China Watch Thread

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

Systemic Poverty Is a Huge Hindrance to China’s Economy
by Tommy Wei
June 15, 2024

Introduction:

(Janata Weekly) About ten years ago, when China’s economy was still in the midst of its world-recognized ‘glory’, I had two impressive encounters during my travels. One was in a northern city in winter. Walking down a sparsely populated street on a bitterly cold afternoon, we saw a man in thin clothing selling huge chicken feather dusters—presumably used to clean the shells of automobiles—by the side of the road. I wondered if such a commodity with a very specific purpose would find buyers in a location that was not a marketplace. The woman walking with me commented: ‘That’s what people have to do to make a living.’

The second encounter was in a southern city in the summer. I found a ‘watchtower’ built by villagers about a hundred years ago in a village that had become part of the city. This tower-like structure was used as a defense against bandits, made of reinforced concrete, with only a small space on each floor and narrow shooting windows on all sides. There was no restriction on access to this historic building, so I began my climb. As I entered one of the floors via a steep narrow iron step ladder, I suddenly noticed a wooden board in the corner with a mosquito net stretched over it, in which two ragged toddlers were staring wide-eyed at me, the uninvited guest. It turned out that this abandoned building with no electricity or water, full of mosquitoes and dust, was the ‘home’ of a family in the city.

Such pictures of poverty can be found in any country, perhaps due to unemployment caused by the overall sluggishness of the national economy, or due to personal trauma and drug addiction. However, China has its own special feature: systemic ‘working’ poverty in the midst of rapid economic development. According to China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the average weekly working hours of the country’s employed workers in December 2023 was 49 hours, a new record high in modern China and one of the highest in the world. Despite this, the average annual wage income of the country’s residents in 2023 was only 22,053 yuan (about 2,800 euros).

Read more here: https://janataweekly.org/systemic-pove ... economy/

[caltrek]

China’s 2023 Annual Temperature Hit a New High with Serious Floods and Droughts
July 2, 2024

Introduction:

(Eurekalert) Climate is a major factor affecting economic and social outcomes. In China, the country’s National Climate Center releases an annual climate report that comprehensively covers China’s achievements and progress that year in climate monitoring and impact assessment. This series of reports has been published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters for six consecutive years since 2019, and the “State of China’s climate in 2023” is now available.

The current report provides a summary of the main climate features and high-impact weather and climate events in China in 2023.

“The overall climate condition in 2023 over China was worse than normal, presenting a warm–dry climate with the highest annual mean temperature and second-highest number of hot days in history,” says the first author of the study, Sun Linhai.

“Both the annual and flood season precipitation was the second-lowest since 2012, with the anomalies in the central and eastern parts of China exhibiting a pattern of more in central areas and less in the north and south”.

In 2023, China suffered seriously from heavy precipitation events and floods, despite less annual precipitation and fewer rainy days. During July–August, a rare, extremely strong rainstorm caused by Typhoon Dussuri hit Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, causing an abrupt alteration from drought to flood conditions in North China. By contrast, Southwest China experienced prolonged drought from winter to spring. In early summer, North China and the Huanghuai region experienced the strongest high-temperature process since 1961. Besides, there were more cold-air processes and spring sand-dust events attacking China.

Read more of the Eurekalert article here: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1050279

For a presentation of study results as published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... ia%3Dihub

[funkervogt]

China's deflation problem has worsened, and the government looks unwilling/unable to fix it.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-de ... 06274.html

[weatheriscool]

[Time_Traveller]

China cracks down on Communist party officials for reading banned books

Sat 12 Oct 2024 23.01 BST

When Lam Wing-kee ran his bookshop in Hong Kong, filled with controversial and political titles banned in mainland China, many of his customers were Chinese Communist party officials.

Back then, in the early years of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s reign, and before Lam was detained by Chinese authorities for his work, the officials would load up boxes of books on CCP politics, Chinese economics, and scandal, often taking them back over the border.

“CCP officials would look for books about what’s going on in China, about changes in the top rank officials, who gets the most power, changes in the power and the struggle between them, etcetera,” Lam tells the Guardian, suggesting officials were often buying the books to learn about what was going on inside their own party.

But today, such purchases are coming back to bite their buyers. Several recent corruption cases against CCP officials have included accusations of procuring or reading banned materials. The officials have so far received internal disciplinary actions, including being expelled from the party, but observers are watching to see if criminal charges follow.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/ ... xi-jinping

[Time_Traveller]

TikTok founder becomes China's richest man

5 hours ago



The surging global popularity of TikTok has seen the co-founder of its parent company, ByteDance, become China's richest person.

According to a rich list produced by the Hurun Research Institute, external, Zhang Yiming is now worth $49.3bn (£38bn) - 43% more than in 2023.

The 41-year-old stepped down from his role in charge of the company in 2021, but is understood to own around 20% of the firm.

TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, despite deep concerns in some countries about its ties to the Chinese state.

While both companies insist they are independent of the Chinese government, the US intends to ban TikTok in January 2025 unless ByteDance sells it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8dmql101dno

[wjfox]

China Announces a Ban on Rare Minerals to the U.S.

12/3/2024

HONG KONG — China said on Tuesday that it would begin banning the export of several rare minerals to the United States, an escalation of the tech war between the world’s two biggest powers. The move comes a day after the Biden administration tightened Chinese access to advanced American technology.

The ban signals Beijing’s willingness to engage in supply chain warfare by blocking the export of important components used to make valuable products, like weaponry and semiconductors.

Sales of gallium, germanium, antimony and so-called superhard materials to the United States would be halted immediately on the grounds that they have dual military and civilian uses, China’s Ministry of Commerce said. The export of graphite would also be subject to stricter review.

China is central to many global supply chains, but it generally refrained from clamping down on its own exports during the first Trump administration, preferring instead to take more limited actions like buying soybeans from Brazil instead of the United States. But senior Chinese officials are worried that President-elect Donald J. Trump plans more stringent policies during his coming term in office.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ch ... r-AA1vbk7y

[caltrek]

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

China Tells Rubio to Behave Himself in Veiled Warning
by Ken Moritsugu
January 25, 2025

Introduction:

BEIJING (AP via MSN) — China's veteran foreign minister has issued a veiled warning to America's new secretary of state: Behave yourself.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi conveyed the message in a phone call Friday, their first conversation since Marco Rubio's confirmation as President Donald Trump's top diplomat four days earlier.

“I hope you will act accordingly,” Wang told Rubio, according to a Foreign Ministry statement, employing a Chinese phrase typically used by a teacher or a boss warning a student or employee to behave and be responsible for their actions.

The short phrase seemed aimed at Rubio's vocal criticism of China and its human rights record when he was a U.S. senator, which prompted the Chinese government to put sanctions on him twice in 2020.

It can be translated in various ways — in the past, the Foreign Ministry has used “make the right choice” and “be very prudent about what they say or do” rather than “act accordingly.”

Read more here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/c ... d2&ei=90

[caltrek]

Why DeepSeek’s Surprise Breakthrough Shouldn’t Have Come as a Surprise
by Corbin Trent
January 30, 2025

Introduction:

(The Nation) Another day, another wake-up call. This time it’s DeepSeek—a Chinese AI breakthrough that matches Silicon Valley’s best while spending just $5.6 million compared to Meta’s tens of billions. Last week, Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of operations for the US Space Force, warned Congress about China’s “mind-boggling” military space advancements. China has already captured global EV markets and dominated solar panel production. Beijing’s hypersonic missile test in 2021 literally circled the globe before striking its target, leaving US military leaders stunned. Each time, America’s leaders—both in government and industry—react with the same bewildered surprise, as if China’s achievements were some cosmic accident.

But these aren’t flukes. They’re the inevitable result of a system that works—one that prioritizes national goals, coordinates resources, and rewards results. It’s also a system America pioneered, helping us build everything from the transcontinental railroad to the Hoover Dam, the interstate highway system, and the rural electrification that powered a nation. We abandoned that system, and China has embraced it. They planned and invested, while the United States clung to a failed ideology: the belief that free markets, left to their own devices, will save us.

This worship of markets didn’t come out of nowhere. It started with Friedrich von Hayek, his student Milton Friedman, and the Chicago school of economics, who sold America a seductive story: that government planning was inefficient, that regulation stifled innovation, that the free market would solve everything.

Read more here: https://www.thenation.com/article/econ ... olicy-ai/

[caltrek]

Trump vs. China. It is sometimes hard to decide which one is the worst. Consider these recent Executive Orders of Donald Trump regarding fentanyl and tariffs in which Trump actually makes a reasonably sounding case for his action:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... -of-china

This was quickly followed by an Executive Order amending the initial Executive Order

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... -of-china

Of great importance in understanding the second Executive Order dated February 5:

The term de minimis is a Latin expression that translates roughly to “pertaining to minimal things.” In the U.S. legal system, the term is used to refer to certain facts or issues that are so minor as to be undeserving of the court’s attention. In addition, de minimis is relevant to certain bond and securities income, as well as employee wage claims and fringe benefits. To explore this concept, consider the following de minimis definition.
Definition of De Minimis
Pronounced: dee-minnie-miss
Adjective
1. Pertaining to trivial things; something minor or insignificant.
2. A thing of such insignificance as to merit disregard.
Origin
Circa 17th century

Source of de minimis definition: https://legaldictionary.net/de-minimis/

Seems like kind of sloppy work to have to amend the first Executive Order so quickly. It makes for a more incoherent body of regulations. Also, one wonders what was going on behind the scenes. Did somebody in the administration object that the order as originally written was too strict and rigid? Or was it simply an example of an inexperience on the part of staff in drafting such an order combined with an inadequate pre-approval process?

[weatheriscool]

China is Dedollarizing, China Launches $1.2 Trillion Digital Yuan System, Bypasses Western SWIFT

Source: Dinar Recaps

Lena Petrova: 4-8-2025

Recent developments suggest China is making a concerted effort to lessen its reliance on the US dollar, and a key piece of this strategy is the rollout of its digital Yuan system.

With a reported $1.2 trillion investment, this sophisticated platform aims to offer an alternative to the Western-dominated SWIFT financial messaging system, potentially reshaping the global financial landscape.

For years, the dominance of the US dollar in international trade and finance has been a subject of debate. China, the world’s second-largest economy, has long expressed concerns about the potential vulnerabilities and geopolitical leverage that such a system affords the United States.

The digital Yuan represents a significant step towards creating a parallel financial infrastructure that could, over time, challenge the dollar’s hegemony.

Read more: https://dinarrecaps.com/our-blog/china- ... tern-swift

[wjfox]

[caltrek]

This City Is the Biggest and Most Populous in the World, and You've Probably Never Heard of It
by Dr. Kate Spalding
April 30, 2025

Extract:

(IFL Science) But for true megacities, you have to leave the Western Hemisphere altogether. All but three of the 20 most populous cities in the world are in Asia – well, all but three-and-a-half, since number 10 is Istanbul – and going by area, it’s all but one.

And right at the top of both lists – there’s Chongqing.

Where in the world is Chongqing?
…
It sits at the confluence of the Jialing River and the mighty Yangtze, and it’s fair to say it makes quite the geographical impression.

“It is a place where neighborhoods cling to cliffs, connected by elevated roads 20 stories up in the air,” wrote Oliver Wainwright, architecture and design critic for the Guardian and veteran visitor of Chongqing, in January this year. “Metro lines emerge from tunnels through the mountains, only to plunge straight through the middle of residential skyscrapers, which themselves sprout improbably from the sheer slopes.”

“To get to places that looked like a couple of blocks away, I found myself taking steep staircases that led to underground escalators, then across walkways to lifts that ferried me up the side of a cliff,” he recalled. “Cable cars swooshed past outdoor plazas, where what I thought was the ground level turned out to be the roof terrace of an office block, which plunged 30 stories down into the valley below.”

Read more here: https://www.iflscience.com/this-city-i ... t-79018

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[Yuli Ban]

So what are we going to do about this?
Why, letting our oligarchical system continue destroying our own ability to manufacture such critical technologies and daydreaming about a coal/oil resurrection the market won't even allow for and then continue eagerly buying Chinese, of course!

MMW, in the coming weeks, Trump and the political MAGA movement are going to do things so blisteringly bewilderingly pro-China while talking a great anti-China game that non-delusional people people will think Trump and his merry men are Chinese operatives (they aren't, by the way; Trump might be on Russia's payroll, but the vast majority of the US government is straight up owned by Israel)