ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s Minister for Power Awais Leghari says contracts with Chinese power producers that built and run power plants in Pakistan need to be revised.

Islamabad owes more than $15 billion to Chinese power plant operators. It is seeking rescheduling of payments to gain financial breathing room in a bid to obtain a much-needed loan from the International Monetary Fund.

“I think the terms and conditions that we already have with the Chinese as far as their IPPs [independent power producers] are concerned, they need another look,” Leghari told VOA in an interview this week.

The power projects, set up mostly in the last decade, helped end hours-long blackouts. But contracts require that Pakistan pay for the entire generation capacity of each power plant, regardless of how much electricity is used. A failure to spur industrial growth that could help utilize additional power, and the inability to reduce transmission losses, has left Pakistan with huge bills to pay for unused and wasted power generation capacity in addition to repaying project loans.

Leghari and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb went to Beijing late last month to discuss power sector debt relief.

The trip came days after Islamabad reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF for a three-year, $7 billion loan program. The bank’s board must still approve the deal.

Leghari said China, like the IMF, wants to see broader reforms from Pakistan.

China and the IMF “are wanting to look at the entire economic or power sector reform that we have already authored and embarked upon,” Leghari said. “I think the more the confidence they have in our economic reform agenda, the better would be the response.”

Leghari is leading a power sector reform task force created after his return from China. Reform efforts aimed at cutting power sector losses include auditing all independent power plants.

Independent power plants set up by Pakistani companies in the country also have contract terms similar to those of Chinese-run plants. Experts say across-the-board analysis shows Beijing does not want its companies to be singled out as problematic, nor does it want to be alone in offering concessions to Islamabad.

Beijing has not publicly addressed Islamabad’s request for rescheduling energy sector debt. However, Pakistan’s daily Express Tribune reported it has agreed to convert three Chinese-owned power plants in Pakistan from using imported to local coal.

Pakistan hopes to save hundreds of millions of dollars annually by switching to local coal for power generation.

The change may come at a high cost. Experts say Chinese investors struggling to recover payments may demand higher insurance premiums and profit margins if they are to expand mining operations, reducing savings for Pakistan.

“It’s going to be a win-win situation for everyone,” Leghari said, rejecting the concerns.

“Unless that isn’t there, people will not invest, lenders will not give money.”

Pakistan will also need infrastructure to transport local coal long distances and power plants may need to make technical design changes to use Pakistani coal, which is known to be dirtier and less efficient than imported coal.

“There has been an overwhelming response to have a look and run technical and financial feasibilities on all the aspects of coal conversion and reprofiling,” Leghari insisted, while rejecting environmental concerns about shifting to local coal.

Leghari played down the possibility of scaring Chinese investors as Pakistan seeks a review of past contracts, saying Islamabad holds relationships with investors “dear to our heart.”

“Whatever will happen, with whomever, will be with mutual consent,” he said.
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MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines called on Beijing on Saturday to “immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions” after accusing it of “unjustifiably” deploying flares from China-occupied Subi Reef on August 22 while a Manila aircraft was conducting patrols.

The same aircraft also “faced harassment” from a Chinese jet fighter while it was conducting a surveillance flight near Scarborough Shoal on August 19, the Philippines’ South China Sea Task Force said in a statement.

“Such actions undermine regional peace and security, and further erode the image of the PRC (People’s Republic of China) with the international community,” the task force said.

There was no immediate comment from the Chinese Embassy in Manila about the incidents, which happened the same week Manila and Beijing accused each of ramming vessels and performing dangerous maneuvers in the South China Sea.

They also came less than two weeks after an air incident between the Chinese and Philippines militaries in Scarborough Shoal, even as the two nations have agreed to “restore trust” and “rebuild confidence” to better manage maritime disputes.

Manila’s aircraft, which belonged to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), in coordination with the coast guard, was tasked to monitor and intercept poachers encroaching on the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

The task force said the Chinese jet fighter, which was not provoked, deployed flares multiple times “at a dangerously close distance” from the BFAR aircraft.

“Its actions demonstrated hazardous intent that jeopardized the safety of the personnel onboard the BFAR aircraft,” the task force said.

China claims sovereignty over nearly the whole South China Sea and has deployed an armada of coast guard vessels to protect what it considers its territory. The Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei contest the claims.

An international arbitral tribunal in 2016 said Beijing’s claim has no basis under international law, awarding a landmark victory to the Philippines which filed the case.

China has built seven artificial islands in the South China Sea, and equipped some with radar, runways and surface-to-air missiles. Those include Subi Reef just 24 kilometers away and visible from Thitu, the most strategically important of nine features the Philippines occupies in the Spratlys.

“We firmly reiterate our call on the government of the People’s Republic of China to immediately cease all provocative and dangerous actions that threaten the safety of Philippine vessels and aircraft engaged in legitimate and regular activities” within the country’s EEZ, the task force said.
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Washington — China and Russia agreed to expand their economic cooperation using a planned banking system, which analysts say is aimed at supporting their militaries and undermining U.S.-led global order.

The two countries issued a joint communiqué agreeing “to strengthen and develop the payment and settlement infrastructure,” including “opening corresponding accounts and establishing branches and subsidiary banks in two countries” to facilitate “smooth” payment in trade.

The communiqué was issued when Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Moscow on Wednesday, Russian news agency Tass reported the following day.

At the meeting, Mishustin said, “Western countries are imposing illegitimate sanctions under far-fetched pretext, or, to put it simply, engaging in unfair competition,” according to a Russian government transcript.

Mishustin also noted the use of their national currencies “has also expanded, with the share of roubles and RMB in mutual payments exceeding 95%,” as the two have strengthened cooperation on investment, economy and trade.

Li and Mishustin signed more than a dozen agreements on Tuesday on economic, investment and transport cooperation. Li was making a state visit to Moscow at the invitation of Mishustin.

David Asher, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said, “This meeting between the Russians and the Chinese is important because it’s getting into a much widening aperture of cooperation” that would have “a bigger military dimension,” threatening U.S. national security.

Asher added that their bilateral cooperation could lead to “Russia’s assistance to China in the Pacific and the South China Sea” in return for Beijing’s support for Moscow’s economy and industry that aid Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, “in defiance of the U.S.”

A spokesperson for the State Department told VOA Korean on Thursday that the U.S. is “concerned about PRC [People’s Republic of China] support for rebuilding Russia’s defense industrial base, particularly the provision of dual-use goods like tools, microelectronics and other equipment.”

The spokesperson continued: “The PRC cannot claim to be a neutral party while at the same time rebuilding Russia’s defense industrial base and contributing to the greatest threat to European security.”

“China is Putin’s only lifeline,” said Edward Fishman, an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs who helped the State Department design international sanctions in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

“Chinese firms have taken advantage of Russia’s weak bargaining position and cut a slew of favorable deals,” Fishman said. “But these deals have more than just commercial significance. They keep Putin’s war machine going.”

The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on more than 400 entities and individuals that support Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, including Chinese firms that it said were helping Moscow evade Western sanctions by shipping machine tools and microelectronics.

In response to a China-Russia plan to set up a financial system to facilitate trade, U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told the Financial Times that Washington “will go after the branch they’re setting up” and the countries that let them.

Analysts said China and Russia could increasingly turn to alternative methods of payments to evade sanctions.

Russia in June suspended trading in dollars and euros in the Moscow Exchange, in response to a round of sanctions the U.S. had issued targeting Russia’s largest stock exchange. The move by Russia prohibits banks, companies and investors from trading in either currency through a central exchange.

Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. cut big Russian banks off from the U.S. dollar, the preferred currency in global business transactions.

“There is clearly a desire in both Moscow and Beijing to build financial and trade connections that operate beyond the reach of U.S.-led sanctions,” said Tom Keatinge, director of the Center for Finance and Security at the London-based Royal United Service Institute.

“This includes the development of non-U.S. dollar payment and settlement mechanisms and a wider ‘insulated’ payment system that allows other countries in their orbit to avoid U.S. sanctions,” he continued.

Other possible methods of payments could involve central bank digital currencies as well as cryptocurrencies and stable coins, Keatinge added.

The Chinese yuan replaced the dollar as Russia’s most traded currency in 2023, when the U.S. imposed sanctions on a few banks in Russia that could still trade across the border in dollars, according to Maia Nikoladze, an associate director of the Atlantic Council’s GeoEconomics Center, in a June report.

Nikoladze told VOA that transactions made in renminbi and in rubles allowed Moscow to mitigate the effects of sanctions until Washington in December 2023 created an authority to apply secondary sanctions on foreign banks that transacted with Russian entities.

“Since then, Russia has struggled to collect oil payments from China,” with some transactions delayed “up to six months,” even as Moscow found a way to process transactions through Russian bank branches in China, Nikoladze said.

According to an article this month from Newsweek, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported that as many as 98% of Chinese banks are refusing Chinese yuan payments from Russia.

Hudson Institute’s Asher said even more critical than the Russian use of yuan is the use of U.S. dollars in Beijing-Moscow transactions through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s Clearinghouse Automated Transfer Settlement System (CHATS), a payment system used by banks such as HSBC that trade “hundreds of billions of dollars a year.”

“It can settle transactions in a way that is not visible to the U.S. government,” Asher said. “I’m talking about U.S. dollar reserves that are not in the United States, that are not controlled by the U.S. government, that we don’t have good visibility on, and Hong Kong is providing that financial service.”

The Hong Kong government has said it does not implement unilateral sanctions but enforces U.N. sanctions at the urging of China, according to Reuters.

William Pomeranz, an expert on Russian political and economic developments at the Wilson Center, said that despite Beijing’s and Moscow’s talk this week about financial and economic cooperation, “China does not want to get onto the bad side of European and American markets” and will not risk its economic ties with the West “just to help Russia in a problem that, quite frankly, is of Russia’s own making.”
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BANGKOK — Press freedom in Hong Kong is at its lowest level in at least 11 years, according to the latest survey of its members and the public by the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

One of the biggest factors in that decline is the introduction this year of Article 23, which penalizes anything deemed as sedition or external interference, the association, known as the HKJA, found.

The law has “more severe restrictions on media” than previously existed, Selina Cheng, chair of the HKJA, told VOA. It includes substantially tougher penalties for sedition, which Cheng described as “the main legislation that’s been used against speech and media work” since the implementation of a new National Security Law in 2020.

The findings are part of an annual survey by the HKJA in conjunction with the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute. The journalists association sent surveys to 979 members, and the research institute collected opinions from 1,000 phone interviews, selected at random.

Both groups surveyed were asked to rank press freedom in Hong Kong. The 250 journalists who responded to the survey ranked it at  25 out of 100, with 100 being a perfect score. It is the lowest ranking since the annual survey was started 11 years ago. The public score came in at 42.

The survey findings came the same week that Hong Kong denied a work visa to journalist Haze Fan. The reporter for Bloomberg News was detained in Beijing on alleged national security violations in December 2020 and held for about 13 months. Bloomberg has said Fan will be transferred to its London office.

In the HKJA survey, 92% of the journalists who responded to the survey indicated press freedom had “significantly” been impacted by the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, known as Article 23.

Passed in March, it prohibits acts of treason, secession, sedition, subversion and theft of state secrets, and prevents foreign political organizations from conducting activities or establishing ties with local political bodies in Hong Kong.

Penalties for sedition under the new law increased from two to seven years, or 10 years if a foreign force is involved.

Authorities have insisted that journalists are safe to carry out what they call “legitimate” reporting activities. But critics say the vaguely worded legislation creates uncertainty for journalists.

Cheng said the law’s reference to state secrets is wide, too, which could be a concern.

The law is using Beijing’s definition of state secrets, according to Human Rights Watch.

Under Article 23, what is deemed a state secret “encompasses [a] pretty wide spectrum of things, including information about economy, technology, society, so on,” Cheng said.

“It could be that the government considers the findings of a think tank or an academic institution a state secret, then that would become a crime of national security,” she said.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the HKJA findings, saying Hong Kong’s national security laws are not meant to target journalists who do not break the law.

Cheng noted that only about a quarter of HKJA members responded to the survey this year, which could be a sign of how the media environment is declining.

“The response rate is not great and is a reflection of the sort of self-censorship even when it comes to discussing or reflecting reporters’ views on press freedom,” she told VOA.

“At some organizations that might be seen as more pro-Beijing or pro-government reporters, the contact people we have at those organizations will worry if they might face retaliation if they send out [the] HKJA questionnaire. I think people are scared to do it, because they’re afraid of retaliation,” she said. 

Cheng believes she personally was retaliated against for her association with the HKJA. Her contract at The Wall Street Journal, where she covered the auto and electric vehicle industry, was terminated in July, in a move she said is connected to her being elected chair of the HKJA.

In a statement issued at the time, Cheng said she had been told by her supervisor that having Journal employees advocate for media freedoms would create conflicts of interest because the newspaper reports on related topics, including the ongoing trials of Hong Kong journalists and media organizations.

The Journal confirmed to VOA at the time that personnel changes had been made but said it could not comment on “specific individuals.”

Journalists also highlighted overt calls for journalists to use caution in their reporting.

In a note to columnists at the pro-Beijing Ming Pao newspaper, chief editor Lau Chung-yung urged people to be “prudent” and “law abiding” in their writing. His note was posted on social media on August 15 by one of the paper’s columnists.

Eric Wishart, the standards and ethics editor at Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong, says such comments concern journalists.

The Ming Pao note, he said, “is another example of the chilling effect that recent developments have had on journalism in Hong Kong.” 

Johan Nylander, a Swedish journalist in Hong Kong, said it is no surprise that press freedom is at a new low.

“The national security law and Article 23 have created an atmosphere of uncertainty and self-censorship among many reporters and media companies,” he told VOA.

“It’s quite clear where the trend is going. The situation regarding press freedom is very depressing in Hong Kong, and nothing indicates that it will get better anytime soon.”

Media groups such as the HKJA have been criticized by authorities and Chinese state media for allegedly having links to activist organizations.

But Wishart said it was important for the HKJA to continue.

“It’s important that the HKJA and other organizations continue to monitor the state of press freedom in Hong Kong and that media professionals continue to respond to these surveys,” he said.

Hong Kong’s ranking on the World Press Freedom Index has declined rapidly since the national security law was enacted in 2020.

It currently ranks 135 out of 180 on the Reporters Without Borders index, where number 1 represents the best environment. In 2019, the year before the national security law took effect, Hong Kong ranked 73.
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State Department — U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, is heading to China next week for talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to sources familiar with the plan.

The discussions are expected to include a potential meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.

This would be Sullivan’s first trip to China as the White House national security adviser. The planned meetings would be the latest in a series of high-level diplomatic moves aimed at stabilizing U.S.-China relations.

The talks, described as broad and strategic, would come after China suspended discussions with the U.S. on nuclear safety and security. China said in July it had halted nascent arms-control talks with Washington.

“The U.S. would like to deepen discussions on strategic stability, but the Chinese are reluctant. They prefer to discuss an agreement on the no first use of nuclear weapons, but the United States is not prepared to adopt such a doctrine,” former CIA China analyst Dennis Wilder, now a Georgetown University professor, told VOA.

“As a result, there’s been a bit of an impasse, with little progress made in the few working group meetings that have occurred,” he said.
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BEIJING — China and Belarus have agreed to strengthen cooperation in a range of sectors including trade, security, energy and finance, according to a joint statement, after Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Belarusian Prime Minister Roman Golovchenko in Minsk.

The statement released on Friday, a day after the Minsk meeting, said both countries would also strengthen cooperation in industrial supply chains and continue to enhance trade facilitation to reduce costs for both ends.

Belarus also intends to deepen cooperation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, a megalopolis which covers nine cities including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai, said the statement published by China’s foreign ministry.

According to the China Daily, Belarus was among the first group of countries that responded to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Li said during his visit to Minsk that China-Belarus relations had remained vibrant for the past 32 years despite the changing international landscape.

China is the second-largest trading partner of Belarus and its largest trading partner in Asia, with bilateral trade exceeding $8.4 billion last year, said the China Daily.

Li arrived in Belarus on Thursday after wrapping up his first visit to Russia as Chinese premier. 
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Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwan President Lai Ching-te will on Friday make his first visit since taking office in May to the sensitive Kinmen islands that sit next to the Chinese coast and have been the scene of stepped up tensions between Taipei and Beijing.

Taiwan has controlled Kinmen, and the Matsu islands further up the Chinese coast, since the defeated Republic of China government fled to Taipei in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists. No peace treaty or armistice has ever been signed.

The scene of on-off fighting during the height of the Cold War, China’s coast guard has since February conducted regular patrols around Kinmen following the death of two Chinese people on a speedboat which Beijing blamed on Taipei.

Lai’s office said on Thursday that he would travel to Kinmen on Friday for events marking the 66th anniversary of a key military clash with Chinese forces, better known internationally as the start of the second Taiwan Strait crisis.

“Located in the first island chain, Taiwan faces the immediate threat of China. But Taiwan will not be intimidated,” Lai told a security forum in Taipei on Wednesday.

China views democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory and has repeatedly denounced Lai as a “separatist.” He rejects Beijing’s sovereignty saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, but has also offered talks with China.

Kinmen faces the Chinese cities of Xiamen and Quanzhou and at its closest is less than two kilometers away from Chinese-controlled territory.

The 1958 crisis was the last time Taiwanese forces battled China on a large scale.  

In August of that year, Chinese forces began more than a month of bombardment of Kinmen, along with Matsu, including naval and air battles, seeking to force them into submission.

Taiwan fought back at the time with support from the United States, which sent military equipment like advanced Sidewinder anti-aircraft missiles, giving Taiwan a technological edge.

The crisis ended in a stalemate, and Taiwan observes Aug. 23 every year as the date it fended off the Chinese attack.

Late Wednesday, Taiwan’s defense ministry held a concert in Taipei that celebrated the “glorious” anniversary, with songs about shooting down Chinese MiG fighter jets and bemoaning the “red catastrophe” of communism.

Formerly called Quemoy in English, Kinmen today is a popular tourist destination, though Taiwan maintains a significant military presence.
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WASHINGTON — A New York man was charged on Wednesday with operating as an illegal agent of the Chinese government in the United States, accusing him of spying on Chinese pro-Democracy activists and dissidents, the Justice Department said.

The DOJ alleges that Yuanjun Tang, 67, acted as a Chinese agent between 2018 and 2023 at the direction of China’s Ministry of State Security, its principal intelligence agency.

Tang gave to MSS intelligence officers information about individuals and groups viewed by China “as potentially adverse” to its interests, including prominent U.S.-based Chinese dissidents, the DOJ said.

He helped MSS infiltrate a group chat on an encrypted messaging application used by numerous Chinese dissidents, the DOJ said.

Tang is also accused of making false statements to the FBI when he claimed he was no longer able to access an email account used to communicate with his MSS handler, the department said.

Tang is a former Chinese citizen who was imprisoned for his activities as a dissident, according to the department. He was granted political asylum in the U.S. and later became a citizen.

The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters was unable to contact Tang.
…

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HONG KONG — Macao leader Ho Iat Seng announced Wednesday he would not seek another term due to health reasons, less than two months before the election for the top official of the casino city. 

Ho said in a statement that he has deep feelings for Macao and has done his best for the development of the semi-autonomous Chinese city, neighboring Hong Kong, since he began his five-year term in 2019. 

“However, due to my health not fully recovering, and for the long-term development of Macao, I have decided not to participate in the sixth election for the Chief Executive,” he said. 

He did not elaborate on the reasons for his decision but thanked Beijing and the people in the former Portuguese colony for their trust. 

The election for Macao’s top job is set to be held in October, with a 400-member committee — mostly dominated by establishment figures — picking the leader. People interested in becoming a candidate can submit their application between August 29 and September 12. 

In July, a government announcement about Ho’s decision to extend his leave to 39 days in total sparked concerns about his health, local media reported. But his administration insisted at that time that Ho was in good health and undergoing routine medical check-ups and receiving treatment, the reports said. 

It is unclear who will take over Ho’s job when his term ends in December. But one main goal for the Macao government is to diversify the city’s economy with retail trade, entertainment and other industries and to reduce reliance on gamblers from the mainland, its main revenue source. 

A businessman, Jorge Chiang, announced last month his intention to run for the leadership post on Facebook. 

Macao, with a population of 687,000, returned to China’s rule in 1999 and will mark the 25th anniversary of the handover in December. 

 
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Taipei, Taiwan — Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te warned Wednesday that China’s “growing authoritarianism will not stop with” the island and urged democratic countries to unite to curb its expansion. 

China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, and a senior Chinese Communist Party official said Tuesday that Beijing was confident of “complete reunification” with the island. 

Speaking at the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei, Lai cautioned that Taiwan was not “the only target” of Beijing. 

“We are all fully aware that China’s growing authoritarianism will not stop with Taiwan, nor is Taiwan the only target of China’s economic pressures,” he told politicians and scholars from 11 countries attending the forum. 

“China intends to change the rules-based international order. That is why democratic countries must come together and take concrete action. Only by working together can we inhibit the expansion of authoritarianism.” 

Lai, who was sworn in on May 20, has been labelled a “dangerous separatist” by China for his staunch defense of Taiwan’s sovereignty.  

Beijing has ramped up military and political pressure on Taiwan in recent years, and launched wargames days after Lai’s inauguration, encircling the island with fighter jets and naval vessels. 

Taiwan’s military has been reporting near-daily sightings of Chinese warships around its waters, as well as sorties by fighter jets and drones around the island. 

But Lai said China’s “military expansionism” was taking place elsewhere, pointing to Beijing’s joint exercises with Russia in the South China Sea, Western Pacific and the Sea of Japan. 

“Such actions are intended to intimidate China’s neighbors and undermine regional peace and stability,” he said. 

“Taiwan will not be intimidated. We will take responsibility to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.” 

Lai has repeatedly made overtures for dialogue with Beijing but talks have effectively dried up since the 2016 election of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, who has long said Taiwan is not part of China.  

“Taiwan will neither yield nor provoke … On the condition of parity and dignity, we are willing to conduct exchanges and cooperate with China,” Lai reiterated Wednesday. 

China’s foreign ministry hit back on Wednesday afternoon, with spokeswoman Mao Ning insisting Taiwan was “an inalienable part of China’s territory” and accusing Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of misleading the public. 

“No matter what they say or do, they cannot change the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to a single China, nor can they stop the historical trend of China’s eventual reunification,” she told a regular press conference. 

 
…

washington —  The release of a Chinese video game touted as the country’s first to meet Triple-A standards, has sparked a flurry of online criticism of the Chinese government.

Video games are given a AAA label when they are backed by big funds, highly developed and distributed by well-known publishers.

The Aug. 20 worldwide release of the Chinese game Black Myth: Wukong has been anticipated since its demo got more than 56 million views on the Chinese video-sharing website Bilibili in 2020.

On YouTube, which is banned in China, the game demo had more than 10 million views.

Developed by China-based Game Science, the game has players take on the role of the Monkey King, a character from the Chinese classic novel Journey to the West, and defeat monsters wreaking havoc on the world.

Although the game has no direct connection to politics, Chinese commenters took to a U.S.–based gaming discussion board ahead of the release to criticize the Chinese government and President Xi Jinping.  

The discussion board on Steam, a Washington state-based online gaming platform, was hit with a slew of comments in Chinese last week that directly and indirectly criticized Chinese authorities and Xi.  

One mocked Xi’s unprecedented third term as leader, saying, “I will continue to be Jade Emperor in Black Myth: Wukong. Raise your hands if you oppose it.”

Most critical posts ranted against the Chinese government, in ways unrelated to the game.

“Overthrow the Communist Party of China and establish a democratic constitutional system where everyone has a vote,” read what appeared to be the first critical comment.  

“Thank you to the party, thank you to our great chief accelerator, Xi Jinping,” another comment reads, mocking Xi’s policies as accelerating China’s economic decline.

Another post listed the timeline of the weeks-long 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests and the subsequent violent crackdown that occurred when Chinese troops used lethal force against student-led demonstrators, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands.

Such critical comments of China’s government and leaders are not allowed on China’s internet, where an army of censors frequently scrubs websites and discussion boards of comments that do not follow the Chinese Communist Party’s line.  

Observers were surprised to find by the afternoon of Aug. 16, many of the critical posts on Steam’s U.S. discussion board had similarly been removed.  

Li Ying, a Chinese social media influencer and government critic known online as Teacher Li, posted his opposition to the removal on Aug. 14 on X with screenshots of the original posts.

“Steam is inherently a free platform, with a wide variety of games here, and players are free to express any opinions and opinions about the game,” he wrote on X.

Steam’s China-based website does not have a discussion board, and the U.S.-based discussion board is only available to users outside China. Those inside China need to use a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, which helps users bypass controls to access internet content outside the country that is blocked.

VOA reached out to Steam seeking comment about why the posts were deleted but did not receive a reply. Steam’s discussion board rules do not explicitly prohibit political posts but say that users are not allowed to post “disrespectful” content and to avoid posting content unrelated to the topic.

While the game is not directly connected to the Chinese government, it did receive some official help and praise. The city government of Hangzhou, where Game Science is located, gave the game a grant in 2022. State media in the province, Zhejiang, described the game as “one of the most important explorers in the history of AAA games in China – an explorer that deserves applause and encouragement.”

It’s not the first time Black Myth: Wukong has stirred up some controversy.

The game’s developers have been accused of making lewd and sexist remarks.

Feng Ji, the founder and CEO of Game Science, in a Weibo post last year lamenting the difficulties in development, used words with erotic connotations and compared his desire for expanding development to oral sex.

Yang Qi, the game’s artistic director, remarked as early as 2013 on Weibo that they would not pander to female players in the game’s production.

“I don’t need the reverse drive of female players. I don’t take care of those lewd insects who come to pick up girls; some things are made for pure men,” he wrote.

In response, a female influencer posted on the gender-focused WeChat account Orange Umbrella, urging Game Science to respect female gamers.

“As a fellow player, I know how much hard work and dedication it takes to make a game, and Black Myth: Wukong’s dedication and seriousness in the production are commendable,” she wrote. “However, don’t let the backward gender consciousness push players who are also full of expectations for the game in the opposite direction more and more.”

When Western media, including IGN, one of the most influential U.S. online news sites for video games, reported last year on the controversial comments, nationalist Chinese commenters called the coverage an attempt to impose western values and put down China’s gaming industry.

“Judging the Chinese game with the politically correct stance of the West is really biased for the media,” a review article reads. The article said whether the developers’ remarks constituted sexism “depends on the perspective.”

On Weibo, one commenter called IGN a “clown” and wrote, “In order to suppress the rise of Chinese games, the gender card is unsurprisingly played again.”

Despite the controversies, gaming industry experts expect Black Myth: Wukong to be a big hit.

Daniel Camilo, a game industry consultant based in southern China’s Shenzhen city, noted to VOA that sexism in the gaming industry is not new and has little impact on commercial success.

“Hardcore gamers and fans that actively discuss these issues and are aware of them usually represent a very small [loud] minority online that accounts for a small residual amount of those who actually buy games,” he said.

The game has already received high praise from reviewers in China and abroad.

IGN gave the game an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10 on Aug. 16, calling it a “great action game with great fights and exciting and powerful opponents, albeit with a few bugs.”

The Chinese version of IGN gave the game a perfect score of 10, writing, “This is a truly competitive domestic game in the global market, and I believe it will be a strong contender for this year’s Game of the Year.”

Camilo noted the high quality of the homegrown game has given Chinese players something to be proud of that might even help improve China’s international image.

“Black Myth will change perceptions people have regarding Chinese games and, to some extent, China and its cultural output and soft power really,” he said.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON — A classified nuclear strategic plan approved by President Joe Biden this year is not a response to a single country or threat, the White House said on Tuesday, after the New York Times reported it reoriented the U.S. deterrence strategy to focus on China’s expansion of its nuclear arsenal for the first time.

The U.S.-based Arms Control Association said it understood U.S. nuclear weapons strategy and posture remained the same as described in the administration’s 2022 Nuclear Posture Review, and there had been no reorientation away from Russia and toward China.

The New York Times said the White House never announced that Biden approved the revised strategy, titled the “Nuclear Employment Guidance,” but an unclassified notification to Congress of the revision is expected to be sent before Biden leaves office.

The newspaper said that in recent speeches, two senior administration officials were allowed to allude to the strategy revision. It said the strategy is updated every four years or so.

Asked about the report, White House spokesperson Sean Savett said: “This administration, like the four administrations before it, issued a Nuclear Posture Review and Nuclear Weapons Employment Planning Guidance.

“While the specific text of the Guidance is classified, its existence is in no way secret. The Guidance issued earlier this year is not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat.”

Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said that while U.S. intelligence estimates suggest China may increase the size its nuclear arsenal from 500 to 1,000 warheads by 2030, Russia has about 4,000 nuclear warheads “and it remains the major driver behind U.S. nuclear strategy.”

Kimball cited June remarks by one of the officials referred to in the Times report, White House Senior Director for Arms Control, Disarmament, and Nonproliferation Pranay Vaddi.

According to those remarks, U.S. strategy was to pursue nuclear arms restraints with China and Russia, but if China continued on its current trajectory and if Russia exceeds New START limits, the U.S. at some point in the future may need to consider adjustments to the size and makeup of its nuclear force, Kimball said.

“My understanding is that the point at which the current administration thinks it might want to consider such changes won’t come until 2030, or some time after,” he said.
…

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Beijing — Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to strengthen ties with Fiji in a world beset with “turmoil” as he met the Pacific island’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka in Beijing on Tuesday.

China has stepped up its courtship of South Pacific nations in recent years, triggering concern among Western powers — particularly the United States and Australia — that have historically held sway over the region.

Rabuka met Xi in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People after touring the length and breadth of China for more than a week.

“(Our) two countries have always supported and helped each other as good friends, good partners, and have become a model of being equals and friendly cooperation between countries large and small,” Xi told Rabuka.

He said Beijing was keen to “promote the building of a China-Fiji community with a shared future in a world of turmoil and chaos, and to bring more benefits to our people.”

Xi also praised Fiji’s recent sporting successes in rugby, for which it won a silver medal at the Paris Olympics last month.

Rabuka thanked the Chinese leader, telling Xi that “Fiji stands ready to send rugby coaches and players to come to China to play with Chinese teams.”

He also hailed Xi’s meeting last year with US President Joe Biden in San Francisco, where he said “you might have achieved peace for the world.”

Rabuka has taken a more cautious line over China’s growing security interests in the Pacific, praising Fiji’s warming ties with Beijing while saying he preferred to deal with democratic “traditional friends” on security.

Fiji and China signed a series of bilateral deals on trade, military aid, infrastructure and Chinese-language education during Rabuka’s trip, according to statements by both governments.

Premier Li Qiang pledged at a meeting with Rabuka on Sunday to boost imports from Fiji and encourage Chinese investment there, according to a Chinese government readout.

Rabuka also hailed Beijing’s “tailor-made innovative poverty alleviation strategies” during a trip to Ningde city in eastern China’s Fujian province.

The Fijian premier last met Xi at an Asia-Pacific economic summit in San Francisco last year, when the Chinese leader committed to helping Fiji safeguard its “security and sovereignty.”

Rabuka said after those talks China could help develop Fiji’s ports and shipyards and praised Beijing’s record of aid to his country in fighting Covid-19, developing agriculture and revamping infrastructure.

China alarmed Western countries when it signed a secretive defense pact with Solomon Islands last year, sparking fears it could deploy military forces there.

The Solomons’ Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele visited China in June and the Pacific nation later said Beijing would inject $20 million into its government budget.
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Beijing — Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Russia and Belarus this week, Beijing’s foreign ministry said on Monday.

Li’s visit comes as China and Russia ramp up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts.

“Under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Russia relations have eliminated external interference and maintained healthy and stable development,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular media briefing.

She said in a statement that Li’s visit from Tuesday to Friday would include “the 29th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government.”

Mao said Li planned to “exchange in-depth views on practical cooperation in bilateral relations and issues of common concern” in talks with Russian counterpart Mikhail Mishustin.

Russia and China’s strategic partnership has grown closer since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which Beijing has never condemned.

China presents itself as a neutral party in the war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

However, China is a close political and economic ally of Russia and NATO members have branded Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war. 

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko visited China twice last year, promising in December to be a “reliable partner” to Beijing.

Belarus relies heavily on Russia for political and financial support and was used as a launchpad for Moscow’s assault against Ukraine in February 2022.

It officially joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in July, becoming the 10th member of the expanding bloc of nations Beijing sees as a potential counterweight to the world order led by the United States.

“China and Belarus are all-weather comprehensive strategic partners,” Mao said on Monday.
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BEIJING — China and Vietnam inked 14 documents spanning cross-border railways to crocodile exports on Monday, after Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Vietnam’s new leader To Lam in Beijing. 

Lam’s visit to Beijing, his first overseas trip since he was appointed party chief early this month, signals a desire between the two communist neighbors to strengthen ties as trade and investment grow and despite occasional clashes over boundaries in the South China Sea. 

“China has always regarded Vietnam as a priority in its neighborhood diplomacy, and supports Vietnam in adhering to the Party leadership, taking the socialist path suited to its national conditions, and deepening the cause of reforms and socialist modernization,” Xi said, underscoring establishing good working relations and a personal friendship with Lam. 

Lam described the bilateral ties as a “top priority in Vietnam’s external policy” and called his trip to China “the affirmation of the Party and the Vietnamese government to value the relation with China.” 

The two countries signed documents on planning and feasibility studies for standardized railway routes, in what appears as a new step towards the upgrade of cross-border rail links, after preliminary deals on the matter were signed in December during Xi’s state visit to Hanoi. 

In December, both countries said they would work on cross-border railway connectivity, naming three projects that included one connecting through mountainous Lao Cai in the Vietnam’s northwest to the port city Haiphong and a potential one linking China’s Shenzhen to Haiphong. 

Vietnamese officials had said rail links would be high on the agenda when the top leaders meet. 

The two nations are connected by two railways from southern China to Vietnam’s northern industrial hub and capital Hanoi, but the Vietnamese infrastructure dates back to French colonial days and has a different gauge from Chinese high-speed rail, forcing passengers and goods to swap trains at the border. 

Upgrading the Vietnamese side of the railways could boost trade and investment, as a growing number of Chinese manufacturers move some export-oriented operations to Vietnam amid trade tensions between China and the United States. 

Other documents signed covered cooperation between central banks, media, health and the quarantine and inspection of coconuts, crocodiles and durians. 

After the signing, Xi and Lam continued talks on important issues of common concern over tea in a “cordial and friendly atmosphere,” Chinese official media Xinhua said. 

The two countries will issue a joint declaration on further strengthening their strategic partnership, Xinhua said. 

Lam arrived in China’s southern province Guangzhou on Sunday for a three-day visit that would include meetings with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other Chinese top officials. 

While in Guangzhou, he visited some Chinese locations where former President Ho Chi Minh conducted revolutionary activities. 

China and Vietnam forged diplomatic ties in 1950 and established a comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation in 2008 that was jointly fortified five years later to extend to more shared international and regional issues of concern. 

 
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BEIJING — Vietnam’s new leader To Lam is making China the destination for his first overseas visit, signaling the continuing importance the Southeast Asian country places on its giant neighbor even as it strengthens ties with the United States and others. 

Lam stepped off a Vietnam Airlines plane on an overcast Sunday morning in Guangzhou, a major manufacturing and export hub near Hong Kong, China’s state media reported. 

He will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on his three-day visit, which comes about two weeks after Lam was confirmed as general secretary of Vietnam’s Communist Party, the country’s top political position. He succeeded Nguyen Phu Trong, who died last month after 13 years as leader. 

Lam also has held the largely ceremonial title of the nation’s president since May. 

The new leader is expected to continue his predecessor’s strategy of balancing ties with China, the United States, Russia and others, Yu Xiangdong, the director of the Institute for Vietnam Studies at China’s Zhengzhou University, wrote Saturday in the state-run Global Times newspaper. 

“The fact that Lam chose China as his first overseas visit destination since taking office is a sign that Vietnam attaches great importance to its relations with China,” Yu said in an opinion piece. “But at the same time, judging from experience, the country is not by any means going to give the U.S. the cold shoulder.” 

Vietnam upgraded its ties with the United States and Japan last year to a comprehensive strategic partnership, the country’s highest designation for a diplomatic relationship. Relations with China and India also have been given the same designation. 

The United States and its ally Japan have been developing closer ties with Vietnam’s communist government — America’s former foe in the Vietnam War — as they seek partners in a growing economic and strategic rivalry with China. 

When Xi visited Vietnam in December, the two countries announced they would build “a shared future that carries strategic significance.” The agreement, which Chinese state media has described as an elevation of ties, was seen as a concession by Vietnam, which had resisted using that wording in the past. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Lam in Vietnam in June after visiting North Korea on a rare overseas trip for the Russian leader, who has been ostracized by many countries because of the 2022 invasion and still-ongoing war in Ukraine. 

Lam’s agenda in Guangzhou includes visiting sites in the southern China city where Vietnam’s former communist leader Ho Chi Minh spent time, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. 

Ho, the founder and first president of communist Vietnam, was in southern China in the 1920s and again in the 1930s as part of the Soviet Union’s efforts to expand communism globally. 

Though they have long ties as one-party communist states, Vietnam and China have sparred repeatedly over territory that both claim in the South China Sea. China also briefly invaded parts of northern Vietnam in 1979. 

A Vietnamese coast guard ship recently took part in joint drills in the Philippines, which has had a series of violent encounters with China over contested territory in the South China Sea. 

Still, Vietnam has benefited economically from investment by Chinese manufacturers, which have moved production to the Southeast Asian country in part to skirt U.S. restrictions on solar panels and other exports from China. 

During Xi’s December visit, the two countries signed an agreement to cooperate on railway projects, which could improve trade connections between the two. China is Vietnam’s largest trading partner. 

 
…

Taipei, Taiwan — Three crew members from a Chinese fishing boat were missing Saturday after their ship collided with an unidentified vessel and sank off the coast of a Taiwanese island, Taiwan’s coast guard said.

China claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, and relations between the two have deteriorated in recent years.

A series of fishing boat incidents occurring along the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and China have heightened tensions.

The latest incident occurred early Saturday when the Chinese-flagged boat Min Long Yu 60877 sank after crashing into an unidentified vessel about 6.5 nautical miles (12 kilometers) off the coast of the Kinmen islands, Taiwan’s coast guard administration said in a statement.

“There were seven crew members on board. Four were rescued and three were missing,” it said.

It said a patrol boat sent to the area could not find the missing crew.

“Those who fell into the sea were not found.”

The statement said Taiwan’s coast guard and its Chinese counterparts were carrying out “an expanded search and rescue” in nearby waters.

Kinmen County is administered by Taiwan but is located just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen.

A fatal incident involving a Chinese boat near Kinmen on February 14 kicked off a monthslong row between Taiwan and China.

A boat capsized while it was being pursued by Taiwan’s coast guard, killing two Chinese crew members, for which Beijing blamed Taipei.

The two sides reached an agreement in July after negotiations over the incident, agreeing that the cause of death was “drowning.”
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Helsinki, Finland — Western officials and analysts are suspicious of Beijing’s admission this week that a Chinese container ship damaged the Balticconnector — a vital Baltic Sea gas pipeline linking Estonia and Finland — in October.

The South China Morning Post reported August 12 that the Chinese government notified Finland and Estonia 10 months after the incident that it was caused by a Hong Kong-registered ship called Newnew Polar Bear, but blamed a storm for what it called the accident.

In an interview August 13 with Estonia’s public radio, ERR, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur said he was skeptical of China’s claim that a storm caused the incident.

“Personally, I find it very difficult to understand how a ship’s captain could fail to notice for such a long time that its anchor had been dragging along the seabed, but it is up to the prosecutor’s office to complete the investigation,” he said.

Markku Mylly, the former director of the European Maritime Safety Agency, told local media in Helsinki there were no storms in the Gulf of Finland at the time. The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti consulted data from the Finland Meteorological Institute and confirmed that Mylly’s memory was correct.

Pevkur told ERR that Estonia would not give up claims against China for compensation.

The Baltic Sea oil and gas pipeline, which was built with EU assistance, was commissioned in 2019 at a total cost of around $331 million, to wean Finland and the three Baltic countries — Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania — off their dependence on Russia for natural gas.

The pipeline was the source of almost all of Estonia’s natural gas supply after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine sparked European restrictions on the import of Russian gas.  After the damage, Estonia had to temporarily rely on Latvia for natural gas.

The pipeline was reopened for commercial operations in April after repairs that cost about $38 million, a senior vice president at Gasgrid Finland told The Associated Press. A few telecoms cables were also damaged in the incident.

Finnish and Estonian investigative agencies recovered the ship’s 6-ton anchor from the sea floor near the damaged pipeline after the incident and tracked it to the ship, which they tried to contact; it refused to respond.

The damage occurred at a time of heightened tension between Europe and Russia over sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, and critics suspected it was a deliberate act of sabotage by Russia or its ally China.

After the damage to the pipeline, the Newnew Polar Bear first sailed to St. Petersburg and Arkhangelsk in Russia and later docked in China’s port of Tianjin. 

Eoin Micheal McNamara, a global security expert at the Finland Institute of International Affairs, told VOA that Finnish people doubt Beijing’s claim that the ship’s damage to the pipeline was an accident.

“Undersea infrastructure elsewhere in the wider Nordic-Baltic region has also been damaged by ‘manmade activity’ in recent years. There was the Nord Stream sabotage in 2022 and the severing of a data cable between Norway and its Arctic island of Svalbard before that,” McNamara said. “As geopolitical tensions rise, more targeted sabotage is being expected.”

German media reported this week that investigators asked Poland to arrest a Ukrainian diving instructor for allegedly being part of a team that blew up the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream gas pipelines, which supplied Russian gas to Europe. Russia blamed Britain, Ukraine and the United States for the sabotage, which they denied.

McNamara said there are suspicions that Russia was involved in the damage to the Balticconnector pipeline. “Plausible deniability is a key tenet for hybrid interference. There are suspicions that use of a Hong Kong-registered vessel was a tactic to gain this plausible deniability,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin last year dismissed the idea that Russia could have been behind an attack on the pipeline as “rubbish.”

Estonia and Finland are still jointly investigating the ship, which China’s NewNew Shipping Company owns.

The Estonian prosecutor’s office, which oversees the investigation, said under international law, China’s statement acknowledging the ship caused the damage as an “accident” cannot be used as evidence in a criminal investigation because China has not invited Estonian criminal investigators to participate in Beijing’s own investigation.

VOA contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the matter but was referred to the Chinese shipping departments.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian at a news briefing on August 13 said, “China is advancing the investigation in accordance with the facts and the law and is in close communication with relevant countries. It is hoped that all parties will continue to promote the investigation in a professional, objective and cooperative manner, and jointly ensure that the incident is handled in a sound manner.”

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told VOA in an email, “We are constantly cooperating with China and exchanging information regarding this matter, but we will not go into details because the investigation is still ongoing.”

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, or NBI, which is investigating the case, told VOA that the Finnish and Estonian authorities have been cooperating with the Chinese authorities on the matter. The NBI said it will publish the findings with the Estonian side as early as this fall.

“Based on the evidence collected and information analyzed during the investigation, it can be stated that the course of events is considered clear and there are sufficient reasons to suspect that the container vessel Newnew Polar Bear is linked to the damages. The cause for the damages seems to be the anchor and anchor chain [struck] the mentioned vessel.”

The NBI added, “It must be stated that the investigation is still ongoing and final conclusions, what was behind these incidents (technical failure — negligence, poor seamanship — deliberate act), can be made only after all necessary investigative measures have been finalized, and this will still take some time.”

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report. Some information was provided by Reuters.
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taipei, taiwan — China warned Japan on Friday that it should be prepared “to pay a heavy price” if it interferes with Beijing’s plans for Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing considers a breakaway province that must one day reunite with the mainland, by force if necessary.

China’s embassy in Tokyo issued the warning after a visit to Taiwan this week by a bipartisan group of Japanese lawmakers, including former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, a potential candidate to be Japan’s next prime minister.

Ishiba, a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, said Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te and Japan agree that maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait requires increasing deterrence and resistance against China’s aggression.

Ishiba made the comment at a press conference Wednesday at Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry at the end of the lawmakers’ trip.

After meeting with Lai on Tuesday, he told reporters that the two sides held extensive discussions on avoiding a conflict with China, which some fear could invade and occupy Taiwan as Russia did with Ukraine.

Ishiba noted there is a saying in Japan that “today’s Ukraine may be tomorrow’s East Asia,” which he said the world’s democratic community must prevent by demonstrating the strength of deterrence.

The former defense minister declined to tell the reporters how Japan would react if war broke out in the Taiwan Strait.

Lai said that in the face of China’s rise and threat to peace in the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan would strengthen national defense and economic resilience, support the democratic umbrella with democratic partners, defend the values of freedom and democracy, and maintain regional peace and stability.

Although no specific plan was revealed, the two sides agreed to increase the frequency of exchanges on security issues.

Japan and Taiwan do not have formal diplomatic relations, in order for Tokyo to have formal relations with Beijing, and official interactions between the two remain at the lawmaker level.

But Japan, like most of Taipei’s allies, supports maintaining the status quo between Taiwan and China.

Senator Seiji Maehara, a former foreign minister of Japan and member of the Free Education for All party, said at the Wednesday briefing that he was initially worried Lai would lean toward Taiwan’s independence, but that they received assurance he would “maintain the status quo.”

Maehara said, “[Lai] is in line with our position, and we are willing to maintain close communication with the people we met during this visit in the future.”

Citing threats from China, Russia and North Korea, Japan under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been moving away from the pacifist constitution imposed by the U.S. after World War II and last year confirmed plans to double defense spending by 2027.

The plan has unnerved some Asian countries that imperial Japan occupied during the war, such as China.

Kishida announced Wednesday that he would not participate in the LDP leadership election in September, which means he will step down as Japan’s prime minister.

Ishiba is considered one of the favorites to become the next LDP leader and candidate for prime minister and said Wednesday that if he got the support of his peers, he would be willing to run for the post.

According to a July 26-28 poll conducted by Nikkei and TV Tokyo, 28% of the public approved of Kishida’s Cabinet while 64% disapproved.

The poll asked Japanese people whom they approved as potential candidates for the LDP. Among them, Ishiba was first with 24% support, followed by former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

Ishiba, Koizumi and the current minister of digital, Taro Kono, joined forces in the last LDP presidential election and were dubbed the Koishikawa alliance.

Ishiba told reporters that the three were on the same side and would continue to discuss how to improve Japan’s politics and regain the people’s trust in the LDP.

China’s Friday warning to Japan on Taiwan was not its first. Its embassies in Tokyo and Washington issued similar warnings in February after Japan’s Kyodo News reported that the Japanese and U.S. militaries had for the first time named China as their hypothetical enemy during joint drills.

Japan’s chief of the Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff, General Yoshihide Yoshida, however, told a January 25 press conference the exercises “did not envision a particular country or region.”

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
…

London — China has increased high-level diplomatic engagement with Myanmar’s military government over the past week as rebel groups continue to make gains in the northern part of the country, where Beijing has huge economic and geostrategic interests.

Some analysts say recent trips by top Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi and China’s special envoy to Myanmar, Deng Xijun, reflect Beijing’s attempt to stabilize the situation in Myanmar.

“The Chinese are trying to use these high-level visits to entice the Myanmar military to come back to the negotiation table,” said Jason Tower, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) country director for Myanmar.

However, he thinks the Chinese government is struggling to facilitate new rounds of cease-fire talks between the military government and rebel groups, which have been gaining control over key facilities along the China-Myanmar border in recent months.

“It’s not clear how the Chinese would be able to facilitate a sustainable agreement between the rebel groups and the military government [since] both sides seem to be fundamentally at odds with each other,” Tower told VOA in a phone interview.

Following his meeting with the Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday, Wang said Beijing “opposes chaos and conflicts in Myanmar” and hopes the country will increase efforts to stabilize the situation along the China-Myanmar border.

“Wang Yi expressed his hope that Myanmar will earnestly safeguard the safety of Chinese personnel and projects in Myanmar, maintain peace and stability along the China-Myanmar border, step up joint efforts to crack down on cross-border crimes, and create a safe environment for bilateral exchanges and cooperation,” the Chinese government said in its official readout.

For its part, Myanmar’s military government said China supports its “endeavors in implementing the five-point roadmap for ensuring peace and stability of the state and development and making preparations to hold a free and fair multiparty democratic general election.”

While Myanmar’s state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper claimed that Beijing vowed to support a promised election, which the military government has said will be held in 2025, the Chinese readout didn’t include such details.

Some analysts say this difference reflects how Myanmar’s military government and the Chinese government view the supposed “election plan.”

“For the Myanmar military and its leader Min Aung Hlaing in particular, the elections are existential, but China probably remains very skeptical about the likelihood of an election being held since the military government controls less than half of Myanmar’s territory at the moment,” Hunter Marston, an adjunct research fellow at La Trobe University in Australia, told VOA by phone.

An alliance formed by several armed resistance groups called the Three Brotherhood Alliance gained control in recent months over key facilities and infrastructure in the northern part of the country, including a regional military base in the northern Shan State and the strategic city of Lashio, which sits on a highway between China and the major city of Mandalay.

USIP’s Tower said as the Myanmar military loses more of its monopoly over the ability to provide security to Chinese state-run enterprises’ projects in northern Myanmar, Beijing may increase cooperation with rebel groups to safeguard its economic interests in the region.

“As more and more of these projects fall under the control of different resistance actors, we may see China work with these groups to try to facilitate its business operation in Myanmar,” he told VOA.

While Beijing may increase cooperation with rebel groups, Marston said, China will continue to manage its relationship with Myanmar by engaging all political players in the country.

“China is continuing its long-term strategy of hedging its bets, which means that it will engage with a number of stakeholders and try to retain influence over as many factions in Myanmar as possible,” he told VOA.

In addition to meeting leaders of Myanmar’s military government, Wang also met with the former chairman of Myanmar’s State Peace and Development Council, Than Shwe, who urged Beijing to help Myanmar “prevent external interference and maintain domestic stability.”

While some analysts say Myanmar’s military government has been stalling the cease-fire negotiations as many competing political forces refuse to negotiate with them, they think China will not support the complete ousting of the military from Burmese politics.

“Since Myanmar became independent in 1948, there has not been a single day when the Burmese military was not a part of the center of the Burmese politics,” Yun Sun, China Program director at the Stimson Center in Washington, told VOA by phone.

She said Beijing will likely support a peace process based on negotiation and reconciliation.

“The peace process has to be based on some sort of concessions made by both sides,” said Sun.

But since there is no sign that the fighting between rebel groups and Myanmar’s military will stop any time soon, Marston said Beijing can only try to urge different resistance groups to respect its interests while gradually cultivating an environment for potential cease-fire negotiations.

“Beijing will continue to incrementally work around the margins by pushing cease-fire negotiations in northern Myanmar while trying to ensure that all players are on China’s side,” he told VOA.
…

BEIJING — BMW was recalling more than 1.3 million vehicles in China that might have Takata airbag inflators following a similar recall in the United States last month, officials said Friday.

The recall covers nearly 600,000 vehicles made in China between 2005 and 2017 and more than 750,000 imported vehicles made between 2003 and 2018, the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation said.

It includes a wide range of models, from series 1 to series 6 cars and the X1, X3, X4, X5 and X6 SUVs.

A small number of vehicles in the recall may have Takata inflators if the owner changed the steering wheel, the Chinese regulatory body said. The inflator can explode when the airbag deploys, sending fragments into the car and injuring the occupants, it said.

Takata airbag inflators have been blamed for the deaths of at least 35 people since 2009 in the United States, Malaysia and Australia.

U.S. regulators said last month that BMW would recall more than 390,000 vehicles because the original steering wheel may have been replaced with a sport or M-sport steering wheel equipped with a Takata inflator.

Ford and Mazda warned the owners of more than 475,000 vehicles in the U.S. earlier this week not to drive them because they have Takata airbag inflators. The vehicles were built between 2003 and 2015.

Stellantis, following a fatal explosion in the U.S. last year, urged the owners of some 2003 Dodge Ram pickups to stop driving them if their air bag inflators had not been replaced.

The Chinese regulator said that BMW owners can visit a dealer to have their steering wheel checked or upload a photo of their steering wheel and their vehicle identification number to get an answer in two weeks. BMW will replace the driver’s side airbag free of charge in affected vehicles.
…