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BEIJING — China’s new home prices fell at the fastest pace in more than 9-1/2 years in May, official data showed on Monday, with the property sector struggling to find a bottom despite government efforts to rein in oversupply and support debt-laden developers.

Prices were down 0.7% in May from the previous month, marking the 11th straight month-on-month decline and steepest drop since October 2014, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data.

In annual terms, new home prices were down 3.9% from a year earlier, compared with a 3.1% slide in April.

China’s indebted property sector, once a key engine of the country’s economic growth, has been hit by several crises since mid-2021, including developers defaulting on debt and stalling construction on pre-sold housing projects.

Authorities have stepped up measures to prop up the crisis-hit property sector including facilitating 300 billion yuan ($41.35 billion) to clear massive housing inventory, cutting down payments and easing mortgage rules.

But analysts believe these moves will do little to absorb the massive housing inventory, and the lifting of home purchase restrictions in major cities might further dampen buying sentiment in smaller cities.

New home prices fell last month in nearly all 70 of the cities surveyed by the NBS.

“The latest policies have boosted the second-hand home market in major cities, but the liquidity problem of real estate enterprises has not yet been eased and the confidence crisis in the new-home market has not yet been resolved,” said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Separately, official figures on Monday also showed property investment fell 10.1% in the first five months of the year from a year earlier, after dropping 9.8% in January-April. Home sales fell at faster pace in January-May.

China’s property market is set to diverge, said Nie Wen, an economist at Shanghai Hwabao Trust, with new home sales in large cities being driven by those who have been able to renovate and sell their existing homes, while real estate in small cities is expected to continue falling due to a housing oversupply and population outflows.

Policymakers are expected to support local governments and state-owned enterprises with discounted loans to buy unsold homes for low-cost housing and at the same time cut interest rates and fees to support homeowners improve their homes, Nie said.
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SYDNEY — Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrived in Australia on Saturday, saying relations were “back on track” as he started the first visit by a Chinese premier to the major trading partner in seven years.

Australia is “uniquely positioned to connect the West and the East” and stands as “an important force of economic globalization and world multipolarity,” Li said at Adelaide’s airport, according to a statement from the Chinese embassy.

Bilateral relations are “back on track after a period of twists and turns,” Li said.

Australia is the biggest supplier of iron ore to China, which has been an investor in Australian mining projects, although some recent Chinese investment in critical minerals has been blocked by Australia on national interest grounds.

China imposed trade restrictions on a raft of Australian agricultural and mineral products in 2020 during a diplomatic dispute that has now largely eased.

During his four-day visit, Li will also visit the capital, Canberra, and mining state Western Australia.

“A more mature, stable and fruitful comprehensive strategic partnership will be a treasure shared by the people of both countries,” Li said.

He is expected to visit a pair of pandas on loan from China to Adelaide’s zoo on Sunday. A lunch with wine exporters, until recently shut out of the Chinese market.

Li arrived from New Zealand, where he highlighted Chinese demand for New Zealand’s agricultural products.

China is the biggest trading partner of Australia and New Zealand. Canberra and Wellington are seeking to balance trade with regional security concerns over China’s ambitions in the Pacific Islands.

In New Zealand, Li visited major dairy exporter Fonterra on Saturday after signing agreements with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on trade and climate change, with human rights and foreign interference also on the agenda.
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Taipei, Taiwan — Outgoing director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Sandra Oudkirk, has warned China against aggressive moves in the region that could spark a larger conflict.

Oudkirk made the comment in response to a question at a June 14 farewell news conference.

“The United States is profoundly devoted to a status quo in the straits and in the region … that is one of peace and stability. And that is why we have consistently urged the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to avoid coercive or provocative actions both in the Taiwan Straits and in other areas like the South China Sea and off Japan, because provocative actions are almost by definition dangerous,” she said. “They run the risk of a miscalculation or an accident that could spark a broader conflict.”

During Oudkirk’s three-year term, China conducted three island-circling military exercises against Taiwan, causing an unprecedented level of tension in the history of the American Institute in Taiwan, or AIT, which serves as Washington’s de facto embassy.

China considers self-governing Taiwan a breakaway province that must one day be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

The U.S., like many countries, does not recognize Taiwan as a country in order to have relations with China. But Washington maintains informal diplomatic relations with Taipei through the AIT, along with direct trade and defense ties, and supports Taiwan as a self-governing democracy.

Oudkirk reiterated U.S. support for Taiwan’s defense capabilities against Chinese aggression, saying that bolstering Taiwan’s ability to defend itself was AIT’s “top priority.”

“We look forward to the delivery of the military capabilities” from the long-awaited U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, she said. Worth nearly $20 billion, they were purchased over the past several years but have seen delays in delivery.

Oudkirk blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for affecting supply chains but said the delays were gradually unwinding and to “watch this space.”

The U.S. in early June approved an $80 million sale of F-16 fighter jet spare and repair parts to Taiwan.

China’s defense ministry declared Beijing’s strong opposition to the arms sales on June 7 and urged Washington to withdraw them immediately.

Amid concerns about a potential defense vacuum in Taiwan, some analysts have suggested the U.S. move some arms and ammunition production to Taiwan.

In response, Taiwan’s Defense Minister Wellington Koo said on June 11 that the two countries are moving toward “possible joint production,” reported Taiwanese media.

Meanwhile, Oudkirk noted that Taiwan is looking at becoming a component supplier for the U.S. defense industry.

“We have had a variety of delegations come through Taiwan looking at cybersecurity, looking at unmanned systems, drones. I can tell there is a lot of interest there but there are still some steps in terms of meeting the standards that the U.S. puts down for its defense industrial base that Taiwan’s private companies would have to meet.”

Tzu-yun Su, an associate research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei, told VOA the technical issues for Taiwan and U.S. defense companies to expand cooperation are not big, but a major hurdle is corporate governance.

“The confidentiality of the companies, personnel safety control and information network security will be the three major factors,” said Su. “At the same time, the government laws must be connected. If Taiwanese companies can keep up with these regulations and management aspects, they will have a relatively good chance of entering the U.S. defense supply chain.”

Asked about concerns that U.S. policy to Taiwan could change if President Joe Biden is not reelected in November, Oudkirk said, “In the United States, unlike on almost any other issue of foreign policy or domestic policy, there is a broad-based, bipartisan consensus on policy towards Taiwan. So, I do not think an election would necessarily change that.”

The American Institute in Taiwan announced in late May that Raymond Greene will succeed Oudkirk as head of the office in Taipei sometime this summer.
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On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up meetings in Italy with leaders of the Group of Seven democracies. The leaders focused on threats they say China poses to the global economy and artificial intelligence ethics championed by Pope Francis. Patsy Widakuswara reports from Brindisi, Italy.
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washington — Pope Francis, originally from Argentina, spoke Friday about the ethics of artificial intelligence at the G7 summit at a time when China has been rolling out its own AI standards and building technological infrastructure in developing nations, including Latin America.

The annual meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations held in the Puglia region of Italy this week focused on topics that included economic security and artificial intelligence.

On Friday, Francis became the first pope to speak at a G7 summit. He spoke about AI and its ethical implications and the need to balance technological progress with values.

“Artificial intelligence could enable a democratization of access to knowledge, the exponential advancement of scientific research, and the possibility of giving demanding and arduous work to machines,” he said.

But Francis also warned that AI “could bring with it a greater injustice between advanced and developing nations, or between dominant and oppressed social classes.”

Technology and security experts have noted that AI is becoming an increasingly geopolitical issue, particularly as the U.S. and China compete in regions such as Latin America.

“There will be the promotion of [China’s] standards for AI in other countries and the U.S. will be doing the same thing, so we will have bifurcation, decoupling of these standards,” Handel Jones, the chief executive of International Business Strategies Inc. told VOA.

To decrease reliance on China, U.S. tech companies are looking to Mexico to buy AI-related hardware, and Taiwan-based Foxconn has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars in building manufacturing facilities in Mexico to meet that need.

Huawei’s projects

At the same time, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has been implementing telecommunications and cloud infrastructure in Latin America. The company recently reported a 10.9% increase in revenue in that region in 2023. The United States has sanctioned Huawei because of national security concerns.

“I would argue that Huawei is developing the infrastructure in the region [Latin America] in which it can deploy its type of AI solutions,” said Evan Ellis, Latin American studies research professor at the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute.

Ellis elaborated on the potential security concerns with Huawei’s AI solutions, explaining to VOA how China may be able use integrated AI solutions such as facial recognition for potentially “nefarious purposes,” such as recognizing consumer behavioral patterns.

Jones emphasized the potential security threat to the West of China implementing AI in Latin America.

“The negative [side] of AI is that you can get control, and you can also influence, so how you control thought processes and media, and so on … that’s something which is very much a part of the philosophy of the China government,” Jones said.

Jones added that China is moving rapidly to build up its AI capabilities.

“Now, they claim it’s defensive. But again, who knows what’s going to happen five years from now? But if you’ve got the strength, would you use it? And how would you use it? And of course, AI is going to be a critical part of any future military activities,” he said.

In May, China launched a three-year action plan to set standards in AI and to position itself as a global leader in the emerging tech space.

‘Rig the game’

“Once you can set standards, you rig the game to lock in basically your own way of doing things, and so it becomes a mutually reinforcing thing,” Ellis said.

“In some ways you can argue that the advance of AI in the hands of countries that are not democratic helps to enable the apparent success of statist solution,” he added. “It strengthens the allure of autocratic systems and taking out protections and privacy away from the individual that at the end of the day pose fundamental threats to the human rights and democracy.”

The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to VOA’s request for comment about analysts’ concerns related to security as China’s digital influence grows in Latin America.

But in a previous statement to VOA about AI, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said, “The Global AI Governance Initiative launched by President Xi Jinping puts forward that we should uphold the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit in AI development, and oppose drawing ideological lines.”

Liu said China supports “efforts to develop AI governance frameworks, norms and standards based on broad consensus and with full respect for policies and practices among countries.”

Parsifal D’Sola, founder and executive director of the Andres Bello Foundation’s China Latin America Research Center, said Huawei has been transparent with how it “manipulates information, [and] what it shares back with China.”

“The way Huawei operates does pose certain risks even for national security, but on the other hand … it’s cheaper, it has great service … [and it provides] infrastructure in areas of the [countries] that do not have access,” D’Sola said.

Experts said countries in Latin America seem less worried about the geopolitical battle between the United States and China and more concerned about efficiency.

“Security is part of the conversation, but development is much more important,” D’Sola said. “Economic development, infrastructure development, is a key priority for – I don’t want to say every country, but I would say most countries in the region.”

As China and countries in the West continue to discuss the implications of AI, Chinasa T. Okolo, expert in AI and fellow from the Brookings Institution, said one of the challenges of creating regulatory guidelines for this emerging technology is whether lawmakers can keep up with the speed of technological advancement.

“We don’t necessarily know its full capacity, and so it’s kind of hard to predict,” Okolo said, “and so by the time that, you know, regulators or policymakers have drafted up some sort of legal framework, it could already be outdated, and so governments have to kind of be aware of this and move quickly in terms of implementing effective and robust AI regulations.”

Pope Francis, in his speech, acknowledged the rapid technological advancement of AI.

“It is precisely this powerful technological progress that makes artificial intelligence at the same time an exciting and fearsome tool and demands a reflection that is up to the challenge it presents,” he said, adding that it goes without saying that the benefits or harm that AI will bring depends on how it is used.
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Washington — The Swiss-hosted Ukraine Peace Summit will take place Saturday and Sunday at the Burgenstock Resort on Lake Lucerne with about 90 countries participating. The Swiss government says the summit aims to “inspire a future peace process” that could eventually involve Russia and build a “just and lasting peace” for Ukraine rooted in international law.

It’s been nearly 28 months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, causing heavy casualties on both sides in a war that has displaced millions of Ukrainians.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initiated the summit to gather international support for his peace plan. The 10 points in Zelenskyy’s “peace formula” include the full withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine and the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, including Crimea and Russian-occupied areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Russia has not been invited to the summit. The Swiss government says there was no invitation because Russia had no intention of attending. Moscow called a peace summit without its participation “futile.”

But Russia is not the only major player skipping the talks.

Who is attending? Who is absent?

China will also be absent from the summit.

China’s Foreign Ministry said at the end of May that Beijing “is hardly able to take part in the meeting” because a peace summit without Russia would not meet China’s expectations. Beijing said the peace conference “should have the recognition of Russia and Ukraine, equal participation of all parties, and fair discussion of all peace plans.”

China issued its “Position on the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” in February 2023, touting it as a peace plan. But the 12 principles in the plan were just repeats of Beijing’s long-held positions that critics say are more favorable to Russia.

The United States and Ukraine have urged China to participate many times before.  Zelenskyy, at the Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month, accused China of pressuring other countries to boycott the peace summit, which Beijing denied.

Kyiv has invited about 160 countries and organizations to attend the summit. The Swiss government said on Monday that about 90 countries — almost half of them from Europe — have confirmed their participation, and that most of the participants are heads of state or government.

Ukraine’s biggest ally, the United States, will send Vice President Kamala Harris and national security adviser Jake Sullivan. President Joe Biden will reportedly miss the summit due to a campaign fundraiser. Zelenskyy said Russian President Vladimir Putin would give Biden’s absence a “standing ovation.”

The White House told the media that the United States is a staunch supporter of Ukraine. In a June speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landing, Biden promised “we will not walk away” from Ukraine, connecting Europe’s World War II fight against Nazi invaders to Ukraine’s fight against Russian ones.

Also confirmed are leaders of the European Union, the European Commission, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, Poland, Moldova, Ireland, Iceland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland, Latvia, Sweden, Croatia, Luxembourg, Cape Verde and Chile.

In addition to its Western allies, Kyiv has focused on inviting nations from the Global South — a term used to describe less-developed countries — and has made efforts to win their support for the summit. Compared with Western countries, most Global South countries are neutral or somewhat pro-Russian on the war.

Winning the support of these countries is key for Ukraine to pressure Russia in future talks. “The more such countries we have on our side … the more Russia will have to deal with this,” Zelenskyy said last month in an interview with AFP.

Turkey confirmed on Wednesday that it would send its foreign minister to the peace summit.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs said on Wednesday it would send officials of “appropriate level” to the summit, while confirming that it would not be newly reelected Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have all confirmed their attendance, but with deputy ministerial-level officials instead of top leaders.

Invited countries that have not yet confirmed include Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Pakistan. Although Pakistan and Ukraine have strong defense cooperation, Russia is also an important oil supplier to the country.

What will be discussed?

The Swiss government says the main task of the peace summit is to drive the future peace process, including:

Beginning a dialogue on how to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine under international law and the U.N. Charter.
Promoting consensus on a possible "peace framework."
Determining a roadmap on how to involve both Russia and Ukraine in the process.

Ukraine has said the summit will focus on three issues that could win the support of various countries and produce action plans: 

Freedom of navigation in the Black Sea, allowing Ukraine to export grains and protect global food security. 
Agreement on a call to stop the bombing of nuclear energy infrastructure. 
Release of all prisoners and the return of Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia. The International Criminal Court in March 2023 issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the abductions, which Russia has denied.

Mark Cancian, senior adviser for the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he expects many attendees to remain neutral on the war.

“Zelenskyy will want to turn the conference into an anti-Russian coalition,” he told VOA.  “However, some of the attendees may want to explore end states that are short of what Ukraine wants — for example, some sort of in-place cease-fire.”

Cancian said the peace summit’s final communique will be important because it will indicate whether Zelenskyy has sustained international support or whether “international desires for peace are overwhelming Ukraine’s desire for victory.”

Zelenskyy’s three issues for the summit are part of a 10-point peace plan announced in 2022 that includes the “nonnegotiable” point of restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity.  The territories include not only eastern and southern Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia since 2022 but also Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

Russia has rebuffed Ukraine’s peace proposals, saying it will not give up a single inch of Ukrainian territory it seized, which amounts to about a fifth of Ukraine’s total area.

Many analysts believe that Ukraine’s bargaining power in future negotiations with Russia depends mainly on its momentum in the war.

The Ukrainian army is currently facing pressure on the battlefield, compared to last summer’s offensive, with a shortage of ammunition and manpower and difficulty recruiting soldiers.

Shelby Magid, deputy director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center, said in an article, “There will ultimately be a time for diplomacy, but Ukraine needs to make significant progress militarily for the time to be right.”

But many Ukrainians and their overseas supporters warn that a deal that allows Russia to gobble up large swathes of Ukrainian territory by force would weaken the West and embolden Moscow to take similar actions in the future.

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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SYDNEY — Chinese Premier Li Qiang will touch down in Australia Saturday, becoming the most senior Chinese visitor in over seven years.

His arrival symbolizes the greatly improved relationship between Beijing and Canberra, following a turbulent patch that saw China impose tough trade restrictions on Australia.

Li will land in the South Australian city of Adelaide, before heading to Canberra for a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He will wrap up his trip with a visit to Perth.

While trade ties will dominate much of the agenda, Australian analysts say they see the visit of China’s second most powerful official as a crucial step on the return to more normal relations.

“This visit signals that the bilateral relationship has reached a new settling point, after many, many years of a huge amount of sound and fury and drama and tension,” Benjamin Herscovitch, a research fellow at the Australian National University, told VOA.

“We’re now reaching this new settling point of a rough, uneasy normalization of the relationship between Australia and China,” Herscovitch said.

The roots of the breakdown of relations between Canberra and Beijing can be traced to 2018, when Australia became the first country to ban Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its 5G network.

Two years later, Albanese’s predecessor, Scott Morrison, angered China when he led calls for an international investigation into the origins of COVID-19.

As the relationship soured, China slapped a host of tariffs and restrictions on a variety of Australian goods and commodities including barley, wine and coal. The sanctions are estimated to have cost the Australian economy over $13 billion.

“China’s strategy did not just impose trade restrictions in the form of various different measures that were economically coercive, but also denied Canberra diplomatic access to Beijing,” Herscovitch said.

“This was essentially part of a punishment campaign for Australia,” he added.

Beijing was further irked by Australia’s enhanced military ties with Western countries, including a new AUKUS security alliance which was announced with the United States and the United Kingdom in 2021.

The partnership will allow Australia to acquire nuclear submarine capability, specifically to counter growing concerns over China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region.

These tensions led to an almost total breakdown in diplomatic relations between Australia and China.

The formation of a new Australian government in 2022 provided an opportunity for a fresh start, with Albanese keen to resume dialogue with Australia’s biggest trading partner.

His meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 in Bali later that year, opened the door to the resumption of high-level talks, with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong visiting Beijing just a month after that summit.

Further progress was made when Albanese traveled to China last November, paving the way for the resumption of annual leaders’ meetings.

“It’s a significant sign that the Australian government has reached its goal of ‘stabilising’ relations,” Melissa Conley Tyler, an honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, said.

“During this visit, messaging will be around Australia as a country that is ‘friendly’ to China – which makes a difference to officials, importers and parents choosing where their children will study,” Tyler told VOA.

Li’s visit will take in three Australian states, providing plentiful opportunities for handshakes and photo opportunities, although analysts are less certain of more substantial results aside from diplomatic goodwill.

“It is unlikely the visit will yield any major announcements – both sides have been careful to stress throughout these types of exchanges that dialogue is in itself the focus and the achievement,” Elena Collinson, head of analysis for the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, said.

One area that could see a breakthrough is the removal of Chinese trade restrictions on Australian lobster.

As relations improved under the Albanese administration, Beijing rolled back almost all of the trade barriers that had been erected against Australia, but a ban on live lobster imports remains.

It is widely expected that this ban will be reversed, although the timing of any such announcement will be closely watched.

“China will want to say that there has been a scientific, technical resolution of the issue, and therefore they can remove the trade restrictions,” Herscovitch said.

“But they wouldn’t want it too closely associated with the premier’s visit, even though everyone understands that it was a politically motivated trade restriction and so the removal of it is also politically motivated,” Herscovitch added.

Beijing’s so-called ‘panda diplomacy’ will be on full display during the trip, with Li set to visit Adelaide Zoo to view Wang Wang and Fu Ni, two pandas that were loaned to Australia in 2009.

The arrangement is set to expire at the end of this year, but it is hoped that Li could announce an extension of their stay in the southern hemisphere.

The premier’s trip to the mining hub of Western Australia will also boost hopes of further enhanced trade ties, with Li set to attend a roundtable event organized by the Business Council of Australia. Beijing still relies heavily on Australia for critical commodities including iron ore.

While this visit should further stabilize a recovering diplomatic relationship, the Chinese premier has work to do to gain the support of the Australian public.

Recent polling, partly conducted by the Australia-China Relations Institute, found a high level of anxiety over China’s future ambitions.

“Nearly three-quarters of Australians see China as a security threat, while half see military conflict with China within the next three years as a serious possibility,” Collinson said.

“While support for the economic dimension of the relationship remains, even this is starting to waver,” Collinson added.
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Washington — VOA’s Mandarin Service recently took Google’s artificial intelligence assistant Gemini for a test drive by asking it dozens of questions in Mandarin, but when it was asked about topics including China’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang or street protests against the country’s controversial COVID policies, the chatbot went silent.

Gemini’s responses to questions about problems in the United States and Taiwan, on the other hand, parroted Beijing’s official positions.

Gemini, Google’s large-language model launched late last year, is blocked in China. The California-based tech firm had quit the Chinese market in 2010 in a dispute over censorship demands.

Congressional lawmakers and experts tell VOA that they are concerned about Gemini’s pro-Beijing responses and are urging Google and other Western companies to be more transparent about their AI training data.

Parroting Chinese propaganda

When asked to describe China’s top leader Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party, Gemini gave answers that were indistinguishable from Beijing’s official propaganda.

Gemini called Xi “an excellent leader” who “will lead the Chinese people continuously toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

Gemini said that the Chinese Communist Party “represents the fundamental interest of the Chinese people,” a claim the CCP itself maintains.

On Taiwan, Gemini also mirrored Beijing’s talking points, saying the United States has recognized China’s claim to sovereignty over the self-governed island democracy.

The U.S. only acknowledges Beijing’s position but does not recognize it.

Silent on sensitive topics

During VOA’s testing, Gemini had no problem criticizing the United States. But when similar questions were asked about China, Gemini refused to answer.

When asked about human rights concerns in the U.S., Gemini listed a plethora of issues, including gun violence, government surveillance, police brutality and socioeconomic inequalities. Gemini cited a report released by the Chinese government.

But when asked to explain the criticisms of Beijing’s Xinjiang policies, Gemini said it did not understand the question.

According to estimates from rights groups, more than 1 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang have been placed in internment camps as part of campaign by Beijing to counter terrorism and extremism. Beijing calls the facilities where Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are being held vocational training centers.

When asked if COVID lockdowns in the U.S. had led to public protests, Gemini gave an affirmative response as well as two examples. But when asked if similar demonstrations took place in China, Gemini said it could not help with the question.

China’s strict COVID controls on movement inside the country and Beijing’s internet censorship of its criticisms sparked nationwide street protests in late 2022. News about the protests was heavily censored inside China.

Expert: training data likely the problem

Google touts Gemini as its “most capable” AI model. It supports over 40 languages and can “seamlessly understand” different types of information, including text, code, audio, image and video. Google says Gemini will be incorporated into the company’s other services such as search engine, advertisement and browser.

Albert Zhang, a cyber security analyst at Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told VOA that the root cause of Gemini making pro-Beijing responses could result from the data that is used to train the AI assistant.

In an emailed response to VOA, Zhang said it is likely that the data used to train Gemini “contained mostly Chinese text created by the Chinese government’s propaganda system.”

He said that according to a paper published by Google in 2022, some of Gemini’s data likely came from Chinese social media, public forums and web documents.

“These are all sources the Chinese government has flooded with its preferred narratives and we may be seeing the impact of this on large language models,” he said.

By contrast, when Gemini was asked in English the same questions about China, its responses were much more neutral, and it did not refuse to answer any of the questions.

Yaqiu Wang, research director for China at Freedom House, a Washington-based advocacy organization, told VOA that the case with Gemini is “a reminder that generative AI tools influenced by state-controlled information sources could serve as force multipliers for censorship.”

In a statement to VOA, a Google spokesperson said that Gemini was “designed to offer neutral responses that don’t favor any political ideology, viewpoint, or candidate. This is something that we’re constantly working on improving.”

When asked about the Chinese language data Google uses to train Gemini, the company declined to comment.

US lawmakers concerned

Lawmakers from both parties in Congress have expressed concerns over VOA’s findings on Gemini.

Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told VOA that he is worried about Beijing potentially utilizing AI for disinformation, “whether that’s by poisoning training data used by Western firms, coercing major technology companies, or utilizing AI systems in service of covert influence campaigns.”

Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the committee, warned that “AI tools that uncritically repeat Beijing’s talking points are doing the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party and threatens the tremendous opportunity that AI offers.”

Congressman Michael McCaul, who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, is worried about the national security and foreign policy implications of the “blatant falsehoods” in Gemini’s answers.

“U.S. companies should not censor content according to CCP propaganda guidelines,” he told VOA in a statement.

Raja Krishnamoorthi, ranking member on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, urges Google and other Western tech companies to improve AI training.

“You should try to screen out or filter out subjects or answers or data that has somehow been manipulated by the CCP,” he told VOA. “And you have to also make sure that you test these models thoroughly before you publish them.”

VOA reached out to China’s embassy in Washington for comment but did not receive a response as of publication.

Google’s China problems

In February, a user posted on social media platform X that Gemini refused to generate an image of a Tiananmen Square protester from 1989.

In 2022, a Washington think tank study shows that Google and YouTube put Chinese state media content about Xinjiang and COVID origins in prominent positions in search results.

According to media reports in 2018, Google was developing a search engine specifically tailored for the Chinese market that would conform to Beijing’s censorship demands.

That project was canceled a year later.

Yihua Lee contributed to this report.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan’s visit to China marks the latest effort by Ankara to establish itself at the center of a strategic trade route between Europe and China. But analysts say Beijing’s suspicions over Ankara’s support of Chinese Uyghur dissidents remain an obstacle. Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul.
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STATE DEPARTMENT — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will speed up negotiations with China on a code of conduct to mitigate the risk of conflicts in the hotly contested South China Sea, a senior official from the Southeast Asian bloc said. The bloc hopes to conclude talks by 2026.

But whether the code of conduct will be legally binding is still under discussion.

“We continue to call on all the direct parties concerned to exercise restraint,” Kao Kim Hourn, secretary-general of the association, also known as ASEAN, told reporters during a roundtable on Wednesday. “We cannot deny the fact that the situation continues to escalate.”

Kao is in Washington this week for his first working visit to promote the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the regional bloc and the United States.

Philippines seeks dialogue with China

During a seminar at the Stimson Center on Wednesday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell urged ASEAN to “send an unmistakable message about concerns with respect to provocations in what are clearly Philippine waters.”

His remarks came amid increasing tensions between China and the Philippines due to recent collisions near the waters around Second Thomas Shoal, known as Rén’ài Jiao in China.

It is an offshore maritime feature in the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, less than 370 kilometers from the Philippine Island of Palawan, and about 1111 kilometers from China’s Hainan Island, according to CSIS. 

Campbell added that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. “does not seek a crisis” but desires a dialogue with Beijing. “We’re looking for China to cease provocative activities,” Campbell said.

According to an international tribunal’s legally binding decision issued in July 2016, Second Thomas Shoal is located within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, and China has no lawful maritime claims to the waters around this low-tide feature.

Beijing has rejected the ruling, claiming “indisputable sovereignty” over most of the South China Sea.

“All ASEAN member states exercise their own foreign policy,” Kao said, when asked if the regional bloc will issue a strong statement to support the Philippines. “In this case, it’s actually up to each member state” to decide.

Analysts still skeptical

Some analysts say that since 2017 they have repeatedly heard that a code of conduct is just around the corner, but it has never come from the claimants that really have disagreements with China.

Another sticking point is that while ASEAN has long insisted a code of conduct should be legally binding, China has never accepted this key position.

“ASEAN remains quite divided in that the non-claimants are not really invested in solving or even managing this issue and won’t risk China’s displeasure on behalf of their fellow members. This effectively leaves the claimants — the Philippines and Vietnam, in particular — often standing alone to hold the line in negotiations with China,” said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Others, including Luigi Joble, who teaches at Manila-based De La Salle University, said such a challenge — the lack of unity amid member countries’ diverse positions — “has been, unfortunately, chronic to ASEAN’s engagements with China on the issue, including the decades-long Code of Conduct on the South China Sea negotiations.”

Joble added that roadblocks to concluding the code of conduct have been encountered throughout its negotiations. This has prompted certain claimant states to exert control over disputed maritime features, despite violating established international law, hoping such developments will influence the outcome of the code of conduct negotiations.

Bloc divided about Myanmar conflict

The Southeast Asian bloc remains divided over the conflict in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, which began more than three years ago when the junta overthrew the democratically elected government.

Authoritarian ASEAN members such as Laos and Cambodia continue to support the junta to some extent.

Other members, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, have had some level of interaction with the Myanmar resistance.

“I believe that we cannot expect a quick fix or solution” to end the crisis in Burma, said Kao, who was born in Cambodia. “The priority should be to eliminate violence on the ground inside the country and to promote inclusive dialogue among different stakeholders so there is a political path moving forward,” he added.

Kao visited Myanmar last month. He said the country may send a nonpolitical representative to attend ASEAN foreign ministerial meetings in July in Laos’ capital, Vientiane. ASEAN will hold its summit in October.

“On political issues, we shouldn’t be expecting much of ASEAN, because member countries cannot reach a consensus that meets the needs of their political relations with countries outside ASEAN. So, they handle those individually on a bilateral basis,” said Priscilla Clapp, a senior adviser at the United States Institute of Peace.

Shortly after the military coup, the leaders of nine ASEAN member states and Myanmar junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing agreed to an immediate end to violence in the country; dialogue among all parties; the appointment of a special envoy; humanitarian assistance by ASEAN; and the special envoy’s visit to Myanmar to meet with all parties.

“The five-point consensus, I think, is basically dead,” Clapp told VOA, citing conditions that the resistance has rejected as unreasonable, including the impracticality of holding new elections under the current circumstances in the country and accepting a return to the 2008 military constitution.

She added that ASEAN’s special envoy cannot make any progress in ending the conflict without engaging Myanmar’s National Unity Government — which views itself as a shadow government — as well as other major parties to the conflict.
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BRUSSELS — The European Union moved Wednesday to hike tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, escalating a trade dispute over Beijing’s subsidies for the exports that Brussels worries is hurting domestic automakers.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said it would impose provisional tariffs that would result in Chinese automakers facing additional duties of as much as 38%, up from the current level of 10%.

The commission said it reached out to Chinese authorities to discuss the findings of its investigation into the subsidies and “explore possible ways to resolve the issues.”

“Should discussions with Chinese authorities not lead to an effective solution,” the new rates would take effect on a provisional basis by July 4, the commission said in a press release.

Electric cars are the latest flash point in a broader trade dispute over what Brussels says is China’s unfair state support for green tech exports that also include solar panels, batteries and wind turbines.

Imports of Chinese-made EVs to the European Union have skyrocketed in recent years. They include vehicles from Western brands that have auto plants in China, including Tesla and BMW.

But EU officials complain that Chinese automakers like BYD and SAIC are increasing market share and undercutting European car brands on price thanks to Beijing’s massive subsidies.

The commission said an investigation it opened last year into China’s EV subsidies found that China’s battery electric vehicle value chain “benefits from unfair subsidization, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers.”

The extra tariffs would vary by company. BYD would face an additional 17.4% charge. Geely, which owns Sweden’s Volvo, would be hit with a further 20%. For SAIC, it would be 38.1% extra.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian, speaking at a daily briefing, blasted the EU’s investigation as “typical protectionism” and said Beijing would “take all measures necessary to protect our legitimate rights and interests.”

U.S. President Joe Biden slapped major new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment last month. Biden said that Chinese government subsidies ensure the nation’s companies don’t have to turn a profit, giving them an unfair advantage in global trade.
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washington — Military experts are warning of an increased risk of war with China following recent announcements by Beijing providing for more aggressive enforcement of its claims to disputed regions of the South China Sea.  

Late last month, China announced its coast guard will be empowered to investigate and detain for up to 60 days “foreigners who endanger China’s national security and interests” in the disputed waters. The policy will take effect on June 15.    

And on June 8, it announced it would permit the Philippines to deliver supplies and evacuate personnel from an outpost on the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, which has been determined by an international tribunal to lie within Philippine waters, only if it first notifies Beijing.    

The Philippine National Security Council replied that the country will continue to maintain and supply its outposts in the South China Sea without seeking permission from any other country.    

In a formal statement under the council’s letterhead, national security adviser Eduardo Ano dismissed the suggestion as”absurd, ridiculous and unacceptable.”

According to a June 10 report in the South China Morning Post, a survey released by independent polling agency OCTA Research showed that 73% of Filipinos support further military action to safeguard the Philippines’ territorial rights, including expanded naval patrols and the dispatch of additional troops.   

Philippine media believe the new procedures will empower the Chinese coast guard to “arbitrarily” arrest Filipinos in their own waters. China’s claims to almost the entire sea reach into the internationally recognized economic zones of several Southeast Asian countries.    

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. called the new rules “totally unacceptable” and said he will take all necessary measures to “protect citizens” and continue to”defend the country’s territory.”  

In his keynote speech at the Shangri-La Security Dialogue in Singapore on May 31, the president pointed out that if a Filipino was killed in a South China Sea conflict with China, it would”almost certainly” cross a red line and come “very close” to what the Philippines defines as an act of war.  

John C. Aquilino, former head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, testified before the U.S. Congress last month that Manila could invoke the 1951 U.S.-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty in such a case.  

Bob Savic, head of international trade at the Global Policy Institute in London, said last week that this could bring the United States and China into a direct conflict.  

“The trigger for the First World War occurred on June 28, 1914, with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in a country in Southeast Europe. This time, the trigger could be the death of a Filipino sailor in the tropical waters of Southeast Asia,” he wrote in an article published in the Asia Times.  

He believes if Manila is forced to request U.S. assistance under the Mutual Defense Treaty, it is conceivable that China Coast Guard ships would quickly confront U.S. warships maintaining freedom of navigation in the region. “The U.S. and China must ensure they don’t sleepwalk into a repeat of the 1914 tragedy in the second half of June 2024 or, indeed, at any point in the future,” Savic wrote.  

‘It might trigger escalation’

Andrea Chloe Wong, a nonresident research fellow at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs, told VOA at a June 6 seminar hosted by the National Bureau of Asian Research that if the Mutual Defense Treaty is invoked, “it might trigger escalation or conflict between the Philippines and China.”  

The safety of Filipino personnel has become the focus of recent rounds of South China Sea disputes. On June 7, the Philippines accused a Chinese coast guard ship of ramming a Philippine ship, deterring the evacuation of a sick soldier from a grounded warship which serves as a Philippine military outpost on the Second Thomas Shoal. 

Romeo Brawner, chief of staff of the armed forces of the Philippines, told reporters June 4 that Chinese coast guard officers had seized some food that a plane dropped for Philippine naval personnel aboard the aging warship. He also released video of the incident, AP reported.   

Despite the rising tension, Oriana Skylar Mastro, a Center Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, told VOA that the possibility of World War III breaking out in the South China Sea is not high.  

She believes that China will not choose to fight a war in the South China Sea at this time because they know they would lose.  

“They can’t project power across those kinds of distances yet. When I talk to the PLA [People’s Liberation Army, China’s principal military force], they say the only reason they haven’t declared internal waters in the Spratly [chain] is because there’s no way they can enforce that.”  

US promises assets, say reports

The United States Coast Guard has promised to send assets to the South China Sea to help Manila uphold sovereign rights in its exclusive economic zone, ABS-CBN News said Tuesday, citing the Philippine Coast Guard. 

In a statement, the Philippine Coast Guard said the U.S. Coast Guard will deploy its North Pacific Coast Guard following a proposal by Philippine Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan. Gavan called for a “greater deployment” in the high seas “to address the forthcoming threat” posed by China’s threat to arrest foreigners inside what it claims as its maritime boundaries.  

In a research report released last month by the National Bureau of Asian Research, Michael Shoebridge of the Strategic Analysis Australia pointed out that collective action by the Philippines and its allies could effectively reduce risks in the South China Sea.  

“The risk of such collective action escalating into conflict is real. However, it could be mitigated by the militaries clearly acting within international law and coordinating a united political response to demonstrate and communicate this,” he wrote. “That would counter Chinese efforts”to intimidate others and cast such lawful action as aggression.”  

Shoebridge, who also attended the National Bureau of Asian Research’s June 6 seminar, said at the meeting that “unless we cause Chinese policy and action to fail, we are leaving all the leverage with Beijing, and we are waiting for our servicemen and women to be killed by the PLA. And that’s not the future that I want.”  

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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washington — Two men convicted by a U.S. jury in November of trying to sell Iranian petroleum in violation of sanctions imposed by Washington and of conspiracy to commit money laundering were sentenced on Tuesday. Each of the Texas men were sentenced to 45 months in prison, the Justice Department said. 

Zhenyu Wang, 43, a Chinese citizen, and Daniel Ray Lane, 42, of McKinney, Texas, schemed with co-conspirators to evade U.S. economic sanctions against Iran from July 2019 to February 2020 by facilitating the purchase of sanctioned oil from Iran, masking its origins and then selling it to a refinery in China, the department said in a statement. 

Lane was president of privately held Stack Royalties, a Texas-based company that sells oil and gas mineral rights to investment funds and private equity groups. 

Lane’s attorney, Paul Hetznecker, told Reuters late last year that the case was based on undercover government agents who offered Lane “millions of dollars in profits” if he took part in the scheme, after initially rebuffing their approaches. The attorney had called the case “an outrageous example of government overreach.” 

The pair were charged, along with three others, in 2020 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. At least two co-conspirators have since pleaded guilty, court records showed. 

China is the world’s only major importer of Iranian oil despite sanctions that former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally reimposed on Tehran’s petroleum exports in 2018 after withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers.
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Sydney — China’s Li Qiang will arrive in Australia Saturday, the first visit by a Chinese premier since 2017, in a sign of improving ties, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.

During the four-day visit Li will visit the city of Adelaide city, the capital Canberra, and Australia’s mining state Western Australia. 

Both leaders will meet with Australian and Chinese business leaders at a roundtable in Western Australia, Albanese said at a media briefing in Canberra.

China is Australia’s largest trading partner, with Australian resources and energy exports dominating trade flow.

Australia is the biggest supplier of iron ore to China and China has been an investor in Australian mining projects, though some recent Chinese investment in critical minerals has been blocked by Australia on national interest grounds.

Albanese said foreign investment has a role to play in Australia and is considered on a case-by-case basis.

“Chinese engagement, including with the resources sector, has been important for growth,” he said.

China imposed trade restrictions on a raft of Australian agricultural and mineral products during a diplomatic dispute in 2020, which has now largely eased.

Albanese said he would like to see the remaining Chinese trade impediments on lobsters and seafood removed.

In his meeting with Li next week in Canberra, Albanese will raise the case of Australian writer Yang Hengjun who was given a suspended death sentence on espionage charges in February, as well as an incident last month where a Chinese military jet dropped flares near an Australian defense helicopter, which Albanese said “was dangerous and should never had happened.”

“Welcoming the Chinese premier to our shores is an opportunity for Australia to advance our interests by demonstrating our national values, our people’s qualities and our economy’s strengths,” he said. 

“Australia continues to pursue a stable and direct relationship with China, with dialog at its core.”
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — Across the Chinese diaspora, racing in dragon boats has been a tradition reaching back thousands of years. 

But change is afoot, most recently in central Taiwan where the races were switched to the evening to take advantage of cooler temperatures, a refreshing breeze and the sight of the boats lit up with LED lights running the length of the low-lying watercraft. 

A drummer pounds out a rhythm behind the elaborately carved dragon head in the bow, while a navigator sits in the stern, where a tail rises to complete the look of the mythical animal, a traditional Chinese harbinger of prosperity and good luck. 

It is mainly an amateur sport and crews are formed among groups of neighbors and co-workers. Emily Lin, 31, who works as a sales executive in Changhua county, said training sessions at a local junior high school were an excellent way to strengthen friendships outside of work. 

“This dragon boat race allows us to meet, exchange and take part in something,” Lin said Monday following qualifiers the previous night. 

Daytime racing means dealing with the intense central Taiwan sun reflecting off the river, leaving you feeling unwell, said Chen Ta-tzung, a 28-year-old machinery maintenance specialist. 

“But in the evening, you don’t have the sun,” Chen said. 

“When we focus on rowing during the race, we cannot enjoy the beautiful scene. But when we row back, we can really enjoy the beautiful sights,” he added. 

This year’s races hold a special meaning for many participants and observers as they are the first after a three-year break because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The sizes of the boats vary, and the numbers of rowers can range from 10 to 20 or more. The festival generally falls at the start of June based around the summer solstice according to the Chinese lunar calendar.  

In recent decades, the sport has spread in popularity around the world and standards have been imposed on rules and equipment, including the size of paddles and requirements that the drummer, playing a similar role to the coxswain in college and Olympic rowing, maintains a constant beat. 

“Racing at night is special for rowers,” said Huang Yi-kai, 21, who is a coach for standup paddleboard rowers. “This allowed rowers to focus on the moment. It’s a refreshing experience.” 

Dragon boat races are also being held in Hong Kong and Macao, as well as around mainland China, where lax safety standards have occasionally led to deadly accidents. At least one person was killed after a dragon boat capsized in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing on Sunday, the local government reported. 

At a competition on a canal in the east of Beijing on Monday, participant Shi Shulei cheered the event as a celebration of traditional Chinese culture, devoid of commercial or foreign influences.  

“Nowadays people celebrate many festivals invented by merchants or by other countries. We sometimes forget about Chinese traditional festivals. This event should be promoted because it helps to rejuvenate Chinese traditional culture,” Shi said. 

Twenty-five teams representing companies, universities and residential compounds raced over the 200-meter (650-foot) canal, where two boats collided in the preliminary round after one of them veered from its lane. The 24 participants were swiftly rescued from the water, and no one was reported injured, while organizers called for more life vests and rescue boats. 

Despite temperatures of 35 degree Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), crowds from around the city of more than 20 million lined the canal and cheered from a reproduced Chinese ship from the imperial era. 

In Hong Kong, a former British colony where political and civil liberties have been increasingly restricted in recent years, the emphasis among racers was on working together to achieve a common goal. 

“Dragon boat is a team sport. It’s important we share a team spirit,” said Andy Ng, the coach of a local team. “Each member strives with the same objective, which is being the fastest to the finish point. Everyone in my team enjoys it and we enjoy the workout together.” 

The races are connected to the tale of Qu Yuan, a loyal adviser to a Chinese emperor some 2,500 years ago who drowned himself in a river after his sage advice was rejected. According to legend, to prevent fish from eating his body, supporters tossed in rice cakes, a tradition that continues to this day as observers mark the fifth day of the fifth lunar month by eating sticky rice dumplings. 
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Wellington, New Zealand — Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit New Zealand this week, Prime Minister Chris Luxon said Monday, a rare visit expected to focus on bolstering trade while setting aside security concerns.

Li will be the first Chinese premier to visit New Zealand since 2017, embarking on a trip that is widely expected to also take him to Australia.

China is New Zealand’s largest export destination, and Wellington has been one of Beijing’s closest partners among Western democracies.

Relations have become strained in recent years as China has looked to expand its military and diplomatic reach across the Pacific.

“I look forward to warmly welcoming Premier Li in New Zealand,” Luxon said in a statement. “The premier’s visit is a valuable opportunity for exchanges on areas of cooperation between New Zealand and China.”

Luxon said Li — China’s number two official — would arrive to a ceremonial welcome and official dinner “later this week,” before a series of bilateral meetings.

Li follows a string of high-powered Chinese delegates who have made the trip to New Zealand in recent months.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi held high-level talks during a visit to the capital, Wellington, earlier this year.

New Zealand’s recently elected center-right government has pivoted toward closer ties with Australia and the United States.

It has also been mulling its involvement in the landmark AUKUS security pact between Washington, Canberra and London — a move that would greatly irritate China.

New Zealand’s foreign minister in May hit out at China’s bid for an increased security presence in the Pacific Islands, warning against actions that could “destabilize” or undermine regional security.

“New Zealand and China engage where we have shared interests, and we speak frankly and constructively with each other where we have differences,” Luxon said on Monday.

“Our relationship is significant, complex and resilient.”

Smoothing differences

Jason Young, an expert on China-New Zealand relations, said Li’s visit showed both sides were willing to set aside these disagreements.

“The high-level visit in itself is a win,” said Young, from New Zealand’s Victoria University. “It’s primarily designed for both sides to demonstrate that many challenges in the relationship are being managed.”

With China’s economy showing signs of slowing down, diplomats and trade officials were looking to “engage with as many markets as they can,” Young said.

“New Zealand already has close to a third of our exports going to China. We’re kind of at saturation point. Whereas for China, there’s a lot more momentum to improve relations,” he said.

Li is expected to visit Australia after New Zealand, although Canberra has yet to confirm that leg of the trip.

“The potential visit of the Chinese premier will be confirmed in the usual way,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Monday.

China and Australia have been patching up their relationship in the wake of a bitter and costly trade dispute.

Starting in 2020, a slew of Australia’s most lucrative export commodities were effectively banned from China.

But as relations have improved under a new government in Canberra, China has dropped tariffs on Australian beef, barley and wine, halted an import ban on timber and resumed shipments of coal.
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Beijing — A top executive at a major Chinese state-backed investment company is under investigation for corruption, the government’s anti-corruption body said Sunday, as an unrelenting crackdown on graft sweeps through the finance sector.

Xu Zuo, vice president at China Citic Group, is “suspected of serious disciplinary and legal violations,” the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in an online statement, without giving further details.

Citic Group is a vast state-run investment conglomerate with the equivalent of over $1.5 trillion in total assets as of last year, according to its official website.

Xu, a senior economist with a background in overseas acquisitions and restructuring, has been on the firm’s executive committee since 2019.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged a near-constant crackdown on official corruption since coming to power over a decade ago.

Proponents say the campaign encourages clean governance, while critics argue it also serves as a vehicle for Xi to purge political rivals.

Anti-graft bodies have trained their sights on the financial sector in recent months, including banking, insurance and state-owned enterprises.

Last month, Bai Tianhui, the former general manager at another huge state-backed asset management firm, Huarong, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of taking over 1.1 billion yuan ($151.8 million) in bribes.
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MANILA — The Philippines will continue to maintain and supply its outposts in the South China Sea without seeking permission from any other country, the country’s national security adviser said. 

The Philippines national security council said Saturday it reaffirmed its commitment to uphold its sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the Second Thomas Shoal. 

“Our operations are conducted within our own territorial waters and exclusive economic zone, and we will not be deterred by foreign interference or intimidation,” said National Security Adviser Secretary Eduardo Ano. 

The Philippine agency issued a statement in response to China’s suggestion that the Philippines must first notify Beijing over access. 

China’s foreign ministry said Friday it will allow the Philippines to deliver supplies and evacuate personnel if Manila notifies Beijing in advance. 

Ano described such suggestions as “absurd, nonsense and unacceptable.” 

He added: “We do not and will never need China’s approval for any of our activities therein.” 

But the Philippines remains open to dialogue and peaceful negotiations to resolve disputes in the entire South China Sea, the council said. 

The Philippine coast guard accused its Chinese counterpart Friday of blocking efforts to evacuate a sick member of its armed forces in the South China Sea. 

It was the latest dispute in a longstanding territorial spat with China, which claims almost all of the South China Sea, a conduit for more than $3 trillion in annual shipping commerce. 

In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague said China’s claims had no legal basis, a decision Beijing has rejected. 
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