can be forced to serve for up to five years – and local administrators…

Saudi Aramco chief defends China’s role in green transition amid closer ties

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Saudi Aramco’s chief executive has praised China’s contribution to helping the west hit its net zero targets as the world’s largest oil producer strengthens commercial ties with Beijing. Speaking at World Energy Congress on Monday, Amin Nasser defended China against the accusations that it was “dumping” cheap solar panels and electric vehicles on Europe. “China really helped by reducing the cost of solar energy,” he said in Rotterdam. “A lot…

China ups pressure on Taiwan, opens new air routes

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Taipei, Taiwan —  Analysts say China’s recent opening of two new air routes, with flight paths near two outlying islands controlled by Taiwan, is but the latest move in a broad campaign Beijing has rolled out ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan’s president-elect, Lai Ching-te. Lai, a member of Taiwan’s pro-sovereignty Democratic Progress Party, was elected in January and will be sworn into office on May 20. Su Tzu-yun, a military analyst at the Taipei-based Institute for National Defense and Security Research, says Beijing has been using a combination of…