BEIJING — Intel products sold in China should be subject to a security review, the Cybersecurity Association of China (CSAC) said on Wednesday, alleging the U.S. chipmaker has “constantly harmed” the country’s national security and interests. 

While CSAC is an industry group rather than a government body, it has close ties to the Chinese state and the raft of accusations against Intel, published in a long post on its official WeChat group, could trigger a security review from China’s powerful cyberspace regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). 

“It is recommended that a network security review is initiated on the products Intel sells in China, so as to effectively safeguard China’s national security and the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese consumers,” CSAC said. 

Last year, the CAC barred domestic operators of key infrastructure from buying products made by U.S. memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc after deeming the company’s products had failed its network security review. 

Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s shares were down 2.7% in U.S. premarket trading.  

 
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BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping said a successful partnership between China and the United States is an opportunity for the two countries to be enablers for each other’s development rather than an obstacle, according to state media on Wednesday.

“China is willing to be a partner and friend with the United States. This will benefit not only the two countries, but the world,” Xi said in remarks from a letter to the 2024 annual awards dinner of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, according to a CCTV news report.

Xi pointed out that China-U.S. relations are among the most important bilateral relations in the world, which have a bearing on the future and destiny of mankind, according to the letter.

The two countries have been at odds over national security concerns, ongoing trade spats as well as China’s actions in the South China Sea and intensified military drills around Taiwan.

Trade relations soured over the past year and have centered around issues including restrictions on electric vehicles and advanced semiconductors.

“China has always handled China-U.S. relations in accordance with the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and has always believed that the success of China and the United States is an opportunity for each other,” Xi said.
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washington — U.S. support for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has been heavily exploited by China-connected bots, a joint investigation by VOA Mandarin and Taiwan’s social media analytic firm DoubleThink Lab, or DTL, has found. Their postings on social media platform X depict Washington as a peddler of war and a disrupter of global peace. 

The investigation has tracked and analyzed content amplified in the past 12 months by three distinct spamouflage networks with a total of 140 accounts. Each account has been disguised to look like the work of an authentic user in order to spread pro-Beijing narratives and misinformation. 

Content within the networks originates with three main “seeder” accounts and then is amplified by the others. The VOA Mandarin-DTL investigation found that more than half of the content, totaling 399 posts in the last year, was about the war in Gaza. Most of those focused on U.S. military support for Israel and on pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campuses in America and other Western countries.  

One such post showed what appeared to be an AI-generated photo of a baby wrapped in a blood-stained white blanket, lying on a table surrounded by a circle of chairs bearing the flags of the U.S., Israel, the U.K., France, Italy and Canada. “Bloody feast” was written at the bottom of the photo.   

Some posts accused the U.S. of benefiting financially from the war in Gaza. Other posts slammed Washington for funding the war while refusing to provide its own people with free health care and education. 

Often, these criticisms were accompanied by conspiracy theories claiming the U.S. government is controlled by the Israeli government and Jewish cabals.

One post tried to connect the wars in Gaza and Ukraine to Hurricane Helene, which recently ravaged parts of the Southeastern U.S., and accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, of neglecting domestic needs in order to fund foreign conflicts. 

“FEMA, all Jews, refused to give humanitarian aid to American victims after the hurricane,” the post wrongly claimed. “They gave all YOUR MONEY to ‘migrants’ and foreign countries. BECAUSE THEY HATE AMERICA!”   

The unfounded accusation, like the majority of the content amplified by the spamouflage networks, had already been circulating online.

The VOA Mandarin-DTL investigation found that these posts have reached few real users and have had only a limited impact on X.   

Two of the three seeder accounts cited in this article have been suspended by X.   

Echoing Beijing 

The VOA Mandarin-DTL investigation has not been able to link the spamouflage networks directly to the Chinese government, although disinformation experts and U.S. government officials have warned repeatedly of Beijing meddling in American politics through influence campaigns — something China has repeatedly denied.   

But the Chinese government has long been promoting the same narratives promoted by the spamouflage networks, which is that the U.S. is responsible for perpetuating the war in Gaza since October of last year. 

On October 7, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency released an article to mark the first anniversary of the violent conflict, criticizing Washington’s military and diplomatic support of Israel. 

“The United States’ disheartening response to the conflict between Hamas and Israel has significantly tarnished its international standing in the Middle East,” the article asserted. 

In a post last week on X, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said this in a short post: “The ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang? Reflect on your own history & what’s happening in Gaza first.” 

Tuvia Gering, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told VOA Mandarin that in addition to undermining the global image of the U.S., Beijing sees the conflict in Gaza as an opportunity to invalidate the West’s criticism of its own human rights record. 

“It portrays the U.S. as hypocritical,” he said. “They’re saying, ‘Look, it’s America that’s helping Israelis commit genocide against the Palestinians and sending their weapons and protecting them at the [U.N.] Security Council.'” 

China has been accused of the mass detention of Uyghur Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. A 2022 U.N. report concluded that Beijing’s actions in the region “may constitute international crimes, in particular crimes against humanity.” 

The U.S. government has labeled the alleged human rights violations in Xinjiang as genocide. Beijing denies the accusations and repeatedly has said its measures in Xinjiang are aimed at combating terrorism and extremism and ensuring regional security and development. 
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ISLAMABAD  — Chinese Premier Li Qiang began a four-day visit to Pakistan under tight security Monday for bilateral talks and to attend the heads of government meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) hosted in Islamabad this week.

Pakistan is on high alert after a recent increase in deadly insurgent attacks nationwide, including a suicide car bomb attack in Karachi last week that targeted a Chinese convoy and resulted in the deaths of two Chinese engineers.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif received Li at a military air base outside the Pakistani capital before the two led their respective teams’ delegations to review bilateral trade and progress on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Popularly known as CPEC, the Chinese-funded multibillion-dollar bilateral project is a key extension of President Xi Jinping’s global Belt and Road Initiative.

The Pakistani government has declared a three-day public holiday in Islamabad and the adjoining garrison city of Rawalpindi. Schools and businesses are closed, and troops and paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure “foolproof security arrangements” for the Li visit and the two-day SCO summit starting Tuesday.

Officials said Li is also expected to virtually inaugurate the CPEC-built international airport in Gwadar, a coastal city housing a Chinese-controlled deep-water port on the Arabian Sea.

Neither side has commented on the reason for the virtual inauguration, but diplomatic sources cited heightened security concerns, particularly following the Karachi attack.

Li is the first Chinese premier to visit Islamabad in 11 years, with the Sharif administration saying the visit will help advance the development of CPEC and facilitate Chinese business expansion in the South Asian nation.

China has invested nearly $25 billion over the past decade under CPEC, building large-scale infrastructure development projects in Pakistan, such as roads, highways, power plants, the Gwadar seaport, and the airport.

However, critics are skeptical about whether the Chinese side would be keen to expand its business investments under CPEC, citing growing security threats to Chinese workers in Pakistan, among other challenges.

Militant attacks have killed at least 21 Chinese nationals since 2017. Last week’s Karachi suicide bombing of Chinese engineers associated with a CPEC power plant prompted Beijing to ask its citizens not to visit Balochistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Both sit on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan and witness almost daily insurgent attacks.

On Monday, at least three police officers were killed when Islamist insurgents stormed a district police headquarters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Authorities said that three assailants were also killed in the ensuing exchange of fire.

Turning point

Mushahid Hussain, a former senator and head of the Islamabad-based Pakistan China Institute, cautioned that the latest deadly attack on Chinese nationals was a severe blow and could be a “turning point” for the “strategic partnership” between the two countries.

“China has huge investments in strife-torn Nigeria and Congo, but never have we witnessed…murders of Chinese engineers and technicians… as we see these recurring in Pakistan,” Hussian noted.

Hussian described the Karachi attack as a “blatant breach of security” and echoed Chinese calls for Pakistani authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice urgently.

“China, our best friend, has been badly let down with their confidence shaken” despite Islamabad promising “foolproof security” for its Chinese guests, he stated.

Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the October 6th attack in Karachi, the capital of the southern Sindh province. The group has been waging deadly attacks in Balochistan, accusing China of helping Pakistan to exploit the region’s natural resources, charges both countries reject as unfounded.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters Monday that their government was doing all it could to ensure the security of the Chinese nationals in Pakistan. He stated that recent attacks on Chinese workers, including the Karachi bombing, “are being probed, and the prime minister is personally looking into it.”

In their post-attack meetings with Pakistani counterparts, Chinese officials appeared “furious” and pressed the host nation to “severely punish” the perpetrators and urgently enhance the security of Chinese nationals and projects, according to diplomatic sources privy to the discussions.

Husnain Javed, a Beijing-based Pakistani researcher, told VOA that CPEC-related debt and capacity payments for Chinese-built coal-fired power plants are the main hurdles in moving the project forward.

“Pakistan is looking to defer these payments for a period of 3 years with interest and penalty amount…We are far from CPEC phase 2,” he stated in written comments. Javed noted that growing security concerns for thousands of Chinese workers in Pakistan have added to the bilateral project challenges.

“The recent attack, I think, is the final nail in the CPEC coffin as it heavily damaged the trust between the two countries…It’s important to consider that these were no ordinary engineers,” the researcher noted.

The Chinese foreign ministry said last week that a high-level team was sent to Islamabad after the attack. It “asked the Pakistani side to properly handle ensuing matters…conduct thorough investigations, bring all the perpetrators to justice, and step up security measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects.”
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HONG KONG — Eight animals were found dead in a Hong Kong zoo, the city’s government said on Monday, a rare incident in the financial hub, with necropsy and laboratory tests arranged to find out the cause of deaths.

The animals, a De Brazza’s monkey, one common squirrel monkey, three cotton-top tamarins and three white-faced sakis, were found dead at the city’s Zoological and Botanical Gardens on Sunday, Hong Kong’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department said in a statement.

While awaiting test results, the mammals section of the zoo will be shut from Monday for disinfection and cleaning.

“We will also closely monitor the health conditions of other animals. During this period, other facilities of the HKZBG will remain open,” the statement said, using the abbreviation for the zoo and gardens.

The zoo is the oldest park in the territory. Built in 1860, it houses around 158 birds, 93 mammals and 21 reptiles in about 40 enclosures.
…

TAIPEI — China’s military started a new round of war games near Taiwan on Monday, saying it was a warning to the “separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces,” and offered no date for when they may conclude. 

Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, had been on alert for more war games since last week’s national day speech by President Lai Ching-te, an address Beijing condemned after Lai said China had no right to represent Taiwan even as he offered to cooperate with Beijing. 

The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command in a 5 a.m. statement said the “Joint Sword-2024B” drills were taking place in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, south and east of Taiwan. 

“The drill also serves as a stern warning to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces. It is a legitimate and necessary operation for safeguarding state sovereignty and national unity,” it said in a statement carried both in Chinese and English. 

Taiwan’s defense ministry expressed its strong condemnation of China’s “irrational and provocative act,” adding it had dispatched its own forces. 

Lai’s national day speech highlighted the current state of cross-strait relations, and the firm will to safeguard peace and stability and advocated future cooperation in coping with challenges like climate change, the ministry added. 

“The Chinese communist’s claim of ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble’ is a complete departure from the truth,” it added. 

A senior Taiwan security official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation, said they believed China was practicing blockading Taiwanese ports and international shipping lanes as well as repelling the arrival of foreign forces. 

China’s held the “Joint Sword-2024A” drills for two days around Taiwan in May shortly after Lai took office, saying they were “punishment” for separatist content in his inauguration speech. 

Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been rebuffed. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future and rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims. 
…

Colombo, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka’s police have arrested 198 Chinese men on suspicion of operating a cybercrime ring from the South Asian nation, a police spokesperson said Sunday. 

Deputy Inspector-General Nihal Thalduwa said the men were taken into custody at four locations during raids carried out since October 6, with 129 arrested in one location Saturday. 

Thalduwa said that a large number of mobile phones and laptop computers were also seized. 

“We suspect that they were operating online scams from these locations,” Thalduwa told reporters in the capital, Colombo. 

“Their victims include people in Sri Lanka as well as those overseas.” 

He said investigations were moving slowly due to language issues in questioning the suspects, but the authorities have sought help of officials from the Chinese Embassy in Colombo. 

Forensic experts were analyzing the electronic devices that were seized, he said. 

In June, police arrested another 200 suspects, mainly Indians, who were also accused of operating online financial scams. 

Thalduwa said the suspects had entered the island as tourists and, in most cases, were overstaying their visas. 
…

Paris — Chinese state-owned carmaker GAC is exploring the manufacture of EVs in Europe to avoid EU tariffs, the general manager of its international business told Reuters on Sunday, joining a growing list of Chinese companies planning local production. 

The company is among China’s largest automakers and is targeting 500,000 overseas sales by 2030. It does not yet sell EVs in Europe but will launch an electric SUV tailored to the European market at the Paris Auto Show, which kicks off Monday. 

GAC still viewed Europe as an important market that was “relatively open” despite moves by the European Commission to impose tariffs on EVs made in China, Wei Heigang said, speaking in Paris ahead of the show. 

“The tariffs issue definitely has an impact on us. However, all this can be overcome in the long term … I am positive there is going to be a way to get it all resolved,” he said. 

“Local production would be one of the ways to resolve this,” he added. “We are very actively exploring this possibility.” 

Discussions were at a very early stage and the company was still considering whether to build a new plant or share — or take over — an existing one, according to Wei. 

The compact SUV on display in Paris, a 520-kilometer (323-mile) range vehicle called “Aion V,” should launch in some European markets in mid-2025, priced at less than 40,000 euros ($43,748), though the final price has not yet been set, GAC said. 

After that launch, the next GAC vehicle due for sale in Europe will be a small electric hatchback, to be released in late 2025. 
…

BANGKOK — China agreed Sunday to assist Vietnam on cross-border railway development and take steps to expand agricultural imports from its smaller neighbor, Vietnam’s official media said.

Premier Li Qiang, on an official visit to Vietnam, pledged that China would further open its market to high-quality fruits, seafood and other Vietnamese products, a state media report said.

China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner and second-largest export market after the U.S. Trade between the two countries reached $172 billion in 2023. Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam, signaled the importance of the relationship when he made China his first overseas visit after assuming his post last year.

Li came to Vietnam from neighboring Laos, where he had pushed back against calls at a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders to respect international law in territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh told Li that both sides should respect each other’s legitimate rights and interests, resolve disputes through peaceful means and properly address issues related to fishers and their vessels, the state media report said.

Vietnam condemned China two weeks ago for what it described as an assault by Chinese law enforcement personnel that injured several Vietnamese fishers near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

The islands have been under the de facto control of China since 1974, when Beijing seized them from Vietnam in a brief but violent naval conflict.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Southeast Asian leaders gathered in Laos last week that the U.S. is concerned about China’s “increasingly dangerous and unlawful” activities in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.

In their talks on Sunday, Chinh and Li agreed to deepen exchange and cooperation in diplomacy, national defense and public security, the state media report said.

They also witnessed the exchange of 10 cooperation agreements, including the establishment of a working group to develop cross-border economic cooperation zones and the implementation of QR-code, cross-border payment services.

The railway agreements covered a technical plan and feasibility studies to improve train connectivity between Vietnam and China.

On trade, Chinh asked for greater access for a range of products including tropical fruits, meat products, farm-raised spiny lobster and plant-based traditional medicines.

Li said that China stands ready to resolve trade issues and work with Vietnam on quarantine and customs procedures, according to the Vietnamese report.
…

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan reported a Chinese aircraft carrier group sailing to the island’s south on Sunday, as China’s military put out a video saying it was “prepared for battle” amid concerns in Taipei about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games.

China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, detests its president Lai Ching-te as a “separatist,” and the Chinese military routinely operates around the island.

Last week at his keynote national day speech, Lai said the People’s Republic of China had no right to represent Taiwan, but that the island was willing to work with Beijing to combat challenges such as climate change, striking both a firm and conciliatory tone, but drawing anger from China.

Taiwan’s defense ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier the Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific.

Taiwan’s armed forces are keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an appropriate vigilance and response,” the ministry added, without elaborating.

Security sources in Taiwan had said before Lai’s address that his speech could prompt new Chinese war games, last held by the country in May in what Beijing said was “punishment” for Lai’s inauguration speech that month.

Earlier on Sunday, the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command, which has responsibility for an area that includes Taiwan, put out a propaganda video on its social media accounts entitled “fully prepared and biding ones time before battle.”

It showed fighter jets and warships operating together, mobile missile launchers being moving into place and amphibious assault vehicles, with a small map of Taiwan included in one of the Chinese characters that make up the video’s title.

China has not ruled out using force to bring Taiwan under its control.

China’s defense ministry did not answer calls outside of office hours on Sunday. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A Taiwan security official, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters they were continuing to watch the situation around the island, as well as Chinese media comments about Lai’s national day speech.

Chinese media has carried several commentaries and stories since Lai’s Thursday speech denouncing the contents as “confrontational” and harmful.

Some comments on Chinese social media about the military’s “battle preparation” video called for “Taiwan to return to the motherland” and “national reunification.”

A second security source in Taiwan, familiar with intelligence assessments, said while it was still possible China, wary of creating a crisis over Taiwan so soon ahead of next month’s U.S. election, might keep its reaction to angry words, there remained the possibility of more war games.

China is in the middle of its annual drills season, and its military could just “hang a name” on those exercises and turn them into war games specifically targeting Taiwan, the official, also speaking anonymously, told Reuters.

China’s commerce ministry on Saturday threatened Taiwan with more trade sanctions, in what the government views as Chinese economic coercion.

Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. Lai has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing but been rebuffed. 
…

MACAO — About 400 Beijing loyalists voted Sunday to endorse the sole candidate for the top job in the Chinese city of Macao in a largely ceremonial election that would make him the first leader of the casino hub to be born in mainland China.

Former top judge Sam Hou Fai ‘s expected victory within hours would be a departure from the long-standing custom of having chief executives who were born in the former Portuguese colony, typically from influential business families.

The shift in the city’s leadership to someone from the legal profession will create expectations of a declining influence from business circles, which critics have often accused of colluding with officials, analysts say. They anticipate Beijing’s policy agenda for the city will take priority.

Sam, 62, is widely seen to have Beijing’s blessings. He has already secured endorsements from 386 of the 400 election committee members who voted in batches in a conference hall on Sunday.

Influential figures among the 400-strong committee were Shun Tak Holdings’ group executive chairperson Pansy Ho, daughter of late casino tycoon Stanley Ho, lawmaker Angela Leong, one of Ho’s widows, and former chief executives Edmund Ho and Fernando Chui.

Vote counting began at about 10:30 a.m.

Most of the territory’s 687,000 residents lack voting rights, leading to mixed sentiments about the election. Some hope Sam will heed public opinion and avoid prioritizing business interests, while others feel disconnected from an election process they can’t participate in.

Still, political observers said many residents are comfortable with Sam’s nonlocal origin in a city that has been home to migrants for decades.

With Sam’s victory guaranteed, the real challenges await in the governance hurdles that lie ahead.

Macao is the only place in China where casino gambling is legal. Beijing has called for the city to diversify its gambling-reliant economy.

Sam has promised to accelerate the current government’s plan to boost tourism and other sectors such as traditional Chinese medicine, finance, exhibitions and commerce. However, the city will still need to rely on the gambling industry for government revenues to support the city’s welfare and accomplish other goals laid out by Beijing, analysts say.

China wants Macao to develop into a world-class tourism and leisure center and play a bigger role as a bridge for trade between China and Portuguese-speaking countries.

Small local businesses have been hurt by residents who spend money in the neighboring mainland city of Zhuhai, which offers a wider selection of items with good value for money. Chinese tourists are also now spending less than before.

It remains to be seen whether Sam, with a lack of government leadership experience, can form a capable cabinet to tackle these pressing issues.

Sam was born in neighboring Guangdong province in 1962. He graduated from the prestigious law school of Peking University in Beijing. He also studied the Portuguese language, culture and law at the University of Coimbra in Portugal, and once practiced law in mainland China.

When Macao returned to Chinese rule in 1999, Sam was appointed the city’s top judge, a role in which he served for nearly 25 years before resigning in August to participate in the election.

He handled some politically sensitive cases, including rejecting an appeal of a police ban on a vigil commemorating China’s bloody 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. His court also upheld a decision to bar pro-democracy figures from running in the 2021 legislative elections.
…

washington — Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by Southeast Asian countries, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea, a U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday.

A draft statement arrived at by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday evening, the official said.

“ASEAN presented this final draft and said that, essentially, this was a take-it-or-leave-it draft,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The United States, Japan, Australia, South Korea and India all said they could support it, the official said, adding: “The Russians and the Chinese said that they could not and would not proceed with a statement.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a news conference in Vientiane on Friday the final declaration had not been adopted because of “persistent attempts by the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to turn it into a purely political statement.”

China’s Washington embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. official said there were a couple of issues of contention, but the key one was how it referred to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), going further than in the previous 2023 EAS statement.

However, the official said, “there was certainly no language that was getting into the nitty gritty of any particular standoff, no language that was favoring any claimant over any other.”

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea and has stepped up pressure on rival claimants, including several ASEAN countries, notably the Philippines. ASEAN has spent years negotiating a Code of Conduct with Beijing for the strategic waterway, with some ASEAN states insisting it be based on UNCLOS.

China says it backs a code but does not recognize a 2016 arbitral ruling that said its claim to most of the South China Sea had no basis under UNCLOS, to which Beijing is a signatory.

According to a draft seen by Reuters, the proposed EAS statement contained an extra sub-clause over the 2023 approved statement, and this was not agreed to. It noted a 2023 U.N. resolution saying that UNCLOS “sets out the legal framework within which all activities in the oceans and seas must be carried out.”

Another sub-clause not agreed said the international environment, including “in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula, Myanmar, Ukraine and the Middle East … present challenges for the region.”

Chinese Premier Li Qiang told the summit Beijing was committed to UNCLOS and striving for an early conclusion of a Code of Conduct, while stressing its claims have solid historical and legal grounds.

“Relevant countries outside the region should respect and support the joint efforts of China and regional countries to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea, and truly play a constructive role for peace and stability in the region,” he said.
…

hanoi, vietnam — Vietnam and China agreed on Saturday to boost defense and security cooperation despite their years-long maritime dispute in the South China Sea, said the Vietnamese government.

China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner and a vital source of imports for its manufacturing sector. 

The two countries on Saturday also agreed to boost economic ties, with China pledging to further open its market for Vietnamese farm produce while Vietnam would facilitate Chinese investment, the government added in a statement. 

It said the two countries will prioritize cooperation in developing railway links.   

The statement came after Chinese premier Li Qiang met Vietnamese President To Lam in Hanoi late on Saturday, as Li began his three-day state visit to Vietnam. 

Sources told Reuters on Friday that China and Vietnam are expected to sign new agreements — including pacts to boost railway links and agricultural trade — during the visit. 

Li is expected to meet Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and attend a business forum in Hanoi on Sunday. 

Early this month, Vietnam protested to China over what it said was an attack on a Vietnamese fishing boat in contested South China Sea waters that injured several fishermen. 
…

beijing — China said Saturday it would issue special bonds to help its sputtering economy, signaling a spending spree to bolster banks, shore up the property market and ease local government debt as part of one of its biggest support packages in years.

The plan is part of a series of actions undertaken by Beijing to draw a line under a years-long property sector crisis and chronically low consumption that has plagued the world’s second-biggest economy.

Beijing’s planned special bonds are aimed at boosting the capital available to banks — part of a push to get them lending in the hopes of firing up sluggish consumer spending.

China is also preparing to allow local governments to borrow more to fund the acquisition of unused land for development, aimed at pulling the property market out of a prolonged slump.

No figures were provided on the planned special bonds announced at a highly anticipated news conference by Finance Minister Lan Fo’an and other officials, following a series of steps launched in recent weeks that have included interest rate cuts and liquidity for banks.

But Lan said China still has room “to issue debts and increase the deficit” to fund the new measures.

Officials have been battling to reverse China’s slowdown and achieve a growth target of five percent this year — enviable for many Western countries but a far cry from the double-digit expansion that for years boosted the Asian giant.

On Saturday, Lan said Beijing was “accelerating the use of additional treasury bonds, and ultra-long-term special treasury bonds are also being issued for use.”

“In the next three months, a total of 2.3 trillion yuan of special bond funds can be arranged for use in various places,” he added.

On top of that, Beijing also plans to “issue special government bonds to support large state-owned commercial banks,” Lan said, although he did not say how much.

Chinese authorities have been urging commercial banks to lend more and lower mortgage rates — measures that would put more cash into the pockets of consumers.

Beijing’s bonds would therefore offer banks help to shore up their capital, giving them greater leeway to lend more.

Bonds for buildings

And local governments will be issued special bonds enabling them to acquire unused and idle land for development, Vice Finance Minister Liao Min said, in action that could prop up the housing market.

The move would “help ease liquidity and debt pressures on local governments and real estate companies,” he explained.

Beijing will also encourage the acquisition of existing commercial properties to be used as affordable housing.

However, analysts expressed frustration that Beijing had refrained from putting a number on further fiscal stimulus.

“The key messages are that … the central government has the capacity to issue more bonds and raise fiscal deficit, and… the central government plans to issue more bonds to help local governments to pay their debt,” Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management, said.

Beijing was likely “still working on the minute details of the fiscal stimulus,” Heron Lim at Moody’s Analytics told AFP.

“In the meantime, investors might be taking a step back until they are absolutely certain of the direction fiscal policy is taking.”

‘Lack of forward guidance’

China’s economic uncertainty is also fueling a vicious cycle that has kept consumption stubbornly low.

Julian Evans-Pritchard, head of China economics at Capital Economics, said that “notably absent was any mention of large-scale handouts to consumers” on Saturday.

“The lack of forward guidance on the scale of next year’s budget deficit means it is still difficult to judge how large and long-lasting the fiscal boost will be,” he pointed out.

Chinese policymakers have in the last weeks unveiled a string of stimulus measures including a suite of rate cuts and a loosening of rules on buying homes, but economists said that more action is needed to pull the economy out of its slump for good.

Earlier Saturday, China’s top banks said they would cut lower interest rates on existing mortgages from October 25, state media said, following a government call for the action.

“Except for second mortgages in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and some other regions, the interest rates on other eligible mortgages will be adjusted” to no less than 30 basis points below the prime lending rate, the central bank’s benchmark rate for mortgages, state broadcaster CCTV said.

CCTV reported that major banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank had announced that they would make the adjustments “in batches.”

The People’s Bank of China last month requested that commercial banks lower such rates by October 31.

Beijing also last month slashed interest on one-year loans to financial institutions, cut the amount of cash lenders must keep on hand and pushed to lower rates on existing mortgages.

And the central bank this week boosted support for markets by opening up tens of billions of dollars in liquidity for firms to buy stocks. 
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washington — As China pursues tit-for-tat actions against the European Union in response to tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, Beijing’s drive for global dominance in the automotive sector continues unabated.

Over the past year, companies such as EV giant BYD and others have made inroads in markets from Southeast Asia to Latin America and Africa, even as they face tariffs of up to 100% in Canada and the United States, and up to 45% in the European Union.

Chinese EV companies have announced plans to invest millions to build new factories in Thailand and Brazil, and they have opened showrooms in Zambia, Kenya and South Africa.

And while most Chinese EV makers say they will continue to sell cars in Europe and not boost prices to offset the tariffs, analysts say it makes sense that they are equally focused, if not more so, on markets in the developing world as well.

Ryan Berg, director of the Americas program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the EV market is like a balloon that is fully blown up.

“When countries like the U.S., the EU, Canada and others squeeze [the balloon], the air is going to go elsewhere. Well, the air right now is going to go to the developing world countries that haven’t put the tariffs on Chinese cars in the first place,” Berg said.

Bangkok, Brazil and Ethiopia

In Thailand, companies such as Great Wall and BYD are leading the way. BYD opened a production facility in Thailand in July and its company chairman, Wang Chuanfu, said BYD has already captured 40% of the market for EVs. Earlier this year, Great Wall became the first Chinese EV company to mass-produce electric vehicles overseas through its production facilities in Thailand.

In addition to Thailand, BYD has also captured a large market share in Singapore and Malaysia. According to government statistics, the EV behemoth ranked as Singapore’s second-most popular car brand by sales in the first half of 2024. BYD ranked among the top 10 car brands in Malaysia when compared with all registered vehicles, following BMW and Mercedes-Benz.

In Latin America, BYD plans to launch a partnership with Uber that aims to bring 100,000 Chinese-made EVs to Uber drivers globally. In addition, BYD is planning a new auto factory in eastern Brazil to come online in 2025. Both BYD and Great Wall have local R&D, production and sales centers in Brazil.

John Helveston, an assistant professor in engineering management at George Washington University, said from a business perspective, it makes sense for Chinese EV companies to move to markets where there is more room for profit.

“I mean, just like we have Toyota and GM and Ford and Volkswagen … these companies like BYD very much are also global companies,” Helveston told VOA. “They want to expand just like any other successful business.”

Paul Nantulya, a China specialist at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, said Africa provides huge market opportunities for Chinese EV companies.

That opportunity, however, comes with its challenges. As in other countries, there is still a lack of infrastructure for EVs in Africa such as charging stations.

Nantulya, who attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), said Beijing and Africa are building long-term relationships, particularly when it comes to green energy and EV sectors.

About “122 green energy projects have been implemented since the last FOCAC, so between 2021 and 2024, 122 green energy projects have been implemented across the African continent across 40 countries. So, the demand is huge, and it is steady,” he told VOA.

“Chinese state-owned enterprises that are in this sector have been making a very, very aggressive push in developing economies … you know, the uptick of that technology in Africa is extremely high,” he said.

In March, China partnered with Ethiopia to announce an ambitious plan to shift toward electric mobility. The plan aims to introduce nearly half a million electric vehicles in Ethiopia over the next decade.

Mutual benefits

All three analysts said Beijing’s penetration of global markets is boosted by the economic benefits that China offers in exchange. For example, Helveston said, many countries are willing to “leverage market access” in exchange for improved infrastructure and technology.

Chinese companies have built roads, trains, schools and hospitals in some of the poorest countries in the world, and developing countries see “automotive trade [as] just building on top of those relationships that have already been there a while,” he said. “It’s a very transactional relationship.”

CSIS’s Berg said countries in Latin America “have been really keen to court Chinese investment in technological industries like the EV industry.” He noted that Latin American countries see the EV industry as “reliable” and “plentiful in terms of job opportunities.”

Nantulya added that Chinese technology is seen as a way to help African countries address energy challenges such as blackouts.

“When you look at it from the African perspective, [China’s presence] is helping them diversify their energy grids, which is a significant issue. It’s also contributing to improving their energy mix,” Nantulya said.

China has taken a proactive approach by building large infrastructure projects in developing countries, whereas the United States has not yet undertaken projects of similar scale, he said.

“I think that we’re looking at some pretty big shifts in, let’s say, 10 years from now with what the global situation might be. … A lot of these countries might be much more comfortable working with China than the U.S.,” Helveston said.

Washington, however, is not sitting back. At the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in 2022, the United States committed to $55 billion in pledges over three years that included investments in renewable energy infrastructure, clean energy and efforts to mitigate climate change.

Berg said geopolitics also is a motivating factor in Beijing’s push into developing countries in South America.

“They are in their geopolitical competition with [the United States], engaging in reciprocity … showing that they can be extremely active in some ways and especially in the economic domain in our neighborhood,” he said.
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london — The U.K. government was urged Friday to raise the case of jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai with China, after reports that David Lammy, the foreign minister, is heading to Beijing. 

Lai, 76, is the founder of the now-shuttered popular Chinese-language tabloid Apple Daily, which supported mass pro-democracy protests in the economic hub. 

Detained in 2020, he is awaiting trial on charges including colluding with foreign forces and sedition. 

In London, his legal team said they hoped Lammy would put Lai’s case “front and center” during his visit, which has not been confirmed by his department. 

Lawyer Caoilfhionn Gallagher told reporters it had been “made crystal clear to the U.K.” government that if it is looking to reset relations with China, it needed to use the case “as leverage to ensure that Jimmy Lai is released.”  

At a Reporters Without Borders (RSF) event in London, Lai’s son Sebastien said his father, who holds British citizenship, was in deteriorating health after being in prolonged solitary confinement for nearly four years. 

“His health could get much worse at any time,” he added. 

Lai’s delayed trial began in December 2023, and he is due to testify for the first time on November 20.  

“The [U.K.] government does need to stand behind him – much stronger than they even have before,” said Sebastien Lai. 

Give priority to it 

Both the legal team and Sebastien have met U.K. foreign ministry officials, but Gallagher said they were disappointed that neither Lammy nor British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had yet met Lai’s son. 

“If this is a top-priority case for the U.K. government, why is Sebastien not being met by the foreign secretary directly?” asked Gallagher. 

“Why is Sebastien not being met by the prime minister directly?” 

Gallagher works for the law firm Doughty Street Chambers, where Starmer made his name as a human rights lawyer before entering politics.  

The U.K. Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) in response said Lammy had raised Lai’s case when he met his Chinese counterpart in July. 

“British national Jimmy Lai’s case is a priority for the U.K. government,” an FCDO spokesperson added. “We continue to call on the Hong Kong authorities to end their politically motivated prosecution and immediately release Jimmy Lai.” 

Lai denies the charges, which were brought under sweeping national security laws meant to quell dissent in the former British colony, which was returned to China in 1997. 

If convicted, he could face life imprisonment. Six other senior Apple Daily staff members are also in prison. 

Britain has been critical of China’s crackdown on press freedom and protests in Hong Kong, which has strained diplomatic ties. 

RSF head of campaigns Rebecca Vincent said no one from the organization would be able to attend Lai’s trial. 

A staff member was detained and deported while trying to enter Hong Kong to monitor the trial previously. 
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WASHINGTON — A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers asked AT&T, Verizon Communications, and Lumen Technologies on Friday to answer questions after a report that Chinese hackers accessed the networks of U.S. broadband providers. 

The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday hackers obtained information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping, and said the three companies were among the telecoms whose networks were breached. 

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, and the top Democrat on the committee Representative Frank Pallone along with Representatives Bob Latta and Doris Matsui asked the three companies to answer questions. They are seeking a briefing and detailed answers by next Friday. 

“There is a growing concern regarding the cybersecurity vulnerabilities embedded in U.S. telecommunications networks,” the lawmakers said. They are asking for details on what information was seized and when the companies learned about the intrusion. 

AT&T and Lumen declined to comment, while Verizon did not immediately comment. 

It was unclear when the hack occurred. 

Hackers might have held access for months to network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with court-authorized U.S. requests for communications data, the Journal said. It said the hackers had also accessed other tranches of internet traffic. 

China’s foreign ministry said on Sunday that it was not aware of the attack described in the report but said the United States had “concocted a false narrative” to “frame” China in the past. 
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Taipei, Taiwan — Four people working for Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn in China have been detained, Taipei said Friday, describing the circumstances as “quite strange”. 

The employees were detained by public security in the central city of Zhengzhou for the equivalent of “breach of trust” under Taiwan law, Taipei’s top China policy body, the Mainland Affairs Council, said in a statement to AFP. 

“The circumstances surrounding this case are quite strange,” the council said. 

Foxconn “has declared the company suffered no losses, and the four employees did not harm the company’s interests in any way,” it said, without providing details about when they were detained or their roles. 

Foxconn, also known by its official name Hon Hai Precision Industry, is the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer and assembles devices for major tech companies, including Apple. 

Most of its factories are in China, including Zhengzhou, which is dubbed “iPhone City” as the home of the world’s biggest factory for the smartphone. 

The Straits Exchange Foundation, a semi-official body in Taiwan handling people and business exchanges with China, told AFP the four detainees were Taiwanese. 

The case “may involve corruption and abuse of power by a small number of public security officials, which has severely damaged business confidence,” the Mainland Affairs Council said. 

“We urge the relevant authorities across the strait to investigate and address the matter promptly.” 

A Foxconn spokesman declined to comment when contacted by AFP. China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said she was “not aware of the specific situation”. 

China and Taiwan have been locked in a decades-long dispute, with Beijing claiming the self-ruled island as part of its territory, which the Taipei government rejects. 

Many Taiwanese companies set up factories in China over the past four decades, taking advantage of the shared language and cheaper operating costs, but investment has fallen sharply in recent years over regional tech disputes. 

 
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VIENTIANE, LAOS — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken Friday warned China against military provocations toward Taiwan, following Beijing’s strong reaction to an annual speech by the leader of the self-ruled democracy.

“I can tell you that with regard to the so-called Ten Ten speech, which is a regular exercise, China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters during a press conference in Vientiane, Laos. 

He was referring to October 10, known as Double Ten Day, when Taiwan celebrates the founding of the Republic of China in 1912, just months after an uprising that began on October 10, 1911.

The People’s Republic of China celebrates its national day on October 1, marking the founding of the country in 1949. 

China has continued to ramp up its military threats against Taiwan, following President Lai Ching-te’s Thursday speech, which rejected China’s claim of sovereignty over the island.

Blinken was in Vientiane for meetings with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and participated in the East Asia Summit. 

He said there is a strong desire among all ASEAN countries, along with others present, to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, with neither side taking actions that undermine the status quo.

Earlier on Friday, Taiwan detected 20 Chinese military aircraft and 10 naval vessels around Taiwan. Thirteen of the aircraft crossed the median line and entered Taiwan’s northern and southwestern Air Defense Identification Zone, according to a posting on social media platform X by Taiwan’s defense ministry.

Between Wednesday and Thursday, Taiwan also detected 27 Chinese military aircraft, nine naval vessels, and five official ships.

In Beijing, Chinese officials said Taiwan “has no so-called sovereignty.”

Mao Ning, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, slammed Lai, accusing him of having “the ill intention of heightening tensions in the Taiwan Strait for his selfish political interest.”

Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s communists took power in Beijing after defeating Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang nationalists in a civil war, prompting the nationalists’ relocation to the island.

Washington switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing to counter the then-Soviet Union in 1979.  

Since then, relations between the U.S. and Taiwan have been governed by the Taiwan Relations Act that Congress passed in April 1979, under which the U.S. provides defense equipment to Taiwan.

In September, Taiwan President Lai said if China’s claims over Taiwan are truly based on concerns about territorial integrity, it should also seek to reclaim the 600,000 square kilometers of land it ceded to Russia in the 19th century — an area almost the size of Ukraine.
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Taipei, Taiwan — Organizers of Taiwan’s premier film festival report a huge increase this year in entries from China, despite a ban imposed by Beijing six years ago on participation in the festival by Chinese filmmakers and actors.

As many as 100 Chinese entries had been submitted for Golden Horse Awards in recent years, in defiance of the ban and without apparent consequences. But this year organizers say the number of movies and documentaries submitted from China shot up to 276.

More than a dozen of the Chinese films are potential finalists, some in multiple categories. The winners will be announced on November 23.

Industry analysts and directors say many of the Chinese filmmakers may have turned to the Golden Horse Awards to earn exposure for their movies, fearing they would be banned at home. Others point to the festival’s reputation for hosting a diversity of films.

According to a list of finalists released on October 2, Chinese director Lou Ye’s pseudo-documentary, An Unfinished Film, and Geng Jun’s black-and-white gay film Bel Ami were shortlisted for multiple awards.

Wonder Weng, executive director of the Taiwan Film Critics Society in Taipei, said both movies are likely to be banned in China.

He said that Lou, a regular participant in the Golden Horse Awards, has never bowed to the Chinese system and that his An Unfinished Film deviates from Beijing’s favored narratives about the COVID-19 pandemic. Geng’s Bel Ami, Weng added, challenges the values of the Chinese Communist Party amid a heavy-handed crackdown on the LGBTQ community.

Among this year’s entrants is Zheng Yu, a 27-year-old independent director from Inner Mongolia who specializes in expressing thoughts and emotions through images and who has been involved in film and television production for eight years.

His entry, Her Dream in the Living Room is a short film that records how life for his family was changed by an elder’s chronic disease. Although he was not shortlisted in the end, he told VOA that he still dreams of standing on the stage of the Golden Horse Awards one day.

Zheng said there are three golden awards in the Chinese film industry: the Taiwan Golden Horse, the Hong Kong Golden Statue and the China Golden Rooster Awards.

Among the three, “The Golden Horse Awards are more welcoming to varieties of films, and it is also more supportive of young directors, so this is why I wanted to apply for the Golden Horse Awards,” he said.

In addition to the film entries from China, this year’s festival includes 277 entries from Taiwan, 72 from Hong Kong, 17 from Macau, 21 from Malaysia, 17 from Singapore and 67 from other countries.

Ng Kwok Kwan, an associate professor at the Academy of Film at Hong Kong Baptist University, said the Golden Horse Awards are the oldest Chinese film awards on either side of the Taiwan Strait.

Although entries from China, Hong Kong and Macao have been discouraged by politics, the Golden Horse Awards are still seen as major awards in the Chinese film industry, and being nominated for a festival award will greatly enhance a film’s visibility, he said.

Ng added that the festival has become the best channel for Chinese-speaking audiences to access excellent works, and it is also the ideal outlet for some non-mainstream Hong Kong and Chinese filmmakers.

He said Hong Kong-made films received a total of 18 nominations at last year’s Golden Horse Awards and finally won four awards: Best New Director, Best New Actor, Best Feature Short Film and Best Animated Short Film.

“In recent years, some of the Hong Kong films nominated have been very good. They belong to a relatively niche and non-mainstream, and [the festival] has a special [interest] in the themes of non-mainstream, social issues, and experimental films, and I think it really has a certain contribution [to Hong Kong films],” he said.

Seventy-two Hong Kong films participated in this year’s Golden Horse Awards. From Now On, which explores the situation of older lesbians, was shortlisted for the Best Feature Film, Best Director and Best Actress awards.

Among the five shortlisted films for Best Short Film, three are Hong Kong films, including Colour Ideology Sampling.mov, Something About Us and Letters from the Imprisoned: Chow Hang Tung.
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Vientiane, Laos — Southeast Asian leaders stepped up pressure on China to respect international law following clashes in the disputed South China Sea during annual summit talks on Thursday, but Chinese Premier Li Qiang was defiant as he blamed “external forces” for interfering in regional affairs.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ meeting with Li followed recent violent confrontations at sea this year between China and ASEAN members Philippines and Vietnam that heightened unease over China’s increasingly assertive actions in the contested waters.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who will take over the rotating ASEAN chair next year, said the bloc has called for an early conclusion to a code of conduct to govern the South China Sea. Talks on the code of conduct have been ongoing for years, hampered by sticky issues including disagreements over whether the pact should be binding.

ASEAN reiterated the need to maintain peace and security in the strategic waterway, he said, according to Malaysian national news agency Bernama.

But Li said meddling by foreign forces is creating conflicts within the region.

“We must realize that our development is also facing some unstable and uncertain factors. In particular, external forces frequently interfere and even try to introduce bloc confrontation and geopolitical conflicts into Asia,” Li said during an ASEAN meeting with China, Japan and South Korea. He called for more dialogue between countries to ensure disputes are resolved amicably.

Li didn’t name the foreign forces but China has previously warned the U.S. not to meddle in the region’s territorial disputes.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Vientiane on Thursday for the meetings, is expected to raise the issue of China’s aggression in the sea, officials said. The U.S. has no claims but it has deployed Navy ships and fighter jets to patrol the waterway and promote freedom of navigation and overflight.

ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei along with Taiwan have overlapping claims with China, which claims sovereignty over virtually all of the South China Sea. Chinese and Philippine vessels have clashed repeatedly this year, and Vietnam said last week that Chinese forces assaulted its fishermen in the disputed sea. China has also sent patrol vessels to areas that Indonesia and Malaysia claim as exclusive economic zones.

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. made clear to Li during talks Thursday that ASEAN-China cooperation cannot be separated from the sea dispute, according to an ASEAN official who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the discussion.

Li responded by saying the South China Sea is “a shared home” and that China has an obligation to protect its sovereignty, the official said. The Philippines, a longtime U.S. ally, has been critical of other ASEAN countries for not doing more to get China to back away.

Aside from regional security issues, China’s Li also emphasized Beijing and ASEAN’s economic ties, saying intensifying trade relations and creating an “ultra large-scale market” are keys to economic prosperity amid rising trade protectionism.

ASEAN and China said they expect to conclude negotiations to upgrade their free trade pact next year. Since the two sides signed the pact covering a market of 2 billion people in 2010, ASEAN’s trade with China has leaped from $235.5 billion to $696.7 billion last year.

China is ASEAN’s No. 1 trading partner and its third-largest source of foreign investment — a key reason why the bloc has been reluctant to criticize Chinese actions in the South China Sea.

ASEAN leaders, who held a summit among themselves on Wednesday, also separately met with new Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

ASEAN elevated its ties with South Korea to a “comprehensive strategic partnership.” Yoon said the new designation will further help both sides to “create a new future together.”

Ishiba also pledged to boost the Japan-ASEAN relationship by providing patrol vessels and training on maritime law enforcement, strengthening economic security through financial and other support and bolstering cybersecurity.

“Japan shares principles such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and would like to create and protect the future together with ASEAN,” he said.

The bloc is also holding individual talks with dialogue partners India, Australia, Canada, the U.S. and the United Nations that will culminate in an East Asia Summit of 18 nations including Russia and New Zealand on Friday.

Former ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said that despite challenges in addressing disputes in the South China Sea and the Myanmar civil war, ASEAN’s central role in the region is undisputable.

“ASEAN and its diplomatic maneuvers have sustained the relative peace and progress of Southeast Asia to date. ASEAN will continue to be useful in that regard. Big powers cannot do what they wish in the region,” said Ong, who is now deputy chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

Nearly 6,000 people have been killed and over 3 million displaced in a civil war after the Myanmar army ousted an elected government in 2021. The military has backtracked on an ASEAN peace plan it agreed to in late 2021 and fighting has continued with pro-democracy guerillas and ethnic rebels.

Myanmar’s top generals have been shut out of ASEAN summits since the military takeover. Thailand will host an informal ASEAN ministerial-level consultation on Myanmar in mid-December as frustration grows in the bloc over the prolonged conflict.
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WASHINGTON — “What Americans are really worried about now is not wars, shootings or homelessness. It’s the puzzling absence of any issues with China,” declares a blonde influencer on TikTok, speaking in near-fluent Mandarin.

“A U.S. presidential candidate recently stated that America should learn from China and stop causing trouble,” she added, displaying an image of President Biden.

The influencer, who says her name is Alina and claims to be a Russian living in Singapore, promotes what she says are “high-quality Russian and Chinese products” on her account.

However, the same blonde Russian woman also appears in other posts on TikTok and goes by the name Lisa.

Lisa likes to discuss such topics as “celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of China,” “Germany is facing a dead-end,” and “the U.S. is on the brink of bankruptcy.”

In one video posted on September 17, she talked about the two assassination attempts against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, suggesting that the intensifying political rivalry is fueling violence in the U.S. and could lead to further societal division.

Patriotism before commerce 

A joint investigation by Voice of America and social media analytics firm Doublethink Lab uncovered several accounts on TikTok like Alina’s and Lisa’s that feature videos of Russian women generated by artificial intelligence, or AI. All the accounts emerged around July and August and followed a similar pattern of leveraging patriotic sentiment to bolster China-Russia ties before going on to promote products. 

Earlier this year, VOA noted a similar trend on Chinese social media platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu, and the use of AI-manipulated videos of young, purportedly Russian women to rally support for China-Russia ties and stoke patriotic fervor before selling products such as snacks, nutritional supplements and drinks.

It is hard to tell whether the creators of the videos have an ideological motive or are simply trying to exploit Chinese patriotism to sell their products, said Wei-Ping Li, who holds a fellowship at the Taiwan FactCheck Center.

“I still think they are more like aiming to sell products rather than state-sponsored influence campaigns,” she told VOA.

Either way, the use of Russian AI personas to foster patriotism was once limited to Chinese social media sites targeting domestic audiences. The accounts identified on TikTok, however, appear to be operated from Singapore, indicating that the use of attractive blonde Russian women to push patriotism, propaganda and products has expanded beyond China. 

TikTok is unavailable in China. Most users download its Chinese counterpart, Douyin. Both platforms are owned by the same parent company, ByteDance, which is headquartered in Beijing.

When VOA contacted TikTok to find out more about the accounts Tuesday, they were taken down several hours later.  

TikTok spokesperson Ariane de Selliers told VOA that TikTok does “not allow account behavior that may spam or mislead our community.” 

According to TikTok’s rules, creators are required to label realistic AI-generated content. 

The accounts discovered by VOA uniformly claim to be from Russia and to love China, often highlighting China’s economic achievements and its status as a global friend while criticizing Japan and Western nations like the U.S. and Germany.

Most of the content does not appear to come from original creators because the posts are similar or identical to content on other social media platforms. 

For the most part, it appears that these accounts have been largely republishing videos from Chinese social media platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu and possibly WeChat and bilibili.

Some accounts, however, seek to make their postings look legitimate by having the AI-generated Russian women talk about their lives and experiences in China and why they like the country.

Interestingly, while many of these characters on Chinese platforms talk about their desire to “marry a Chinese man,” videos targeting Chinese overseas do not talk about that at all.

Li of the Taiwan FactCheck Center said the TikTok accounts seem aimed at older Chinese audiences overseas, diverging from the previous focus on younger males with patriotic inclinations and military backgrounds. This shift can be observed in the use of hashtags such as #Singapore, #Malaysia and #OverseasChinese.

“For the target audiences of these Singaporean accounts, imagine a 65-year-old Chinese [males or females] living in Southeast Asia or even Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., whose friends often share TikTok or Douyin videos,” she said.

“These videos first employ nationalistic themes to attract viewers before promoting their products,” she added.  

Why Russians?

Once these videos gain traction, they pivot to sales. One post claimed, “China will always be the big brother of Russia,” before recommending a health product: “I suggest Sinopharm Group’s Glucosamine Chondroitin for joint protection.”

By featuring foreign women praising China’s political and economic systems, these videos convey a message designed to instill pride among Chinese viewers, aligning with their patriotic sentiments.

But why the focus on Russian women?

Li attributes this trend to cultural connections, noting that since the 2010s, Chinese men have sought brides in Russia. A 2016 report from China’s state media highlighted this phenomenon, suggesting that “a Chinese husband and a Russian wife make a perfect match.”

“The rhetoric we see in these TikTok videos are exactly the same,” Li pointed out.

Additionally, economic factors play a role. As Russia’s economic growth lags China’s, some Chinese individuals may seek partnerships in economically disadvantaged areas.

Li emphasized that the TikTok videos aimed at Southeast Asian audiences feature Russian women probably because their creators believe that viewers will appreciate foreign endorsements of China and Singapore.

“In addition, using these existing Russian women’s images (on Chinese social media), producers can churn out videos more easily,” she added.
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 Washington — Local media in Myanmar are reporting that six FTC-2000G fighter jets purchased from China have arrived, and observers are concerned that Chinese military support for the Myanmar military is prolonging the conflict and worsening civilian suffering. 

China’s supply of fighter jets, such as the FTC-2000G, has helped the junta maintain air superiority, and that has caused widespread casualties across Myanmar.

According to media reports, this delivery in August 2024 is the second batch of FTC-2000G jets received by Myanmar’s military. The junta took delivery of the first batch in November 2022. 

Military-controlled media later showed the FTC-2000G aircraft at a Myanmar Air Force ceremony on Dec. 15, 2022. The second batch is widely expected to be showcased at this year’s Air Force Day celebration in December. 

Zay Ya, a former sergeant in the Myanmar Air Force, explained to VOA from an undisclosed location on the Thai-Myanmar border, “Many of the Russian-made Yak-130s are out of service, so the Chinese jets are now critical to the military’s operations.” 

He added that the Chinese jets are already used in combat, with several stationed at key air bases. 

Zay Ya, who served in Myanmar’s Air Force for nearly a decade, deserted the military following the February 2021 overthrow of an elected government and is now assisting fellow former service members who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement against the military junta. 

Based on his hands-on experience with the Myanmar Air Force, Zay Ya pointed out that Russia’s aircraft are high-cost and fuel-consuming, while Chinese planes are more compatible with Myanmar’s existing defense industry. “The Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30 — four of them arrived before the FTC-2000G — but the FTC-2000G can be used immediately,” Zay Ya said. 

VOA’s Burmese Service contacted the Myanmar government’s military information team in Nay Pyi Taw and the Chinese Embassy in Yangon and Washington, D.C., regarding the delivery of FTC-2000G jets but has not yet received a response. 

Use of FTC-2000G 

The FTC-2000G’s ability to carry missiles, rockets and bombs has significantly enhanced the junta’s airstrike capabilities, particularly in conflict zones like northern Shan State and areas controlled by the Brotherhood Alliance, an ethnic armed group near the Chinese border, according to the observers. 

A report by Justice for Myanmar and Info Birmanie highlighted how China’s FTC-2000G aircraft have been used for air raids on civilian areas. On Jan. 16, 2024, opposition forces downed an FTC-2000G jet involved in an attack over the Namhpatkar region in northern Shan State. In December 2023, another FTC-2000G jet dropped bombs on residential buildings near Namkham. 

‘It will not shift the balance’ 

Dr. Abdul Rahman Yaacob, an expert on Southeast Asia’s defense and security issues with Lowy Institute, commented on the broader implications of the jet deliveries. “China is clearly taking sides in the civil war,” he told VOA. “It shows that China is not a neutral actor in the Myanmar crisis by supplying arms to the junta.” 

While the delivery of combat aircraft may give the junta some tactical advantage, Yaacob said, “Overall, it will not shift the balance to the side of the junta. The junta is actually facing a counterinsurgency. An insurgency campaign cannot be dealt with just by air power alone. It has to be fought by foot soldiers. And this is where the junta is facing a major problem — it has a shortage of manpower.” 

Several experts believe China’s actions are about more than military support. 

Jason Tower, the country director for the Burma program at the United States Institute of Peace, or USIP, told VOA, “It’s very clear that China still sees the Myanmar military as the government of Myanmar, and it seems unlikely that over the short term, China’s posture is going to change.” 

He argues that the sale of the fighter jets signals China’s intention to maintain stability in Myanmar and convince other international actors to accept the military junta. 

Thomas Kean, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, said China’s goal is to stabilize Myanmar and protect its strategic interests. “I think China wants stability and a degree of normalization,” Kean said. “China is pushing for a deal between the military and ethnic armed groups.” 

Civilian impact, international calls 

The conflict has displaced millions, with the United Nations estimating that more than 2.3 million people have fled their homes since the coup. Bombings have targeted schools, hospitals, and residential areas with little regard for civilian lives, according to the U.N. 

The international community has condemned Myanmar’s military for its atrocities. In a statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Nicholas Koumjian, head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, said, “In many instances, civilians are not just collateral damage but the target of attacks, which appear intended to create terror.” 

Human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Justice for Myanmar, have called on China to stop arms transfers to the junta.  
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