Beijing — Landslides and flooding have killed more than 150 people around China in the past two months as torrential rainstorms batter the region.

The search was ongoing Monday for victims of a flood and mudslide in a mountainous Tibetan area in Sichuan province that left nine people dead and 18 others unaccounted for, state media said.

The early Saturday morning disaster destroyed homes and killed at least seven people in the village of Ridi, state broadcaster CCTV said in an online report. Two more people died after a nearby bridge between two tunnels collapsed and four vehicles plummeted.

China is in the middle of its peak flood season, which runs from mid-July to mid-August, and Chinese policymakers have repeatedly warned that the government needs to step up disaster preparations as severe weather becomes more common.

An annual government report on climate said last month that historical data shows the frequency of both extreme precipitation and heat has risen in China, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

A heat warning was in effect Monday in parts of eastern China, where temperatures were expected to top 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in several cities including Nanjing, and 37 C (98 F) in nearby Shanghai on the coast.

There have been a series of deadly rainstorms since June.

Days of intense rain from the aftermath of Typhoon Gaemi, which weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in China about 10 days ago, killed at least 48 people in Hunan province and left 35 others missing last week.

Authorities said Friday that the death toll from an earlier storm in July that knocked out a section of a bridge in Shaanxi province in the middle of the night had risen to 38 people, with another 24 still missing. At least 25 cars fell into a raging river that washed some of them far downstream.

In mid-June, at least 47 died from flooding and mudslides after extremely heavy rain in Guangzhou province. Six more people died in neighboring Fujian province.

Intense rains have also taken hundreds of lives elsewhere in Asia this summer, including devastating landslides that killed more than 200 people in south India last week. 

The remnants of Typhoon Gaemi also drenched northeastern China and North Korea, overflowing the Yalu River that divides them and inundating cities, towns and farmland. 
…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to propose barring Chinese software in autonomous and connected vehicles in the coming weeks, according to sources briefed on the matter.

The Biden administration plans to issue a proposed rule that would bar Chinese software in vehicles in the United States with Level 3 automation and above, which would have the effect of also banning testing on U.S. roads of autonomous vehicles produced by Chinese companies.

The administration, in a previously unreported decision, also plans to propose barring vehicles with Chinese-developed advanced wireless communications abilities modules from U.S. roads, the sources added.

Under the proposal, automakers and suppliers would need to verify that none of their connected vehicle or advanced autonomous vehicle software was developed in a “foreign entity of concern” like China, the sources said.

The Commerce Department said last month it planned to issue proposed rules on connected vehicles in August and expected to impose limits on some software made in China and other countries deemed adversaries.

Asked for comment, a Commerce Department spokesperson said on Sunday that the department “is concerned about the national security risks associated with connected technologies in connected vehicles.”

The department’s Bureau of Industry and Security will issue a proposed rule that “will focus on specific systems of concern within the vehicle. Industry will also have a chance to review that proposed rule and submit comments.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment but the Chinese foreign ministry has previously urged the United States “to respect the laws of the market economy and principles of fair competition.” It argues Chinese cars are popular globally because they had emerged out of fierce market competition and are technologically innovative.

On Wednesday, the White House and State Department hosted a meeting with allies and industry leaders to “jointly address the national security risks associated with connected vehicles,” the department said. Sources said officials disclosed details of the administration’s planned rule.

The meeting included officials from the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Spain, and the United Kingdom who “exchanged views on the data and cybersecurity risks associated with connected vehicles and certain components.”

Also known as conditional driving automation, Level 3 involves technology that allows drivers to engage in activities behind the wheel, such as watching movies or using smartphones, but only under some limited conditions.

In November, a group of U.S. lawmakers raised alarm about Chinese companies collecting and handling sensitive data while testing autonomous vehicles in the United States and asked questions of 10 major companies including Baidu, Nio, WeRide, Didi Chuxing, Xpeng, Inceptio, Pony.ai, AutoX, Deeproute.ai and Qcraft.

The letters said in the 12 months ended November 2022 that Chinese AV companies test drove more than 450,000 miles in California. In July 2023, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said his department had national security concerns about Chinese autonomous vehicle companies in the United States.

The administration is worried about connected vehicles using the driver monitoring system to listen or record occupants or take control of the vehicle itself.

“The national security risks are quite significant,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in May. “We decided to take action because this is really serious stuff.”
…

washington — Venezuela’s recent presidential election results have sparked widespread protests domestically and drawn sharp criticism internationally. While the U.S. has thrown its support behind opposition challenger Edmundo Gonzalez, China and Russia swiftly endorsed the incumbent, Nicolas Maduro, who has held power for 12 years. 

On Monday, Venezuela’s electoral council declared that the president had secured 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for Gonzalez. These results starkly contradicted exit polls, which had shown Gonzalez leading by a significant margin. 

The Carter Center, which was invited to observe the election, issued a statement that the vote “did not meet international standards of electoral integrity” and declared the outcome “cannot be considered democratic. 

Most Latin American countries, with the exceptions of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Cuba, have either rejected or expressed concern over the official election results. In contrast, China’s reaction has been markedly supportive: President Xi Jinping has fully endorsed Maduro, asserting that Beijing will “firmly support Venezuela’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, national dignity, and social stability.” 

“China prefers a stable Venezuela, and what they identify as [a] credible source of stability at the moment is Nicolas Maduro,” Antulio Rosales, an assistant professor of business and society at the York University, told VOA. 

“So, even though Maduro may stay in power via non-democratic means, it’s clear that China sees him as a more credible possibility for stability,” he noted. 

Evan Ellis, a research professor of Latin American studies at the U.S. Army War College, said the mass investment from Beijing is also a factor. 

“China has a longstanding commercial and political relationship with the leftist regime of Hugo Chavez and now Nicolas Maduro since the early 2000s, including recognizing it as a strategic partner under Hugo Chavez, and upgrading that relationship to all around comprehensive strategic partner last year under Nicolas Maduro,” he told VOA. 

Maduro and Xi announced last September that their bilateral relationship had been upgraded to an “all-weather strategic partnership,” the highest level of cooperation between two nations.

China now holds a substantial loan portfolio with Venezuela, representing nearly half of all Chinese loans extended to Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s estimated that China has financed more than $60 billion worth of projects in Venezuela. 

In return, China has secured essential resources from the oil-rich country, including crude oil and minerals, through an oil-for-loan model. 

Strategic importance 

Maduro is also repaying China by staunchly supporting the country on the international stage. His administration has provided unconditional backing to China, including endorsing Beijing’s one-China principle by recognizing Taiwan as an inalienable part of China. Additionally, Maduro supports China’s national security law in Hong Kong, and upholds China’s claims in the contested South China Sea. 

Venezuela is also collaborating with China in expanding social control measures. The Maduro government has acquired the Homeland Card system from China, which includes a unique personalized QR code capable of tracking individual votes and social media usage. 

“Venezuela is important to the full range of China’s ambitions in the Americas, including access to resources, markets in strategic sectors, political strategic objectives, and military options if it ever must fight a war with the United States in the Indo-Pacific,” said Ellis from the U.S. Army War College. 

Antonio C. Hsiang, a research professor at Chile’s National Academy of Political and Strategic Studies, told VOA that Venezuela has become a significant battleground in the U.S.-China rivalry. 

Hsiang argued that Venezuela’s political resistance to the United States and its efforts to undermine U.S. influence within Inter-American institutions serve as a strategic distraction for the U.S. in its own hemisphere, ultimately benefiting China. 

Economic liability 

The Chinese business community, however, is not as happy with the Maduro government. 

Venezuela — once the wealthiest nation in Latin America because of its status as home to the world’s largest crude oil reserves — has seen its current government’s popularity wane significantly. The decline is attributed to an economic crisis driven by falling oil prices, corruption, and flawed policies. 

In 2013, a sharp decline in oil prices, a key export for Venezuela, triggered a severe economic and political crisis. The country’s GDP contracted by 75% between 2014 and 2021. Annual inflation surged to upwards of 130,000% in 2018, according to its central bank. These factors culminated in Venezuela’s suspension of loan repayments in 2020, including those to its largest creditor, China. 

“China is not particularly concerned with issues of transparency or corruption domestically [in Venezuela],” Rosales said. “Beijing is more focused on Caracas’ inability to execute some of the projects it has committed to.” He observed that Chinese businesses have stopped further investing into the country. 

It may take weeks or even months to determine whether China’s bet on Maduro will pay off. Rosales suggested that China’s concerns regarding Venezuela, though, are unlikely to shift — even if the opposition party comes to power. 

“China maintains good relations with countries like Chile, which has long been governed by pro-market regimes, as well as with Brazil, which has been led by center-left governments,” he pointed out. 

“It’s important to recognize that, regardless of who is in power, China’s primary concerns will remain the same: long-term stability, the ability to carry out projects, and the capacity to repay debt,” said Rosales. 
…

Washington — Representative Jim McGovern, the most recent U.S. lawmaker to be put under Chinese sanctions, says he will wear the sanctions “as a badge of honor,” calling on the Chinese government to end its oppressive actions in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong in a statement emailed to VOA from the representative’s media office Friday.

“These absurd sanctions against me only serve to highlight how PRC leaders are afraid of free and open debate. They seek to punish and silence those who disagree with them. But the world is watching what they do, and people who care about human rights will not be silent,” he said in the statement.

China placed McGovern under sanctions Wednesday for frequently “interfering in China’s internal affairs.” In his politics, McGovern has taken on the Tibetan cause, sponsoring a bill advocating for a peaceful resolution of the China-Tibet dispute that President Joe Biden signed into law on July 12.

China views Tibet as an “inseparable part of China since ancient times,” despite supporters of the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Dalai Lama saying that Tibet has historically been independent. Chinese state-sponsored media Xinhua said McGovern’s Tibet-China Dispute Act “grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs,” violates international law and distorts historical facts to suppress China and encourage Tibetan separatist movements.

Framed as a response to McGovern’s efforts to undermine Chinese territorial sovereignty, the sanctions freeze the representative’s Chinese assets, prohibit organizations or individuals in China from engaging with him, and ban him and his family from entering Chinese territory, according to a publication from Xinhua.

McGovern, who represents the state of Massachusetts in the House of Representatives, has no assets or business dealings in China.

McGovern’s Tibet-China Dispute Act, gives the State Department increased authority to counter Chinese disinformation about Tibet and promotes the resumption of talks between Chinese leaders and the Dalai Lama. No such talks have occurred since 2010.

China stands accused of large-scale human rights abuses in Tibet, which the congressman hoped to alleviate with this legislation.

In a statement released on June 12 when the bill passed the House, McGovern said, “The People’s Republic of China has systematically denied Tibetans the right to self-determination and continues to deliberately erase Tibetan religion, culture and language.

“The ongoing oppression of the Tibetan people is a grave tragedy, and our bill provides further tools that empower both America and the international community to stand up for justice and peace,” he said.

Among the signees of the statement were House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Senator Todd Young, McGovern and Senator Jeff Merkley.

China has sanctioned other U.S. representatives for their involvement in an issue that threatens Chinese territorial homogeneity. Over the last year, China has sanctioned Representative McCaul and former Representative Mike Gallagher over their support for Taiwan.
…

PARIS — Chinese mixed doubles gold medalist Huang Yaqiong had just stepped off the podium when her teammate, men’s doubles Tokyo silver medalist Liu Yuchen, got down on one knee and proposed at the Paris Olympics on Friday.

Huang and her mixed doubles partner, Zheng Siwei, demolished South Korea’s Kim Won-ho and Jeong Na-eun 21-8 21-11 to win the badminton mixed doubles final at the Porte de La Chapelle Arena.

Huang, who also won a mixed doubles silver in Tokyo with Zheng, looked shocked as spectators went wild, before smiling shyly and accepting Liu’s ring, containing a sizeable diamond which sparkled up close later during a press conference.

“The proposal was very surprising because I’d been preparing for the game,” said a glowing Huang.

“The ring fits my finger really well,” she added, with a laugh.

Fans took to social media to gush about the proposal, with one writing on Weibo: “This year’s medal count can now include a diamond ring.”

“Liu Yuchen didn’t win the Olympic gold medal but he did win over an Olympic gold medalist,” another wrote.

Liu’s and Huang’s engagement is not the first time a Chinese Olympian has been proposed to, still fresh from the fight.

In Rio, diver He Zi had just received a silver medal for the women’s three-meter springboard when her boyfriend and fellow medaled diver Qin Kai asked her to marry him.

In the Olympic sailing competition in Marseille earlier on Friday, French women’s skiff sailors Sarah Steyaert and Charline Picon returned ashore from winning a bronze medal to find their respective partners waiting to go down on one knee and propose.
…

washington — The United States is facing a series of unprecedented threats from foreign intelligence agencies, some of which are increasingly cooperating with each other to gain an advantage, according to a newly approved strategy to blunt the impact of espionage.

The National Counterintelligence Strategy, signed by President Joe Biden on Thursday, calls out Russia, China, Iran and North Korea as the main culprits, identifying Moscow and Beijing as “the most significant intelligence threats.”

But the document warns they are increasingly launching more aggressive operations and even working together, or with others, to undermine the U.S.

U.S. counterintelligence officials “see our leading adversaries cooperating more frequently with one another, enhancing the threat they pose,” the strategy warns, adding that “many PRC [People’s Republic of China], Russian, and Iranian intelligence activities still go undetected.”

“Commercial entities are playing increasingly important enabling roles,” it adds.

In some cases, foreign spy services are turning to widely available products to better conduct surveillance or collect massive amounts of data. In other instances, spies are using technology to infiltrate critical systems belonging both to the U.S. government and private entities.

“A growing number of commercial firms are flooding the market with high-quality cyber intrusion tools, expanding the pool of [foreign intelligence] actors that can threaten our networks and people,” the strategy says.

But U.S. intelligence officials have warned that in other cases, adversaries are turning to private companies to mask their involvement.

Earlier this week, a U.S. intelligence official warned that Russia in particular was turning to private Russian companies in its effort to meddle with the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

“This includes outsourcing its efforts to commercial firms to hide its hand,” the official said.

Officials accused Beijing of also using companies in China and in the Middle East and Latin America to push disinformation campaigns and carry out other influence operations.

China and Russia have repeatedly dismissed such accusations, with Beijing accusing the U.S. of being “the biggest disseminator of disinformation.”

The warning of growing intelligence cooperation among key U.S. adversaries, however, echoes warnings of a growing collaboration on other fronts.

U.S. and Western officials have recently accused Russia, China, Iran and North Korea of forming a new “Axis of Evil,” working together to supply Moscow with weapons and ammunition for its war in Ukraine.

“It is a concern. It is a concern that you have both China, North Korea, Russia, Iran — countries that are not necessarily coordinated in the past — looking to figure out how they can have impact,” U.S. President Joe Biden said during a news conference last month.

“There is no time to lose,” a NATO official told VOA, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the expanding cooperation. “This must be a key priority for all our allies.” 

The new U.S. counterintelligence strategy seeks to provide U.S. intelligence agencies with a road map to counter the growing threats.

Part of that involves investing in technologies and programs to help U.S. intelligence agencies better detect plots, anticipate threats and more widely share that information with other government agencies and allies.

The strategy also calls for more use of artificial intelligence, or AI, to better defend against espionage activities and to launch offensive campaigns aimed at disrupting foreign plots.

“Foreign intelligence and security services and their proxies persist in seeking to acquire our most sensitive information, technology and intellectual property. Nonstate actors are following suit,” Biden wrote in an introduction to the new counterintelligence strategy.

The strategy, he added, “ensures we are well-positioned to counter foreign intelligence threats.”
…

China is expanding its imports of semi-processed agriculture from Africa in an effort to address a trade imbalance and also as a way of diversifying global food chains amid geo-political tensions. Kate Bartlett visits South Africa’s rural Limpopo province where avocado farmers are getting ready to export their products to the Chinese market for the first time. Video editor: Zaheer Cassim
…

Taipei, Taiwan — China and democratic countries, including Australia and Japan, have increased their efforts to deepen engagement with Pacific Island countries in recent weeks, intensifying what some regional politicians and analysts describe as great power competition, especially in the security sector. 

“Geopolitical competition continues to intensify in the Pacific region as traditional partners [roll out] new activities while new partners continue to show new interests,” said Mihai Sora, director of the Pacific Islands Program at the Lowy Institute in Australia. 

Earlier this month, Jeremiah Manele and Charlot Salwai, the prime ministers of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, made high-profile trips to China, during which they vowed to “deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership” with China.  

After wrapping up his first trip to China as Solomon Islands’ prime minister, Manele announced on July 16 that China is providing more than $20 million worth of “budgetary support” to the Pacific Island country. The Chinese government has yet to confirm the news publicly.  

China also reiterated its commitment to help support and train the Solomon Islands’ police force, which began after Honiara signed two controversial security deals with Beijing over the last two years.

Meanwhile, leaders from 18 Pacific Island countries agreed to enhance Japan’s role in the region’s development following a three-day summit in Tokyo in mid-July. Tokyo and Pacific Island nations also announced a joint action plan for increasing port calls by Japan’s Self-Defense Force as well as deepening cooperation between coast guard agencies. 

Sora said Japan’s desire to deepen cooperation with Pacific countries in the security sector is a departure from its traditional role as an aid donor. 

“We are seeing increased anxiety from Japan with respect to China’s role and impact on international security, and they are particularly concerned with China’s push into the security space in the Pacific,” he told VOA in a video interview. 

In a joint declaration issued at the end of the Pacific Islands leaders meeting, Japan and Pacific Island nations expressed “strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by the threat or use of force or coercion anywhere in the world.” They didn’t identify China in the document. 

Sora said Japan’s efforts are aimed at upholding the rules-based order in the Pacific region and it hopes to increase engagement with regional countries in maritime security. 

Australia, which has traditionally been a security provider to regional countries, is looking into helping the Solomon Islands double the size of its police force as Canberra grows increasingly wary of Honiara’s police deal with Beijing. 

Australia is also providing support to Pacific Island countries’ development needs, including a plan announced this week to open a new undersea cable connectivity and resilience center. The establishment of the center aims to help regional countries grow their digital economies by expanding data network connectivity.  

However, some politicians from Pacific Island countries view major democracies’ efforts to deepen ties with regional countries as potentially problematic.  

“Instead of sending officials focusing on development to engage with Pacific Island nations, major democracies are sending more security folks to facilitate the dialogues,” said Peter Kenilorea Jr., a leading independent member of parliament from the Solomon Islands.  

He says that while China’s attempt to increase security ties with Pacific Island countries remains his top concern, democratic countries’ efforts to counter China’s growing security presence in the Pacific region are overshadowing regional countries’ urgent development needs.  

“While attention from major democracies is there, it is not the right attention for regional countries,” Kenilorea told VOA on the sidelines of the IPAC Summit in Taipei, adding that Pacific Island countries should try to direct the focus back to their development needs during dialogues with big democratic countries.  

Some experts say politicians from other Pacific Island countries have expressed similar concerns about the increasing focus on security and competition with China in the Pacific region. 

“There is a very healthy degree of skepticism” among Pacific leaders about what is driving major democracies’ engagement with them, said Tess Newton Cain, an adjunct associate professor at Griffith Asia Institute in Australia.  

“They are very clear that the reason everybody wants to be their friend and everybody wants to talk to them is because they see this as a way of containing China,” she told VOA by phone. 

Despite Pacific Island nations’ desire to steer engagement with major powers back to development, Sora said concern about China’s growing presence in the Pacific region remains the main driver of democratic countries’ efforts in the region.  

“Concerns about China’s activities in the Pacific region allow lawmakers to mobilize more resources than if they were just looking at the region through the traditional development lens,” he said.  

But he adds that the securitization of the Pacific region is an “inescapable” trend. 

“What differentiates various actors’ approaches is their commitment to transparency and coordination of their activities with Pacific Islands’ priorities,” Sora said.  

As great power competition in the Pacific region will likely intensify in the near future, Kenilorea Jr. said the key for Pacific Island countries to safeguard their interests is to “maneuver together.”  

“I think regionalism is where we can counter some of these big power challenges that we are going through,” he told VOA. 
…

Washington — China issued sanctions on U.S. Representative Jim McGovern, the sponsor of a bill advocating for a peaceful resolution of the China-Tibet dispute China views Tibet as an “inseparable part of China since ancient times,” despite supporters of the Tibetan Government in Exile and the Dalai Lama saying that Tibet has historically been independent.

Framed as a response to McGovern’s efforts to undermine Chinese territorial sovereignty, the sanctions freeze the representative’s Chinese assets, prohibit organizations or individuals in China from engaging with him, and ban him and his family from entering Chinese territory, according to a publication from Chinese state-media agency Xinhua.

McGovern has no assets or business dealings in China, according to The Associated Press.

McGovern’s Tibet-China Dispute Act, which passed through the House in mid-June, gives the State Department increased authority to counter Chinese disinformation about Tibet and promotes the resumption of talks between Chinese leaders and the Dalai Lama. No such talks have occurred since 2010.

President Joe Biden signed the legislation into law on July 12.

China stands accused of large-scale human rights abuses in Tibet, which the congressman hoped to alleviate with this legislation.

McGovern’s office did not respond to a VOA request for comment.

In a statement released on June 12 when the bill passed the House, McGovern said, “The People’s Republic of China has systematically denied Tibetans the right to self-determination and continues to deliberately erase Tibetan religion, culture, and language.”

“The ongoing oppression of the Tibetan people is a grave tragedy, and our bill provides further tools that empower both America and the international community to stand up for justice and peace,” he said.

Among the signees of the statement were House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, Senator Todd Young, McGovern and Senator Jeff Merkley.

In a response, Chinese state-sponsored media Xinhua said the Tibet-China Dispute Act “grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs,” violates international law and distorts historical facts to suppress China and encourage Tibetan separatist movements.

This is not the first time China has sanctioned a U.S. representative for their involvement in an issue that threatens Chinese territorial homogeneity. Over the last year, China has sanctioned both Representative McCaul and former Representative Mike Gallagher over their support for Taiwan. 
…

washington — As thousands of people in Venezuela protested the results of Sunday’s election, many in China were watching and commenting on social media platforms.

While social media are tightly censored in China and most comments echoed support for incumbent Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro, videos of the protests spread widely, and some voiced support for the protesters. Others used the opportunity to subtly criticize China’s authoritarian system of government, pointing out the country’s lack of free and open elections.

In posts on Weibo, which is similar to X, the rebukes were not direct but veiled in sarcasm.

One poster said, “I never would have expected that they would hold elections.” To which, another responded, “There are only a handful of countries that don’t have a general election.”

Whole-process democracy

Another post on Weibo asked sarcastically, “Why do they still have elections? They definitely haven’t implemented the whole-process democracy” — a concept first proposed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping in 2019.

In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has justified its rule by claiming that China’s “full-process democracy” is a more comprehensive democratic system than Western democracy.

According to the 2023 Global Democracy Index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Venezuela ranked 142nd out of nearly 170 countries and regions. China ranked 148th.

Many netizens also expressed their support for the protesters in Venezuela. 

“You need to fight for and protect your own rights,” said one Weibo comment.

“It’s only a matter of time. The people can’t keep being deceived,” said another.

In the wake of Sunday’s vote, Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, also known as Edmundo Gonzalez, have both claimed victory.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner with 51% support, awarding him a third six-year term. But Gonzalez said he won more than 70% of the vote. Independent polling agencies also called Maduro’s victory unreliable, and foreign observers have urged election authorities to release a full count.

Governments from Latin American countries, including Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay, issued a similar call in a joint statement, saying a transparent vote count was the only way to ensure the results respected the will of Venezuelan voters.

Disinformation spreads

In addition to taking the opportunity to criticize the Chinese government, some on social media spread unsubstantiated allegations that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency was secretly involved in the Venezuelan protests.

“Supporters of the US-backed opposition that lost the Venezuelan election are currently launching large-scale violent and vandalizing activities across the country,” one netizen said on Weibo.

Some, however, disagreed with the claim that the U.S. was secretly inciting the incident. 

One Weibo user reacted to the accusation with sarcasm.

“Of course, the CIA is behind this. The Venezuelan people, one or two, hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people, are all puppets. They have no independent will and are all manipulated by the United States,” said one post.

Victory and ‘grave concerns’ 

In addition to the divide over the results online, there was also a sharp contrast in how the United States and China and its state media responded to the election results.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has expressed “grave concerns” about the results and has called for transparency in the vote count.

Xi, however, congratulated Maduro, saying, “China will, as always, firmly support Venezuela’s efforts to safeguard national sovereignty, national dignity and social stability, and firmly support Venezuela’s just cause of opposing external interference.” 

Venezuelans unhappy with Maduro’s victory have taken to the streets across the country, including near the presidential palace in the capital, Caracas. A local monitoring group, the Venezuelan Observatory of Social Conflict, said Monday that it had recorded a total of 187 demonstrations in 20 of the country’s 23 states.

Chinese state media have not covered the protests significantly. The Global Times said Blinken was “changing his face” by going from calling for “respect for the democratic process” before the votes were counted to questioning Maduro’s victory and expressing “grave concern” about the results.

However, when contrasting Blinken’s views before and after the elections, the newspaper only quoted part of the remarks that Blinken made on July 28 before the results were announced. In those remarks and after the vote, his concern was the same.

“The Venezuelan people deserve an election that genuinely reflects their will, free from any manipulation,” Blinken told reporters in Japan. “The international community is going to be watching this very closely. We urge all parties to honor their commitments and to respect the democratic process.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
…

Tokyo — The United States this week moved to significantly strengthen its alliances in the Indo-Pacific amid a perceived security threat from China, including a major upgrade of the U.S. military command in Japan.

Washington and Tokyo insist the changes are purely defensive, but questions remain about the military readiness of the United States and its allies if conflict erupts.

The United States has around 55,000 troops stationed in Japan, with most of them deployed in the southern Okinawan islands. The Kadena Air Base outside the Okinawan capital, Naha, is America’s largest in the Pacific region.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held so-called “2+2” talks with their Japanese counterparts in Tokyo on Sunday and announced a major shift in defense relations.

“The United States will upgrade the U.S. Forces Japan to a joint force headquarters with expanded missions and operational responsibilities. This will be the most significant change to U.S. Forces Japan since its creation and one of the strongest improvements in our military ties with Japan in 70 years,” Austin told reporters.

“Our decision to move in this direction is not based upon any threat from China. It’s based on our desire and our ability to work closer together and to be more effective,” he said.

The upgraded military command is expected to be led by a three-star general, with the possibility of a four-star general in future leadership.

Analysts said it marked a profound change in the U.S. approach to its forces in Japan.

“That means the Americans are serious. The Americans are really serious about fighting a war [alongside] Japan. Against whom? I don’t know. Whoever wants to change the status quo by force, we may have to fight,” Kunihiko Miyake, president of the Tokyo-based Foreign Policy Institute, told VOA.

The move is designed to complement Japan’s new Joint Operations Command, which is due to launch in March 2025.

Grant Newsham, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, welcomed the change.

“It’s a good first step … toward getting the Americans and the Japanese in a position where they can actually fight together,” he told VOA. “But what remains to be seen — and this is important — is how much authority will it have? What units will be assigned to it? What responsibility will it have in the event of a contingency?”

The U.S. and Japan also agreed to numerous other defense measures, including joint missile development and the possible deployment of American troops alongside Japanese forces in outlying islands.

Discussions also focused on so-called U.S. “extended deterrence” — whether Washington would be willing to use its nuclear weapons to defend Japan.

Japanese capabilities

Tokyo last year announced plans to double its defense spending to 2% of its gross domestic product by 2027.

Newsham said the Japanese military needs huge investment in recruitment, weapons and logistics.

“So, there’s a number of practical things that Japan needs to do to be ready to fight a war. And then you ask yourself, ‘Well, how are you going to actually link up with the Americans to fight? Have you done the necessary planning and training so that you can just fall right in and deal with a real-world contingency?’” he said.

There are fears that such a contingency is dangerously close. The U.S. and Japan on Sunday labeled China the “greatest strategic challenge” facing the region, amid Beijing’s rapid military buildup in the disputed South China Sea and ongoing military exercises around Taiwan.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to reunify the island with China, and there is speculation he is planning to do so by force.

‘Lattice’ of alliances

In such a volatile region, U.S. officials say Washington is seeking to interconnect its regional alliances with the United States and each other, creating a “lattice” framework to protect Indo-Pacific security.

There are limits to such cooperation, Miyake said.

“Of course, we cannot have a NATO-type collective alliance system, because we have a different historical background. But what we needed to have is multilayered security arrangements.”

The Philippines is emerging as a key U.S partner in the region. Visiting Manila Tuesday alongside Austin, Blinken announced a $500 million military aid package for Manila, describing it as a “once-in-a-generation investment to help modernize the Filipino armed forces and coast guard.”

The “Quad” grouping of the United States, Japan, India and Australia provides another layer of regional security. Foreign ministers of those nations met in Tokyo on Monday, a day after the U.S.-Japan bilateral meetings, and issued a joint statement calling for a “free and open” Pacific.

The AUKUS alliance between the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom offers further scope for security coordination in the Indo-Pacific.

But effective military alliances require more than agreements on paper, Newsham said.

“For this so-called latticework of a range of alliances and agreements that the Americans have tried to put together — well, with whom can they do a real-world short notice operation? That means if you had to go out and really do something for real, like fight, who could they do it with? And that is a very, very short list. It’s pretty much got nobody on it, except for the United States Navy and the Japanese navy,” he said.

China checkmated?

Speaking to ABC News on July 6, U.S. President Joe Biden said the network of alliances Washington had built in the Indo-Pacific region were “checkmating” China. Newsham questioned that assertion.

“Look at Chinese operations around Taiwan. These are nonstop, almost every day, and they’re getting closer and closer to Taiwan. They’re surrounding Taiwan. And you might ask the Taiwanese if they think the Chinese are checkmated,” Newsham said.

“Additionally, the Chinese and the Russians are doing more together militarily than they ever have, circumnavigating Japan, getting close to Alaska with nuclear-capable bombers. Well, the Chinese aren’t showing any sign of having been checkmated. Their military buildup continues unabated,” he said.

But the value of U.S. regional alliances — especially that with Japan — shouldn’t be underestimated, said Miyake.

“Allies are the people or the countries who fight for you and bleed for you. Who wants to fight against the Americans for the Chinese? I don’t know. Even the Russians don’t want to do that,” Miyake said.

Beijing denies that it poses a threat to Indo-Pacific security. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson urged the U.S. and Japan to abandon what it called a “Cold War mentality,” adding that the $500 million of U.S. military aid for the Philippines would increase insecurity.

Russia on Wednesday said the U.S. and Japan appeared to be preparing “for a large-scale armed conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.” Russian Foreign Ministry deputy spokesperson Andrei Nastasin told reporters that Moscow was consulting with China and North Korea on how best to respond.
…

…

An announcement that China’s car giant BYD will build a billion-dollar factory in Turkey marks a big turnaround in relations between the two countries. The move comes after years of tensions over Ankara’s support of Chinese minority Uyghurs. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the two countries are increasingly finding common ground not only economically but diplomatically.
…

Taipei, Taiwan — A lengthy trailer for a new Taiwanese TV series about China invading Taiwan is stirring up emotions and debate both on the self-ruled island and among Chinese.  

The show “Zero Day” tells the story of a Chinese anti-submarine aircraft flying into the waters southeast of Taiwan and disappearing in the lead up to Taiwan’s presidential election, giving China an excuse to blockade Taiwan and then launch an invasion. 

The 17-minute trailer released July 23 has racked up more than 800,000 views and depicts increasing tensions with a seven-day countdown before China’s invasion.  It shows psychological and cognitive warfare as Beijing hacks Taiwan’s communications and replaces them with the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda.  

The TV series has 10 episodes of independent stories, has been filming since March, and is expected to be completed by the end of November for broadcast next year.

Hsin-mei Cheng, the production manager of “Zero Day,” tells VOA it’s not just an action show meant to entertain.  She says “Zero Day” aims to raise Taiwanese people’s awareness of the threats already coming from Beijing.

“Our definition of war is information and espionage warfare, the so-called infiltration war. It’s actually talking about red infiltration. Our creators think the war (in the Taiwan Strait) has actually begun, and it exists around our lives in various ways.”

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province that must one day reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary.  China steps up military rhetoric, exercises, and monitoring around Taiwan in the lead up to politically sensitive events, such as its presidential elections.  

After watching the trailer, James Liu, a Taipei citizen, had mixed feelings about the extremely pessimistic and tragic situations the show illustrates.

He says a scene where a Taiwanese social media influencer calls for Taiwan to surrender before the invasion rather than fight “their own people” seemed real.  

“People who may not usually think about (China’s infiltration) should start thinking about it,” says Liu, “at least (strengthening) psychological defense or have an understanding of information warfare, which would be helpful.”

Kung-yu Chen, a landscape designer in Taiwan’s central city of Taichung, says the trailer shows what he would expect if war broke out, including the chaos at the grassroots level and some people’s immediate surrender and collaboration.  

He notes many high-ranking officials and influential people in Taiwan have sent their children abroad to study, and wonders if party and government leaders would hold on to the last moment as shown in the trailer if war breaks out. 

“Patriotism may be talked about by people who can’t run away because they can only stay, and only then will they be deified for persisting until the last moment,” he says.  “Those with the ability and dual nationality have run away in advance.”

But the trailer also shows a Taiwanese son choosing to stay and fight as his parents join others in fleeing the island before the invasion.  

Other Taiwanese disagree with how the show’s trailer depicts what would happen if China invaded.  

Chien-yu Chen, a retailer of car accessories in Taiwan’s southwestern coastal city of Tainan, says the possible actions by China against Taiwan were too smooth and there was no counteraction shown from Taipei.

“Whoever chooses to watch the show has already chosen a certain political stance,” he says.  “I don’t think it’s to strengthen (the sense of defense). I think it’s more like a patriotic propaganda show.”

The “Zero Day” trailer also attracted online criticism from the other side of the Taiwan Strait.  

“In the plot, they tried their best to smear the mainland, saying that we deliberately blew up our own anti-submarine aircraft as a reason for going to war,” posted a Chinese military blogger under the name “Foreign Affairs Pioneer Zhang Zhidong.”

Nationalist Chinese commenters said the show was full of people who support Taiwan’s independence and boasted if war really starts, they would not give Taiwan so much time.  

A commenter under the name “boomxwk” from Guangdong posted on social media, “It will take seven days to take over Taiwan and also have the Smurfs (soldiers in blue camouflage uniforms) land on the island? Do you understand the value of drones?”

Despite some Chinese netizens finding ways to watch the trailer inside China, when “Zero Day” is released next year, the show will have to get past China’s internet censorship machine, known as the Great Firewall, to reach a larger Chinese audience.  

Beijing’s censors have an unspoken zero tolerance policy for any content on Taiwan that depicts China as the aggressor.  

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
…

MORAINE, Ohio — A Chinese automotive glass maker says it was not the target of a federal investigation that temporarily shut down production last week at its Ohio plant, the subject of the Oscar-winning Netflix film “American Factory.” 

The investigation was focused on money laundering, potential human smuggling, labor exploitation and financial crimes, Homeland Security agent Jared Murphey said Friday. 

Fuyao Glass America said authorities told it that a third-party employment company was at the center of the criminal investigation, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. 

Agents with the Department of Homeland Security, FBI and Internal Revenue Service, along with local authorities, carried out federal search warrants Friday at the Fuyao plant in Moraine and nearly 30 other locations in the Dayton area. 

“The company intends to cooperate fully with the investigation,” Lei Shi, Fuyao Glass America community relations manager, said in a statement to the Dayton Daily News. Messages seeking comment were left with the company on Monday. 

Production was stopped temporarily Friday, but operations resumed near the end of the day, the statement said. 

Fuyao took over a shuttered General Motors factory a decade ago and eventually hired more than 2,000 workers to make glass for the automotive industry. The company, which received millions in tax breaks and incentives from the state and local governments, has said the Ohio plant was the world’s largest auto glass production facility. 

In 2019, a production company backed by Barack and Michelle Obama released “American Factory.” The film, which won a 2020 Oscar for best feature-length documentary, looked at issues including the rights of workers, globalization and automation. 

Workers voted overwhelmingly against unionizing in 2017 after some employees complained about unsafe workplace conditions, arbitrary policies and unfair treatment on the job. Earlier that year, Fuyao agreed to pay a $100,000 penalty after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company for alleged violations involving machine safety, electrical hazards and a lack of personal protective gear.
…

New York — A former university professor in China went on trial on Monday in Brooklyn on charges he acted as a Chinese agent by monitoring U.S.-based activists opposed to Beijing’s Communist government at the direction of intelligence officials in China.

Federal prosecutors said Shujun Wang, a naturalized U.S. citizen, exploited his leadership role in New York communities supporting democracy in China to collect information on dissidents, and shared it with four officials in China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), an intelligence service.

Wang, who emigrated to the United States in 1994, was arrested in March 2022. He pleaded not guilty to four counts including acting as a foreign agent without notifying the U.S. attorney general and lying to U.S. authorities. Prosecutors said Wang’s scheme ran from 2005 to 2022. 

The U.S. Department of Justice has in recent years cracked down on what it calls “transnational repression” by U.S. adversaries such as China and Iran.

The term refers to the surveillance, intimidation and, in some cases, attempted repatriation or murder of activists against those governments.

Last year, a former New York City police sergeant was convicted of acting as an illegal Chinese agent by intimidating a U.S.-based fugitive to return to his homeland to face charges.

Wang, in his mid-70s, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Jury selection began on Monday before U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin, who normally hears appeals, in Brooklyn federal court.

Prosecutors say MSS officials directed Wang to target Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, advocates for Taiwanese independence campaigners and Uyghur and Tibetan activists.

Defense lawyers said in a June 16 court filing that Wang communicated with Chinese officials to try to “infiltrate and subvert” China’s government by spreading Western political ideas.

“Unfortunately, FBI Agents misunderstood him and his role,” defense lawyer Kevin Tung wrote.

U.S. prosecutors also charged four Chinese intelligence officers who they say acted as Wang’s handlers. Those officers are at large and believed to be in China.
…

Beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping called for further cooperation with Italy on Monday at a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, saying the two countries were the ends of the historical Silk Road trade route.

Meloni pulled Italy out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative — whose name refers to the ancient overland trade route — in December, but signed an agreement Sunday that provides a new path for the two countries to cooperate on trade and other issues.

Meloni is on a five-day state visit, her first trip to China as prime minister.

The Belt and Road Initiative, one of Xi’s signature policies, aims to build power and transportation infrastructure around the world in order to stimulate global trade while also deepening China’s ties with other nations.

“China and Italy are located at opposite ends of the ancient Silk Road,” Xi told Meloni, “and the long-standing friendly exchanges between the two countries have made important contributions to the exchange and mutual learning of Eastern and Western civilizations, as well as human development and progress.”

“If countries are inter-connected, they will advance; if they are closed to each other, they will retreat,” said Xi.

Meloni said Italy could play an “important role” in China’s relationship with the European Union and creating balanced trade relationships. The EU imposed provisional tariffs of up to 37.6% on China-made electric vehicles in early July. China’s support for Russia after it invaded Ukraine has further strained relations with the EU.

She also noted China’s role as a diplomatic power on the global stage. “There is growing insecurity at the international level, and I think that China is inevitably a very important interlocutor to deal with all these dynamics,” said Meloni.
…

BEIJING — Lawmakers from at least six countries said Chinese diplomats were pressuring them not to attend a China-focused conference in Taiwan, in what they described as efforts to isolate the self-governed island. 

Politicians in Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and one Asian country that declined to be named said they were getting texts, calls and urgent requests for meetings that would conflict with their plans to travel to Taipei. China vehemently defends its claim to Taiwan and views it as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary. 

The conference begins Tuesday and is being held by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, or IPAC, a group of hundreds of lawmakers from 35 countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing. IPAC has long faced pressure from the Chinese government: Some members have been sanctioned by Beijing, and in 2021 the group was targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, according to a U.S. indictment unsealed earlier this year. 

But Luke de Pulford, the alliance’s director, said the pressure from Chinese officials the past few days has been unprecedented. During past IPAC meetings in other locations, lawmakers were approached by Chinese diplomats only after they concluded. This year, the first in which IPAC’s annual meeting is taking place in Taiwan, there appeared to be a coordinated attempt to stop participants from attending. 

The Associated Press spoke to three lawmakers and reviewed texts and emails sent by Chinese diplomats asking whether they were planning to participate in the meeting. 

“I’m Wu, from Chinese Embassy,” read a message sent to Antonio Miloshoski, a member of parliament in North Macedonia. “We heard that you got an invitation from IPAC, will you attend the Conference which will be held next week in Taiwan?” 

In some cases, lawmakers described vague inquiries about their plans to travel to Taiwan. In other cases, the contact was more menacing: One lawmaker told AP that Chinese diplomats messaged the head of her party with a demand to stop her from going. 

“They contacted president of my political party, they ask him to stop me to travel to Taiwan,” said Sanela Klarić, a member of parliament in Bosnia. “They’re trying, in my country, to stop me from traveling … This is really not OK.” 

China routinely threatens retaliation against politicians and countries that show support for Taiwan, which has only informal relations with most countries due to Chinese diplomatic pressure. Klarić said the pressure was unpleasant but only steeled her determination to go on the trip. 

“I really am fighting against countries or societies where the tool to manipulate and control peoples is fear,” said Klarić, adding that it reminded her of threats and intimidation she faced while suffering through wars in Bosnia in the 1990s. “I really hate the feeling when somebody is frightening you.” 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. 

De Pulford called the pressure “gross foreign interference.” 

“How would PRC officials would feel if we tried to tell them about their travel plans, where they could and could not go?” de Pulford said, using the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China. “It’s absolutely outrageous that they think that they can interfere in the travel plans of foreign legislators.” 

Lawmakers from 25 countries were expected to attend this year’s meeting, including Japan, India and the U.K., and IPAC said in a statement that some would meet with high-level Taiwanese officials. The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Last week, Beijing criticized Taiwan for its annual Han Kuang military drills, saying that Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party was “carrying out provocations to seek independence.” 

“Any attempt to whip up tensions and use force to seek independence or reject reunification is doomed to failure,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters. 

China has been peeling off the island’s diplomatic allies, often with promises of development aid, in a long-running competition between the two that has swung in Beijing’s favor in recent years. The Pacific Island nation of Nauru switched recognition to Beijing earlier this year, a move that reduced Taiwan’s dwindling number of diplomatic allies to 12. 

But China’s at-times heavy-handed approach has also alienated other countries. 

In 2021, Beijing downgraded relations and blocked imports from Lithuania, a member of both the EU and NATO, after the Baltic nation broke with diplomatic custom by agreeing that a Taiwanese representative office in its capital of Vilnius would bear the name Taiwan instead of Chinese Taipei, which other countries use to avoid offending Beijing. The following year, the EU adopted a resolution criticizing Beijing’s behavior toward Taiwan and took action against China at the World Trade Organization over the import restrictions. 

The pressure over the IPAC meeting was also triggering backlash. 

Bolivian Senator Centa Rek said she submitted a letter of protest after a Chinese diplomat called her and told not to go to Taiwan, saying the island was run by an “imposter president” and that the meeting was hosted by an organization “not accepted within the terms of the policy of mainland China.” When Rek refused, the diplomat said he would report her decision to his embassy, which Rek interpreted as a “veiled threat.” 

“I told him that it was an unacceptable intrusion, that I would not accept an order or intrusion from any government,” Rek said. “These were personal decisions and that it seemed to me that he had gone beyond all international political norms.” 

Most of the lawmakers targeted appear to be from smaller countries, which de Pulford, the alliance’s director, said was likely because Beijing “feels that they can get away with it.” But he added that the coercive tactics have only made participants more determined to take part in the summit. 

Miriam Lexmann, a Slovakian member of the European Parliament whose party head was approached by Chinese diplomats, said the pressure underscored her reason for coming to Taiwan. 

We want to “exchange information, ways how to deal with those challenges and threats which China represents to the democratic part of the world, and of course, to support Taiwan,” she said. 
…

TOKYO — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met counterparts from Japan, Australia and India on Monday, with the group expected to issue a joint statement calling for a “free and open” Pacific in a rebuke to China.

While not naming it directly, the call from Blinken and the foreign ministers of the so-called Quad grouping will be seen as a clear reference to Beijing in the wake of a series of confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the disputed South China Sea.

North Korean missile launches, cybersecurity and maritime patrols will also reportedly be on the agenda.

Blinken is on a diplomatic tour of Asia-Pacific countries aimed at reinforcing regional cooperation in the face of Beijing’s growing assertiveness and its deepening ties with Russia.

At high-level defense talks in Tokyo on Sunday, Blinken, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and their Japanese counterparts issued scathing verbal attacks on China and Russia.

They said in a statement that Beijing’s “foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order for its own benefit at the expense of others.”

Their joint communique criticized Moscow’s “growing and provocative strategic military cooperation” with China, as well as its procurement of ballistic missiles from North Korea “for use against Ukraine.”

The Quad talks in Tokyo, the first since September, include Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, India’s S. Jaishankar and Australia’s top diplomat Penny Wong.

Any criticism of Moscow by the group could be awkward for India, which relies heavily on Russian arms supplies and whose Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Vladimir Putin this month.

Maritime clashes

Japanese media reported that the ministers will jointly pledge to improve the Philippines’ cybersecurity capacity and help Palau build communications network infrastructure.

They will also provide help to other nations in maritime policing and search-and-rescue, the reports said.

Manila is locked in a longstanding territorial row with Beijing over parts of the South China Sea — a strategic waterway through which trillions of dollars’ worth of trade passes annually.

Violent clashes in the area have sparked concern that Manila’s ally Washington could be drawn into a conflict as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims to almost the entire South China Sea.

Blinken and Austin will travel to Manila Monday evening for more “2+2” talks there.

Analysts warn that the Quad’s varied agendas mean their message does not always ring clear.

The grouping “sends a mixed signal to China and other states in the region,” said Bec Strating, professor of international relations at La Trobe University.

On one hand, the message that the four countries are willing to work together on defense and foreign policy issues presents them “as a ‘partner-of-choice’ in the region, compared with China,” she told AFP.

But at the same time, they rarely mention China directly in their statements, with their messaging largely trying to “de-emphasize security and military cooperation.”

And while they have made some concrete moves to cooperate, differences in stance on key global matters risk complicating matters.

“Global issues such as the war in Ukraine have demonstrated that the Quad countries are not necessarily as ‘like-minded’ as the rhetoric suggests,” Strating said.
…

BEIJING — Lawmakers from at least six countries say Chinese diplomats are pressuring them not to attend a China-focused summit in Taiwan, in what they describe as efforts to isolate the self-governed island. 

Politicians in Bolivia, Colombia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Bosnia and one other Asian country that declined to be named say they are getting texts, calls and urgent requests for meetings that would conflict with their plans to travel to Taipei, the island’s capital. China vehemently defends its claim to Taiwan and views it as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary. 

The summit begins Monday and is being held by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, or IPAC, a group of hundreds of lawmakers from 35 countries concerned about how democracies approach Beijing. IPAC has long faced pressure from the Chinese government: some members have been sanctioned by Beijing, and in 2021 the group was targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hackers, according to a U.S. indictment unsealed earlier this year. 

But Luke de Pulford, the alliance’s director, says the pressure from Chinese officials the past few days has been unprecedented. During past IPAC meetings in other locations, lawmakers were approached by Chinese diplomats only after they concluded. This year, the first in which IPAC’s annual summit is taking place in Taiwan, there appears to be a coordinated attempt to stop participants from attending. 

The AP spoke to three lawmakers and reviewed texts and emails sent by Chinese diplomats asking whether they were planning to participate in the summit. 

“I’m Wu, from Chinese Embassy,” read a message sent to Antonio Miloshoski, a member of parliament in North Macedonia. “We heard that you got an invitation from IPAC, will you attend the Conference which will be held next week in Taiwan?” 

In some cases, lawmakers described vague inquiries about their plans to travel to Taiwan. In other cases, the contact was more menacing: One lawmaker told The AP that Chinese diplomats messaged the head of her party with a demand to stop her from going. 

“They contacted president of my political party, they ask him to stop me to travel to Taiwan,” said Sanela Klarić, a member of parliament in Bosnia. “He showed me the message from them. He said, ‘I will advise you not to go, but I cannot stop you, it’s something you have to make a decision.’” 

China routinely threatens retaliation against politicians and countries that show support for Taiwan, which has only informal relations with most countries due to Chinese diplomatic pressure. Klarić said the pressure was unpleasant but only steeled her determination to go on the trip. 

“I really am fighting against countries or societies where the tool to manipulate and control peoples is fear,” said Klarić, adding that it reminded her of threats and intimidation she faced while suffering through wars in Bosnia in the 1990s. “I really hate the feeling when somebody is frightening you.” 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

De Pulford called the Chinese government pressure “gross foreign interference.” 

“How would PRC officials feel if we tried to tell them about their travel plans, where they could and could not go?” de Pulford said, using the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China. “It’s absolutely outrageous that they think that they can interfere in the travel plans of foreign legislators.” 

Lawmakers from 25 countries are expected to attend this year’s summit and will feature high-level meetings with Taiwanese officials, according to a news release. The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Last week, Beijing criticized Taiwan for its annual Han Kuang military drills, saying that Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party was “carrying out provocations to seek independence.” 

“Any attempt to whip up tensions and use force to seek independence or reject reunification is doomed to failure,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters. 

China has been peeling off the island’s diplomatic allies, often with promises of development aid, in a long-running competition between the two that has swung in Beijing’s favor in recent years. The Pacific Island nation of Nauru switched recognition to Beijing earlier this year, a move that reduced Taiwan’s dwindling number of diplomatic allies to 12. 

But China’s at-times heavy-handed approach has also alienated other countries. 

In 2021, Beijing downgraded relations and blocked imports from Lithuania, a member of both the EU and NATO, after the Baltic nation broke with diplomatic custom by agreeing that a Taiwanese representative office in its capital of Vilnius would bear the name Taiwan instead of Chinese Taipei, which other countries use to avoid offending Beijing.  

The following year, the EU adopted a resolution criticizing Beijing’s behavior toward Taiwan and took action against China at the World Trade Organization over the import restrictions. 

This time, Chinese pressure is also triggering backlash. 

Bolivian Senator Centa Rek said that she submitted a letter of protest after a Chinese diplomat called her and told not to go to Taiwan, saying the island was run by an “imposter president” and that the summit was hosted by an organization “not accepted within the terms of the policy of mainland China.” When Rek refused, the diplomat said he would report her decision to his embassy, which Rek interpreted as a “veiled threat.” 

“I told him that it was an unacceptable intrusion, that I would not accept an order or intrusion from any government,” Rek said. “These were personal decisions and that it seemed to me that he had gone beyond all international political norms.” 

Most of the lawmakers targeted appear to be from smaller countries, which de Pulford, the alliance’s director, said was likely because Beijing “feels that they can get away with it.” But he added that the coercive tactics have only made participants more determined to take part in the summit.
…

HONG KONG — Three of the world’s top auction houses are racing to expand in Hong Kong, eager to woo young Asian buyers even as the global art market retreats from pandemic-era highs.

In the span of two months, Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams will each see the culmination of yearslong efforts to upgrade their regional headquarters in the southern Chinese city.

Sotheby’s on Thursday unveiled showrooms at an upscale mall in Hong Kong’s finance district, a two-story space previously occupied by fashion label Giorgio Armani.

“We envision for this state-of-the-art space in Hong Kong to be the epicenter of culture for global visitors,” managing director of Asia Nathan Drahi said at the opening.

“We are very confident in the prospect of Hong Kong because it possesses some strong fundamentals for our industry,” he told AFP, pointing to the favorable tax framework.

Nearby, Christie’s is gearing up for a September opening at a new skyscraper designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, with its total floor space doubling to 4,600 square meters.

“Asia has been the pillar of the company,” said Francis Belin, president of Christie’s Asia Pacific.

“But we didn’t have the physical tool, the infrastructure … to actually be at the level of our ambitions.”

The firms are “putting their bets down and saying Hong Kong is the center for Asia,” according to art adviser Patti Wong — but she said the expansions come with risk.

‘An ideal base’

Hong Kong’s biggest auctions of the year are held every spring and autumn at the city’s convention and exhibition center — an intense four months that build hype and draw visitors.

With new in-house venues, events will be more spread out.

“This is a big test for Hong Kong and whether we can develop into a more mature auction market [with] visitors throughout the year,” Wong said.

Global art sales have slowed since Christie’s and Sotheby’s first announced their Hong Kong expansion plans in the heady days of 2021 and 2022.

This year, Christie’s reported $2.1 billion in sales in the first six months — the second consecutive year of decline — down from its 2022 peak of $4.1 billion.

Wendy Goldsmith, a London-based art adviser and former Christie’s auctioneer, cited China’s real estate crisis as a major factor.

“[Asian collectors] are currently taking a bit of a breath buyingwise but the interest and appetite to collect is still there,” Goldsmith told AFP.

“Auction houses know that they’ll be back … and probably stronger than ever.”

Bonhams, which will move to a 1,765-square-meter location at a new office building in September, said it found success targeting transactions under 10 million Hong Kong dollars ($1.3 million).

“This segment has proven resilient despite broader economic uncertainties and represents a huge opportunity in Asia,” said Julia Hu, Bonhams’ managing director for Asia.

Hong Kong remained “an ideal base for tapping into other major Asian cities,” Hu added, citing its strategic location, efficient logistics, collector base, and tax and legal frameworks.

Young buyers

New York-based Phillips, another auction house, opened its regional headquarters next to Hong Kong’s museum of visual culture in 2023.

The companies are unfazed by Hong Kong’s political environment, even as critics say a crackdown by Beijing has chilled artistic freedoms, said cultural policy scholar Patrick Mok.

“The companies that operate in Hong Kong’s art market are rather apolitical … they know those [political] works can’t fetch good prices here,” Mok said.

Auction houses are now competing for younger buyers and embracing online bidding — a shift accelerated by the pandemic.

Christie’s said 29% of buyers in the first half of 2024 were millennials or Gen Z.

“Auction houses turned on a dime during COVID … [They] are marketing machines now,” said Goldsmith, adding that auctions have been spiced up to resemble Hollywood productions.

“[They] are more than willing to provide these events, lectures, dinners, viewings … all to conjure up the next bid.”

The opportunity — and challenge — of the Hong Kong venues will be to bring internet-native buyers into the real world.

But Hu from Bonhams was confident, saying that showroom auctions are irreplaceable.

“Our clients still crave the sheer thrill and excitement of being physically present,” she said. 
…

Helsinki, Finland — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit China from Friday to Tuesday for a trip that analysts say aims to repair the rift caused by Rome’s withdrawal last year from China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure and transportation plan sometimes called the New Silk Road.

China’s foreign ministry said Thursday that during her trip, Meloni would hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee Zhao Leji.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella plans to visit China in October. Analysts say the trips show that Rome hopes to repair relations damaged when Italy became the first country to pull out of the BRI since it was launched in 2013. 

Meloni has long been critical of the partnership, calling the decision to join the BRI a “serious mistake” that had not delivered promised economic benefits to Italy.

Italy is China’s fourth-largest trading partner in the European Union, and China is Italy’s largest trading partner in Asia, with bilateral trade at $80 billion, mostly Chinese exports to Italy.

Italian data show exports to China reached nearly $18 billion in 2022 from $14 billion in 2019, while Chinese exports to Italy nearly doubled during that same period from more than $34 billion to more than $62 billion.

Despite Meloni’s criticism of the BRI, China’s state media Global Times on Thursday suggested that the withdrawal from BRI did not reflect her own views.

It quoted Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of European Studies researcher Zhao Junjie saying: “This visit once again demonstrates that Italy’s withdrawal from the BRI was not due to a reluctance to cooperate with China or Meloni’s own political beliefs, but rather due to the huge pressure from the US and other major Western powers at the time.”

Under some pressure from the European Union and the United States, Meloni’s new government in December made a low-key exit from the BRI, which was seen as a major blow to Xi’s global ambitions and the failure of the BRI in Europe. The Chinese side also kept a low profile and didn’t publicly criticize Italy’s withdrawal.

Francesco Galietti, adjunct professor of political risk analysis at Rome’s Luiss University and co-founder and CEO of consulting agency Policy Sonar, told VOA, “It’s unclear whether she’s taken note of this and thought about her own ‘hedging’ strategy. She should have. For while Italy is world famous for geopolitical yo-yoing, she’s the current G7 chair. Moreover, it’s only been a few months since Italy opted out of China’s BRI, so by all accounts, relations should be delicate right now. And yet, reading the tea leaves is all but simple.”

Emanuele Scimia, an Italian foreign affairs journalist and analyst and contributing foreign policy writer for the South China Morning Post, says the visit is more an attempt to balance the Meloni administration’s concerns about China’s market distortions and support for Russia’s war against Ukraine with Italy’s need to attract Chinese investments, especially in new technologies such as electric vehicles.

“Italy is a trade-oriented country and does not want an economic and geopolitical confrontation with China,” Scimia told VOA. “They see China as a key export market but at the same time are worried by the flow of Chinese-dumped and -subsidized goods.

“The majority of Italy’s companies are small- and medium-sized, which are less equipped to resist Chinese unfair competition. And the signing of the BRI MoU [memorandum of understanding] in 2019 has not substantially improved Italy’s trade deficit with China,” Scimia said. “The reality is that the BRI agreement only benefited Beijing in political terms, creating friction between Rome and Washington.”

The visit underscores the fact that China remains a key geopolitical actor, said Beatrice Nicolini, a history professor at the Catholic University of Sacred Heart in Milan.

“Despite exiting the BRI, Italy aims to keep an open dialogue with Beijing,” she told VOA. “Meloni is navigating a delicate balance, seeking to avoid aligning too closely with either the United States or China. This strategy of ‘equidistance’ reflects Italy’s geographical position at the heart of the Mediterranean.”

But Beijing’s increasingly close relations with Moscow after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine have made improving ties with China trickier for EU nations like Italy, which are supporting Kyiv and its defense, said Christopher Lamont, a professor of international relations at Tokyo International University.

“It is also important to keep in mind that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues to complicate China’s relationships with European capitals, and Meloni’s visit could also be seen from Beijing as an opportunity to foster greater influence in this context,” he told VOA.

Earlier this month, NATO, of which Italy is a founding member, accused China of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

China has consistently denied supplying weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine and says it has strict controls on dual-use technology that could be put to military purposes.

Some information for this report came from Reuters. 
…

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday that Russia’s leadership was “hyper rational” and that Ukraine would never be able to fulfill its hopes of becoming a member of the European Union or NATO.

Orban, a nationalist in power since 2010, made the comments during a speech in which he forecast a shift in global power away from the “irrational” West toward Asia and Russia.

“In the next long decades, maybe centuries, Asia will be the dominant center of the world,” Orban said, mentioning China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia as the world’s future big powers.

“And we Westerners pushed the Russians into this bloc as well,” he said in the televised speech before ethnic Hungarians at a festival in the town of Baile Tusnad in neighboring Romania.

Orban, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, has sharply differed from the rest of the bloc by seeking warmer ties with Beijing and Moscow, and he angered some EU leaders when he went on surprise visits to Kyiv, Moscow and Beijing this month for talks on the war in Ukraine.

He said that in contrast to the “weakness” of the West, Russia’s position in world affairs was rational and predictable, saying the country had shown economic flexibility in adapting to Western sanctions since it invaded Crimea in 2014.

Orban, whose own government has passed several anti-LGBT measures, said Russia had gained clout in many parts of the world by severely restricting LGBTQ+ rights.

“The strongest international appeal of Russian soft power is its opposition to LGBTQ,” he said.

He added that Ukraine would never become a member of the EU or NATO because “we Europeans do not have enough money for that.”

“The EU needs to give up its identity as a political project and become an economic and defense project,” Orban said.

The EU opened membership talks with Ukraine late last month, although a long and tough road lies ahead of the country before it can join the bloc.

A declaration at the end of the NATO summit this month said the alliance will support Ukraine on “its irreversible path” toward membership.
…

Auckland, New Zealand — Job losses and wage cuts from China’s economic downturn are hitting key industries, according to the South China Morning Post, and analysts say the situation could lead to political difficulties for the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Rights groups say the situation has triggered a sharp increase in protests and strikes around the country – not enough to threaten the rule of the CCP or President Xi Jinping, but enough that an analyst sees a “hidden danger” for Chinese authorities unless they can rejuvenate the economy.

Mr. Wang, in his early 40s, lives in Bao’an District, Shenzhen, in southern China. He was formerly employed at a well-known business travel platform but was laid off earlier this year. He prefers not to disclose his full name or the company’s name due to the matter’s sensitivity.

Wang tells VOA, “In the area of business travel software, our company is at the forefront of China in terms of R&D and sales, and it is also one of the top 500 private enterprises in China.  But now many companies have run out of money, our sales have plummeted, and the layoffs finally fell on our group of old employees.”

He compares China’s economic slowdown to a high-speed train suddenly hitting the brakes, and everyone on the train hitting the ground, even those better-off, like himself.

China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate has been dropping since hitting 10.6% in 2010, well before the COVID pandemic, which cut growth to 2.2% in 2020, according to the World Bank.

The global lender says growth bounced back to 8.4% in 2021 but then fell to 3% in 2022 before a moderate recovery to 5.2% in 2023.  The World Bank expects China’s growth rate to drop back below 5% this year.

Several Chinese workers VOA talked with said they were unprepared for the economy to slow so quickly.

Two large IT companies laid off Mr. Liu in Guangzhou in the past two years, and his life has turned gloomy.  He also prefers not to disclose his full name due to the matter’s sensitivity. Still struggling to find a job, Liu has a second child, and his wife was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.

“When I was laid off for the first time, I got decent severance pay because I had worked there for a long time,” says Liu. “Later, when I came to a large company, I was laid off again, and I felt that I was quite unlucky.  Fortunately, we don’t have too much debt.”

According to South Morning China Post’s (SCMP) July analysis of the annual reports of 23 top Chinese companies, 14 of them carried out large layoffs in 2023, with technology and real estate companies among the worst hit amid a glut of empty buildings.

The online newspaper reports that one company, Poly Real Estate, laid off 16.3% of its workforce in the past year, or 11,000 people; Greenland Holdings, a Shanghai-based real estate company, also saw a 14.5% drop in the number of its employees.

The SCMP reports online retail giant Alibaba cut 12.8% of its workforce, or about 20,000 jobs, in the 2023 fiscal year, while technology conglomerate Tencent’s headcount fell 2.8% in 2023 to about 3,000, and in the first quarter of 2024, the company laid off another 630 people.

In addition, Chinese internet tech firms ByteDance, JD.com, Kuaishou, Didi Chuxing, Bilibili and Weibo have all conducted layoffs this year.

China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) is painting a rosier picture this month, calling employment and the national economy “generally stable” and citing “steady progress.”  In June, it showed only a 0.2% drop in urban jobs compared with the same period last year.

The NBS also claimed China’s lowest youth unemployment rate this year, 13.2%, after it removed students from the calculation.  The new methodology was introduced after China hit a record high 21.3% youth unemployment in June 2023, prompting authorities to suspend publication of the statistic.

Chen Yingxuan, a policy analyst at the Taiwan Institute of National Defense and Security Studies who specializes in Chinese unemployment, tells VOA that Beijing’s job worries have shifted from fresh graduates and the working class to middle class and senior managers.

She says many have faced salary cuts or layoffs to reduce costs and increase efficiency as China struggles with a weak housing market, sluggish consumption, high government debt, foreign investment withdrawals, and trade barriers.

Even people with relatively stable incomes, such as workers at state-owned enterprises, are feeling the pinch.

Ms. Zhang, who works for a state-owned commercial bank in Guangzhou and prefers not to disclose her full name due to the matter’s sensitivity, says many bank employees are seeing paychecks shrink.

“State owned banks such as China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, or joint-stock banks, are now cutting salaries, let alone urban commercial banks in many places,” she tells VOA.  “Salary cuts already started last year, and it seems to be worse this year.” 

She projects the cuts will be 20% to 30% by the end of the year.

In July, China’s 31 provincial-level administrative regions issued regulations calling for party and government organs to “live a tight life,” focusing on budget cuts and reductions in public spending.

Analysts say further job and wage cuts could lead to intensified protests and strikes, leading to greater instability.

Rights group China Labor Bulletin (CLB) in 2023 counted 1,794 strike incidents in China, more than double the number in 2022.

In the past six months alone, the group documented about 1,200 incidents in protest of the wage cuts, unpaid wages, unforeseen layoffs, and unfair compensation, a more than 50% increase from the same period in 2023.

CLB estimates “only 5% to 10% of all collective actions of workers have been recorded,” suggesting many more protests are taking place.

But Chen of the Taiwan Institute of National Defense and Security Studies says the wage cuts and unemployment have not yet been severe enough to spark large-scale protests that threaten the power of the ruling party or President Xi.

“Although there has been an increase in protests, they are still relatively sporadic. There are no large-scale incidents, and local governments can easily quell them,” she says.  “So, for the legitimacy of the CCP and Xi’s third term, it is more of a hidden danger than an imminent crisis.”

While protests in China are usually by working class people, Wang notes the economic pain is spreading to other, more influential groups.

“Whether for blue-collar, white-collar, or even gold-collar workers, the economic losses are now very large,” says Wang.  “The worse the economy and the more emergencies there are, the more the CCP will suppress it with high pressure. It’s a vicious circle, where people suffer more, and stability is more costly.”

Meanwhile, analysts say Chinese authorities are struggling to come up with a plan to reverse the unemployment and wage cutting trend.

The communiqué of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, released on July 18, mentioned employment only once, saying “it is necessary to improve the income distribution system and the employment priority policy.”
…