Day: August 19, 2022

Xiao Jianhua Sentenced to 13 Years for Financial Crimes

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HONG KONG — Xiao Jianhua, the Chinese Canadian billionaire and onetime trusted financier to China’s ruling elite, was sentenced to 13 years in prison on Friday, and his company fined $8 billion, after he pleaded guilty to bribery and other crimes that the authorities said had “seriously jeopardized” the country’s financial security. Mr. Xiao, whose Tomorrow Group umbrella of companies was once worth hundreds of billions of dollars, was also fined $1 million, a Shanghai court said on Friday. One of several Chinese business tycoons caught in the cross hairs…

Pat Conroy on Labor’s engagement with our Pacific neighbours

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Sarah Martin, Guardian Australia’s chief political correspondent, talks to the minister for international development and the Pacific, who is newly returned from a visit to Solomon Islands. Together they discuss the climate crisis, democracy and China’s growing presence in the region How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know The Guardian

TikTok Browser Can Track Users’ Keystrokes, According to New Research

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The web browser used within the TikTok app can track every keystroke made by its users, according to new research that is surfacing as the Chinese-owned video app grapples with U.S. lawmakers’ concerns over its data practices. The research from Felix Krause, a privacy researcher and former Google engineer, did not show how TikTok used the capability, which is embedded within the in-app browser that pops up when someone clicks an outside link. But Mr. Krause said the development was concerning because it showed TikTok had built in functionality to…

Putin and Xi ‘could meet in September’ at summit in Samarkand

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Xi Jinping could meet Vladimir Putin in mid-September at a regional summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, it has been reported. According to the Wall Street Journal, preparations are being made for the Chinese president to travel to Samarkand on 15 September for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Xi’s office signalled he might attend in person, the report said, and that as well as Putin, bilateral meetings could also be held with the leaders of Pakistan, India and Turkey. However, officials cautioned that the Chinese leader’s…

China Moves to Fill The Void Left By Russia Sanctions – On Its Own Terms

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Advertisement Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, China has been careful to officially maintain its “pro-Russian neutrality.” Nevertheless, Beijing’s propaganda machine is hard at work amplifying Russian narratives in line with its recent “friendship without limits.” Beijing has refused to impose any sanctions on Moscow and, following an initial adjustment period marked by economic disengagement, has not restrained from deepening economic ties with Russia. At the same time, China is aiming to minimize its exposure to OECD sanctions and is demanding high export prices of its northern neighbor,…

Billionaire Xiao Jianhua jailed for 13 years in China

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Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-Canadian billionaire at the centre of an alleged abduction scandal in Hong Kong in 2017, has been sentenced by a Shanghai court to 13 years in prison and his company fined a record 55.03bn yuan (£6.8bn). Xiao, 50, and his Tomorrow Holdings conglomerate were charged with illegally absorbing public deposits, betraying the use of entrusted property, and the illegal use of funds and bribery, the Shanghai first intermediate court said. Xiao was also fined 6.5m yuan for the crimes, the Shanghai court said, accusing him and Tomorrow…

Chinese city dims lights as record heatwave hits energy supplies

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A provincial capital in south-west China has dimmed outdoor advertisements, subway lighting and building signs to save energy as the area struggles with a power crunch triggered by record-high temperatures. Temperatures rose past 40C (104F) in Sichuan province this week, fuelling massive demand for air conditioning and drying up reservoirs in a region reliant on dams for most of its electricity. Factories including a joint venture with the Japanese car maker Toyota in the provincial capital, Chengdu, have been forced to halt work, while millions in another city, Dazho, grappled…

China’s Covid Lockdowns Strand Tourists

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A few days into a two-week tour through the island province of Hainan — known as the Hawaii of China — Nicole Chan received a message from local authorities that no traveler in the country wants to see in the pandemic. On Aug. 3, a day after officials reported 11 cases of Covid-19 in Sanya, a city of more than one million in Hainan, Ms. Chan was identified by the authorities as at risk because she had been in the area that day. She was told to quarantine right away…