TAIPEI, Taiwan — China’s stock rally resumed Tuesday after the weeklong National Day holiday but lost some steam on mainland markets after a press conference by the country’s economic planning agency disappointed hopes for more fiscal stimulus measures.

In Hong Kong, the day ended with chunky losses of nearly 10%. 

Early in the day, the Shanghai Composite Index rose more than 10%, the Shenzhen Component Index was up more than 12%, and the ChiNext Index rose 18%, continuing a rise that began late last month with the announcement of stimulus measures, ranging from rate cuts to looser curbs on house buying.

The rally stalled, however, as the National Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference intended to further boost market confidence, failed to announce any specific stimulus measures.

By day’s end, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 4.59%, the Shenzhen Component Index was up 9.17%, and the ChiNext Index rose 17.25% to mark its largest-ever, single-day increase. But in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index traded low throughout the day, returning the gains registered before the National Day holiday and closing down 9.41%.

Investors hoped the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state economic planning body, would roll out more detailed stimulus measures at the Tuesday briefing.

Chairman Zheng Shanjie told reporters that he had “full confidence” the economy would reach its official full-year growth target of about 5%. He said China will introduce policies to specifically strengthen or stabilize five aspects in the early stage, including the economic downturn, insufficient domestic demand, the difficulties of some enterprises, the continued weakness of the property market and the capital markets.

Chin-Yoong Wong, a professor of economics at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman in Malaysia, said the NDRC’s target issues are “very to the point but insufficient in implementation,” because the NDRC has not proposed precise and feasible countermeasures, and the scale of implementation is unclear.

Wong said much of what has been promised by the NDRC includes spending plans that were already in place “rather than additional fiscal stimulus for China’s economic downturn.”

He said the NDRC has talked a lot about boosting consumer confidence but has not issued any specific practical policies to achieve that, leaving shareholders to question whether the talk will be backed with action.

Liu Meng-Chuh, director of the First Research Division at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research in Taipei, said external factors are contributing to the volatility of China’s stock markets.

He told VOA, “On the one hand, China’s [favorable policies] are not so strong; [on the other hand], the U.S. economy is not so bad, so maybe much international hot money has begun to flow back [to the U.S.].”

However, Liu believes that there is still room for development in green industries and infrastructure for an aging society.

He said that China’s urban population is about 60% to 70% of its entire population, which is lower than the average of about 80% in mature economies, meaning that the dividends of China’s “urbanization” have not yet been exhausted. But he stressed that the feasibility has to be well-assessed to avoid repeating mistakes made in the past.

Tsai Ming-Fang, a professor of industrial economics at Tamkang University, said China’s foreign relations are not improving, causing foreign trade issues that are difficult to solve, such as the new tariffs imposed by Canada and the European Union on Chinese electric vehicles. 

Tsai said the stimulus measures in the past two weeks are not designed to revive the economy but to beautify the data to achieve the economic growth target of 5% this year, which may allow some shareholders and even foreign investors to liquidate their positions and take profits. 

“China’s only goal now is to reach the economic growth rate of 5%,” Tsai said. “Many problems arise from the drastic changes in Chinese laws [in recent years], which have led to a lack of confidence of manufacturers in China.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — A top U.S. official said the United States expects differences across the Taiwan Strait to be resolved peacefully and opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo as Taiwan prepares to celebrate the founding of the Republic of China on Thursday.

The People’s Republic of China, or PRC, celebrates its national day on October 1, marking the founding of the country in 1949. Taiwan chooses October 10, known as Double Ten Day, to celebrate the founding of the ROC in 1912, just months after an uprising that began on October 10, 1911.

The PRC typically closely monitors speeches from Taiwan’s leaders during Double Ten Day celebrations. Since Taiwan’s democratically elected President Lai Ching-te took office in May, Beijing has increased military pressure on Taiwan, deeming Lai a “separatist.”

On Tuesday, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said that the U.S.’s “fundamental interest is in the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” reiterating that Washington’s longstanding One China policy remains unchanged, “guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, the three Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances.”

“We oppose unilateral changes to the status quo by either side. We do not support Taiwan independence, and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved peacefully,” Kritenbrink told VOA during a briefing.

Speaking at an event Saturday, Lai noted that the PRC celebrated its 75th anniversary on October 1, and in a few days, it would be the ROC’s 113th birthday.

“In terms of age, it is absolutely impossible for the People’s Republic of China to be considered the motherland of the people of the Republic of China. On the contrary, the ROC may be the motherland of the people of the PRC who are over 75 years old,” Lai told an audience in Taipei.

PRC officials have remained largely muted on Lai’s remarks, but some analysts say that could be because Beijing is preparing to launch another round of military exercises after Lai delivers his Double Ten Day speech.

U.S. officials have referred inquiries to “President Lai’s office for any commentary on his specific comments.”

European visit

Meanwhile, former Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen will visit the Czech Republic this month, a visit seen as sensitive since Beijing has repeatedly denounced the democratic leader as a “separatist.”

In Beijing on Tuesday, a spokesperson from the PRC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs was asked to comment on Tsai’s planned visit to Prague.

“We firmly oppose anyone who seeks “Taiwan independence” visiting countries with diplomatic ties with China under any pretext. We urge the Czech Republic and relevant countries to earnestly abide by the One China principle and respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Tuesday.

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.

The U.S. does not maintain an official relationship with Taiwan but provides defense equipment to the self-ruled democracy under the Taiwan Relations Act.

Treaty of Aigun

In a TV interview in September, Lai remarked that if China’s claims over Taiwan are genuinely rooted in concerns about territorial integrity, it should also seek to reclaim the land it ceded to Russia in the 19th century.

He referenced the 1858 Treaty of Aigun, through which China, under the Qing dynasty, gave up a vast area of land — now part of Russia’s Far East — to the Russian Empire, establishing much of the modern border along the Amur River.

The Treaty of Aigun, along with the 1860 Convention of Peking, saw China relinquish 600,000 square kilometers — an area almost the size of Ukraine — to the Russian Empire, enabling Russia to establish a naval base at Vladivostok. Many Chinese people still brood over this period of history, harboring lingering resentment over the fact that the land once belonged to China before being annexed by Russia.

In 2023, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources mandated that new maps use Chinese names for Vladivostok — Haishenwai — as well as several other cities in the region.
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NEW YORK/WASHINGTON — TikTok faces new lawsuits filed by 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday, accusing the popular social media platform of harming and failing to protect young people.

The lawsuits, filed separately in New York, California, the District of Columbia and 11 other states, expand Chinese-owned TikTok’s legal fight with U.S. regulators and seek new financial penalties against the company.

Washington is located in the District of Columbia.

The states accuse TikTok of using intentionally addictive software designed to keep children watching as long and often as possible and misrepresenting its content moderation effectiveness.

“TikTok cultivates social media addiction to boost corporate profits,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “TikTok intentionally targets children because they know kids do not yet have the defenses or capacity to create healthy boundaries around addictive content.”

TikTok seeks to maximize the amount of time users spend on the app in order to target them with ads, the states said.

“Young people are struggling with their mental health because of addictive social media platforms like TikTok,” said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

TikTok said on Tuesday that it strongly disagreed with the claims, “many of which we believe to be inaccurate and misleading,” and that it was disappointed the states chose to sue “rather than work with us on constructive solutions to industrywide challenges.”

TikTok provides safety features that include default screentime limits and privacy defaults for minors under 16, the company said.

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb alleged that TikTok operates an unlicensed money transmission business through its livestreaming and virtual currency features.

“TikTok’s platform is dangerous by design. It’s an intentionally addictive product that is designed to get young people addicted to their screens,” Schwalb said in an interview.

Washington’s lawsuit accused TikTok of facilitating sexual exploitation of underage users, saying TikTok’s livestreaming and virtual currency “operate like a virtual strip club with no age restrictions.”

Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Vermont and Washington state also sued on Tuesday.

In March 2022, eight states, including California and Massachusetts, said they launched a nationwide probe of TikTok impacts on young people.

The U.S. Justice Department sued TikTok in August for allegedly failing to protect children’s privacy on the app. Other states, including Utah and Texas, previously sued TikTok for failing to protect children from harm. TikTok on Monday rejected the allegations in a court filing.

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, is battling a U.S. law that could ban the app in the United States.
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Beijing/Paris — China imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of brandy from the EU on Tuesday, hitting French brands including Hennessy and Remy Martin, days after the 27-state bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, or EVs.

China’s commerce ministry said preliminary findings of an investigation had determined that dumping of brandy from the European Union threatens “substantial damage” to its own sector.

France’s trade ministry said the temporary Chinese measures were “incomprehensible” and violated free trade, and that it would work with the European Commission to challenge the move at the World Trade Organization.

In a sign of the rising trade tensions, China’s ministry added in another statement on Tuesday that an ongoing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into EU pork products would make “objective and fair” decisions when it concludes.

It also said that it was considering a hike in tariffs on imports of large-engine vehicles, which would hit German producers hardest. German exports of vehicles with engines of 2.5 liters or larger to China reached $1.2 billion last year.

France was seen as the target of Beijing’s brandy probe due to its support of tariffs on China-made EVs. French brandy shipments to China reached $1.7 billion last year and accounted for 99% of the country’s imports of the spirit.

As of Oct. 11, importers of brandy originating in the EU will have to put down security deposits mostly ranging from 34.8% to 39.0% of the import value, the ministry said.

“This announcement clearly shows that China is determined to tax us in response to European decisions on Chinese electric vehicles,” French cognac producers group BNIC said in an email.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that China’s brandy probe was “pure retaliation,” while EV tariffs were needed to preserve a level playing field.

Shares tumble

LVMH-owned Hennessy and Remy Martin were among the brands hardest hit by the measures, with importers having to pay security deposits of 39.0% and 38.1%, respectively.

The deposits would make it more costly upfront to import brandy from the EU. However they could be returned if a deal is eventually reached before definitive tariffs are imposed.

Both the investigation and negotiations remain ongoing, said an executive at a leading cognac company, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Chinese investigators visited producers in France last month and were due to make further site visits, the executive said, while Chinese and EU officials held negotiations on Monday.

The outcome was unclear, however, and doubts around the EU’s willingness to make a deal were emerging, they added.

Shares in Pernod Ricard were down 4.2% at 0839 GMT, while Remy Cointreau’s dropped 8.7% and shares in LVMH fell 4.9%.

Companies that cooperated with China’s investigation were hit with security deposit rates of 34.8%, with that imposed on Martell the lowest at 30.6%.

Pernod Ricard, Remy Cointreau and LVMH did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The measures could mean a 20% price rise for consumers in China, said Jefferies analysts, reducing sales volumes by 20%.

Remy, with the greatest exposure to the Chinese market, could see its sales decline by 6%, with Pernod group sales seeing a 1.6% impact, they said.

China is the second largest export market for cognac after the United States but is the industry’s most profitable territory. Difficult economic conditions in both markets have already prompted a sharp decline in cognac sales.

James Sym, fund manager at Remy investor River Global, said despite this, there was no sign that demand for cognac had fundamentally changed, pointing to an uptick in cognac sales in Japan driven by Chinese tourists when the yen was weak.

“That’s obviously a sign that cognac is not out of fashion,” he said, adding volumes – and the companies’ share prices – should recover long-term, although the tariffs would likely hit volumes and margins while in place.

Talks continue

Luxury goods shares fell by as much as 7% on Tuesday, with one trader attributing this to fears that the sector, which is heavily reliant on China, could be next to see trade measures.

The brandy measures follow a vote by the EU to adopt tariffs on China-made EVs by the end of October.

Before the vote in late August, China had suspended its planned anti-dumping measures on EU brandy, in an apparent goodwill gesture, despite determining it had been sold in China at below-market prices.

At the time, the commerce ministry said its probe would end before Jan. 5, 2025, but that it could be extended.

China’s commerce ministry previously said it had found that European distillers had been selling brandy in its 1.4 billion-strong consumer market at a dumping margin in the range of 30.6% to 39% and that its domestic industry had been damaged.

In the EU’s decision to impose tariffs on China-made EVs, the bloc set tariff rates on top of the 10% car import duty ranging from 7.8% for Tesla to 35.3% for SAIC and other producers deemed not to have cooperated with its investigation.

The European Commission has said it is willing to continue negotiating an alternative, even after tariffs are imposed.
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LISBON — Chinese lithium producers are flooding the global market with the critical metal and causing a “predatory” price drop as they seek to eliminate competing projects, a senior U.S. official said on a visit to Portugal that has ample lithium reserves.

Jose Fernandez, undersecretary for economic growth, energy and the environment at the U.S. Department of State, told a briefing late on Monday that China was producing much more lithium “than the world needs today, by far.”

“That is an intentional response by the People’s Republic of China to what we are trying to do” with the Inflation Reduction Act – the largest climate and energy investment package in U.S. history valued at over $400 billion, Fernandez said.

“They engage in predatory pricing… [they] lower the price until competition disappears,’’ Fernandez said. ‘’That is what is happening.”

China accounts for about two-thirds of the world’s lithium chemical output, which is mainly used in battery technologies including for electric cars. Prices of lithium have fallen more than 80% in the past year largely due to overproduction from China and a drop in demand for electric vehicles.

However, the price collapse is also affecting China as it has forced Chinese companies like battery giant CATL to suspend production at certain mines.

Job cuts

Europe aims to reduce its dependence on imports from China and other countries of lithium and other materials essential to the green transition.

Fernandez said the low price “constrains our ability to diversify our supply chains on a broad, global scale” and also hurts countries such as Portugal that need investment to develop these industries.

Falling prices have forced many global lithium producers to scale back production and cut jobs.

Portugal, with some 60,000 tons of known reserves, is already Europe’s biggest producer of lithium, traditionally mined for ceramics.

Along with neighboring Spain, the country wants to take advantage of local lithium deposits, aiming to cover the entire value chain from mining and refining to cell and battery manufacturing to battery recycling.

Several mining companies in Portugal have been looking for financing, customers and suppliers to crank up projects.

“We want to help them, and we think we can… lithium mining companies, everywhere, have to survive this difficult phase that was created by predatory pricing,” Fernandez said.

China’s Premier Li Qiang in June used his address at a World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian to hit back at accusations from the United States and E.U. that Chinese firms benefit from unfair subsidies and are poised to flood their markets with cheap green technologies.

Trade tensions intensified last Friday when the European Union said it would press ahead with hefty tariffs on China-made electric vehicles to counter what it sees as unfair Chinese subsidies, after a year-long anti-subsidy investigation. China on Tuesday imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of brandy from the E.U.
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BEIJING — China is “fully confident” of achieving its full-year economic and social development targets, with some funds from 2025’s budget being brought forward to support projects, chairman of the country’s economic planner Zheng Shanjie said on Tuesday.

China stocks blasted to two-year highs after a slew of stimulus steps announced in recent weeks supported sentiment in early trade, but later retreated. Hong Kong shares also slid as investors walked back some of the stimulus excitement.

Zheng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told a press conference China’s economy remains largely stable but is facing more complex internal and external environments.

“The international market is volatile, global trade protectionism has intensified, and uncertain and unstable factors have increased. These will have an adverse impact on my country through trade, investment, finance and other channels,” Zheng said.

Downward pressure on the domestic economy has increased, he added.

To support local governments, China will issue $14.12 billion from next year’s central government budget and another $14.12 billion for key investment projects by the end of this year, Zheng said.

The country will also quicken fiscal spending and “all sides should keep making efforts more forcefully” to strengthen macroeconomic policies, he added.

Investors and economists expect more policy support on the fiscal side to sustain the market’s optimism. They said it will take time to restore consumer and business confidence and get the economy back on more solid footing. A housing market recovery, in particular, could be a long slog.

“We anticipate that the government will arrange 1-3 trillion yuan of additional fiscal support this year and next to boost the real economy, recapitalise banks, and stabilize the property market,” said Yue Su, principal China economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“This, along with investments from special long-term bonds planned for next year, is expected to primarily impact 2025’s economic growth.”

The government set a growth target of around 5% this year, but economic indicators showed growth momentum waned since the second quarter, weighing on households spending and business sentiment amid a severe property downturn.

A private report by recruiting platform Zhaopin showed on Tuesday that average pay offered by recruiters in China’s 38 major cities fell 2.5% in the third quarter from the second, and down 0.6% from a year earlier.

In an effort to reverse the economic downturn, China unveiled in late September its most aggressive monetary stimulus package since the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with extensive property market support.

Zheng said that to address insufficient domestic demand, policymakers will focus on enhancing people’s livelihood to stimulate consumption and investment, such as supporting disadvantaged people, consumer goods trade-ins, elderly care and births. No further details were announced.

Vice Chairman of the NDRC, Liu Sushe, stated that most of the 6 trillion yuan in government investment this year was allocated to specific projects, with 90% of local government special bonds used for project construction issued by September.

At the same press conference, another vice chairman of the NDRC, Zhao Chenxin, said that China’s economic growth remained “generally stable” over the first three quarters.
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Manila, Philippines — The Philippines and South Korea committed Monday to deepening maritime cooperation, their presidents said, in the face of China’s assertion of its claims over the South China Sea.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and his Philippine counterpart Ferdinand Marcos met in Manila and agreed to closer ties between their coast guards.

Yoon said they will strengthen “tackling transnational crime, information sharing and conducting search and rescue missions.”

“We shared a common understanding about the importance of peace, stability and safety in the South China Sea,” Yoon told reporters after the bilateral meeting.

“Our two countries will continue to work together in order to establish a rules-based maritime order and for the freedom of navigation and overflight pursuant to the principles of international law in the South China Sea,” he added.

South Korea has repeatedly commented on tensions in the disputed waters.

In March, Seoul expressed its “grave concern” over China’s “repeated use of water cannons against the Philippine vessels” in the area.

China has for years sought to expand its presence in contested areas of the South China Sea, brushing aside an international ruling that its claim to most of the waterway has no legal basis.

It has built artificial islands armed with missile systems and runways for fighter jets, and deployed vessels that the Philippines says harass its ships and block fishing.

Cooperation agreements signed in the bilateral meeting Monday cover areas such as critical raw material supply chains, as well as a feasibility study on reviving the Philippines’ mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant.

“As the geopolitical environment is only becoming more complex, we must work together to achieve prosperity for our peoples and to promote a rules-based order,” the Philippines’ leader Marcos said ahead of the meeting.
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beijing — Top Chinese economic policymakers are expected to flesh out a raft of growth-boosting policies Tuesday, after the announcement of long-awaited stimulus measures last month sparked a blistering stock market rally. 

Beijing has struggled to kick-start the economy as officials hope to achieve about 5% growth this year — a goal analysts say is optimistic given the numerous headwinds, from a prolonged housing crisis to sluggish consumption. 

After months of piecemeal tinkering that did little to reverse the malaise, officials have unveiled a raft of measures, from rate cuts to looser curbs on house buying, aimed at getting money flowing again. 

Hopes of that long-awaited “bazooka stimulus” have lit up stock markets, sending foreign-language markets in mainland China and Hong Kong surging more than 20%. 

And with all eyes on the reopening of mainland markets following the Golden Week public holiday, officials from the National Development and Reform Commission will hold a news briefing at 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) Tuesday. 

Chairman Zheng Shanjie and others will discuss the rollout of “a package of incremental policies to solidly promote economic growth,” Beijing has said. 

Analysts said they hoped officials would unveil further fiscal support measures such as trillions of yuan in bond issuances and policies to boost consumption. 

But they cautioned that deep reforms to the economic system to relieve the debt crisis in the property sector and boost domestic demand are needed if Beijing is serious about resolving the fundamental obstacles to growth. 

“Unless China introduces structural reforms to really jump-start consumption — from unemployment benefits to real pensions — I just don’t think that we will see a major change,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief economist for the Asia-Pacific region at investment manager Natixis. 

The market rally risked becoming a “mirage,” she warned, as policymakers propped up stocks without properly tackling the underlying issues in the real economy. 

“If the measures are not proven to be effective … it will be even worse, because it means that not even the stimulus works,” she said. 

Rate cuts, cash, credit 

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 1.6% Monday, while mainland markets reopen Tuesday after a surge led by technology and property firms was interrupted by the public holiday. 

Many of the measures unveiled so far have been aimed at the flagging housing market, long a key driver of growth but now mired in a prolonged debt crisis exemplified by the fates of developers like Evergrande. 

To that end, Beijing’s central bank has slashed interest for one-year loans to financial institutions, cut the amount of cash lenders must keep on hand, and pushed to lower rates on existing mortgages. 

Several cities — including the financial crucibles of Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen — have also further eased restrictions on buying homes. 

Gene Ma, the head of China research at the Institute of International Finance, said the market reaction to stimulus was “totally normal.” 

But, he warned, “sustained economic recovery and reflation require more forceful demand-side fiscal stimuli.” 
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Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan’s former president Tsai Ing-wen kicks off an eight-day trip to the Czech Republic and two other European countries on October 12 – her first international tour since leaving office in May. While China is likely to voice its opposition to the trip, analysts say it highlights the close ties that Taipei has forged with European countries in recent years.  

China says democratically ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and opposes any formal contacts between Taiwan officials and other nations. 

In a statement released Monday, Taiwan’s presidential office said current President Lai Ching-te has delegated the National Security Council and Foreign Ministry to carefully plan Tsai’s trip to Europe. Lai also said he hopes her trip will continue to deepen Taiwan’s friendship with Europe and make bilateral relations closer and more solid. 

In the Czech Republic, Tsai is expected to attend the Forum 2000 and deliver a 10- to 15-minute speech. In addition to Prague, Reuters news agency reported that the former Taiwanese president will also visit France and Belgium, citing anonymous diplomatic sources. The trip will mark a former Taiwanese leader’s first trip to Europe.  

In response to media reports of her trip, Tsai’s office said her team would publicize her itinerary once it is finalized.  

The Chinese Foreign Ministry and China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, which handles relations with Taiwan, did not respond to requests for comment on the trip from VOA.  

Analysts say Tsai’s trip highlights how Europe remains a key focus of Taiwan’s diplomatic efforts.  

“Tsai Ing-wen has pursued a strategy of diversification of Taiwan’s foreign relations during her eight years of presidency and some of the most tangible results of the strategy are visible in the relations between Taiwan and Europe,” said Marcin Jerzewski, the head of Taiwan Office at the European Values Center for Security Policy.  

In his view, Tsai’s trip sends a strong signal to European countries that “Taiwan wants to be seen as a consistent partner for Europe as a whole as well as for individual European countries.” 

Tsai’s trip follows Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-Khim’s trip to Europe in March, during which she met with lawmakers from the Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, and the European Parliament.

It also comes on the heels of renewed trade tensions between the European Union and China, after EU member states backed a proposal to impose tariffs of up to 45% on electric vehicles imported from China. 

During Tsai’s second term in office, between 2020 and 2024, Taiwan opened an office in Lithuania that used the name “Taiwanese Representative Office” instead of “Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office” that the democratically ruled island uses in other places. 

Taiwan deepened trade and investment exchanges with several Central and Eastern European countries, and sent a former foreign minister, Joseph Wu, to the region on several high-profile trips. 

The Czech Republic is one of the European countries that has significantly deepened its engagement with Taiwan during Tsai’s time in office. Czech President Petre Pavel had a phone call with Tsai after winning the presidential election in January 2023, and Prague has increased the frequency of its parliamentary diplomatic engagement with Taiwan since 2020. 

Taiwan and the Czech Republic have also collaborated in the efforts to rebuild basic infrastructure in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in 2022, rebuilding schools and basic health care systems across Ukraine.

Experts say the fact that Tsai’s stop in Prague has been made public reflects the Czech Republic’s willingness to make its engagement with Taiwan more visible.   

“The Czech Republic is the country that’s been the most willing to be loud about their relationship with Taiwan in ways that other European countries probably are not, but that doesn’t mean other countries aren’t willing to maintain good relations with Taiwan,” Lev Nachman, a political scientist at National Taiwan University, told VOA by phone.  

Some Taiwanese analysts say Tsai’s decision not to disclose the full itinerary of her trip reflects the precaution that current and former Taiwanese officials often have to exercise when planning overseas trips.  

“Since China will use different ways to obstruct most Taiwanese politicians’ overseas trips, I think Tsai’s decision not to publicize certain parts of her trip may be a way to reduce the chance of Beijing complicating her trip to Europe,” said Chen Fang-yu, a political scientist at Soochow University in Taiwan.  

In his view, keeping her itinerary low-key may allow Tsai to have more constructive meetings with European politicians and officials in private.  

“Judging from Taiwan’s situation, keeping overseas trips low profile may allow current or former Taiwanese officials to achieve more concrete goals while reducing the chances of the host countries experiencing Chinese retaliation,” Chen told VOA by phone.  

Despite Tsai’s cautionary approach to planning the trip, Chen still expects Beijing to retaliate against countries that host the former Taiwanese leader.  

“Since Beijing often imposes economic sanctions against countries that have friendly interactions with Taiwan or introduce Taiwan-friendly policies, I expect them to respond to Tsai’s Europe trip in similar ways,” he added.  

Following Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao’s trip to the Czech Republic in March, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said it opposes any official exchanges between Taiwan and its diplomatic allies and urged Prague to “take effective measures to eliminate the negative impact” of Hsiao’s trip. 

Since Tsai is no longer in office, Nachman said Tsai’s trip to Europe carries more symbolic importance and won’t deliver too many substantive results. “Her trip is about reassuring Central and Eastern European countries that Taiwan wants to continue these strong, unofficial relations with them,” he told VOA.  

While Tsai’s trip is mainly about signaling Taiwan’s desire to prioritize engagement with European countries, Jerzewski said he expects the current Taiwanese government under Tsai’s successor Lai Ching-te to focus on deepening trade and economic relations with Central and Eastern European countries.  

“Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry has already begun to recalibrate Taipei’s approach to Europe and since some of the first special industrial zones that the ministry has announced will be in the Czech Republic, this reflects the current Taiwanese government’s approach to prioritize substance in developing relations with European countries,” he told VOA. 
…

Reuters — Chinese hackers accessed the networks of U.S. broadband providers and obtained information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Verizon Communications, AT&T and Lumen Technologies are among the telecoms companies whose networks were breached by the recently discovered intrusion, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the matter.

The 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 added that the hackers had also accessed other tranches of internet traffic.

China’s foreign ministry responded 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.

“At a time when cybersecurity has become a common challenge for all countries around the world, this erroneous approach will only hinder the efforts of the international community to jointly address the challenge through dialog and cooperation,” the ministry said in a statement to Reuters.

Beijing has previously denied claims by the U.S. government and others that it has used hackers to break into foreign computer systems.

Lumen Technologies declined to comment, while Verizon and AT&T did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Journal said the attack was carried out by a Chinese hacking group with the aim of collecting intelligence. U.S. investigators have dubbed it “Salt Typhoon.”

Earlier this year, U.S. law enforcement disrupted a major Chinese hacking group nicknamed “Flax Typhoon,” months after confronting Beijing about sweeping cyber espionage under a campaign named “Volt Typhoon.”

China’s foreign ministry said in its statement that Beijing’s cybersecurity agencies had found and published evidence to show Volt Typhoon was staged by “an international ransomware organization.”
…

…

SEOUL, South Korea — The leaders of North Korea and China marked the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations on Sunday by exchanging messages that expressed hopes for stronger ties, as outsiders raised questions about their relationship.

The message exchange came as North Korea and Russia have been sharply expanding their cooperation while China apparently keeps its distance. Experts say that the level of exchanges and commemorative programs between North Korea and China in the coming months will provide a clue to the exact status of their ties.

In a message sent to Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his government will “steadily strive to consolidate and develop the friendly and cooperative relations” between the two countries, according to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency.

Xi, in his message to Kim, said that China is ready to jointly promote “the stable and further advance of the socialist cause in the two countries,” KCNA said.

Since North Korea and China established diplomatic ties on October 6, 1949, their relationship has often been described as being “as close as lips and teeth.” China, North Korea’s biggest trading partner and main aid provider, has been suspected of avoiding fully implementing U.N. sanctions on North Korea and sending clandestine aid shipments to help its impoverished neighbor stay afloat and continue to serve as a bulwark against U.S. influence on the Korean Peninsula.

But many observers say China is reluctant to form a three-way, anti-West alliance with North Korea and Russia as it prefers a stable regional security environment to tackle numerous economic challenges and maintain relationships with Europe and its Asian neighbors.

North Korea and Russia have moved significantly closer to each other amid widespread outside suspicions that North Korea has supplied conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance. During a meeting in Pyongyang in June, Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact stipulating mutual military assistance if either country is attacked, in what was considered the two countries’ biggest defense deal since the end of the Cold War.

North Korea is locked in confrontations with the U.S., South Korea and their partners over its advancing nuclear program. Kim has said he was forced to expand both nuclear and conventional capabilities to cope with U.S.-led security threats.

On Sunday, KCNA reported that Kim oversaw a live artillery firing drill by cadets of a military academy. After watching the drill, Kim said training programs at the military academy must focus on “the guerrilla war tactics to wipe out the enemies through rapid mobile and surprise operations,” according to KCNA.
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WASHINGTON — A recent report by the U.S. Institute of Peace highlights the resurgence of scam hubs, particularly in Myanmar’s Karen State, due to China’s softened stance toward the country’s military regime.

China’s posture has shifted, said Jason Tower, co-author of the report and the country director for Burma at the institute. 

“They’re now much more focused on regime survival, looking at how they can prevent the [Myanmar] regime from toppling,” Tower told VOA Burmese. “As a result, China has shown much less interest in taking forceful action to pressure the Myanmar military to address these problems.”

According to the report, these criminal networks benefit from the complex dynamics between Myanmar’s military and Chinese interests. China’s focus has shifted from cracking down on scams to supporting the Myanmar military. This change in strategy has allowed the criminal organizations to flourish, using Myanmar as a base of operations.

After contacting the Chinese Embassy in Washington about the issue, VOA received a statement that did not directly address cyber scam operations. Instead, it emphasized China’s focus on peace and stability in Myanmar.

“China and Myanmar are close neighbors with a deep bond of friendship,” wrote embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu. “As a friendly neighbor, China has always paid close attention to the development and evolution of the situation in Myanmar and northern Myanmar. We do not hope to see conflict or chaos in Myanmar and sincerely hope for an early restoration of stability.” 

China’s Ministry of Public Security portrayed the situation differently, according to a report published Monday by China’s state-run Xinhua news agency. In a recent statement on its crackdown on cyber scams, the report said, the ministry highlighted joint efforts with Myanmar authorities, noting that “a total of 870 suspects, including 313 Chinese and 557 Myanmar nationals, were arrested during a crackdown on telecom and online fraud in northern Myanmar.” 

Myanmar’s state-controlled media Global New Light of Myanmar also focused on crackdowns, noting that Myanmar’s police had worked closely with China in extraditing 20 Chinese nationals in September.

Shift in China’s priorities

China’s view on the conflict constantly evolves based on events inside Myanmar, said Thomas Kean, a senior consultant at the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental think tank.

“Since 2021, we’ve seen different phases, but ultimately, China wants stability in Myanmar to pursue its strategic objectives, keep its borders safe, and ensure that Chinese nationals and the economy aren’t affected,” Kean said.

Tower described how China’s priorities have shifted from addressing scams to focusing on maintaining its strategic interests in Myanmar.

“The Chinese government began prioritizing the advancement of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, which includes infrastructure and trade routes, giving China access to the Indian Ocean,” he said.

Tower said some Chinese strategists had suggested that China had perhaps gone too far in its crackdown on the scam syndicates, losing sight of its broader strategic goals. 

As a result, Chinese authorities pushed hard to broker cease-fire agreements between Myanmar’s military and ethnic armed groups to stabilize the region.

‘Pig butchering’ scams

The Chinese scams emanating from Myanmar have grown in sophistication, the U.S. Institute of Peace report noted. The United States has become one of the primary targets, losing billions of dollars annually to “pig butchering” scams.

“Pig butchering” is a type of investment fraud where scammers lure victims on social media only to defraud them for significant amounts of money, often in cryptocurrency.

Many Americans have fallen victim to scams originating from Myanmar, said Erin West, a deputy district attorney with California’s REACT Task Force to combat high-tech crime.

“They’ve liquidated retirement accounts, children’s college funds, only to find out that the entire thing is fictitious, and they’ve lost everything,” West told VOA. Victims are lured into fraudulent online relationships, believing they are investing in cryptocurrency, she said.

While some criminals are deported back to China, Tower said, broader networks remain primarily untouched and continue to operate with the protection of local warlords and military elites. He is concerned that these scams will increasingly become a threat to U.S. national security.

“These scams are currently causing estimated losses in the range of $5.5 billion per year for the U.S., but other estimates place the numbers as high as $15 billion,” Tower said.

These actors are often under the protection of the Myanmar military or other corrupt regional elites, he added, making it difficult for law enforcement to intervene.

“This is a serious crisis,” Tower said. “We’re seeing a massive transfer of wealth from the United States to bad actors in Southeast Asia — actors that are undermining democracy, highly corrupt and often under the protection of the Myanmar military or other corrupt elites. This is bad news for the U.S. on many fronts.”
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washington — The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it would ban the import of goods from a Chinese steel manufacturer and a Chinese maker of artificial sweetener, accusing both of being involved in the use of forced labor from China’s far-west region of Xinjiang. 

The action broadens the scope of the U.S. effort to stop products from entering the country that the government says are tied to human rights abuses. 

The additions to the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act marked the first time a China-based steel company or aspartame sweetener business had been targeted by U.S. law enforcement, DHS said.

“Today’s actions reaffirm our commitment to eliminating forced labor from U.S. supply chains and upholding our values of human rights for all,” said Robert Silvers, undersecretary of homeland security for policy. “No sector is off-limits. We will continue to identify entities across industries and hold accountable those who seek to profit from exploitation and abuse.” 

The federal law that President Joe Biden signed at the end of 2021 followed allegations of human rights abuses by Beijing against members of the ethnic Uyghur group and other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang. The Chinese government has rejected the claims as lies and has defended its practice and policy in Xinjiang as fighting terror and ensuring stability. 

The new approach marked a shift in the U.S. trade relationship with China to increasingly take into account national security and human rights. Beijing has accused the U.S. of using human rights as a pretext to suppress China’s economic growth. 

Enforcement of the law initially targeted solar products, tomatoes, cotton and apparel, but over the last several months, the U.S. government has identified new sectors for enforcement, including aluminum and seafood. 

“That’s just a reflection of the fact that, sadly, forced labor continues to taint all too many supply chains,” Silvers told a trade group in June when marking the two-year anniversary of the creation of the entity list. “So our enforcement net has actually been quite wide from an industry-sector perspective.” 

He said the law “changed the dynamic in terms of putting the onus on importers to know their own supply chains” and that its enforcement had shown that the U.S. could “do the right thing” without halting normal trade. 

Since June 2022, the entity list has grown to 75 companies accused of using forced labor in Xinjiang or sourcing materials tied to that forced labor, Homeland Security said. 

Baowu Group Xinjiang Bayi Iron and Steel Co. Ltd. and Changzhou Guanghui Food Ingredients Co. Ltd. were the Chinese companies newly added to the list.
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Berlin — A Chinese woman has been arrested in the German city of Leipzig on suspicion of foreign agent activities and passing on information regarding arms deliveries, the prosecutor general said in a statement on Tuesday. 

The suspect, named only as Yaqi X, is accused of passing on information obtained while working for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport to a member of the Chinese secret service, who is being prosecuted separately, the statement said. 

The second Chinese national, named as Jian G, was working as an aide to Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany, when he was arrested this year on suspicion of “especially severe” espionage on behalf of Beijing. 

The information passed along by Yaqi X in 2023 and 2024 included flight, cargo and passenger data as well as details on the transportation of military equipment and people with ties to a German arms company, the prosecutor general said.  

The Chinese Embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. 

Anxiety about alleged Chinese spying has risen across Western Europe recently. Beijing has denied the accusations, saying these stem from a “Cold War mindset” and are designed to poison the atmosphere for cooperation between China and Europe. 

Tensions have also been simmering between Berlin and Beijing over the past year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy to de-risk Germany’s economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a “partner, competitor and systemic rival.”  

 
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BEIJING — Three people were killed and 15 others injured in a knife attack at a supermarket in Shanghai on Monday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, extending a series of stabbing incidents across China this year.

The victims were immediately rushed to hospital for treatment, according to Xinhua on Tuesday, but three died.

The assailant, a 37-year-old man surnamed Lin, was detained by the police who received a report of the incident at 9:47 p.m. local time (1447 GMT), Xinhua said.

An investigation is underway.

Public stabbing incidents have risen over the years in China, with authorities often putting the blame on mental illness. Children at schools are a common target.

In September, a 10-year-old Japanese student was fatally stabbed by an attacker meters from his school in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

That incident along with a June knife attack on two Japanese nationals in Suzhou, a major city in eastern China, have stoked security concerns among members of the Japanese community in China.

Stabbing incidents are rare in Shanghai but not unprecedented.

In 2022, a man went on a stabbing spree at a major hospital in the Chinese financial hub, injuring 15 people.

The man, whom authorities said was “resentful of society” after an investment fell through, was sentenced to death a year later.
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Washington — As China prepared to mark its National Day holiday, it used the occasion to once again call for “reunification” with Taiwan and to flex its military might. 

On the eve of National Day Monday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his view that reunification was inevitable and essential for fulfilling goals of national rejuvenation. Just one day earlier, China carried out multiple missile firings that put Taiwan’s military on alert. 

“It is an irreversible trend, a matter of justice, and it is in accordance with the popular will. No one can stop the march of history,” Xi said in his remarks. 

Since its establishment on Oct. 1 in 1949, the People’s Republic of China or PRC has never ruled Taiwan, but it views the democratically governed island as its own territory and has vowed to bring the island under its control, by force if necessary. 

On Tuesday, China will mark 75 years since the Communist Party defeated Kuomintang Nationalist forces, ending a bloody civil war. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan, which after decades of one-party rule by the Kuomintang eventually became a thriving democracy. 

According to public opinion polls in Taiwan there is very little support for unification with China, regardless of whether it is as soon as possible or in the future. 

“Taiwan is sacred territory for China. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have blood ties, and these family ties will always be stronger than others,” Xi said. 

Xi’s call comes just one day after Taiwan’s Defense Ministry detected multiple waves of missile firings within China’s interior. Earlier last week, Beijing also test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters, a drill the likes of which China has not conducted since the 1980s. 

On Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden approved $567 million in military support for Taiwan, the largest aid package America has granted the island. The funding will aid Taiwanese “military education and training” and allow for the speedy delivery of military articles, according to a statement from the White House.  

Some material for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 
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The closure of media outlets and jailing of journalists has become a reality in Hong Kong as the government there cracks down on the press in the name of national security. Some Hong Kong journalists exiled to other countries are trying to push back against the threats to press freedom from overseas. VOA’s William Yang reports from Taipei. Camera: Katie Tam, Jonathan Spier
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SYDNEY — Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been in China on a landmark visit to stabilize his country’s relationship with its biggest trading partner.

The trip, the first by an Australian treasurer to Beijing in seven years, is a sign that bilateral ties are improving after years of mistrust.

But frictions persist, including tensions in the South China Sea.

Chalmers’ two-day trip to China has been aimed at repairing ties with Australia’s largest trading partner, damaged by disagreements over trade and geopolitics.  

In Beijing, Chalmers has discussed boosting economic ties with his Chinese hosts.

The Australian treasurer has been upbeat about prospects for the Chinese economy, despite its recent slowdown.    

He told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Monday that Canberra and Beijing can do more to boost trade.

“There could not have been a more important time for us to restart our strategic economic dialogue with China,” he said. “The Chinese authorities announced some quite substantial steps when it comes to supporting growth in the Chinese economy.”

Last week, China said it carried out a rare test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters, prompting anger in neighboring countries.  

Defense officials in Beijing insisted the test firing that involved a dummy warhead was a “routine” part of its “annual training.”

Chalmers said Friday that he had voiced his concerns about the launch to Chinese government officials.

Australia’s shadow foreign affairs minister Simon Birmingham told local media that the Canberra government must continue to urge Beijing to show restraint. 

The message of regional and global stability, and the role China can play by not undertaking aggressive military postures in the South China Sea, is important for the economy, Birmingham said.

Australia’s center-left government has made the stabilization of ties with China a priority since it came to power in May 2022.

But it must balance its key commercial relationship with China with growing security ties with its traditional allies.

The Canberra government says the AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine pact is “on track” and will “endure for decades” after a meeting of Australian, American and British defense ministers in London last Thursday.  

The 2021 trilateral accord is considered by analysts to be a response to China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region. It will give Australia the technology and hardware to build, run and maintain nuclear-powered submarines.  

Beijing has insisted the security pact undermines peace and stability. 
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Beijing — Zheng Qinwen’s parents sold the family home to fund her tennis dreams and now she is an Olympic champion and China’s biggest current sports star.

The 21-year-old is playing at home for the first time since becoming the first Chinese player to win an Olympic singles tennis gold when she triumphed in Paris.

She did not disappoint in her opening match at the China Open, sweeping aside 71st-ranked Russian Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 6-1 in front of an adoring Beijing crowd Saturday.

Zheng was taken aback by the atmosphere, calling it “insane” and saying she had hardly ever seen a crowd so full.

“I was a little bit shocked,” said Zheng, who trains in Barcelona and is at a best-ever ranking of seven in the world but tipped to go higher.

Zheng has already earned more than $5 million in prize money and also has numerous endorsements from major global brands including Nike and Rolex.

Off court she has also appeared on the front pages of GQ magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Known as “Queen Wen” in China, Zheng has won three WTA Tour titles, and this year reached her first Grand Slam final at the Australian Open.

She was comprehensively beaten 6-3, 6-2 by defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, who beat the Chinese again in straight sets at the recent U.S. Open.

The world No. 2 from Belarus, who went on to win the U.S. Open, is the top seed in the Chinese capital this week and the two players are on course to meet in the semi-finals.

Zheng says she is a better player now than she was in Melbourne and with the crowd behind her she could take some stopping.  

She faces Nadia Podoroska of Argentina in the third round.

Michelle Zhang, a local fan at the China Open whose two children play tennis, said, “We admire her for doing a lot for the country.”

Friend Adele Xue added, “she showed people that Chinese people can play tennis.”

Never gives up

Zheng grew up idolizing Li Na, the Chinese trailblazer who won two Grand Slam titles. Li’s French Open triumph in 2011 made her the first player from Asia to win a major singles crown.

Li is from Wuhan, where Zheng moved as a child to pursue her tennis ambitions.  

After the China Open, Wuhan is the next stop on the WTA Tour and Zheng would dearly love to win there.

Known as approachable and friendly off court, Zheng is fiercely determined and competitive on it.

She was talented in multiple sports as a child and her father Zheng Jianping was a track-and-field athlete.

Jianping said Zheng’s interest in tennis was sparked by a trip to Beijing to watch the Olympics when she was six years old.

After returning from the capital, Zheng began learning tennis and her ability was soon noticed by local talent scouts.

Two years later her father took her from their home in Shiyan to the provincial capital Wuhan for professional training.

“One of the best things about this child is that she never gives up,” her Wuhan coach, Yu Liqiao, told local media.

After winning Olympic gold in Paris, Zheng revealed that her father had sold the family house to fund her budding tennis career when she was in her teens.

Her mother Deng Fang sold train tickets at a railway station but gave up the job to make sure her daughter slept and ate properly during training.

Zheng was among the millions of tennis fans glued to their televisions in China to see Li Na win the Australian Open in 2014.

Zheng, then 11, was interviewed on television and confidently stated that she was aiming for the top.

“I want to play in the Grand Slams and fight for championships,” she said.
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Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Sunday it was on alert after detecting “multiple waves” of missile firing deep in inland China, days after Beijing said it had carried out a successful test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. 

Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, keeps a close watch on Chinese military drills given Beijing’s regular activities around the island, but only rarely releases details of what it sees taking place inside China. 

The ministry said that starting from 6:50 a.m. (2250 GMT Saturday) it had detected “multiple waves of firing” by China’s Rocket Force and army in the provinces and regions of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang, which all lie at least 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Taiwan. 

Taiwan’s forces are “continuously monitoring relevant developments, and air defense forces have maintained a high level of vigilance and strengthened their alert,” the ministry added in a statement. 

China’s Defense Ministry did not answer calls seeking comment outside of office hours. The Rocket Force oversees China’s conventional and nuclear missile arsenal. 

On Thursday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry raised the alarm over a renewed surge of Chinese military activity around the island and live fire drills, accusing Beijing of policy instability. 

China’s military responded by saying its activities around Taiwan were “legitimate” and its drills would continue. 

A day earlier, China said it had successfully conducted a rare launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, into the Pacific Ocean. 

In August 2022, China fired missiles into the waters around Taiwan during war games to express anger at a visit to Taipei by then-Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. 

Taiwan operates powerful radar stations on some of the peaks of its central mountain range that can look far into China, according to security sources. 
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In the American Midwest, a local fight over a Chinese electric vehicle battery factory reflects broader controversy over Chinese investments in the U.S. VOA’s Calla Yu reports on how the issue of U.S.-China competition is playing out in a small city in Michigan during this year’s U.S. presidential election. Videographer: Yu Gang
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United Nations — China ‘s Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Saturday against the expansion of the war in Ukraine, which has accused Beijing of assisting Russia in its war.

Kyiv has been particularly scornful of Beijing’s calls for talks to resolve the conflict, but Wang reiterated China ‘s offer to help broker an end to fighting.

“The top priority is to commit to no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting, and no provocation by any party, and push for de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible,” he told the U.N. General Assembly.

“China is committed to playing a constructive role, engaging in shuttle mediation and promoting talks for peace, not throwing oil on the fire or exploiting the situation for selfish gains.”

Wang also called for an immediate cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, but only noted the resumption of fighting in Lebanon without commenting on the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an Israeli strike.

“There must not be any delay in reaching a comprehensive cease-fire, and the fundamental way out lies in the two-state solution,” Wang said.

“China has always been a staunch supporter of the just cause of the Palestinian people to regain their legitimate national rights, and a staunch supporter of Palestine’s full U.N. membership.”
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washington — U.S. intelligence agencies this week emphasized that Russia, Iran and China remain the primary external forces attempting to influence American voters ahead of the November presidential election. 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported that the Kremlin is the most active player, using artificial intelligence, fake accounts and fabricated images to promote narratives favorable to Donald Trump’s candidacy. 

In contrast, China has not sought to directly influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential race. Sarah Cook, an independent analyst specializing in disinformation, noted that this restraint stems partly from a strong bipartisan consensus in Washington regarding the threat posed by China’s authoritarian government.

With less than 40 days remaining until the U.S. elections, what narratives is China promoting on social media, and how might these affect American voters? 

Amplifying polarization 

A joint investigation by Voice of America and the Doublethink Lab, a Taiwanese social media analytics firm, is tracking 201 China-related accounts on the social media platform X. One of the main themes of these accounts is amplifying controversial domestic issues in the United States, aiming to deepen societal polarization and sow distrust. 

Through both genuine and AI-generated images and videos, Chinese operatives are intensifying divisive social issues, including LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, immigration, race, gun control and crime rates. 

One prominent account, CongCong, frequently originates posts that are then shared by others, describing herself as “a sweet and salty little girl who takes life seriously and shares positive energy.” 

However, her posts are far from positive. One pinned post features a provocative image of a gun pointed at Gaza, captioned with claims of genocide, depicting Israel as the gunman, the U.S. as the weapon, and the EU as the silencer. 

The post was amplified by 40 accounts in the network of China-related accounts VOA is tracking. 

Another so-called seeder account, Little Sister Muxi, shared a comparative graphic highlighting the burdens faced by Americans, such as student loans and health care costs, versus the benefits enjoyed by Israelis.

The Israel-Gaza conflict has become a sharply polarizing issue in the U.S. Some Americans support Israel’s right to self-defense, while others express strong discontent with what they see as excessive violence. 

Recently, the network has sought to amplify discussions surrounding Intel’s announcement of a 15% workforce reduction, with seeder account CongCong asserting, “This is the decline of the United States, a recession created by the United States itself.” This message was shared by 36 accounts.

Other examples include sharing cartoons from China’s state-owned Global Times that mock the U.S. for its financial support of Ukraine. 

AI-generated images depict homeless Americans, implying that U.S. citizens are neglected while the government spends billions on overseas conflicts.

Fake videos illustrating America’s drug epidemic are also common, pushed by the Spamouflage network — a much larger state-sponsored operation aimed at supporting the Chinese government while undermining critics. 

This approach mirrors Russia’s tactics during the 2016 U.S. elections, employing information warfare to fracture Western alliances and deepen societal divisions. 

MAGAflage 

Our investigation has uncovered two “MAGAflage” networks consisting of a total of 25 accounts posing as supporters of Republican candidate Trump, seeking to engage with real American voters. 

One network, labeled MAGAflage 1 and consisting of 10 accounts, began sharing pro-Trump content extensively following a July 13 assassination attempt. Using stolen bios and sourced photos, these accounts focused on pro-China content and polarizing U.S. issues while promoting Trump as the savior of America. After VOA’s report, X suspended these accounts for “violating X’s rules.”

Whereas the seeder account in the MAGAflage 1 network aggressively posted pro-China content and frequently cited state media outlets, the seeder of MAGAflage 2 takes a more careful approach. Apart from a few exceptions, this person rarely posts about topics directly related to China and stays closer to U.S. election topics.   

All accounts use emoticons in their usernames. Twelve of the 15 accounts use the American flag as one of the emoticons. 

They criticize the Biden administration’s immigration policy, promote conspiracy theories and claim that former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is responsible for the January 6 Capitol riot. 

“These accounts are noteworthy because they go to a great extent to pretend to be American citizens and tried to hide their connection to China,” Jasper Hewitt, a digital intelligence analyst at Doublethink Lab, told VOA Mandarin. 

Notably, these accounts do not promote anti-Israel content that other trolls frequently share. Trump recently touted himself as Israel’s “protector,” warning Jewish voters against supporting Vice President Kamala Harris.

“I think this shows that the people behind these operations have a good understanding of the type of content that might resonate with the users they are trying to interact with,” Hewitt added. 

Meanwhile, researchers continue to uncover accounts attacking candidates from both parties. Microsoft recently reported a Chinese-linked threat actor, Storm-1852, which has engaged with election-related content on social media, emphasizing a highly interactive approach that includes reposting content, replying to comments and polling users. 

This network does not appear to favor any specific candidate.

“It is true that most of the Spamouflage content we have seen so far expresses criticism for both candidates. However, the fact that we found two MAGAflage networks and have not yet encountered any similar accounts that support Harris is still very relevant,” Hewitt from Doublethink Lab added. 

Local candidates 

In their latest assessment, the U.S. intelligence officials have said most Chinese efforts are aimed not at Trump or Harris, but at state and local candidates perceived as hostile to Beijing.

Our investigation identified a TikTok video criticizing Republican U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, mocking his persistent questioning of Intel executives about forced labor in Xinjiang and labeling him an “anti-China senator.” Hawley is up for re-election this year.

Another video ridicules Democratic U.S. Representative Jerry Nadler from New York, suggesting he appeared to doze off during a hearing while victims’ families testified. 

Alongside the presidential election, all 435 House seats and 33 Senate seats will be contested this year. Lawmakers critical of China are likely to become targets of online influence campaigns. 

These include members of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, or CECC. Its chair, Massachusetts Representative Jim McGovern, has been outspoken about human rights abuses in China and was barred from entry to China this past July.

New Jersey Republican Representative Chris Smith, co-chair of the commission, has long focused on human rights and religious freedom in China. 

In the Senate, Ohio Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is seeking re-election this year and has faced attacks from Chinese state media for advocating a ban on Chinese-made electric vehicles. 
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