Page 176 - China

Chinese military spy balloon spotted in Taiwan Strait: Island's def min

Taiwan's Defence Ministry says a Chinese military surveillance balloon was spotted in the Taiwan Strait, as well as a large-scale dispatch of military aircraft and ships. The ministry said the balloon passed southwest of the northern port city of Keelung on Thursday night, then continued east before disappearing, possibly into the Pacific Ocean. Taiwan has threatened to shoot down such balloons, but the ministry did not say what, if any, action was taken. It said the balloon was monitored flying at an altitude of approximately 6,400 meters (21,000 feet). It also said 26 Chinese military aircraft were detected, along with 10 Chinese navy ships, in the 24 hours before 6 am Friday. Of the aircraft, 15 had crossed the median line that is an unofficial divider between the sides, but which Beijing refuses to recognize. Some also entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone outside the island's airspace. Taiwan's military monitored the situation with combat aircraft, navy vessels and

China to set up auto research institute in Thailand as EVs gain traction

Thai govt tax incentives and subsidies already drawn Chinese carmakers, including BYD and Great Wall Motor, which committed to investing $1.44 billion in new production facilities in the country

No M pneumoniae cases in samples tested since Jan in India: Health ministry

Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a bacteria, is linked to the surge in children's hospitalisation in China

Ahead of China credit outlook cut, Moody's asked staff to work from home

The department heads in the agency asked its non-administrative staff in Beijing and Shanghai not to go into the office this week

7 test +ve at AIIMS Delhi for pneumonia pathogen, govt denies link to China

'Media reports claiming detection of bacterial cases in AIIMS Delhi linked to the recent surge in Pneumonia cases in China are misleading and inaccurate,' says health ministry

ED files first charge sheet against Chinese smartphone maker Vivo, others

The Enforcement Directorate filed its first charge sheet in connection with its money laundering probe against Chinese smartphone maker vivo and some others, official sources said on Thursday. The prosecution complaint has been filed before a special court here on Wednesday under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and vivo-India has been named an accused apart from those arrested in this case, the sources told PTI. The federal probe agency arrested four persons, including the MD of the Lava International mobile company Hari Om Rai, in this investigation. The others who were taken into custody were Chinese national Guangwen alias Andrew Kuang, Chartered Accountants Nitin Garg and Rajan Malik. The ED had then claimed in its remand papers before a local court here that the alleged activities of the four enabled vivo-India to make wrongful gains that were detrimental to the economic sovereignty of India. It had raided vivo-India and its linked person

China's exports edged higher for first time in 7 months, imports falls

China's exports rose in November, the first increase since April, while imports fell, according to customs data released Thursday. Exports rose 0.5 per cent from a year earlier to USD 291.9 billion, a sign that demand may be picking up after months, but imports fell 0.6 per cent, to USD 223.5 billion, after they climbed 3 per cent in October. China has been grappling with sluggish foreign trade this year amid slack global demand and a stalled recovery, despite the country's reopening after its strict COVID-19 controls were lifted late last year. The trade surplus of USD 68.4 billion was up 21 per cent compared to October's USD 56.5 billion. Demand for Chinese exports has been weak since the Federal Reserve and central banks in Europe and Asia began raising interest rates last year to cool inflation that was at multi-decade highs.

China effectively tackling air pollution while India continues to choke

China has made strides in scrubbing the once-foul air that had become a fact of life each year in major cities like Beijing and industrial towns across the country

Italy drops out of China Belt and Road initiative that failed to deliver

Italy has formally withdrawn from China's global Belt and Road initiative that seeks to deepen relations with foreign countries through infrastructure investments, Italian media reported on Wednesday. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni had previously signalled Italy's intention to withdraw from the agreement, which was up for renewal. The Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that a letter with the formal notice had been delivered to Beijing in recent days. Meloni's office declined to comment on the report. Italy became the first G7 country to sign on to the initiative in 2019, when the populist, anti-establishment Five Star Movement party-led government promoted it as a way of increasing trade with China while getting investments in major infrastructure projects. Neither appeared. In the intervening years, Italy's trade deficit with China has ballooned from 20 billion euros to 48 billion euros ($21.5 billion to $51.8 billion.) And investments in Italian ports that were trumpeted

Volkswagen shareholders demand more scrutiny after China plant audit

Volkswagen said on Tuesday that the much-anticipated audit of its China car plant had found no evidence of forced labour

Volkswagen-sanctioned audit finds no signs of forced labour at China plant

An audit commissioned by Volkswagen has found no indication of forced labour at its plant in China's Xinjiang region, where Western governments have accused the Chinese government of human rights violations against the Uyghur ethnic minority. The German automaker has come under fire for operating in Xinjiang, a remote western region that borders Central Asia. The US government has blocked imports from Xinjiang unless it can be proven that the products were not made with forced labour. The auditor, Loening Human Rights and Responsible Business, conducted 40 interviews and was able to inspect the factory freely, said Markus Loening, a former German human rights commissioner who founded the consultancy. We could not find any indications or evidence of forced labour among the employees, he said in remarks provided by Volkswagen from a media briefing in Germany on Tuesday. China launched a harsh crackdown in Xinjiang around 2017 in response to a series of bombings, knifings and other .

China raises stakes in cyberscam crackdown in Myanmar, despite loopholes

China is ramping up a crackdown on online scams operated by criminal syndicates in border areas of military-ruled Myanmar in an effort that has included a shootout, confession videos and national TV broadcasts of arrests of high-profile suspects. But the drive has been confined to a limited area and appears unlikely to root out the kingpins behind the human trafficking and other illicit activities aimed at cheating people of their savings via phone calls and online overtures, schemes that are thought to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue a year. Over the summer, China announced a series of joint operations with neighbouring countries that led to thousands of people being returned to China, many of whom had been lured by the promise of high-paying jobs. Experts say many are victims who were forced into conducting the scams. Those campaigns did not include arrests of ring leaders in Myanmar. As soon as we discover them, we hand them over, said Lu Jiantang, the vice-chair

No changes to China credit rating, economic outlook: S&P Global Ratings

We last affirmed our A+ long term ratings on China in June with stable outlook and there has been no changes to that yet," said S&P in an emailed response to queries from Reuters

Chinese experts push back at Moody's for cutting sovereign bond outlook

"The rating agency's understanding of how the Chinese economy works and how the Chinese government functions is not deep enough and does not reflect the reality," Feng added

Moody's cuts outlook on China's sovereign bonds to negative on rising debt

Moody's lowered its outlook to negative from stable while retaining a long-term rating of A1 on the nation's sovereign bonds, according to a statement

China to hold 2nd Indian Ocean Region Forum to firm up influence in India

China this week will hold the second conference of its Indian Ocean Region Forum, an initiative to bring together several countries in the region in an attempt to solidify its influence in the strategic waters adjacent to India's backyard. Last year the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), an organisation part of the ruling Communist Party of China's Leadership Group, held a meeting of the China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation (CIORFDC) in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province in southwest China. CIDCA is headed by Luo Zhaohui, the former Vice Foreign Minister and ex-Ambassador to India. The CIDCA claimed 19 countries including Indonesia, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Oman, South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Mauritius, Djibouti, Australia took part in the conference. Australia and Maldives subsequently denied their participation. India was not invited to the

China formally accords diplomatic recognition to Afghanistan's Taliban govt

China has become the first country to confer diplomatic status to a Taliban-nominated official as Afghanistan's Ambassador to Beijing, thereby formally recognising the Taliban-run administration as a legitimate government in Kabul. As a long-standing friendly neighbour of Afghanistan, China believes that Afghanistan should not be excluded from the international community, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing on Tuesday when asked whether China recognised the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Earlier reports from Kabul said China has given Bilal Karimi, a Taliban nominee the status of Ambassador and he has submitted his credentials to the foreign ministry here. China along with Pakistan and Russia maintained its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following the withdrawal of American troops from the war-ravaged country. While maintaining close contact with the Taliban interim administration,

US sets limits on sourcing material from China to receive EV tax credits

The restrictions will apply to battery components next year, then include suppliers of key battery raw materials, such as nickel and lithium, in 2025

Has China peaked?

Even if China's growth slows in the coming years, India faces the daunting task of achieving something extraordinary to catch up

China never bets against US, has no intention to 'challenge or unseat' it

China on Monday said it never bets against the US, and has no intention to "challenge or unseat" it, after a senior US official described Beijing as the "biggest threat" and "not our friend", weeks after the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Joe Biden. Speaking at an annual national defence forum in Simi Valley in California, US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo asked lawmakers, Silicon Valley and US allies to stop China from getting semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies key to national security. She said China is "the biggest threat we've ever had" and stressed that "China is not our friend". Raimondo said, "Every day China wakes up trying to figure out how to do an end run around our export controls... which means every minute of every day, we have to wake up tightening those controls and being more serious about enforcement with our allies." Reacting to her comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday that .