Author: Arif ArifArman

INTERNATIONAL DESK: In strong condemnation of the human rights violations in Xinjiang by China, the United States has called for the cessation of harassment, surveillance, and threats against individuals in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. The remarks were made by Michele Taylor during the 45th Session of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations. “We recommend that China release all our…detained individuals , many of…who were named by the UN working group, cease harrasments, surveillance, and threats against individuals brought in China, including Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong,” Taylor said. The US has also called for the cessation…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Chinese stock markets are in sharp decline this year, driven by the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, government mismanagement, and a decades-long inflation of the property bubble. In January so far, mainland China’s CSI 300 Index has dropped by 6 percent, the Shanghai Composite Index has dropped by 7 percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index—where most large Chinese firms are listed—has fallen by more than 12 percent, reaching its lowest level in two decades. China is attempting to stabilize the yuan in response. The slide has dampened Beijing’s recent efforts to paint a rosy picture of economic…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s representative to Taiwan, Manharsingh Laxmanbhai Yadav, congratulated Taiwan’s newly elected political leaders, as reported by Cntral News Agency Taiwan . During his address at a Taipei reception to celebrate India’s Republic Day, Yadav extended wishes to those who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of this democratic process. “We saw democracy in action recently over here and I extend my heartfelt congratulations to all individuals who embraced this opportunity and to those who worked tirelessly to ensure the success of this democratic process,” he said. In the recently held Taiwanese presidential polls, Lai Ching-te, who previously served…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: At a press conference in the heart of Silicon Valley, five men in suits posed for a photograph that shed unprecedented light on the world’s most powerful intelligence partnership. The men belonged to the Five Eyes espionage alliance, each representing intelligence services from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US. Until then, they had never appeared together in public. Their smiles to the camera contrasted against a dark warning shared by one group member, Britain’s head of MI5, Ken McCallum. The UK had seen a sharp rise in aggressive attempts by foreign states to steal the country’s…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: While Taiwan has long been considered a potential flashpoint between the U.S. and China, another geopolitical storm may be brewing in the South China Sea — one that could force Washington to make some difficult choices. From laser pointers blinding Philippine sailors to collisions at sea near key military outposts, tensions are rapidly surging between Manila and Beijing in these strategically and economically important waters, where the two have overlapping claims. By bolstering the country’s defense capabilities as well as deepening defense ties with the U.S. and like-minded countries such as Japan and Australia, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Saturday said that Taiwan has shown its democratic resilience to the world despite China’s attempts to intervene in the national elections, Focus Taiwan reported. In his address at the 2024 Democratic Resilience Forum in Taipei, Wu stated that Taiwan successfully held legislative and presidential polls last week despite China’s attempts to manipulate the election results, according to Focus Taiwan report. He further said Taiwan’s mature response to Chinese methods showcased the country’s democratic resilience. Joseph Wu stressed that with the development of informational technologies, cognitive warfare is no longer just news content,…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Toy makers grappling with surging costs in China are finding no easy options when it comes to shifting production to cheaper centers elsewhere. Six years ago, Monopoly maker Hasbro approached Indian durable goods and aerospace supplier Aequs to subcontract. They said if you can get into toy manufacturing, now we’re looking to shift millions of dollars’ worth of product from China to India,” Rohit Hegde, Aequs’ head of consumer verticals, told Reuters. “We said: As long as we can get at least about $100 million of business in the next few years, we can definitely invest in it.”…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: U.S. lawmakers renewed calls Wednesday to pass bipartisan legislation that would restrict American investment in Chinese technology. “It should come as no surprise that China’s military and surveillance state are exploiting loopholes in U.S. policy to access billions of U.S. investment dollars and expertise. We know that U.S. investment has not democratized China and countries which are controlled by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] have no power over the applications of their technology. The CCP can direct it to us for military or surveillance purposes,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said at a hearing on the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China has inadvertently raised a private army of hackers to help it discover vulnerabilities in overseas computer networks thanks to a cybersecurity law that makes it mandatory to first inform the Chinese government. In July 2021, China’s cyberspace watchdog, its public security ministry, and its industry ministry jointly published the Regulations on the Management of Network Product Security Vulnerabilities, which make Chinese companies report loopholes in their software or the products they use within 48 hours of discovery. Under the rule, the Chinese state institutions issue rewards for finding the cybersecurity vulnerabilities in software that is often used…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: When Tsai Ing-wen won her second term as Taiwan’s president four years ago, the island’s neighbours said little. As usual Japan, Singapore and Australia offered Tsai their congratulations but there was barely a murmur from other countries. However, William Lai Ching-te’s closely watched victory in the Taiwanese presidential election last weekend stirred a wave of diplomatic activity in the Indo-Pacific region. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: America is seeing more and more of its most fertile land snapped up by China and other foreign buyers, yet problems with how the US tracks such data means it is difficult to know just how much. Foreign ownership and investment in US farmland, pastures and forests jumped to about 16.2 hectares in 2021, up 40 per cent from 2016, according to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. But an analysis conducted by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) – a non-partisan watchdog that reports to Congress – found mistakes in the data, including the largest land…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China’s population fell by 2 million people in 2023 in its second straight annual decrease, as births dropped for the seventh straight year and deaths jumped following the end of COVID-19 restrictions, the government said Wednesday. The number of deaths rose by 690,000 to 11.1 million, more than double the previous year’s increase. Demographers said the rise was driven by the aging of the population and the widespread COVID-19 outbreaks that started in December 2022 and continued into February of last year. The total population stood at 1.4 billion, the statistics bureau said. China, long the most populated country…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: On the eve of Taiwan’s presidential election, with Taipei residents hotly debating who to vote for, one particularly interesting argument was overheard between an old man and a young woman. Among the most heard words in their conversation were, surprisingly enough, Xi Jinping, the name of China’s powerful leader. The man, in his 60s, sounded like he was a former senior official of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s main opposition party. “I think young people will all vote for Ko Wen-je,” he said, referring to the presidential candidate for the Taiwan People’s Party, the third largest party. He cited…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China’s population fell again last year, having experienced its first decline in six decades in 2022, as the birth rate hit a new low and the number of deaths climbed. The overall population in mainland China fell by 2.08 million last year to 1.4097 billion, down from 1.4118 billion in 2022, according to official figures released on Wednesday. Amid a plummeting interest in having children, 9.02 million babies were born last year, down by 5.6 per cent from 9.56 million in 2022, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The falling number of new babies resulted in the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Chief of the Filipino military has announced plans for significant development activities in the South China Sea, specifically on Philippine-controlled land features. This move is expected to escalate tensions with China over disputed areas. General Romeo Brawner made this announcement after a crucial meeting with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at the headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) in Camp Aguinaldo. “We aim to enhance the development of all nine land features, particularly the islands we currently occupy,” he stated, referring to Thitu Island, the second-largest naturally-formed land feature in the Spratlys, as well…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China’s troubled property market ended last year with the worst declines in new home prices in nearly nine years, despite government efforts to prop up the sector that was once a key driver of the world’s second largest economy. New home prices in December logged their steepest drop since February 2015, while property sales measured by floor area fell 23% in December from a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed on Wednesday. At the same time, property investment by developers in December fell year-on-year at the fastest clip since at least 2000, according…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: A compliance officer at a London brokerage has claimed he was ordered by bosses to obtain a Visa for an employee who turned out to be a Chinese spy. The agent, who has since been Deported, was sponsored by the Now-Closed foreign exchange brokerage Goldenway global investments, according to a tribunal ruling. The allegations were detailed in a successful Whistleblower suit brought by Bharat Bhagani, who said he was fired for blocking the appointment of two directors. Goldenway, which is controlled by a Hong Kong-Based company, faced multiple restrictions by the financial conduct authority before it closed last…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Japanese firms in China expect economic prospects in the world’s second-largest economy to remain grim this year, according to a report from the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China released on Monday. About three-quarters of the 1,700 respondents in a survey said they expected the Chinese economy to worsen or to remain the same. Uncertainty about China’s economic prospects and pessimism about weak demand were cited as top reasons why 48% of the companies surveyed said they did not invest in China or reduced their investment in 2023 compared to a year earlier. The companies also…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The PLA Marine Corps (PLANMC) is a vital cog in Xi Jinping’s dream of establishing a Sino-centric world order as he builds the strongest military in the world. He is striving to develop a world-class Marine Corps that will be an elite force capable of full spectrum multidomain operations in all dimensions, including during emergencies at all times. The success or failure of China’s global ambitions depends heavily on the growth of this force. As the PLANMC expands, the PLA assumes the nature of a capability-based force instead of a task/threat-based force. It becomes a critical capability for…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: Taiwan lost one of its few remaining diplomatic allies Nauru to China on Monday, just days after it elected a new president, and accused China of attempting to pressure it while it affirmed the will of Taiwanese to go out into the world. China claims Taiwan as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan strongly disputes, and the two have for years traded accusations of using “dollar diplomacy” as they compete for diplomatic recognition. Taiwan security officials told Reuters before Saturday’s election that China was likely to continue to whittle away at the…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: House church pastors in China are getting increasingly heavy prison sentences, as a result of Xi Jinping’s instructions to compel all Protestant churches to join the government-controlled Three-Self Church, cracking down on those that refuse. On January 12 , 2024, Dalian’s Pastor Kan Xiaoyong was sentenced by the Ganjingzi District People’s Court to fourteen years in prison. His wife Wang Fengying was sentenced to four years, and co-worker Chu Xinyu to ten years. Other three defendants received three-year verdicts. These were heavy penalties, which the prosecutor obtained by adding to the charge of “illegal business practices” the “use…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: The Chinese embassy in Japan said on Sunday that it “resolutely opposed” Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa’s statement congratulating Taiwan’s new president-elect Lai Ching-te. In a statement published on the Japanese foreign ministry’s website on Saturday, after the results of the Taiwan presidential election were announced, Kamikawa congratulated Lai on his victory, calling the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing “an extremely crucial partner and an important friend.” In response, the Chinese embassy in Japan, without mentioning Lai or acknowledging his victory, described Kamikawa’s comments as “a serious interference in China’s internal affairs”, according to a statement published on…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: After 17 years as the top source of imported goods in the United States, China will likely move into second place for 2023, ceding the first position to Mexico, according to data released by the U.S. Commerce Department this week. The shift is the result of a yearslong trend that has seen a gradual decline in China’s share of the U.S. import market, driven primarily by continued U.S. tariffs on a broad array of Chinese goods. However, other contributing factors include a broader reshuffling of global supply chains in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and a push…

INTERNATIONAL DESK: China is considering reimposing tariffs on more Taiwanese imports under a landmark cross-strait free trade agreement, a prospect that has taken on a political dimension as the presidential election draws near, and which analysts warn could wrought damage to the Taiwan economy in the long term. There is also uncertainty about China’s next step, which is likely to differ based on who Taiwan elects as president on Saturday (Jan 13). The three contenders – Mr Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Mr Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT) and Dr Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan…