Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
The PAGEs (see Tabs, above) attempt to make the information more meaningful by putting some structure to the information we have researched and assembled since 2006.
The Zhangjiajie bridge in Hunan province – which was the highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge in the world when it opened in 2016 – arguably kicked off the craze.
But earlier this year, one tourist died and six others were injured after they fell off a glass slide in Guangxi province.
Rain had made the glass extra slippery, causing the man to crash through the guardrail, and fly off the slide. He died from severe head injuries.
The Hongyagu glass bridge – which until May this year held the title of world’s longest glass bridge – was among those shut in Hebei province.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGESImage caption The Hongyagu bridge in Hebei province
The closures have not just affected Hebei province – across the country, a number have been shut.
Earlier this year, the government called for local tourism authorities to carry out “comprehensive safety assessments” of glass bridge projects.
On social media site Weibo, many applauded the closures, with one saying it was “about time safety was addressed”.
Others criticised the sheer number of glass bridges built over the past few years.
Media caption Thousands wobble over the world’s longest glass bridge in Hebei province, China
“I don’t really understand why there are so many glass bridges recently. It’s a waste of money,” said one commenter.
The death in Guangxi province was not the only glass attraction fatality. In 2017, a tourist died after an accident on a glass slide in Hubei.
And in 2016, someone was injured after being hit by falling rocks while walking on a glass walkway in the city of Zhangjiajie.
In 2015, a glass skywalk in Henan province cracked despite being open for only two weeks, sending tourists fleeing.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang meets with South African Deputy President David Mabuza at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 29, 2019. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)
BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) — Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with South African Deputy President David Mabuza Tuesday in Beijing, calling on the two sides to promote bilateral relations for new development.
Noting that South Africa is an important African country, Li said the continued development of bilateral relations is beneficial to China-Africa cooperation.
China is ready to work with South Africa to consolidate mutual political trust and promote practical cooperation and people-to-people exchanges to push for new development in bilateral relations, he said.
“Both China and South Africa are developing countries and have broad common interests,” said Li, adding that China stands ready to work with South Africa to closely communicate and coordinate in international and regional affairs and enhance cooperation in multilateral mechanisms such as the UN and BRICS, to jointly safeguard developing countries’ interests and maintain regional and world peace.
Mabuza, who is on an official visit to China and will co-chair the seventh plenary session of the China-South Africa Bi-National Commission with his Chinese counterpart, offered his congratulations for the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
He thanked China for its long-standing support for South Africa and African countries’ development and conveyed his admiration for China’s great development achievements.
Mabuza said his country is willing to learn from China’s development experience, deepen practical cooperation across the board with China and push bilateral relations to reach a new level.
BEIJING, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) — Premier Li Keqiang’s upcoming trip to Uzbekistan and Thailand is of great importance to cementing cooperation among both SCO members and East Asian states, as well as solidifying Chinese relations with Uzbekistan and Thailand, senior officials said at a press briefing Monday.
Premier Li is scheduled to attend the 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Uzbek capital Tashkent, pay an official visit to Uzbekistan, and attend the 22nd China-ASEAN (10+1) leaders’ meeting, the 22nd ASEAN-China, Japan and Republic of Korea (10+3) leaders’ meeting and the 14th East Asia Summit (EAS) in the Thai capital Bangkok before paying an official visit to Thailand, from Nov. 1 to 5.
During the SCO heads of government meeting, Li will explain Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and share the successful construction experience of the People’s Republic of China in the past 70 years, according to Assistant Foreign Minister Chen Xiaodong.
“Li will exchange in-depth views with the leaders of the participating countries on enhancing solidarity and mutual trust among member states, building the Belt and Road Initiative and cooperation in such fields as economy and trade, industrial capacity, connectivity, finance, investment and people-to-people exchanges,” Chen said.
Noting it will be Li’s first official visit to Uzbekistan, Chen said the premier will exchange views with the Uzbek side on implementing the important consensus of the two heads of state, promoting the development of bilateral relations and international and regional issues of common concern. The two sides will sign a series of cooperation agreements covering economy and trade, investment, science and technology, customs and other fields.
Regarding the East Asian leaders’ meeting on cooperation, Chen said the premier will expound on China’s policy proposals for East Asian cooperation and propose more than 20 new initiatives for deepening cooperation under various mechanisms.
The East Asian leaders’ meeting this year will strengthen consensus, deepen cooperation, improve regional economic integration, promote regional common prosperity and development, and send out a positive signal of adhering to multilateralism and free trade, building an open world economy, according to Assistant Minister of Commerce Li Chenggang.
Calling Thailand a traditional friendly neighbor and important partner for the Belt and Road cooperation, Chen said Premier Li’s official visit to Thailand is the second visit by the premier in six years.
During the visit, the premier will exchange in-depth views with the leaders of the Thai side on bilateral relations and cooperation. The two sides will issue a joint press statement between the two governments and sign cooperation documents in such fields as technology and e-commerce.
BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) — Strengthening the construction of rural transport infrastructure is the key to boost various rural industries, said experts at a forum on rural vitalization and transport industry Sunday.
The construction of rural transport infrastructure should be integrated with the development of various undertakings in the rural areas, said Li Chunsheng, vice chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, at the forum held by China Well-off Society Association.
Rural transport construction has brought about major changes in the agricultural production chain, the ecological and environmental chains, as well as the value chain, and it will certainly speed up the rural vitalization, said Yin Chengjie, head of the Chinese Association of Agricultural Economics.
More efforts should be made to establish a mechanism for increasing financial input and integrating funds for agriculture and transport, so as to achieve various goals including high-quality rural road construction, said Chen Jiding, deputy head of the China Academy of Transportation Sciences.
The central government has issued an outline on transport construction, which clearly plans to form a rural transport infrastructure network and achieve poverty alleviation through transport facilitation.
After nearly 10 years of planning, the country’s two shipbuilders will be reunited with a combined revenue of US$141.5 billion
China’s two shipbuilding giants have built hundreds of military vessels over the past few years as the country’s navy seeks to modernise rapidly. Photo: Xinhua
China on Friday announced the merger of the country’s two largest state-owned shipbuilding giants, a step Beijing has been preparing for nearly a decade to strengthen the competitiveness of its shipbuilding industry.
The intention to merge the Shanghai-based China State Shipbuilding Corp (CSSC) and the China Shipbuilding Industry Co (CSIC), based in Dalian, Northern Liaoning province, was announced in a statement on the website of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, China’s cabinet.
The merger would enable China to establish a shipbuilding giant with a combined revenue up to 1 trillion yuan (US$141.5 billion), capable of building vessels ranging from warships, like aircraft carriers, to civilian ships such as container ships and oil tankers, said a source familiar with the merger plan.
“This merger has been in the making since Hu Wenming, a former party leader of the state-owned aviation industry, was assigned to CSSC as party secretary in 2010,” the source said, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
“The merger plan was put on the drawing board at a time when the world shipping industry had entered a golden period in 2009, and the business of CSSC and CSIC was at its peak, but [China’s] analysis indicated a decline was on the horizon, as has actually happened in recent years.”
Chinese shipbuilder touts warships in push to expand arms sales in region
CSIC and CSSC were part of the same group until 1999 when they were split into two separate entities. Since then, China has overtaken South Korea and Japan to become the world’s largest builder of merchant ships, a rise spurred by the boom in world trade and the country’s accession to the World Trade Organisation in 2001.
CSSC manages shipbuilding business in the east and south of China, while CSIC oversees activities in the northern and western parts of the country. Both are also primary contractors for PLA naval ships.
Commercial shipbuilding was the major source of revenue for both enterprises, given they were generally less technologically challenging and of lower cost to build, the source said.
“Developing and building warships for the PLA needs more manpower and more advanced technologies because naval ships, which are built for sea battles, take longer to build and require cutting-edge technologies, hence the higher costs,” the source said.
China tests new warships in live-fire drills near Vietnam
CSSC and CSIC have built hundreds of military vessels over the past few years as the Chinese navy seeks to modernise rapidly. These have included aircraft carriers, Type 055 destroyers, Type 075 amphibious assault ships and Type 094A nuclear submarines.
But, the source said, the two giants’ naval warship building mission would be cut back next year, as Beijing expected greater financial pressure as a result of slower economic growth. The merger would allow the two companies to pool their resources and enhance their competitiveness, especially in the development of mega vessels.
But the source said the two giants’ naval warships building missions would be cut back beginning next year as Beijing foresees greater financial pressure as a result of slower economic growth. The merger will allow the two companies to pool their resources and enhance their competitiveness, especially in areas of mega vessels.
“The merger is also part of China’s long-term maritime energy development plan to meet President Xi Jinping’s sustainable and clean energy goal, because China needs more giant vessels to help ship oil and gas from other countries,” the source said.
NAIROBI, Oct.25 (Xinhua) — China is seeking to promote cooperation with Kenya in the development of the technology arena and digital economy.
Guo Ce, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Kenya, said on Thursday that China which is Kenya’s largest trading partner is also seeking cooperation with Kenya in terms of capacity building by outcome-sharing in the technological arena for mutual benefit.
“For instance, China has such wonderful information technology (IT) companies as TECNO and Huawei in Kenya, providing local users with easy access to the Internet and thus increasing the welfare of its people,” Guo said during the symposium on China-Kenya cooperation and development of digital economy on Thursday.
By the end of 2018, the number of Chinese netizens has reached 829 million, and the number of mobile Internet users has reached 871 million, with the e-commerce transaction volume amounting to 4.4 trillion US dollars.
In Kenya, the value of the ICT sector, driven by growth in the digital economy, expanded by 12.9% in 2018. And as of December 2018, the total number of active data/Internet subscriptions in Kenya stood at 45.7 million of which 47.9 percent were on broadband. The number of Internet users in Kenya accounts for 83.0% of its population.
Zhao Hui, secretary general of China Federation of Internet Societies (CFIS), said during the symposium that China has always attached great importance to the extensive and friendly cooperation in cyberspace with Kenya and other African countries.
Zhao said that Kenya, as the largest economy in east Africa, has achieved remarkable results in the development of the digital economy.
“It is undoubted that there will be great opportunities for China and Kenya to carry out in-depth cooperation in the digital economy,” she added.
CFIS expects to build up a communicating platform for companies from China and Kenya to promote the continuous improvement of China-Kenya digital industrialization through the symposium, Zhao said.
Peng Lihui, secretary general of China Electronics Chamber of Commerce (CECC), invited Kenyan organizations to join the Global Digital Economy Alliance (D50), which was initiated by CECC and 50 national industrial organizations and leading enterprises.
In the symposium, Jacqueline Sigu, manager of county programme and small and medium enterprises development at Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry , said that the Kenyan government has already developed a blueprint for the digital economy, which will accelerate Kenya’s ambition to automate government and private sector business operations, while noting that the high cost of infrastructure remains a big challenge.
She said that China is an ideal partner for Kenya in the ICT sector because it is a world leader in digital innovations. “Kenya’s business community could borrow lessons from China that can adapt to meet local conditions,” she said.
She revealed that Kenya will leverage on close ties with China to solidify its status as eastern Africa’s regional ICT hub.
Liz Kisyanga, digital marketing manager of StarTimes Kenya, said that Chinese firms can play a big role in the provision of affordable internet and smart-phones in Kenya.
“More players in the digital economy space will result in more innovation and the ultimate beneficiary will be the Kenyan consumer,” Kisyanga said Kenya can partner with Chinese firms to rollout Internet services in the rural and remote areas that are typical underserved by technological service providers.
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) — Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will continue to expand, serving as an engine for global economic growth, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Ong Kian Ming said on Friday.
Speaking at the 2019 China Macroeconomic Roundtable “Economic Forecast, High Quality Development, and Policy Implications” hosted in Xiamen University Malaysia, Ong said despite downward forecasts, strong economic activity between China and the ASEAN would help both weather the storm.
As the economic growth in China and Southeast Asia would continue to outstrip the economic growth of the United States as well as Europe, the greater cooperation between China and the ASEAN will have a bigger impact to the wider world, Ong said.
“We definitely can see Asia not only as an engine of services and manufacture and production but also later on as the engine of growth for the global economy. So there are many opportunities for China and Southeast Asia to work together in order to improve the economic outlook for our respective countries, as well as globally,” he said.
Jointly organized by the Center for Macroeconomics Research at Xiamen University and Xiamen University Malaysia, this year’s overseas forecast conference is the first time that the event was held in Malaysia.
At the conference, the team from the Center for Macroeconomics Research at Xiamen University released China’s main macroeconomic indicators for 2019-2020 and reported its policy implications based on simulation analysis.
Also released was the findings of this year’s “Economists Questionnaire Survey on China’s Macroeconomic Outlook,” which was co-organized by Xiamen University and Economic Information Daily newspaper.
Since 2006, Xiamen University has been holding China’s macroeconomic forecast conference twice a year.
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Xi Jinping has underlined the important role of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in building “Healthy China.”
The country should carry on fine elements in TCM and innovate them, Xi said in a recent instruction, stressing that traditional medicine is a treasure of Chinese civilization embodying the wisdom of the nation and its people.
Xi’s instruction was delivered at a national conference of TCM held Friday in Beijing.
Xi said that equal importance should be placed on traditional Chinese and Western medicines and efforts be made to enable them to supplement each other and prosper together.
He also underlined the efforts to promote TCM internationally and fully develop its unique strength in preventing and treating diseases.
In an instruction also delivered at the conference, Premier Li Keqiang called TCM a great creation of the Chinese nation.
Li stressed promoting talent training, scientific and technological innovation, and research and development of medicines.
He required efforts to promote preservation, innovation and high-quality development of TCM so that it will contribute to the improvement of people’s health and wellbeing.
Addressing the event, Vice Premier Sun Chunlan pledged to thoroughly implement the leaders’ instructions.
People who made outstanding contribution to TCM development were awarded at the conference.
The 39 people found dead in a refrigerated trailer in Essex were Chinese nationals, it is understood.
Police are continuing to question lorry driver Mo Robinson, 25, who was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Officers in Northern Ireland have raided two houses and the National Crime Agency said it was working to identify “organised crime groups who may have played a part”.
The trailer arrived in Purfleet on the River Thames from Zeebrugge in Belgium.
Ambulance staff discovered the bodies of the 38 adults and one teenager in the container at Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays just after 01:30 BST on Wednesday.
The lorry and trailer left the port at Purfleet shortly after 01:05.
Police said the tractor unit – the front part of the lorry – came from Northern Ireland and picked up the trailer from Purfleet.
Image copyright FACEBOOKImage caption The lorry driver has been named locally as Mo Robinson, from County Armagh
Councillor Paul Berry said the village of Laurelvale in County Armagh, where the Robinson family live, was in “complete shock”.
He said he had been in contact with Mr Robinson’s father, who had learned of his son’s arrest on Wednesday through social media.
“The local community is hoping that he [Mo Robinson] has been caught up innocently in this matter but that’s in the hands of Essex Police, and we will leave it in their professional hands to try to catch the perpetrators of this,” he said.
The Belgian Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened a case which would focus on the organisers and others involved in the transport.
A spokesman said the container arrived in Zeebrugge at 14:29 on Tuesday and left the port later that afternoon before arriving in Purfleet in the early hours of Wednesday.
It was not clear when the victims were placed in the container or if this happened in Belgium, he said.
Media caption Essex lorry deaths: CCTV shows arrival at industrial park
St Peter and St Paul’s Church in Grays will be open for people to light candles and say prayers between 12:00 and 14:00.
A vigil is being held at 18:00 outside the Home Office to “call for urgent action to ensure safe passage” for people fleeing war and poverty.
The lorry was moved to a secure site at Tilbury Docks on Wednesday so the bodies could be “recovered while preserving the dignity of the victims”.
Essex Police initially suggested the lorry could be from Bulgaria, but later said officers believed it entered the UK from Belgium.
The force said formal identification of the 39 bodies “could be a lengthy process”.
A spokesman for the Bulgarian foreign affairs ministry said the truck was registered in the country under the name of a company owned by an Irish citizen.
He said it was “highly unlikely” the deceased were Bulgarians.
Shaun Sawyer, the National Police Chiefs Council lead for modern slavery and human trafficking, said while forces had prevented thousands of deaths, “tragically, for 39 people that didn’t work yesterday”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme even if there were routes perceived as easier to get through, organised criminals would still exploit people who could not access those.
“You can’t turn the United Kingdom into a fortress,” added Mr Sawyer, who is the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police.
Media caption I’ve seen people running out of a lorry’
Thurrock’s Conservative MP Jackie Doyle-Price said there needed to be an international response.
“We have partnerships in place but those efforts need to be rebooted, this is an international criminal world where many gangs are making lots of money and until states act collectively to tackle that it is going to continue,” she said.
Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said temperatures in refrigerated trailers could be as low as -25C.
He described conditions for anyone inside as “absolutely horrendous”.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was an “unimaginable tragedy and truly heartbreaking”.
In 2015, the bodies of 71 people were found in an abandoned lorry on an Austrian motorway. Police suspected the vehicle was part of a Bulgarian-Hungarian human trafficking operation.
Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua will lead delegation at two-day summit that is expected to be attended by 400 officials and 200 businesspeople
Observers say it is Beijing’s latest effort to regain momentum in the region and will be closely watched in the US
Samoan capital Apia will host the third China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development Cooperation Forum, which begins on Sunday. Photo: Alamy
China will seek to expand its economic and diplomatic influence in the South Pacific at a forum this weekend, amid growing concern from the US and its allies over Beijing’s push in the strategically important region.
Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua will lead the Chinese delegation at the third China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development Cooperation Forum in the Samoan capital Apia, which begins on Sunday. It is expected to be attended by 400 officials and more than 200 businesspeople.
Hu, the former Communist Party chief of China’s manufacturing powerhouse Guangdong who now overseas commercial and agricultural affairs, is expected to deliver a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.
Beijing sees the two-day forum as “timely” and “a good opportunity to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the Pacific”, a commerce ministry spokesperson told the official Economic Daily newspaper.
Trade, agriculture and fisheries, as well as tourism, infrastructure and climate change were at the top of the agenda for the forum, the spokesperson said.
Leaders of all the Pacific nations – except the four that do not have formal diplomatic ties with Beijing – are expected to attend the forum. Australia, which has “observer status” at the summit, will send Ewen McDonald, deputy secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of its Pacific office.
Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua will lead the Chinese delegation at the forum. Photo: EPA-EFE
The forum comes after China hailed a “new breakthrough” in the region following the decision last month by the Solomon Islands and then Kiribati – despite warnings from the US – to cut diplomatic ties with Taipei and switch to Beijing.
They are the latest of Taipei’s allies to be poached by Beijing as it ramps up pressure on the self-ruled island that it sees as a renegade province to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Observers said this weekend’s forum was Beijing’s latest effort to regain momentum in the Pacific.
“Having one of China’s top 25 officials visit the region so soon after [Chinese President] Xi Jinping spent close to three days in Papua New Guinea last November is certainly significant,” said Jonathan Pryke, director of the Pacific Islands programme at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, referring to Hu’s position in the 25-member Politburo.
“It shows clearly China’s attempt to recapture momentum after the West, and in particular Australia, have redoubled their efforts in maintaining and building relationships in the Pacific,” he said.
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill (second from left) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (second from right) pose for a photo during Xi’s visit in November. Photo: AFP
First held in Fiji in 2006, the forum is part of China’s efforts to expand its reach in the resource-rich region.
Back then, premier Wen Jiabao announced 3 billion yuan of concessional loans to Pacific nations and promised to facilitate more trade, medical aid and tourism with the countries. Chinese capital has been pouring into the region – particularly from the mining and fisheries sectors – ever since.
Of note was a 440 million yuan investment, supported by loans from the Export-Import Bank of China, to build a central business centre at Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga.
US and allies sideline China in PNG’s Bougainville by helping fund independence vote
As China’s influence grows, the South Pacific – a region traditionally under US hegemony, and on Australia’s doorstep – has “increasingly become a major power that cannot be neglected” and “an important part of China’s greater strategic landscape”, according to Shi Chunlin, an associate professor at Dalian Maritime University.
Trade has increased between China and the eight Pacific nations that have diplomatic ties with Beijing, rising to a combined US$4.32 billion last year – up 25 per cent from 2017.
China has also become the largest trading partner of new ally the Solomons, the second-largest to Papua New Guinea and Fiji, and the third-largest to Samoa.
China’s direct investment in the region has also jumped, reaching US$4.53 billion last year, a more than fourfold increase from the US$900 million of 2013.
Pryke said Beijing was expected to offer new support and loans to the Pacific nations.
“But the Pacific are much more picky about how they want to engage with all partners than they were a decade ago,” he added.
Returning from a trip to China earlier this month, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare confirmed Beijing would provide a US$74 million grant to build a new stadium for the 2023 Pacific Games in the capital Honiara – something its former ally Taipei had committed to fund.
China Sam Group also reportedly signed an agreement on September 22 to lease the island of Tulagi in the Solomons, the site of a former Japanese naval base. The agreement mentioned the development of a refinery on the island, but critics said it could also potentially be used as a military base.
China is now the second-largest donor in the region, only after Australia, which has viewed Beijing’s financial largesse with suspicion.
Last year, in an apparent effort to counter China’s rising influence in the region, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Pacific countries would be offered up to US$2.18 billion in grants and cheap loans to build infrastructure.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison last year announced up to US$2.18 billion in grants and cheap loans for infrastructure in Pacific nations. Photo: EPA-EFE
The US, meanwhile, has also been wary of China’s push in the Pacific, amid an escalating geopolitical competition between the world’s two largest economies across many fronts – from trade to tech supremacy and security. The US has long maintained exclusive defence access in the region through its Guam military base and security pacts with the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.
Derek Grossman, a senior defence analyst with the US-based Rand Corporation, said this year’s forum in Samoa was likely to be higher profile than previous years after Beijing lured away two more diplomatic allies from Taipei.
He said it would be “closely watched in the US for how Beijing continues to leverage sweet economic deals via its Belt and Road Initiative to potentially entice others to switch”.
“The US, along with close friends Australia, Japan and New Zealand, are becoming increasingly concerned over the prospects for China to one day curry enough influence in these small island states to gain port access that could be used for new naval bases,” he said.
The most important issue at the forum, he said, would be “whether the West assesses that China is making further inroads with these states”.
“The likely answer will be that it is, suggesting that the US and its partners will have to compete with China in this region to ensure that it remains ‘free and open’, per the US Indo-Pacific strategy,” he said.
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 