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25/10/2019

China seeks to enhance ties with Kenya on development of digital economy

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.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in blueprint, China alert, China Electronics Chamber of Commerce (CECC), China Federation of Internet Societies (CFIS), development, digital economy, enhance ties, information technology (IT) companies, Infrastructure, Internet, Kenya, Kenya National Chamber of Commerce, Kenyan government, Nairobi, smartphones, StarTimes Kenya, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

24/10/2019

Essex lorry deaths: 39 found dead ‘were Chinese nationals’

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 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”.

How many migrants have died in transit?

The number of migrants who die in transit has been recorded by the UN since 2014.

Since then, five bodies of suspected migrants had been found in lorries or containers in the UK before this tragedy.

Data was not collected in the same way before the migrant crisis began in 2014, but such deaths are not new.

In 2000, 58 Chinese migrants were found suffocated to death in a lorry at Dover.

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.

Source: The BBC

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21/10/2019

6th World Internet Conference opens in China’s Zhejiang

CHINA-ZHEJIANG-WUZHEN-HUANG KUNMING-WORLD INTERNET CONFERENCE (CN)

Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, attends the opening ceremony of the sixth World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Oct. 20, 2019. Before delivering his speech, Huang read Chinese President Xi Jinping’s congratulatory letter to the conference. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)

WUZHEN, Zhejiang Province, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) — The sixth World Internet Conference opened Sunday in the river town of Wuzhen in east China’s Zhejiang Province.

With the theme of “Intelligent Interconnection for Openness and Cooperation — Building a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace,” the three-day conference will bring together more than 1,500 participants from over 80 countries and regions, including members of the Internet Hall of Fame, Nobel Prize winners and Turing Award winners.

Executives from major tech companies from home and abroad such as Microsoft, Qualcomm, Alibaba Group and Huawei will share their insight on the future development of the internet at 20 sub-forums, covering popular and cutting-edge topics such as artificial intelligence (AI), 5G and industrial digitization.

Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, delivered a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the conference.

Fifty years after the birth of the internet, efforts should be made to seize new opportunities and address risks and challenges to build cyberspace into a shared community that benefits all humanity, Huang said.

The senior official also called for enhanced efforts to develop the digital economy, unleash the digital dividend, and protect the security and order of cyberspace.

During the conference, reports on China and world internet development will be released to forecast the future trend of internet development.

The reports will review global internet development over the past five decades and the history of Chinese internet during the last 25 years.

Around 15 top scientific and technological projects in the internet sector will also be unveiled, covering AI, 5G, big data, cloud computing, digital manufacturing, industrial internet and other internet-related fields.

The number of internet users in China hit 854 million in June 2019, with the internet availability rate reaching 61.2 percent, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in 5G, Alibaba Group, artificial intelligence (AI), Big data, China Internet Network Information Center, Cloud computing, cyberspace, digital manufacturing, Huawei, industrial digitization, industrial internet, Internet Hall of Fame, Microsoft, Nobel Prize winners, Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, Qualcomm Inc, Turing Award winners, Uncategorized, World Internet Conference, zhejiang province | Leave a Comment »

11/10/2019

Spotlight: Film, yoga, smartphone industries enhance China-India links

People practice yoga at a park in New Delhi, India, June 21, 2019. TO GO WITH: Spotlight: Film, yoga, smartphone industries enhance China-India links (Xinhua/Zhang Naijie)

by Xinhua writers Chen Jian, Zhao Xu, Zhang Xingjun

CHENNAI, India, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) — “I would like to see a lot of collaboration between creative people from China and India, making stories that people from both countries would love to see,” said Bollywood star Aamir Khan before a film-promotion trip to China in early 2018.

As one of the most recognized Indian actors in China, Khan’s biographical sports film “Dangal” raked in nearly 1.3 billion yuan (190 million U.S. dollars) in the Chinese box office in 2017, making it the highest-grossing Indian film of all time in China.

Inspired by the real journey of an Indian wrestler, Khan acted the part of a strict father who turned his daughters into world-class athletes.

From “Dangal” and “Secret Superstar” to “Hichki” and “Thugs of Hindostan,” Bollywood hits have been immensely popular among Chinese moviegoers in recent years. Older generations were impressed by Indian films like “Awara” (1951) and “Caravan” (1971), which featured spectacular song-and-dance scenes.

Khan, who has visited China several times, said he felt Chinese and Indian people have many things in common. For example, both peoples attach great importance to family, he told Xinhua.

“Many people get to know a certain country through watching their movies. Through my work, quite a few foreign viewers start to know the sorrows and happiness of ordinary Indian people,” Khan said, adding that artists can help people with different cultural backgrounds understand each other.

Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji, whose Hindi comedy-drama film “Hichki” was screened in China last year, said Chinese audience watching her film with Chinese subtitles reacted similarly to Indian fans.

“You realize that you don’t have to know the language to connect with the film. I think that’s what makes movies so, so special … If the emotions are universal, it can connect anywhere,” she told Xinhua in an interview earlier this year.

In “Hichki,” Mukerji played the leading role of an aspiring teacher with Tourette Syndrome, who must prove herself by educating a group of underprivileged students.

Taking note of Bollywood’s developed industrial system and China’s huge film market, the Indian actress is also looking forward to India-China film co-productions.

“I am actually very keen to do India-China co-productions where I can be part of a Chinese film or Chinese actors can be part of Indian films,” she said.

YOGA IN CHINA

Before Yu Songsong, a young man from southwest China’s Guizhou Province, started to practice yoga, he knew little about India, where the practice originated.

Having spent the last six years learning yoga, he is attracted by the yoga culture and eager to travel to India.

Yu used to suffer from an emotional disorder. “It was yoga that turned me around. I was no longer lost. I’ve found a direction for my life,” he said.

Yu started to practice yoga when he was a freshman and became a vegetarian. “The physical and mental practices relieved me of psychological distress,” he said.

Through yoga, Yu is engaging in a comparative study in the philosophies of China and India, two ancient civilizations in the world.

“In the class, we discuss and compare the traditional Chinese theory that ‘man is an integral part of nature’ and the Indian idea that ‘the Buddha and I are one.’ Through this, we explore the similarities that underline the culture and civilizations of the two countries,” he said.

The China-India Yoga College, established at Kunming’s Yunnan Minzu University in June 2015, is China’s first yoga college. Fifty branches are planned to be opened in China’s major cities in the next three to five years, and are attracting batches of Indian yoga teachers to China, with 38-year-old Subbulakshmi Velusamy being one of them.

Velusamy arrived in Kunming in late 2015 and quickly adapted to the climate and life there. She said the local diet is light, which is very palatable to yoga practitioners and vegetarians.

Velusamy said teaching yoga in Yunnan was a wonderful experience as the Chinese people around her were very helpful and kind.

“They often chat with me after class and invite me to parties,” she told Xinhua in an earlier interview.

Velusamy said she was eager to learn about the ancient Chinese civilization. At the same time she introduced yoga to more Chinese as a unique and valuable Indian cultural asset.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has played a significant role in spreading yoga at home and abroad. He was instrumental in urging the United Nations to mark June 21 as International Yoga Day.

“Beyond exercise and health, yoga is about life, self-awareness and a connection with your soul. So I expect my students to understand their consciousness in today’s technologically-driven world,” said Rama Rathore, a yoga trainer in New Delhi.

CHINESE SMARTPHONE BRANDS

Smartphones are becoming easily available to everyone thanks to their affordable prices. With the exploding growth of Internet data usage and its access across the country, millions of Indians are now connected with the world thanks to their smartphones.

“It is the people’s window to the world and the growth opportunity in this sector is huge,” said Saifi Ali, a head researcher associated with a leading telecom operator located in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi.

“India has overtaken the United States in the smartphone market,” he said.

Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone brands, such as Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo, have been successful in India’s fast growing market, according to global market research firm Canalys.

Xiaomi has been the leading smartphone brand in India for eight consecutive quarters, with a 28.3-percent market share for the second quarter of this year.

Xiaomi has become the first brand in India to sell more than 100 million smartphones within a span of five years, since the company began operations in the country in 2014.

Jobs and technical training provided by the Chinese companies have helped many Indian workers to enhance their technical skills and earn good money.

Neeraj Sharma, 25, is an Indian employee at MCM, a Noida-based Chinese company of smart terminal equipment. Sharma said he has learned a lot from the company and his technical skills have also improved.

“From here I started learning practical knowledge. Everything I know about the technology we are using here for SMT (Surface Mount Technology) and also in assembly is from this company. I started from the very lowest designation and right now I am working as a floor-in-charge there,” he told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Thanks to his stable income from MCM, Sharma, who is from the northern Uttar Pradesh state, has fulfilled his dream of buying a house in Noida, outside New Delhi.

“I came here, so at that time I had planned to buy a house here for my family. Right now I have already bought a small house. Maybe further in the future I will have a flat,” he said.

Source: Xinhua

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09/10/2019

Technology, not China, can be blamed for regional job losses in developed countries, IMF finds

Competition from China is not the primary reason for regional job losses in rich countries, new IMF research finds
Study finds technological advancement is bigger driver of unemployment, undermining populist argument China is stealing manufacturing jobs

The IMF said automation displaced more jobs in rich countries than China’s growing productivity. Photo: SCMP

Automation rather than market competition from China can be blamed for regional job losses suffered in developed countries, including American rust belt states, according to new research by the International Monetary Fund released on Wednesday.

“Increases in import competition in external markets associated with the rise of China’s productivity do not have marked effects on regional unemployment,” the Washington-based fund said in an academic paper. “Only technology shocks tend to have lasting effects, with even larger unemployment rises for vulnerable lagging regions.”

The paper, which looked at regional disparities within advanced countries, undermines a key argument pushed by US President Donald Trump in the ongoing trade war

between Washington and Beijing – that China has been stealing American technology and jobs.

Although the research did not mention Trump, the IMF said the argument that market competition displaced jobs was flawed as imports from China could only cause job losses in the near term and such impact “quickly abates”.

The US goods trade deficit with China hit a record of US$419.2 billion in 2018, which the Trump administration has blamed for a decline in US manufacturing jobs.

In the paper, the IMF classified a region as “lagging” if two conditions were met – initial real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was below the country’s median in 2000, and the region’s average growth between 2000 to 2017 was below average.

Labour productivity tended to be lower and employment in the agriculture sector higher in lagging regions, the IMF said. Within the United States, per capita GDP in the state of New York is 100 per cent higher than in Mississippi, parts of which are considered within the rust belt.

While increases in import competition tended to reduce labour force participation after one year, this impact faded quickly and did not have significant effects on regional unemployment on average, IMF analyst Weicheng Lian said.

The impact of technology was more far-reaching, however, with researchers pinpointing it as the main driver of rising unemployment in lagging regions.

Automation pressures

translate into a decline in the cost of machinery and equipment, leading to more persistent rises in unemployment and declines in labour force participation in lagging regions, compared with less vulnerable regions, the study said.

Lian said that poorer regions tend to specialise in agriculture and manufacturing industries rather than high productivity service sectors such as information technology, communications and finance.

“We find that a negative technology shock … raises unemployment in all regions that are more vulnerable to automation, but lagging regions are particularly hurt,” she said.

Posted in Beijing, blamed, China alert, countries, developed, finds, IMF, job losses, Labour productivity, manufacturing jobs, Mississippi, New York, regional, rust belt, Technology, Uncategorized, US President Donald Trump, Washington | Leave a Comment »

06/10/2019

Xinhua Headlines: China’s Greater Bay Area busy laying foundation for innovation

As China aims to develop its Greater Bay Area into an international innovation and technology hub, innovation and entrepreneurship resources are shared in the area to provide more opportunities for young Hong Kong and Macao entrepreneurs.

The provincial government of Guangdong has stepped up efforts to improve basic research capability, considered the backbone of an international innovation and technology hub, by building large scientific installations and launching provincial labs.

by Xinhua writers Liu Yiwei, Quan Xiaoshu, Wang Pan, Jing Huaiqiao

GUANGZHOU, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) — Hong Kong man Andy Ng was surprised his shared workspace Timetable was rented out completely only six months after it had started operation in Guangzhou, capital of south China’s Guangdong Province.

While studying economics at City University of Hong Kong, Ng set up his first business, developing an online education platform, but soon realized the Hong Kong market was too small. After earning a master’s degree in the UK in 2017, Ng returned to China and chose Guangzhou as his new base.

Timetable is now accumulating popularity and even fans in Dianping.com, China’s major online consumer guide. Ng feels lucky that his business caught the implementation of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) development plan.

The bay area, covering 56,000 square km, comprises Hong Kong and Macao, as well as nine cities in Guangdong. It had a combined population of about 70 million at the end of 2017, and is one of the most open and dynamic regions in China.

Aerial photo taken on July 11, 2018 shows the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in south China. (Xinhua/Liang Xu)

In July 2017, a framework agreement on the development of the bay area was signed. On February 18 this year, China issued the more specific Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. One of its major aims is to develop the area into an international innovation and technology hub.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH

The plan proposes that innovation and entrepreneurship resources be shared in the bay area to provide more opportunities for young Hong Kong and Macao entrepreneurs.

An incubator for entrepreneurship, Timetable is home to 52 companies, including 15 from Hong Kong and Macao, such as Redspots, a virtual reality company that won the Hong Kong Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Awards 2019.

“I persuaded them one by one to come here,” Ng said. “I told them of my own experience that the GBA is a great stage for starting a business with ever-upgrading technologies, ever-changing consumer tastes and a population 10 times that of Hong Kong.”

Timetable is a startup base of the Guangzhou Tianhe Hong Kong and Macao Youth Association, which has assisted 65 enterprises founded by Hong Kong and Macao young people since its establishment in October 2017.

The association and its four bases provide a package of services from training and registering to policy and legal consultation, said Chen Jingzhan, one of the association founders.

Tong Yat, a young Macao man who teaches children programming, is grateful the association encouraged him to come to Guangdong, where young people enjoy more preferential policies to start their own businesses.

“The GBA development not only benefits us, but paves the way for the next generation,” Tong said. “If one of my students were to become a tech tycoon in the future and tell others that his first science and technology teacher was me, I would think it all worthwhile.”

In the first quarter of this year, there were more than 980 science and technology business incubators in Guangdong, including more than 50 for young people from Hong Kong and Macao, said Wu Hanrong, an official with the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province.

INNOVATION HIGHLAND

As the young entrepreneurs create a bustling innovative atmosphere, the Guangdong government has stepped up efforts to improve basic research capability, considered the backbone of an international innovation and technology hub, by building large scientific installations and launching provincial labs.

Several large scientific facilities have settled in Guangdong. China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) operates in Dongguan City; a neutrino observatory is under construction in Jiangmen City; a high intensity heavy-ion accelerator is being built in Huizhou City.

Aerial photo taken on June 23, 2019 shows the construction site of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) in Jiangmen, south China’s Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Guangdong also plans to build about 10 provincial labs, covering regenerative medicine, materials, advanced manufacturing, next-generation network communications, chemical and fine chemicals, marine research and other areas, said Zhang Yan, of the provincial department of science and technology.

Unlike traditional universities or research institutions, the provincial labs enjoy a high degree of autonomy in policy and spending. A market-oriented salary system allows them to recruit talent from all over the world, and researchers from other domestic organizations can work for the laboratories without giving up their original jobs, Zhang said.

The labs are also open to professionals from Hong Kong and Macao. Research teams from the universities of the two special administrative regions have been involved in many of the key programs, Zhang said.

For example, the provincial lab of regenerative medicine and health has jointly established a regenerative medicine research institute with the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a heart research center with the University of Hong Kong, and a neuroscience research center with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).

Photo taken on July 24, 2019 shows a rapid cycling synchrotron at the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) in Dongguan, south China’s Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Liu Dawei)

Guangdong has been trying to break down institutional barriers to help cooperation, encouraging Hong Kong and Macao research institutions to participate in provincial research programs, exploring the cross-border use of provincial government-sponsored research funds, and shielding Hong Kong researchers in Guangdong from higher mainland taxes.

NANSHA FOCUS

Located at the center of the bay area, Guangzhou’s Nansha District is designed as the national economic and technological development zone and national free trade zone, and is an important pivot in building the area into an international innovation and technology hub.

The construction of a science park covering about 200 hectares started on Sept. 26. Gong Shangyun, an official with the Nansha government, said the park will be completed in 2022.

Jointly built by the Guangzhou government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the science park will accommodate CAS research institutes from around Guangzhou, including the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, the South China Botanical Garden (SCBG) and the Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion.

Ren Hai, director of the SCBG, is looking forward to expanding the research platforms in Nansha. “We will build a new economic plant platform serving the green development of the Pearl River Delta, a new botanical garden open to the public, and promote the establishment of the GBA botanical garden union.”

Wang Ying, a researcher with the SCBG, said the union will help deepen the long cooperation among its members and improve scientific research, science popularization and ecological protection. “Predecessors of our botanical garden have helped the Hong Kong and Macao counterparts gradually establish their regional flora since the 1950s and 1960s.”

HKUST also started to build a new campus in Nansha the same day as the science park broke ground. “Located next to the high-speed rail station, the Guangzhou campus is only a 30-minute journey from the Hong Kong campus. A delegation from the HKUST once paid a visit to the site and found it very convenient to work here,” Gong said.

Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Carrie Lam hoped the new campus would help create a new chapter for the exchanges and cooperation on higher education between Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and cultivate more talents with innovative capabilities.

Nansha’s layout is a miniature of the provincial blueprint for an emerging international innovation and technology hub.

“We are seeking partnership with other leading domestic research institutions and encouraging universities from Hong Kong and Macao to set up R&D institutions in Guangdong,” said Zhang Kaisheng, an official with the provincial department of science and technology.

“We are much busier now, because research institutes at home and abroad come to talk about collaboration every week. The GBA is a rising attraction to global scientific researchers,” Zhang said.

Source: Xinhua

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04/10/2019

South Korea’s Samsung closes its last smartphone factory in China

‘Difficult decision to cease operations’ at plant in Huizhou taken to ‘enhance efficiency’, company says
Firm’s market share in China has dwindled to near insignificance as competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi have taken upper hand

Samsung said operations at its last factory in China ended last month. Photo: Reuters

Samsung Electronics

said on Friday it has ended the production of smartphones in its last factory in China.

Operations at the plant in the south China city of Huizhou, Guangdong province, ended last month, it said in an email.

The company made “the difficult decision to cease operations of Samsung Electronics Huizhou” in order “to enhance efficiency” in its manufacturing, it said.

Samsung’s market share in China has dwindled to near insignificance as competitors like Huawei and Xiaomi have taken the upper hand. It once had 15 per cent of China’s smartphone market.

Samsung once had a 15 per cent share of China’s smartphone market. Photo: AFP

The South Korean giant has moved a large share of its smartphone production to Vietnam and closed a factory in northeastern China’s Tianjin last year.

“The production equipment will be reallocated to other global manufacturing sites depending on our global production strategy based on market needs,” the statement said.

Samsung is the world’s biggest manufacturer of semiconductors and smartphones and a major producer of display screens. But the flagship of South Korea’s largest conglomerate is currently weathering a spell of slack demand for computer chips.

Like other South Korean electronics makers, it also is facing the impact of tightened Japanese controls on exports of hi-tech materials used in semiconductors and displays.

On Wednesday, Sony said it was closing its Beijing smartphone plant and would only make smartphones in Thailand.

But Apple still makes major products in China.

“In China, people buy low-priced smartphones from domestic brands and high-end phones from Apple or Huawei,” Park Sung-soon, an analyst at Cape Investment & Securities, said.

“Samsung has little hope there to revive its share.”

Samsung’s factory in Huizhou was built in 1992, according to the company. South Korean media said it employed 6,000 workers and produced 63 million units in 2017.

Samsung manufactured 394 million handsets around the world in 2107, according to its annual report.

Source: Reuters

Posted in Apple, Beijing, Cape Investment & Securities, China alert, closes, computer chips, conglomerate, display screens, Factory, guangdong province, hi-tech materials, Huawei, Japanese controls, last, manufacturer, Samsung, Semiconductors, smartphone, Sony, South Korea, Thailand, Tianjin, Uncategorized, Vietnam, Xiaomi | Leave a Comment »

28/09/2019

China makes great strides in agriculture, poverty reduction over 70 years: officials

BEIJING, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) — China has reaped great accomplishments in agriculture and rural development in the past 70 years, successfully feeding a population of 1.4 billion and lifting over 800 million people in rural areas out of poverty.

China’s annual grain output has remained above 650 billion kg for four years in a row, up from 113.2 billion kg in 1949, Han Changfu, minister of agriculture and rural affairs, told a press conference on Friday.

Feeding 20 percent of the world population with 9 percent of the world’s arable land is a miracle in the history of agriculture, said Han.

The country has entered a new phase of development driven by technology and equipment innovation, with the area of high-standard farmland totaling 640 million mu (about 42.7 million hectares), Han added.

Poverty reduction in rural areas has also yielded dazzling results since the country’s opening-up, as more than 800 million people have been lifted out of absolute poverty, according to Liu Yongfu, director of the State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development.

By the end of 2018, per capita disposable income of rural residents living in poverty-stricken areas reached 10,371 yuan, equivalent to 71 percent of that for rural residents nationwide.

Liu said 95 percent of the population in poverty under current standards will be lifted out of poverty by the end of this year, while eradication of absolute poverty is expected by the end of 2020.

Source: Xinhua

Posted in 70 years, agriculture, China alert, equipment innovation, great strides, minister of agriculture and rural affairs, Poverty reduction, Technology, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

28/09/2019

China’s National Day parade to showcase advances in nuclear deterrence

Military experts say PLA modernisation brought about during Xi Jinping’s presidency will be the main focus of October 1 celebration in Beijing
It’s necessary for China to ‘show some of its muscle’ amid the trade dispute with the US, observer says

China’s land-based DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile will be among the military hardware on show on October 1. Photo: Reuters

China plans to show off its most advanced active weapon systems at the upcoming National Day parade, which will be the biggest of the 14 such events it has held over the past seven decades.

The parade, to be held on October 1 to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, will highlight the military modernisation – particularly in nuclear deterrence – that has taken place since President Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, according to military experts.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) offered a glimpse of those weapons during rehearsals for the parade in downtown Beijing from September 14.

As part of the celebrations, Xi, who also chairs the Central Military Commission, will inspect 48 squads on the ground and more than a dozen airborne squadrons, according to a military insider involved in support services for the parade.

More than a dozen airborne squadrons will take part in the National Day parade. Photo: Kyodo

The squadrons will include the air force’s first stealth fighter, the J-20; the main active warplanes such as the J-10 and J-11B; and armed helicopters like the Z-20. However, the J-8 fighter jet would not appear this year, the source said, confirming that the first interceptor built in China has been formally retired.

“The ground march will be led by several hero forces from the five theatre commands, which is different from previous squads selected from the ground forces, air force and navy,” said the insider, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

“The main goal of this year’s parade is to promote the military modernisation of the PLA under President Xi’s leadership over the past seven years, with the military overhaul being one of the key achievements.”

Thirty-three of the 48 squads would be “weapon squads”, while the 13 others would be made up of infantry troops from the five theatre commands, the source said.

National Day fireworks in Hong Kong cancelled over safety fears

As part of the PLA’s sweeping military reforms, the army’s previous seven military commands were reshaped into five theatre commands, while the four former general headquarters were dissolved and replaced by 15 small functional departments.

In September 2015, Xi announced the PLA would shed 300,000 troops, cutting its size to 2 million, a move aimed at turning the PLA into a more nimble and combat-ready fighting force on a par with international standards.

Xi also split the former Second Artillery Corps into the Rocket Force and the Strategic Support Force, with the latter backing up the military’s electronic warfare units in cyberspace and outer space.

Among the 33 weapon squads, the highlights are expected to be the PLA’s strategic nuclear missiles such as the Rocket Force’s land-based DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, the DF-17 hypersonic missile and the sea-launched JL-2, or Big Wave-2.

Adam Ni, a researcher at Macquarie University in Australia, said that showing off different types of missiles on land and sea indicated that the PLA was improving its nuclear deterrence capabilities by perfecting a three-pronged military force structure, or the so-called nuclear triad.

The DF-17 hypersonic ballistic missile will be one of the highlights of the parade. Photo: AP

The DF-41 is capable of carrying multiple warheads and many decoys, making it harder to detect than silo-based systems and better able to survive a first strike.

Ni said the DF-41 was China’s next-generation cutting-edge weapon.

“It’s actually an advanced ICBM and has a range to hit practically anywhere in the world, including the continental United States,” Ni said.

“The DF-41 is the ultimate symbol of the destructive potential of Chinese armed forces, just as nuclear weapons are similar symbols of the US and Russia.”

The JL-2 – which has a shorter range of 7,000km (4,350 miles) and can be launched by the PLA Navy’s Type 094 submarines – is unable to hit anywhere on the American continent when launched from submarines in the South China Sea and coastal areas of China.

China tests new warships in live-fire drills near Vietnam

However, China is developing the JL-3, which has a range of about 9,000km; the upgraded version of the JL-2, with a flight test conducted in June, though it is still less than the 12,000km range of the American Trident II.

“China is stepping up its military modernisation, which includes a number of aspects; the land-based aspect is introducing more mobile and survivable missile systems,” Ni said.

“The game change will happen when China is able to hit the whole US continent with its missile submarines in Chinese coastal waters.”

In military terms, survivable refers to the ability to remain mission capable after a single engagement.

The DF-17 is a land-to-land short-range strategic missile capable of delivering both nuclear and conventional payloads. The US intelligence community has estimated that it will reach initial operational capability by 2020. But if the missile is displayed in the parade, that means it is active already.

China conducted two tests of the DF-17 in November 2017, with the first launched from the Jiuquan Space Launch Centre in Inner Mongolia.

An insider said the main goal of this year’s parade is to promote the military modernisation of the PLA. Photo: Reuters

Hong Kong-based military commentator Song Zhongping said the nuclear weapons that would go on show in the parade would all be strategic missiles designed to improve China’s deterrent capabilities.

The show comes after the PLA delivered a national defence white paper in July stressing its goal to “maintain national strategic security by deterring other countries from using or threatening to use nuclear weapons against China”.

Unlike in the past, this year’s report stated that the US and China were now competing superpowers, and that the PLA’s growing forces were developing to the point that they could challenge the US.

Zhou Chenming, a Beijing-based military observer, said it was also necessary for the PLA to “show some of its muscle” amid the ongoing trade dispute between Beijing and Washington.

“To prevent misunderstanding, most of the weapons are just strategic equipment, not tactical arms, because Beijing still doesn’t want to irritate Washington,” he said.

About 280,000 people were involved in the rehearsals for the parade and related support services, according to Xinhua.

Source: SCMP

Posted in 70th anniversary, accuse teacher, advances, air force, airborne squadrons, American Trident II, armed helicopters, Australia, Beijing, celebration, Central Military Commission, Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s National Day, continental United States, cyberspace, decoys, DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile, DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), first strike, founding of the People’s Republic, ground forces, Inner Mongolia, J-20 stealth fighter, J-8 fighter jet, Jiuquan Space Launch Centre, Macquarie University, Military experts, military hardware, multiple warheads, navy, nuclear deterrence, nuclear triad, October 1, outer space, parade, People’s Liberation Army (PLA), pla navy, Rocket Force, Russia, Second Artillery Corps, showcase, silo-based systems, South China Sea, stealth fighter, strategic nuclear missiles, Strategic Support Force, survive, Type 094 submarines, Uncategorized, US, Vietnam, weapon squads, Xi JinPing | Leave a Comment »

22/09/2019

China’s National Day parade to showcase advances in nuclear deterrence

Military experts say PLA modernisation brought about during Xi Jinping’s presidency will be the main focus of October 1 celebration in Beijing
It’s necessary for China to ‘show some of its muscle’ amid the trade dispute with the US, observer says